2700 Days

I just did the math.

2700 days.  That's what today marks.

From January 1, 2008, to May 23, 2015.  2700 days.
7 years, 4 months, 23 days.

Have you ever started a "good for you" habit and expected it to last longer than a month? Most of those habits seem to drop off our radar the first day we "forget" about them or just run out of time during the day.

On January 1, 2008, however, I started a habit that would change my life. I challenged myself to read my Bible every single day for 31 days. One month of commitment. During that time I read the book of Matthew. 28 chapters in 31 days. Reading something every single day.

Today is 2700 days later. I'm reading a brand new Bible this year with the goal of finishing it in the year. Every day I find nuggets that impact me in completely new ways.

Every day, it is an act of obedience. More than that, however, it's an act of love. Some days I don't feel like reading. Some MONTHS I don't feel like reading. I do it anyway.

Sometimes I don't FEEL God close to me. I read it anyway.

Sometimes I am sick. Or don't get home until midnight. Or have surgery. I read it anyway.

I didn't know a discipline could change your life. It does.

I am more rooted in Jesus, more able to hear and understand what He is sharing with me, because I have determined that I would be reading the Bible every single day. I've been comforted, disciplined, loved, bored, rebuked, encouraged, applauded, able to encourage others, and so much more because of a few minutes at the end of each and every day.

There is always an excuse not to read. Every. Single. Day. Do it anyway.

What the Doctor and Aslan Have in Common

Today's post is brought to you by my inner nerd.  The Whovians* will thank me.

First, I want to take you to Doctor Who.  The Doctor is a Time Lord.  He's old (life times old).  He travels in a blue police box called the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) that's bigger on the inside and can go anywhere in space and time.  And when his body is dying, he can regenerate--he becomes a new Doctor... The same man and memories, but a different body, a different bent to life.



When the Doctor regenerates, regenerative energy releases from him... you can see the golden glow in these pictures of Doctors Ten and Eleven.  It's LIFE...  LIFE being breathed out of one man into the universe.  LIFE that truly brings salvation to the people of earth time and time again.

Take another trip with me.  This time let's go to Narnia.
Home of the White Witch, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, Mr. Tumnus the Fawn, and Aslan... the Lion who is Lord over the land.  Not to throw out spoilers, but Aslan gives his life for people.  But because he so willingly made that sacrifice, he, too, was able to bring salvation.  For me, one of the most meaningful scenes in the movie is when Aslan, brought back to life after his sacrifice, finds Mr. Tumnus, the fawn who cared about little Lucy Pevensie, and was, for his loyalty to the true Narnia, turned to stone.  Aslan approaches the stone fawn, who's face is contorted in fear and pain, and breathes on him.  He breathes life.  Health.  Salvation.  Mr. Tumnus LIVES because of the breath of Aslan.

Folks...  we don't have the power to breathe on someone and see them saved or immediately made hopeful or turned from stone to life.  However, we DO have an incredible gift that we can share.  We have the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit of God, pneuma, the breath of life.  Our every breath, our every word, should drip with the Spirit, offering the gift of hope and LIFE.

The Doctor's regenerative energy came out of him as a natural process of his regeneration.  He didn't force it.  He simply breathed.  Aslan knew that he had a gift of life and simply gave it.  He didn't hesitate and stand back in fear, wondering if Mr. Tumnus would opt to remain frozen in stone forever.  He simply... breathed.

We have fear, I get that.  I experience it, too.  Fear that our friends and family will look at us like we're crazy.  Fear of rejection.  But I have to wonder...  Would it be better for me to have a friend say, "No thanks, I'm not into that?" or for God to ask me, with tears in His eyes, "WHY, Daughter?  I put YOU in her life to show my Spirit and my love to her, and you left her... alone.  Hopeless. Without Me.  Simply because you thought she might say no?" 

If we are willing to love people, to speak life, to serve and pray and speak and laugh and cry with others... then maybe Mr. Tumnus really can come back to life--or someone's stone-hard heart can soften and start beating again.


Side note:  If you're reading this and feel frozen like Mr. Tumnus... There IS hope.  There is a chance to thaw, to love, to rejoice, to LIVE again.  This life is found in Jesus.  Friend... Jesus loves you.  He cherishes you.  He has an adventure out there that's custom designed for you.  And He just wants you to believe.  

NOW is the time to believe...  to open up your heart and simply say, "Jesus... I need your help.  I want YOU to be involved in this crazy life I'm leading right now.  I want purpose.  I acknowledge that you are God, and I believe in You.  I want your change and hope and love in my life."  If you pray that, will you do me a favor?  Will you tell someone?  Tell me, tell your spouse, tell your BFF, tell a co-worker... just TELL someone.


*A Whovian is a fan of the TV Show "Doctor Who" - if you're not a fan, you should be!

A Simple Christmas

Christmas-time is here.

I have to admit--it's one of my favorite times of the year.  This year, however, is interesting in my house... I actually have the TIME to decorate, but I don't feel like doing it.  I've got my tree up with some lights and ornaments, stockings are hung, and a few Christmasy signs have replaced what normally hangs on my wall.  That's it, though... And that might STAY it.

I'm OK with that.  This year feels less about the decorations and ornaments and more about pressing in to the presence of God.  I've prayed more this month than I've ever prayed in my life.  I've had fun opportunities to serve Jesus in very practical ways.  I've slowed down on LIFE a bit.

It's good.  It's really good.

The ornaments on my tree, for the most part, are ones that mean something to me.  I see gifts from family on there.  The little book about the Christmas teddy bear I used to read every year as a kid.  A gondolier whose arms and legs flap around when you pull the string; a gift from when my parents went to Italy.  Baby's First Christmas (that'd be mine!).  A red knitted/beaded ball my little sister made.  Gifts from other siblings.  And the light hits a ceramic Santa face at just the right angel, I could swear he's smiling at me.  That's one that I made for my grandma, the collector of all things Santa, before she passed away...  Six years and one week ago.  It's hard to believe it's been that long.

Simple is good this Christmas.  When I look at my tree, I feel LOVE.  And that's the reason we're celebrating, anyway... isn't it?  Because God so LOVED the world that He sent us Jesus?  Jesus' first Christmas wasn't decorated either.  His only fancy light was a bright star heralding His arrival.  His only soundtrack was what the angels declared to the shepherds.

So this year, as I'm celebrating a simple Christmas, filled with love (and laughter, and a bit of Les Miserables!)... I'm even more thankful for the very first, very best Christmas gift.  Let's all pause... and give thanks.

The Fourth Category

I stole this from PostSecret. I read it and it makes me happy, simply because this is where I am right now.

Do you know how SCARY it is to live here, though?  I say that, kind of tongue in cheek, because YES, I'm sure you know that, and... well, my fear ebbs and flows.

Here's the deal.
There are certain things in life that we have to do, but that kind of stink... like taking out the garbage or cleaning the litter box (probably my LEAST favorite chores).  They HAVE to be done, though!

Then there are the things that need to be done, but are kind of neutral...  they may even bring some satisfaction in completing them.  For me--my budget.  (It used to be in the first, hated category, but now I love to see all those numbers adding up and coming to a beautiful zero balance at the end of the month.)

Next we have those things we enjoy...  they could be chores, they could be activities, they could be ways to volunteer.  We're excited that we get to be a part of these things happening.  For me, this is my participation in Freedom Session, women's ministry, and things like that.  Much of this, at this point in my life, is based at church, and volunteering.  Life, with plenty of these activities, is GOOD.

But occasionally...  occasionally we get to participate in that thing that pushes adrenaline in our bloodstream, that makes us feel like we are doing what we were designed to do.  These things may not come along often, or they may be present in our every day lives.  For me, this is what I will call "Communication."  Specifically, communicating the Word of God to people, and sharing what He's done in my life.  Simple.  Profound.  Thrilling.  I don't know and don't care how GOOD I am at this (though I always want to get better).  I DO care, however, that I get to do MORE of this.

Public speaking is the number one fear in the world.  75% of people have glossophobia--a fear of public speaking (stage fright).  For me, I'm not only in the 25% without the fear, I'm part of the few percent who WANTS the microphone, who WANTS to be up there, adrenaline rush and all.

That's one of the things I've always wanted to do... that I'm figuring out how TO go do.

What's yours?  What things get your blood moving, heart racing, and excitement abounding?

Eucharisteo

So, I just finished reading 1,000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp last week.

Oh. My. Word.

I so VERY highly recommend this book.  Through the first chapter, I was thinking... "Well, this is good, yes... but as phenomenal as people are saying?  I don't know."  I kept going.  One day (I believe it was by chapter 2), it slammed into me - what she was writing about was right out of and in to the pages of my heart.

I started my own list of gifts, of grace, of little things (and big things) that I'm so thankful that God provides to me.  Scroll up to the top and look for my "1,000 Gifts" tab.  Some of you may find yourselves hidden in there.

If you start reading--specifically, if you start a list, come back and tell me about it!

Gleeful Feeding :)

So I just watched the second to last episode of last season's Glee. Do you watch Glee? It's the most fantastically fantastic show on TV right now, at least in my opinion. And when you watch the episode for the second time, you catch the little bits that you missed the first time - and laugh even harder. This was the Lady Gaga episode and it was so fun this time to sing along to Bad Romance and Poker Face--songs I'd never even heard of before this... that I know own on CD! I can't wait till next week when the new season starts! I have to watch it the day after after it airs, though--it's on too late for me. :)

Today we had the Combined Fund Drive fair at work. CFD is through the state, a way for state employees to donate to charities. Today was several of those charities in one big event. I LOVE these fairs. (We have Public Employee Appreciation, a Safety Fair, CFD... the diversity fair was cancelled this year... but they're so fun!) I always get a ton of STUFF at them... and when I moved my office a few months ago, I had a "garage sale"--all the crap that I'd collected over the years went out on the file cabinets for whoever wanted them. I probably had about 20 or 30 items! It was great!

Anyway, today's fair was fun because I got to see the folks from Feline Friends. that's where I adopted my kitties from. They're such wonderful people--and I got to see my babies' foster mom, too! She loves seeing pictures of the boys and hearing stories about them... they were her first fosters! They're having a bit of a rough year this year... They did a rescue of 42 cats from a horrible environment and had astronomical bills. If you can help them at all, I'm sure they'd appreciate it. You can even donate online.

While talking to them, I mentioned that I'm transitioning the boys to raw food. THIS has been an adventure. This week I chopped up my first raw chicken into tiny little bits... very gross. ;) But... they seem to be happy. Cosmo has lost about 4 pounds... I'd like to see him up about 1 lb--then he'll be really healthy. Lucky, on the other had, has gained weight. He weighs approximately 20 pounds now--he's a beast. I want him to DROP about 4 pounds. I'm hoping that this diet will do just that. As of yesterday, they're on 100% raw at night, but still with kibble in the morning. I don't have any organs in the meat that I have, so I'm nervous about completely switching them. Plus, Lockwood isn't completely keen on the bones yet, so I'm giving him time to learn how to eat it. They seem content, though... they do love their chickens!! I'm kind of looking forward to watching for sales and seeing what other meats I can get for them... they can have beef and poultry and rabbit... pork... occassionally a fish, but you've got to watch the mercury levels--that could get dangerous. For right now, as I'm learning, I'm staying away from raw fish. If you're interested at all, I'll keep you updated. If you're grossed out... I'm sorry! ;)

Copying...

OK, saw this on a few friend's blogs, so I'm copying....

1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page, pick an image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.
4. Copy the mosaic image (right click, save image as) to your computer.


The Questions:
1. What is your first name? Emily
2. What is your favorite food? Chocolate
3. What high school did you go to? Tumwater
4. What is your favorite color? Red
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Matthew McConaughey
6. Favorite drink? Diet Coke
7. Dream vacation? Australia
8. Favorite dessert? Blackberry Pie
9. What you want to be when you grow up? Pastor
10. What do you love most in life? Jesus
11. One Word to describe you? Happy
12. Your flickr name? Acebo222


Photo Credits
1. Emily, 2. Tossed Cookies, 3. Tumwater Falls, 4. Red.Source, 5. Matthew McConaughey, 6. Diet., 7. Radiance, 8. It's a piece of cake....., 9. Its good to be... flickr, 10. Plus haut, 11. Call of the Raven (formerly Nature's Special Effects), 12. Acebo / Holly tree

My favorite things

I saw someone else do this recently, and thought I'd share, too. :) These are a few of my favorite things in the world.

My favorite drawing of my favorite Person:

My favorite state - ever:

TREES - I think that says enough:

My favorite place in the world - Ocean Shores:

My favorite memory (one of them at least) - clam digging:

My favorite holiday season (this is in Leavenworth in Eastern WA):

My three favorite restaurants:

My favorite beverage:

One of my (new) favorite pictures:

My favorite book:

My favorite flowers:

My favorite sign (and a bit of trivia - John Stamos was the winning bidder in an Internet auction (Ebay) of the huge galvanized steel sign that greeted park visitors from 1989 to 1999. He paid $30,700 for the portion of the marquee that contains the nearly 14-feet high "Disneyland'' letters.):

Aaaaannnnddd... the favorites before and after (I've seen all three!):

My favorite musician (besides my sister of course, smile):

Probably enough for ya. ;) Hope you enjoyed!