As some of you know the Lenten Season is upon us. This means that Christians choose one thing that would hurt or be challenging for them to give up for 40 days, from Ash Wednesday until Easter. Some examples are soda, chocolate, junk food, television, facebook, I gave up make-up one year (way harder than i even anticipated). Well, this year, in preparation for Lent, Matt & I struck up a conversation about what we wanted to each give up. He suggested that we fast from all solid food (he's crazy). I counter-offered with what is called the Daniel Fast.
Starting Wednesday, we will dwindle our diet down to fruit, veggies, lentils, nuts, and whole grains, water, 100% fruit & veggie juice.
For. Forty. Days.
If you want to read the story from Daniel's account you can read it here .
As I was talking to my girls (aka my friends in my program) about our plan, Kaylyn said she wanted to do it, too. So now she & her husband are all stocked up, too! I am so excited to go through this experience together and share in our hurts, pains, and more importantly our growth.
Wish us luck, and keep us all in your prayers. I will keep you all posted with updates on how we are doing...
ps...until then, I am eating everything in sight....
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
i love...
1. warm beds.
2. hiking.
3. cards.
4. bagels and cream cheese.
5. pinot noir.
6. snow capped mountains.
7. football.
8. tattoos. (i cried during la ink yesterday)
9. my dog, stella.
10. theology.
11. matthew john maier. happy valentine's day baby. <3
2. hiking.
3. cards.
4. bagels and cream cheese.
5. pinot noir.
6. snow capped mountains.
7. football.
8. tattoos. (i cried during la ink yesterday)
9. my dog, stella.
10. theology.
11. matthew john maier. happy valentine's day baby. <3
Thursday, February 11, 2010
My Alter Ego
When I get tiny small amounts of time during my day (i.e. before bed, breaks at work, breaks from homework, etc.) I have been trying to squeeze in episodes of L.A. Ink. I have a few tiny tattoos and I just love the world of tattooing (sorry dad). This show basically catalogs the daily happenings inside Kat Von D's tattoo shop.
So it has me thinking...
If I could live the life of my alter ego, if I could do something else totally different from where my life is headed (pastor) it would be to be a tattoo artist. Hands down. In fact, a part of me came pretty close to calling around to the tattoo shops in the state and see if they need receptionists. I'm sure I could figure out how to get over the tingly feeling whenever I hear or see a needle go in to someone's skin (or maybe I could find brave clients who are willing to get tattooed by a closed-eyed tattoo artist?). Whenever I watch the show and watch artists like Corey (who freehands tattoos on people's skin), Hannah (who has insane color pop) or Kim Saigh (my secret favorite...shhh..don't tell the others Her tattoos are so flowly and masterful) I just wish that I could be friends with them and get to know them. Plus, I think Kat Von D is one of the most beautiful girls in the whole world...
Anyways, just some additional thoughts during this 14 hour class day...
So it has me thinking...
If I could live the life of my alter ego, if I could do something else totally different from where my life is headed (pastor) it would be to be a tattoo artist. Hands down. In fact, a part of me came pretty close to calling around to the tattoo shops in the state and see if they need receptionists. I'm sure I could figure out how to get over the tingly feeling whenever I hear or see a needle go in to someone's skin (or maybe I could find brave clients who are willing to get tattooed by a closed-eyed tattoo artist?). Whenever I watch the show and watch artists like Corey (who freehands tattoos on people's skin), Hannah (who has insane color pop) or Kim Saigh (my secret favorite...shhh..don't tell the others Her tattoos are so flowly and masterful) I just wish that I could be friends with them and get to know them. Plus, I think Kat Von D is one of the most beautiful girls in the whole world...
Anyways, just some additional thoughts during this 14 hour class day...
Strengths Finder
I have realized during the past week that I have done a pretty terrible job at one of my '2010 goals'. I am not really excelling in the area of self acceptance. For some reason, I guess old habits die hard. In my quest to fight against this (and the fact that it was just mentioned in my class) I want to focus on my strengths. There is a cool book/system out there that (if you have been with in 20 miles of any Christian University you have probably taken) helps to identify where your areas of strength are and how to function in those strengths. If you haven't heard about it you can go take it here.
My Top 5 Strengths
Empathy
Positivity
Achiever
Belief
Learner
Sunday, February 7, 2010
LOST
WARNING: THIS POST IS ABOUT SEASON 6: LOST! IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED IT YET, THIS WILL SPOIL THIS EPISODE SO PLEASE EXIT MY PAGE IMMEDIATELY (and come back after you watched it)
Ok, so Matt and I watched the LOST season premiere last night and I am so confused. Maybe it's because I didn't watch the season finale of season 5 right before so I am fuzzy on a few things:
Where is Farridae? (sp?) I loved that guy.
Where is CLAIRE????<--if this in particular does not get answered, I'm calling the producers.
Two words: John Lock?
Why did Juliette die?!??!? (I have this weird denial when characters on this show die. I never believe they are actually dead. I always expect them to come back to life)
Who are these random new inhabitants of the island that occupy the temple and how come they are just now being discovered? Why did they drown Sayid?
Ok LOST, so far you have done nothing but stir up more questions...you promised to give me ANSWERS. Don't let me down...
OH, and in other news, my mom told me of a Bachelor spoiler alert. If it's true, Dena I should have listened to you the whole time and I'm gonna kill him...
Ok, so Matt and I watched the LOST season premiere last night and I am so confused. Maybe it's because I didn't watch the season finale of season 5 right before so I am fuzzy on a few things:
Where is Farridae? (sp?) I loved that guy.
Where is CLAIRE????<--if this in particular does not get answered, I'm calling the producers.
Two words: John Lock?
Why did Juliette die?!??!? (I have this weird denial when characters on this show die. I never believe they are actually dead. I always expect them to come back to life)
Who are these random new inhabitants of the island that occupy the temple and how come they are just now being discovered? Why did they drown Sayid?
Ok LOST, so far you have done nothing but stir up more questions...you promised to give me ANSWERS. Don't let me down...
OH, and in other news, my mom told me of a Bachelor spoiler alert. If it's true, Dena I should have listened to you the whole time and I'm gonna kill him...
Thursday, February 4, 2010
It's been a while...
Since I blogged last, a considerable amount of change has happened in my family. I won't go in to the details, but let's just say prayer has been a major part of my week...which has me thinking...I want to be the sort of person who depends on prayer as much as my breath.
I am also reminded of my 2010 goals to memorize scripture...someone in my life this week who needed to hear scripture for encouragement handed me a Bible, asking me to read whatever I felt appropriate...and I stopped dead in my tracks. I wish I had made my 2010 goals in 2009 so I would have had much more memorized than I do. I started falling back in to my old way of thinking...more on that later...Luckily, God walked me through it and I found some decent scripture to bring comfort.
Prior to coming to APU in 2004 (gosh has it been that long?) I always approached scripture, prayer, quiet times, etc. etc. etc. with an amount of legalism. I was completely unaware of this until my very first class at APU. I remember sitting in Introduction to Youth Ministry with the Dr. Steve Gerali. As I sat in that class, he continued to explain how, for one year, he put down his Bible. He did not read it, he did not reference it, he did not crack it open...my immediate thought (which tipped me off to my legalism) was "What? I am taking a class from a man who put his bible away for a year?! What is he trying to teach?! Heresy!" He clarified himself, explaining that he approached scripture with a pressure on his shoulders to squeeze time in, discipline himself, chastise himself if he ever missed, etc. and he finally had enough.
So, for a year, he devoted to finding God in things outside scripture, and refused to allow himself to feel guilty. He wanted to free God up to show Himself outside of scripture, and he also wanted to yearn to read scripture, which he never had up to that point in his life.
I sat in my seat...breathless..."you mean, I can actually yearn for scripture on my own? I can hunger and thirst for it with out feeling this overwhelming sense of duty? What a freeing thought...".
I walked out of that class feeling convicted. Convicted, not in the sense that I needed to read more, pray more, trust more, etc. But convicted in a sense that I came to scripture with the same lenses as Dr. Gerali had so many years before. I felt refreshed, renewed and freed. I never realized the oppression I was functioning under when approaching my walk with Christ. But that's how Satan wanted me to feel...He wanted me to feel no sense of joy, refreshment, or freedom through reading the scriptures. He wanted me to feel guilty, ashamed, and shamed in to reading scriptures.
Since then, Ihave try to fight the urge to read the Bible because it checks an item off my 'to do' list and strive to read scripture because of my love, passion, and devotion for my God. Why would I ever want to feel but these things when I read the Bible?
Anyways, those are just some of my thoughts ...
Here are some of the verses I have memorized (in case you are looking for some, yourself)
Philippians 1:27
Micah 6:8
John 16:33
Acts 20:24
John 14:6
Romans 1:20
John 8:24
John 1:12
Philippians 4:4-7
Hebrews 10:23-25
2 Timothy 2:15
Matthew 28:18-19
2 Timothy 3:16
This is a list of verses yet to come that is on a stickie note on my desktop...
Verses To Memorize:
Malachi 3
Colossians 2:9
1 Peter 4:10
2 Peter 3:15
Acts 2
1 Corinthians 12
Ephesians 4
Romans 6:3-5
1 Corinthians 11
Matthew 25
Ezekiel 33:11
I am also reminded of my 2010 goals to memorize scripture...someone in my life this week who needed to hear scripture for encouragement handed me a Bible, asking me to read whatever I felt appropriate...and I stopped dead in my tracks. I wish I had made my 2010 goals in 2009 so I would have had much more memorized than I do. I started falling back in to my old way of thinking...more on that later...Luckily, God walked me through it and I found some decent scripture to bring comfort.
Prior to coming to APU in 2004 (gosh has it been that long?) I always approached scripture, prayer, quiet times, etc. etc. etc. with an amount of legalism. I was completely unaware of this until my very first class at APU. I remember sitting in Introduction to Youth Ministry with the Dr. Steve Gerali. As I sat in that class, he continued to explain how, for one year, he put down his Bible. He did not read it, he did not reference it, he did not crack it open...my immediate thought (which tipped me off to my legalism) was "What? I am taking a class from a man who put his bible away for a year?! What is he trying to teach?! Heresy!" He clarified himself, explaining that he approached scripture with a pressure on his shoulders to squeeze time in, discipline himself, chastise himself if he ever missed, etc. and he finally had enough.
So, for a year, he devoted to finding God in things outside scripture, and refused to allow himself to feel guilty. He wanted to free God up to show Himself outside of scripture, and he also wanted to yearn to read scripture, which he never had up to that point in his life.
I sat in my seat...breathless..."you mean, I can actually yearn for scripture on my own? I can hunger and thirst for it with out feeling this overwhelming sense of duty? What a freeing thought...".
I walked out of that class feeling convicted. Convicted, not in the sense that I needed to read more, pray more, trust more, etc. But convicted in a sense that I came to scripture with the same lenses as Dr. Gerali had so many years before. I felt refreshed, renewed and freed. I never realized the oppression I was functioning under when approaching my walk with Christ. But that's how Satan wanted me to feel...He wanted me to feel no sense of joy, refreshment, or freedom through reading the scriptures. He wanted me to feel guilty, ashamed, and shamed in to reading scriptures.
Since then, I
Anyways, those are just some of my thoughts ...
Here are some of the verses I have memorized (in case you are looking for some, yourself)
Philippians 1:27
Micah 6:8
John 16:33
Acts 20:24
John 14:6
Romans 1:20
John 8:24
John 1:12
Philippians 4:4-7
Hebrews 10:23-25
2 Timothy 2:15
Matthew 28:18-19
2 Timothy 3:16
This is a list of verses yet to come that is on a stickie note on my desktop...
Verses To Memorize:
Malachi 3
Colossians 2:9
1 Peter 4:10
2 Peter 3:15
Acts 2
1 Corinthians 12
Ephesians 4
Romans 6:3-5
1 Corinthians 11
Matthew 25
Ezekiel 33:11
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Thoughts from the road...
As some of you may know, I commute to California one day a week for classes. During this time, I get to think a lot so I thought I would share with you some of my thoughts...
"Gosh I love Matt"
"Do I smell something burning? Is my car on fire?"
"Oh my gosh it's not my car, it is the semi in front of me with sparks flying out it's back end...am I going to die? Is this semi behind me flashing his lights at me? Is my car on fire?!?!? That semi in front of me is running on it's metal wheel!!!! I need to zip around him in case he catches on fire! I don't want to be behind him! But I'm scared! Here goes nothing!"
as I'm crossing the border..."Did that border patrol woman make me stop just so she could look inside to see what I looked like? What if I were Hispanic or African American? Would she have made me stop and get out? That is absolutely awful."
"Oh my gosh this is the brightest moon I have ever seen! My car is so lit up I feel like I have a light on in here somewhere"
"Wow that snowtop mountain is insanely beautiful. I love seeing snow at night because it is still so bright and gorgeous. Thanks God for making something so beautiful for me to look at while I drive."
"Is that a cop behind me? YES! I better move over!"
"I miss Matt."
"Gosh I love Matt"
"Do I smell something burning? Is my car on fire?"
"Oh my gosh it's not my car, it is the semi in front of me with sparks flying out it's back end...am I going to die? Is this semi behind me flashing his lights at me? Is my car on fire?!?!? That semi in front of me is running on it's metal wheel!!!! I need to zip around him in case he catches on fire! I don't want to be behind him! But I'm scared! Here goes nothing!"
as I'm crossing the border..."Did that border patrol woman make me stop just so she could look inside to see what I looked like? What if I were Hispanic or African American? Would she have made me stop and get out? That is absolutely awful."
"Oh my gosh this is the brightest moon I have ever seen! My car is so lit up I feel like I have a light on in here somewhere"
"Wow that snowtop mountain is insanely beautiful. I love seeing snow at night because it is still so bright and gorgeous. Thanks God for making something so beautiful for me to look at while I drive."
"Is that a cop behind me? YES! I better move over!"
"I miss Matt."
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