Monday, October 31, 2005

One Thing...

Ok Folks, take a guess at the origin of this song...

One Thing


Restless tonight,
Cause I wasted the light...
Between both these times,
I drew a really thin line.

It’s nothing I planned-
And not that I can.
But you should be mine
Across that line.

If I traded it all, If I gave it all away for one thing...
Just for one thing...
If I sorted it out, If I knew all about this one thing...
Wouldn’t that be something?

I promise I might not walk on by.
Maybe next time, But not this time.
Even though I know, I don’t want to know...
Yeah I guess I know, I just hate how it sounds...

If I traded it all, if I gave it all away for one thing...
Just for one thing...
If I sorted it out, if I knew all about this one thing...
Wouldn't that be something?

Did you take a guess? SECULAR!! What the... Fooled me! I'll let you do your own research, but when I read some input online about what these lyrics were REALLY referring to, I was really upset. I'll just keep believing it's talking about trading everything you have for "One Thing"- mainly following Christ.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

"I Can Do All Things..."

Love,
Its the wave I ride that won't ever reach the shore.
Overwhelmed by the tide and wanting nothing more, tonight,
Than to take this time and make it all mine.
Its coming around again.

Hope,
Its the light that strikes, that burns inside of me.
Its a blinding light, but somehow I can see, again.
When I've lost my way, its becoming very clear.
And its coming around again.

Somewhere between the darkness and the light,
My spirit takes to flight.
The colors fill the sky, and I am free.

Every now and again, sometimes-
I get lost on the wind of a dream.
The air gets clean and the seas get wide
And I can do anything.
The pain it won't even cross my mind.
There is wonder in everything.
The rope gets loose, and the chains unbind,
And I can do anything.

Taken from Mae- "Anything".

Phillipians 4:13
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Fundraising Update

Thank you to all my supporters, and God be praised!  My first deadline is still 3 weeks away, and I have met it early.  My current support is at $1359.  Thank you for your involvement in sending me to Interface.  You have been such a blessing to me!  Thank you for allowing God to use you in reminding me of His everyday faithfulness.  A lot of people continue to ask me how things are going, and let me know they’re praying for me and for the trip.  That is so comforting to know- that my friends and other Believers are lifting me up, asking that God’s will be done, and putting me in His Hands.  As of right now, a huge, continued prayer request is for the formation of the team.  Currently, the team going is very small, and we may be delayed till the summer of ’06.  I’d rather go in January (I’m already there in my mind), but I’m at peace with the possibility of waiting a few extra months.  I will give more trip details as I get them. 

Sunday, October 16, 2005

"Be Faithful With Little", a.k.a. My 28th Birthday :)

Note: to get right to the point of this very long entry, go down to the white paragraph :)

Yesterday was my birthday, and as far as I can recall right now, it was the best birthday I've had!
First, I took Friday off from work. I had an eye appointment in the morning(yes- I'm getting glasses- THIS should be entertaining...), followed by some good time spent at my favorite spa (this is a birthday tradition- 3 years in a row). My coworkers made me come to work at 4:00, and they had dinner waiting for me- different latin foods- YUM! I also got "Princess" cupcakes- each with a Princess ring in it, a "Birthday Princess" thing-a-ma-giggy to wear on my head, and a Princess wand to wave. PERFECT!!! Then Friday night, I went over to a friend's house to watch these videos on creation theories (boring to some, yet interesting to me), and hung out with a bunch of friends.

I left that get-together at about 10:30 or so, because I was planning on getting up super early to go watch the sunrise (birthday tradition #2- about 5 years total). I'm saying my goodbyes, and my friend Michaela hugs me, wishes me a happy birthday, and asks, "So, are you going to be sad?" I said, "No, not this year", and left.

So now I'm driving home... Thinking to myself in the car, "I lied to her", when that (quiet) Little Voice says- in a tone that says "I DARE you"- "So, ask her to go with you then!"
"That's ridiculous! She wouldn't want to", I rebut. Buuuuuuut, I decide to at least try.
"Oh good- her cell phone's off!"
"So call someone else- that house is full of people." (again, using the "I dare you" voice- man, sometimes I hate when God is persistent...)
I called like 4 people before I got someone to put her on their phone! "Hey Michaela, what are you doing tomorrow morning?"
"Um, sleeping?"
"Weeeell, would you come to the beach with me?..." I don't think she was too fond of the time I said... She said she'd "think about it" and call me later.

HAHA!! That's a sure no! What was I thinking!?!

About Midnight, my phone wakes me up. "Hey Emily- I'll go with you, but we're going to Starbucks first." Surprise, surprise...

Honestly, Michaela there or not, I was still planning on having a pity party ("oh, woe is me- I'm another year older, boo hoo, sob, sob.") reading my Bible, praying, and taking pictures of the sunrise. I did all but the first.

The drive up was good- I got some stuff off my chest (never easy or pleasant), and had an open, unjudging ear that listened. I really wanted to fight that and clam up, and not answer questions, but for whatever reason (ha- like I believe that- it was God), I didn't. The time spent at the beach (or really at the sea wall- there WAS no beach!) was full of Godly opinion and advice and comments, some time in the Word, admiration of Creation, and really really uplifting prayer. There was no room for sadness, or tears (besides happy ones), or regret, etc. It was awesome! The drive back had a lot of music in it- because I can't not drive and blast tunes :) Oh yeah- and finally, we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast (birthday tradition #3). The waiter was flirting with us, and the staff sang "happy birthday", and I got free ice cream and a brownie- yay! I guess I could have made this a whole lot shorter if I had just said, "it was an awesome morning!"

Here's the point to the sharing of the long story:
Be obediant. Be faithful to God. Be obediant in even the small, seemingly stupid, insignificant details of your life.
AND HE WILL BLESS YOU!!
But you have to be faithful! Don't just brush Him off, like I wanted to do Friday night in the car. Don't reduce His nudging to "some silly notion". LISTEN for Him. If something comes to mind that just wouldn't have naturally come to you, here's a newsflash: if you're a christian, it's probably from God! If I'd run from it Friday, I would have totally missed out on the blessing Saturday, and my birthday would have been a self-fulfilling, self-destructive prophecy.

Thank you Michaela, for allowing God to use you to help make my 28th birthday truly the best ever!

The rest of the day was awesome too! After I dropped Michaela off, I went to the new Kohl's in Altamonte and found 2 pairs of shoes (NO- they were work shoes and athletic shoes- not the cutesie, strappy, unneccessary kind) and a gift for Little One's birthday. Then I raced home, because I had a massage appointment. Verrrry good! Then I got ready and left for Little One's birthday party- only to realize I'd forgotten my wallet, and had to turn around and come home... This was the day's only set-back. That resulted in me only getting to stay at his party for literally 10 minutes... oops... But there was no way I was going to miss his first birthday! I left there to go to Season's 52- where 7 friends met me for dinner to help me celebrate (tradition #4 slightly modified- the last 4 birthdays I'd been to Houston's, but decided to go to my "new favorite" this year). VERY good meal- and the best company ever. THEN I went to the pumpkin carving party Revolution was having, and got to see even more friends. Finally, I went with my friend Meghan to go buy Cinderella (it's FINALLY out of the "Vault"- I've been waiting for this since like 1993!!), and went back to my place with 2 friends to watch my favorite ever Disney movie and fall asleep. That was the perfect ending to my most perfect birthday.

THE END!!

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Rafting Trip Photos

I went rafting down the Ocoee River in Tennessee a few weeks ago with some Christian friends- what a great weekend! It's always good to be constantly surrounded by other Christians, and that weekend was a good example for me. I find they won't let you stay unhappy for too long, and they usually give the best advice. Thanks guys- for being such a good influence on me! Here are some photos. Fuzzy, but you'll get the idea. :) Hmmm... seems I have a lot of waterfall pics...