Six Flags and Jesus

Today, dear friends and I went to Six Flags over Georgia.

It was 400 degrees (probably low 90's)
We sweated like pigs
We had a blast...

I would love to tell you all about SFOG, but it really doesn't matter. It was any normal trip to an amusement park.

But then, in the midst of the chaos of the ride home, the Holy Spirit totally busted me about what I had not been praying about.

I actually CRIED.

Dear Jesus, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? I cry ALL. THE. TIME. anymore and I'm starting to think it's ridiculous!

Honestly, I think all my crying is a direct result of my not praying about these things though. And it was so strange that it had to happen in the midst of our entertaining ride home.

Pajama Party...

Out of respect (and maybe a little fear!), I am not posting the one picture I took during the PJ party with my FBC ladies.

But, can I tell you how much fun I had??

• 12 women
• good food
• FABULOUS DESSERTS
• a pool & hot tub
• Apples to Apples
• a gorgeous and spacious home so that everyone had a bed to sleep in!
• good company
• not going to bed until 4:00 am

Priceless.

I am a little hoity-toity to say that I finally slept at The Farm. You'd have to be a Daltonian to get that. And I'm not a hoity-toity kind of girl. Our hostess(es) were wonderful! The food was Divine, including this dessert that was supposed to be a flop. It was NOT a flop. It was yummy, hot goodness in a plastic cup! Apples to Apples was so much fun with these women too! And Yay to Mrs. A. for winning the game!!! (And for being a precious friend to call and check on me this afternoon!) Then, we were blessed with a rainstorm this morning. God knows we've been needing the rain. I could have done without the lightning, but God knows what's best.

Here are a few funny comments:

"I'm delightful AND delicious!"

"I do not want a PITY! CARD!"

"Kiss the Cook's"

400

In honor of my 400th post, and since I’m too cheap to buy a domain name or even a Flickr pro account, I thought I would share stuff about me:

1. My father taught me how to read when I was about 2 ½.
2. I skipped a kindergarten because of that.
3. This resulted in me being the second youngest person in my graduating class.
4. The only other person is sixteen days younger than I am.
5. I blame my social stigmas in high school on skipping a grade.
6. I got glasses when I was 7.
7. I got contacts right before 8th grade.
8. I also got my last perm that week too.
9. Quite eventful, huh?
10. My mom is Shirley.
11. She’s a natural redhead.
12. My grandmother is too.
13. I have a birthmark on my left leg that looks like a red strawberry.
14. I used to tell people it’s where all my red hair color got diverted to, instead of my head.
15. I’m still jealous that I’m not a natural redhead.
16. I seriously, SERIOUSLY, love redheaded people
17. I want redheaded babies.
18. But I would like a loving husband first.
19. I have prayed for my husband since I was 12.
20. I can’t wait to meet him.
21. I dream in vivid color, with understood concepts.
22. I can remember A LOT of my dreams.
23. I frequently have recurring dreams.
24. I dreamed about a little redheaded girl for six weeks once.
25. When the dreams stopped, she and her family started coming to my church.
26. Her name is Tamara, she’s 15 now, and she’s still one of my favorites.
27. I wanted to be grown-up as a little girl.
28. I spent most of my time with adults.
29. My father used to read/practice sermons to my brother and I.
30. I understand some theological concepts that adults don’t.
31. My father has a Doctorate in Theology from Columbia.
32. And he’s a CPA.
33. My brother lives in NYC.
34. Gramercy, to be exact.
35. I think John Mark is, by far, the coolest, funniest person I know.
36. When he would cry as a baby, I would beat my parents to the crib.
37. I had a speech impediment as a child.
38. I could say “th” or “f”
39. Kinda stinks when your name has an F in it, huh?
40. I once painted my nails with a Blue Permanent marker.
41. I hated anklets (the socks for little girls with lace on them), so I would stick my feet in the toilet so my mother would have to take them off.
42. I got spankings every Sunday morning for weeks over that until my grandmother found knee socks with lace on them in Boaz, Alabama.
43. Did I mention I was a preppy/nerdy little girl?
44. I have pictures to prove it.
45. I was perfectly content in an Izod sweater, Argyle socks, and a pleated skirt.
46. Don’t mess with conformity!
47. I once washed a visiting Evangelist’s daughter’s hair in the toilet.
48. I was three.
49. She was two.
50. Thankfully, I’m not so fascinated with the toilet anymore.
51. Moving on…
52. I had fourteen perms in five years.
53. I’ve colored my hair… I don’t know how many times.
54. I used to change my hair color in direct response to my emotions.
55. I’m getting a little bit better at that.
56. I love rice.
57. If I were ever stranded on a deserted island, please give me a bible and soy sauce.
58. I would be just fine.
59. I credit rice and soy sauce with how my hair has been able to withstand the torture I’ve put it through.
60. Just think… Chinese people have GREAT hair and they eat a good amount of rice.
61. My brother and I are 19 months apart.
62. I have two step-brothers, William Craig (Bill) and William Lloyd (Billy), and one step-sister, Kim.
63. I have a niece and nephew, Ash’Lee & (William) Chase.
64. That’s a lot of Williams.
65. My parents are both remarried.
66. I’m obsessed with fingernail polish.
67. I don’t like people to use mine either.
68. I blame that on not having sisters growing up.
69. I don’t like people to use my hair brushes either.
70. Thanks in part to getting lice when I was 8.
71. My mom washed my hair in Kerosene because it makes lice drunk.
72. Like I cared that they were drunk???? I just wanted to stop itching.
73. I don’t sleep with stuffed animals.
74. My mother used to take them out of our beds because she didn’t want us to have attachments.
75. I’m attached to my pillow though.
76. If you steal my pillow, I. WILL. HURT. YOU. That’s a promise.
77. I love Jesus.
78. (That should totally be number 1, right?)
79. I got saved at age 7, and then it stuck at age 14.
80. I’ve been baptized five or six times. I can’t remember.
81. My spiritual birthday is September 20, 1994.
82. That’s the first time I ever met Bradley.
83. Bradley and I only dated for three months, but it took three years to get over him.
84. I’ve only loved two men in my life.
85. They looked A LOT alike.
86. To the extreme that it freaked some of my friends and family out.
87. Both are married.
88. I love Aveeno Baby with Lavender.
89. I love colored pens… green, pink, and purple are my favorite.
90. I love opening a box of new crayons.
91. My favorite color as a child was “GEEN”.
92. Now, I’m a Red girl.
93. My favorite scripture is Psalm 37:4.
94. I share that love with most single women.
95. We can be kind of a pathetic bunch sometimes.
96. I am obsessed with wedding hands.
97. I have both of my parents wedding bands. They are very precious to me.
98. I sneeze. Multiple times.
99. Please don’t say “Bless you” after each one.
100. It gets on my nerves.

**Updated**

I have been writing for TWO HOURS and cannot come up with a coherent post.

I'm very frustrated.

And I'm off to another optometrist. Y'all pray I don't go postal, k??

*UPDATE*

I didn't go postal, but I did cry. I'm so OVER physicians with attitudes. But, I cried in front of him this time, and he felt HORRIBLE and apologized. I mean, there is no reason under creation to talk to people as though they are completely ignorant. Especially when I'm paying for it.
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I realized I use (...) and (!) alot. I thought my overpunctuating was getting better but it was getting worse. I use them most frequently to insert a pause in reading, since it's stupid to insert (pause) everytime I think one is necessary.
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Tonight is the pajama party with my FBC ladies. None of them have ever slept with a Pentacostal before, so this should be interesting.
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I totally just cracked myself up.
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I want to give a few shoutouts:

Royce: You're a cool kid. You're going to be a good wife and mother. Notice I said going in the PRESENT TENSE. You Will. Not maybe. Not hopefully. WILL. And I don't want to be a preacher, but I would be TOTALLY OKAY with being a preacher's wife. :)

Jenn H.: Thank you for asking the tough questions. I may actually post our email interaction from yesterday.

The Holly's: You girls are too cool for school. Just thought you could use the blog-love.

Miranda: I'm sad you don't love me enough to... I don't know... comment, but I still love you anyway. And when we go to New York, I want you to meet Jenn H.

Karen: Thank you for reading, but the same goes for you as Miran. Please leave comments. It's one of my love languages, but Dr. Chapman just hasn't update the Five Love Languages to Six: Blog.

Amy: Thank you for your encouragement. You are such a blessing.

I have more shoutouts I could give, but I may need material in the future, so I'm gonna need to save it.
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I've had a lot of conversations this week about relevancy and discipleship. The church is now trying to play catch up for discipleship that was outlined hundreds of years ago.

Dear Theologians and Founders of Modern Denomination,

Paul was NOT just sending shoutouts to the churches for fun. He wrote letters, divinely inspired ones, that were intended to give us an outline for incorporating Faith into the world. Hence, being RELEVANT, but still grounded in Faith. Why did we spend the last 90 years preaching hell, fire, and brimstone, with little focus to being whole people? We are now - in mass - trying to integrate discipleship programs into churches via small groups, cell groups, and bible studies. And why do we think that we can formulate a microwave solution to this slow-cooker problem? And could you get back to me???

Sincerely yours,
Another J.C.
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I'm spent from the last one. Whew. And it's 3:46, and I still haven't eaten lunch. What's a girl to do?!?

I just about DIED!

Okay... I look at people when I drive. I also randomly wave at people, because it just feels good to be nice. My friends get really embarassed when I do this, but I don't care. My brother is a firm believer that this is the reason I should not move to NYC, because New Yorkers would not appreciate my friendliness and may see it as potential to shoot/mug me.

But I do it anyway.

So this morning, I was sitting at a redlight minding my OWN business. I look over at the truck beside me, and the man smiles at me. I waved and smile back. As I looked at him I thought, "He looks familiar." And then I realized:

I KNOW HIM.

He is the father of the "somebody" I mentioned yesterday. And I 'bout DIED.

I've told y'all that God keeps me humble. I believe wholeheartedly that God does it in the most subtle ways too. And this morning, it made me think about praying for my enemies, and people that have hurt me, and/or that I don't like. My personal disinterest in folks is no reason to not pray for them. Pray for them anyway. Pray for God to bless them, so that I can be blessed. (I'm not referring to prosperity gospel... don't go there.) Pray that in blessing them, that I understand more deeply Christ's love for my wretched soul.

'Cause I am a wretch. We all are.

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Last night, after driving through the flood (good grief it was terrible!), I arrived home to four girls dressed up (make-up, nails, hair, the works) cooking dinner with my roommate. They were so funny! Of course, dinner had to take a backseat to Glamour Shots.

My new name is OLAN MILLS.

After dinner, the four girls, roomie, our friend J., and myself took the aforementioned beauties in dresses bowling. Can we say "CLASSY"? Bowling in a dress is where it's at. You have no idea! We did manage to get in some really funny pictures, too.

But I have a favorite part. On the way to the bowling alley, the girls rode with me. We were listening to Elliot Yamin, singing at the top of our lungs to "Wait for you", when one of the girls starts going through my CD's. She noticed one that said "Booty Mix" and asked if we could listen to it.

**If you've never had the privilege to ride in my car, The Silver Bullet, with rap music blasting, you have not lived.**

So, me, four teenagers decked out in dresses cranked up "Booty Mix" rolled the windows down and, in Sunburned fashion, I turned my camera into a video recorder and we captured the moment. (Jenn H., you would have been so proud of me!) It was ABSOLUTELY HYSTERICAL. If you want to see the video, let me know, and I'll send it to you. I don't want to put these very impressionable girls on the internet somewhere for some creep to see. Anywhoodle... it was still a blast. When we got home, I frenchbraided everybody's hair (including my own... I'm so talented), and I headed to bed.

Here's a few pictures :)

Post #397

I have tried like FOUR times today to write a post, and never make it through.

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I'm not THAT busy. Ugh.

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I'm mad-stalking my blog friends for updates. Some of them have not updated since the 19th. Others since the 23rd. My friend R. updates regularly and we even mutually blogged about Mrs. Tammy Faye Bakker Messner. Thank you for keeping me sane, Mulier Sapien. :)

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No word on the j-o-b front. Still waiting.

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Had an eye exam yesterday with an optometrist who had the personal skills of, I don't know, algae. I was so mad that I actually told his staff I would never be back. He was a total jerk. Apparently, my hormones are going nuts because lately EVERY physician I go to seems worthless. And if it's not the physician themselves, it's their staff. I have to go to a dr.'s office to get a prescription refill b/c I have to weigh and give blood (they check stuff). This staff gives me a hard time EVERY TIME. I actually told the girl to open her eyes last time, because it was blatantly ON. MY. MEDICAL. CHART. I mean, seriously.

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My roomie brought 4 girls back with her, a 13, 14, 15, and 16 year old. Let's just say that we're having an interesting week thus far. :) I'll post pictures of the "dress-up" party that we're having tonight tomorrow morning.

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Post #400 coming up, I really wanna do something big. I don't know what I want to do, but I've got two posts to figure it out.

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We had girls' group last night. I haven't attended the last couple of weeks. It's just been weird. Since all the DRAMA occurred, I've just been skiddish to be a part of GG. I still feel like I need to talk to a few people, but ... maybe that's not a good idea.

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There's a new guy that's been hanging around with us lately. He's a really nice guy. Let me preface with: I AM NOT interested in him. He is very handsome, but we are on two different pages, if you will. But, Lawdy Lawdy, he's makin' all my friends frantic! Being on the outside,... I find this pretty funny. For once, Thank You Jesus, it is not me.

All things Red

With my massive love for REDHEADS, you can imagine how excited and ticked I was to read this:

http://www.improveverywhere.com/2007/07/24/redheads/#more-165

Oh, to have been a redhead in NY that day.

interviews

so, part 3 of round 2 interviews went really well.

the other candidate , j. (who works in the office next door to me) and i were talking about how random the questions were.

the hiring manager walked into my office and said that we (the other candidate and i) needed to arm wrestle to settle this.

then he laughed.

then he looked at us and said, "no,... seriously guys. it may come down to an arm wrestle."

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i've had an overwhelming urge to pick up and move to boston. it's getting hard to fight it. seriousness.

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i feel very e. e. cumming-esque by not capitalizing. My favorite work by him is "she being brand". we had a hot-tamale student teacher (that man was fine!) in mr. harris' 11th grade english class who used to read e. e. poetry to us. i cannot remember that guys name, but i remember this girl named tammy got him in huge trouble. he couldn't ever read poetry to us again. :(

Henri...

"Nothing is sweet or easy about community. Community is a fellowship of people who do not hide their joys and sorrows but make them visible to each other in a gesture of hope." - Henri Nouwen

Tammy Faye Bakker Messner

Apparently, I've been living under a rock and did not know that Tammy Faye Bakker Messner had passed away.

About three years ago, I ran across Jay Bakker's book Son of a Preacher Man. It is awesome. If you haven't read it, I suggest you do. It chronicles Jay's (Jamie Charles) life from the flipside... inside out... of ministry. Watching the pieces fall, watching his world come tumbling down and then crucified on television. Not only could I relate, but I think I that some of the junk I had dealt with as a PK whose father "fell" (if you will) resurfaced and I had to really, and I mean really deal with some things. Like forgiveness and what real love is. Seriously, I need to go visit his church now.

And I know some of my "I hate televangelistic ministry" friends are just dying right now, but I'm not opposed to televangelism. Yes, there are thousands of televangelists who have ripped people off. I'm not going to make any concession for them. God Almighty will deal with them and judge them justly, better than the media, better than any of us self-righteous, and better than the IRS. But for every bad evangelist, somebody has really gotten saved. God uses Bad Apples too, y'all. I think about the fallable men who have been called pastors in my lifetime, and regardless of how shady I thought they were, scripturally, if they preached The Word, then The Word doesn't go void. With that said, I am confident that some money poured into PTL may have been mishandled. I don't know all the details of who mishandled, or exactly how much or when... but it doesn't matter.

What I do know is that, amidst too much mascara, tears and a tv screen, Jim and Tammy helped revolutionize a new market for Christians to go into. When all was said and done, ministry wasn't about a bottom line $... it was about souls in heaven. Regardless of how harsh or over-the-top she may have appeared, she was human, and up to the very end of her life, she preached love.

'Cause it's all about love. It's loving people no matter how they look. It's loving people with no respect to their profession or vocation, or lack thereof. It's loving people despite their health or illness, poverty or wealth, location or circumstance. I hope that Tammy Faye rejoiced right through the gates when she got to heaven last week. No more tears... no more running mascara...

"Once Saved, ... Always Saved"

I had an interesting conversation at work that started with the question:

"Do you believe you can lose your salvation?"

I immediately responded. (I'm intentionally choosing not to share my answer because I know that sombody will get all defensive and think I'm wrong. I make no apologies for how I believe.) It made me think as our conversation progressed, that we definitely spend too much energy debating that question than worrying about the important stuff. So, I thought I might share something that gripe my grits.

Don't ask my belief on salvation when you (who profess to believe) don't pray in front of your children. I've been so blessed to have parents and grandparents who pray OUT LOUD. It doesn't matter how important or unimportant things seem, I believe that, through prayer, we can take anything to the throneroom of God. I believe that prayer is not optional in faith. And I believe that if God intended for every prayer to be silent, we would not have been given the capacity to speak above a whisper. Some prayers, yes,... they are personal. But prayer is not supposed to be quiet all the time. And I get irate at folks who think it's weird that I'm a tongue-talker, when their children don't see them pray in English.

CAN I GET AN AMEN???

Or believe that if the pastor is praying, that's good enough to cover everybody. For the week. You've got to be kidding. I especially get mad at girls who think that the sole responsibility of their husbands or husbands-to-be as the "spiritual head of the households" is to pray for them. I get even more mad when those are the girls that get married.

I had a guy friend who, whenever we went to dinner, never prayed. He always asked me to pray. It drove me crazy. And he's a pastor too. Part of my recent crush is because the first time a group of us sat down to eat, he prayed before the server got turned back around. THAT IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!

And I pray. You may think I'm the last person who should be praying for you. I'm imperfect. (I presume that if you need prayer, then obviously you are in the same boat with me too, Honey.) But I'll pray. I'll get before the heavenlies if you need me to. I am unashamed about that. The times in my life where I have the greatest regrets include several instances where the Holy Spirit has told to go pray for somebody, to pray about something, or to go get prayed for, and I have been disobedient.

But do not DIS' my faith when you don't allow anybody to see yours.

Purge

It's spring cleaning,... in the summer. I feel like there is some dead weight that I have voluntarily been carrying for too long. I also feel like I've been running and hiding from stuff, when in reality, I had nothing to run or hide from.

It's time to let go.

I deleted two of my eight blogs. I would delete my livejournals, but there is so much stuff there; I wish I knew how to transfer it. I'll try to link one of the old ones so you can get a feel of the "old me". But, there's a lot of emotion there.

I made my myspace public. I am who I am. I'm not going to make some concession about secrecy. I'm (hopefully) way past that.

Plus, my husband-to-be can't find me and learn how cool I am if I'm private, duh.

pic

The final result. And it looks like I have a stye.

Jacey

Life is precious.

I think we all need hard, cruel reminders that we can't take life for granted, or settle, because life is precious and fleeting.

This morning, I got a phone call that a guy I went to college with, and (shamefully) went to a party with my first semester, was killed in a car wreck Monday night. He was 27. He was an only child. He was coming home from work, when his car wound up underneath an 18-wheeler. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt, and through some preliminary investigation, the DOT and police have determined that a seatbelt could have saved his life.

He wasn't married. He didn't have any kids. He was a "playa", or at least considered himself one, but he was a good guy. He was just still looking to find himself.

My only hope is that he had time to make things right with God. Hell is forever y'all.

And that, along with a few other things are putting my life into different perspective. It's a new season. I've got new hair to prove it. (The highlights are back.) Last night, before I found out about Jacey (pronounced JC), I was thinking about what changes that I need to make. Life is too short to sit here and wait for it to just come to me, you know?

"Never mistake Motion for Action." Ernest Hemingway

...

"To find myself smaller than I appear, in a world bigger than originally perceived; this is what life is. Perception. Perspective. Preconceived notions thrown out. Possibilities unbelievable before now before us. To see that it is, and we are not."

Letter writing project

I'm determined to get back to writing cards. There is a certain sense of satisfaction when you put things in the mail that you just don't get when you send emails.

So, here is my plea: I want to send out cards, so email me or comment me your address. I have comment moderation enabled, so if you send me a comment, I can turn around and delete your address so that's it's not sitting on the internet for just anybody to find. And tell a friend. I'll snail mail strangers too. I'm sending Frank Warren one also. I think he needs one.

delightfullycliche@gmail.com

Jenn :D

Flickr

Because I'm good enough, smart enough,... (you get the idea), I want to say how excited! I! was! to! figure! out! Flickr! the! other! day! I felt very smart. Sadly though, when I went to share my excitement with my so called "friends", they were not excited when I said the word "blog", because they still don't get it.

So, ... to my bloggy friends: either we really are geeky, nerdy folks, or we are so technologically beyond our peers that it's ridiculous. And when, in ten years, they figure out how salawesome blogging is, we will finally receive validation, although we'll have moved on to bigger and better things, no doubt.

...and it's back up again...

"You can run, but you can't hide"

Work with me here interpeeps... another momentary lapse in sanity. :) I should probably edit a few posts, and even started to hide them and then I realized, you can't take back the words that come out of your mouth, therefore, I need to accept the consequences of the words I type. This could be disastrous, but I've gotta do what I've gotta do, you know?

The weekend: Friday night, a group of us went and saw "License to Wed". If you are an OFFICE fan, please know that my new celebrity crush is John Krasinski. I want to eat him with a spoon. Yum. I thought this was a great movie!! There was a lady behind us that kept snorting every time she laughed. And not a quiet snort either... it was so loud! But I seriously love, love, love, L-O-V-E John Krasinski. Yay!

Saturday was pretty low-key... I slept in... I studied LIFO... ate yummy Japanese... it was nice.

Sunday -- My friend N. has missed hanging out with all of us (when I say all, I mean like all 25 of us), so he had his parents cook out for everybody after church. We had good food, Cornhole, and fabulous conversation. I am so blessed to have such an expended network of folks. Sadly, I did not take pictures though. Boo. :( Ooh... but his parents did have Magnetix. I had so much stinkin' fun playing with that! I will probably be purchasing a set today too!

Church... was awesome. Pastor P. spoke about the "Relevance of Tongues", and I have to say, it was probably one of the best sermons I've heard. Nothing crazy or showy or flashy, just truth. I'll try to link the video when I find it. He gave the entire congregation (or at least those who don't know who to address the topic) clearer understanding on tongues and it's purpose. Seriously... rock solid message.

Various and unsundries... Part Tres

Just so y'all know... I took the blog to private and only invited those that I know read it (either through comments or email feedback), because I have someone who is, well... it doesn't matter, but who does not need to have access here.

I apologize for any inconvenience, and at some time in the future, I will undo the privacy, but for some undetermined amount of time, I knew I just needed to limit who had access.

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I had so much fun seeing my FBC ladies last night. I realized that it's been almost one year since I met them, how much they have impacted me, and how much my life has changed. Very surreal. We are going to do a Priscilla Shirer Bible Study first, then one by Jennifer Rothschild. I can't wait.

We are also having a pajama party in a few weeks too. I haven't been to a "real" pajama party since I was five or six, so I am excited about this!

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Yay to my brother for receiving a promotion and a healthy raise. He know can REALLY afford to fly me up any time he wants. :)

And I had an interview today, which went really well. It's up between myself and one other person, and even if I don't get the job, I'm next in line for the other candidate's job. It is a win-win situation. Praise the Lord!

FBC

I'm so ridiculously glad I got to see my favorite women tonight. I can't wait 'til we get rolling into a new study. :) YAY!

I totally want to do this...

Go Here...

Vent

I'm so stinkin' tired of ambiguous emails. And ambiguously shady folks. UGH.

There are people in my life who I have put on a proverbial pedastal. I elevate them to some status that nobody but God deserves (because I believe that's idolatry). When they fall off, (or jump off), I have been hurt at the realization that the person was not who I thought they were. This week, I've had experience on the flip side. People thinking they KNOW me, when in reality, they know NOTHING about me. And of course, I fall off their pedastals of dillusion in dramatic fashion, and they're suddenly surprised and angry that I'm OH! MY! Human.

I'm just so over this.

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On a different note, church last night was really good. It was our pastor's wife's birthday, so we had cake! I didn't eat any, but my friend's husband had three pieces. I imagine he was bouncing off the walls. And she talked about trust and faith. I want to share the general thought of last night, because it was really good!

There are two schools of thought that exist in response to prayer: 1) pray and ask for it, then believe that God will do what you pray (in accordance with His Will of course), but you put faith in believing that God will answer your prayer and you won't have to ask again; and 2) cry out and pray repeatedly, i.e. continual intercession for a need.

She used the scriptural reference for prayer versus crying out, and although I don't have them handy, I thought it was very interesting. There have been needs in my life where God answered very quickly. Whether it was healing, or peace, or just intervention in a particular situation. Then there are other times in my life, one that comes to mind in particular, where I prayer for God to answer and it took 13 years. I'm still praying for a husband too, and that's going on 16 years. Either way though, our faith shouldn't be shaken. God is true to the covenant with His people and with Himself, and regardless of the time frame (which is essentially God being on time in His time frame), He will intervene. I'll try to get the scripture's up.

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I just realized that have REPEATEDLY misused the words verses and versus. Shut the front door.

***

There is a man next door who makes a comment or compliment every time he sees me. I'm sure he means well, but Tuesday he called me "Baby", and today he called me "Lovely Lady", and followed me into the parking lot. He told me he was "follerin'" me. (Follerin' = southern version of FOLLOWING). Jokingly I said, " You know, stalking is an offense. I think we need 500 feet between us." As you can imagine, he 'bout swallowed his teeth and promptly went back inside. What in the world was I thinking? I quickly apologized because I was just kidding... well kinda..., but the damage was already done.

My co-workers have now dubbed me "ManEater". I don't think I'm a Maneater, a little mean perhaps, but not a maneater. I think I'm a magnet for strange men sometimes. Did I blog about the truckdriver after the fireworks?? (I'll have to read my own blog...) We've even had more than a few men follow us back from lunch and pull in the parking lot (I go to lunch with my (female) boss and another female co-worker). My roommate was talking about "The Factor", you know those girls who ALWAYS get the guy. I must have "The Weird Factor". Yikes.

T-R-U-S-T

Most days, I feel like the most fallable Christian EVER. If you don't feel like that, don't tell me. I am okay with my warped belief that we are all sinners who fall down and get up by the grace of God. There are days, when, in not so many words, I fear that God may have forgotten me. It's the discouragement that many of us don't share, or use every medium possible to fill time in our lives so that we don't have time to focus on it. But, we all know that it exists, some more than others.

But then there are days, when I have to stand back and look exactly what God did in situations, in my life, and the lives of my family and friends, and it just blows me away. I just stand in awe to see that, what initially is a wooly situation, can be changed literally in an instant, to work for the good of those who love the Lord. It is these kinds of things that sear Trust and Faith deeply into my soul.

Things rarely work out the way I want them to or pray for them to. But even in the worst times in my life, I see the Sovereign hand of God Almighty moving and working to change things, to change me, so that I can see Him more clearly.

When we are proud, He will humble us.
When we are broken, He will allow us to see the shards of our lives, and place us back on The Potter's wheel to be molded.
When we are bruised, He reminds us that Jesus was bruised for our iniquities and transgressions.
When we are hurt, He reminds us that we have The Paraclete.
When we rejoice, all of Heaven rejoices with us. And He relishes every moment of that.

I like this, probably because I don't adhere to it:

"Never complain and never explain." Benjamin Disraeli

In other news...

I think I need to "tone" me down a notch or twelve. I've realized that, I can be kinda of intense to other people, you know? And to top it off, many of them are taking it the wrong way.

Ugh.

Are you FORREAL?

I was driving down the road one day last week... I think the 4th and I saw this:

I like to think of it as the: Best of Both worlds. It's a car. It's a boat. Does that make it a Coat? I don't know if there is terminology for these kinds of vehicles. I did include the exit sign so you would all know that I was serious about this. Raise your hand if you can pronounce "Ooltewah".

Explanation of pics, et al.

For the record, I need to get a FlickR account, and for someone to teach me how to make the cool little linky on the side. Or do you have to buy FlickR pro? I'm so clueless. My title is still acting nutty, and I wish I knew how to use Haloscan for comments. Maybe I should just breakdown and buy a domain name. Can anybody tell me how much that is????

Here are the explanations of the pics below:
1) A spine. See L4. It helps move the legs. Probably why it was so critical to go get it fixed on Saturday.
2) Royce having a moment of prayer.
3) Blogger Sisters.
4) A blurry picture of the Glass Bridge. It kinda freaked me out too.
5) Sunburned & MulierSapien
6) Some sculpture downtown.
7) With my friend M.
8) I titled this pic Memaw and Papaw b/c of the rocking chairs. See,... BP & D.
9) Me & Seth. He's the coolest 19 year old I know.
10) Me & K-Wren. She's a really smart cookie but doesn't know it!

And, just in case you're wondering, I wore the same shirt for two days. And, I'm probably wearing it to a birthday party tonight. No, I don't care if you think that's gross. And Yes, btw, it is clean.

L4, Birthing Hips and God Lessons, Oh My!

I have lost the capacity to edit the title of my posts. I am very sad. :(

I had a busy busy weekend. I want to start by saying that, God is Sovereign. Epiphany, no? :) I am in awe of how God does things in our lives, in my life, to humble me, and teach me that He, the creator of all the heavens and earth, is in control, and is true to His Character and Covenant, with the Trinity, and with us. With me.

I did not anticipate this weekend being good for me. The "Somebody" got married on Saturday, 7/7/07. The freakin' luckiest wedding day EVA! per any stupid newscaster you watched. You can imagine that I was overjoyed. (Get the sarcasm folks.) Remember this, becuase I have a point later on.

Well, Friday night was relatively low key (my old youth pastor's wife came in town and I was able to hang out with her and her daughter and son (and technically Mom, step-sister, and nephew). I was supposed to take the daughter to get her hair "did" on Saturday by the lady that does mine. No sweat, right?

UNTIL I WOKE UP AT 2:00A.M. IN THE MOST EXCRUTIATING! PAIN! OF! MY! LIFE!

And I immediately knew that I had somehow knocked my L4 vertebrae out of line. It happened ten years ago, and it was awful. And at 2:00 AM! IN! THE! MORNING! it was equally as painful if not worse. I was WAILING. I called my Mom, crying, and all she could do was pray for me, and hang on the phone while I attempted to self-medicate until morning. A visit to the chiropractor (the ONLY one who was open because it was still the week of the 4th) graciously helped me out. The chiro had to take a picture of my spine and pelvis. After the most wonderful ultrasound treatment and heat therapy, he said, "Jennifer, I just need to let you know that have the best set of birthing hips I have seen on a woman in a long time. It won't matter if you have one kid or ten, you won't have any problems." My immediate response was to let him know that, currently, my birthing hips are as useful as my appendix. If they don't start getting some action, I'm going to have them taken out too. He cracked up and told me I should advertize!

But, I was pretty down for the count. I took some meds and slept most of the afternoon, since I slept virtually NONE Friday night.

Saturday night, Jenn H., Royce, and I went to Chatt for dinner, dessert, and a trip to the Walking Bridge. Amidst my ridiculously slow walking, and the pink bra incident, we had a really good time. We essentially laughed and shared for five hours.

Key words of the night: Sex, blogging, dysfunctional, Birthing hips, vertigo, husbands. Those are the best I can come up with for now... but please check their blogs for better updates. Better yet, watched the video!

Saturday night, I slept good thanks to: Muscle Relaxers, Aleve, and Ibuprofen. I like to think of them as my "Holy Back Trinity".

Sunday, after arising from my comatic state, I had a REALLY late lunch with friends, then my friend M. stopped through from a wedding in Cinci, and I watched Fever Pitch.

OOhh... and the point! I almost forgot! Crazy as this sounds, God knows me. I mean, God KNOWS Me, and knows that, this weekend, had I been able, I would have probably don't something foolish. Instead, He allowed me to be flat on my back to realize that HE is in control of my life, and that HE WILL TAKE CARE OF ALL OF MY NEEDS. According to His Will, not mine. Were it not for Grace, where would I be?

Photo showcase

Confessions

I have a confession to make.

I, Jennifer L. C., am a Tupperware Addict. Not Rubbermaid, or the cheapie stuff you buy in Wal-mart. I, am a namebrand Tupperware addict.

This morning, I got an email from them to buy a purple ice bucket, 12 tumblers and the lids for the LOW! LOW! PRICE! of $40.00 and it is taking EVERY single ounce of restraint not to order this stuff.

Mind you, I'm almost completely broke until the next payday. And, I don't really have any place to put it. But in my sick sick mind, I can justify buying a bucket and twelve cups because I know that, once I ever put them into circulation, they will last FOREVER.

Y'all should pray.

I think I need this verse tattooed on my forehead!

This morning's devo included the following verse:

"So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You've had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God's pure kindness. Then you'll grow up mature and whole in God." 1 Peter 2:1-3

In case you missed Sunburned's "False Advertising" entry, go read it. The verse and the devo that went along with it talked about how we (and by WE I am pointing fingers at ME) are so quick to foam at the mouth and put the Jesus stamp on it. Case in point: What about gossip? Pretending to build one another up in love, we camouflage gossip with prayer. "Did you hear about sister so-and-so? We need to pray for her. I heard that…"

It made me also think about my own frustrations. I had a convo with an old friend yesterday who nearly died while in Las Vegas. He and his girlfriend went out to see LV, and he had a seizure in a casino. They took him to a hospital and discovered an inoperable brain tumor (which is now monitored with meds). But, this experience changed his life in that, he either had to make a "clean sweep" or die. I also thought about how I love the shows Clean House and The Biggest Loser. They're all about change. However, if you don't change the mentality behind the problems, then the only thing you do is make the outside more presentable, until it happens again.

I am reminded today that I still have a lot of house cleaning to do with me. I have to stop worrying/fretting/thinking about everybody else's junk, and rest in the knowledge that God will deal with them, in GOD'S TIME, and He doesn't need me to be a concerned citizen or Deputy Dog to alert him to the problem.

4th of July - follow up...

I probably should give some description of the pictures, huh?

1. Whole group without me. (We took a pic with me, but you can't just trust the first person you ask to take a picture. Needless to say, it was VERY bad.)
2. JL & Brad - such an interesting love/hate dynamic. :)
3. Seth, Danielle, & Karen.
4. Me & Nate - being silly.
5. JL & "Hottie" Chris - (He's fine, y'all!!! And yes, he knows I think that.)
6. Steph & Cara.
7. The CUTEST little redheaded boy who sat two rows in front of us!!!
8. Nate, me, and B-Rad.
9. Seth, Karen, Nate, JL, BP, & Danielle.
10. Boys. Oi Vey.

A group of us, 19 in fact, went to the Lookouts game on Tuesday night. We had cheap seats, $4 each, which was nice, and good company. There were some interesting people at the game, to say the least! My roomie took the pictures of the little red-headed boy. He was precious! ALL of my friends know that I want red-headed babies. I just can't help myself. I was sitting by Nate for most of the game and he kept saying, "There's my son. He takes after me."

**Don't be the red-headed guy sitting by the girl that wants red-headed babies making comments about kids. I told Nate that I either needed to change seats, or he was going to have to quit saying that. I had to change seats!!! :) **

The game was incredible! We had hysterical people in front of us. The Lookouts were down by 1, in the bottom of the 9th with two outs. The batter got up, and hit a double and tied the game. The next batter up hit it right out of the park. We were so excited! Then we watched TWO rounds of fireworks, and headed home!

I also received a very inappropriate solicitation at a redlight. Only me, folks. Only me.

4th of July

Straight from the email...

I get a devo every day. (You should know that by now.) I went to the river yesterday, and after seeing all the recreational vehicle stuff, I thought this was perfect!!!

"So I pray that God, who gives you hope, will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. May you overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13 (NLT)

Devotion:
I dislike boondocking. If you vacation in a recreational vehicle, you probably know the definition of boondock. If not, it means spending the night in your "rig" without hooking-up to power or water. Most recreational vehicles hold only several gallons of water in a tank. I like taking long hot showers. Boondocking prohibits this luxury. A battery or small generator provides limited power. A trickle of power keeps things running, but not for an extended period of time. When you boondock there is a limited supply of vital resources that make life more comfortable.

Boondocking can apply to our spiritual life, too. Unfortunately, it's easy to become unplugged with Bible study and prayer time during summer months. Our daily routines tend to change, so it's easier to miss our quiet time. Our kids may be out school wanting "to do something" and we lay aside our Bible study. We vacation to rejuvenate ourselves. We traipse to sightseeing spots, but we neglect to seek Jesus as the day slips by.

If we allow ourselves to boondock spiritually, we will run dry. The Holy Spirit's power will seem to fade and our souls will thirst for the living water of Jesus. Come the last day in August, we'll be high and dry.

So what can we do to stay plugged in spiritually throughout the summer months? We should determine not to allow ourselves to become boondocked. Choose a time and place to refill yourself with God's Word. Let's try to follow the advice of Psalm 143:8, "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul (NIV). If we refuel ourselves early in the morning with God's Word, it can sustain us the rest of the day.

Let's choose to stay connected to the power of God during the upcoming summer months. Let's follow the Apostle Paul's advice to Timothy: "Work hard so God can say to you, 'Well done.' Be a good workman, one who does not need to be ashamed when God examines your work. Know what his Word says and means" (2 Timothy 2:15, TLB). This way we can enjoy the glorious summer with Jesus, rather than finding ourselves dried out and boondocked.

Dear Lord, as this summer wears on, help me to not neglect the study of Your Word. I know without its instruction I will lose my direction. In Jesus' Name, I pray. Amen.

Mad Props to Jenn C.

Jenn H. threw out some love earlier last week. On Royce's blog, my name popped up in two posts in two days.

I am TOTALLY flattered. :) Now, if I could just get nominated for a blog award. Oh, wait, I would probably have to pay to have my blog "redesigned"!!

I had a nice weekend, well,... Kinda. Friday night, hung out with some friends. Saturday -- chilled (literally, ... the landlord came and fixed the thermostat), cleaned, saw peeps in Ringgold, and then dinner with more friends. Yesterday, church (Jason did a great job!), Hibachi (alone, but Japanese is still yummy!), out to the river to errr sit on the porch as it rained, dinner with more friends (are you getting a pattern here?), then to K.'s house to watch the Pursuit of Happyness.

And after all that, I couldn't sleep last night. Apparently sleeping alone was not nearly as enjoyable as spending every waking minute of this weekend with friends.

I am blessed!

And, (in conceited manner), I think I look cute today. And tomorrow night, I get to see fireworks. Oh, and my roomie is going to jump out of a plane and may potentially own a motorcycle by the end of the week.

I have a feeling that somebody is going to elope in the near future if we keep going at this mad pace!

I wanted to say something to all my ATL peeps. This weekend is "THE" wedding, so I appreciate your love and support through these last few months. I know I haven' t made it very easy, but thank you for not deserting me. When all is said and done, I'll be okay. PROMISE! It's just the final step and while I am thankful that, you know, it's not me, there is still a sting!

And to Miran, thank you for being my friend through all of this. I have made it hard on you, starting with not being honest with you, and you never deserved that. I promise I will return to normal (as it were) by Monday. I love you Special Friend!

:)