To Muse and Be Amused

My family and I watched the new movie, Secretariat , a few weeks ago and I was moved like never before. The movie opened with a verse out of the book of Job and I wanted to share it with you... "Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane? Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting? He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray. He laughs at fear. afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword. The quiver rattles at his side, along with the flashing spear and lance. In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds..." -Job 39:19-24 What is it in this verse that gives me goose bumps? Is it the power? Or the simple reminder in it? How is it that God was able to give such a powerful message to Job in the simplest of forms using one of His most simple creatures? But then again, we are human, and God is superior to us beyond our wildest imagina...

Dear Pressure, Since you seem to have a lot of time to intrude on my life, I thought I'd drop you a line on how it's going. Then you don't have to work so hard to try to be sneaky about whatever it is you plan to do next. I'd like to say that you are everywhere. I see you in the hallways, outside in the parking lot, in the cafeteria, in my classes, on the sidewalk, and even in my own house. You are not very subtle. Sometimes you come forcefully, and other times you are quite gentle. Either way, you are very powerful. It's not hard to see. I have many friends who have gotten pregnant because of you. Others, who have gotten drunk or smoked some weed or stolen something from a local store. No matter where I go, you are there too. Pressure here. Pressure there. See Pressure talk. See Pressure lie. See Pressure run. No one escapes you, do they? But through all my observations, I noticed that you take a most common form of people. You could be a gir...

Have you ever noticed that when you stare at the sand in an hourglass as it pours from one end to the other, it doesn't appear to be making a difference? I mean, the sand is moving and the grains of sand in each end are changing, but it doesn't actually seem like it. And suddenly, you notice that the sand is pooled in the bottom of the hourglass and movement of the sand has ceased. It is completely still in the hourglass. I thought this was a great analogy for life in some cases. It starts so quickly and inevitably. It pours and pours. The bottom of the hourglass is always changing shape and form with the addition of each grain of sand. The new grains cover the old and, new ones continue to cover those as well. When you stop looking at the glass for a while, then look back, you notice it's changed. You notice the difference. And if you keep switching glances, you'll look back one time and notice that the sand has almost run out. And you'll anticipate the end of the ...

" I didn't say it would be easy... I only said it would be worth it I was at a friends house when I saw this quote hanging on her wall. It had a picture of Jesus reaching out to a little boy who was curled up in a corner with bruises on his legs and tears running down his face. The image of God helping a person ,who fell on the ground as a little boy and was picked up by Jesus as a strong man, popped into my head. The idea is that no matter what we go through, no matter how hard we fall, no matter who tries to drag us down, if we stick through it and trust in God's love, it will be worth it in the end. God is great and he can reach us wherever we are. If we have him, we have everything. And though the road is long, and growing more narrow every second, it is going to be worth it.

When we were kids, we had everyone else do stuff for us. We still do! But when did we cross that line between walking on crutches and standing on our own two feet? I haven't yet. My parents still pay for my shelter, food, education, (I can't say clothing because I have recently bought all my clothes) and transportation. I owe my place in our class system to them for the some hundred thousands of dollars they have spent on me in my lifetime. When I can get a job and can live on my own, I will start over again. So when do we stop walking on the support (crutches) God has provided for us? When we are old enough? When we deserve it? Does God ever really let us go? I quote from my profile, "When I am walking down the path, he is telling my feet where to go, but not really moving them for me, that is my job. And though I stray from the path all the time, He is there to set me straight again." I think God does let us go, eventually, when we are strong enough to support ours...

Have you ever wondered why the bad things in life happen? I have. In fact, I blame ALL the things that happen on the people around me and I don't like doing so. How can we blame a bad grade on our sisters or something. I didn't kind it ridiculous until much later, but growing up, I did. Our life in the world is like a test. We go through life making mistakes and learnign from them, but those are called quizzes. Tests are the real things, like deciding whether or not to get married or whether or not to have children. Those are the things that stick with you for life. The things that you really can't undo, sure you can get divorced and remarry, sure you can put the child up for adoption (and that is not something I would recommend doing) but they are the things that you will never forget or undo. In school, you make a mistake and you try again the next day. If you fail your drivers ed. test, you can take it again next week. But when you hit the real world, and you get into a ...