Anticipation

i have fridays off. starting tomorrow. continuing through (most) of july and one week into august.

i am very excited.

this week it is long overdue. i need it more than i know. which is funny to say, cuz i know i need it, but need it even more than that. oops, i just said that.

plans for the weekend (sat & sun will be VERY busy):
clean house. desperately need to. hope to see my bro on friday. we'll see if the plans work out. rehearsal on saturday afternoon. followed by the wedding of two dear friends. followed by their reception. which promises to be awesome. followed by sleep. followed by early call on sunday morning. followed by a meeting after the 11:00 service. followed by a connections bbq at church with friends. then exhaustion will set in and i will crash. monday is memorial day, and i may see family for breakfast...but again, we'll see if plans pan out. the only other plan on friday and/or monday is to rest, read my Bible (beginning a study of Philippians), and REST.

wish me luck.

Really, Tuesday?

Run away!
Run away!


edit: today, I need this.

Planning to Dive In

I have felt lately that my daily (ok, ok, weekly) devotions have not been what they should be (ahem: weekly...) and that part of the problem is that I have lost interest in what I'm studying.

I've been going through the Bible with the help of a yearly journal for 2 1/2 years now. I still am learning and gaining insight. I still believe that God is using the passages to teach me what I need to learn. Lately the theme has been the same (for several we- well, months actually) and it's coming from passages I have definitely read before - so there's your proof. Plus, it's sorta cool that those lesser-read passages are becoming more and more familiar.

However. I truly think that at the moment I'm just "going through the motions" and not in a good way. I want to dive in. I want to be challenged. I want to become more of a leader. I want to have to work harder at knowing my amazing God. Right now I kinda feel like I'm just floating. I'm doing what I have to, what I know is right. And I think that's an ok place to start, even an ok place to get to sometimes; but it's NOT ok to stay there once you realize you're there.

A few ... months?... ago I started reading these two books. I was so excited about them. But life got busy, and I put them under my table in a shoulder bag and haven't looked at them since. Until this morning. I only read a few paragraphs out of Deep Church, but I am already excited to get back into it and thinking through these things again. (While looking for the post to link about these books, I found this good reminder to myself... sheesh. How quickly I forget.)

Also, as recently shared, I began reading Crazy Love. This is another good one - full of great things to think through. I am seeing God working in my head and heart already through what I'm reading and what my small group discusses as a result.

I'm planning on getting a commentary and making my own Bible study. I need something that refuses to be surface. Something that will make me think it through things I may not have noticed before. Something that requires that I don't swallow it whole as truth, but interact with it and with The Truth so I come out more like Jesus. I'm not sure what book I'll be studying yet - I'll be figuring that out tonight - but probably something written by Paul to begin. We'll see...

Life has gotten a little nuts lately and I feel like I'm lost in a very dark cave on a very narrow bridge with no light to help guide me - just faith and trust in my great God (my!). I found another quote from myself that I found looking for appropriate posts to link is this one, and it's a little crazy, cuz this is where I am (again) but I sure didn't have this direct deliberate thought in my head. I've just been thinking 'take a step forward cuz what else can I do?' which is good, but without the remembering of WHY I'm doing that, it's still too depressing.

"it's scary. there isn't a path defined for me to follow. but i know Who i'm following, and have absolute faith in Him - no matter how scary it gets."

Thank God for this reminder. And for the desire to know Him better.

Don't Forget

I've been reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Great book. Good challenges. Awesome perspective on our great God.

"...maybe life is tough right now, and everything feels like a struggle... But in the presence of God, He gives us a deeper peace and joy that transcends it all."

"Your part is to bring Him glory... The point of your life is to point to Him."

"I am thankful for the unknowns and that I don't have control, because it makes me run to God."

"Are you ready?"

"...nothing matters except our King and God."

"Don't let yourself forget. Soak it in and keep remembering that it is true. He is everything."

Well today just got... interesting

But I can't tell you why. (sorry)

and i'm not sure i like it.
yikes.

Also, this just in...

Where are you going next year?

Further Thoughts on Minimalism

While reading the 30 page free preview (online) of Everett's book, there were many things to ponder. I'm on page 25, so I'm almost at the end without buying the whole book from him, (which I'm not quite ready to do yet) but he has many great points, and many ideas that are going to keep me thinking and re-evaluating for several days (at least).

He talks a lot about how to think about things, how to spend. The cheapest price is not always the best place to spend your money. He hints at (which I'm sure he goes into in detail further into the book) how to cook well for a healthy and minimalist lifestyle. There is much more, and some of it I won't be able to share without purchasing and reading the entire book. We'll see.

One of my favorite things I read so far from it was this:

The minimalist path
I've found that my own life, my journey through minimalist living has a cyclical pattern. some years i have more stuff, others I've purged everything.

Not everyone needs to take being minimalist to the extreme that I am right now. you'll find that some areas of your life could use some simplification, while others may need to just be left alone.

I know I'll be pondering this for quite some time.