Friday Favorites...

Well, it's that time again.  I'd like to share just a few of favorite things...

1. Alone - I don't know if you know about the History channel's new reality survival series, but it is AWESOME!  We just happened upon it while on vacation.  It's like Survivor, but without other people.  If Survivor is an experiment in sociology, then Alone is an experiment in psychology.  10 men were dropped in the wilderness of Vancouver Island, Canada with 10 items (of their choosing) and cameras to document their journey.  After one week, 6 guys tapped out, but now we're down to the final 4 (all the ones I picked at the onset!) and they've been out there for over a month!  I can't wait to see who wins.

2.  Fitbit - I just got one of these little contraptions for my birthday (yay!).  It's a little wiggy to think of a bracelet that keeps track of your activity and sleep, but it is a pretty cool thing to be able to track these things.  I'm really trying to get fit and healthy and I'll take all the help I can get.

3. Paper Towns - Chas and I went to see this for my birthday (yay!).  I haven't read the book.  I really did mean to, but I haven't been much into fiction lately.  I know that the movie deviated from the book quite a bit, however, I thought it was great.  I won't give too much of the plot away but it you have a teen, it's a great watch for them and adults alike.

4.  Air conditioners - Yeah, I know that I said last week that I like the weather and I still stand by that while I"m standing comfortably by an air conditioner.  Last week I went to a picnic at the park with my parents and their church and there aren't enough adjectives to describe the deluge of sweat that was continually pouring off of me.  Summer by the Mississippi River = heat + humidity.  Now in addition to the indoor variety, I'm pretty excited about the fact that my AC in my car is now blowing those icy cold streams of air, too.

5.  For the Love - I know, I know.  It was on the list last week, but that was just the preorder.  Now, you can actually go to Barnes & Noble and buy it BEFORE it is released.  Not every B&N have it out, but you can check yours.  I found it in mine.  (BONUS:  If you flip to the back you can see a list of all the Launch Team members!)

These are just a few things that have caught my eye this week, what's on your favorite lists?

Why Wednesday? Blogging...

If you have children or have ever really been around a child, you know that phase where they continuously and relentlessly ask questions.  And usually no matter how far from that original question you get, it always ends up devolving into that 3-letter word that can keep the game going indefinitely:  Why?

That game tortured me when Chas was little, but I have to say that it also made me think about a lot of things that I’d never really thought about before or at least not to that extent.  Why are chicken nuggets this shape?  Why is it important to wash your hair?  Why do we call it a pair of pants when it’s a single item?

With that in mind, I’ve decided to start a series of sorts.  I want to explore some of the mundane and the profound in life in Why Wednesday?  Some topics may be silly and some may delve a bit deeper, but all are made so that I can tackle some of my beliefs and find out Why?  Why do I believe that?  Why do I watch that?  Why don’t I do that?

Today, I wanted to start off with something a bit on the lighter side and try to explain: 

Why I Blog?

I’ve always enjoyed writing.  It has been therapeutic for me.  I think it must somehow run in my genes, because I can remember as a child watching my sister work consistently on poems and screenplays and stories in the bedroom we shared.  She even went to school for it.  Most of my early writing was fiction and I even collaborated with a friend where we’d pass off a notebook and write a long story involving the teachers and classmates we encountered.  I still have a lot of those files that I would transcribe on my computer.  However, they are on discs that no longer work on modern computers (I’m old, y’all).

Writing stories, like reading stories, gave a way to escape and enter a completely made up world.  When I wrote the stories, I got to create that world. 

Today, I still write a fiction story or work on an old one every once in a while.  And I vow to one day participate in NaNoWriMo.  However, I’ve realized that as I have gotten older, I have a lot more to say about the world I currently live in than the fictional ones I created.  I have thoughts and opinions and ideas.  I took to social media for a while and that was fine, but I realized that that wasn’t the best medium to say all that I wanted to say.  And it certainly wasn’t great for long detailed posts or delicate opinions.

I had just a couple of friends that wrote blogs and I read a couple that I really enjoyed.  I wanted to enter that arena.  I wanted to put my words out there, too.  I wanted to be able to bear my heart and say the things that were on my mind and relevant to the world I lived in.

Ultimately I blog because it helps me.  It gets me out of my head a bit and allows me to say the things that are often bottled up in me with no way out.  I blog because I enjoy it.  Someday it would be great if I had a large readership and it’d be even greater if I could make money at this, but really I blog first for myself.  And I hope that maybe someday something I write might help someone else.  As one of my (few) blogging friends once told me, “Blogging is good for the soul.”

August Books?

Anyone who has followed be for very long, knows my love of books.  And lists.  So it totally makes sense for me to make a list of books that I want to read for the year, right?  So I did.  And I did really well, for a few months.  But I am so sad to say that I have pretty much abandoned my list.

I've still been reading some, but I haven't followed much of my list for several months.  I've actually had several books cross my path that I had to read, such as For The Love by Jen Hatmaker.  But I've also had a couple cross my path that I just needed to read, like Kevin Yancey's What's so Amazing About Grace?  Both were amazing and I would highly recommend them.

Last month I came across The Hole in Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung.  I started it immediately.  I am just beginning it (and haven't made enough time for it), but I love it.  I think I am on quite a personal journey exploring righteousness, holiness, and grace and the inner-working of all those things together.

Even with my major deviation from my list, I'm not chucking it out just yet.  Perhaps I'll return to it at some point this year.  I'm not ready to call it a failure, just yet.  I have to remember that the point of my list is to keep me reading.  My goal was 24 books this year.  This doesn't seem overly ambitious to me.  I have friends that will read double that by year end.  I just want to make sure that I am continuing to feed my mind and being challenged.

So, what are you reading?  What has caught your eye this year?

Friday Favorites...

I know there are a lot of blogs out there that do some fun posts on Friday and since I’ve been a little MIA lately, I thought I would go ahead and join the Friday Fun Bandwagon.  I’m starting this out this week because tomorrow is the first day of August, which is one of my favorite months.  And here are a few reasons why:

1. My Birthday!  Yep, that’s right.  I kind of have a love/hate relationship with my birthday.  I don’t mind getting older, but for many years I had really bad birthdays (grandma had a heart attack and stroke on my 17^th and then there was the year that my mom, husband, and son forgot – and no, it wasn’t a joke).  However, I’ve still always looked forward to my birthday.  Isn’t there just something fun about being silly and enjoying the day God placed you on this Earth?

2.  School supplies.  I’m SUCH a weirdo, but there is just an amazing joy that comes from shopping for school supplies.  When I was in school, I loved it, too.  I didn’t care about starting school, but I loved the school supply shopping (more so than clothes shopping).  Now that we homeschool, it’s even better because I get to make my own school supply list!  And if I happen to add a couple fun binders and pens that end up being too girly for my son to use, then I guess I’ll take them off his hands.

3.  Weather.  Yes, August is still hot.  And humid.  And miserable.  But there is hope in August, right?  You know that after August comes September then October.  The end of the oppressive heat and humidity is in sight.  It’s just around the corner.  Don’t believe me?  Look at all the pretty sweaters that are now in stores.

4.  Back to School Planning.  Now, this isn’t to be confused with school supplies although, there is a bit of overlap here.  Being the nerd that I am, I love sitting down with my calendar and planning out our school year.  Where are the 3-day vacations and weeklong breaks?  What are we going to study first semester and what will wait until the spring?  This is my jam, y’all.  I’m a planner and I love it.  It is hard and takes a lot of work, but it is oh, so rewarding.

5.  For The Love.  Yes!  It is finally here.  The book that I have been gushing over and quoting to all that would listen, yeah, it comes out this month.  18 Aug, to be exact (one week after my birthday!).  Seriously, this is book is awesome.  It melds the idea of being a Kingdom people with lots of humor and presents it in a real way.  The good news is that you don’t have to wait until August to buy it.  You can preorder it here now! 

This concludes this week’s faves.  What are some of the things that you are excited about this week?

Victory in Inches...

Oh, goodness! This could be the theme of my life. It's a phrase that the Hubs and I coined a while back during a particularly tough duty station. There was rampant wickedness and horrible situations and a lot of issues in our family. We really didn't know where to start or how to fix things. So, we just jumped in and followed Jesus. And things began to change. Little by little, here and there, things got better.

That's when we started using this term, Victory in Inches. There were no huge, life shattering moments, it was just the little things that were happening slowly, over time until one day when we turned around we could see undeniable progress. 

So, here we are again. There's a huge task before us, major house renovation and a major change in lifestyle (hello, homesteading!). I'm glad the Hubs knows where to start, because I certainly don't. And start, we have. Things are going, moving forward, but it seems that it is at a glacial pace. I'm the kind of person who goes for a walk in the morning and wonders if I'm skinny and healthy yet. 

Because of this, I am struggling with this project. It's one of the biggest of my life and certainly the biggest of my marriage. So, we definitely need to take our time and do it right. That's what I want. But I also want it done and want it done now. This is the part of me that I'm having to crucify daily. 

However, there's that other part that keeps sneaking in. The part that's telling me that we aren't making any progress and it's all for naught. All this sacrifice, all this work, it's just spinning our wheels. Oh, how easy these thoughts come. How easily my mind conjures the negative aspects and feeds on them. This is what I'm currently combatting. Every setback, every missed deadline is feeding into this line of thinking. 

This is why I have to occasionally do a "moto check." I have to stop and turn around. I have to make myself look at where we started so that I can see how far we've come. It's not drastic and it looks far worse now than when we started, but there is progress. Slow, steady moving forward. Victory in inches. It's not pretty yet and it isn't comfortable, but it's necessary.

For any person, in any stage of life, it's so much easier to focus on the negative aspects, to spend our time looking at how much is left, rather than what has been accomplished. But we can't live there, in that place. That is not our home.  No, our call is to live in the victory and hope that has been promised to us. When it is difficult and discouraging, we have to remember to take the time to see where we've been and how far Jesus has brought us. Because even when the victory comes in inches, we are still gaining ground. 

How the Church should Respond

I don't claim to be a theologian or an expert in Christianity, the Bible, or God, but I am a faithful follower of Jesus, a member of one of His churches, and a student of His Word and Teachings.  And I'm angry.  And disappointed.  And concerned.

So much has been happening in our world lately.  I don't need to name it.  I'm sure most are aware; it's hard not to be aware.  I had to take a large break from social media for a few days just to try to keep myself sane.  I have so much on my heart and I didn't want to become part of the problem that is so upsetting.

I have seen so much conversation in the last few weeks, but I'm not exactly sure what all is actually being said.  I have friends on both sides of any given event.  I see those who are trying to turn certain events into a call to arms, a political agenda, or a direct hit to their religion, or advocating those who do.  It is easy to see why social media makes a great platform for such things.

Now, I'm not dissing social media because I love social media.  Facebook makes keeping connected to friends all over the world a reality and gives me a chance to keep in touch with family now that I live far away.  Twitter is just fun and funny.  Instagram allows me to post as many pics of food as I please with little to no guilt!  I think social media is fabulous and all about how you use it and using it responsibly.

With all that being said, I also think that social media is a great place for discussion on relevant and timely topics.  It's a great way to weigh in on what's happening around us and to occasionally vent our frustrations over such things.  However, it is also a great way to incite a cyber riot.  With access to so many and so little repercussions, it is easy to gain a mob mentality.  With the ease of merely 'liking' a status or 'favoriting' a tweet, it is easy to click or type before you think.

THIS is what is dangerous.  When you have someone type something out that sounds good and your fingers move before you can really think about it, you are in danger of just following along.  I have read some really great things from a lot of people lately that sound like they are in line with what Jesus has taught.  However, we need to make sure that we aren't depending on just what sounds good.  We have to think and discern what is Truth.

There is also an issue with many spouting how awful things are today, and I guess they are.  But really are they any worse than in previous times?  Things will never be perfect here, not until Jesus comes.  However, we have to look at history and no matter how far back you look, you will see evil and how God's people dealt with that evil.  

The things that are happening in our generation are not new in the grand scheme of things; they are just new to us.  And I have to admit, our pride, our hubris, has caused us to believe that this is special for us and that we, as the church, especially in America, are under a special charge today.  We believe that we are the first to deal with sin (because when you boil it all down, that's what it is) and sin on this scale.  We aren't and these sins aren't even new!

I fear that we are letting ourselves be distracted and have been for a long time.  We are worried about fighting on so many fronts and letting ourselves believe that it is our job to fight these wrongs in the first place that we are missing the places where we are truly called to fight.  When we expend all our time, effort, and energy to speak about political issues and forget the widows and orphans, then we are directly working against the commands set for in the Bible!  When we spend more time typing furiously and debating strangers and friends on Facebook, we are forgetting that there are those that are hungry, thirsty, and naked standing in our presence and we can't even see them.

We are also missing out on teaching the future generations of the church, some more than others.  We may make sure that they know the stories of Noah and Jonah and all the other "Sunday School" stories and we make sure that they are getting taught proper doctrinal salvation, but what then?  After our children have become believers of Jesus, what do we do?  What do we model?  If we continually repeat the same "children's Bible stories" throughout their childhood and never expound upon them, where do we end up?  A 10-year old can be taught the same story as a 5-year old, but if it is at the same level of depth, then we are doing a great disservice.  

We must make sure that our children, as well as ourselves, are growing in holiness, sanctification, and God's Word.  We have to seek this depth; we have to work at it.  We have to help our children see this depth and see us model it in our own lives.  This is how the church combats these evils.  We live out Truth and teach it to those in our charge, whether children or students or people in our life that we have influence over.  This is the call of God's church.

Me & the Ocean...

Can I just tell you how much I love the ocean?  Because it's a lot.  I mean it.  I grew up in a land locked state, but it was right along the Mississippi river, so I saw water a lot.  It's always been a bit of a comfort.

Fast forward several years to when I married a young sailor in the US Navy and then being around the ocean became a serious thing (other than a short stint in the Mojave Desert, but we don't talk much about that).  When my son was born in Northern California, I had a view of the water from my hospital room.  

While living in Rhode Island (our last duty station), I literally lived on an island, which meant I crossed over the water constantly.  And even though it was almost always too cold to swim (I AM a southerner after all), I loved going to the beach, whether rocky or sandy, and just hanging out.  I loved going to Cape Cod in the winter or finding other fun spots to hang out.

However, three years ago we moved from RI to Tennessee.  Another landlocked state.  Now, there are a few lakes with decent beaches, but I'm an ocean kind of girl.  I just like to see it.  And it's been two years since I spent any time near it.

Now I am in Florida (I am a bit partial to the Pacific, but I'll take what I can get).  I haven't gotten to spend any time near the water, but driving all the way down to the bottom of the state gave me enough glimpses that I have realized how much I missed it.

I don't know if I'll get to spend much time actually on the beach this trip (this humidity + a broken ac), but I am thankful to be able to see it and enjoy it.  It is amazing how much the little things can mean so much.