Mutual Admiration Society
Wooohoo! Finally! Hope it's GOOD!
The long-awaited collaboration between Glen Phillips (of Toad the Wet Sprocket), Sean, Sara, and Chris, along with Jen Condos, Richard Causon and Ethan Johns will be released July 13, 2004. A short tour to celebrate the release is in the works as well!
-Nickel Creek Website

The Queen
First period, seventh grade, Algebra 1/2 class this morning

Me: You guys better settle down if you don't want the WHOLE Lesson for HW
Student: WHAT?!? HOW is that fair???
Me: Because I'm the QUEEN!
Students: *ROFL* The Queen?!?
Me: Yep, the Queen! You better listen to ME!

Ok, maybe you had to be there for it to be that funny, but we got a kick out of it! Incidentally, several of them walked out with extra HW! ha-ha-ha-HA! *Evil Laughs*

The Many Ways of God
God's ways are a mystery to me. The way he is sovereign in our lives and brings about good even through hard times; The way he cares for us, like no other; The way he calls us out of this world, to Himself, to live a pure, holy life in spite of our human tendencies; The way he gives us his Spirit to DO what he has called. He is a mystery. As I look back on my life I see his mighty sovereign hand in every situation guiding me to his purposes. I see that even my mistakes have been used for good b/c HE is good and forgiving, and even now I see God's mighty hand at work in my life, in my families lives, and, though I don't know the immediate outcome of each circumstance, I know he will use each for his good and glory. I thank Him for that and want to pursue holiness in each situation. I preface my update with this, b/c I want to, in all of these things, declare God's sovereignty and glory!

Faith To Be Strong
Many of you have known that for a while my dad has had cancer (about 4 years now) but this past year it has really started taking a toll on his health. I have posted before different specific prayer requests, and so many of you have graciously responded with prayers and encouragement. Thank you so much. I just wanted to give an update and request for you guys to continue to pray for my dad and our family. He has been really battling a lot of pain (among other health issues due to the cancer), and is finding it hard to work every day. His medication makes him tired, and that is hard for him (my dad is one of the hardest workers I know, and really does his jobs well, thus it is hard for him when he is not feeling well enough to work). Most days he goes to work regardless of how he feels, but there have been some that he just couldn't! He did a few chemo treatments a while back, but non of them did any good and the tumors actually grew during that time. My dad has FAITH like no other person I have ever met. He has faith in God's goodness, and in healing. We are praying for that! Please join us in prayers of faith for his healing.
God has been good to remind me of how PRECIOUS our family and friends are, and the importance of not taking ONE MINUTE for granted. Soak up the time with joy and fulfillment of God's goodness! Encourage each other, and thank each other. Show appreciation and admiration to those you love!
I was listening to a few CD's this morning, and could relate to these lines:

From Faith To Be Strong
by Andy Peterson
Give us peace when we're torn
Mend us up when we break
This flesh can be wounded and shaking
When there's much too much trouble for one heart to take
Give us peace when we're torn

Give us faith to be strong
Give us strength to be faithful
This life is not long, but it's hard
Give us grace to go on
Make us willing and able
Lord, give us faith to be strong

And the other day I was listening to Rich Mullins (one of my favorite musicians!) and If I Stand was playing.... This line was imprinted in my mind.

If I weep let it be as a man who is longing for his Home!

God is giving me such an eternal perspective of what is important.

To be absent from the body is to be PRESENT with the Lord, and from what I know of him, that must be very good!
-Sara Groves

May God get the ALL the glory due is NAME!

Tis the Season!
So many friends getting married or engaged! It's EXCITING!

Adam and Kim got engaged!!! Congrats Guys!

And Denise and Jonathan are Tying the Knot THIS WEEKEND! HOW AWESOME IS THAT!!!!

The Chase (Part 1)
Just finished reading The Chase with my seventh graders. It was a really good refresher from reading Pursuit of Holiness back in the fall/winter. Thought I would give some good quotes that stuck out to me from each chapter.

Introduction
The illustration of the farmer: Farmers work hard without knowing how things will turn out. A farmer plows his field, plants seeds, fertilizes, and gets rid of weeds that can kill healthy crops, but in the end he completely depends on forces out side of himself. He knows he can't cause the seed to start growing. He can't make it rain. He can't force the sun to shine at just the right times for growing and harvesting the crop. To be a successful farmer and businessman, he totally depends on God for all these things to take place. Yet, if the farmer doesn't do everything he needs to do he cant expect a harvest at the end of the season. Farming is a joint venture between God and the farmer. The farmer can't do what God must do, and God won't do what the farmer is responsible for. Chasing after holiness is like that. Holiness is something that we need God to do, yet on the flip side we need to do some work ourselves. If God isn't present, true holiness cant be present. Yet if we reliy soley on God and don't put any effort into it ourselves, holiness isn't possible either.

Chapter 1 - Holiness is for You
-Will you start looking as sin as an offense against God instead of just a personal defeat?
-Will you start taking personal responsibility for your sin, realizing that as you do, you must depend on the grace of God?
-Will you start obeying God in all areas of life, however insignificant an issue may be?

Chapter 2 - Holiness of God
Sometimes we have to accept by faith the fact that God is holy, even when difficult circumstances make it seem otherwise. Complaining against God is like denying that he's holy or saying that he's not fair. In the seventeenth century, Stephen Charnock said, 'It is less injury to Him to deny His being, than to deny the purity of it; the one makes Him no God, the other a deformed, unlovely, and detestible God... He that saith God is not holy speaks much worse than he that said there is no God at all.'

Chapter 3 - Holiness Isn't an Option
The Bible talks about two types of holiness. The first one we have b/c of Christ intervening for us before God. The second one is a holiness we're to strive after. Questions to ask yourself:
-Is there evidence of practical hoiness in my everyday life?
-Do I desire and chase after holiness?
-Am I grieved by my sin?
-Am I seeking God's help to become holy?

Chapter 4- Holiness of Christ
As we consider our own holiness, or maybe our lack of holiness, we begin to feel defeated and broken compared with where we know we should be. Don't sweat it, this is a good thing. We need to feel this way, b/c it will push us into Christ's arms....
As you chase after holiness, you should find yourself running to Jesus. You run to him, not because you need to accept him as Savior again, but because he'll lavish his love on you. Because of his love, in your heart you'll know that you're his child. And not just his child but a child who he died for and gave his righteousness to.

Chapter 5 - Change of Kingdoms
When we accept Christ, even though sin no longer has control of us, it still kicks around and tries to regain control. It uses guerrilla warfare and attempts to throw us off. We're delivered from sin but not from its attacks. If we don't keep it in check, sin easily turns our:
-natural instints into lust
-natural appetites into indulgence
-need for clothing and shelter into materialism
-normal sexual interest into immorality
But after Christ came into our lives we could distinguish the darkness of sin from the light of righteousness.

The Chasing Song
They say the race can only have one winner
And you know you've got to pull out front to win
God knows the only time I'm winning
Is when I'm chasing Him
-Andrew Peterson

A Little Thrown Together
Days like these! You know the ones. That you wake up 20 mins before you have to leave, by accident! I did that this morning. I had reset my alarm for church yesterday and when I turned it on last night forgot to set it back for school. *sigh* So I woke up at 6:20 instead of 5:30 (b/c of the daylight). Hopped out of bed washed my face, threw on some school clothes and make-up, swept my hair up into a pony tail, and then was off too school. Didn't get my daily wake-up shower so I'm a little tired, but thankfully I am at school on time and ready to start a new week! Hope you have a GREAT Monday!

This is the day that the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!