Dumb Rhyme Time

It has been too long since I last posted. I apologize. I have many things to post, however, and hope to post some of them in the short future. I have a few minutes until I get picked up for babysitting, so I'll just leave you with a couple of quotes from this morning. This won't be a deep post, just one that I thought you might enjoy.

Tim was humming and saying things at random, and I heard the following words come out of his mouth regarding his views on marriage: "I don't mind if I get hitched rich."

When I wanted what we call "blogging rights" to post his quote, he was being obstinate, and I said "You're a blog hog!"

I think our family might have a future as a bunch of cheesy greeting card writers.

UPDATE: (as of 8/1/06)

Mom filled me in on what Tim had said in context (sometimes his mumblings and bumblings are hard to discern):

He was singing a Tim-composed song to the tune of Jingle Bells or something. And he sang:

I don't care if I get rich,
I just care if I hitch rich

(In other words, he wants to marry a rich girl and bum off of her. What a naughty boy!) Seriously, though, he could be a trophy-husband poet or something, right? Such a life aspiration.

Life is Short--Sing it Well

Tonight I came home to find some cds, beautifully published, sitting on our dinner table. I looked at them a little closer, and found that they were songs by Justin, the late son of some family friends. He died a little over two years ago. Hearing his music and looking over the cd leaflets reminded me of the brevity of life.

Justin died two days after getting engaged. I'm sure they were thinking about the wedding, not expecting a funeral. It's so important, though, to be ready for that unexpected day when you breathe your last.

I didn't know him well at all, but I've found some of his quotes quite thought provoking. I thought I might share them here. The last one seems a bit like Edwards.

"Music is just the body. The words are the soul."

"It's not the outside that matters. It's not for the outside that Jesus died."

"My greatest desire, is to save all I can from the fire."

Driving Myself Crazy

On the last season of the Amazing Race, one of my favorite couples had their share of teasing each other. At one point, the guy (Ray) said to the girl (Yolanda), that he was "Driving Miss Crazy."

After having just completed my first driving lesson, I can safely say that I am now Miss Crazy. I hated it! I usually love new things and am excited about new life experiences. Not this time. I'm exhausted. Ugh.

I never knew how hard it was to steer a car until now. Oy! And when other cars came along at certain points, I freaked out. Mom is great at talking me through, but I can't tell you where my blood pressure is right now. It has to be somewhere in the upper eschelons of possible bp range! Please, Lord, give me grace!

Now I think I'll go nap... ;)

So Many Thoughts, So Little Bloggage...

In the interest of not being quite so unfaithful, I thought I should post some of the things I've been thinking as of late. So here they are in random order, not necessarily cohesively put together, nonetheless...

-We recently heard a man preach who had such passion for the truth of God (as I know our pastors do, I just wasn't used to this man's style) that he often shut his eyes as he spoke, seemingly overcome with thoughts of God's infinite power. I was struck by my own apathy in the light of this man's zeal.

-Our amazing Pastor Williams has once again chosen fabulous songs for our Summer concert. Every choir night I walk away with my mind abuzz (is that a word?) and my mouth humming a tune. I hope to post some snippets of the lovely lyrics soon. However, I cannot post this without mentioning one of the songs we sang tonight. The song, "The Power of the Cross" has an amazing, powerful tune, but more powerful and thought provoking are the lyrics. I can hardly sing this song when I am reading and paying attention to the lyrics. These moving words about Christ's sacrifice on the cross become too much to handle! (Add in the solo by Mrs. Dabrowski and I'm lost!) Just a portion:

"Now the daylight flees, now the ground beneath quakes as its Maker bows His head. Curtain torn in two, dead are raised to life; 'Finished!,' the victory cry! This the power of the cross: Christ became sin for us. Took the blame, bore the wrath, we stand forgiven at the cross."

So true. His power is beyond my ability to fathom, and I would have been forever lost without it.

-A wonderful post by Marcella provoked me to think about my prayer life. I often pray for unbelieving friends and family, but until recently, did not realize how faithless my heart is as I pray for their salvation. Another thing that challenged me in my prayer life was when the Intern spoke (weeks ago) a bit about how although we often think of other believers, we don't often turn that into a prayer opportunity. He spoke of one occurrence where he was reminded of a friend by seeing a person who resembled them, and how even those things should prompt us to pray. So often throughout the day, just like that, I will think of people, and it hardly occurs to me that they could use prayer. Even a prayer of thanksgiving for what a wonderful friend they are, maybe a prayer request brought to mind, etc.

These are all things that have been stirring deep inside of me, and, Lord willing, I will be pursuing more in thoughts and deeds on a daily basis. I love that God is so faithful to bring things to light and change our hearts. What a mighty God we serve.

Noises in the Night

As many of you know, our youth ministry is having its annual World's for Sale fundraiser (explained excellently here, here, and here). Long story, but basically it is simply a gymnasium packed full of donated used items, a garage sale made mondo-size. Needless to say, it takes a lot of people expending energy to get it done, with three days of set up and three days of sale.

So last night I was pretty bushed as I climbed into bed, and began to doze off. No sooner had I done that, than I was stirred by an odd "SMACK!" sort of noise. I wandered down the hall and asked Mom if she heard it. Nope. Wandered back, dozed off, "SMACK!" again. Hmm. I turned on the light and tried to examine the approximate corner the noise had come from. No such luck. As I looked up at my alarm clock, I discovered a little green tree frog staring me right in the eyes! I have no idea how this adorable, somewhat terrified little thing could have found his way into my room, because I live on the top level of our house. I'm still amazed thinking of what convoluted pathways this frog must have taken. Poor thing.

Ooooh, Green Squirrel Shirts!

Pastor Sean just blogged this type of thing, so I'm following the trendsetter. Here's what came up when God's Girl gmailed me about Gilead. (I just verbed "gmail"! There you go, Pastor Sean... and, yes, I know I just verbed "verb."):

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I'm not sure where in the email she mentioned anything about green squirrel shirts. I never knew anyone was well known for making those. Now I'm more informed... all thanks to Gmail.

Foolish Youth

I was channel-surfing last night and something on PBS caught my eye. I always think it's pretty funny to watch the "gurus" of worldly opinion for a few minutes and see what the latest is in the wisdom of this world. But this time, the man they were showing was right on the money. I mean, you could tell he had a total new-age worldview and that always creeps me out, but the things he said, for the minutes I watched, really held water for the most part.

He really got me thinking. The whole thing was on healthy aging, from recommending various forms of exercise, to not associating age with shame. He pointed out that those who are older have beauty and dignity all their own, much to share and pass down, and just as much value as other ages. He advocated respect and desegregation for the older class. On these points I very much agree with him. I believe that once something becomes old in our society, whether a person or an object, our society finds it all too easy to dump it and find a younger model.

I've been very much provoked to thought lately on the lives of the elderly and how people treat and think about them. Micah wrote an excellent post about widows that was very thought-provoking. In everyday life outside the blogosphere, I've been reminded of it too. There's the recently widowed woman in need of loving care. Then there's the woman with Alzheimer's who keeps having to be reminded that she has now outlived her last child and is now dependent simply on the friends she's made along the way. There are also numerous people getting married--making lifelong vows. And the thought crops up in my mind: Is there as much love and attention shown to you when you're in your eighties as when you're eighteen? I think not.

I know, the older ones may be harder to relate to. After all, you can't often email back and forth with them, and they may not hear all that well. But they have things to offer that nobody in our generation can. And from another angle, they have needs that others our age do not as much, such as needing a physical hand or a listening ear. We can serve them in unique ways, and they can teach and share in unique ways.

Our culture is continuously replacing people, afraid of thinking at all about mortality. Men and women leave their spouses for someone younger; maybe they just feel bored and want somebody who will serve them better. The celebrities acclaimed last week are now abandoned; as soon as they show any infirmity, they are gone from the public eye. As soon as grandparents have sign of illness, they're transported away from family, to be forgotten in long-term care.

If our culture continues to hide away those who may be our greatest asset, we will surely see the effects.

The Church must be different. We are not called to "Love your brother--until he needs a hip replacement." We are to be there, nurturing, filling in the gaps that they can no longer take care of. I know that I need to grow in this area. I know of many needs that could be taken care of, whether visiting people in nursing facilities, spending time helping people with their homes, or just being there to listen. There is so much opportunity to serve. We need to look around and get to know those who own the wrinkles.