This weekend, Chris, Crystal and I are going to meet up with Lori & Candyce in St. Louis to hang out! It’ll be a blast.
Of course our hotel has Wi-Fi, and of course I am bringing my camera, so we will post our journeys as soon as we can! Please pray for safety as we drive from KC and they drive from Cinci!
Happy New Year!!!
Thanks!
I am so incredibly doped up on cold meds right now, I apologize in advance if this doesn’t make a lot of sense. To give you some sense of how off kilter I am, I was trying to plug in my computer adapter and it took a good three tries to line up the plug with the socket. Anyway…I have mainly been sleeping and watching random sitcoms.
Something I’ve been thinking about lately is a very unhealthy habit of mine. I often compare myself to other girls. If only I could be 20 pounds thinner, my stomach wouldn’t be so squishy, my skin could be perfect (especially now as it’s really dry and flaky due to Old Man Winter), if my clothes could look more put together, my hair not frizz so much, I could cook, be witty and charming, not chew at my hang nails…there are millions of things I wish I could be and whenever I get in this mindset and watch TV, even go out in public, I find myself contrasting these flaws with every single female who walks by and thinking how much better my life would be if I didn’t have to deal with all of these things that I am self conscious about. I know it’s not true, but it’s so easy to give in to that way of thinking.
It’s ironic that when I was in junior high and high school, even my early twenties, I was so much MORE self confident and sure of myself than I am now. Usually it’s the other way around. I wonder why that is.
Anyway, there is no point to this except just to share what has been going on in my fuzzy mind. I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday season!
I thought I was getting better, but I would have to say the cold hit me full-on today. Can’t complain, really. I only get them maybe once a year, so I know life will go on. But I was wondering if anyone had any of those gross cold remedies that really work, like blending green things with cayanne pepper…that kind of stuff. So far my theraflu has been helping a little with the coughing and making me sleepy…but does anyone have any secret recipes?
Please keep me in your prayers — as of yesterday, I have seemed to develop somewhat of a Christmas Cold….nothing too bad….just a lot of sneezing, kleenex and a LOT of coughing (that’s the worst part). But that isn’t gonna ruin my Christmas! :) Thanks for your prayers!
I won’t be on here for a few days as our schedule is pretty packed until Monday. I hope everyone out there, no matter where you are, has a Merry Christmas. I’m so thankful for you.
Maybe it’s a lack of Christmas Cheer. Maybe it’s a lack of caffeine (I’ve been cutting back)… But recently I’ve had some problems getting into the Christmas spirit.
By “the Christmas Spirit,” I mean the American-November-24th-through-
December-25th-Christmas spirit. Don’t get me wrong; I like buying and making gifts for people. And I definitely like the constant supply of holiday candy and cookies that has been flowing into my office. But as far as feeling more loved, more loving, or more in tune to God in my life. I’m not feeling all too different.
Let me explain…
Earlier this week, I was interviewed for another newspaper about the decision to close the church building on Christmas Sunday. After getting misquoted in the KC Star, I decided to write the statement out and then ask that the reporter send me the article for fact checking before it went to the presses. I got the article from him Tuesday and read over it. Except for putting the wrong attendance number (he put too many), everything seemed to be right. I’ll save you the time of reading the lengthy article, and instead just provide you with part of my quote that has really got me thinking…
?…We believe that worshiping God for what Christ has done for us is constant and continuous and should be celebrated every day.?
Constant.
Continuous.
Every day.
I remember back when we had our Easter services here at Westside. We spent a LOT of time planning, rehearsing and putting together visual elements for this service. Like weeks – compared to days which we typically spend. Same with Christmas. Why do we do that? Why do we put the emphasis on two weekends a year?
I know the answer – how we have more people who are spiritually curious that will come on those two days. And that is true…
But are we, as Christ followers, just as guilty as the secular world in commercializing Christmas? But instead of using Santa and snow men, we use mangers, and candlelight, and angels that we have heard on high. It’s like we treat Mary, Joseph and the Wise Men like distant relatives…we occasionally mention them in passing but really only see them once a year around the holidays. Why do we only sing hymns of our Saviour’s birth one weekend a year? Why isn’t the birth of Christ celebrated more throughout the year? I know we are each personally responsible for our own lives of continuous worship, but as church leaders, aren’t we also responsible for setting that same example to those who worship with us? Based on the way we do things now, what example are we setting?
My car is buried in several inches of the latest snow storm to hit Shawnee. It’s also trapped, knowing that any attempt to make it up the snowy hill we live on would be futile.
Just like before…Spinning its wheels…going nowhere.
Today…I feel so trapped.
Trapped…via our apartment lease (no escape until Dec. 31, 2006), the necessity to work a full time job and freelance (me) and a full time job & part time job (Chris) just to make barely enough to scratch by…the never ending pile of medical bills from the last year…and while the air our bodies are breathing is here in the snowy, Pottery Barn landscape of Johnson county, our souls have traveled and remained in the diversity and acceptance of LA, in the peaceful and romantic mountains of Colorado…and our hearts have tossed seeds of hope into the sky, praying the wind will take them across the ocean…so maybe one day they will be springing up life…fruit…in the desperate city of Edinburgh.
God, I feel so much like my car.
Alone and stuck on this hill….spinning my wheels.
Going nowhere.
This could be the very minute
I’m aware I’m alive
All these places feel like home
With a name I’d never chosen
I can make my first steps
As a child of 25
You’re the only thing that I love
It scares me more every day
On my knees I think clearer
Goodness I saw it coming
Or at least I’ll claim I did
But in truth I’m lost for words…
(excerpted from Chocolate by Snow Patrol)