Quickest Way to My Heart...

1. BABIES (african, caucasian, asian, etc).

2. Frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc).

3. Acoustic music (Ernie Halter, Jason Reeves, Tyrone Wells, etc).

4. Lots of smiles and laughter (this one's pretty self explanatory, etc).

It's that simple.
The End.

Beautiful

Sunday, in the aforementioned church service, the pastor preached on something I hadn't given much thought to up to this point...the beauty of heaven. I know that may sound odd to most believers, but I normally don't take the time to dwell on heaven and all that awaits us in eternity. But Sunday as I listened to the message about eternity and the wonderful things our Heavenly Father has prepared for us there, maybe for the first time, I got a small taste of what it might be like.

I'm sure we all have our preconceived notions on what we think heaven will be like, but for whatever reason, I had chosen to abstain from coming to any conclusions about it (probably because I haven't done enough investigating to back it up with scripture). Even when I picture the best the Earth has to offer, I know it is nothing in comparison to what God has in store for believers. That just blows my mind. So even when you see the most beautiful thing you could ever behold; be it the perfect sunset, snow peaked mountains, or a tropical paradise... this world is still cursed. The very ground that we praise as beautiful and the scenery that "takes our breath away" is called "cursed" by God.

And to Adam he said,
"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
'You shall not eat of it,'
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life

Genesis 3:17

So how much more beautiful must heaven be if all we know and have seen is cursed? I can't even wrap my mind around it.

Creepy

Yesterday I went with some friends to First Baptist Irving, which is a great church who's pastor John Durham (the old youth pastor at Houston First Baptist) basically teaches doctrine and theology every Sunday, which I love :), but apparently I'm not the only one, seeing as it is the new "it" church for DBU goers. Well anywho, I always forget that at the end of each church service they do the whole "everyone join hands and sing" thing where you are expected to join hands with the people on either side of you and worship.

In theory, I don't have any problems with this...in practice sometimes it's a little different. Last Sunday I was seated between a girl that I know from school (no problem there) and some random guy that I assume was a high schooler (seeing as he was sitting with his mom and giving off that "awkward kid" vibe). The church service was awesome... worship was great and the message was definitely enlightening and in general it went off without a hitch, until those faithful words to join hands...

I instinctively grabbed the hands of those closest to me... but shortly after I did that, I realized that the kid on my right had the softest hands I have ever felt. It was gross. I don't know if this kid moisturized on a regular basis, or just has naturally creamy, soft, infant-like hands, but I was completely grossed out by it. It was like holding marshmallow creme without the sticky residue. No me gusta.

I feel like boys have a right to be scratchy and rough and even dirty on occasion! I don't like that I have to worry if a boy will have softer skin than me. I understand taking pride in your appearance, but I draw the line at satiny hands... it's creepy and weird.

Give me Jesus

These past few days I have really been reminded of the depth of the need we (as people) have for Jesus. We don't need miracles or "things" that we think will comfort us or bring us joy...we just need Jesus. It's as simple as that, yet we make it so much more complicated. We have a Savior that offers peace and joy and redemption, why would we need to pursue those things elsewhere?

So today my prayer is that as Christians we would realize that Jesus satisfies every need and lifts every burden. I pray that He would become my heart's desire, and I would quit settling for less and becoming distracted by so many other things. After all, when the Earth fades away, there will be Jesus.

Give Me Jesus- Jeremy Camp

Spring 2009

Seeing as my semester starts tomorrow, I figured I'd fill everyone in on what I'll be doing with the next 4-5 months of my life... I'm really excited about the classes I'm taking. This semester I'm starting to take some more specialized courses mixed in with my core stuff. As of today, this is my schedule

History from 1865-Present: Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 8 am
New Testament: Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 9 am
Chapel: Monday, Wednesday, Friday: 10 am
Christian Leadership: Monday, Wednesday: 2 pm
Fitness for living: Tuesday, Thursday: 8 am
Developing a Christian Mind: Tuesday, Thursday: 9:30 am
The Educational Ministry of the Church: Tuesday: 2 pm
Human Growth and Development: Thursday: 2 pm

My hardest will probably be Developing a Christian Mind, it's a core course but it is a TON of work and I'm pretty sure I got the toughest professor :/ The classes I'm MOST excited about are The Educational Ministry of the Church and Human Growth and Development...they're both only once a week for 2.5 hours, so I'm crossing my fingers that I get interesting professors!

All this is topped off by the fact that I was informed I will be working 20 hours a week at work now (last semester I only worked 15)...on top of my 18 hours of class! It's gonna be intense, but I think it's doable.

Wish me luck! I'm sure there will be many posts to follow about things I'm learning and all that junk :)

Name Snob

I'm starting to realize that I am secretly a bit of a snob when I first meet people. I try to be really polite and tell them my name and smile as they tell me theirs, but I might as well be listening to static. I don't know what it is but I can never remember peoples names! I don't forget on purpose or choose not to listen, I just blank when people tell me. I walk away scratching my head and hoping that (God forbid) I ever run in to that person again, they will forget my name so that we don't have to do the whole awkward "You-remember-me-but-I-have-no-clue-who-you-are" greeting. I feel like this happens to me a lot at work... I meet all these important deans and professors that go out of their way to be nice to me and remember my name and I can't even respond with a proper greeting. Blah. I wish I could change my ways, but in the heat of the moment it never fails... the only way I'm going to remember you is through intense repetition.

In other news, my bffae is back in town and we will be spending the rest of the week together... Scrubs marathon, our first annual steak dinner ;), taking LOTS of pictures, etc. It's gonna be pretty stinkin sweet.

P.S. Sorry I haven't posted in a while... I know all 3 of my readers are extremely disappointed in my lack of post's ;) But don't fret, regular posting will officially resume next week when I head back to Dbu.