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? :)

Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Let's take a look together at one of the biggest oversights of our time. We are about to enter the month of October, the month that is deemed "Domestic Violence Awareness Month."

Here's the first thing that enters my mind when I hear that phrase:

What about the other months?

Shall I forget about domestic violence and only worry about it during October? Does awareness month really DO anything? What happens during October that help bring an end to domestic violence? Why October?

Obviously being a little fecitious here, why do we even have an awareness month? Why not an awareness year? It happens every single day all across our wretched domestic violence-plagued nation, and yet we only dedicate one month to being "aware" of it.

Hm.

People always say that holidays like Mother's Day and Father's Day are Hallmark holidays - created to generate money for greeting card companies and such.

Why do we have a Domestic Violence Awareness Month? Is there some sort of greeting card line making money off of domestic violence cards? I think not. I understand that domestic violence is a serious issue and is not to be taken lightly, however, I feel as though this sort of heightened awareness level is almost a detriment to the cause itself. Let's say that in October, since awareness is up, domestic violence actually experiences a recession. How we would measure that I have no idea...but let's just say that it happens. Then, just like other fads of awareness, the awareness would fade and domestic violence rises again. It's a vicious cycle.

Beanie Baby awareness turned into a Beanie Baby fad, which eventually faded and is now a memoir.

Toms, Invisible Children, and the Inspi(red) deal is awareness of AIDS and starvation in Africa. It's now turned into a fashion statement. Does that money really make a difference in Africa? No, it funds more meetings to brainstorm the next T-shirt design.

Not to say that Domestic Violence Awareness month is a fad, persay, but I feel like it's not the best way to fight it. Unfortunately, I'm all talk and no action because I don't have any ideas on how to tackle domestic violence head on.

I apologize if I come off as crass or inconsiderate. I merely think that it's ridiculous and a giant oversight to have an awareness month for something that ruins lives on a daily basis. Sorry for the rant.

In other news, the Hummer truck is the most disgusting car I have ever seen. Someone owns one and parks it at school. I have nothing against the person who owns it, and in fact, I wouldn't mind riding in it should this person ever offer. HOWEVER, I find this to be hideous and a nearly dysfunctional design for a vehicle.

That's all.

Hero #2

As you may recall, my previous hero was Francine Rivers, a dynamic author who is clearly being used by God. If you don't recall that, just scroll down a little bit. :)

Well let's just say that Francine is only one of a few female heroes that I look up to.

This next hero of mine is simply a musical icon. She writes some of the most dynamic worship songs I have ever heard - full of theology and praise, but easy to sing and easy to memorize....so impactful. Not only is she a songwriter but she has an incredible voice - consistent and pure. I knew that she was amazing a couple years ago, but not until recently did I realize that she updates her own website and blog consistently, giving advice to readers and aspiring songwriters as well as sharing what God is doing in her life.


The Lord truly has gifted her with incredible music talent. And an accent. And she wears scarves a lot. Her name is Brooke Fraser.

If you don't know who Brooke is, she is a part of the Hillsong clan - author of Hosanna, Desert Song, Soon, and others. She is just amazing!! Her solo albums have a different style than the Hillsong ones because they are geared toward more personal reflections. I thoroughly enjoy her music and...I wanna be like her when I grow up.

Can I get an amen?

How far is the east from the west?

Do you know? How far is it?

Well that's on my mind because a song that we're doing at school talks about just that - how the Lord forgets about our sins and transgressions, putting them as far as the east is from the west. How far is that? Maybe it's just the mathematician in me that wants to fathom HOW FAR that really is. Like, really. How far is it. But the great thing about God is that it's farther than I could ever imagine. I can't fathom it. Just like I can't fathom eternity, untainted love, immeasurable grace....I can't fathom how far the east is from the west.
That's so cool.

I've been thinking lately, too, about the richness of words, specifically in the text of some of the most precious hymns ever written. Words like:

"When peace, like a river, attendeth my ways; When sorrows like sea billows roll....WHATEVER my lot, Thou hast TAUGHT me to say: It is well, It is well with my soul."

How absolutely precious are those words. So rich, so deep. I love it.

I have other lighter news to share as well, but I'm off to Computer Programming. :)