Decisions
The Real Story of Jonah by Matt Connor on Relevant:
"If anything, the book of Jonah shows us one main idea: the lengths that God is willing to go to accomplish His plan."
"When we, as Christians, wake up to the reality that when we allow God to author our lives, when we follow Him to the places He is calling us, that we have the backing of God as we go. Even though we are often called to new places or even places that make us fearful or uncomfortable, it is in those places that we can depend on the God who brought us there in the first place."
I've got a big decision to make. I was offered a job. A pretty big job, with a lot of responsibility. I haven't even been looking or applying for a job; it just kind of fell into my lap. I've got a few weeks to think about it and decide if I want to take it or not. I wouldn't actually start until around October. There's a high possibility that I may even have to take another class or two, which is fine because the position actually pertains to my degree. I was approached by two different people in the same day about it. They both seem confident that I can do it and said I was their first choice. Oh, and it's where I work now; I wouldn't be leaving the company, just changing positions. There's so much expectation here. I think that's what scares me. What if I can't do it? Well, that's where I've been since Monday Tuesday; mulling, pacing, staring at the monitor, no concentration whatsoever.
Posted by Brandy at 7:44 AM
Cover me. I'm making a run for it.
I was about to write a pretty cynical post about my life in a cubicle, but opted for a musical recommendation instead. That's probably much more productive. The latest effort by
Jars of Clay is "Redemption Songs" and it's amazing. Old school hymns with a Jars of Clay twist. Very nice. I especially love #4 (I'll Fly Away), #5 (Nothing but the Blood, & #10 (It Is Well). I turn my music up as loud as possible (which isn't loud considering the environment previously mentioned) and attempt to drown out the surrounding gossip, backstabbing, and mind-numbing chatter. :) It seems to help.
Posted by Brandy at 1:01 PM
My God is so BIG! So strong and so mighty...
...there's nothing my God cannot do. Remember that song? Busy weekend. I don't feel like I accomplished anything though. Friday I took a vacation day. I really didn't want to come back in this morning. Sunday, I went to
Community Bible Church in Powdersville to hear Dr. Jordan preach. It was a really nice church. They had communion before the message and He spoke on some verses in Deuteronomy 7 & 8.
"Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments..." (Deut. 7:9)
He talked about how we tend to forget how big God is. He can and will take care of us. This morning I read
Climbing the Mountain of God, an article by Andrew Steven on
Relevant. It went hand-in-hand with what Jordan preached on yesterday. Hearing him yesterday made me remember how much I enjoyed the daily "Jordanisms".
Posted by Brandy at 8:18 AM
Desiring God.org - Quote
"'It is a great mercy that having does not make us happy. If it did, we would be hopelessly deceived into thinking that things are God.'"
(
A Godward Life, pg. 224)
Posted by Brandy at 7:54 AM
Phonics & Terrorism
"
Useful for spelling words and names over the phone..."
The Phonetic AlphabetWorking in the purchasing department, I'm on the phone a fair amount placing orders and what not. Some people seem to have a pretty hard time understanding the Southern twang. So a lot of times when I'm spelling out a part number, I do the whole "A as in ...". But half the time I can never come up with a word quickly. I end up throwing out random words, and it makes no sense.
Also, was
George Washington a terrorist?
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Posted by Brandy at 7:28 AM
Paying Celebrity Bills
I think I've gone to the movies nearly every weekend since graduation. Not always the bestway to spend 8 bucks, but hey, sometimes there's not too much to do on a Saturday afternoon. If you're ever not sure of a movie, a great site to check out is
Plugged In Online. It's run by Focus on the Family and reviews movies, music, tv shows, etc. It outlines positive/spiritual/negative elements, sexual/violent/alcohol content, and language. I always visit this site before taking my sister to a movie, just to make sure it's okay for her.
So here's a rundown of the movies I've seen lately:
- The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
- Took my sister to see this; was dreading it, but it was really good; definitely needed Kleenex's
- Star Wars Episode III
- Never saw the original three, hated Episode I, slept through most of Episode II; Episode III however, I loved. Even though I knew what was coming, I was really sad all the way through and always hopeful that maybe, just maybe, Anakin WOULDN'T go to the dark side.
- Mr. & Mrs. Smith
- This was such a good movie. It was also cleaner than I would have expected. Definitely one of my favorites.
- Batman Begins
- Another summer favorite. I can't wait for more installments. It was everything Batman should be.
- Herbie: Fully Loaded
- Another sister movie. It was really cute. I think Lindsay Lohan will be remaking Disney movies until she's 40.
- Bewitched
- I love Nicole Kidman. I was disappointed when I realized it wasn't remaking the actual television series, but it turned out to still be really good.
- Fantastic Four
- Another summer favorite. A lot of people didn't like it, but I thought it was very good. Another series that I can't wait for sequals.
Posted by Brandy at 6:59 PM
Prayer Request
I have a prayer request for the next time you're on your knees. An older gentleman that I've worked with for the past 7 years (he's been here more like 30-40 years) has been out for the past few weeks for testing. His blood has been really low and they thought he might even have diabetes. The results from Cannon Memorial came back and they think he may have cancer on his liver and other places. He refuses to believe this and has changed to St. Francis to have the tests redone. Please pray for him and his family. I am pretty sure he is unsaved, as various people have mentioned witnessing to him and he replies with the "maybe later" bit. He is a wonderful man with a great heart, the sweet grandpa type. God's definitely in the business of performing miracles, so maybe this will be just the situation to open his eyes and heart to Jesus. His name is Ray.
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Here I Go Again
Lyrics by Mark Hall
Music by Casting Crowns
Father, hear my prayer
I need the perfect words
Words that he will hear
And know they're straight from You
I don't know what to say
I only know it hurts
To see my only friend slowly fade away
So maybe this time I'll speak the words of life
With Your fire in my eyes
But that old familiar fear is tearing at my words
What am I so afraid of?
Chorus:
'Cause here I go again
Talkin 'bout the rain
And mulling over things that won't live past today
And as I dance around the truth
Time is not his friend
This might be my last chance to tell him
That You love Him
But here I go again, here I go again
Lord, You love him so, You gave Your only Son
If he will just believe; he will never die
But how then will he know what he has never heard
Lord he has never seen mirrored in my life
This might be my last chance to tell him
That You love him
This might be my last chance to tell him
That You love him
You love him, You love him
What Am I so afraid
What am I so afraid
What am I so afraid of?
How then will he know
What he has never heard
(c) 2003 Club Zoo Music / SWEC Music
(Admin. by Club Zoo Music) / BMI.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Posted by Brandy at 8:31 AM
Posted by Brandy at 8:08 AM
"But the fact is that we are not called to make the Gospel anything other than what it already is. It is meant to be offensive. It is meant to separate father and son or mother and daughter. The road has already been labeled narrow, and any attempts of ours to widen it, reconstruct it and pave it are in vain. As messengers of this Gospel, our job is simply to carry it as it is, to allow it to be what it already is, and to leave the results up to God. For as Paul says, “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:4).
We don’t need more churches to be crazy. We simply need to be faithful."
Read the entire article
here. It's definitely worth the read.
Posted by Brandy at 12:19 PM
Monday Morning
I haven't posted something "real" in a while, so I thought I'd begin by pulling a Dr. LaBar. He calls this series "Sunspots", things of interest he's found for other people to check out. I'll have to think of a clever name for mine...any help from the two or three people that read this would be greatly appreciated.
Retail Alphabet Game - When I first stumbled on this, it drove me crazy for the entire day. I've still only gotten about half of them.
LetterJames - Neat site. You enter the text, it inserts it into a picture (i.e. road signs, alphabet soup, etc.). I entered a
verse that I've been coming across a lot lately onto a road sign and saved it.
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Last week, I started thinking about the names of God. For some reason, I remembered a poster that was on the wall in one of my junior high classrooms (Easley Christian -- not public school, obviously). It listed from margin to margin all kinds of names for God and I used to sit there and read and re-read them all the time. So, like I said, I started thinking about this again last week and starting Googling it. Here's what I came up with and am still reading through:
The Names of God - Gives 598 names of God, a "Who" and "I AM" listing, and a few Hebrew names
100 Biblical Names & Titles of Christ - Also gives a little background on Catholic beliefs (Mary vs. Jesus).
The Shema - confession of faith in the One True God of Israel. Pious Jews today recite an expanded or developed version of the Shema twice per day, once in the morning and again in the evening.
The Names of God - different from above. Lists Old Testament (Hebrew) names and New Testament (Greek) names, contains notes on the Trinity, and discusses the "I AM's" of Jesus.
Names, Titles, & Characters of Jesus Christ - from
Blue Letter Bible. Found under "Study Tools". There are tons of other interesting study tools to check out also.
Also, I'm currently reading
Finding Favor with the King by
Tommy Tenney. It recounts the story of Esther with a lot of historical background. It's really good so far.
Posted by Brandy at 7:47 AM
Check out my new flashing Flickr badge to your left. Pretty cool. I love all these nifty little toys.
Posted by Brandy at 7:14 PM
