Your Eyes?

The song "Give Me Your Eyes" has been on my heart for the last couple days. (If you don't know the song, click here to give it a listen.) When I get close to people, I want to understand how they think, how they process things, how they deal with life. As I get closer to God, knowing that He is whom I strive to be like, seeing things the way He does becomes more and more important. So the prayer of my heart has been "Give me Your eyes, let me see things the way You do, let me be more like You." It's how I've been feeling every morning when I wake up, and today, I feel like I saw something through His eyes.

A Little Bit Farther Now...

Today, I felt as if I can now call myself a "runner." Yes, I've been running semi-regularly (as in, more than once per week) since December, but I never considered myself a runner. First because I never really "ran." I referred to it as "walking with intermittent sprints" because that's really what it was. I would jog a while, then walk. But I had been improving, slowly, but still improving.

The Beginning of Lent, and Some Other Stuff

This year, I discovered that not everyone celebrates Lent. It was quite a surprise, as I had always assumed everyone did it because my church did it, and I could go to Wal-Mart on Ash Wednesday and there would be a ton of people with crosses of ash on their heads. It made sense to me that everyone did it.

But that's really just a side note. My Lakeside people mocked me for it. But, ah well.

I've always had a problem with Lent. I've never been one who really enjoys Lent. It always just seemed stressful to me. You had to pick something to give up. Something that would really challenge you, but not be entirely impossible, either. Something that would "draw you closer to God." Whatever that meant. This year, though, was different. I felt like I had already done Lent. I felt like I had really succeeded in my Lent-like facebook hiatus. Giving up my facebook page did help bring me closer to God. I picked it up again because I had really broken the cycle, and could control myself. (I find myself getting bored with it now, sad, huh?)

I wonder...

Some days, I have to wonder if a few days before Pentecost, the disciples were sitting around on the floor eating bread, and one of them (I imagine Thomas, don't ask me why.) says the Ancient Hebrew equivalent of "Duuuuude. I think something HUGE is gonna go down soon." I wonder if they just knew deep down in their bones that their lives were about to be irrevocably changed. I wonder if the thought made them terribly excited or if it made them sick to their stomachs with fear. I wonder if they tried to go into denial, and pretend like the feeling wasn't there, like they didn't know that they had just spent the last 3 years of their lives walking around with the Creator of the universe in the flesh. I wonder if they pondered what this was going to mean for them and their families and even society. I wonder if they thought they were going to die. I wonder if they questioned their sanity. I wonder if they thought to themselves "how could I have been so stupid, to follow that man?"

Not Much To Say On Snow Day #2.

Except this "snow" is getting kinda ridiculous. I'm thrilled to be out of school again, but too many of these and my summer will have to be pushed back. Not cool. Not cool at all.



Which brings me to another point, the school system is ripping us all off on this whole school calender thing. They took out the extra WEEK for spring break, and didn't put it back anywhere that I can find. It's unfair. So, not only do I have to go to school earlier, it ends later, and my breaks are shorter. what's up with that? *sigh* But I digress. Nothing I can do. At least, this is the last they will be able to do that. Why? Because next year is SENIOR YEAR!!! :D Creepy, huh? In a year and a couple months, I'll be graduated from high school. Boy how time flies. Pretty sure both my parents are thrilled. However, they will probably be even MORE thrilled when I choose a college and hopefully line up enough scholarships that they won't have to pay too much.

What else. Let's see. *thinks*. I've been working on a project for a dear friend of mine lately. She's gonna love it. She gets very hung up on knowledge, and with a little prodding around in her brain, I discovered that she didn't really know anything about the history surrounding the Bible. I've taken it upon myself to provide her with an extensive amount of background information, all wonderfully organized and whatnot. The plan is magnificent, the execution, however, is rather tedious. Even if it is very informative and I'm learning a whole lot.

We started a new project in art, and I get to do more FINGER PAINTING. I LOVE to finger paint. I love getting messy and the feeling of the canvas and the gooey paint. I LOVE fingerpainting. I think it is magical. Mrs.  Carter thinks I should use a brush, but I am adamant and told her I'd pay for the extra canvas if it turned out horribly and I had to do it over again. She grunted and agreed. :) 

That's it for a while. But I'd like to thank everyone who commented/read my last post. :) Especially those of you who disagreed/pointed out the things of which I didn't think. I read and contemplate every comment, and I try to respond.

Well, do you have a solution to go with that nice heap of guilt?

First and foremost, I do not really care what you believe. You can believe that a unicorn lives in your backyard and steals a sandwich from your frigerator every night, and I will be perfectly willing to sit and listen as you explain why and how you have a unicorn thief. I would even be willing to stay with you and watch for your unicorn thief if it would make you happy. You can believe what you want, and I'll listen to you, and it would be pretty great if you listened to me. Especially as I suggest that maybe the unicorn is your extremely hungry teenage son coming downstairs and eating your sandwich.

But, as you might expect, this blog has very little to do with unicorns or fridge thieves. I went to a church service last night and heard this guy preach. This guy has a reputation for being against things, to name a few: Guitar Hero, Twilight, porn, abortion, homosexuality, R-rated movies, curse words, and other things I can't remember.

Last night, however, the part that stuck with me the most was all the things he said about abortion. Nothing new, I'd heard it all before, babies have fingerprints and heartbeats and 80 million die a year and whatnot. Then he said something like "I wonder how many people in my church have ever protested an abortion clinic."

This upset me. I've seen abortion protests. I've read about how ugly they can get. A very large part of me that thinks that protests do nothing but remind the non-churchgoers how much Christians hate them. We are actually very well known for this. A google search gave me a lovely list of things Christians hate:

• cartoons
• pop culture
• HPV vaccine
• gay marriage
• hip hop
• UFOs
• leftist heresy
• Obama
• Islam
• gambling
• Lady GaGa
• Catholics
• Jews
• long sermons
• African Americans
• Being irritated
• Jesus

The last one surprised me, I won't lie. The opposite search returned basically nothing except "war" and "why don't christians love people?" This, I felt, was very disappointing. We are known for what we hate, which, I'm pretty sure isn't what Jesus suggested. ;) Not the point of this blog either, really.

After he asked that question, I began to remember all of the "logistics" of raising a child. It costs approximately $7,500 a year (not including the cost of actually being pregnant and giving birth and putting together a nursery) for a $40,000/year household. Assuming this mom is going to have to pay herself for the baby, she must work 20hrs/week at a minimum wage job to support the baby alone. If she's taking college courses, that's an extra 12 hours a week that MUST be spent working on school. Almost a full time job, this doesn't leave much time for raising a kid, does it?

This is my point. If we, as a church, are going to stand up and say "Abortion is WRONG and should be illegal!" The church better be ready to anty up and start helping all these new mommies. The church better be ready to start providing free/cheap day care for moms, so they can work and go to school. The church better be ready to start providing parenting classes to teach moms how to take care of their babies. The church better be ready to give counseling for moms who gave their babies up for adoption. The church better be ready to do this, without condemnation of the mother or the child, but instead with love and forgiveness. Ya know, the kind that Jesus showed.

I wonder if the same people who are protesting those abortions are giving up their afternoons babysitting for a mom while she goes to night school. I wonder if the same people who are protesting these abortions have ever sat in a home for women and children who are homeless, and showed them the love of Christ.

Go ahead and protest abortion. Protest abortion and offer solutions. Offer help. Offer your time. Offer your finances.

Now I'm done ranting. Sorry if I offended you. *shrug*

My Thankfulness Endeavor

Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. -1 Chronicles 16:8

I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High. -Psalms 7:17

The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. -Psalms 28:7

Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. -Psalms 95:2

Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. -Psalms 107:31

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. -Romans 1:21

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. -Philippians 4:6

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. -Colossians 3:17

give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. -1st Thessalonians 5:18

You get the point. It has been on my heart this morning to start giving thanks for things more. I mean, I am SO blessed. I'm part of 5% of the wealthiest in the world (and if you're reading this, you are too.). I have two wonderful, married parents who love me and provide for me. I live in a place where I can believe what I want. Just so blessed. 

So starting today, I'm going to try and show more gratitude. To my family, to my friends, but most importantly, to God. Just because He gives me SO much that I don't even recognize. Supposedly, it only takes 21 days to make something a habit, so I'm going to try and make thankfulness a habit. Maybe I'll start including a "Things I'm Thankful For" list on here... maybe. 

Anyway, that's all. Now I'm off to B&N with Mr. Will to look at a Bible for Will's girlfriend, Cayla. :) 

Love you guys! (I'm thankful for all of you!!) 

Em.