It's Not About Me

Chicago Chicago

2007-08-16T02:15:00.000-04:00

Today I was just fooling around with my computer and Quick Time and posted a video of some of the sights of Chicago on You Tube. Check it out - it is 8 minutes tho (probably a tad long for internet viewing-but hey). The first few scenes probably won't capture anyone's interest, but hang in there - you'd be surprised at some of the sights. Hope you enjoy it. (Made on a Mac, of course!)

After a Gentle Rain

2007-08-07T23:32:00.000-04:00

I just paid a visit to a dynamite blog - called "After a Gentle Rain". 'a blog by a teenager you don't even know'. I'm not sure if this person is male or female, but I'm thinking female. Anyway, she/he seems like a dynamite person and the blog is refreshing, honest and candid. No preaching - just honest thoughts, questions. Anyway, if anyone ever reads mine I would highly recommend a visit.

If you click the title to my post here that should bring you to their page. I hope you enjoy.

Thou Knowest, O God, I am Thine

2007-07-14T22:40:00.000-04:00

The following was written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer a month before his death at the hands of the Nazi's.

Who am I?

They often tell me I would step from my cell's confinement calmly, cheerfully, firmly, like a squire from his country-house.

Who am I?

They often tell me I would talk to my warden freely and friendly and clearly, as though it were mine to command.

Who am I?

They also tell me I would bear the days of misfortune equably, smilingly, proudly, like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really all that which other men tell of, or am I only what I know of myself, restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage, struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat, yearning for colors, for flowers, for the voices of birds, thirsting for words of kindness, for neighborliness, trembling with anger at despotisms and petty humiliation, tossing in expectation of great events, powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance, weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making, faint and ready to say farewell to it all.

Who am I?

This or the other? Am I one person today, and tomorrow another? Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others, and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army, fleeing in disorder from victory already achieved?

Who am I?

They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.

Whoever I am, Thou knowest, O God, I am thine.

Mac commercials

2007-04-23T08:35:00.000-04:00

I just love the Apple commercials for their Mac computers. They do an excellent job of parody! This one for example:

But, it is true - once you go Mac you never go back! I made the switch and I won't be going back either.

If I Die Before You Wake

2007-04-22T10:56:00.000-04:00

Someone sent me a link to this video today- Beautiful! It is worth the few minutes it takes to watch. Music is good, images also......a good reminder to think of and pray for our young men and women in the military today. Just click on the title and you can go there.

The Promise

2007-04-22T01:06:00.000-04:00

Spring has sprung! The sun has finally returned to NJ!! Yeah. It returned slowly on Thursday, shining out from behind the clouds - a promise of what was to come. I woke Friday morning to sun and blue skies - a very welcome sight and revleed in the warmth and brightness. The pain I had been experiencing slowly started to leave my body. My neighbor was outside tinkering with his lawn mowers, birds were chirping away and every kid in town was outside playing. A truly beautiful day!

The way the sun peeked from behind the clouds Thursday promising a better tomorrow reminded me of a scripture that speaks about how God has placed a deposit in us who have trusted Christ for forgiveness of our sins.

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:13, 14 (NIV)

This promise reminds us that we get so much more than a few days of sunshine and a reprieve from foul weather. It’s a guarantee of our future.

Among the things we will receive in heaven is relief from suffering and death:

Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat upon them,
nor any scorching heat. Rev. 7:16, 17

He (God Himself)will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Rev. 21:4

There will be no more darkness:

There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they(that’s us) will reign for ever and ever. Rev. 22:5

We will have new bodies (thank God for that promise!):

1Corinthians 15 - You’re going to have to read that one for yourself.

That’s just for starters. Of course, there is also my very favorite bible verse which is Romans 5:1:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

That’s a promise for the here and now. I rejoice in knowing that I have been reconciled with God - I don’t have to be afraid, don’t have to worry about measuring up, of trying to meet some unreachable standard. I am able to turn to God instead of hightailing it in the opposite direction. Jesus has made this possible.

That peace, those promises plus forgiveness for all wrongdoing is available to anyone who wants it.

Don’t worry - no matter what you have done, you are not too bad for God to forgive you. Conversely, you are also not too good not to need God and His forgiveness.

If you would like to share in these blessings (& more besides) here is all you need to do:

1. Admit you have done wrong. You have sinned. Sin means to “miss the mark” of God’s standard. If you have done one thing wrong (1 lie, 1 curse) you have missed the mark. Romans 3:23 says “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”.

2. The penalty for our sin is death. Romans 6:23 says “The wages of sin is death, but the GIFT of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

3. Know that Jesus has made full payment for the penalty of our sin (remember - that’s death). Romans 5:8 says that “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”. That is so awesome to me. God knows all about me and loves me anyway - and doesn’t excuse my sin and say it’s okay, but pays my debt Himself, making a way for me to be completely and totally accepted by Him.

4. Finally, as Romans 10:9, 10 says ”That, if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess, and are saved.”

Don’t be afraid - the bible says that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. Ask Jesus to forgive your sin, He promised never to turn anyone away. Trust Him. Don’t worry about your feelings - remember - the One who knows you best, loves you most.

If you don’t have a bible go to www.Crosswalk.com or www.Biblegateway.com and read an online bible.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me.

Global Warming

2007-04-16T23:16:00.000-04:00

Aiyeee! Where is global warming when you need it? It is FUH-REEZING here in NJ. It's not uncommon to have cold days in April, but not for such a long period. According to the weather people it is the coldest April on record. So, I ask again - where is that global warming? It sure would be welcome about now. It'll warm up eventually (it always does) and it won't be too long before everyone is complaining about how hot it is.

Also, according to the weather people we just had the 4th rainiest day on record. There's flooding all over. I am just SO very grateful we only got a wee bit of water in the basement. I passed quite a few homes today pumping out their basements or people unable to stay in their homes due to flooding.. The lack of water in my basement was a bright spot in an otherwise very painful couple of days. I have rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia and the pain was so intense because of the weather. But, I swallowed Aleve and Tylenol every few hours and look forward to better days. But, I sure had to remind myself of what I posted earlier about "The Choice". It was a good day and good excuse to relax, surf the net, find some new blogs and do some reading......and today was a good day for making brownies!

Hope you enjoy my Easter tulips. They were so pretty. Hope they are as pretty next year.

Lou Giglio "How Great is our God"

2007-04-16T01:03:00.000-04:00

Here's a few minutes of Lou Giglio's talk from the "How Great is Our God" tour mentioned in an earlier post. The visuals aren't great, but you should be able to see enough, and of course, hear to get the message. Hope it works!

Shalom!

Human Glue

2007-04-11T22:46:00.000-04:00

Hubby and I recently went to a Christian concert; "How Great is Our God" tour featuring Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman singing and Lou Giglio speaking. Now, it really went against my nature to pay to go to what I think of as a "worship" concert. Just seems very contradictory. After all, I can worship anywhere God is - which is everywhere. But, we hadn't been anywhere in a long time so we shelled out the money and went.

I was so glad we did! The music was good, but to me, the highlight was Lou Giglio speaking. We were in Continental Arena in the Meadowlands with an almost full house, but as Lou spoke you could hear a pin drop. Quite amazing since the majority of the audience was under 21.

I don't remember quite how he started out but he brought up the subject of "human glue". - Laminin. It is the protein that quite literally holds our body together. The illustration is what it looks like. Pretty amazing to see it is in the shape of a cross! Consider this in the light of this scripture from Colossians 1:17 (NIV): 7He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

He then went on with a huge screen slideshow showing an ascending view of our solar system. He tried to give us perspective of how small our earth and sun really are in relation to the rest of the universe. I won't go into the details here as I really couldn't do it justice. But, the icing on the cake was when he spoke about Canis Majoris. (s?). This star which is I forget how many thousands of light years from earth is as big as not 4 earths, but 4 x earth's orbit around our sun. That is pretty huge! I could maybe relate to 4 earths or 400 earths filling the star, but 4x times our orbit around our sun! That is something! Contrast that to laminin which is microscopic and consider all this perfection created by God and it is mind blowing. Not only that, but truly, truly awesome! On top of all this God's spirit and peace confirmed what we, the audience, were observing and thinking. That was the reason for the massive quiet in the Arena.

The peace and comfort I received through this demonstration is something that hasn't left me even though it has been a couple of months. If I considered this only in my mind I don't think it would have been comforting. But, fortunately, with His help it is in my spirit. And that is where I receive His peace.

I gained a new view and understanding of how He created the world with order and natural laws. In our world upon earth, if the earth had even a slightly different angle or slightly different composition in the atmosphere, we would not be able to live here as we know it. It gave me a new understanding of how we cannot live as we want and expect God to suspend His natural laws to accomodate us. He can and does work supernaturally and miraculously to heal, to deliver us from our sin and many consequences and other things, but He has already ordained a natural order. That alone is miraculous!

Enough for now. A little longer than I usually write, but, hey, it's been about a month!

For now - here are some words of Jesus:

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27 NIV)

Who links to me?

The Choice

2007-03-16T23:41:00.000-04:00

The other day was a cloudy, drizzly, gray March day. As I walked down the street I gave thanks for the beautiful day. Sounds crazy doesn't it? I certainly prefer nice sunny days with blue skies and big, white fluffy clouds. I prefer a world of peace and joy and good things. I didn't feel especially thankful. My family and I just lost my husband's mother who really had a rough time the last few months. I have recurring and frustrating health problems. But I, like everyone else have a choice. I can allow the circumstances of life to determine my moods and the way I live or I can choose not to. I leave you with some wise words from Max Lucado: Maybe they will help you today. What you choose may help bring sunshine instead of clouds.

Because of Calvary, I'm free to choose. And so I choose.

I CHOOSE LOVE...........

No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.
p. 73 "When God Whispers Your Name" Max Lucado

I CHOOSE JOY.......

I will invite God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical.....the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.

I CHOOSE PEACE....
I will live forgiven. I will forgive that I may live.

I CHOOSE PATIENCE.....
I will overlook the inconvenience of the world. Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I'll invite him to do so. Rather than complain the wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment to pray. Instead of clinching my fist at new assignments, I will face then with joy and courage.
p. 74 "When God Whispers Your Name" Max Lucado

Don't worry if you don't feel all these things.........Our feelings have to catch up with our actions. Even if you never feel these things if you have done them you have added peace, patience, love & joy to the world. YOU have made a difference.

2007-02-09T23:20:00.000-05:00

Ok, it's been a while - holidays, news of a grandbaby, mostly just the stuff of life...........the mundane, everyday, urgent, demanding STUFF!! Took some time to get out in nature even tho it was freezing cold and the above is a picture from a park near my house. Being out in nature for me is a real high. Here in NJ there are pockets of nature, believe it or not. Actually there is more than most people realize. I'm going to make a point of getting out and taking pictures and will post them as I have them.

Read a great book - "Now They Call Me Infidel" by Nonie Darwish. She was raised in Egypt and gives a very eye opening account of what life is like in a country that does not have the freedoms we in the US have. I'm so glad I live here. She is also glad now to be an American citizen! So refreshing to hear that. & to hear someone express gratitude instead of complaining. If you're wondering the differences between living under sharia law and US law, this is a good start and written in a personal style so easy to read.

Go, enjoy life - make the most of it - because there is no dress rehearsal.

If you're wondering what comes after this life, please follow the link. (Yes, it says link)

2006-11-28T23:41:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've had a chance to post. I don't even feel I have anything to say (or worth saying) at the moment. I've been reading other blogs and there are so many that are just so well done and interesting. Mine pales by comparison. However, I will give myself the grace to do better - write better, make the blog more interesting to look at and read. It hasn't been #1 on my "to do" list lately as I just gave hubby a 50th birthday party. It was hard work, but fun. We had a couple dozen people and I think everyone had a good time. If nothing else, they had plenty to eat. Homemade ziti, sausage and peppers, meatballs, fried chicken. Parties and get togethers can be fun. I am actually still recovering from all the work as fibromyalgia doesn't take kindly to all the work that goes into them. That's ok, it was worth it and I'm so glad I was able to do it. Otherwise life can be boring if you don't get together with friends. & you don't keep friends if you don't put a little effort into the relationship. I have great friends tho and they more than meet me halfway.

50 is such a milestone. When I turned 50 I realized that I had probably lived longer than I was going to live and that thought cast a different light on everything. It really brought home the fact that everyday is a gift.......& His mercies are new every morning. So everyday when I get up I am thankful for another day - & to realize God's mercy anew - that He is always there & no matter what, waiting to hear from me. Not that His world revolves around me, but He loves me wants me to know Him - know Him in a real way.

Psalm 139 says:

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.

So - He is thinking about us - we can rest in the fact that His thoughts are constantly towards us, and they are thoughts for good and thoughts in love.

2006-11-11T00:37:00.000-05:00

It's been one of those weeks. With so many good intentions I have not taken time to read anymore about Moses and what made him special

. I had a mini crisis of my own. Wednesday I had pain, pain and more pain. (fibromyalgia and arthritis)........which in turn led to emotional pain.....bwaaa....which led to tears........which led eventually to a prayer "God, please help me to accept those things I cannot chance, the grace to accept those things I can't and the wisdom to know the difference." That last one is the hardest. After all these many years, I keep thinking things are going to change and I just end up hitting my head against the wall. Talk about being dense!! Oh well, I want what I want what I want. Doesn't mean I'm going to get it. After all that I read Psalm 34 - it says "the Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." I felt better - in my surrender to those things I cannot control I met the only one who could answer my prayer. Guess sometimes when we surrender is when we really win.

Now, to stop trying to do everything in my own strength.

Peace.

Free Hugs

2006-11-08T20:30:00.000-05:00

Jesus Outside the Box: Free Hugs

Worth watching.......consider yourself hugged!!

2006-11-05T09:31:00.000-05:00

I was reading today about Moses and his brother Aaron and sister Miriam. Talk about family squabbles! Miriam and Aaron were kvetching about Moses - because of Moses' wife. Wonder what they didn't like about her. It really seems as though she (the wife) wasn't the problem, because God called the three of them out. God really stuck up for Moses and took the other two to task. He went on to tell them how special Moses was in comparison to anyone else. Wow! I wonder what it's like to get such a major pat on the back from God Himself. & how Miriam and Aaron felt. I think if I were them I would have wanted to crawl under a rock.

One verse says that Moses was very humble, more than any man on the face of the earth. Pretty amazing considering he stood up to Pharoah and led maybe a million Israelites out of Egypt in the greatest escape ever told. And yet, God gave this man a pat on the back. This has given me something to think about. Humility is not one of my problems....yet, God said He spoke to Moses face to face. There is a lesson to be learned here. I will be considering how to grow in this area. Maybe it will help make my corner of the world a little better.

Follow the link below if you want to read the passage I'm referring to. I couldn't figure out how to make an active link yet, so here is the address and you can copy and paste: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=numbers%2012&version=50

Hopefully, I will find time to read more about Moses. I'm blown away how God would do that. Wonder if He does stuff like that now.

2006-11-04T21:30:00.000-05:00

Clarification: There is a book by that title, but, no, I have not read it. My thought comes from what am I doing here (on earth - alive, etc.). There's been many people who have impacted the world and left behind influences(some good, some bad): Einstein, Jesus, Gandhi, Mohammed, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks. But, most of us don't have worldwide influence. & we certainly don't change things the big things. As someone once said "We bring nothing into this world and we take nothing out". (anonymous) We can create a garden, but not a flower, we can love someone, but can't make them love us, we bring forth life, but cannot stop death. This is why I say it's not about me. But, then, what is it about? And what can we do to influence our part of the world?

2006-11-04T21:04:00.000-05:00

Well, I've had to redo this. I tried to edit, but my original post disappeared! Everytime I go to the page it is blank! Oh well, eventually I'll get it.

I'm trying this out as I used to love to journal, and it sure is much easier to type than write. Except, those physical journals get very familiar and comforting. One thing I like about journaling is I can see where I've been, how I've changed (or not) and patterns that repeat. That has been helpful to me so I can see those things that I want to change.