Thursday, September 18, 2003

Last night I was leaving my house to go meet Faith at the park. As I stepped out of my house I saw the sky was painted pink. Not really being able to see the sky fully through the trees, I sped down my drive and the road to my house to get to a clearing. When I did, I saw an incredibly extravagant sun set. The sun was hidden but there was a blanket of clouds that extended what seemed as far as north is from south. As the blush blanket unfolded east there was a point that it just stopped, and from there on out the sky was blue as blue can be. The site was consuming. The sound track of this exhibit was "Only You" by David Crowder

Take my heart
Lay it down
At the feet of You who's crowned
And take my life
I'm letting go
I lift it up,
To You who's throned

And I will worship You, Lord
Only You, Lord
And I will bow down before You
Only You, Lord

Take my fret
Take my fear
All I have I'm leaving here
Be all my hopes
Be all my dreams
Be all my delights
Be my everything

And it's just You and me here now
Only You and me here now

You should see the view
When it's only YOU


The experience got me wondering. Has my capacity to see beauty increased? It seems that recently the sky has been more vibrant than ever, and I wonder if it has always been that way, and I have just been so preoccupied by other things to notice it and be in awe of it's Creator.

Out of school early today for Isabel.

Wednesday, September 17, 2003

Added a few new things to my weblog.....

Added two friends to my weblog list... Rhon and Jen Check them out!

Also, in the top RIGHT hand corner you will see the GUESTMAP. Click on it, and plot your self! (Thanks Dale for the Bravenet site to add that!)
For you guys that would like to enhance your weblogs check it out: Bravenet.com

New David Crowder...

Mel's CD Review:

New David Crowder...
Got the new CD last night. AWESOME! Great new sounds. Lots of songs about nature. So here are my initial thoughts on the CD:

Track 1 - Very Coldplayish... Like it

Track 3 intro - Gives me a mental picture of angels dancing with the stars

Track 4 (the interlude) - Love that stuff! Love how he mixes acoustical with electronic

Track 7 - Like these Lyrics...

I'm so bored of little gods
While standing on the edge of
something large
While standing here, so close to You
We could be consumed
What a glorious day!


Track 8 - Makes me want to jump around before the Lord!

Track 11 - Beautiful Prayer

Track 13 - Heavy. To me I get a mental picture of Christ's Second Coming!

Track 14 - Awesome Newness to an old Hymn!

Track 15 - Just a few seconds of admiring the gift God has given us of THIS Day!

Track 16 - Love this one. I was coming home from Heidi's last night and this song was playing as I pulled into the drive. I got out of my car in the pitch blackness of the night (except for the twinkling stars) and thought how great MY God is!

Got to be a part of See You At The Pole this morning! High School students all over the U.S. gathered around their flag poles to pray that God would be known and that HE would turn hearts back to HIMSELF!

I Kings 18:36-38
…Elijah stepped forward and prayed, ‘…let it be known today that you are God…that you are turning their hearts back again.’…then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt offering…when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, ‘the Lord, He is God…’

My friend Scott wrote an article about downloading music. Here are his closing comments:

To a great extent, American “Christianity” has lost this commitment to radical obedience.

What a difference there would be in this world if the lost could actually tell a difference between themselves and Christians as demonstrated by their actions.

This is the cost of discipleship.

This is the life of holiness.


Powerful and convicting truth! To check out the whole article Click Here and go to September 16th post.

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

In a earlier post, I had mentioned that my secret sis had given me a book called A Passionate Pursuit of God by Tim Riter. The following is a clip from that book speaking of how we say we love God, but our actions are inconsistant with that:

"Imagine this coversation taking place as my wife and I drive away from our wedding reception. 'Sheila, I've been waiting so long to be your husband. I love you with all my being. But let's not get carried away and make our marriage mechanical. I'll drop you off at your house now and I'll go back to my place. I'll come by to see you at least once each week. By the way, i'll bring my laundry for you to do. I expect it to be clean and ironed when I pick it up. And let's not get exclusive. I'll continue to see several old girlfriends, but you will always be the most important. I'll try to give you a little money to help with expenses, but remember that I have a lot of finacial commitments.'

Ridiculous, isnt it? Yet how often do we do the same with God? We profess our belief and love, but our behavior neither matches our statements nor advances the relationship."

God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
From Psalm 73

Chicks dinner night!

Last night some of my girl friends came over and we cooked Manicotti for dinner and Apple Enchaladas for dessert! It was tons of fun and every time us girls get together, I am always encouraged. Have to do it again sometime soon.

Monday, September 15, 2003

Andy Peterson Concert!

Finished all my work with time to spare!

So this weekend...

Friday night I took off to see Andrew Peterson in Lynchburg. I ended up going up by myself which was totally cool b/c I always meet new people when I do that. This time I met Jennifer and Evans, a couple from Salem. They were celebrating their 18th wedding anniversary by attending the concert. They were awesome, and I got to enjoy the concert with them and talk about music and other stuff after. I think it's cool how you have a connection with believers no matter where you go!

So the concert was really good. It was the first that I had seen Andy without Gabe or Jamie, so it was a little different, but Randall Goodgame was there with him, and another very talented musician (i forget his name.)

Randall opened. Played about 4 of his songs. I think the thing that stuck out most about what he said was this... He was talking about Charles Shultz (He was introducing his Peanuts song) and he talked about how he (Mr. Schultz) was a believer (which I didnt know), and how he did everything with excellence. He didn't put little crosses in the corners of his cartoons, or anything like that, but when he had an open door, he would insert scripture into his cartoons. For instance, the Charlie Brown Christmas cartoon, Luke 2 is quoted by one of the characters. When the editors were looking at the script, they said, 'Oh, we'll take out that scripture part, b/c that will bore people.' Mr Schultz proceeded to say, 'Oh thats ok, we dont really NEED a Christmas cartoon.' The editors quickly recanted and said that they were just kidding about taking out the scripture. The point is this... Mr. Schultz did his work with excellence, thus he had opportunities to witness through them in a broader way (I mean, who HASN'T seen 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'?)

Andrew was his normal witty self. Shared lots of his new stuff, and some old songs too. I appreciate how he shares his heart with each song. It helps me to understand the songs better, and receive more from them.

At the end of the show, I said goodbye to my new friends, hopped in my car, and headed for home. When I pulled into my drive, I was quite exhausted from my week. I wanted to just fall asleep in my car, but I thought that I would sleep better in my bed (quite a thought!) so I walked into my house took off my jewelry on the way to my bed, hopped in, and was gone in 1.2 seconds!

I slept in, Saturday!!! Sleep is GOOD! Babysat my little niece, Maliah! She's a doll. We went with my dad and Mila to Lowes to get some plants. I've been trying to plant flowers in pots outside my new place. Usually I kill every kind of plant I touch, but so far I only have one casualty. Maybe my thumbs ARE starting to turn a little green.... or maybe just greenish... We'll see how these others survive! :)

Ok, that's all for now.

Chicks dinner night tonight at my place.

This verse was in the devos that I read to my class this morning.

Psalm 34:8
Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Lots to say about the weekend, but will have to come later. Lots of school work right now.