i saw switchfoot. i got a shirt that says "i like switchfoot". they weren't on the carson daily show tonight, jerome said they are rescheduled for a couple weeks from now.
counting down to school.....5 days....
quote about me....
"I've known u for awhile and some of the pages get stuck together and then u have to go back and re-read some of the chapters in the 'book of Sam'" ~Heather
The thought it comes to my mind, to somehow intervene
But it could bring me trouble, and what can I do anyway?
It's hard to be effective when it happens so often
To see a life unraveling, through drawn venetian blinds
I'm sickened by compassion, I'm stifled by my limitations
Anesthetic apathy, come take the pain away
And my heart still beats inside
The blood runs in my veins
A remnant of life remains
And my heart still beats inside
Oh God, we need you here
We're sinking fast and we dont care
The evidence is all around me, on both sides of my door
Our hearts beat
ok....things are looking up...I get to see Switchfoot tonight! I try not to be one who is thrives on circumstantial happiness, but seeing Switchfoot is most definitely a circumstance to be happy in. I can't help it, they are a great band and really down to earth guys. Thanks for reading...and don't be jealous ;).
Oh oh oh....they are going to be on the Carson Daley Show tomorrow night so check the out!!!
hey...it's been a while...I am lazy at doing this...
Right now I feel as if I could explod all over this page with many words...happy words, sad words, angry words, confused words...so much going through my head and heart...but I am not going to explode, I have far too much pride to do that...
Lets start with Happy words~Awesome! Purple Door was awesome, especially Friday night. I just had a lot of fun jumping around and seeing Jeremy Camp, The Violet Burning, Pillar, and Five Iron Frenzy. Saturday was rainy but fun. Many thanks and hugs to my friend John who was my Purple Door buddy and put up with my crap...you're a good guy. Saturday was also fun because Heather came and I hadn't seen her in far too long. Bands that I got to see on Saturday included Brave Saint Saturn (yea!!!), The Benjamin Gate, Holland, Madison Greene, Over the Rhine, Cool Hand Luke, Relient K, Ester Drang, Anberlin. Blindside was suppose to play, but didn't be of the really bad storms, but the lightening was cool. I could write a lot more about Purple Door, but I'm not. It was probably the highlight of my summer, after Brasil of course. Check out some cool pictures here: http://cmradio.net/purpledoor/pd2003.shtml. I took a bunch but I am too lazy and impatient to up-load them...
As far as the other words swirling around in my head, I don't think I will disclose them quite yet, don't want to bring you down...I should probably talk some stuff over with God instead of just haphazardly cutting loose and dump it here.
Hello, good morning, how you do?
What makes your risin' sun so new?
I could use a fresh beginning too
All of my regrets are nothing new
So this is a way, that I say I need You
This is the way
That I'm learning to breathe
I'm learning to crawl
I'm finding that you and you alone can break my fall
I'm living again, awake and alive
I'm dying to breathe in these abundant skies
Hello, good morning, how you been?
Yesterday left my head kicked in
I never, never thought that
I would fall like that
Never knew that I could hurt this bad
I'm learning to breathe
I'm learning to crawl
I'm finding that you and you alone can break my fall
I'm living again, awake and alive
I'm dying to breathe in these abundant skies
These abundant skies
This is a way that I say I need You
This is a way that I say I love You
This is a way that I say I'm Yours
This is a way
This is a way
That I'm learning to breathe
I'm learning to crawl
I'm finding that you and you alone can break my fall
I'm living again, awake and alive
I'm dying to breathe in these abundant skies
Yes I'm dying to breathe in
These abundant skies
I'm learning to breathe
I'm dying to breathe in these abundant skies
Hello, good morning, how you do?
How you do?
How you do?
Breathe
Today I had a revelation of sorts. I am using the term "revelation" in a generic way cause it wasn't this huge monumental prophecy or anything, but it was something I realized. So maybe it was more of a realization then a revelation, but whatever. So I was reading Proverbs 14 and was good stuff, but I wasn't getting it, so I decided to take a nap and clear my head a bit. I woke up to the pouring rain and that was really cool and relaxing until I realized my car windows were down. So I went out and rolled up my windows, came in and decided to read some more of the Bible and pray; so I flipped to Psalms and read chapters 29 & 30. Chapter 29 focuses on how great and glory God is and as He is seen in His creation. Chapter 30 praises God for how He had brought David through great times of sorrow, which is summarized in vs. 11&12, "You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, To the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever." The phrase that stuck out to me was "You have turned my mourning into dancing..." because, well it just did. I guess the "revelation" of sorts was that I have never been really down, I mean I have been hurt and sad from crap that has happened to me, but none of it ever made me truly hopeless; that in and of itself is a blessing. I mean I praise God for what He gives me, but shouldn't I praise and thank Him for what He hasn't give or allowed. Nothing has me down and I should be dancing with joy. Sure there are so many questions I have about where I am going in the future, so much uncertainty on my part, but I have hope cause I know God is already there. I just need to be joyful now; as well as to the end that my glory may sing praise to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to You forever. I hate complacency, apathy, but I find myself being led there more often then not because it's comfortable and my human nature likes that, which doesn't leave much room for the Spirit's leading and eventually I have to fake having joy and mistake fleeting happiness for joy. I guess that is the crap that gets me down, but I think God uses it all, which is weird cause He can use my own stupidity to glorify Himself.
Another good verse that I will stick in here randomly is Psalm 30:5,
For His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for life; weeping may endure for a night, But joy comes in the morning. So that is my revelation...ok so it's more of a realization...
Good morning! I know I posted only about 10 hours ago, but I feel the need to post again. What I am posting, I didn't write, but my friend Darla did and it blessed me a lot--really what I needed to be reminded of and think about as I go through this day. I know only a few people regularly read this and I pray especially that those faithful readers will be blessed by this post:
God has a hold of you! Last night I went to see Tony Evans. I don't know who all of you know or have heard of him. He's on the radio and TV. It is such a blessing how God knows EXACTLY what you need. Last night I thought, I won't go-but I just believed that, God I have faith that You can meet me where I am at and encourage my soul, with exactly what I need-so I went. Now I just wanted to encourage each one of you with some of what he said last night.
Jeremiah 29:11-13
For I KNOW the plans I have for YOU
declares the Lord,
"Plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
Plans to give you a HOPE & a FUTURE.
Then you will call upon me
and come and pray to me,
and I WILL LISTEN TO YOU.
You will seek me and FIND ME
when you seek me with ALL your heart.
I will be found you you,
declares the Lord,
I will bring you back from captivity.... ***********
God is up to something GREAT in your life!
Sometimes that is hard to believe, but He is. What are you struggling with? God can turn that something into something great. Do you believe that?
Hopelessness. Are you feeling that life couldn't get any worse? God wants to change that hopelessness into GREAT HOPE that can't be quenched. He meets you where you are so many times, but at times He has to bring us to our lowest point so HE can be most glorified.
Jeremiah, he was living in a hopeless situation, so it seemed. Jeremiah 29:11 is a GREAT VERSE, in a bad chapter, in a bad book. God's people were in exile and false prophets abounded. So many times I forget that the people He was telling this to weren't having the greatest time. In the midst of this, God said,
"I have plans for you!"
I am challenged in time and age when evil abounds, when truth is not treasured, when the world says there are no absolutes to be different. To know that God is my HOPE. I can be different b/c of Jesus Christ.
Hope- Joyful anticipation about the future
God says, "I have plans for YOU"
The problem- so many times you and I tend to look in the rearview mirror. Looking back at the past, we tend to live in the past, not focusing on the great hope we have today, in the future, the blessings God wants to give us, the opportunities we have in our relationship with our Savior.
WHERE YOU ARE GOING IS A LOT BIGGER THAN WHERE YOU'VE BEEN
Are you down and out about a certain situation in your life? God has been there before, with the down and out. He changed Moses from a murder to a AMAZING man of God, Peter, a man who denied Jesus, to one of the greatest teachers of all time. God's grace!!! He can take whatever you have been, where ever you are now and TRANSFORM you! He has not given up on you yet!!
So you may be saying, Ok God how long, what is the plan? You say You have plans for me, there is a hope for me, a future. To be honest, that is where I am now. That is where I was last night.
What was God's answer to Jeremiah, to the captive Israelites?
You must seek me, find me.
Don't look at trying to find the plan (that's what I so often do), seek me and I will bring it to pass. Go in hot pursuit of Him. Don't just seek information about Me. We can have a lot of that, but are you truly knowing Me? The Word of God can so often be an end in itself. IT SHOULDN'T BE. The Word of God is the means that we use to get to know our Glorious Savior, our Creator God. Am I content with information, or do I truly know the Author of the information. Is He changing my life?
Tony Evans was saying how he went through 4 years of intense study of the Word of God at Dallas Theological Seminary-graduated with honors. At the end he was worn out. You can know all the information imaginable but if it's not joined with a growing relationship with the Creator God-knowlege will wear us out. It will give pride room to grow. I need to seek Him, the Author of all things, not just information. Am I doing that? I think of the verse that says Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. May God make us humble, poor in spirit. The Word of God is only the doorway to knowing our God, our relationship with God, knowing Him is satisfaction.
Tony also gave the illustration of pizza, the dough is mixed, kneaded, punched, pressed down, twirled in the air-until the baker is pleased. THE DOUGH MUST BE PREPARED. The process takes time, but the results-mouth-watering.
God's preparing each one of us.
Sometimes He takes us to the bottom of ourselves, to make us realize we never want to be here again, be it complacency, be it an area of sin in our life. He is gracious-amen-I am reminded that He won't give You anything you and Him can't handle. So if you see a sister or brother in Christ struggling-be encouraged by that. He will be Your everpresent help in those moments. In the end you will see how great He is, how much you NEED Him. How small you are.
God sees all the junk in your junkyard and loves you still.
Like Cinderella, We've found the prince (Jesus),
we've fallen in love with Him.
and
the GREATEST NEWS,
THE PRINCE IS LOOKING FOR YOU!
Before you check out of the situation you are in now
CHECK UP-God is waiting to hear your cry!!!
In the morning, O Lord
You hear my voice,
In the morning
I lay my requests
before You
And wait in EXPECTATION!!!
Psalm 5:3
Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"
Let the light of YOUR FACE shine upon us, O Lord
You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.
I WILL lie down
and sleep in peace
For Your ALONE, O Lord
Make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:6-8
Let's be that light guys, in the midst of this sin-stenched world where people ask, what is hope, where is there any good? May the light of Christ be EVIDENT in our face, in our actions, in our responses-this can only come as we seek Him #1 above all other relationships. May we be able to say that:
"God has filled us with greater joy than anything the world could ever give us."
He is our joy, our hope, our ultimate satisfaction.
**********
I appreciate each one of your hearts and lives.
For Christ alone,
Darla
My comments are messed up but try to post one anyway if you want to....
I feel the need to post, although I'm not sure what I should post. I will just ramble. My life feels different and I'm not sure why. I am blessed and this past weekend I think God used me to be a blessing, so that was good. I finished reading John today. Yesterday I was thinking how I don't like the end of the gospels because it's the end of Jesus' time on earth and the end of what He did while He was here. But as I was reading and thinking more, I realized that the last chapters of John are the climax of the whole book. It's where Jesus was the example of true love and His death was really just the beginning of something much bigger. In His death, He was an example of humility (Philippians 2 talks about this); He was falsely accused but didn't defend Himself, He knew what He had to do. I also thought it was remarkable how even though He was taking His lasts breaths on the cross, He saw His earthly mother Mary and made sure she would be taken care of. It just boggles my mind because here is Jesus, Savior of the world, taking all the sins of the world and dying, closing the gap between God and man, yet still mortal man who is looking out for the needs of the woman who raised Him. As cheesy as it might be to say, I think it's a beautiful picture of Who Jesus was--God and Man at the same time. So over my head, but still so real. Well, enough of my ramblings, I'm tired and my bed is calling me. Hope this makes sense in the morning!
I will extol the Lord at all times;
His praise will always be on my lips.
My soul will boast in the Lord;
let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
Glorify the Lord with me;
let us exalt His name together.
I sought the Lord and He answered me;
He delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to Him are radiant;
their faces are never covered with shame.
This poor man called and the Lord heard him;
He saved him out of all his troubles.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him
and He delivers them.
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.
Fear the Lord, you His saints,
for those who fear Him lack nothing.
The lions may grow weak and hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
Come, my children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days,
keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies
Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and His ears are attentive to their cry;
the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
He delivers them from all their troubles.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
A righteous man may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
He protects all his bones,
not one of them will be broken.
Evil will slay the wicked;
the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
The Lord redeems His servants;
no one will be condemned who takes refuge in Him.
