Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Enough Already!
On my way home from Arizona, I see on the news that Josh Powell did a murder/suicide with his kids in their home in WA. My heart sank. I am so sad for this family. The mom disappeared 2 yrs ago from their home in Utah, so we have heard a lot about it over that time... the crazy stories of love affairs, pornography, child custody, and now death.
I dont know how someone can have so much hate and hurt in them that they could even fathom thinking about, let alone, carry out a plan to murder your own children. Those sweet little boys. I heard the 911 calls this morning at the gym and I got all teary-eyed. That poor social worker... and then the sister asking for help.
I am so tired of all the freaky things going on around me... cops dying in a drug warrant shootout, people committing suicide, possible high school bombing, and now this. It makes me so sad.
I dont know how someone can have so much hate and hurt in them that they could even fathom thinking about, let alone, carry out a plan to murder your own children. Those sweet little boys. I heard the 911 calls this morning at the gym and I got all teary-eyed. That poor social worker... and then the sister asking for help.
I am so tired of all the freaky things going on around me... cops dying in a drug warrant shootout, people committing suicide, possible high school bombing, and now this. It makes me so sad.
Weigh In Wednesday
Even after a weekend of cake and alcohol-infused ice cream, I'm still down on the scales. I weighed in at 173.2 today.... And after looking back at my list, that's down from 174.8 so I'm making progress. I can see it in my waist and thighs, that makes me happy :)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
The Book of Deuteronomy
Genesis Project Connect Week 5: Deuteronomy
Pastor Matt Roberts
Forty years has passed. No homes, no roots, no heritage, nothing is permanent for the people of Israel. Days just seem to fly by one after another. They lack purpose,lack meaning, lack life! They are a people who were once so full of promise, so full of life and purpose. But they have forgotten years in the arid, dusty wilderness have robbed memory of the good times. They once knew the voice of God, once stood in His presence, once received His calling and His promise. They were a people on a mission who lost their way.
It must have seemed amazing how quickly those forty years passed by. One moment they were standing at the base of Mount Sinai on their way to a new land, a new beginning. The presence of God was so real in those early moments. They had come face to face with a living God and he spoke words of promise and purpose into a ragtag group of people and called them a nation. Yet now, forty years later they were walking in circles in a barren wilderness without any of the things promised to them. How did this happen? How did things go so wrong?
Quite simply, they forgot. The word Deuteronomy means, "the second telling of the law". We get the sense in Leviticus that God is warning His people "listen to what I say, this is VERY important!" maybe if we would have been there we would have heard "don't make me say this twice!". I am sure at the time Israel wondered how they could ever forget. God had been so good, so real, so relevant right where they were. God had invaded the nation of former slaves and I am sure they believed they would never be the same again. But soon reality set in. The wilderness was REAL. Real heat, real hunger, real thirst, real blisters on their feet and when they got to the river there were real giants and real armies on the other side. They became frustrated and tired and in doing so they took their eyes off of God. They set Him and His Word aside and placed their focus on their present sufferings instead of their God future.
Now forty years have passed and God is again calling a new generation to a promised land. For the second time the Law of God is laid out before the people. God asks them to be faithful, to remember this time all that He speaks to His people. It was a choice of blessings or curses, a literal choice of life and death. How would this new generation respond? Would they hold onto the things spoken in the presence of God, or allow circumstances to rob Gods words from them once again? The choice was now theirs and Gods hopes and direction was clear "choose life!".
As much as I would love to question the people of Israel in their forgetfulness, to ask how they could have walked out of Egypt unscathed and through the Red Sea on dry land, how they could have witnessed a mountain come alive by the presence of God and see a cloud of glory over their camp every day and still forget the things God spoke into them? I cannot question because I understand, cannot judge because I am no different.
How many times have we experienced the hand of God moving us? How many times
has His word permeated the silence of our lives. How many times was our response temporary? We, just like Israel are so good at letting life creep in and steal Gods Word from our lives. We get busy, situations change and without even realizing it, we slowly walk away from the clear direction of God. Most of the time we don't do it on purpose. We just drift away as the mountain top experiences become distant memories. Our passions wain, our resolve is tested and through all of our resolutions made in Gods
presence, the wilderness shows up and sucks us back into the same old ways of a monotonous life.
What if we made this time count? What if we chose life and blessing and ran with it? Ran with a resolve to never look back, never slow down, never to forget. It is a staggering thought for me to wonder where I would be today if I had refused to be sidetracked, if I had stuck to my promises, if I had ran with every word spoken to my heart in His presence. But just like Israel there is nothing we can do about what's behind us, no recreating time wasted. We can allow God to speak into the depths of our hearts
once again and resolve that this time it is going to be different through the power of a patient and graceful God.
SUGGESTED READING 2/6/12 - 2/11/12
Monday 2/6 - Deuteronomy 1-4
Tuesday 2/7 - Deuteronomy 5-11
Wednesday 2/8 - Deuteronomy 12-19
Thursday 2/9 - Deuteronomy 20-26
Friday 2/10 - Deuteronomy 27-30
Saturday 2/11 - Deuteronomy 31-34
Pastor Matt Roberts
Forty years has passed. No homes, no roots, no heritage, nothing is permanent for the people of Israel. Days just seem to fly by one after another. They lack purpose,lack meaning, lack life! They are a people who were once so full of promise, so full of life and purpose. But they have forgotten years in the arid, dusty wilderness have robbed memory of the good times. They once knew the voice of God, once stood in His presence, once received His calling and His promise. They were a people on a mission who lost their way.
It must have seemed amazing how quickly those forty years passed by. One moment they were standing at the base of Mount Sinai on their way to a new land, a new beginning. The presence of God was so real in those early moments. They had come face to face with a living God and he spoke words of promise and purpose into a ragtag group of people and called them a nation. Yet now, forty years later they were walking in circles in a barren wilderness without any of the things promised to them. How did this happen? How did things go so wrong?
Quite simply, they forgot. The word Deuteronomy means, "the second telling of the law". We get the sense in Leviticus that God is warning His people "listen to what I say, this is VERY important!" maybe if we would have been there we would have heard "don't make me say this twice!". I am sure at the time Israel wondered how they could ever forget. God had been so good, so real, so relevant right where they were. God had invaded the nation of former slaves and I am sure they believed they would never be the same again. But soon reality set in. The wilderness was REAL. Real heat, real hunger, real thirst, real blisters on their feet and when they got to the river there were real giants and real armies on the other side. They became frustrated and tired and in doing so they took their eyes off of God. They set Him and His Word aside and placed their focus on their present sufferings instead of their God future.
Now forty years have passed and God is again calling a new generation to a promised land. For the second time the Law of God is laid out before the people. God asks them to be faithful, to remember this time all that He speaks to His people. It was a choice of blessings or curses, a literal choice of life and death. How would this new generation respond? Would they hold onto the things spoken in the presence of God, or allow circumstances to rob Gods words from them once again? The choice was now theirs and Gods hopes and direction was clear "choose life!".
As much as I would love to question the people of Israel in their forgetfulness, to ask how they could have walked out of Egypt unscathed and through the Red Sea on dry land, how they could have witnessed a mountain come alive by the presence of God and see a cloud of glory over their camp every day and still forget the things God spoke into them? I cannot question because I understand, cannot judge because I am no different.
How many times have we experienced the hand of God moving us? How many times
has His word permeated the silence of our lives. How many times was our response temporary? We, just like Israel are so good at letting life creep in and steal Gods Word from our lives. We get busy, situations change and without even realizing it, we slowly walk away from the clear direction of God. Most of the time we don't do it on purpose. We just drift away as the mountain top experiences become distant memories. Our passions wain, our resolve is tested and through all of our resolutions made in Gods
presence, the wilderness shows up and sucks us back into the same old ways of a monotonous life.
What if we made this time count? What if we chose life and blessing and ran with it? Ran with a resolve to never look back, never slow down, never to forget. It is a staggering thought for me to wonder where I would be today if I had refused to be sidetracked, if I had stuck to my promises, if I had ran with every word spoken to my heart in His presence. But just like Israel there is nothing we can do about what's behind us, no recreating time wasted. We can allow God to speak into the depths of our hearts
once again and resolve that this time it is going to be different through the power of a patient and graceful God.
SUGGESTED READING 2/6/12 - 2/11/12
Monday 2/6 - Deuteronomy 1-4
Tuesday 2/7 - Deuteronomy 5-11
Wednesday 2/8 - Deuteronomy 12-19
Thursday 2/9 - Deuteronomy 20-26
Friday 2/10 - Deuteronomy 27-30
Saturday 2/11 - Deuteronomy 31-34
Friday, February 3, 2012
Ty's birthday surprise
My dear friend, Angie, lives in Phoenix. Angie and I have been friends since kindergarten. We grew up together in Indiana. She moved to Arizona for school and ended up calling it home. She is my kids Godmother. The last time Ty saw her was at my wedding, almost 4 years ago. She asks about her often and has been begging for her to come visit.
Angie planned to come out for Ty's birthday but Bryan and I thought it'd be fun to surprise Ty and fly there to see Angie. It took all I had not to tell her!
I packed the suitcase last weekend and hid it in my closet. I arraigned things at work. I made sure to stay quiet about it so no one slipped and told her. Last night she was looking all over for her Tom Brady jersey to wear to school today and was so upset she couldn't find it... With me quietly chuckling b/c it was in the suitcase :)
This morning I went in her room at 415am to wake her up... I told her Angie was flying in to surprise her and we needed to go to the airport to get her... All the while the bags were in the car and I'm quickly grabbing things she's done with, like hair ties and toothbrushes.
We drive down to SLC as she plans what were going to do all weekend with our special guest. As we pulled in the parking lot, I handed her a wrapped gift, a photograph notebook I made on shutterfly. On the first page it said, " just kidding, Angie isn't coming... We're flying to Phoenix to see her. Love mom"
Her first reaction? She yelled at me! Said I was mean for tricking her, as she has a big smile one her face. We hurried and got things out of the trunk and jumped on the shuttle.
We checked our bags and got into line for security and the agent says, " I have two questions for you.... What's your name? What's your flight number?". She gave him her name but had a panicked look on the flight number... She told him that she didn't even know we were going on a flight until we got here!!! Everyone around us laughed.
We're sitting in the airport, waiting for our flight... Can't wait to start our adventure! ( I can't upload off my iPad, so I'll ave to add pictures later)
Angie planned to come out for Ty's birthday but Bryan and I thought it'd be fun to surprise Ty and fly there to see Angie. It took all I had not to tell her!
I packed the suitcase last weekend and hid it in my closet. I arraigned things at work. I made sure to stay quiet about it so no one slipped and told her. Last night she was looking all over for her Tom Brady jersey to wear to school today and was so upset she couldn't find it... With me quietly chuckling b/c it was in the suitcase :)
This morning I went in her room at 415am to wake her up... I told her Angie was flying in to surprise her and we needed to go to the airport to get her... All the while the bags were in the car and I'm quickly grabbing things she's done with, like hair ties and toothbrushes.
We drive down to SLC as she plans what were going to do all weekend with our special guest. As we pulled in the parking lot, I handed her a wrapped gift, a photograph notebook I made on shutterfly. On the first page it said, " just kidding, Angie isn't coming... We're flying to Phoenix to see her. Love mom"
Her first reaction? She yelled at me! Said I was mean for tricking her, as she has a big smile one her face. We hurried and got things out of the trunk and jumped on the shuttle.
We checked our bags and got into line for security and the agent says, " I have two questions for you.... What's your name? What's your flight number?". She gave him her name but had a panicked look on the flight number... She told him that she didn't even know we were going on a flight until we got here!!! Everyone around us laughed.
We're sitting in the airport, waiting for our flight... Can't wait to start our adventure! ( I can't upload off my iPad, so I'll ave to add pictures later)
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Favorite Things Swap 2012
I did this SWAP last year and I am so excited to be included again... fun stuff!!
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Wednesday Weigh-In
I think we have a scale malfunction this morning... After having it say "Error" 3x my weight said I was 3lbs more than yesterday and Bryan's was like 8lbs more. Pretty sure that's not the case. We maybe investing in a new scale tonight.
*** Update, changed the battery to see if that helped...and it went to 173.8 which I believe puts me at my starting number. Maybe I am now down to losing fat!! ***
*** Update, changed the battery to see if that helped...and it went to 173.8 which I believe puts me at my starting number. Maybe I am now down to losing fat!! ***
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