Sometimes I think I'm a blonde...

This morning I was in a hurry while getting ready...I was multitasking - which is normally a great thing for me...Not so this morning. As I am curling my hair, the curling iron slipped. Yes slipped. Right onto my shoulder/neck area (you know the spot where its not quite your shoulder but its not really your neck anymore either). Of course it didnt hit where my shirt was covering. It hit the small amount of skin exposed. I immediately put an ice pack on it, hoping to minimize the damage, but I had to leave for work a few minutes later. Only to start the drive and feel immense pain and discomfort coming from under my coat. I searched my car and A-HA! found a bottle of water left overnight in my car which I immediately placed on the burn - aaahhh comfort. I then realized how dorky I looked driving down the road holding a water bottle to my neck inside my coat! But at this point, comfort took precedence over vanity. I now have a nice two inch burn, thankfully, NOT on my neck. I could not imagine having to try to explain THAT one to everyone! It's definitely a Monday...

4 Ways To Ruin Your Life

Last summer I listened to a CD of the XXXChurch guys when they were speaking at Mars Hill. I have to say I have never listened to a message as many times as I have this one. Everytime I listen to it I always think "I have to blog about this!" And, surprise, surprise, I never have...well, I have decided today's post will be the day I am going to blog about The Four Ways to Ruin Your Life (As seen from the XXXchurch guys Mike and Craig)...

The first way to ruin your life is to believe the grass is greener on the other side. That life without God is somehow better than life with God - and making deals with God. I have to admit, I have done this and sometimes still try to make deals with God - such as - well, once this happens God, then I will be faithful in all aspects of my life...I can definitely see though how this could ruin your life.

The second way to ruin your life is to believe you are strong enough to fight temptation with just willpower. The number one way to combat against temptation is community. We need people to hold us accountable, encourage us and help us get back up when we fall down. God made us to live in community and the enemy would like nothing better than to keep us apart. I have been blessed with some of the most amazing friends - I know many people think this, but I truly do...I have always had lots of friends, but there was a period of my life where I thought I could deal with things on my own or just with God's help. I was wrong and now there are things I wish I could go back and erase. I wish I would have had friendships like I have now - friendships that love me for me, support me in the things I have to deal with, call me out when I need to be called out. I hope everyone is able to have friendships like this, they are definitely worth the time!

The third way to ruin your life is to "just wing it" when it comes to integrity. We have to be real. We have to live what we believe it. We have to live our lives with integrity. And in order to do so, we have to identify what they called SUDS (seemingly unimportant decisions) - the small compromises that build upon each other that will eventually lead to a larger compromise. Man I think this happens to all of us - a few little things don't seem like much, and then all of a sudden, WHAM, you have gotten yourself in a place you never would have ever imagined being. I think this is another place where community comes in - people to help catch you in the little compromises you may be making...while I sometimes hate being called out on things, I sure do need it sometimes, and always appreciate it later! To live our lives with integrity we have to do things that help maintain our integrity, not hinder it. A good piece of advice they gave was to also have a plan for your own integrity. To write out things you need to do on a daily basis in order to continue living a life of integrity. I know I need to write down how I want to live my life. I tell people how I want to live my life, I talk to God about it, but I know I need to physically write it down to cement it for me.

And the fourth way to ruin your life is if you screw up, then just give up. If you're going through hell right now, don't stop. Keep going. God will redeem all the things from our pasts. The memories may not go away, but through the cross we get to leave the baggage, the fear, the guilt, the shame. Don't give up even though it may seem easier. It still blows me away sometimes that God wants to give us fresh starts. And will. Just two days ago some of the memories of my past came back - and the enemy tried to bring the shame back too - but thankful I called on God, and He reminded me that I gave all that up. I don't have to live with it hanging on my back. He took it from me and He will see me through, like He always has...


Man, that was a long blog, but it serves as a good reminder to me of how I want to live my life.

** And to all my loving, wonderful, friends...thank you...life would be harder without the relationships we all have with each other - even those we don't get to see often :)

Weird Things Are Happening At The Library...

Since this is my 100th post (!!!!) I have decided I need to once again blog about the crazy things that occur at the library... In no particular order....

Yesterday I encountered a man using the internet with a very, shall we say, interesting haircut...it was a mohawk mullet - I like to call it a combo deal.

A man reeking of alcohol had the nerve to call me unhelpful and rude when I wasn't able to fix a spelling on a website and then required him to pay for the color copy he just had to have...

Jessica had a crazy old man in love with her - little did we know how bad it was until after she moved to Illinois. He came in asking about her since he hadn't seen her car lately!

I had an old, black woman hit on me a few weeks ago - talk about the heebeegeebees...

A few months back there was a guy who was talking to the voices in his head and the police had to be called.

Over Christmas break I had to tell a man he was not allowed to ever use the computers again, which he already knew, and he started yelling and leaning over the desk at me! Thank goodness for the desk!

Multiple people I work with have had chairs thrown at them when a patron got angry.

Last year someone I work with was helping this crazy lady and a cockroach crawled off of her and scurried across our desk! Talk about creepy!

Many of us have had creepy guys staring at us through the windows and while we are working at the desk - heebeegeebees again!

One morning Patty was pulling into our parking lot and in between the bushes was a man relieving himself - apparently he was as frightened to be caught as she was to see him!

I could go on for hours...and I am sure there are even better ones I just have blocked outta my mind!

For those of you interested, go here and here for some library humor....

Need Opinions...

So I was reading this article that got emailed to me through one of my subscriptions, and I was curious what everyone thought about it...

Here it is...

WAIT

I just read a poem that spoke right to my heart. It's amazing all the different ways God chooses to use to get through to me.

Wait
by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . .

And the Master so gently said, "Wait."

"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.

"My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.

"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting for what?"

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . .
and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence are all you can see.

"You'd never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of my comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.

"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late,
My most precious answer of all is still . . . Wait."

My Lame Sex Life??

Yes people, it is about time I blogged about the well talked about mylamesexlife.com billboards and overflow of craziness since. I just have to say that I am proud to call Granger Community Church my church and that they are willing to put themselves out there to get ridiculed in the name of Christ. Whether people agree or not, I believe we are reaching people - people who may otherwise have lost all faith in churches or that a church could ever possibly be relevant and apply to their lives.

Here's a nice, sarcastic piece of a blog that makes me smile...

Ashamed

I just read an article from CNN.com that made me ashamed Christianity. There is a church that claims "that God killed the soldiers because they fought for a country that embraces homosexuals" and choses to proclaim their beliefs by protesting at the funerals of these soldiers. I am feeling so many emotions towards these people right now. Anger, frustration, sadness, disgust. I am ashamed to be lumped in the same category as them. But the positive spin, the reason why this story is on CNN, is the group that is combatting the hateful and hurtful words thrown at the families and friends of the soldiers who gave their lives for our country. A group of motorcyclists called the Patriot Guard travel around to shield the families from these horrid displays. They stand across the street from the protesters supporting our troops and the families. They are combatting hate with love - they are the ones who may not be Christians but are loving as Christ would want us to - they are sacrificing time and comfort to often stand out in the cold to comfort hurting people.



Thank you to the Patriot Guard. Thank you for supporting our soldiers.

And even more important, thank you to all the military putting their lives on the line to keep us safe, to protect our country, for doing what many of us can not. I am proud to be an American, and I am proud to say I know and love many military men and women! Thank You!

To read this story, click here...it really is worth the time :)