Manic Monday

"Just another manic Monday, wish it was Sunday, 'cause that's my fun day..." At least that's how the lyrics keep repeating themselves in my head! Of course it is Monday, most radio stations can't resist the urge to play this song, and as the speakers carried the sound this morning I thought about Sunday being "her" fun day, and I realized that this was true for this past Sunday, for me.

It wasn't fun in the conventional sense. Sunday for me means going to a building to meet with others who worship and give praise to the same God, the one true God. It means meeting with others in love to encourage, exhort, and be taught. This Sunday it also meant orchestrating a celebration following the initial gathering. By and large it was a success. People stayed to share burgers and hot dogs and to share a little bit more of life. It was FUN. I was tired, my feet ached (note to self: don't wear three inch heels on a day that you are going to be on your feet for 6 hours)!!! But it was fun to see an event from start to finish. It was fun to execute a plan. It was fun to see how people stayed and relaxed in the company of others. It was fun to serve with others who had a passion and a desire to see the event successful. I wouldn't necessarily rate this fun as needing it on a weekly basis, but it certainly is the type of fun that is needed from time to time.

Mundane Monday continues with the following thoughts:

*I've read 5 books from my Spring Reading Challenge, having just finished Jodi Picoult's latest earlier today.
*I watched "Schindler's List" last night for the first time, and seeing many of the images projected on the screen of the treatment of the Jews during the 40s was mind boggling, and in a way unimaginable. Yet not only was it imaginable, it happened, and in other parts of the world the same slaughter and blatant mistreatment of humanity continues.
*My IT hunk helped me on my blog with helping YOU stay in touch - note sidebar.
*Tantalizing Tuesday hits the blogsphere for another edition tomorrow...

give thanks with a grateful heart

As I went about my day today I allowed the prompts to be thankful resonate. The night before I had checked to see what my "theme" for Thursday was, and "Thankful Thursday" blinked back at me. Now as I sit to write out what I am thankful for this sunny day, the words of an old chorus came to mind: Give thanks with a grateful heart, give thanks to the Holy One, give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son. As the words repeated through my mind I began to think that as much as the things that I am thankful for count, that the bottom line is no matter what does or doesn't transpire in the day my heart and mind has reason to be thankful every hour for what God has done for me in the giving of His Son.

The beauty of "gift of Jesus" is that it means new life, and with that new life is the wonder that fills my days. Throughout the day I was thankful for many things, and rather than look at the negatives of the day, I turned my heart to the positives and the multiple things of which I am thankful for, ranging from cooler weather, to cute shoes, to my lovely IT guy - although until he pointed it out, I didn't know to be thankful for his assitance (more on this later), to home cooked meals, and the love and conversation of family, to community, and awareness, to sunshine, to stillness and movement...and much more.

What are YOU thankful for this week???

Wordless Wednesday, sort of!!

from blue and emerald to murky muddy!!

For Tuesday Postings I aim to scope out a news story of interest to me and post my thoughts, comments, etc on the story. In today's first edition of "Tantalizing Tuesday" I have a story regarding Lake Tahoe - to read the actual article click here.

In summary research was released that reveals that it is a likely possibility that in the next decade the striking blue and emerald water of Lake Tahoe will in fact be reduced to a murky muddy color, due in a large part to 'global warming.' The article goes on to detail how the Lake generates such breathtaking beauty of color, and that is related to the flow of oxygen at the bottom of the Lake and mixing that occurs every four years, which stirs the algae growth upward. Like I said click above for the article.

The story covering Lake Tahoe caught my attention because a couple of weeks I had the pleasure of visiting Squaw Valley with Dad, and from the high point you can look back at Lake Tahoe, and at the time it was surrounded by snow capped mountains, and looked breathtaking. In scanning the horizon my dad and I were discussing the Urban Legend that surrounds Lake Tahoe, and one consists of the possibility of a grave site existing underwater, and due to the icy cold temperatures and deep waters, the bodies have been preserved in death. If in fact there is any remote truth to this, then could it be possible that as time elapses and the temperature of the Lake rises, that the things from below could rise higher or decompose???

COMMERCIAL BREAK: I was interrupted from my thought flow by a visit from a most ardent admirer, but I'm back to finish so I can have blogged at least two days in a row, AND get to bed before 11, a minor miracle!!

Digressing from Urban Legend and all that lark, I would also like to take the issue of global warming and eco friendly, and going green, etc and pause momentarily. Of all the commands God gave his children, perhaps the one most neglected has been the one for us to take care of all that he made. The beauty of the earth is a gift from God, yet do we value it, give God the glory for it? I am not in the camp that places more importance on the quality of the environment other the life of a human; but I do feel we who profess a faith in Jesus Christ neglect our role. We too often abdicate our responsibility, be it our responsibility to care for the environment, to love all unabashedly, to fight for the right of life, to procure freedom, to tell others of Jesus…


Did you notice the windy path I made all over an article related to warming trend of Lake Tahoe?!

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog, but don’t be looking for any words!!

A Return

Today is a day of returns. I returned to work after a two week break -- they were on vacation, cruising the Caribbean. It was lovely to be back, although it often takes a day or two for us all to get back into the swing of living life at home, as opposed to vacation living. But I sincerely missed Marissa and Michael, and was very glad to be back in their delightful company. A day with "M and M" is full of smiles and laughter, even if wrought with tired and cranky munchkins. For instance, Marissa mentioned this afternoon in attempting unsuccessfully to put the straw in the Capri Sun cartoon, that she just wasn't strong enough, and would have to start working out more, perhaps using her daddy's stairmaster!

I returned to Kickboxing after a 3 week little break - funny how that worked out. Working up to the motivation to go is difficult. I enjoy the results of working out, but I am not actually one of those people who enjoys the work out for the work out. I work out because I believe that I am called as a follower of Christ to not only take care of my spiritual body, but also my physical one, and that in not taking care of my body, I am in fact scoffing at the gift of life he has given me. However, my motivation to attend tonight wasn't quite so lofty, but was really so I could retrieve a book off of a friend, which leads me to my third 'return.'

I returned to reading and in my return I have read two books already. Reviews to follow, most likely not tonight as the clock is close to twelve chimes, and I've work early tomorrow. I read "Someday" by Karen Kingsbury yesterday evening, and read "Remember Me?" by Sophie Kinsella today. Oh but how I missed the pure enjoyment of a book in hand.

I returned to blogging. I know recently my blog postings have been few and far between, but I seek to remedy that, and am aiming to be more disciplined in my approach to this blog, and writing in general. On that allow me to introduce you to "Mundane Monday" - the first in my daily posting themes. Essentially Mundane Monday allows me to post and write at whim, as you can see from the above posting. Check back daily, well often end of the day daily, to see the other themes I've nailed down.

Well, I do reckon that my eyelids are officially heavy and that is a sure sign that I must heed the call to rest my weary body. One more thing -- I'm in love and I love, just wanted you all to know that!!!

Spring Reading List

Over on Callapidder Days Katrina has once again set in motion the Spring Reading Challenge, and well seeing as I have gone 40 plus days without indulging in reading fiction, I am more than ready to hit the road running. Here is my list for the Spring Reading Challenge 2008
Change of Heart: Jodi Picoult - one of my favourite authors Someday: Karen Kingsbury - I can't help it, I know I could probably predict the story but still the book beckons Surrender Bay: Denise Hunter - a fan, especially because I enjoy being able to read her blog postings here
The Convenient Groom: Denise Hunter - the second in the Nantucket Series
Only Uni: Camy Tang - the second in the series
Watching The Tree Limbs: Mary DeMuth - I've been reading her blog for a number of years, and have yet to read her books and am eager to
Rebecca: Daphne du Maurier - can you believe I haven't read this Classic?!
The Beautiful and Damned: F. Scott Fitzgerald - one of my new roomie's favourites, and I figured why not read it
The Tempest: William Shakespeare - in watching "Shakespeare in Love" I realized I had never read this one of Shakespeare's
Anna Karenina: Leo Tolstoy - another classic, one that has been sitting on my shelf - might be slightly ambitious
Madame Bovary: Gustave - again on the shelf
Taming Rafe: Susan May Warren - who can resist the charm of the cowboy on the cover?!
Remember Me?: Sophie Kinsella - thoroughly enjoyed her "Shopoholic" series
Catch A Rising Star: Tracie Bateman
You Had Me At Goodbye: Tracie Bateman - was intrigued by the second in the series, but have a thing about reading the first one -- so that's why both are present. Stuck In The Middle: Virginia Smith -- the cover intrigues me, as does the title
Peculiar Treasures: Katie Weldon Series: Robin Jones Gunn -- Can I just say I am thrilled for this new series, and hope to not be disappointed. I was and still am a huge Christy Miller fan, and Katie was Christy's best friend!!
Deep In The Heart Of Trouble: Deanne Gist - a follow up to "Courting Trouble"
Solemnly Swear: Nancy Moser - it sounds intriguing
Learning To Fly: Roxanne Henke - enjoyed her previous titles The Message Version of the Bible

So above is twenty titles plus the Bible, and I could keep going but something green got in the way -- yes some of the titles I have, but some of them and some of the unlisted titles are currently occupying shelf space in various bookstores :) I haven't listed any NonFiction as I have just come off a bout of nonfiction including: Vintage Jesus, UnChristian, Blue Like Jazz, Lennon Bio, Freakanomics, some others too... Look forward to this challenge and hopefully writing reviews of the books that I read. I am also keen to reread many of the books that have sat idle on my shelves the past five weeks, but I didn't think they count too much!!

wordless wednesday

I already failed at Wordless Wednesday, but perhaps I'll end the day wordless, you'll have to wait and see!!!

a theme?

Me again. I realize I've been absent from posting for a number of days, and as always it isn't from a lack of material, merely from a lack of discipline of actually writing. To add to this is the comparison of a friend who blogs. In the early stages of being friends with Dan I would give him a hard time about not blogging, because there would be some weeks where nothing would appear new on the screen. However, he has been motivated to blog on a daily basis, and his blog is full of insights, recipes, stories, and much more and he blogs every day but Sunday. So with that looming over my shoulder, I once again would like to redevelop my blogging habits.

In some regard it be 'neat' to have what many have in that there is a theme for each day. At the very least it would force me to be disciplined to write within those confines, and would give direction as to the writing of the blog. I tend to write randomly with little theme permeating the process, but I think the time has come for a little discipline in this area of my life.

So here is what I'm thinking:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday - I've read on many blogs various themes: Wordless Wednesday, Water Cooler Wednesday, Works for Me Wednesday, and more. I think I quite like the idea of Wordless Wednesday and allowing a picture to truly be worth a thousand words.
Thursday
Friday

Besides that one day theme, I am at a lost for theme based days -- but I will prevail, however if you have any ideas please feel free to leave a comment in the designated area. I am toying with the idea of quote of the week, book review, insight, random and quirky, lesson learnt -- but not settled on any as of yet.

passion week day three

This week is "Holy Week." It is Passion Week. It is the week leading up to Easter, or more appropriately the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Lead Pastor of my church issued a challenge to the congregation this week in an attempt to prepare for the crucifixion and resurrection. He has challenged us to mimic certain actions that echo Jesus' walk to Calvary, and furthermore echo the Jewish tradition of Passover. To read in detail go here.

Now to preface what I'm about to write, I would like to acknowledge the verses in Matthew where Jesus speaks about when you fast to not publicly announce it, and God will honor what you have done in secret - and in posting about fasting I'm not seeking accolades, or praise, but merely to speak of what I learnt from the process.

Yesterday I fasted. I abstained from food and drink, besides water, for the duration of the day. It was in correspondence with Jesus' day of starting his day cursing the fig tree for failing to bear fruit and ending with him witnessing the widow give all that she had. I chose to fast to redirect my thoughts to God, and allow it to serve as a process to put aside distractions.

Prior to yesterday I never quite realized how much food and the intake of it pervades my life. I am not constantly eating, but I am a snacker and as such have various snacks in my bag. Then throw in the adverts that speak of food, the people who walk by with Starbucks, the cups of Trail Mix, my mind was engaged in a battle. Typically I do not think about food so much during the day, but on the day that I decided that I would not partake the thought of food haunted me.

Each time that a thought of food drifted into my mind, I redirected it. The time that I would normally eat, I refocused my thoughts. In theory it worked, but truthfully I am not sure to what extent as by day's end I was weak, tired, and sorely desiring food.

However being in that state brought to light various paths of thought. The first of Jesus and his fasting for 40 days, and the level of temptation. I fasted for but a day, and in doing so I do believe it weakens your mind and body in other regards. Second as I went to sleep last night hungry, I couldn't help but think of the thousands, no millions who go without food on a daily basis and not by choice, but because they don't have access to food.

Fasting yesterday opened my eyes to things not seen during my normal day to day workings, and for that I am grateful and eager to see what other lessons through this week God has waiting for me to discover.

new graphic

What do you think of my new top graphic? Courtesy of Guillaume, pixelmeter, and an image junkie from church. The image was a choice for Planet Earth - our mission emphasis month - it wasn't your typical mission's month (although sometimes I think atypical has become the new typical)! One Sunday two of our pastors - teaching and worship - were actually in Hungary and we Skyped in, additionally we called some other missionaries, and as a body we were able to hear brief testimonies of their ministries. Another week we viewed a documentary entitled, "A Cry From Iran" - the director, who was also the son of the Iranian martyred of whom the film depicted. Haik Hovsepian was martyred in the mid 90's in Iran, killed - brutally stabbed 27 times - for proclaiming his faith, for being steadfast in his commitment to the truth of who Jesus Christ was, is, and will forevermore be. Joseph, the son and director, shared following the documentary. He spoke Jesus' words: From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. It is both an empowering statement and to a degree a fear inducing statement.

Here in America we live with so much and yet what are we doing with it. God calls for sacrifice. That's it in a nutshell - sacrifice. Haik said he was ready. Following his death, the members of the Iranian church wrote their wills, and generally expressed an equal readiness. Are we, am I - ready to die for what I believe? Is my life something of which would lead to death were Christianity a death sentence?



With Easter fast approaching, it becomes a time to reflect more deeply on the sacrifice that was made for you and me. A life sacrifice -- Jesus sacrificed his life in heaven and embodied humanity in the most humbling way, and then he gave up life once again as he was nailed to the cross. But before that ultimate sacrifice he sacrificed each step of the journey. He sacrificed his time, his talent, his relationships -- we may not be called in our lives to sacrifice our lives in the form of physical death, but are we ready to sacrifice our lives?

in the news

Homeschooling California ruled that Homeschooled children need to be taught by credentialed teachers. California Governor Schwarzenegger promises to fight that ruling. I know many families who operate in the homeschool environment, and am eager to hear their thoughts.

Reading - Elizabeth Barrett is 17 months old and can read. Does her ability make her hyper intelligent? What does it mean for her future? How can she read so early? Is it an innate ability unique to her, or an ability that can be fostered in other children, and if so, how?

Weather - England is under siege. Wind and rain pummel the coasts of England, Wales, and Scotland. Some winds recorded at 80 mph.

New Sins - The Vatican released a list of new sins for the world to avoid. Sins ranging from ecological offenses and bioethical offenses. Can you name the original seven deadly sins?

Obama - Obama offers some great quotable lines in response to Clinton Camp talks of him running as VP. My favourite includes Obama reasoning that Clinton would accept him as VP, but doesn't view him as having enough experience to be the president. Yet should anything befall the president, the vp takes the reins!

French - The French are taking over. Just kidding, but they have infiltrated Facebook and now Facebook has gone live French style.

ever changing, yet still the same

We live in a world that is ever changing, yet still the same. The world continues to evolve on a daily basis - just the fact that you're reading this on a blog is proof of the world's evolution. Technology shifts and evolves, from phones to computers to the internet, we exist in a subculture of perpetual change. The "latest thing" changes. What was "hot" last week, is now cooling off on the back range. Celebrity markings change, who we thought was the greatest last year, no longer shines in the spotlight. The hippest style of clothing is now rags for washing the toilet. The intriguing literature of last year is pushed aside for something new and innovative.

Yet at the core we remain the same. We are consistently people starving for purpose and truth. We are a people who throughout time have searched for truth, hope, purpose, and in all the wrong places. We are people who desire love and connectivity, yet when we find it we run from it, scarred of the implications. We are a people who since Adam and Eve have been separated from God and his truth, hope, purpose, and love - and like the many before us have grappled with returning to the sanctuary of the garden.

Our world is ever changing. Yet our world is still the same.

What we are doing to affect change? And what are we doing to solve the sameness?