Laughing

Today I laughed with my co-workers.

It was real fun.

I enjoy laughing with people. You, whoever you are, that is reading this, should find a group of people to laugh with.

And since I know that this post is beyond boring, here is a hilarious video by Dorm Series titled, "LOL". It's almost like what happened with my co-workers today. Ok, not really. But, please, enjoy this video.

Thank you, Lord, for laughter.

Anticipation

Tonight, actually in just a few minutes, my Dad and I are going to be watching....

...and I'm so excited!

Thanks, Lord, for the upcoming entertainment.

I've always wanted to do this...

If you were to ask me what one of my favorite shows was when I was a kid, I would say, without hesitation, Blue's Clues. That show was BRILLIANT. I loved it. 

You know the part where Steve gets mail and sings the "We've Just Got a Letter Song"? Well, I do. And I love that song. So, today, when I got a fantastic letter from my funtastic friend, Lydia Heulskamp, I knew that this would be how I would blog about it. Please enjoy the short video I've made below: 

I admit, I'm sitting alone in my bedroom as I write this post, because it took me a few takes to finally get a video I liked enough to share with the world. If you are a close friend of mine, and would enjoy the opportunity to laugh both at me and with me, let me know, and we can watch all of the videos together. :)

Silliness aside, when my dad handed me this envelope with a page long letter from Lydia inside, I was so happy! Letters are such a lost art, and let me tell you, it needs to be found! Reading the actual handwriting of a friend, and not what Microsoft Word has to offer, is so amazing. I could literally (ok, not literally) hear Lydia's voice through the letter; hearing about how good God is and how much she is loving her summer in Colorado made my day brighter.

So, Lord, thank you. Thank you for Lydia. Thank you for her letter. And thank you for Steve and his song that I could enjoy today, since that's something I've always wanted to do. :)

Baker's Therapy

Baking is therapeutic for me. 

When I need some constancy and a sense of control in my life, I usually find myself in the kitchen, baking for my family. 

Tonight, it was chocolate chip cookies. I asked Nicole to take some pictures of me because I knew this is what I would end up blogging about tonight. :) 

Pouring brown sugar. 

Look! Chocolate chips! :)

Insert caption here. haha.

Don't worry, Nicole didn't take this picture. Our dad did. Yay, cookie dough! 

When I'm baking, I'm in control. It's up to me how much of each ingredient I put in. It's up to me how hot I make the oven. It's up to me how long I put the cookies in the oven for. That's part of the reason I love baking so much; it's all up to me. 

Now, I know that this actually reveals a deep psychological flaw in myself that I needn't ignore. Baking is coping. Coping with stress which needs to be addressed head on. And, in time, I will address it. In time. 

But, for now, baking is also joyful. I love it when my entire family comes in the kitchen and grabs a spoonful of delicious dough and says how yummy it is. I love it when the cookies are fresh out of the oven, and people are waiting to snatch one up while they're hot. I love the feeling of contributing something to my family which brings us all together and makes us happy. 

So, whether it's coping with stress or just trying to bless my family, I thank you, Lord, for baking, and it's therapeutic effects on me. 

On my drive home...

I'm driving home, and this is what I see: 

Now, granted, I was driving, so this is what Google images gave me after the fact. Nevertheless, this is what I saw! It was beautiful! I was suddenly exponentially more grateful for living in the Pacific Northwest, where I can see the beautiful Cascade mountains on my drive home.

Snow capped mountains. Blue skies. Evergreen trees. I love it.

Thank you, Lord, for this beautiful scene on my way home.

Mission Accomplished!

The Mission Statement of Biola University goes like this:

"The mission of Biola University is biblically centered education, scholarship and service—equipping men and women in mind and character to impact the world for the Lord Jesus Christ."

Today, at work, my manager and I got into a discussion about the existence of God and the validity of Christianity. He's a self-proclaimed Atheist, and asked me the oh-so-graceful question:

"Who created f***ing God??"

With that, I was able to tell him that no one created God; rather, God created time itself, and has been living for eternity's past. I told him that, yes, this is confusing, and that it's hard for our finite minds to understand the infinite God. We then proceeded to talk about some other things, but he wasn't looking for a dialogue, only a debate.

As I was driving home, I was just so grateful for the education I am receiving at Biola, where I am honestly being equipped in mind and character to impact the world for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you, Lord, for the education you are blessing me with. Also, thank you for giving me times of challenging dialogues with people who don't believe in you, so that I may use what I am learning for the advance of your Kingdom.

Kalena

What a day. It's a good thing I have the self-imposed challenge to post something new every day or I would be fast asleep in bed now.

Today was the last day of school for the Edmonds School District, the district in which my church is located. My church, ONE Church (which has an amazing story behind it, but that's for another day), hosted a huge Summer Fun Kick-Off Party, with a bounce house, inflatable slide, face painting, popcorn, etc. It was fun, but for us who worked behind the scenes and on the front line during the event, it was also exhausting. That's why I should be in bed right now, fast asleep, resting. But, for some reason, I just keep on typing.

Families came. Children laughed. Frisbees were thrown. It was a jolly good time.

God answered our prayers for the downpour of rain to stop. It stopped raining right when the event started and started raining again right when it ended. That's pretty darn cool if you ask me.

But, the HIGHLIGHT of my day, amongst all of the things to be thankful for, was a conversation I had with a ten year old girl named Kalena. God is working a great work in her, I can tell. She saw me praying with some of the workers from the event, and afterwards came up to me and said,

"I saw that you were praying. I pray, too." 

That opened up a whole conversation between the two of us about God, Jesus, sin, salvation, grace, scripture, heaven, forgiveness, and so much more. She had so many insightful questions and comments, and God used me to both answer and respond to her. We talked for at least an hour and a half, and by the end of our conversation, I was able to give her a Bible with some verses she could read and think about, and she was SO excited to read them.

That's what I am so thankful for today. Thank you, Lord, for Kalena. Thank you for her honest seeking after you. Thank you for giving us time together to talk about you. Thank you for giving me the right words to share you with her. Thank you that she understood what I was telling her. Thank you thank you thank you.

Please be praying for Kalena, as she goes home and reads her Bible. Pray that the Holy Spirit will lead her into truth and righteousness, and that she will give her life to Christ and be forevermore my sister in Christ.

Creativity

Today I am so thankful for the creativity God has blessed my family with.

My little sister and I are about to make posters for a Summer Fun Kick Off-Party our church is throwing tomorrow for the whole community (so, please be praying that God will bless all of our hard work and bring many people to know the Lord), and Nicole is going to be the main artist for these posters. My dad designed them. I just have a really artistic and creative family.

Thanks, God, for not making your children boring. Thank you, Lord, for giving us all unique gifts to serve you with.

Eleven Years Ago.

June 22, 2000.

1:28am.

8 pounds six and a half ounces.

21 inches long.

These are just some facts about my favorite (and only) little sister, Nicole, from when she was born.

As you might have figured out from reading the first line, her birthday is today.

She is eleven years old.

And I love her very much.

You may also remember a video she and I made the other day when I surprised her with the question, "Do you love Jesus?". You should watch it. It's great.

There are just so many reasons why I am so thankful for God putting Colie in my life. Nicole loves Jesus so much. Earlier she was telling me about a song that she wrote about Jesus and how she wants him to hold her in his hands. And that he does. Thank you, Lord, that she loves you. Please keep her loving you.

Today Nicole got everything she wanted for her birthday.

She got a journal that has plain, lined, and graph paper. She's an aspiring artist, and is very excited to draw and write down her thoughts in this journal.













She also loves pigs. A lot. Which I personally do not get, but I think it's great that she loves them. So she got a pig hat today. It's rather cute, I must confess. She also loves this strange little animal called a Chupacabra (it's like a super skinny dog-like-thing), so she got a t-shirt with a cartoon drawing of one that said "Be Kind to Chupacabras". She's a unique girl, and that's why I love her.


She's just so darn cool.

Thank you, Jesus, for loving my sister, and for giving her life.

I love this poem.

Prayer (I)

BY GEORGE HERBERT

Prayer the church's banquet, angel's age,

         God's breath in man returning to his birth,

         The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,

The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth

Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tow'r,

         Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,

         The six-days world transposing in an hour,

A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;

Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,

         Exalted manna, gladness of the best,

         Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,

The milky way, the bird of Paradise,

         Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,

         The land of spices; something understood.

I love this poem because it shows the many facets of prayer. It is the "heart in pilgrimage"  because it is when man and God connect. It is the "sinner's tow'r" because we are all sinners reaching upward for the divine. I love the imagery.

This was one of the almost forty poems I read by Herbert last semester for Torrey, and my Pull Question for this text was to memorize one of his poems; this was the one I picked. To pray is to instantly and intimately commune with the living God, and I feel that this poem captures the essence of that amazing truth.

Thank you, Lord, for this poem.

Friendy Friends!

It's been a year and a half since we've met.

We have been in the same Torrey group for that entire year and a half. As a result, she has challenged me to grow in so many areas of my life just by my listening to what she has to say.

We've gone to the Mosaic Masquerade together and eaten fancy strawberries in chocolate tuxedos.

We've got caught by Campus Safety for....well....something about climbing into Flour Fountain in fancy clothes or something... ;P

We've eaten candy at ungodly hours of the night to celebrate my birthday.

We've microwaved marshmallows until they explode. And then proceeded to eat them.

We've buckled down and got some serious homework done. Good study buddies are hard to find.

We've tried to open a can of blueberries with a hammer. It didn't work.

I've called her on the phone when I desperately needed someone to talk to. And she came to my side. :)

Also, who are we kidding: she has fantastic hair. :)

And, last but not least, she sent me a birthday card that I got in the mail today, a day when I was feeling real down in the dumps and was struggling to find joy. Her card lifted my spirits and brought joy to my day and life in general.

Lord, thank so SO much for my friend, Janine Marderian.

My Little Sister Loves....

I admit, today has been a hard day. It's days like this when I struggle with finding something to be thankful for to post here. But, this morning, my sister gave our dad a Father's Day card that looked like the Bible (she made it), and she shared her love for Christ with him. Since I already thanked God for my dad the other day (and I have a rule where I can't thank Him for the same thing twice on this blog), I couldn't go with the obvious "thank God for my dad because it's Father's Day" post. 

So, this is my "thank you, Lord, for putting the love of Christ in my sister" post. I asked my sister, Cole, if she loved Jesus in the video below. See what she said...

Domino Effect

Short post today.

I love it when you make a decision to do something, and it leads to so many great conversations with people you wouldn't have met unless you made that one initial decision.

That happened a lot this evening when my sister, dad, and I went to the Edmonds Art Festival to celebrate our daddy's birthday. We met a couple incredible people and had enriching conversations with folks we might not have had the pleasure of meeting otherwise.

Thank you, Lord, for orchestrating wonderful conversations in this domino effect we call life.

I wrote a poem!

I did! I wrote one of my very own! Here's why I'm excited about this small accomplishment of mine: Until this summer, I was never really interested in poetry. So, a couple of days ago, I went to the library to check out some books that would teach me how to both read and write poetry. One of the books, Poetry as a Spiritual Practice, by Robert McDowell, has different exercises for writing poetry. 

One of the exercises was to go to a public place, like a coffee shop or shopping mall, listen to the conversations around me, and then write a poem reflecting on a conversation I heard. As a person who loves to listen to the lives of other people, this task was very fun to complete. 

I listened. I reflected. I wrote. 

Eavesdropping 

I admit, I was eavesdropping

on a conversation between two men,

about how the upcoming family funeral would be different,

because with it joy and celebration would begin. 

This got me to thinking, 

"What could have changed?

What happened to this family

that their worldview was rearranged?"

Was it religion? Philosophy?

Just plain tired of being sad?

The truth is I'll never know,

I'll just always wish I had. 

Thank you, Lord, for poetry. Thank you for letting me into this small little world of writing. 

Our Father, who art in Heaven

Today I listened to a sermon given by Mark Driscoll titled: "Pray Like Jesus: The Lord's Prayer".



Here is an excerpt from the sermon that stuck out to me:

Jesus taught us to pray to God as Father. 

Now the reason some of you are gonna struggle with this is because of your dad. Okay? Last week after I preached on praying to God as Father, after every service I was praying for people. And I had multiple people, particularly young women in their late teens and twenties saying, “I have a really hard time understanding God as Father. My dad left. He abused. He abandoned. He raped. He beat. He divorced my mom. He walked out on us. He won’t return my phone calls. He won’t have any contact with me. He’s just a horrible man.” What I would say is this, do not judge God by your earthly father, judge your earthly father by your Heavenly Father.

 With every terrible attribute Pastor Driscoll listed about bad fathers, I grew more and more thankful and aware of how wonderful of a father God has blessed me with in my dad. He hasn't left. He hasn't abused. He will never abandon. He will never rape. He is faithful to my mom. He will never leave his family. He calls me back. He's a good man. And because of this, my relationship with my Heavenly Father is good.

Lord, thank you for my dad. Thank you for being my Heavenly Father who loves me and listens to me.

Homer and Hazelnuts

It’s almost 6:00pm, and I’ve been sitting here at the Waterfront Coffee Company in Edmonds for the past three hours. It has become a new favorite reading place for me. The baristas are nice and conversational. The atmosphere is relaxed and open to all walks of life that enter through the door. The songs playing through the speakers are upbeat, and I oftentimes find my foot tapping to the tunes as I read and write. The books I brought with me today are Homer’s Iliad and Robert McDowell’s Poetry as Spiritual Practice. For the sake of being disciplined, I denied myself the pleasure of learning about the spiritual practice of poetry until I had read two books of the Iliad, which I realize, ironically, is poetry itself.

After staring at the menu for a minute or so, I went ahead and ordered the default drink I order at every coffee shop I visit; a tall hazelnut latte. I was even able to get my drink in a mug! The drink was made, and the foam on top was all swirly and delightful, I did not want to disturb it. I took a cautious first sip. Yep, it was delicious. Now I could read Homer and really enjoy it.

I sipped away at my hazelnut latte, all the while reading about the various battles between the “flowing haired Achaians” and the Trojans, turning page after page, and found myself quite thankful for each sip of hazelnut latte I would treat myself to after each page I completed.

This got me thinking: “God, you didn’t have to create hazelnuts. You didn’t even have to create milk, or espresso, or the human capacity to know what to do with all of these individual ingredients. But you did. 

Thank you for that. Thank you, Lord, for giving me a pleasant afternoon of Homer and Hazelnuts. 

Spontaneous Fun

Today my mom and I went shopping for birthday presents for my dad and sister. Since my dad reads this blog, I will not reveal what was purchased. mwahaha. :)

Anyways, as my mom and I were starting to head home, my mom said, "I just wish you and I could go out to dinner or something". Then I said, "Well, why don't we?"

So we did! It was spontaneous and fun! It was spontaneous fun!

We drove down to Edmonds, an adorable little town right by the Puget Sound. We parked and walked around and happened upon a quaint little restaurant called Chanterelle. We decided, yes, this is where we should sit and eat delicious food.

We walked in and were seated at a cute little table right by the window.

Our appetizer was a Pear, Brie, Spinach, and Garlic Quesadilla. Yeah, it was DELISH.

Then, we got warm bread and our little bowls of potato soup.

And, then, oh my goodness, the best part of the meal was Pork Loin Saute with luscious Madeira wine sauce with apricots and cranberries. Yes, it was more delicious than it sounds and looks.

All in all, it was so magnificently wonderful. Thank you, Lord, for spontaneous fun with my mom. And delicious food. :)