One Book Tag

I was on a blog that I like to read and found this Book Tag. I loved reading it, so I thought I'd join and do one myself.

One book that changed your life:
I'd have to say the Bible is the number one book that has changed my life, but after that it would be Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis and the Sacred Romance by John Eldredge. These two books helped to formulate my desire to go deeper in the Christian faith and to not just take things for face value. Lastly, I'd have to say Lady in Waiting by Debbie Jones and Jackie Kendall. This book changed how I viewed dating relationships and was what I followed when I met my husband. Amazing book. I think all high school and college girls should read it.

One book you've read more than once:
I have actually read the above books all more than once. Specifically for this question though, I'll mention that I read The Story We Find Ourselves In by Brian McLaren more than once. I studied it with a community group I use to be apart of. We had some great discussions about it.

One book you'd want on a desert island:
I think that I'd want to take the Bible. It would give me stories to read, thoughts to ponder, and the ability to keep growing closer to God.

One book that made you laugh:
It's a book called Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss. This book is a clever way to show the importance of punctuation. Here's a sample so you can see some of the humor contained within:

"A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air. "Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. "I'm a panda," he says, at the door. "Look it up." The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation. "Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."
--back cover of the book

One book that made you cry:
I'm a romance novel sap, but specifically a Nicholas Sparks romance sap. I'd have to say a book that made me cry was At First Sight, the sequel to True Believer. Great book. Great story.

One book that you wish had been written:
From a teachers perspective, I wish a effective book had been written about guiding parents through helping their children at home with the concepts they learn at school. Children would thrive so much more if they had reinforcement at home for what they learned that day at school.

One book that you wish had never been written:
I haven't read a book in awhile that I felt this way about, but I remember in high school absolutely hating the book Sarah, Plain, and Tall. I thought it was the most boring book ever and could never understand why it won any awards.

One book you're currently reading:
I am currently reading A Wife After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George (my second time around reading this one).This book really puts into perspective how to live out the life of a wife according to how God calls us to live. This is a book that I will probably pull out every couple of years because it is so practical and such a great reminder.

One book you've been meaning to read:
I've been meaning to read Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. I have it. I've started it. Haven't picked it up in awhile. What I've read so far is great, just for some reason haven't gotten around to finishing it.

Now tag five people:
If you read this list, then consider yourself tagged. I am not going to go on naming folks on my blog who probably won't do this anyway. I enjoyed it though, and am glad that Michael sent me the email and told me I should do it.

Glasses

Well, it's that time of year where I have to go and get my eyes checked at the doctor. I started wearing glasses two years ago, but this is my first eye appointment since then. I forgot to make the appointment last year. Then I kept thinking, maybe they'll get better if I wait longer, but alas, I need to go in because I now want contacts instead of glasses. I need a change from glasses.

I know you're all thinking...great story, do tell us more, but this appointment has got me thinking and I'm not sure the thought is fully developed, but here it goes.

I believe that being a Christian has similar responsibilities and needing to get your eyes checked. Our eyes could be perfect for years, but then somehow they start to get blurry. If we don't do anything to fix them they get worse. I almost would equate knowing I needed to go to the eye doctor with when one knows that Christ died for their sins. Then making the actual appointment for the doctor, is professing that you know change needs to occur in order for you to continue. The annual checkups at the doctor are necessary to keep tabs on your eyes and to fix them, when fixing is needed. Now we go to God more often than once a year (or so I hope), but it's very similar. We pray to God and talk with Him to keep our relationship healthy, just as I go to the doctor to keep my eyes healthy. When we skip our time with God we're taking a chance that it may be harder to get our relationship back to normal because other factors could have corrupted our thoughts about something.
When we hit a bump in the road in life, if we don't stop and reexamine our hearts and who we are it would be easy to let the blurry vision about God remain and continue to get worse...for example, when a loved one dies, or something unexpected and painful happens in our life, it is easy to get angry at God, but unless we "get a check up" that though process would only get worse.

Today when I go to the doctor, he may tell me my eyes have gotten better, but in reality, there has probably been some type of change that makes it even more important that I go now than it did when I first went to the doctor two years ago. Anyway, the point to what I'm saying is that we should all stop and examine our hearts and figure out what prescription it needs to be fully in love with God and then make a point to keep the lenses adjusted so that we always see 20/20.

Twinkies and RootBeer

This story was sent to me in an email and I thought it was precious....hope you enjoy!


A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of Root Beer and he started his journey.



When he had gone about three blocks, he met an elderly man. The man was sitting in the park just feeding some pigeons.



The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the man looked hungry, so he offered him a Twinkie.





The man gratefully accepted it and smiled at boy. His smile was so pleasant that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer.

Again, the man smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.


As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the man, and gave him a hug. The man gave him his biggest smile ever.



When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?



"He replied, "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, "You know what? God's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!"



Meanwhile, the elderly man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and he asked," Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?"

He replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with God." However, before his son responded, he added," You know, he's much younger than I expected."



Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Embrace all equally!

~author unknown~



Send this to people who have touched your life in a special way. Let them know how important they are. Have lunch with God!



And .......Thanks for touching my life!

very weird

I am sitting at home today thinking about how weird it is that next week when all of my colleagues go back to work, I won't be. To update those of you who aren't sure why I'm not going back. My husband is in the Marine Corps. In February he passed the BAR Exam, thus he is now being activated by the Marine Corps so that they can utilize him as a JAG Lawyer. This requires us to relocate to Virginia for a little bit. We were suppose to leave in August, but there was a little mix up and now we're leaving in November, but needless to say, I won't be a here a full school year to be teaching.

So, anyway, I think I've realized that I'm bummed about not having a class to get ready for right now. I mean I knew I'd miss it, but I'm so excited about this next adventure with my husband that I didn't think I'd realize how much I missed it...does that make sense? If not, oh well...

I love watching children "get it" for the first time, whether it be reading, a science experiment, how to do a math problem, etc. Children make the profession amazing. Knowing I'm not able to go back right now, has proven this to me. I think the reason I wasn't so sure I'd miss it right away was because of how jaded I was about the politics involved with teaching. I had no idea how many outside influences swayed my opinion of teaching. But, I've come to realize now, it's not the teaching that was being swayed, that has always been my joy, my passion. It was all of the "other stuff," that unless you're a teacher, probably doesn't make much sense.

Didn't mean to go on a rabbit trail, my point in all this is that I dearly miss preparing for a class right now. I want to be in a classroom setting up and getting ready for the school year. I know God has me in this place for a reason, maybe it be simply so I could see how much I truly love teaching, or maybe it's for another reason. I don't know at this point. All I know is that something feels like it's missing and now I know what it is.

Happy 4th of July

Hope you all have a blessed 4th of July. Remember to thank a member of the armed forces today. Without them, we wouldn't have a reason to celebrate.

Hope you're all staying cool and safe today. :)

Great Quotes From a Good Friend

A good friend, Brad Thayer, of mine came across an interesting posting, slamming the Emergent Church, on a blog. He said some pretty profound things there so I thought I'd share them here for all to see. Hope you all enjoy as much as I did!

"This whole emergent - postmodern conversation is one that goes on and on. I personally don't feel that it's a bad thing. Finding new methods for sharing Jesus to a new generation is not bad. Tweaking your message so that your hearers understand more is not a bad thing. I feel that the emergent movement is trying to do just that, finding new ways to share the message of Jesus to a new generation that is hungry. "

I think this next quote is one of Brad's most profound. I loved the way he put. It was direct and to the point, yet it still makes you think.

"I don't mean to start an argument, but as you can tell this topic makes the church pretty polarized. I apologize if I sound attacking, that's not my intention. With that said, Ill continue.
I think the word tweak is bothering you. Let me explain more through a situation that Is happening to my friend.
He lives in a pretty white neighborhood in Orange County, but recently an Arabic family has moved next door to him. My friend is a former missionary so he viewed this as a chance for him to share Jesus with some people who probably don't know Him.
Now he has two options on how to go about this. The first, he walks to their door with no knowledge of their language what words offend or what words engage, has no knowledge of cultural norms meaning gestures or greetings. He has no knowledge of the way their family works or even their names. With knowing none of this he walks over and begins to share with them the Gospel using words, methods, messages, that offend them to the point that they don't even want to listen. Now I know that the gospel is offensive to some and we are to expect resistance. But look at the other way of doing this
He gets to know them. Learns their language, perhaps puts a few verses in Arabic for them to understand. He eats their foods, admires their art, learns their family and the way they tick. Having a knowledge of their culture, he then takes the Jesus to them in a way they understand. He tweaks the message without ever compromising Christ. That's what I mean by tweaking.
This culture arising here now has a new way of thinking, a new way of responding, and as I found out today at Starbucks, a new language. They are very tech savvy, they are political, some are socially aware and active. I think the PM movement in the church is to find ways to reach this new culture with the truth of the gospel. That's how I see it, that's how I live it. Its more of a mission field to me. They are changing they way they talk about Jesus without compromising Jesus, in order that the world around them understand better. Sounds a lot like 1 Corinthians 9.22.
Sure there is a cost to following Christ, any Christ follower knows this. But Answer me this what's worse? Someone who professes Christianity for the mere reason of not going to hell, fire insurance if you will, or someone who lives out the way Jesus modeled for us to live? Whose salvation is costing more? The one with fire insurance, or the one who has the lifestyle change. The question, Where will you go if you die tonight is a good one, however, what happens if you if you live? Will there be a change?
I don't recall Jesus saying turn or burn or ever asking where will you be after your dead. It seems that He was saying, if I could paraphrase, live like this, practice your faith like I do, pray this way, treat people like this. And when did Jesus ever ask people who wanted to follow him to say a prayer? Instead, look at the call to Peter, feed my sheep or Follow Me.
I don't know What do you think?"

"I don't know when or where it becomes un-Biblical to for people to adapt to different cultures. The verse you're going to say in return is Romans 12:1-2, and tell me about not being conformed and so on, however, I don't think that verse means not to adapt the message, here is why.
Paul himself adapts the message of Christ to meet the culture whom is trying to reach. Look at his discourse on Mars Hill in Acts 17. He uses items from the culture around him, primarily the Statue of The Unknown God to introduce them to Christ. He also does this in throughout the entire book of Ephesians comparing Christ to their god, Artemus. When Jesus used parables to teach He was using a popular medium of that day, story. When Ezekiel uses sketch and sculpture to show the impending doom on Jerusalem, he was using elements of the culture to influence the culture. Using the surrounding culture to show the need and convey the message of Christ is completely Biblical.
If you track the growth of Christianity throughout history you see that Christians have used elements of culture to reach culture. Be it debate, writing, music, theatre, painting, radio, television, and (thank you Mel Gibson) Movies. So when you call the methods 'unbiblical' I don't know what you mean or what you are intending. If you are planting a church in Mexico you learn to speak Spanish, an element of their culture, because they don't understand English. If you are ministering in Italy, you don't use certain hand gestures. Because what might mean 'peace-out' to us, equal a two word phrase dealing with someone's mom. "

Anyway, I just wanted to share some of his responses to his attacks on this blog because I felt he dealt with attacks very well and came back in a very nonthreatening way with VERY GOOD points.

The Bar Exam

My husband found out last night that he passed the California Bar Exam!!! Woo Hoo!!!! For all of you who have been praying and prayed the first time around last July, I thank you!!!

Hope you're all doing well. It has been a crazy year at school, but I plan to be in the blog world more consistently in the summer, which is in 20 Days!!!