Reminders For Me…

Today’s sermon was so good. So convicting, so needed, so encouraging. I was reminded of the absolute supremacy of Jesus over everything and what my response to His authority and preeminence really means for my life every minute of every day. It’s an easy thing to hear and pay lip service to. Its a tremendously scary thing to only pay it lip service and not respond in obedience.

“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” (James 1:22, italics added)

Paul addresses the Jews in Romans and confronts the idea that they call themselves guides for the blind, lights in the dark, instructors for the foolish.  They bragged about the law but dishonored God by breaking His law and in doing so blasphemed His name among the Gentiles. I tremble as I recall the passage to think that I have done the same so many times; I have essentially relied on the law and have ‘bragged’ about my relationship to God but have lacked a heart of true repentance. I have been the blind pharisee who is like a “whitewashed tomb, which looks beautiful on the outside but on the inside is full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.”

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…” (Ephesians 4)

I am so thankful that God’s grace abounds to me. I do not deserve His mercy or His grace. I am, in fact, ILL-deserving. And God has given me a gift in salvation that I did not know I needed and could not have hoped to earn apart from Him: righteousness.  I am learning what a treasure this is. I am so thankful for an infinitely powerful yet loving God who also is always turned toward me and always desires me to be intimate with Him. I am thankful that He looks at me and sees the purity and perfection of Jesus and not the works my hands and heart have wrought. The Lord is so kind.

I have been thinking through the words of the hymn “O Love That Will Not Let Me Go”. It resonates with me because I know that I have deserved to be let go. I know that I have deserved desertion. I have deserved hell.  And yet God’s perfect and loving character does not allow Him to do so. I am so thankful that for those of us who God has called His own, there is no choice bad enough, no turn wrong enough, no step far enough away from His loving arms and care. Yes, I am a sheep who has needed my legs broken for my own good and for the good of those around me. And I am thankful for what that pain represents ultimately: God’s infinite grace, kindness, and mercy.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

I (seriously) Heart “The Office” (like, a LOT)

Brilliant (minus the weird commercial in the middle).

Thanks, Lynnie!

And I Quote,

(In a whisper) “Look, I got some magical seeds.  Shh, don’t tell anyone.” (she holds out a paper towel with little seeds in it.)

 

“What are these?”

 

“Shhhhhhh.  They’re magical seeds.”

 

(I open the paper towel and view these alleged magical seeds.)

 

“I’m going to put them in a jar at home and sell them for $100.”  (In a whisper again) “But they’re really apple seeds.”

 

“So what’s in them?  What are they supposed to do?”

 

“Nothing.  It’s a SCAM.  I want my money.”

 

An exchange between my coworker’s 9-year old daughter and I. Kids these days.  Or should I say, Future Scammers of America these days.

2 1/2 Years In The Life Of My Teeth

So the braces are finally off and I am so thankful! Now I enter the ‘retention’ phase and do my best to make sure these puppies don’t move all over the place and get out of whack (by wearing various sundry orthodontic appliances). You’ll have to excuse my slight (or not-so-very) lisp. In all seriousness, I am so incredibly thankful. God has been so very kind to me!

Now for a look at the before and after:

 
The (not intentionally) hidden-toothed ‘before’ smile

The unfortunate, fangy ‘before’ teeth

The much-less-vampiric ‘after’ teeth (but what’s with that weird tan look?)

The much straighter (redder?) ‘after’ teeth

Braces

Take a good long look. Come April 24, these train tracks are gone for one of us (me). Come April 28, another of us (of the asian persuasion) will have sparkly straight teeth also (Steph’s come off in June(ish) sometime…). We will be eating loads of taffy, popcorn, and the crunchiest chips we can find. Not to mention flossing, like, 4 to 12 times a day.

Is He Safe?

“Is he a man?”, asked Lucy.

“Aslan, a man?”, said Mr.Beaver sternly. “Certainly not. I tell you, He is the King of the wood and the son of the Great Emperor Beyond the Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion – The lion. The Great Lion.”

“Ooh”, said Susan. “I’d thought he was a man. Is he…quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion!”

“That you will deary and no mistake”, said Mrs.Beaver. “If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then he isn’t safe?”, said Lucy.

“Safe?”, said Mr.Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs.Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe….. but he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.”  -The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

And I Quote,

“After our New Year’s dinner, we clasped our hands and sang ‘Auld Lang Syne’ in a circle.”

“Wait a minute, what did you call it??”

“Call what?”

“The song you sang.”

“You know, ‘Auld Lang Syne’, the song traditionally sung the stroke of midnight?” 

“THAT’S the name of that song?? I totally thought that song was called ‘Old Enzyme’.”

(conversation between a coworker and I)

2008

I sat down yesterday and reviewed some of the events in my life of 2007.  There were some disappointing times, but there were some very joyous times as well.  God was good in all of it, and I am thankful that He continues to faithfully work in my heart.  I also wrote my list of resolutions for 2008; here are some of them (in no particular order):

-Read through the Bible (my first time!)
-Lose some weight (continue going to the gym, maintain the low-carb lifestyle, etc. Who on planet earth DOESN’T have this goal?)
-Be more teachable
-Apply to the COC RN program
-Memorize scripture (so as to live more confidently, trusting in God’s character & promises)
-Pursue people more consistently
-Live TODAY (not looking back at the past so much, or worrying about all the tomorrows that are coming)

This is my first time really being purposeful with resolutions.  I don’t typically set them, because I tend to be a quitter and so I preclude the quitting by not even setting the goals to begin with.  Ridiculous?  Methinks yes. 

Please feel free to ask me if I am doing any, all, or none of these (refer to #3).  I am trying to set small, measurable goals so that I can be successful with at least some of them.  I hope to glorify God this year, yes, but I am starting with today.  Today is the day the Lord has made!

Being sensible that I am unable to do anything without God’s help, I do humbly entreat Him by His grace to enable me to keep these resolutions, so far as they are agreeable to His will and for Christ’s sake.
                                                                                     -Jonathan Edwards

Scams Are Lame

I hoped I’d never have to say that I fell prey to a stupid scam. I fell prey to a stupid scam. But thankfully (no, SERIOUSLY, I am SO thankful), the good Lord provided me a way out of the scam with literally minutes or maybe hours to spare. Below is another person’s testimonial of the same kind of scam I fell for–there are virtually no differences between this and what I did. Why did I fall for it? Well, there were a lot of factors… and if you REALLY want to know them all and how I came out of the scam unscathed, with bank account intact, I can tell you at a later time. For now, I wanted to post this to serve as a warning to others. Also? If it SOUNDS too good to be true? IT IS.

MAIL SCAM NOTICE -

I received an email to become a mystery shopper and received instructions int he mail regarding my first assignment. It was to test the efficiency of the moneygram service. I was sent a cashier’s check for $980 and told to keep $120 to participate. I had to pose as a potential customer for Wal-Mart who was sending money to a relative(who was actually the company) and write a survey on the experience of using money gram.

Their contact info recvd 11-09-07 via USPS:
Customer Evaluation Services (CES)
1361 Ouellette Ave.,
Windsor, Ontario, N8X 1J6
TEL: 1-519-991-1465
FAX: 1-763-647-6744
account@customer-evalua.com
www.customer-evalua.com

Then you have to call in the information along with emailing and faxing the information to the company. I shared this with other friends and one told me that something didnt sound right. She asked me to further research and sure enough it has been listed as an ongoing scam in the US and who knows where else. If you find that you have been a victim of this you should contact your State Attorney General’s office immediately.

You should also file a report with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) It has also been suggested to contact local authorities or the FBI.

CC: SPAM@UCE.GOV; photos@ripoffreport.com; EDitor@RipoffReport.com; antitrust@ftc.gov; www.naag.org; support@govdelivery.com;info@greenvillebbb.org; abuse@walmart.com.

Wayne
Simpsonville, South Carolina
U.S.A.

(Obtained from Rip-Off Report)

More Fun With Flickr

I had some more fun with Flickr tools last week.  I really like the Mosaic-making feature. 

p.s. If you took one of these pictures and I didn’t give you credit (and you want it), please let me know.  I have a nasty habit of not crediting the proper people.  Lay off me.