I have been reading Elisabeth Elliot’s book On Asking God Why, and recently came upon a few chapters (15 - 17) regarding divorce.  Her thoughts on the subject were very interesting, and gave a different perspective on the issue than popular consensus.

Here is an excerpt from Chapter 16 - The “Innocent” Party:

“When sinful people live in the same world, and especially when they work in the same office or sleep in the same bed, they sin against each other.  Troubles arise.  Some of those troubles are very serious and not subject to easy solutions.  God knows all about them and knew about them long before they happened.  He made provision for them.  His Son bore all of them—all grief, all sorrow, all disease, all sin—for us.”

I wonder how differently I might react to conflicts which arise at work and at home if I was to remind myself of this truth throughout the day.  I would like to believe the change would be substantial.

Being very much of the earth–earthy–we always want tangible, visible things–proofs, demonstrations, something to latch onto. If we always had them, of course, faith would be “struck blind.” When Jesus hung on a cross, the challenge was flung at Him: Come down! He stayed nailed, not so that spectators would be satisfied (that miracle, his coming down, would have been a great crowd-pleaser), but that the world might be saved.

Many of our prayers are directed toward the quick and easy solution. Long-suffering is sometimes the only means by which the greater glory of God will be served, and this is, for the moment, invisible. We must persist in faith. God has a splendid purpose. Believe in order to see it.

“Our troubles are slight and short-lived, and their outcome an eternal glory which outweighs them far. Meanwhile our eyes are fixed, not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen” (2 Cor 4:17, 18 NEB).

- Elisabeth Elliot

Twitter admins’ are DUMB.

… the end.

Puggles, pookimos, Jack-a-
bees
—the biggest trend in pets isn’t purebreds, but specially created hybrids.

read more | digg story

The other night the tornado sirens went off around 8 o’clock.

Since I have lived here this has happened one or two times before, but always during day when sighting a tornado would be quite a bit easier.
I overreacted a little bit.. ok, a lot.  My rationally minded husband sat on the couch, temporarily ignoring my anxiety attack, listening to the weatherman and storm chasers discuss the location of the storm’s circulation.  After which, AJ informed me that we would leaving the apartment and taking our pets with us. And, thirty minutes later, the storm had passed, never producing a tornado, and we returned to our home safe and sound.

My tornado evading experience is very limited.  In fact, the closest I’ve come to that kind of natural destruction is helping my parents put away our toys and lawn chairs in preparation for a hurricane that was scheduled to hit the next day.  Yet, the thought of my inexperience never crossed my mind.  Only questions:
“Why are you just sitting there? Don’t we need to do something?!”
“I thought we were supposed to go to the central most point of our apartment and sit in the bathtub, or something!”
“What?? Why are we going outside and driving around?!”

The fact that my husband has lived here all of his life, studied meteorology in h/s, and chased tornadoes with his sister never crossed my mind.  The fact that he knew exactly what to do in this type of situation never crossed my mind. I was too concerned with understanding the situation instead of following in blind faith, trusting that my husband was capable of evading a tornado and knowing that he would never intentionally put me in harms way.

The situation made me wonder how often I respond in this same manner when faced with spiritual storms.  I have a Guide who is more than capable of  pulling me through the storm unharmed and Who has my best interests in mind, however, I easily forget the facts and focus on questions of doubt:  “How..?” “Why..?” “Are You sure??” “I thought we were supposed to do this now..” I forget that I completely lack the experience, wisdom, and capability to weather such storms on my own.

Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Hasn’t God made this world’s wisdom look pretty foolish? (1 Cor 1:20)

I would have made a very sad scene the other night had someone recorded me. Next time, I hope, I will have sense enough to trust someone who knows what they are doing.

Long time since I have graced eBlog with my presence. I suppose I will start it off with a bang because what’s the fun in a brand new post that’s boring?

I recently read all of the following articles. Very interesting… a lot of information about each candidate (gives a bit of a brief life/religious history) that I did not know or had never heard before.
*Note: The articles were written at different times, some are more current than others, so some positions may have changed a bit during their campaign. Also, in case you were wondering who in the world this guy is, I provided some information and links at the bottom.

Listed Alphabetically: Hillary Clinton (D-Presidential Candidate), John Edwards (Potential VP), Rudy Giuliani (Potential VP), Mike Huckabee (R-Presidential Candidate), John McCain (R-Presidential Candidate), Borack Obama (D-Presidential Candidate).
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Faith And Action is American’s only Christian missionary outreach to elected and appointed officials located immediately across the street from the US Supreme Court. Rob Schenk, President and Messianic Jew, was a favorite and frequent guest speaker at the church in which I grew up.

Based on internal and media reports, Rev. Schenk analyzes the religious faiths of the presidential candidates’, and their positions on the Sanctity of Life, Sanctity of Marriage and the Family, and Public Acknowledgment of God.

These articles do not explore the candidates economic, social, or foreign policies, except where they explicitly intersect with his/her personal religious faith. They do look at his/her legislative record, but only in light of what it tells us about his/her religious beliefs.

(Faith And Action does not endorse or support any candidates for election.)
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I was just flipping through our copy of Wild At Heart by John Eldredge. Its spine is well worn from the hours it spent opened. Its paragraphs underlined with ink pens, blue and black, and descriptive words highlighted in yellow, with notes scratched in its margins.

“One day, you just might need that boy to defend you.”

“Life needs a man to be fierce - and fiercely devoted.”

“In every relationship something fierce is needed once in a while.”

“It’s not just that a man needs a battle to fight; he needs someone to fight for.”

“It’s not enough to be a hero; it’s that he is a hero to someone in particular, to the woman he loves.”

…..

“You can tell what kind of man you’ve got simply by noting the impact he has on you.

“She sees him as no one else does, sleeps with him, knows what he’s made of. If he has given her the power to validate him as a man, then he has also given her the power to invalidate him too. That is the deadly catch.”

My parents tell me that when I was in my mother’s womb they would play worship tapes on the stereo and hold headphones against my mom’s stomach so that I could hear it. They had read that it was soothing. It’s interesting that now, music is one thing that will always calm me down.

When I was able to pull myself up onto my feet, while holding onto something, I was crawl into our den whenever my parents had music playing, pull myself up, and bounce to the music.

I have always loved to listen to music. I also like to dance, at which I am not good; and I like to sing, not only along with songs on the radio or ipod. My mom, when in a happy mood, will “sing” her sentences to me; I do that sometimes, too. I cannot think of much time when music was not surrounding my life as a child: my parents constantly played their Christian tapes at home and in the car; I sang in the church’s kids choir and youth choir, been apart of various other singing groups; my best friend and I were practically obsessed with the Beatles all throughout middle school and high school, listening to them constantly.

Perhaps this is why I hear theme music everywhere I go and during everything I do. I call it “theme music”, but it could otherwise be known as the background music that is played during movies or television shows. Usually, it is used to set the mood for what is happening, whether it be happy, sad, meaningful, etc.

My theme music today is “A Bad Dream”, by Keane.
I first heard it on an episode of Scrubs when Carla says her goodbyes to Laverne, who is in a coma and about to pass away.
It seemed appropriate for today, somehow. But the only part that keeps playing over and over is the chorus…

I wake up, it’s a bad dream
No one on my side
I was fighting
But I just feel too tired
To be fighting
Guess I’m not the fighting kind
Wouldn’t mind it
If you were by my side
But you’re long gone
Yeah you’re long gone now

My heart is always so torn when I travel between home and home. Especially when AJ doesn’t come with me. Between family and an old friend, and new family and new friends. I wish my worlds were not so far apart. Why can’t they move the two states closer together??? Really, how hard would that be?!

*sigh*

I am sitting in the airport awaiting my initial board.

I hate packing and managed to procrastinate until 2 am. Now I am so tired I should have no trouble sleeping on the plane. If only I can wait til then.

AJ isn’t able to go home with me this time. I wish he could. I know Ill have fun with my family. It feels wrong being away from him like this, though. I guess I am a bit old fashioned in this fast paced, world traveling age in which we live.