chunky challenge

OOOH!! I am so excited my friend, Dana, is hosting a reading challenge. Big fat chunky books that I can get lost in. YAY!! This means I will need to finish my personal challenge by the end of January (well maybe not...but as you can refer back there was no time limit due to things like this) Come join me...follow the link above and sign up when it is ready.....you know you want to drink the koolaid.

The Chimes

The Chimes Please click for a synopsis. Oh, the lesson in this book...pre judging those around you. I am pretty guilty about this. I have a tendency to forget that we all put our pants on one leg at a time, we all eat, we all have feelings, and we all are searching for why we are here on this planet. No matter what, we are all people and all have a "sin nature" whether we want to admit or not. We all need a savior that can redeem us. There is only one, Jesus. Oh, thank goodness He pulled me out of where I was at in my searching for my purpose. One does not need to be taught to do wrong....observe your children or remember your children when they were young....Did I teach my child to lie to get out of being in trouble? Did I have to teach my two year old to claim every thing is "MINE Mine MINE " and protect my toys at all cost and not share them through means of biting, screaming,and hitting? (my children were not big biters at two but they sure knew how to claim what they thought was theirs!) Think about it...besides "ma ma" and "da da" a child's other first word is "NO" However, despite this I do believe in certain circumstances people can fall down any path of destruction...none are exempt. We need to esteem each other and let each other know we are here for a purpose...to please God. God puts us in the path of people everyday. You never know how you treating somebody could change their whole path in life. Quite a big responsibility, if you ask me. I would hate for the way that I think about certain people to cause them to go down a path of total destruction because of how I treat them, due to how I think about them. This is exactly what happens in this book through a dream. My five year old asked me today "Does God love kidnappers?" I told her yes, but He does not love what they do. He loves the person, not the sin. This really made me think...God loves everybody. He loves the the prostitutes on the street, He loves the people that use drugs, He loves the people that murder. But he despises the crimes they commit. This is what really gets me to think....We all need somebody to redeem us...whether "we are not so bad" to those that we judge as being "really bad." We are the ones who put the degree on sin....God sees it all the same whether you tell a little lie to murdering somebody...There is no degree to sin. Does this make sense....no. That is why I just remember God tells me to "not lean on my own understanding" and "my ways are higher than your ways" I am just going to believe that He is in control and has a pretty good handle on things...after all...He created this place...He must know what He is doing. I am just going to trust Him, pray for those that need to find Him, and tell others about Him when the opportunity arises, and encourage those believers to keep going on and lean on Him to "fight the good fight"

Look at the names I list below and think about your first thought:

Casey Anthony

Charles Manson

Bill Clinton

The CEO's of the 3 major car companies

Paris Hilton

Yes even typing I had to fight my first thought...However God's first thought

"I love them and I created them. I want them to repent and come to me." One purpose in being here...PRAY for them. It is really hard to think bad thoughts about somebody while praying for them. There is so much power in prayer. In the times it is hard to pray for somebody we don't think deserves it, I just think about what God saved me from and how I did not deserve it. Everyday, I thank Him for blessing me beyond what I deserve....That makes it easier to see everybody through Jesus' eyes and not my own.

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol.....This has become associated with Christmas as much as Christmas trees, dinner on Christmas day and mistletoe....There are movies and plays. "Bah Humbug" and "Don't be a Scrooge" can be in the everyday vocabulary. I have discovered I love Charles Dickens. I have never read him before and he is just fantastic. He also has a great sense of humor and can be funny through sarcasm at many times throughout his writings, which is so me.

There is just something about when you read a book, that a movie or play can not just give you. You may actually picture things differently than a movie would actually do so...because you are getting that person's personal take on it...That is the beauty of reading....you get to experience it in your own way and nobody has to tell it is wrong.

All of us are like Ebeneezer. We all have experiences that have made us the people we are today that have changed us. I love the fact that what he went through made him a better person. I really compare it to what God will do with us. He will do what he can to get our attention to bring us back to him. Sometimes, He will do whatever it takes to have us become obedient to Him. Some people don't need to have the extreme done to them personally but through it being done to somebody else they will repent and change. God knows what we can handle....so. if you have been through some tough horrendous times and made it through...God knew that you could handle and knew the glory would go to Him....That is overwhelming just thinking about it.

on a light note...my daughter Hannah likes to say now when somebody is full after eating that they are 'full of it" for example. She asked Daddy if he was done with his dinner. He says "yes" she asks, "Are you full of it?" (which of course makes me giggle and my sarcasm comes out and makes me say "he is full of something" Life is good here....just in the waiting game. I loathe moving....loathe it with every fiber in my being. Luckily for me, I am not a pack rat and will clean out the crap every few months so most of what I have does not need to gone through just packed into a box....This is not the case for my husband and middle daughter. Oh, the joy of going through her room(while she spent the night somewhere else) and cleaning out her drawers. The girl saves everything.....seriously...papers from 1st grade that she was saving for what? I don't know exactly....all I can say is it has been almost a week and she has not even noticed. However, this is not the case with my husband. He may not notice right away but two years from now he will ask where something is that I probably threw out...So I do not pack up his things because nothing makes me more insane than to pack things that I think should be thrown out...It is just better for him to do it and then put the box somewhere. I can handle lots of boxes I just don't like lots of things everywhere. (so if I die first, it will probably take two days to go through my things....if he goes, then it will take me the rest of my existence to go through his ;) )