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Erin Augustson Is tired of Christians making fun of Michael Jackson's death all over Facebook.

Joanne Bump, Liz Kenney and Amanda Anderson like this.

Wendy Young at 8:27am June 30
They are doing what? I haven't seen/heard anything. That's too bad, though... MJ was a lost soul (as is his family). They need our prayers, not our ridicule or anything else.

Adrienne Dennison at 8:28am June 30
I agree with Wendy.... haven't heard or seen anything. But I agree, have a little respect people!

Linda Larson Thompson at 9:07am June 30
Wow, I have only heard compassion and sadness... especially for his kids.

Alexandria 'Licorice' Millerick at 9:14am June 30
Ditto. It feels like all I'm hearing are jokes about MJ's death.

Erin Augustson at 9:17am June 30
I've seen plennnty of it. It's not just on basic facebook like status updates but its in feeds off of those that turn to michael and on walls and stuff. it's really sad.

Robert Hanson at 9:23am June 30
I do not agree with making fun of MJ, but we need to remember that he stood for everything that is against Christ. I understand that we are only saved by Gods grace, and that is the only reason I am not like MJ. I do not make fun of him but I do realize that he was a sinner. We as Christians should not down play that fact.

Eddie Intagliata at 9:42am June 30
Erin, I totally agree with you. The fact is we are ALL sinners, and that we as Christians were chosen by God to be saved--not by our own will. So we need to be careful when we talk about MJ being a sinner because we are just as guilty of sinning and not worthy of God grace.

Katie Abbott at 10:01am June 30
Oh my goodness, Erin, you are such a woman of God. I know this sounds super dramatic, but I kind of felt alone in my disgust over all the mocking. I can't really explain why, but it got me so discouraged the other day, seeing peoples' attitudes. Thank you for saying this. I actually posted a blog about it the other day and I think I might just put it on facebook.

Erin Augustson at 10:15am June 30
I think the biggest issue here is the gospel. If Michael is dead we don't need to be reminding each other that he is lost and that he is a sinner. His eternal life has taken over and that is it. There are billions of other sinners - famous and infamous - believing and unbelieving - who need to hear about Jesus. If we are too busy bashing a life that is already over how are we making any progress forward?We don't need to remind others of sin and leave the topic only ON the sin - like so many are doing, we need to seek to hand over The Way of escape from sin, or we need to give grace and restoration to those who already know the Lord. Far to often Christians come down too hard and overbearing or arrogantly condescending or plain ignorant when we are (for one thing-) told to owe love to each other (Romans).

Don Howard at 10:33am June 30
Very nice, Erin.

Liz Kenney at 11:41am June 30
amen!

Linda Larson Thompson at 11:43am June 30
Well said Erin. I could not agree more.

teensy tidbits

- Found this website: AltUse - as it's name infers, it offers alternate uses for everyday products. I'm excited to check it out further.

- Definitely going to Texas. Adam and I were both able to get the time off work and get great fare. We leave at 5pm July 16 and come home July 26. Yay for vacations!

- The Olivia I mentioned here is not the Olivia she claimed to be. I wondered if that might happen. We'll see what's in store though. God has got to bring her to us.

- Bible study tonight. Remember we have this as an outlet for a place to bring those you are in touch with who are not saved. Tonight's message will be on Jesus is God.

Gift Giving

Today is June 25, 2009. That means it is exactly 6 months until Christmas! As I was thinking of Christmas I was inspired to give a gift and I wanted to share with you the opportunity to do the same.

Gospel for Asia. This organization is incredible. If you have not read Revolution in World Missions by K.P. Yohannan than purchase that book for yourself, read it (it took me one day) and then give it away (They include an insert in the middle of the book that you can tear out. If you give the book away they will send you a new one to replace the one you gave out. Isn't that genius?). They mobilize the natives in Asia (emphasis on India) to go out. They believe that the natives can reach the lost in ways that foreign missionaries cannot and I believe that is true. I fully support our missionaries that are over there serving. I know it is a rough and sacrificial road and I have every confidence that God is working through their service as well.

The reasoning behing this organization is that natives are a lot more used to the lifestyle and culture and Americans are not. The natives are accepted and Americans aren't as readily accepted. It just makes sense.

The website is SO clear. There are updates of current events, missionary sponsorships, child sponsorships, Bible scholarships, photos, news, and ways to donate ,plus a store to purchase their materials.

When you go on the site and click around in the donation categories you WILL be inspired to give. You can donate a Jesus Well which will allow a church to grow because they can offer clean water to locals. You can donate animals. You can donate audio systems so that the gospel can go out to crowds. You can donate to Dalits, Muslims, medicine etc. There is something for EVERY budget because they have $1 items and items for several thousand dollars. Seriously $4 dollars will allow them to purchase 8 New Testaments to hand out.

You must check it out.

I personally love to give bicycles, but maybe that's because I read about them in the book. If you were in the dark, wouldn't you like to have a lantern? I would. Donate one. If you were a missionary, wouldn't you like to have a Bible to read? Donate one.

P.S. 100% of all their donations go to the mission field. To be on staff at GFA you have to raise your own support to work there so that every dollar can go overseas. None of your giving will be sidetracked.

Meaty

At 'Date Night' last night at my Grandparent's house after dinner, we were watching TV. Channel 7. Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. Shows aimed at the not so young generation, but DEFINITELY during family television watching time.

This Carl's Jr. commercial played over and over and over and over. It was so inappropriate! I refuse to post it on my blog - it was that bad. Here is the script:

Woman: To look this hot in a bikini *pause* I gotta eat a lot of fruit. Especially when it's on a big *pause* juicy *pause* burger.
Narrator: The teriyaki burger with grilled pineapple back at Carl’s Jr.

And on the bottom of the ad - this is what steps it up a level in offense - is boldly typed: "More than just a piece of meat."

My Distress Involves:
1.) Flopping and rolling around in a teeny gold bikini
2.) Selling sex
3.) Telling girls they have to be thin
4.) Lying by telling them they can look like that if they eat a lot of fruit
5.) Inferring that women are a piece of meat
6.) Aired on a family channel
7.) Aired a LOT
8.) Obviously not marketing to women in any way
9.) Seriously, they are saying that that burger is better than a woman and
10.) She is there insinuating that the burger has more worth to men than she does

I have never been a girl to walk around calling men 'sexist' and I've never been one to be easily offended, but who needs to see that, to eat that? My grandpa was watching that and had to turn his face away almost every time the shows went to commercials.

Yeah, TV's have a mute button, but they should also have a black screen button too.

Stupid Carl's Jr.

Folder 4 Number 4

I saw on a blog recently someone who was told to go to folder 4 in their pictures and choose the 4th photo and blog about it.

This is that photo. It was the very first hike Adam and I went on together. Musta been Sept. He had his camera and asked if I'd sit on that tree for a pic. I told him I would if he would walk me through all those dead weeds and help me up. So he did. He took a few shots until he got 'the money' then he helped me back down. We ate PBnJ sandwiches for lunch that day, stumbled upon a stone fireplace mantle that also was great for pics, and bonded because Adam was able to see how out of shape I am. It was such a good day!

I May or May Not Have..... And Encouragement.

Adam and I may or may not be planning a vacation to Austin Texas to see his family in the next few weeks.

I may or may not have ordered a laptop for a great deal.

I may or may not have dyed my hair red(dish).

I may or may not have jotted down some lyrics for a song that ..

I may or may not have turned over to Adam to refine and cohesive-ise and put music to.

And here is a super awesome story of how super awesome God is.

A couple months ago Mike and Lisa and Jeff and Lauren and Adam and I were at a local sushi restaurant. We did our Bible study there that night because we really had no place else to go. It was a cool sushi place that sections off tables so it becomes a private dining area. So we were all 6 sitting behind our curtain reading the 1 Sam like norm. The waitress came in and was asking us a few questions about reading the Bible and told us that she was LDS and that they had recently through 1 Sam. As the evening progressed she came back and quoted her favorite verse to us which was: Matt 5:15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. At that point we got her name so that we could facebook her so that we could keep in touch and we wanted to invite her to our Bible study. Turns out there were pages and pages of girls with her name on facebook and less than half of them had a photo. We were lost. Lauren emailed a few. Adam switched to see if she was on Myspace. But she wasn't to be found. One afternoon Adam popped back over to the sushi place but this girl wasn't working. A week or 2 later we went back and asked for her as we ordered and they told us she no longer worked there. =( It was sad since we couldn't seem to track her down.

2 weeks ago PBC had a pastor from Utah Lighthouse Ministry. We got to talking about this gal with him and he encouraged -from the pulpit- that PBC split up the pages and everyone email her and try and track her down. (No one approached us to help find her.) We were talking to Russ and his wife again 2 nights later and his wife suggested that we write a letter and take it to the sushi place and ask them to forward it on to her from us. It was neat how much they just encouraged us to pursue this girl. The next day I went back onto facebook and there were a lot less girls with her name. There were just 4 full pages. So I wrote an email to each one of them and asked if she was the same one we met.

Last night we had our Bible study directed towards unbelievers. None of us received any confirmation that anyone we had invited would be showing up that week so we figured if no one came we would still use that time to pray. So we split into groups of 2 (3 couples, haha). We had made a list of all the names of those we have relationships with you are not saved. This gal was on the list. We all prayed last night for each person.

This morning at 10:30 I got an email from her! I was so stoked I could hardly type!! I immediately forwarded it to our 'team.' God is so good! We knew it had to be up to Him at this point, we were pursuing her in every way we could but it would be up to God to bring her to us. She emailed!! I immediately wrote back telling her we were so happy to hear from her and I asked to her hang out and I sent her my contact info.

Isn't God great?! This was so encouraging! Pray that we will continue to be able to develop a relationship with this girl.

I Need an Interpretor

Early this morning - Like 4:30ish I had a dream. (I just spelled that 'dreak' instead of dream and sometimes typos really crack me up. They are really funny to me if you read them as they come out in a sentence like that - anyway..)

I dreamed that I was in my bed. The timing was the same in real life as in my dream. I had woken up and could tell morning was really near but that it was still dark and that there was still enough time to fall back asleep before my alarm went off. For some reason though my mom was at the end of the bed. I think we were talking but I have no idea what about. All the sudden in the darkness I realize there are 2 black widows. They have a single strand of web that goes from my quilt to my window. It was totally dark in my dream but I could see the glowing red underbellies they had. They weren't large but not small. I think at that point my mom noticed them and thought I should kill them. I was scared though because they just had to slide down the strand and they would be on my quilt and we all know how night time covers get - messy - and if they landed, how would I find them? Without disturbing them I reached up to my light that hangs above my bed and I turned the switch to click it on except it didn't come on. I tried again. Nothing. It was a battle I would have in darkness. For some reason mom couldn't help me kill the spiders - she was rooted to her spot at the end of the bed. I had no tissues or shoes or spray - nothing to kill these 2 widows with. So in my dream I thought to myself - I'm just gonna have to make the quilt do a wave over them and trap them under the wave of quilt and squish them that way. But the wave didn't work and the black widows both bit my upper right arm. I was poisoned.

Then I woke up. Laid there a bit being glad it was a dream and then looked at my phone and it said 4:32. Sweet. I went back to sleep.

Gross huh?

Things

My blog is crying to have pics. Literally - I think I see a tear falling down it's cheek. It's just so hard - I don't have any good pics to post. *Pats computer monitor on back whilst dabbing screen with a tissue.* I got nothing. Any that might be good are all probably on facebook. I'll try and remedy this as soon as I can. Just don't hate me.

Iiii am crying to have some new Christian music to listen to. Seriously. Just some good rock type- lyrically solid- good vocal/harmony- Christian music. Leeland should put out a new CD. Can anybody recommend any-thing? Anything. Something.

Since I posted about Hope Now last week I've still listened to that song bunches, but I'm about done with it for a couple more months. I wouldn't be if I had it on CD and could blast it in my car and sing my lungs out with it, but I don't have it on CD and certainly can't sing my lungs out at work because I need them to breathe. They are one of my keys to survival in this place.

10 months of dating Adam begins tomorrow. Things are good. So fulfilling. I was thinking today that if Adam hadn't come into my life I would have been headed on a path that walked a bit more closely with the world and I would have been destined to live in a more mediocre way. I thought I was pretty up on my game. Pretty on top of things. But to have Adam with me, encouraging me and pushing me has been amazing. I feel like growth has begun and is set on a path to continue. I've started evangelizing and being more bold. I am understanding grace in a deeper way. I'm seeing big changes in my heart and mind and actions and I praise God for revealing these things to me and helping me grow and push forward! I always thought I would marry a preacher man, and live a life of ministry. I always knew I would be the supporter of a man who was going to work hard for the Lord. I'm not sure if I got sidetracked from that with Kevin or if I really believed those things about him, all I know is that I am where I'm supposed to be. Nothing was a waste. It has all pushed me forward to where I am now and I am thankful.


My friend Jon Berglund looks like Joseph Smith. I was trying to find a pic that line up their profiles more exactly but it cannot be done unless I sit on my computer at home, and I never use the computer at home. So work with this for now:

Pretty amazing huh? Poor Jon.

Let This Encourage You!

Luke 15:7 - Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Let this be encouraging to you - Last night in Jackson Hole, Wyoming someone got saved!!!

Praise God for the team that has gone out there. Praise God for allowing them to work and evangelize and for letting them reap a soul from their labors! We are SO excited!!

While they have laid the groundwork there for a year and they are the ones laboring and facing the battlegrounds and I give them all the credit and God all the glory, there is an ever-so-small part of me that feels like I helped in this. Here is the breakdown. (Disclaimer *I'm truly not sharing this out of arrogance but am sharing this to encourage you to act and to follow in obedience when the Holy Spirit is leading you to do things.*)

Yesterday morning, God really laid it on my heart to pray for the team to have evangelism opportunities. So I was praying and I really felt like I was supposed to tell Eric to be on the lookout. So, I emailed Eric and let him know that I was praying for evangelism opportunities and to be looking for it. Last night Eric texted Adam that someone had gotten saved. I was blown away. To feel the Lord prompting me to specifically pray and prompting me to send that email to Eric.

I commented to Eric today that this was like a triple praise.
1) That person got saved! They will experience no hell!
2) The Jackson team has GOT to be encouraged by this.
3) It encouraged me because I got to be involved though I'm not there.

The team also posted their June newsletter and prayer requests. Check it out and keep them in your prayers. Love and encourage them as you can!

And praise the Lord! Thank Him so much for what He is doing. Amen.

Discipleship Article.

This follows on the same vein of what I was talking (typing?) about yesterday. It's like 2 pages so won't take long to read. Make disciples!


Level 3 Lesson 14
A CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP
By Andrew Wommack

Today we’re going to talk about being a disciple and how to make disciples of other people. I want to remind you that the Lord gave us a command not to go make converts, not to just get people to confess Jesus as their Lord and receive forgiveness of sins, but to make disciples. Although those first two are vital, and I’m not minimizing that at all, the real purpose has to be to go beyond being born again and to go on to maturity. The goal of a Christian, who is a disciple, should be to go and make disciples of other people.

Jesus told us to go and make disciples, to bring people to maturity and able to reproduce. Our church world today hasn’t done this. We’ve put the responsibility of getting people born again on what we call the clergy, or ministers. We have evangelists who travel around, hold large crusades, and see thousands of people make decisions for the Lord. Though some of them are not really born again but are just experiencing emotions, I’m sure there are people who are truly born again and have a relationship with the Lord. Most of the time, however, there’s not an emphasis on going on and becoming a disciple, and that’s not the way God intended it to be.

I compare this to a person who loves babies. It would be totally irresponsible to have a baby, be excited about it, but only like seeing it born. When you have a child, you have to assume responsibility to train and raise it. We tell people, “The main thing is to get born again, to confess Jesus as your Lord.” When that happens, we pat them on the back and say, “Now you’re a Christian. Believe God, study the Bible, and everything will be okay.” That is not the Lord’s emphasis.

Because of this, we’ve produced people, many of whom have made heartfelt commitments to the Lord, but have no maturity. They are unable to reproduce their faith because there is no material to help them. Instead of being positive witnesses for Jesus, they actually become negative witnesses. He intends for us to go out and reach people in a way that they become full-fledged disciples and are able to reproduce their faith in others.

If you led one person to the Lord every six months, separated yourself and discipled them to the point that they became a mature Christian who could reproduce their faith, at the end of six months there’d only be two Christians. Then, if each one of you led one person to the Lord, separated yourselves and discipled them for six months, at the end of a year there’d be four Christians. This doesn’t look comparable to a person who could lead a thousand people to the Lord in a crusade and get them to confess Jesus. Most people would say, “Well, this discipleship method only produces four converts in the first year, whereas the other method would produce a thousand converts. We have to go with the other one.” The man who could lead a thousand people to the Lord would have led 35,000 people to the Lord. That’s good, and nobody would criticize it; but it’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the world population. Basically, that’s the way the church has been functioning.

If we emphasize discipleship, the person who leads one person to the Lord every six months and those two do the same, in just a little over twelve and a half years they would evangelize more than the population of the world. Some people think That can’t be, but I challenge you to figure it out. I’ve multiplied it out, and in a little over twelve-and-a-half years, one person discipling another person every six months, making them a reproducing member of the body of Christ, could evangelize five and a half billion people versus twelve-and-a-half thousand people with the other method.

If we could get you to where you not only experienced victory and maturity yourself but had a desire to go out and reproduce it in other people, if you became the trainer instead of the trainee, here are some of the things that could happen if only one person got a hold of this concept, followed the Lord to a place of maturity, and started discipling another person. If you only did this with one person per year, at the end of one year, there would be you and the person you discipled—two. At the end of two years, there’d be four. But, if you could continue to follow that, at the end of ten years there’d be 1,024 people who had been discipled and were reproducing members of the body of Christ. If you continued, with only one person originally receiving this, at the end of twenty years there’d be over a million people. That’s awesome. This is the method of multiplication that the Lord established—going and making disciples, not going and making converts. It’s by far the best way to expand the kingdom to reach people, but our mindset is looking for the quick fix.

How many people go to large crusades, make commitments, go proclaim to be Christians, still have anger, bitterness, and jealousy, and become negative witnesses? If we want to count statistics, how many people have been turned away from the true Gospel because they saw someone who proclaimed Christianity and thought, I’m as good as the hypocrites down there at church. I don’t need it.

The whole point is that discipleship is the method God set down for evangelizing the world. The truth doesn’t make you free until you continue in the Word (John 8:31-32). That’s what God wants for each individual so they can experience His fullness, but it’s also the method of evangelism that He set down. Whoever decided that was not the way to do it has substituted another method that hasn’t worked.

I pray today that God speaks this to your heart to show you the value of discipleship. I encourage you to go on and become a disciple and a discipler of other people.

Apartment and Bible Study Plugs

The guys got an apartment. I've already said that, but I need to say it again in order to give this post it's proper foundation. The 3 of them now live next door to the DMV. They also live in the apartment that was to be the 'landlord' apartment which means that they have a larger space for the same amount of money. (Read: Blessing from God.)

The 3 guys happened to be able to all move out of their current living situations and in together and there will be a 4th roomate joining them in July. (Read: God worked timing of 4 people perfectly.)

This apartment will be used for ministry.

Currently, Mike and Lisa, Jeff and Lauren, and Adam and I meet on Friday nights for a 'couples' Bible Study. We don't have it closed off so that others can't join. We've invited several others but so far it has remained specific to us. Beforehand we used to scrounge for places to meet, but having this apartment gives us a place to ALWAYS meet and we were able to set up a consistent timeframe which will hopefully be beneficial to the study as we keep it going. If anyone reading this wants to come - FEEL FREE. Friday's at 6:00pm in Newhall. We are going through 1 Samuel. Last week we studied ch12 and it was so encouraging. And since we had the apartment we were even able to sing songs beforehand which was something we hadn't been able to do.

We also are starting a study geared towards those who do not believe in Christ. About 2 months ago there was a guest speaker at PBC (click the link and scroll to 4/29 to hear/download his message). His name is Dave Patty and he is associated with Josiah Venture. He gave some stats on how quickly the world could be reached for Christ if people would just disciple one person for 6 months and then have that person disciple someone for 6 months while person A started discipling a new person. The stats were amazing and the message was clear and inspiring and necessary and fitting. Adam and I had already been talking through slower, more purposeful discipleship and reaching the lost through that field of evangelism/relationship rather than going up to people on the streets, giving them a 5 minute gospel, then handing them some literature and walking away.

Dave Patty's message we then tied in to the messages that we've been listening to by Francis Chan. Add in the things we had already been discussing towards church planting - reaching the lost - discipleship - relationship and the 6 of us decided to birth a Bible Study geared towards establishing relationships and bringing those people - (focus on unbelievers) to a Bible Study on Monday nights at the apartment. We roadmapped it out and had our first study last night.

It was great! Again it's for believers as well as unbelievers. It's meant to encourage believers towards evangelism and to give them an outlet of where to bring people that they are reaching, but also a place geared towards the lost by being in the word to preach the gospel.

God blessed us all with the apartment and we are all committed to using it in our efforts towards the kingdom. It's an exciting time of growth. We have no idea what will happen. If you would like to come or if you want to be involved in evangelism in this way or if you have people in your life who are not saved and want a place to invest in them it'd be great to see you there. Who cares about age - if there is prompting in your heart then talk to us.

Pray for us as we seek after these things. Matthew 6:33. Tomorrow I'll post an article that touches on this aspect of discipleship.

Adam is a Pro

He made a 'header' for my blog. See it? He surprised me and added it to my blog last night. What a good boyfriend.

Fling

YUM!! This is my new favorite candy bar.




Seriously. Buy one. Try one. They are so good. So good. You will hate me.

Hope Now

I adore this song. It’s been said of me that I can be in the middle of a conversation and if a song comes on that I like it doesn’t matter what I’m involved in – my brain is instantly distracted and required to sing along. That would happen with this song. I would not be able to focus.
The words are so affirming. They put God in His exalted place and it reflects our place in Christ. Life is hard and this song is an absolute encouragement to hope in God’s love. Life relies on it.
I love the vocals, I love the sound, I love the instruments and I love the harmonies. This is one of my all time favorite songs.
It has also been said of me that I can listen to a song on repeat for days. This one is on repeat since yesterday morning. I can’t get enough of it. When I love a song I feel like I’m the singer and that I wrote each lyric, I feel it in my heart and my brain and my lungs and my bones and my breath. I attach emotion to it. When it says something like “When this world has broken me down Your love sets me free.” I think through different times in my life when that has been true. When things have been difficult but I’ve been able to still move forward because of Christ’s work in me. When it says something like “When I call out Your name something inside awakes in my soul.” I feel that. I feel my soul awake as I say the name of Jesus. It’s just how it is and I’m glad this happens.



HOPE NOW
If everything comes down to love
Then just what am I afraid of
When I call out Your name
Something inside awakes in my soul
How quickly I forget I'm Yours

(PRE-CHORUS)
I'm not my own
I've been carried by You
All my life

(CHORUS)
Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

When my life is like a storm
Rising waters all I want is the shore
You say I'll be ok and
Make it through the rain
You are my shelter from the storm

(CHORUS)
Everything rides on hope now
Everything rides on faith somehow
When the world has broken me down
Your love sets me free

I am not my own
I've been carried by you all my life

(CHORUS 2)
You've become my hearts desire
I will sing Your praises higher
Cause Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free
Your love sets me free

P.S. I didn't post their actual music video because I think it's lame. So I hit up this one. It was the best I could do.

Suburban of Death

Yesterday I was driving to work and it was nice. The sky was gray. I had left on time so I wasn't making a mad dash and running the yellows to make it on time. I pulled up to a 4 way stop. As I pulled up an old gold suburban pulled up to the stop sign on my right. I came to the stop sign first and came to a full stop and I was the one who had the right of way. The old gold suburban TOOK my right of way. The lady was selfish and went first even though it wasn't her turn. Normally that would make me mad, but yesterday, it didn't. I took my thwarted right of way and turned left.

The old gold suburban of death was then in the lane on left. There were only 2 lanes and she was in the left and I was in the right. We drove along like that for a little while and all the sudden she just moved into my lane. I braked and HONKED my horn. Now I was mad. This was 2 times in a row this lady was driving in a ridiculous fashion. The old gold suburban of death swerved out of my lane and then swerved right back in and stayed there. My heart was pounding and the upsetting thing was that she didn't even need that lane. She just stayed there to go straight. So that confuses me as to why she needed that lane so badly that she cut me off twice for it.

Suburban of death.

Things

• Beach tomorrow and it’s only supposed to be 62 degrees. But it will be with Mike and Lisa and possibly David and Anna so it will be a great time even if we are huddled under sweatshirts.
• Adam is joining Sunday night band as the bass player. I’m so excited.
• I shaved my arms – they look so smooooth. And sadly, a lot less sun damaged than my hands – poor me. You didn’t want to know that? You should be more concerned about my sun damage.
• I got a new lotion – it smells so good. Adam picked it out for me.
• Adam and Mike and Jeff got an apartment and they get the keys today. Everyone is excited. Ministry here we come. Cooking meals instead of grabbing fast food here we come. A place to hang out at that is not inconvenient here we come. Increased fellowship with our friends here we come. A place to have Bible study here we come.
• Thinking through marriage vs. tradition vs. God's calling on our lives a LOT lately.
• My head was right by my alarm this morning. When the alarm went off... it seemed way loud.


• How many have seen Up? ++Spoiler Alert.++
I knew nothing about this movie except that the billboard showed an old man and his house being lifted up by a bajillion balloons.
- The main character was actually that old man.
- The opening developed the main character(s) for like 5 or 6 minutes - or so it seemed - and that was enough time to fall in love with them and rejoice and grieve with them. The emotional pull was crazy and there was hardly any talking.
- I thought the movie did such a great job of reflecting the hardships that the elderly face.
- I feel like we are supposed to say it was such a good movie, but it’s heavy! You end up feeling heartbreak for Carl and for Russell, but for some reason it is a positive movie. I believe the positive is reflected in the sense that they overcome hard things in life.
- Dogs everywhere! Only funny in select places.
- Kevin cracked me up.
- Ultimately I think it was genius to use this movie to reach a younger generation to increase their awareness and in that sense hopefully knowledge and respect and to encourage a helpful attitude toward them.

Fat Hearts and Forgetting God

In church last night we were in the book of James for a bit and I happened to glance ahead in the passage and read this: You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. It really made me think of America. And the American Church. Adam and I have had some good talks lately and hope to start being a little more outspoken about things we read in the Word that aren't lining up with where the church is at. This isn't necessarily one of those but in light of our self-indulgent culture and the way it's manifesting itself in the church in things such as the divorce rate etc it just really challenged my heart and mind. Then today I was reading Deut 6 and I thought it just tied in with James 5. Deut is talking of our greatest commandments and that in light of all the blessing God is handing to the Israelites to make sure to pass the statutes on and warns against forgetting God will the fullness of what's to be given to them. Contrast it against James 5.

Read it all because seriously, it'll take like 5 minutes.

Deuteronomy 6 (English Standard Version)

The Greatest Commandment
1"Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
10"And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— 15for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God— lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
16 "You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has promised.
20 "When your son asks you in time to come, 'What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?' 21then you shall say to your son, 'We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.'


James 5
Warning to the Rich
1Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.