Lovin' Love

It may seem strange to say, being an old hermit trapped inside with my dog all day, but I'm a hopeless romantic. I typically distract myself back to reality after reading a Jane Austen novel or hearing a sappy Frank Sinatra serenade. Thanks to Valentine's Day being just around the corner, though, everywhere I turn--love is in the air! Reality is pretty hard to recover around this time of year.

Perhaps it would help if I'd get off of Michael Buble radio on Pandora. My other options at the moment? Classic Disney, Celtic Thunder, or Bill Gaither. Hmmm...I think there's only one safe station on my profile. My favorite came on a few minutes ago, tempting me to blog about it. "When I Fall in Love" by Nat King Cole. Ahhh. I could just...cry my eyes out.

Unfortunately, I don't know if love is near as romantic as movies and songs hype it up to be. Maybe it is. I do know ONE couple that seem to be in that dreamy state of love, and I'm pretty sure of their sincerity on the matter.

During this time of year when we are all fluttery with love and hearts, cupid and valentines, let's not forget THE LOVE that surpasses all the superficiality of our imperfect, conditional human love. The greatest love song of all was the one that wasn't even sung. It's the broken and marred-beyond-recognition body that uttered these words in His last moments:

"Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

The Lamb of God died not long after those precious and selfless words passed His lips, but this wasn't the end to HIS love song. He conquered death three days later to restore hope to the people He loves. He rose from that tomb, hands and side still bearing the wounds of His sacrifice, to build a city for His bride.

His love sacrifice made a way for dirty, rotten sinners like me to come before His throne. He made a way for me to have a place by My Father God's side. He broke the chains of sin and the bondage of guilt to reveal Himself in ALL HIS GLORY.

And what's even more amazing is that this is not just my love story, or Pastor John's, or Apostle Paul's...

...it's for you, too.

If Jesus Christ is not already your love song, He can be. He wants to be. He wants to reveal His glory in YOU, no matter what you've done or where you've been. He wants to give you strength to handle the evils of this present world.

He gave His life for you. Just give your heart to Him.

Dry Snow!

As many people know, Arkansans seldom see real snow--the kind that covers the ground completely, like a huge white sheet of fluffy whiteness.
2011 has shown us a much different side of winter. Instead of our one or two small snowfalls, nixed with sleet and icy danger this winter, Arkansas has received quite a bit of actual SNOWFALL--and little of anything else these past few weeks. Of course, overnight the temperatures have frozen the slushy roads, but that's so much different than having sleet crash down and coat the whole of our grasses with their slippery, dangerous--yet beautiful--iciness. So I don't really know how else to describe it, okay?

I was up into the wee hours of the morning finishing off a Jane Austen novel, so my eyes did not transition to wakefulness until about 11:00 this morning. And when they did, boy, was I in for a surprise! I opened the back door to take Stella out for her morning walk only to find myself in the prettiest white wonderland I've ever experienced. Yes, it was breathtaking. I knew it was going to snow, but somehow assumed we'd miss the bulk of it and just get a few wet flurries that aren't all that fabulous. But no, this was no "few wet flurries." THIS was the real deal. I tried to ball up a snowball to throw at Stella (not out of cruelty--she absolutely loves to chase and smash them), but the snow just wouldn't stay together. Then I thought I'd try to make snow ice cream, but remembered I don't have any eggs. What a shame 'cause there's enough snow to go around!
So the snow is beautiful. We have at leat 6-8 inches here. However, it is completely useless. Except for snow angels. And spotting Stella's messes for easier backyard cleanup. Though I did enjoy nearly falling over in the deep stuff trying to run like they do in the movies...and helping a neighbor clean piles of snow off of her car. Yeah, that was pretty fun.

Otherwise, I've been stuck in this house doing schoolwork and trying to find out our exact snowfall accumulations (no thanks to google, weather channel.com, katv.com, or fox16.com...pretty much nobody cares how much snow was dumped on Conway!)

With no snowballs or snow ice cream, I'm pretty much set that I prefer functionality to beauty in the case of snow.

Well, I did enjoy making that snow angel and being able to walk around without soaking myself to the skin with wetness. So there is some good in it.

Best of all was the neighbor. Who knew some of the kindest people out there live right around the corner. Or across the street. Everyone should take the time to get to know their neighbors.

I'm done rambling for the day. Tune in next time to hear me ramble on about some other non-important topic. :) Or don't. It's ultimately your choice. :) :)

Perspectives

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I walked in to the fellowship hall of GBFC four weeks ago.

But I'm glad I did.

I had heard the announcements for this "Perspectives" course for several weeks prior to that evening. It just didn't dawn on me it would start so soon...or last for 15 weeks.

I'm only just entering week 4. There is a lot of reading [at least when I put it in my pile of other responsibilities], but it has been such a blessing!

So far I have learned a few things that are changing how I view EVERYTHING. 
1. God doesn't bless me just because He wants to bless me because this life isn't about me. God blesses me so that I will take that blessing and bless others. I am commanded to SHARE my blessings.
2. Nothing in this life is about me. Not even me. EVERYTHING is about God's glory. God wowed me with this about a year ago, and He's wowing me again. You'd think I'd know this. I'm almost 24 years old. But I'm quite egocentric and God has to knock me back down out of the center of my universe every now and again. Everything God has done has been for His own glory--even His sacrifice at the Cross. He is to be glorified in all things.
3. What we do is not OUR ministry...it's God's. He's just allowing us to be in the middle of it. There's a precious family at my church who give God the honor in all things, even their car is called "God's car." It's not theirs; God's just lending it to them for a while. What a beautiful way of looking at this world.
4. Too many people, including myself, only see what's in our goggle vision. We see our needs and wants. We see only what is in our here and now. It's time I stop being so narrow-minded and instead be Kingdom-minded. What will benefit the Kingdom of God? I just recently read a book in a series by Michael Phillips called New Beginnings. In the book, one of the main characters, Christopher, has a conversation with his wife, Corrie, about how we should do all things with the motive of growing in our relationship with God or helping someone else to grow in theirs, and it's even better if both you and the other person can grow from it. This is the difference between just goodwill toward men--and God's will toward men. Everything I--we--do should advance the Kingdom of God.

So, umm...I'm pretty far from perfect and am only just beginning to apply all this to my life. Though I am trying--trying to see everything through this new perspective.

And not through Kristina goggles.