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sonshine_in_me
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Name: Mary
Country: Canada
State: Saskatchewan
Metro: Moose Jaw
Birthday: 12/1/1980
Gender: Female
Interests: Becoming more like my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, leading others to figure out what life's really about, starbucks, jelly belly beans, CHOCOLATE, reading, hanging out with friends and our youth, cooking wierd stuff, music and generally making people wonder if I'm sane or not.
Expertise: singing in the shower
Occupation: Research and development
Industry: Hospitality
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
2/15/2005
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| I'm sick...and I'm pregnant. Not a good combination. lol In 13 days one of those things will no longer be true...but hopefully both of those things!!! :)
I'm so glad I'm not God. There would be so much explaining I'd feel I'd have to do for my decisions and actions. Why I let some live, and others not. Why some people seem to be blessed to bless others, and others seem to barely make it day to day relying outside of themselves and their goods.
Just when I think I begin to understand God a little better, something happens and I begin to understand that instead of realizing I was made in His image, I'm making Him in mine.
What good is a limited god like that?
On the other hand, what do you do with a God who is out of your control and understanding?
I have such a long way to go.
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When you find yourself
In some far off place
And it causes you to rethink some things
You start to sense that slowly
You're becoming someone else
And then you find yourself
When you make new friends in a brand new town
And you start to think about settlin' down
The things that would have been lost on you
Are now clear as a bell
And you find yourself
Yeah that's when you find yourself
Where you go through life
So sure of where you’re headin'
And you wind up lost and it's
The best thing that could have happened
‘Cause sometimes when you lose your way it's really just as well
Because you find yourself
Yeah that’s when you find yourself
When you meet the one
That you've been waitin' for
And she's everything that you want and more
You look at her and you finally start to live for some one else
And then you find yourself
That’s when you find yourself
When we go through life
So sure of where we're headin'
And we wind up lost and it's
The best thing that could have happened
‘Cause sometimes when you lose your way it's really just as well
Because you find yourself
Yeah that's when you find yourself
So, I haven't updated in quite awhile. Not much information really since we moved to Marshall this past June. A LOT has happened. Hannah will be born in almost 3 weeks from now!! Daniel has gotten jobs and is looking for a new one. And God has really changed my outlook on life. We came to Marshall with so many plans and dreams, and once we got here...they all just sort of got lost...taken away. But now our hands are empty and we're getting them filled (s-l-o-w-l-y) with new dreams and plans. New friends. New family. God is good. We're really and finally beginning to figure out who we are together and individually. It's a hard and sometimes painful process...but so worth it. :)
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| Lost the plotWhen you're coming back again
would you bring me something from the fridge?
Heard the rumor that the end is near
but I just got comfortable here.
sigh
let's be blunt
I'm a little distracted
What do you want?
Headaches and bad faith
they're all that I got
first I misplaced the ending
then I lost the plot
Long among the free-ranged sheep
where the big birds sharpen their claws
for the time we stuck with the shepherd
but you wouldn't play Santa Claus
Once we could follow
now we cannot
You would not fit our image
so we lost the plot
Once we could hear you
now our senses are shut
We've forgotten our first love
we have lost the plot
lost the plot
When I saw you for the first time
you were hanging with a thief
and I saw my hands were dirty
so I dropped my gaze
but you said I was forgiven
and you welcomed me with laughter
I was happy ever after
and I was counting the days
When you're coming back again
I'll be ready for you
When you're coming back again
We'll be waiting for you
Maybe we will wake up when
You are coming back again
lies
let's be blunt
We're a little unfaithful
What do you want?
Are you still listening?
'Cause obviously we're not
We've forgotten our first love
We have lost the plot
And why are you still calling?
You forgave, we forgot
We're such experts at stalling
we have lost the plot
When you're coming back again
would you bring me something from the fridge?
Heard the rumor that the end is near
but I just got comfortable here | | |
| jerks and wimps(an article I found)
by greg stier
When
did we turn into wimps? Take a quick jaunt through the New Testament
and you'll see a different breed of believer. Most Christians then
weren't so much worried about what others thought about them as they
were with God's evaluation. Their burning desire was to make him happy.
If that meant sharing the gospel in hostile environments to angry
crowds-no problem! If that led to death, dismemberment or
displacement-then so be it!
A lot has changed in 2,000 years. I'm
convinced that the early Christians would be PO'd at the PC culture
today in Christianity, especially youth ministry. We are losing our
battle because we have lost our bite. We are more concerned about being
user friendly then we are about the salvation of souls.
Since
when do we have to beat around the bush when it comes to our faith?
Since when do we have to “earn the right to be heard”? Isn't that what
Jesus did when he died on the cross, rose from the dead and
commissioned us from the mountain? If I recall he didn't say, “Go
into all the world, build deep relationships, live your life out loud,
then, when the watching world is so in awe of your godly life that they
fall to their knees and say, 'What is so different about your life? I
want what you have! Tell me! Tell me! For crying out loud tell me!'
then, and only then, preach the gospel.”
We need to share it
just like the early Christians did. When Peter stood up in the temple
in Acts 2 he had no relationship with the crowd, but he shared the
gospel and thousands came to Christ. When Paul preached the gospel on
Mar's Hill he had no relationship with the crowd, but he shared it and
people got saved. When Jesus asked the women at the well for some water
he had no relationship with her, but he gave her the living water and
she became a satisfied believer.
I think, in the name of
relationship, bridge building, listening, loving, etc., many of us in
youth ministry have lost our gumption. We have chickened out...and
blamed our relational style of evangelism.
You get the point. Don't be a wimp.
But don't be a jerk either.
I
was raised in a tight, right and extremely white church that preached
with an “up yours” attitude. Yeah, sure we were bold but many times we
were too pushy. If you didn't listen to our manic monolithic monologue
and respond with a “yes, I believe” well, you were a poor soul on the
highway to hell. “NEXT!” We'd just move on to our next victim.
We
used to look at “soul winning” as a competition. “He who dies with the
most souls wins” was the mantra we lived by. I'm ashamed of this now,
but we would go to the mall, witness like crazy and then come back and
compare numbers to see who was the best soul scalper.
As an evangelist I was a jerk.
But then I married a wimp.
My
wife changed my life...and I changed hers. I brought her boldness. She
taught me love. I showed her what to say. She showed me how to listen.
I got her fired up. She got me calmed down.
You see it's not an
either or thing. It's both and. Jesus told us to be salt and light, not
salt or light. We “shake the salt” with our loving lives and “shine the
light” with our verbal witness. We live it and give it. But we're
aggressive in both. And we're caring in both.
Christians who
share boldly without loving intensely are bull-horn, bull-headed
blowhards (A.K.A. jerks) who turn off more people than they turn on to
Christ. Believers who just love and listen (without ever sharing) are
chickens...wimps of the worst kind.
Youth ministry needs bold,
loving, caring, catalytic, concerned, unrelenting, uncompromising,
unassuming evangelists who live it out loud and share it out loud.
Courage combined with compassion. Intensity mixed with empathy.
Proclamation married with incarnation.
George Whitefield used to pray before going into potentially volatile situations, “God, give me the mixture of the lion and the lamb.”
That's exactly what we need. If we are going to lead our students into the battlefield of life then we need to do it by example. We need to show them how. This means risk.
If
you are naturally a wimp who tends to wait too long and miss a lot of
opportunities in the name of bridge-building then you are going to have
to risk starting sooner with the whole gospel thing. If you are
more of a jerk who tends to make people mad then you must risk taking
time to listen and love in the midst of your proclamation.
Jesus
was the ultimate balance. He knew when to speak up and when to shut up.
He knew when to cry and when to confront. Jesus was never a wimp. He
was never a jerk either.
Let's be like Jesus. | | |
| "I Am" by nicole nordeman
Pencil marks on a wall, I wasn't always this tall
You scattered some monsters from beneath my bed
You watched my team win
You watched my team lose
Watched when my bicycle went down again
And when I was weak, unable to speak
Still I could call You by name
And I said, Elbow Healer, Superhero
Come if You can
You said, I Am
Only sixteen, life is so mean
What kind of curfew is at 10pm?
You saw my mistakes
And watched my heart break
Heard when I swore I'd never love again
And when I was weak, unable to speak
Still I could call You by name
And I said Heartache Healer, Secret Keeper
Be my best friend
And you said, I Am
You saw me wear white by pale candlelight
I said forever to what lies ahead
Two kids and a dream, with kids that can scream
Too much it might seem when it is 2am
And when I am weak, unable to speak
Still I will call You by name
Shepherd, Savior, Pasture Maker
Hold onto my hand
You say, I Am
The winds of change and circumstance blow in and all around us
So we find a foothold that's familiar
And bless the moments that we feel You nearer
When life had begun, I was woven and spun
You let the angels dance around the throne
And who can say when, but they'll dance again
When I am free and finally headed home
I will be weak, unable to speak
Still I will call You by name
Creator, Maker, Life Sustainer
Comforter, Healer, my Redeemer
Lord and King, Beginning and the End
I Am | | |
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