Happy Thanksgiving

I know I haven't said it elsewhere, but I thought I'd at least say it here; HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Things I'm thankful for are:
Family
Good Friends
A job in the field I love
A few days off from work
A Savior who loves me
Crazy older neighbors
Cheaper gas prices
A car that gets me where I need to be
Talents and abilities
A place to call home
Internet access
A life changing trip to Brazil
A time to worship

God Dreams and the Narrow Road

So after talking about the narrow road in Bible study tonight, God just gave me a follow up on some questions I had.
Here's my dream.

I had gotten in the car, and was listening to the radio. I knew my friend from Bible study were in the house behind me, and we weren't at our normal meeting place, but on a retreat or something. I'd like to think were were down the shore, or at least by some body of water. Anyway, I'm sitting in the car, and one of my friends sits down in the car next to me and squeezes beside me. A song comes on the radio, I think it was an Avalon song, but I thought at first it was a different song, and I asked my friend what they thought of the song. As I was waiting for an answer, I realized it wasn't the song I expected it to be, when my friend asked, "Why do you want to know?" Knowing now that it was not the song I thought, but at least a good song, I replied, "Because what you think matters to me." So she started to talk, and I started to drive. And I listened and was absorbed by what they were saying, not just about the song but on many other things as well. As I'm driving down this road with turns, hills, stop signs, traffic lights and scenery, I realize I only have control over the wheel, my friend has control of the gas and break. As we start to drive on after mostly stopping at a stop sign, and not instantly hitting the gas, I realized it was not my friend I thought sitting next to me, but Jesus in the car with me. Then I woke up.

You can take your own meaning from this, but here's what I've got. 1. It's our job to follow the road. We aren't in control of the pace of this life, God is. So sometimes we slow down and don't know why, God's got a plan. He also has a plan to get us moving again, but it's in his timing. 2. God is craving that relationship with us, more than we can comprehend. He just wants to sit with us, talk with us, and share His love with us. All He asks in return is that we seek Him. Seek His guidance, and opinion.

One of my friends at the Bible study commented that to be Christian is to never be lonely. I struggle with this. I get spiritialy attacked on this issue often. It usually comes from when I leave the people I'd just been with and head off alone home, without feeling like I contributed, or connected with people. And I'll admit, I got hit with this again tonight. So part of this dream was just saying, I know your struggling, but I'm in the car with you.

Gold Tooth Video

This YouTube video was posted by one of our leaders from my trip from Brazil.

Photos from Brazil

I've got so many stories from Brazil, that it's going to take me a while to figure out how much to write. In the mean time, here's the link to all my photos.

Now I just have to figure out how to label them.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kjade78

Freedom -a work in progress

A friend asked me to create an anagram for the word freedom, with the following words.
Fetters, Rejected, Evermore, Eternity, Death, Overcome, Majesty.

Here's what I've come up with so far, but this is just one of several ideas bouncing around inside my head.



I figured I'd share it here because the printout I made crushed the colors.

Me, Emotional?

I know I've said it in my head hundreds of times, but I'm finally putting words to my thoughts. Why is it so much easier for me to show emotion through tears than any other? Some of it is healthy and normal, like in pain or when I'm lonely, but others just don't make sense, like when I'm hungry or tired. I can't just tell myself I'm those things, I just break down. As I'm writing this God brings to mind a baby begging for attention, to be fed, to be rocked to sleep, to have someone come and take care of their needs. I am a child of the Most High God, held in His arms, fed on His Word, who finds rest in His presence. Ok, so if I'm gonna stick with the baby theme, then I want to laugh like them, and giggle and be entertained by the littlest of things. That's the child of God I'd like to be.

I am not a runner, and I don't have to be.

I love taking a different route to get home from work on Fridays, kinda as a reward for making it through the week. These roads take me along the Schuylkill River, and then through some wooded twists and turns, until I end up on Ridge, making a left onto Bells Mill Rd. This is one of the few roads through Fairmont Park, and intersects Forbidden Drive, which follows the Wissahickon Creek. I enjoy stopping here and following the wide path down to Valley Green Inn, which is about two miles from Bells Mill Rd.

I love walking through the woods, looking at all the wildlife, smelling the wildflowers, hearing the creek rumble by, and seeing people from all walks of live getting outside and enjoying themselves. On more adventuresome days I'll cross over the creek at one of the bridges and hike back to the starting point.

Today I had planned on the hike, but the main trail still had large puddles and mud, so I didn't think it would be wise to attempt the less traveled trails. With a bottle of water in hand I briskly walked the two miles down to the open area around Valley Green, and found a larger rock on the edge of the creek to sit for a while and watch the ducks and geese swimming in the water and begging for food. On the way back I stopped again and climbed over a few rocks to get a better look at the dam in the creek. It was after this stopped that I decided to run for a bit.

I've seen lots of people run along this path, some do it very well, and look good doing so. I admire these people, and I thought that if I ran too, then maybe I would start to look more fit. I think I ran for two minutes at most, which is better than the last time I went running here. I had my steps well placed and my breathing under control for the first minute, and then I had to stop. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears, and I needed to catch my breath. I kept walking still recovering from those two minutes, and tried to run again when I reached the next half mile marker. This time I don't think I lasted even a minute. But I kept walking even though my one leg was starting to bother me.

I got to the covered bridge when I heard the Lord say, Be still, sit for a while. I didn't want to be disobedient but the creek is compressed as it runs under the bridge, and is quite noisy. So I said Lord, let me go to a bench just a few more down, where I can sit and be at peace. As I sat and started to feel the strain that I had been placing on my body, that I hadn't realized was there. The longer I sat, the more the woods came alive again, and I hadn't realized I was missing it. My breathing slowed down, and I could smell the flowers again. Sitting there, I could feel the breeze running along the creek, when I had been so over-heated before.

God stirred in my heart, that I had lost focus on why I go to the park to begin with, because I was so focused on trying to be the runner I am not. Just like when I get so focused on a project at work that I loose site of why I love what I do in the first place. God loves me just the way I am, runner or not, and walking is fine by Him. Seeking His will comes first, and that's what I should be focused on. I don't have to be a runner, and I'm really OK with that.

Saturday Night Adventures

I did a crazy thing this past Saturday night that I feel like sharing.

I decided to go see the second Chronicles of Narnia movie, Prince Caspian, which was being digitally projected only at the Warrington Regal 22.

Me going to see a movie that starts at 9:40 at night is not so crazy for those that know me and my night owl tendencies, if you didn't just look at what time this was posted.

Nope, the crazy part was that when I got there at 8:55, the theater had just been evacuated because of smoke or someone pulled the fire alarm. I never did get the full story. Anyway instead of leaving like most rational people would do, I decided to hang out by the main entrance in the parking lot, until the theater opened back up.

I felt a bit odd standing by myself, as much as one can surrounded by hundreds of people. But it was a lot of fun watching people sit in the middle of the street, and seeing some girls jump when they were posing for a picture in front of a fire truck when one of the fireman revved the engine. The doors opened back up around 9:40(perfect timing) and I was second in line for tickets. 10 bucks later and I was able to easily buy a bottle of water, before heading into what would have been a packed theater, but only had 10 people in it. The previews started by 10, and I can come back sometime soon and see it again for free because of the inconvenience.

The only real problem was that in a theater that empty, jokes just fall flat.
The movie was very well done, and had some amazing special effects that make me want to pursue something greater with my career. Someday. My excuse for going back and seeing the same movie again will be that I kinda know someone who works for Weta and has his name it the credits. Perhaps I'll take someone along with me this time.

The finished picture.

Since I haven't posted anything in ages, I figured this would be a good thing to add, and maybe get me started on blogging again.

Fruit for thought

This is a work in progress, let me know what you think.

:)

Let's test out an audio player for LF UMC's podcast.

I know there's lots of stuff showing up that shouldn't but this is to test the audio. When I tried this earlier all I heard were chipmunks.