Change and Growth

Everyone who knows me knows I am not a big fan of change.


We have been going through a period of growth within our small group that has caused one of the couples go their own separate way. While I do believe that this is all in God's plan for us and is important for our growth in our walk with Him, it is so very hard to deal with emotionally. It is difficult not to blame this on something that we have done wrong, rather than accepting that God called them in a different direction than He was calling the other couples in the group.


And although I know there really was not another option to what has happened, I still cannot prevent a profound sense of sadness and loss from sweeping over me.

So hot this week

This isn't an exaggeration.

Vacation Ahoy!

We are headed to Myrtle Beach, SC, in 16 days! Not that I am counting or anything. Bill and I are excited to explore a new beach and a new state and to have some time away from work and especially Bill's school.

Reflections on the Culture

There have been advertisements on television lately for a movie that looks so awful and disgusting that we have to change the channel just to not view the ads for it. I don't know a whole lot about this movie other than that ad which included irreverence toward Jesus and sexual acts performed with a donkey. The other thing I know is that the director of the movie was pleasantly suprised when he didn't have to cut anything out to get an R rating instead of a NC-17 rating. Now why am I talking about this? I guess because I started thinking about it in terms of the moral slippery slope our culture is currently on.

What is one of the arguments against supporting gay marriage? That if you can defend gay marriage by arguments of "personal choice" etc. then you can defend incest, group marriage, and beastiality. Of course most of the proponents of gay marriage were vehemently against this line of logic.

But now here is evidence of what even these most liberal and "open minded" people swear will not happen.

How did being "gay" become acceptable in the United States? Well, one way has been through humor on TV and the big screen. The Seinfeld quote from many years ago that most everyone knows--"We're not gay, not that there is anything wrong with that." You take a subject that people are uncomfortable with, make them laugh at it, and gradually they become comfortable with it.

Let's review what we have on TV and in movies now: Polygamy (Big Love), Child/Adult sexual relationship (Birth), and now beastiality (Clerks II). I guess liberals won't be able to deny for much longer that by supporting any deviant sexual relationship they are supporting them all.

Let's put the brakes on this cultural slide as much as we as individuals can--don't laugh. Will it help? Probably not much, but it really isn't funny.

Happy Day!!

It looks like we are going to be able to go on a vacation in a few weeks. This is suprising news because normally Bill has to do so much school that we are tied to the computer, but now we have been gifted with an unexpected week off! We don't know where we will go yet, but we definitely want to head to the beach!

Also, I was able to order a really cute tankini bathing suit at J.Crew that was on sale for well over half off. I have had my eye on this one for a long time--since it came out in the spring. Of course it was way overpriced back then, but sometimes good things come to those who wait. And now it looks like I will have a fun beach vacation to wear it on.

It has been a while since I posted--how is it the middle of July already? Our lives have been routinely busy if that makes any sense. A lot of ten hour days at work, Bill has to focus on school, I do the house chores, and the weeks slip by.

Our Fourth of July break was a nice change of pace--we enjoyed relaxing at the lake swimming and boating and eating. Spending time with the family was very nice--it can get lonely down here in Virginia sometimes!

Our Bible study group has been learning from Ephesians which has been an encouraging book to study in depth. Every week we are struck by the unfathomable things God has done for us and given to us. When praying for the believers, Paul wanted them to come to a deeper understanding of God's love so that they might experience the fullness He provides. Isn't it interesting that we often focus on very small, limited things when we pray--but what we should be praying that we "may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Think big when you pray--God has immeasurably more for His children than we can even imagine.

Night Show

Last night a powerful and dramatic lightning storm passed through our area. I call it a lightning storm because the lightning was the most dominant feature of this storm. There was some thunder, wind, and rain as well, but nothing like the lightning. The master bedroom of our house is on the third floor in the back facing some trees and a field, providing an excellent view of the sky. We went to bed a little before 11pm and were kept awake by the flash, flash, flashing of the lightning. Finally, we got up and opened the curtains and just watched. The whole sky would turn a mauve color as the lightning brightened the sky. It was the kind that you couldn't see the individual bolts of lightning, but would make the whole sky flicker. Then the bolts started. Flicker, flicker, flicker--then FLASH! a bolt or two would slice down all the way to the ground. We watched for about an hour--it must have been a slow moving storm. There was still some bright flashing going on when we finally went to bed after the exciting show.

four sweet years today

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

~e.e. cummings