Showing posts with label This world. Show all posts
Showing posts with label This world. Show all posts

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Living a GREAT life...

"Every life is a story. Whether it is a story worth telling and talking about, though, is up to you. People set out with grand dreams of changing the world, falling in love, doing something amazing. But the drift toward the merely acceptable happens almost without notice. That does not have to be our story." -Donald Miller A Million Miles in a Thousand Years


I am at the end of reading this book, A Million Miles In a Thousand Years By: Donald Miller. I love it. It has reminded me of so much of my life and the times in my life where I think, "This is the best day of my life." Do you ever do that? Do you ever have one of those days you don't ever want to forget. One of those days that you are doing the exact thing that you want to do. Most of mine happen outside. I think I'm a little weird about this. I try to explain it to people some times but I'm not sure they quite get what I'm saying but I live for these moments of thinking "this is the best day". I will tell you a few....



One of my younger ones was when my parents dug a pond in our back yard. I remember me, my mom, dad, and both brothers were outside and our parents let us wade out deep in knee high mud. I remember a year or so later going swimming in that pond. I would jump in and the catfish would nibble at my toes. I remember pretending the creek that ran into the pond was a slip-in-slide and sliding in the mud. We found a crawlfish that day...


I remember the first time I slept outside in our fort me and my brothers made. My older brother and cousin slept in their fort and I slept in a tent with my cats. I caught my hair on fire that night...



I remember being on a house boat with friends jumping off the top and being pulled on an inner-tube with all 5 (or 6) of us girls on that intertube at the same time....I remember thinking that was a good day....



I remember spending the day in Mentone with Q before we were dating thinking that I didn't want the day to end. I remember we found a Frisbee on top of a shed and Q held me up to get it. I remember taking a hike though the woods and laying beside Q leaning against a rock talking about life....



I remember playing ball in the streets of Ireland. I remember standing up in front of hundreds in Africa telling people about the time I asked Jesus into my heart. I could go on and on of memories that are the "this is the best day" but the sad thing is the older I get the less I have these days. I need to change that.


In Donald Millers book he talks about people who have made their stories great because they do great things. Their life is not their own. They live for their creator who makes their story what it is if they listen and obey. These people in the book do great things that impact other people. I want to impact other people, positively in a huge way. I borrowed this book but I wish it was mine to highlight parts and underline. I feel like I'm rambling and not making a lot of since. I wish I could share with you every story in the book. I wish I could share with you how he writes and makes me want to have an adventure everyday. I just think that life is worth living... We should have something to live for. I do. Go read the book! A Million Miles in a Thousand Years By: Donald Miller


"I like those scenes in the Bible where God stops people and asks them to build an altar. You'd think He was making them do that for Himself, but I don't think God really gets much from looking at a pile of rocks. Instead, I think God wanted his people to build altars for their sake, something that would help them remember, something they could look back on and remember the time when they were rescued, or they were given grace." -Donald Miller




"We have to get up off the couch and turn the television off, we have to bow up the inner-tubes and head to the river. We have to write the poem and deliver it in person. We have to pull the car off the road and hike to the top of the hill. We have to put on our suits, we have to dance at weddings. We have to make altars." -Donald Miller

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

This world has nothing for me and this world has everything

Random thoughts time! I haven't blogged in a while except for posting picture. I find it hard because I love to journal so much but I know not all of y'all would like to know every detail of my life. (Oh, how I could blog everyday, every detail.) If you are around me enough you will know that I love to talk...about anything. I LOVE details. Anyways, I'm sidetracked... I know not everything is so important that I should put it on here (like the fact that Me, Q, Deci, my mom, cousin Erica, Her husband and two kids have had the same virus this past week). I do just feel like sitting for a while blogging about my thoughts from the past few weeks about this world.



A few events have happened, really over the past few months that have really made me and Q stop in our tracks and have to think. It's hard for me to separate people and Sin. Q finds it a little easier but if you know us you will know that he is the compassionate one. I was talking with two close friends last night about how when we had this virus Q likes for me to baby him and I have a really hard time taking care of him when he's sick. I lack compassion sometimes. (Sorry Q) :) While Driving the other day thinking about a certain situation that just happened I thought about how this world is so corrupted. I started singing this song that I've heard forever but can't think of who sings it or the rest of the words. (yes, I've tried google) It says "This world has nothing for me, but this world has everything." It just reminds me that this world does have EVERYTHING that you could think that you want but really it doesn't have anything that will bring you real joy, real peace. Maybe for a moment but not for long.



At lifepoint (Albertville) we have been going through the book of Matthew and the sermon series has been Inside Out. We sing "From the Inside Out" by Hillsong. It's one of my favorite songs right now. It's a prayer really for God to change us from the inside out. Sometimes I can look clean enough on the outside but so ugly on the inside. I know it's a constant battle with me. I know all this "talk" can sound so good on paper like I have it all together but really I struggle more than I should. It's so easy for me to share my thoughts but so hard sometimes for me to act on them.



Q has me reading a book he just finished that he says changed the way he thinks. It's called "The irresistible Revolution, living as an ordinary radical." by Shane Claiborne. He called me from youth camp and told me that I had to read this book and that we were going to have to talk about getting rid of some stuff and living on less. I started reading a few days ago and I'm loving this book. It's a man that grew up in Tennessee, moved to a big city up north (sorry can't think of it now). He lives in a house with other people that hang out with the homeless. They really are acting on what they believe and it's really challenged us. Not that we are going to go out and sell our trailer, cars, clothes but I really do want to start taking big steps in becoming more of who God has called me to be. I'm not there by far. I really struggle with being selfish and negative. I forget so easily where I've come from. The guy that wrote this book went to help Mother Teresa for a summer. He actually met her. He likes to quote her a lot. I'll end with a quote from her that I got out of the book.

"Following Jesus is simple, but not easy.

Love until it hurts and then love more."

-Mother Teresa