reading the Bible is like listening to music

I really like music. I like new music, well, new, good music. Sometimes when I get a cd that I think I'll like, I pop it in the player and don't- like it that is. I leave it in the cd player for a week or two and come to find out, I dig it. Funny how that happens. It's like, at first it's ok, and then when I learn the words and think about what it's saying, I love singing along to it.

I like to go to concerts. I enjoy all music and all concerts, but there's nothing like going to a concert where you know every single song and you just get to jam right along with the artist the whole time. It unites people. You can have all sorts of people from all walks of life at a concert of somebody they know and love and it's like, for a short time, everybody's family. There's a mutual respect, an understanding. It's cool that music can do that. It's like a thread that runs right through your soul and ties you to other people.

Yesterday I was reading in Life as a Vapor (a most wonderful devotion book, and if you haven't gotten it yet, you should. No joke) and basically the whole thing was just scripture. So I was looking it up and some of it I knew and some of it I didn't, but I kinda read the parts around the scripture it pointed me to and could find something I knew. I realized when I did, it made my heart go, "mmm." I could say the words in my head and heart before I even read them on the page. Then I got to the part I didn't know and it made me excited to learn it and it sounded good. Just like being at a great concert. Sometimes when I go to a concert of somebody I really love to listen to, they'll sing a song I don't know.. and it's funny how intently I'll listen and try to learn it, cause I know their other stuff is so good. I like it that scripture is the same way...

the troops are advancing...

Sometimes I feel like a monster. And then I remember that I am. I am such a sinner. You know, I used to be an enemy of God. I used to work for the kingdom of darkness. Have you ever seen the show Alias? (it’s a good show, but you gotta start from the beginning season, the first episode( in my opinion, it’s the best one) in order to get the full story of what the show it about.) Sorry to give it away if you haven’t seen it, but basically, Sydney, the main character, who is a spy for a “covert” branch of the CIA realizes she isn’t working for the CIA at all, the people she is working for is actually the bad guys. Bummer. Yeah, so that is pretty much me. (It’s funny how you can relate things to God, everything. You should try it sometime. It’s a fun game. ) I was born onto this planet and as soon as they flipped me upside down and popped my bottom, I was a member of the enemy camp. I wanted to live for me. For my pleasure and my good and my benefit. Little did I know ,that in doing that, I was contributing to darkness instead of light. It’s like I was sleeping in my barracks one night and Jesus came in the middle of the night dressed in camouflage with night goggles, right into the enemy camp, woke me up and said… “hey, listen, we don’t have long, but I want you to know the truth… you’re on the wrong side, I know you didn’t know, but you are and regardless of the past, I’m telling you now” I sit there in utter disbelief of what he’s telling me and what I know he had to go through, the risk he had to take, to sneak in and get to me. And then we’re discovered. Someone turns on the light and sees Jesus there talking with me and sounds the alarm. “Intruder! Seize him!” And I’m with him, and so they’re after me too. . Stunned, I can’t move. He scoops me up in His arms and starts to run. They are hot on our trail, but He’s faster. We keep going until he takes me to a place that we’re safe. I look around and realize I’m in a new camp, surround by others, some of whom I recognize, but haven’t seen in a while, all of whom He had gone and brought out of the enemy camp, the same as he had done for me. I can hear the enemy soldiers in the distance. Their shouts and calls are getting louder. They are looking for me. They are furious. All of the people around me take up their arms and start dispersing into the area from which Jesus just brought me. Knowing where I’ve come from, I desperately yell for them to stop, to run away from the enemy, to flee from him because he is terrible and strong. One of the good soldiers running by me stops and says, “he is strong, but he is defeated, it’s just a matter of time until he is completely destroyed. Jesus still has work to do. He goes there every night and brings back others like you. He brought me from there too… He won’t let us destroy the enemy camp until he has saved his precious ones. But we are not going to sit here in the mean time. We’re attacking. We know the truth and we are advancing. We have the power to demolish it all, but Jesus won’t let us, he says it isn’t time yet, but we keep the enemy at bay. He’s only as strong as Jesus allows him to be. We aren’t going to wait here for whenever he decides to attack us. We are going to get him first. We are stronger because we are of the light. He sees us coming and our very presence silences him. We put HIM on the defense. We dispel the darkness because he who has saved us has filled us with His magnificent light. I know it’s soon, and this is all new to you, but when you think you’re ready, come, join us, there’s no time to waste.”

I’m taking orders from my commander-in-chief, the same one who risked everything to sneak in and save me. I’m ready to take up my weapons and go! You won’t find me sitting here waiting to be attacked. Look out Satan. You’re defeated. I know it now, and I’m after you.

For Christmas this year, my family went on a cruise. It was the best vacation ever!

Nassau, Bahamas on a very windy day

That's our ship, the Zuiderdam.

OhMiGa!

Key Lime Pie in Key West

Hunter, my Aunt Missy and Uncle Rick. Warning: hanging out with this crowd will make your face hurt!

me and Mrs. J on dress-up night

i love my sister!

it rained

me and ash in the caribbean

grandmama and grandaddy.. relaxin on the beach... retired people.. rough life :)

from inside a church on one of the islands in the Bahamas

Dad and Mrs. J chillin on the ship

This is Justin and me. He organized this whole big ski trip for 30 of his friends. Rented this humongous house and got it all together by himself. Impressive! There wasn't much snow for skiing :( but that just left more time for shopping! :)

Jason and Lauren... two people who crack me up. They're pretty cute together too!

courtney blakely was there.. it's cool how things work out!

I am going to have a roomate this semester! It's Jodi Laws! She is hilarious.. you should see her room. You'd never be able to guess what school she goes to!

The no- snow ski trip involved indoor activities such as playing cards. Note the male/female ratio here...

Justin and me outside the House of Blues in Myrtle Beach New Years Day. Oh yes, Edwin Mccain was there. It was a surprise among many others that weekend! What a guy!

oh what a wonderful break... and other ramblings

I went on a cruise, got to hang out with my fam., went to my first ever real new years eve shin-dig, started officially dating a most amazing guy, Justin Tanner (the same one who introduced me to the blog world... I'm tellin ya, the blog is a great thing!) went on a no snow ski trip and have just plain enjoyed life. Eventful, yes.

If you want all the fun and great details of how the whole story unraveled with Justin and me, ask and I'll tell ya. (I love to tell the story :) ) But I'll spare the whole blog world all the details that only girls would appreciate. Basically, he pulled out all the stops, treated me like a princess and asked me to be his girlfriend. It was very sweet. :) My favorite part about him is that he loves and lives for the Lord. It's very easy for any and all of us to focus on the things of this world. But why focus on the vapor of a life that this is, in all of eternity?... no thank you. Give me a guy who is storing up treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, where theives do not break in and steal... and I will say "yes, thank you." And that is exactly what I got. A guy who is living in light of eternity who sees what has been given to him as a free gift... a begger, pointing other beggers to where the bread can be found.. I dig it.

So I've been thinkin... about something kinda random.
Words. Language, more specifically. Isn't it amazing? In my science classes, all the professors always tell us that what separates man from the animals is language. Ok, so here's another thought to go along with that one: we have these two things- a body and a soul. They are two separate things, but you can't very well live on earth without one or the other.

So here's the thing. Your body connects to your soul. It's like the way that you get information into your soul. You touch, taste, smell, hear, or see something with the body of you, and it goes and imbeds itself in the soul of you. THEN we have this ability to take something from the soul of us and make it known to others through language. Words. This is what God gave us. He made us this way so we could know Him. We can pray to Him. We don't have to use words, we can just let our soul talk, but lots of times we do use words, cause it is the more tangible, body- part, if you will. He told us about Himself- through words. His Word, as we call it. All of everything hinges on this thing. This is how we know anything. And even deaf people aren't left out. They can still have this even though they may not be able to hear or talk. Their soul is still the same. It takes in information from the outside and can also give it from the inside. So I guess language and words aren't as much about the body- part, as they are about the soul- part. It just proves to me even more about how everything that is SEEN is to point us to what is UNseen. And the SEEN will pass away.. like i said before, it will be destroyed by moth and rust and theives.. but the UNseen, now therein lies the good stuff. The key to what is real.
I don't have it all figured out, I've just been thinking about it a lot. Sorry if it's a bit confusing.. just kinda wanted to throw it out there to think about.

I have been reading a bit over break.. some good stuff like C.S. Lewis essays "The weight of glory" "Lilies that Fester" "The efficacy of Prayer" "On obstinany in Belief" My favorite still remains, The Chronicles of Narnia, Screwtape letters and The Great divorce. If you have never read Lewis... you are missing out. Big time.

If you have made it this far in this long blog, then you must think somewhat like I do and if that is the case, then i recommend that you go out this very day and buy the book "Life as a Vapor" by John Piper. It is jam packed with goodness.

I start student teaching in less than a week. Ready or not.. here I come...