You're a revolution, I wanna be...

...Revolutionary.

I first saw and experienced this wonderful masterpiece of a contraption at Pei Wei, which is incredible, by the way. (Rhyming not intentional.) I loved the machine because it allowed me to receive one of the best sodas of all time: Vanilla Coke.

Now, Rubio's has always been good to me by maintaining their supply of Vanilla Coke in their regular fountain drink selection. I went there specifically for that purpose, and was amazed to see that they, too, have implemented this wonder!

If you haven't seen this machine in action, it is quite incredible because it allows you to choose from a variety of genaric sodas at the first menu. After you make your selection, it directs you to another array of options, which are syrups to add to your previously selected soda. AMAZING! For example, I chose Coke. Then I had the option to choose: Cherry Coke, Lime Coke, Vanilla Coke, Raspberry Coke, and Orange Coke. Why someone would drink Orange Coke, I have no idea, but it's an option.

Two things.

What's a life coach? I want one.

Ever wonder why God is so good?

As in, why me? Why should everything work out for me when a lot of people around me continue to suffer rough things and life seems to throw curveballs at them every day? It’s almost like everything that I get worried about works out within a week, often times within a couple days. Why does that happen for me? I certainly don’t deserve it – I’m no better than you at maintaining my relationship with the Lord. I’m the one who wakes up in the morning, intending to do my devotions, but…man…if I could just sleep 5 more minutes…God will understand. After that process repeats a few times, my devotion time is lost and I’m rushing off to my busy schedule. Why would God put up with that and still continue to work things out for me? Sure, I love Him and I serve Him and I’m a Christian, saved. But come on, doesn’t God have feelings too? Does He get upset that I sleep instead of read His Word? Does He get offended when I choose to watch a movie even though I haven’t prayed? It’s almost like I expect God to punish me, to put distance between me and Him because I haven’t been a good Christian girl. In all honesty, I expect God to treat me like a friend would. If I don’t invest in Him, He won’t invest in me. Now, regardless of whether or not that’s how friends should act is a different story. But if that’s how God treated me, I would get it, I’d totally understand. So why isn’t God like that? You’d think after some time passes of me not spending time with Him, He would “give me space” or something. But…nope. He’s always looking out for me and working things out. Mind you, I’m certainly not complaining that God doesn’t treat me that way, but just wondering, how in the world does He not?

This question has been circulating in my mind consistently for maybe two weeks now. I’ve been getting better at doing devotions – try accountability partners if you’re having a hard time. When someone asks you every day if you’ve read, it puts the pressure on. I love it. :)

But God’s been showing me that He’s on my side. He loves me so much. Why? He created me! How can He NOT love me? It’s like when my dog Savannah chews up my third pair of headphones and I get so mad! How could she chew up another pair of MY headphones?! But….she’s so cute, and she just…nuzzles her head into my lap, longing to be loved. How precious. God loves to do that to me. Not the getting mad part – I’m not sure how He initially responds when I snooze away my morning devo, but I do know that He just wants me to sit in His presence, and in essence, nuzzle my head into His lap just to spend time with Him and to love on Him, just like Savannah does me.

Last year we had a guest speaker, Brennan Manning, come to school for a week-long chapel series. An incredible man of God, Brennan Manning explained the simplest, but most profound thing that has taken me this long to just mull over: God loves me as I am, not as I should be.
What does that mean? God’s love is unconditional. He sees me through the blood of Jesus Christ, who sanctifies me, makes me holy, and provides a way for me to relate directly with God Himself.

For that simple reason alone, God chooses to bless me, to pour out His Spirit on me, to fill me with joy, to work things out for me. I’d be a fool to not invest my time in Him because He clearly can satisfy me and cause me to be content. Where else should I be but in Him? He loves me as I am, not as I should be.

Rivers

I've been reading more books by my formerly praised hero: Francine Rivers. Author of many Christian historical fiction, Francine has captured my heart yet again. After reading Redeeming Love, which I (again) highly recommend, I read The Atonement Child, and I am now reading this novella series on women of the Old Testament. The series consists of 5 books, each one about a different woman. Each woman is an unlikely suspect for furthering the kingdom of God, and yet each one of them played a vital role in God's plan. The women are: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. I've read the ones about Tamar and Ruth already and am currently in the midst of the one about Rahab.

Amazing. You should read them.

It's pretty incredible to think about how God can change the life of an individual so drastically. God is so faithful to reward us and to truly work all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Even when life's circumstances look bleak, He is there, He is in control, and He has a plan.
I love it.

Reconnected.

So I've spent this last week getting reconnected with some old friends and the funny thing is....I didn't even plan to, really. But I was reminded this week of God's continued faithfulness to me - He's always watching out for me! I was also reminded that He makes all things beautiful in His very own timing. Hm. Precious. :)

Beyond that, I wanted to give you all a fun update. Just about a week ago I and my fellow Ocean Hills people participated in our annual Mall Hunt extravaganza, and most of us leaders are pictured below as we prepared to head out to the Spectrum:


Yes, I pushed myself slightly by changing myself completely - don't worry, I got my hands later too, but the brown tends to come off on everything, so I did my hands last. :)


Let's be real - it was an intense night at the Spectrum because there were two other church groups there doing the same kind of event, which made it even more fun to mess with them. HA! Maybe I'm a horrible person, but bear with me for a moment. Obviously I was kind of conspicuous due to the big hair, but I was sitting at a table, and this group of young girls comes close to me.....and one girl comes even closer and dares to say, "Excuse me, are you my mommy?" Glaring at her, I said, "Excuse me? No. I'm not your mommy." They asked, of course, as sort of a code word between them. Well, throughout the night I was asked the same question 7-8 times and I finally stared a mom (who was chaperoning a group) down and said, "No, I'm not. Stop asking me that." On another occasion I intimidated a little boy who told me that I was fake. What a wonderful night. Haha! I will not soon forget it. I was found by 3 out of 4 of our groups, but it was still quite exciting.

Prior to that night, I had been preparing with my wig and soon discovered that my little bro Stephen and I really do look that much alike. He agreed to wear one of my other wigs while I sported a fro, just so we could have a photograph to record our strikingly similar features. Ah, we ARE related! :)

The wig trend later continued as my Great-Grandmother Genevieve came over to play some Scrabble with my mom and to visit the rest of us. What a sport - 95 years old and she still let me take a picture of her like this! :)
In other news, it was announced that the Vanguard Singers and Band, which I'm a part of, will be travelling to China in May after school lets out on an outreach-geared concert tour! Woo! I'm so excited - I think it's a great opportunity and I can't wait! I have to raise my support, though, so if you guys have any good fundraising ideas, please feel free to send them my way!!

Also, thank you Switchfoot. You have captured my heart yet again with this fabulous new album: Hello Hurricane. Wonderful.

Sing It Out:

I'm on the run, I'm on the ropes this time
Where is my song?
I've lost the song of my soul tonight

Sing it out, sing it out
Take what is left of me, make it a melody
Sing it out, sing out loud
I can't find the words to sing, You be my remedy
My song, my song
I sing with what's left of me

Where is the sun?
Feel like a ghost this time
Where have You gone?
I need Your breath in my lungs tonight

I'm holding on, holding on to You
The world is wrong, my world is a lie that's come true
And I fall in love with the ones that run me through
When all I need is You

I love it!

I'm also working on some new music stuff of my own, which I'm kind of excited about. I'm busy! But I've got so much to think about and write about....it's insane. Over and over again, though, I'm reminded of God's faithfulness and forgiveness. How incredible. :) Hope you guys can realize that too and live in the freedom that He gives.

Stranger Things Have Happened But...

What a strange day.

1. In Calculus, Ryan sneezed. Immediately our professor, with a stern look, rebuked him saying, "Don't do that. Don't you know germs from a sneeze travel 30 feet? That's why they taught us to sneeze in our elbows or into our shoulders."
   Observation: This flu season is ridiculous. It's like it's normal to be a germophobe right now.
   
2. In Computer Programming, my fellow two pupils, my professor, and I enjoyed a discussion about postmodernism and its effects on our justice system. Adam deemed those who embrace postmodernism as "pomos" (thanks to Professor Rybarczyk). After discovering that Rachel was operating on little to no sleep and realizing that we all had much better things to do than to study MATlab, Dr. Lee said, "Well....I got a lot to do. Wanna cancel class?" Obviously we didn't say no.
   Observation: Thank you Lord for small classes that get out after 35 minutes.


3. In Target today, I was on a mission. I had found my items so that I'm ready for an epic battle of dodgeball in Frequency tomorrow night, and I was headed toward the front of the store to check out. Little did I know, some sly little demon had left a present for me on my way back.
   I was about to pass a lady who was walking on the other side of the aisle, and exactly as our paths crossed, I fell. As in, I....fell. Obviously embarrassed to have fallen over what seemed like nothing, I hopped right back up with my knee throbbing in pain. To my dismay, I loooked down to see a discreet puddle of water directly in the pathway that I had JUST walked. She said, "wow, are you okay?" Naturally, I laughed it off and continued on my route.
   Observation: Next time I gotta report it. I could have gotten a free movie or something. Maybe.

4. While I was sitting here working on my essay for tomorrow, I hear the garage door open and I hear the dogs bark for a few seconds. They stopped, so I figured that my dad had come home since everyone else is gone. Didn't think much of it until...after about three minutes, my dad comes in yelling, "IS ANYONE HOME?!" Thinking he was in a great mood and just looking for company, I said "POPS! I'm here!" Unfortunately, the door leading to the garage had been open and our three dogs had bolted out as soon as he had opened the big garage door. Of course, timing was impeccable and a woman was walking her dogs past our house as they ran out. Jack "attacked" them in his Pomeranian way and the poor woman got mad. (She probably was just so startled to see 3 dogs come out of one house that she got freaked out...) Poor dad had to grab Savannah and Da Wuff and bring them in. That's when he had yelled in to find out if anyone else could help him track down Jack. So I came to the rescue, naturally, and ran with Pops as we found our little dog, who can run super fast. What a day.
   Observation: Make sure that I close the door leading out to the garage every time I leave. Today wasn't my fault, but maybe another time it could be and I do not want to be held responsible.

Proposal.

I propose that we create a new line of movie theaters strictly for girls. Girls, that is, between the ages of 12-15 who enjoy chattering seamlessly through the charades of previews before movies, and even during the actual featured movie. You know it's bad when it's a big group of kids...or shall we say..young teens...and one of the first things they talk about is how they don't want to get kicked out like last time. Oh! But..."Don't worry, it takes a lot to actually get kicked out of a movie," according to Blonde Girl #1. Quickly chiming in, Blonde Girl #2 adds, "Yeah, it's hard but like I just...I like don't want it to happen again."

It only takes one call to ruin a movie.
It also only takes one chatterbox to make me regret paying to see the movie.

Fortunately, tonight my mom and I were feeling bold enough to ask them politely to stop talking after the first three minutes of small talk during the movie. The best part: their 3-minute disruptive conversation was about some boy not texting them back.

Anybody want to get on that new theater line idea? :)