Thursday, February 28, 2013

I Feel For Poor Wylie

  Since the start of this new semester, Frank and I have been noticing with full regard how tiring it is to work, go to class, do homework, hang out with a friend or two, and work on the beginning of a marriage!  It's a blessing and a challenge, but it's definitely a challenge worth working through.  One of the ways that we make time for each other (because there are quite a few things we have decided to do with each other regularly!) is have what we like to call: Looney Tunes Lunch!  Every day around 11 or 11:30, we come home from classes and make lunch.  We then sit down to watch the classics of Looney Tunes.

  Through this time we have together throughout the week, we have bonded over one thing: poor Wylie Coyote.  The poor fellow tries everything - everything - and never gets a chance to win :(  He really tries...

Poor guy...
            All he wants to do is catch the Road Runner.  That bird is a jerk.... And something interesting I learned from somewhere recently is that in reality, coyotes are faster than road runners by tens of miles!  Why can't he catch that darn bird!?

Point is, rent is too darn high for that poor dog.  I feel for him, he needs a break.  And think: all the money he spends on the Acme stuff that always gets him blown up could be going towards a nice fancy road runner dinner at a nice restaurant.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Really Big Mushroom!

You guys! Look at this really big mushroom!



Do you remember the time I posted about that beautiful rusted chair swing from my mom's house last summer?  This is from that same photo shoot!  This mushroom was out near the road at my mom's house, again I found it while we were doing yard work there over the summer.  I could not believe the size of this things! it was easily a foot across and about 9" wide! That's huge! It looks like there are two or three mushrooms, yes, but in actuality you're looking at three heads coming out of the same stem that's as big as my wrist!

So maybe this isn't that fascinating to most of you... but I thought it was so cool!  It's a huge mushroom!


Monday, February 25, 2013

Up-and-Coming Artist To Know: King Charles (not the real one)

  Something I love to do in my spare time is find new undiscovered-by-the-mainstream music.  It's not something I do to uphold some self-prophetic 'hipster' front which I don't have, but because I have always enjoyed music that only I know about.  So... often in my explorations, I come across some really cool people who deserve some sort of limelight, even if it's not the limelight.

  Recently, I discovered a creative English-man who goes by the pseudonym "King Charles."  His real name is Charles Costa and after studying sociology, he returned to London, his home, where he began to pursue music.  Since then, in short, he came to the States and landed himself a record deal!  He's a talented musician, playing the cello, piano, and the guitar.  He has toured with the likes of Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale - both great music groups!  One thing leads to another and tada!


He's definitely a strange character, but an earnest one at that.  Notice, you may recognize some of the folks in his video above; he's in good cahoots with Mumford & Sons and have actually collaborated with them in a song called "Brightest Lights" - which just happens to be one of my favorite songs right now, and the reason for the name of this blog!  They toured together in this past year.

So basically, this is a guy I recommend to get to knowing!  I have a feeling that, even in some small way, we'll be hearing more of him if we aren't already ;)

The Dead Church

  It scares me how lonely I can feel at church...

This is how it feels when I'm at certain churches,
and I know I'm not alone in this feeling...
Not just one or two churches, but any given church.  I don't care what message you believe your church to have, there will always be someone who does not belong.  Someone who feels alone.  Someone who is truly there to worship, but all they see are plastic souls around them.

What brought this on?  I have attended quite a few churches in my life time.  Starting in the Midwest, I have seen the best and worst of the Lutheran church, the Episcopalian church, the United Methodist Church, the Anglican Church, and now an Evangelical contemporary church.  I have visited Baptist churches, Presbyterian churches, non-denominational churches, Pentecostal churches, AME churches, among others, and the same facade is with each of them.

Children don't need to be pacified, but encouraged to
experience God on their own.
While I was in church yesterday, I sat at a different place than normal, near the back.  My church has over a thousand people in it, it's contemporary, it's evangelical and mission-minded.  All great things to accommodate the growing Church world-wide.  However, I got a glimpse of what too many people are like in every church I have ever attended: they look dead.  I can almost smell the decay on their souls as they stand, hold the bulletin, look at the preacher, look at the words on the screen, go through the motions, and never once appear to be moved by any of it.  They open their Bibles with the help of the index and never even follow along with the Scripture as it's being read.  These same people leave immediately after the sermon ends, slipping out the back as the rest of the church sings a song and prays, but they leave so they don't have to wait for the crowd that's about to swarm out.

These same people are in the church I was a part of before I got married.  There were great people there, but there were fathers who made their children go to church because it's what you do on Sunday morning.  They would open the hymnal to whatever song was to be sung, but looked directly at the front, not paying attention to anything the song was saying.  Same thing with the mothers, they would supply their children with crayons and things to color (or even their iPhones) so they would stay content while they listened to the sermon.  Again, these same people would get up right before the end of the service so they wouldn't have to beat the traffic out in the parking lot.

Good grief! What is more important!?!?!  A relationship with God? Or getting back home asap!  Getting to know our Christ and Savior even more than we think we already do? Or keeping our kids content, not showing them the true value in opening your heart and mind to what God might say to you?

I feel sometimes like there are people who keep looking
forward at the church and the finances, but very few
members of the Church look to God for any real reason.
Sometimes I even feel like the churches I have been to are more focused on the finances and keeping a budget and using their money wisely, and they'll let others do the "reaching out" part for them.  I started a college ministry out of one of my old churches.  I started it, organized events, lead Bible studies and so on.  When others would say anything about it, it would be "good job! we're glad someone has stepped up to take that position!" But when I'd ask for help or for someone to take over and continue it, everyone would just smile and say, "God will provide someone."  True, He would, but if God provides someone who refuses to listen... what's going to happen?

I came close to tears yesterday as I stood behind people like this who stood emotionless while songs of utmost praise were being sung to the Lord.  They looked directly at the pastor during his sermon and never flinched until it was time for them to exit the church discreetly so they could beat the crowd out of the parking lot.  Even in a church that feels so much more alive than the others I've been to has so many dead people in it!  What is wrong with our Church!?  Why do we have so many people like this??  Is it because of the fathers and mothers who, for decades, have been pacifying their children, never really implementing how Jesus saved us from an eternity of death??  So the trend continues? It's more important to beat the crowd out of the parking lot and get home quickly so you can eat and watch a game than it is to spend only a few extra well-spent minutes in prayer asking God to forgive you for all you've done to hurt Him?

I have heard the argument before that, "everybody worships in their own way," and I have never doubted that.  I agree with that and recognize it.  But there's a difference between "worshiping in your own way," and "not worshiping at all."  Whatever is going on in one's soul is between them and God, but for goodness sakes, if the power of the Holy Spirit was actually moving through you, we'd be able to tell!  It's not something you can just hide!

Maybe I'm just ranting passionately about something that has truly been bothering me, but I felt so alone yesterday as I stood there, praising God for all He has done, and I look around and there's no movement - not even any lips moving or a recognition for the beat of the music, nothing.  Every time there was an important part in the sermon, I saw phones being looked at for the time, and little chatting and whispers every few minutes.  If it wasn't one thing, it was another, and it broke my heart.

That boy will make a difference for the Kingdom
of God.
I can say, there was one boy in the first service I went to.  He sat two rows in front of me, he was there with his mom and he wasn't more than maybe 16 years old.  I could feel how God was molding him just by watching the way He recognized God on his own.  He wasn't flailing his arms around and shouting louder than everyone, he wasn't dancing along to the worship songs, he wasn't doing any of those stereotypical things that people think of when they hear "truly worshiping." He was giving his solemn recognition to God by talking to Him.  He was using the words of the song as his song to God.  He was praying and his hands were open, offering himself to God.  And he was different from everyone else around him.

In that moment, I felt that there was hope for the future of our Church - the Body of Christ.  I felt that God was still working in us and through us, and He is bringing His Body to life one person at a time.  I remembered that, in one way I am supposed to worry about the dead souls around me - even in church.  I remembered that, in another way, I was supposed to worship the God I feel so hurt for and let Him handle the rest.

The reason I started this whole rant today is because it's something that consistently bothers me.  Everyone feels differently about it, but for me, I can't stand it.  I want to see the Chruch awakened completely!  I feel like the Body of Christ is still sleeping.  Think: when you're body sleeps, certain functions shut down until you wake up again in the morning.  Well the Body of Christ has not experienced the morning yet!  So many are alive and active, while most of the Body's counterparts are still asleep, waiting for the pons to wake them up.  Pray for our Church, for the world-wide Church, every denomination, every perosn and every Seeker to come awakened to the life Christ has to offer for the Body!  Let His presence reign over all the earth and let His work in the world truly start through us - a not-dead Church.

He Reigns by The Newsboys

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Some Updates To My Blogs!

For those of you who have been reading through the blogs I post (as often as I can) I have started reaching out in need for a change of scenery.  I have been able able to locate a neat little site online that builds customized blog backgrounds, headers, buttons, post things, you name it - they've made it.  I started looking through, thinking that I already liked the way my blogs looked, until I cam upon two or three that I really liked!  So tada!  Here it is!  Check out the new faces of my blogs:

The Brightest Lights
The Craft Room

The content is still the same, but I think I might mess around a little and change it up from time-to-time ;) However, for the time being, what you see is what I like so I hope you enjoy the new Jessica-customized blog faces when you do stop by to read!

Friday, February 22, 2013

It's My 21st Birthday!

  Well I'm officially 21! Legal drinking age, I'm married, I have the blessing of a wonderful job and a healthy young family, I have all the necessities, everything I need and a little bit of what I want.  Everything is well with me and my soul.
We're getting ready for my birthday dinner!  And he's
being an absolute goof ball!
  Over the past year, I have grown a lot in the way that I see things.  I have learned the importance of my family and how much I truly love and appreciate them and where we came from.  I have grown closer to each member of my immediate family and I have also added a member to make our own family unit.

  I have learned how to communicate more effectively to people, but also how to really come to the same level of understanding my peers who feel the same hurt I do.  I have watched God move in and work through me to bring others into His comfort and give me peace in the process.

  I have truly learned even greater what it means to trust the Lord.  I have sought Him for provision and had faith that He would be faithful.  Sure enough, He provided - everything I needed and more and He continues to bless me with His overwhelming grace and mercy.

  I have received, yet again, a more specified version of my calling.  Since I have come to college, I know I wanted to serve in the mission field and work with youth.  Over the past few years, the place of mission work has been whispered to me, and the age group I will be working with has been revealed through the strengths God has blessed me with.  Now, the area of youth ministry I am called to is even more specific: counseling youth (and at-risk youth) and their families of crisis.  I have had such a growing heart of passion towards teens and young adults who need the wisdom of God to enter their life and encourage them towards the One who is the Great Physician, the Healer who has love like an ocean, and we are merely trees being caught in the welling flood of His grace.

  I have gotten married in the past year, acquired and started running a new household, gone out on my own and have been trusting God the whole way.

  I have had the best school grades since I was a sophomore in high school, and my age-old lack of self-confidence has grown - ever so slightly - over the past few months.  Even a little bit of growth is a good amount of growth.

  I have wonderful friends whom I love to surround and surround myself with.  I have forgiven even still more people from my past, and I am continuing to learn how to forgive.

  I have acquired skills from God-could-only-have-provided-this jobs in the past year and I have been able to apply these skills to all areas of my life.

  I have learned so much, done so much, grown so much, given so much, loved so much, helped so much, stayed patient so much, learned so much in the past year of my life and I am so thankful for the witness and testimony He has given me through the life He wants me to lead.  Life is still hard, I still mess up and make mistakes, I make decisions that I think are good and may not be in the end, I learn from these things, and I allow God to continue molding me into the person He needs me to be to bring Him glory.  I am the Clay and He is the Potter, and I am thrilled to see all He has in store for me this year.

  Please pray for me to face this next year of my life with a heart of open willingness to grow, with a heart softened to learn from other and grow in the Lord's Wisdom, that I have a mind open to what the Lord has to teach me and that I will trust God even more in the hard times.  Pray that I will always give credit where credit is due, learn from my experiences, good and bad.  Pray that I will never lose sight of who I am and where I came from, that the person I have become will be a witness to the people God intends for me to seek.  Pray that, as I lead my household as the wife, I would be a wise and God-fearing wife, making the best decisions I can for my family, and a good support to my husband.  Pray that I will continue growing in the ways that I have been and that the legacy I leave is not one that is shameful and shady but one that points to God and gives Him glory and honor.  Thanks for being with me and walking through life with me, and I pray that I can be an encouragement to all who know me.

In Christ Alone,
Jessica

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Feeling Conflicted... Please Pray For Courage

  Please pray for me at the moment as I'm trying to forgive some things from my past... There were things that went on while I was in high school - in my family, at school, with friendships, with relationships, and so on.  Well many of these things, I have had to work through and, because of the grace and mercy of God, I have been able to grow past them.

  However, one of the hardest things that I have had to learn to do is forgive those who have hurt me in different ways.  A few of them who were closest to me, I have been able to come to a point within myself that I can forgive and forget and move on from what they did (in their respective ways) to make things painful for me.  Even though I may never actually get a chance to verbalize that forgiveness I have, I know that I can have rest in my soul knowing that I was able to let God move in me.  I no longer hold hurtful grudges there.  However, there is one in particular person whom I went to high school with that I looked up to as a good Christ-following role model.  Suddenly, without warning, this person not only cut me off and cut off our friendship, but they did that with all of our friends around us.  Even now, I still have passerby moments with this person, and it hurts every time because I feel like I'm not important enough to even notice or care for.

  What hurts the most is that I looked to this person as different from the rest and really respected them.  Surely, I was not exactly the perfect person in high school and struggled with belonging and whatnot, but I still saw this person as almost a guiding light that I wasn't used to because of the presence of Christ in their life.  I, to this day, have no clue what I did that was so horrible.. they felt the need to end our friendship without rhyme or reason and never talk to me again.  To be honest, they really killed their witness to me.  They killed the picture of grace and patience and understanding and enduring faith that I once saw within them and eventually, in my hurt, those images turned to thoughts of bitterness and images of this person as being self-centered and judgmental.

  Well it has been about four years since I actually had any sort of relationship with this person.  The forgiving process started long ago and I've truly been working on it, but I can't seem to reach the point of absolute forgiveness... And I can't figure out why?  Maybe I need closure from that side?  I never really understood what exactly happened, so maybe I just need to know what I did to deserve this?  Maybe I want to hear an apology?  I don't know.  But I have really been feeling the urge to take this person aside one day to talk to about what went on, explain the hurt it caused me, and see where God leads the conversation.  I don't think there will be much hope for rekindling a relationship any time soon, but I know I would like to settle whatever went wrong.  It's been really hard living with this on my heart these past few years.  And every time I ask God to provide a time for me to talk with this person, He gives it and I coward out.  I think ultimately, because I don't want to be hurt by whatever goes on.  I also know that, when I feel hurt by a person, my natural defense mechanism is to become cold and get really rigid and defensive when I come into contact with them.  I need to talk to this person soon though, before I simply don't have a chance and I always feel that wrong and disgraceful bitterness towards them.

  So please pray for me... pray that God will truly continue to work within me, showing me how to have grace in this forgiving process.  Pray that He will indeed equip me with the right amount of courage to face this person and work through what went on in the past.  Pray that He continues to grow my well of forgiveness into a greater forge with room for every ounce of forgiveness that I need to give.  Pray that whatever I learn from this process and trial will be fruitful in other ways, so that someday I can pour this same wisdom into someone else who needs to face a similar problem.  Pray that exactly the right words that I need to say to this person will come out in a way that doesn't offend, that my heart will remain softened for room for growing, that this persons heart would not be hard towards me, nor offensive toward me either.  Please pray for me, for me to have the courage to face that which brings me down and keeps me from growing closer to God.  Please pray for me.  Thanks...

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

The Brightest Lights (Name Change)

Hello everyone!

  As many of you know who read my blogs and have been reading them for the past year and a half, I love blogging!  It is one of my favorite past-times!  Whether I am actually typing one up to publish the next day or whether I am catching up on some reading of blogs that I follow, Blogger is something that is always up on my screen.

  I have been very cautious and particular about how often I blog and how often I am on blogger.  While it's on my computer screen most days of the week, I limit myself to writing no more than 3 posts a week, and maybe an extra one for my Craft Room blog.  Maybe that sounds like a lot to some of you, but there was a time (last summer) when I would write two or three entries a day, every day, for a few weeks... And I realized I needed to cool it down a bit.  So I did.  Now I have limitations on how often I blog and so on :)

The brightest lights cast the darkest shadows.... (Taken by yours truly!)
  Well looking at the title, I will explain.  Lately, I have been listening to a lot of new undiscovered music (per usual) and one of my favorite songs at the moment is called "Brightest Lights" by King Charles (feat. Mumford & Sons).  The entry line to the song, and overall the chorus, says, "The brightest lights cast the darkest shadows and that's where I'll be found..." and other words to follow.  Well.  Regardless of whatever the song is truly about (I don't think I've really been closely paying attention to what I've been singing - nothing bad - but you know how sometimes you learn the words to a song mindlessly just because you hear it a lot and then sudden;y one day you realize what exactly the song is talking about?) I have really been thinking about just that one line in a lot of different ways.  Not because it has been comin' out my stereo system, but because the vision I get has been resounding throughout my mind the past few days.

  When I started this blog, I called it "Fly From the Highest Swing" also named after a song called "Dream" by Priscilla Ahn.  The reason I chose it as the title is because of the song itself.  The song recounts the innocence of a little girl who has dreams of many things and at one point she says, "I had a dream that I could fly from the highest swing, I had a dream!"  And later, changing the words a bit, she says, "I had a dream that I could fly from the highest tree, I had a dream!"  And the whole idea behind it is that she had such a powerful imagination that she dreamed of flying from the swing - if only she could get high enough!  Same thing for the rest of the song, she had a blossoming imagination that ultimately, in the end of the song, helps her look back on her life to say, "I've lived it full and I've lived it well, as many tales I've lived to tell I'm ready now to fly from the highest swing... I had a dream."  Such power and dolce.  And that same kind of sweet and powerful, overwhelming innocence that couldn't hold back her inner-most being was the same kind of feeling I wish I could have felt more often as a child.  So I figured that, by writing to my heart's content about whatever I so choose, I could feel that invigorating feeling of swinging so high that if I could get just high enough... I could fly from it.  I wanted to feel that I was able to release that energy into writing, and sharing it with the world.

  While this is still the reflection I want to have with my blog, blogging thoughts and opinions, interests and hobbies, I have grown a lot through my writing and I have come to a place where I feel a name change can be representative of what change I feel has been made.

  The Brightest Lights is the name I am choosing to change my blog title to.  It's feels to me just as free as Fly From the Highest Swing, but instead speaks from the growing part of me.  While Fly From the Highest Swing meant to me the innocence within getting out and feeling release, that little Jessica has grown up a little in the past year and a half and now she's thinking more along the lines of using the same inspiration she's been having to make an impact.  If that makes sense.  Although shadows are not permanent, everyone sees where the shadows lie.  Although not permanent, everyone can see where there are bright lights.  And according to my calling, if I'm to be a Light in a Dark place, then I feel that the name suits :)

  Not that it's an entirely big deal to anyone, but that everyone can know where my writing heart is at the moment and also understand that they are really reading the same blog as before.

In Christ Alone,
Jessica

Collecting: Vintage Japanese Stackable Coffee Mugs

  Over Christmas Break, I worked at my hometown's Habitat ReStore as a volunteer.  While I was there, I saw AMAZING things come through that I wish I could have bought and taken home with me!  There were a few things, however, that I was able to grab after a few days of shelf life.  I love everything I have now lying around my apartment, but what are my favorites?

These!


I love these little guys SO much!  I saw them come through, watched nervously to make sure no one bought them, and when the time was right... I went for the prowl!  And I love them!

Something about them, I noticed, when I checked the brand that's usually at the bottom is that all it says is "Japan."  Nothing else.  And it's etched in.  So I started searching around the web, hoping that I'd find some answers (I wanted more and didn't know where to get them) and discovered that they were made in the 1960's and 1970's as part of a stylish household trend.  They are 'stackable' mugs:


And they can apparently be found in mostly antique stores everywhere as well as random thrift stores.  These here, I got for $.25 each!  And other people I have been able to find on the web have said they've found theirs for similar prices.

I love these little mugs so much and I have started searching around to find more to add to my collection!  They come in all sorts of colors (blue, orange, brown, green, red, black, brown) and all different designs (flowers, patterns, sun, circles, zigzags, squares).  I will never pay a ridiculous amount for them (i.e. $3 for 2) I'd say no more than $.50 - that'll make the hunt more fun!  I'm pumped and I can't wait to find more!


Monday, February 18, 2013

Rusted Rustic Beauty

Since I've gotten a computer of my own again, I have been unloading months of picture taking into my photo files!  Some pictures that I never realized I still had were taken last summer while I was doing yard work with my family.  Not to sound like I'm bragging, but I was amazed at how well I did with the pictures I took!  One of my favorites right now is this one:


It's currently the background on my desktop.  I'm always wary of putting good personal art on the internet.  I write short-stories that aren't too shabby, I write Bible studies, I take lots of pictures, I refurbish and paint furniture, I do a lot of things that if I were to put them online, someone might copy it and claim it as their own - I know people who are like that and I know people who have had this happen to them.  But I decided to share this with the world.

The house I grew up in was built circa 1830 and a lot of antique furniture is still inside as well as other memorabilia.  We still have brick fire places, stone hearths, brick chimneys, lightning rods (a million of them!) and other buildings on the property.  We have the outdoor kitchen still on the lot (before we had fire codes, the kitchen was kept separate from the house in case of something setting on fire), we have a smoke house where they used to smoke the meats, we have two huge barns (one for the horses and cattle, one for the buggies when they came around), there's a blacksmith shop (it's covered in greens, but everything inside is still in tact), there's even a chicken coupe.  My family used to own a huge chunk of land in South Carolina, but were land-brokers and sold much of it.  Now, the street that my family's house is on is made up of family members - some close in relation, some distant.  This bench is most definitely from the 20th century, but as for the age... I would put it somewhere between the 1960s and the 1980s.  Either way, this rusted rustic beauty has never been more photogenic :)

Monday, February 11, 2013

Another Update Before I Get Back To Real Blogging!

  I should be able to start blogging again!  My fixed and complete computer will be received by me today!  I am so excited!! Renewed warranty and everything!

  Well some updates over the past two months:
We got married!!!  January 7th, 2013 was the date of our wedding!  We are learning now how to live with someone completely different from ourselves.  But it's been so wonderful being able to come home after class and work everyday to the person who loves me the most, to know my best friend is waiting for me! :)

Started the second semester of my junior year in college.  I have no classes on Monday or Friday, and the only class I have on Wednesday starts at 6:30pm.

I've applied to 13 jobs on campus now and I have kind of heard back from two of them as positive.  Five of the positions I applied for, I was told that I wasn't what they were looking for, Three of them, I haven't heard back from at all and they already found someone for the position (thanks for letting me know).  And the last one I applied for was last week working for Admissions.  This has been the job I've really been wanting since I started school here in 2010... I really hope they at least call me in for an interview, I would really really love to work for them... Please pray!  God knows what is best for me and what Frank and I need to stay afloat financially.

I've discovered the Homemaker in me and I am loving being one and being a wife!  I really wish I didn't have to go to school and I could just stay at home to clean and then work a little on the side, but I've got to keep heart and stay motivated!  I have two semesters left after this one, plus a few summer classes.  I need prayer to keep me sane  O.O

Future Exploits:

Frank has felt the call to teaching!  Right now, he will be finishing before me, taking what time I have left in school to work a heck of lot and pay off some debt.  Once I'm done (depending on what we decide to do) we will either spend an extra semester or two here at our Undergrad school and I will start Grad school classes in the College of Counseling (it's my dream to be a counselor for troubled youth and their families in crisis).  Or, once I graduate, we will up and move to Texas where Frank will go to Baylor University to receive his Masters and Ph. D. in History so that he can teach British History on the college level (preferably at CIU when they install the History program).  So we are working towards a lot right now, but we will not move without God moving us first!

Some of you may be asking "what about Sweden? Weren't you called to Sweden?" Yes, we were, and we still are.  Right now, getting to Sweden is a matter of when will God provide for us the opportunity to go.  You see, in Sweden, they don't take you seriously if a) you don't have a degree and b) if you come as a missionary without any other reason for being there.  In Sweden, college education is free.  If you don't get a college degree, they think you're lazy, they don't take you seriously, and they think you really don't know what you're talking about.  However, they also don't like snobby know-it-all's.  On top of that, if you come in there saying something like, "you need a relationship with Christ! I'm here to bring you to Him so He can save you!" they will definitely not take you seriously, and probably even laugh at you.  So if you come with a degree and experience in your field, get to know people by earning their respect, build relationships, then you can start ministering in the simplest ways.  Sometimes, the most effective ministry is living like Christ, not talking about Him.  So right now, God is calling us to higher education so we can get some professional experience before going to a country that needs to me revived of His true presence.

Right now, I'm dreading my Psychology class in which the grade average of the classes history is a C- because the prof purposely makes it tough.  Joy.  I'm not even going to try to aim for an A because I'll be depressed when I don't get one.  The ONLY grades in the class are 4 (four) exam grades.  That's it.  No other grades.  And each exam is 50 questions.  He told us this: in 35 years of him giving the same exams each year, there have only been 2 (two) students to make a 100.  Only two students in 35 years (think about roughly 250 students every year coming through his class) have made a 100 on any of his exams.  So I'm aiming low to save my self-confidence, but I'm still going to work hard.  Lord, help me.

So once I get my own computer again, I will be sure to post something truly worthy of a blog!  I'm so excited!  Oh Blogger, how I've missed you!

Stay classy planet Earth... and thanks for stopping by.
-Ron Burgundy and Veronica Corningstone