reverie

I think I may be turning into some sort of desert creature. I crave heat lately in a way that is unnatural--I am certain I'm not sick & I have the thermostat in my apartment set to 82 right now AND I'm under a blanket. Unholy, I know. Plus over the past couple days anytime I drank more than about 6 ounces of any fluid in one sitting I started feeling a little bleh. If I start growing scales or something I'll be sure to see a doctor. ;) I was in Pasadena last night and instead of driving straight home I decided to scope out some of the neighborhood Christmas decorations. And what to my wondering eyes should appear? This year's best Christmas inflatable. It doesn't beat the giant snowman with a snowglobe base from last year, but still it's rather amusing. Behold the ridiculously large inflatable nativity! Haha I love this stuff. Giant inflatable holiday lawn decorations were simultaneously the best and worst invention--they crack me up with their ri...

Last night as I was leaving the grocery store I met a homeless man named David. Honestly I had intended to hand him a few bucks, say "God bless you" & walk away. Not that giving isn't good or sufficient, but God had a bit more planned this time. In our brief conversation David said 3 things that really struck me. 1. He was moved to tears telling me of the sleeping bag someone had recently given him. (Wow! To think if we were all that generous! A fairly small gesture on one man's part was a gift worth crying over for David. The thing that amazes me is that meeting a need so often taxes our comfort zone more than our wallets. If we could approach the world more often that way, going beyond ourselves to meet a real need, imagine how God could bless people through us.) 2. In nearly the same breath David asked why Jesus didn't love him anymore. I told him that Jesus still loved him; He brought someone into David's life to give him that sleeping bag. An...

I've taken to praying in the car, particularly while I drive to work, but at other times too. It (sort of) helps with frustration toward individuals whose IQ's may be slightly lower than what should be required for operating a motor vehicle. And more importantly it gives me a dedicated half hour to spend with God every morning. The other day while driving to work I was thinking about time from my perspective and how sometimes it can seem like time is running out for God to do the things I hope He's going to do in my life. And then I got a gentle reminder of Creation. God created the world in 6 days: plants, animals, oceans, land, sky, stars, people. If He can do that, what makes me think He could ever run out of time to work in my life? Every day is a movement toward whatever He's planning. Even if I can't see the movement day to day, I can trust He's at work. And who knows? In 6 days my life may look completely different. Our lives aren't static; ...

what was frozen through is newly purposed turning all things green so it is with You and how You make me new with every season's change and so it will be as You are recreating me I have had what can only be described as an intense day--in mostly good ways, but definitely a lot to take in. I started the morning by popping in one of my favorite cds--Nichole Nordeman's "This Mystery." The album just uplifts me & I love singing along to it. The title of this post and the italicized bits that follow are from her song "Every Season" and it describes rather accurately how I've been feeling lately--more on that in a second. As I was driving to church tonight the last song on this cd came on. I've heard it a million times and while it's a touching song about the crucifixion for the first time tonight it moved me to tears from the center of my soul. It was somewhat stunning, but they weren't tears of sorrow or frustration, they were tears of ...

Tonight Nicole & I decorated the apartment for Christmas. I think this is the latest we've ever done it, but between me being in Palm Desert half of Thanksgiving weekend and sickness for both of us we just really haven't had the chance. While decorating we also listened to Christmas music, of course! Some really great new Christmas cds have come out this year, but by far my favorite is Dustin Kensrue's This Good Night Is Still Everywhere. Dustin Kensrue is the lead singer of Thrice and he put out a solo album in 2007 (Please Come Home-- sooo good). I don't know that I've mentioned him here before so it may surprise you to find out that my love for his music and a lot of Thrice's tops my love for 30 Seconds to Mars. It's shocking I know, but Dustin Kensrue sings to my heart & soul in a way that few artists do. His solo stuff is very folky , moreso than I tend to go for, but like I said it resonates with my soul. And the title track off h...

First of all, thank you SO much to all of you who have visited The Daybreak Project . The support & prayers I've received from many of you for it really mean a lot. We're now up to 3 names! :) The growth is somewhat slow, but I'm excited for the things God is doing and will do through it. This weekend I wrote a new post for the blog over there and will aim to post something new at least semi-regularly. I've been on somewhat of a Spaghettios kick lately. By that I mean I've had 3 cans for various meals this week whereas before this week I can't remember the last time I had Spaghettios. They're highly underrated & very cheap at Target (half of what they cost at Ralph's). Now that I mention it, Ralph's is a funny name for a grocery store, right? Anyway, this recent Spaghettios resurgence in my life reminded me of a specific childhood lunch. I was sitting at the kitchen table when I came across something hard from my bowl of Spaghettios...

The amount of sinus congestion trying to squish my brain out my ears coupled with the fact that I just took Target brand cold & sinus nighttime medication with antihistamines which will probably be knocking me out any time in the next 3-5 minutes may result in this post not making any sense. And yet I still felt the desire to post something this evening. I hope you all had lovely Thanksgivings. Mine was fairly relaxed. I got frustrated with people who got a little cranky when the turkey wasn't done as quickly as expected--it gets done when it gets done! But that wasn't too bad. The only truly horrible part of the day was trying to get the turkey innards from the turkey and into the garbage. Nicole's office gives away free turkeys every year, which is very kind of them, however they buy slightly cheaper turkeys than I would have sprung for. Still free is free & you can't complain, that is until you stuff your arm elbow-length into a cold bird carcass expec...