Animals

At the end of a long day, I like coming home to my cat. Sometimes animals are so easy to be with compared to people. There are no politics to deal with. You feed them and play with them, and they love you. Simple as that.

Bloom

Little Princess

Contemplating

I like listening to music in my car. It provides the perfect environment for really listening. There is nothing else you need to be doing, aside from driving of course. You can't really do this at home, where it's hard to justify sitting on the couch doing nothing but listening to music for 1/2 an hour.
Lately I've had a worship CD playing in my car, and there's one song that's been cycling through my head over and over. It's a remake of a classic, called The Wonderful Cross. (Which is a bit of an oxymoron to me - but that's a whole other line of thought.)
The verse that I've been contemplating is this:

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all

I wish I could somehow insert the track here, so that you could hear it, because it's so much more powerful than just reading the words. But nevertheless, it's the words that have captured my thoughts...

Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all

In the Know

"For I know the plans I have for you..."

Of course God knows the plans He has for you, but don't you wish sometimes that you knew the plans as well? I feel as though I am coming to the point of knowing...

More on this in the days to come.

Lobelia

Timepiece

Running

lacing up my shoes

perfect fit

anticipation

warm sun and cool breeze

legs pumping

lungs working

possibilities

everything is possible

everything is positive

exertion

and accomplishment

Good, Not Safe

Throughout the summer, Pastor Brad has been doing a series in church called "Got Wisdom?" and it has been fantastic. I don't typically take notes of the whole sermon because the complete text is posted online on our church's website (www.lakeviewchurch.com). I do, however, write down thoughts that stand out to me, that I want to take home and digest. As I was rummaging through my purse this last week I found a crumpled up bulletin from a couple of weeks ago, and the thought I'd written down jumped out at me and has been floating around in my head ever since.

"God is not safe, but he is good."

The sermon was based on the fear of God being the beginning of wisdom, and one of Brad's points was why we should fear God. That being - because he is not safe. When you look around at all that God is doing and has done, safety does not seem to be His main priority. But because he is also good, we can trust Him implicitly.

Not safe...but good.

Reflection

urban landscape

Winston's

geranium

Web Preserved

(I didn't take the original photo, but merely modified it)

Goldenweb

(I didn't take the original photo, but merely modified it)

...And if You Swallow One?

So...West Nile hey? I've tried to avoid mosquito bites as much as possible, but can you get West Nile from swallowing a mosquito? Say, if you were walking down the street and you had the (rather gross) misfortune of having one fly into your mouth and down your throat?
Just wondering...

2nd Avenue Sidewalk Sale

Today was the first day of the 2nd Ave Sidewalk Sale. I took my lunch hour to peruse the goods displayed all along 2nd Avenue, basking in the sunshine while meandering from booth to booth. I love street fairs. The sun, the music, the aroma of street meat...and the deals.
I found The Neverending Story on VHS. This was one of my all-time favorite movies as a kid, and I'm looking forward to watching it again. I'm sure it will be completely different from what I remember, as most things are when you experience them again as an adult. But nevertheless, you can't go too wrong with a $5 movie.
Also, I found a store selling used books for $1-$5, so I picked up a few. One of them was bought (almost) purely for name's sake - The Frumious Bandersnatch. Now if that doesn't peak your interest...

And that is how I enjoyed my lunch hour today.

Worlds Apart

I'm reading a book right now called "Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson."

The other night I watched an episode of the new reality show "Who Wants to be a Hilton."

What a difference between these two!

The Hilton show is all about how to fit in in high society - how to act, what to wear, what to say. In a word - superficial. And the book is about what becomes important to a man when he is preparing for death. While there are so many ideas in the book to stop and make you think, I'll offer this latest one that I read today because it is such a contradiction to the Hilton tv show.

"We've got a form of brainwashing going on in our country...do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over. And that's what we do in this country. Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good. We repeat it - and have it repeated to us - over and over until nobody bothers to even think otherwise. The average person is so fogged up by all this, he has no perspective on what's really important anymore."

As aptly shown on tv. And in magazines. And every form of media really. So what do we do with this then?

"You have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it. Create your own."

I love that line.

And with that unfinished thought, I'll head off to bed, and hopefully write more tomorrow.

My Heart Will Choose to Say

We sang this song in church this past Sunday, and it's still echoing in my head. It's a simple song, but the more I think about what it means, the more meaning it takes on.

Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name
And blessed be Your name when I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise
And when the darkness closes in , Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name when the sun's shining down on me
When the world's "all as it should be"
Blessed be Your name
And blessed be Your name on the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord blessed be Your name

Just be a Tourist

I did a little walking downtown today. I needed to pick up an attachment for my vacuum and thought it would be easier to walk than to find parking. (As it turns out it was quite a bit further than I thought, and I could have found parking, but then I would have missed this moment.) Eventually I arrived at the vacuum store and found and paid for the part. Then I was offered a cookie. That's right - a homemade cookie. That would be a first I think; being offered homebaked goodies in a vacuum store. Or any store for that matter. Now I have to admit that upon hearing the offer of a cookie, my first thought was, "don't take candy from strangers" and close on the heels of that was "but she's probably not going to poison her customers." So I took the cookie. And it was good. And then I had my moment.

I was walking back to work, the sun was shining brilliantly, and I felt for a brief moment like a tourist walking through the downtown of an unknown city. This is a wonderful feeling. You have no pre-conceived notions about anything, and everything is interesting. I had the desire to peek in little shops I'd never been in, and perhaps try the little Chinese food restaurant on the corner. I admired the old buildings, window shopped a little, and hoped that I would make the time to come back downtown one day this summer and just be a tourist.