taking a stab at poetry

I'm not sure you can actually consider this poetry. It's pretty random and it certainly doesn't rhyme. Just something that came out exactly like this -

Lost

She opens her eyes to another day
Feeling like she’ll be alright this time
She gets out of bed, makes her way through her routine
Hopeful of what the hours to come will bring

She steps out the door into brilliant sunlight
A song in her heart and a smile on her face

The drive to work is both blessing and curse
She enjoys time alone with the Lord and the music
But it doesn’t take long for her heart to be distracted
And soon she’s yelling at drivers and her own temper

She makes it safely to work in one piece
And thankfully, so does everyone else

She turns the key and the engine is quiet
And she sighs because it happens this way every time
And it already feels as if another day is lost
She cries out once again,

“God is there still enough grace for me today?”

His Spirit reminds her of His words and their truth
So with renewed hope, into the rest of her day she goes

What remains of the day is a mystery to her
But because of His words to her, she will not give up
Of God’s grace and love, she knows she’s assured
And because of Him, she knows all is most certainly not lost

pc definition of sin

Ok - can you tell I'm a little bored? (Yes, I have time to be bored. I think it's the no kids thing I've got going on. Ahhhh, but those days are almost at an end, too.) I'm listening to a politically correct version of O, Holy Night on the Glenn Beck show and the p.c. definition of sin is - "goodness-challenged activity."

Interesting. :-)

Don't forget my absolute favorite - instead of Jesus, we must now say "holiday infant."

SNL raps Narnia

OK, this is too funny. If you like SNL humor, and maybe even if you don't know or don't always, you really should check out this video. Kara, Jerry, and I watched SNL this weekend and we couldn't stop laughing. This video is hilarious!

Enjoy! Let me know what you think!

no longer strangers

There is another song I have been hearing on the radio that has really gripped me. It is called This Man and it is sung by Jeremy Camp.

The whole song is really beautiful, but one line in particular just resonates with me. It simply says,

..... and the veil was torn so we could have this open door....

The first few times I heard it, I was just overwhelmed trying to comphrehend the magnitude of the fact that I have an open door to God through Christ. Then, God reminded me of something that just made it very real to me.

Up until a few years ago, my family (my brother, mom, and dad) and I had had somewhat of a rocky and rough relationship. I'm not going to try to go into details here, but I will tell you that I made some heartbreaking, destructive, and devastating choices almost eight years ago that rocked my family's foundation, faith, and I daresay all the things any of us had ever thought certain to their very core. It was a very dark time God led us through and in the middle of it, I moved to Tulsa.

There were times after I moved out here when I thought I might have to leave and go back home. I don't think I'm way off or that my parents would be offended if I said that there wasn't exactly an "open door" between us. Oh sure, it opened wide on ocassion, but it would also remain only slightly ajar for months at a time as well. I never felt that I would really be altogether welcome if I had to come back home and I began to wonder if a time would ever come when I would feel like I was welcome to come back home even to visit. The time between when I moved out here and when I next saw my mother again was the longest in my entire lifetime - about two or three years.

Over the past eight years, God has certainly been working out His will in our relationship. It's been full of tears, brokenness, hard work, searching for understanding, and a lot of conversations. I can't say exactly when it happened, but I can tell you that it is one of the sweetest miracles I've ever had the joy of experiencing - the miracle of an open door with my parents and beyond that, a mercy and grace from them that I am constantly humbled by.

So, when I hear the line,

..... and the veil was torn so we could have this open door....

I am reminded of those desperate, dark, seeming hopeless times in my relationship with my parents and how God set things right and worked all things out for our good and His glory. And, how that same joy I have over knowing there is an open door with them where I thought there might not be again is only a shadow of the door that is opened to us with God because of His amazing love and Christ's magnificent sacrifice. What an incredible gift of an open door to God through Christ our Savior!

Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God. (Ephesians 2:19, KJV)

my brother, the pastry chef artist

Say hello to my brother, Jonathan. I've been dying to brag a little bit about him and the fact that I am related to this celebrity of El Paso's Greenery Market. You probably can't even guess that we're brother and sister - we don't even look like we came from the same set of genes, do we? Oh well. Let me just share with you some other differences I've noticed over the years. First of all, he got a significantly greater helping of humor than I did. Since I got jipped and my brother got some of what should have been mine, I really have to work at it; I'm sure this will explain a lot to a few great friends of mine! Secondly, when it came to "knowing what we wanted to do with our lives," he had it figured it out in high school, decided exactly where he wanted to go to college, set his goal, and made sure he did the things to get there. Here I am at 27 and just now figuring it out for my life. And if you hadn't noticed, he's got some height on me. I'm about a good foot shorter than he (shortest in my immediate family, actually). He likes to take every chance to remind me that I'm his "little" sister, when in reality, I have almost five years on him! And finally, I would dare to say he's more logical and likely to reason things out. I consider myself more of a dreamer and probably a little "out there." Just a few things that are worth mentioning.

I don't think it ever came as any big surprise that my brother turned out to be a chef of some sort. When we were growing up, he would often take different flavors and blend them together to make some weird drink that he would dare me to try, mix cans of Chef Boyardee with some unusual ingredients and make it something most of us would consider inedible, and really, he just liked to play with his food (and not just when he was little). He made faces in everything (ie hot dogs and ice cream cones) and would make his food "talk" to us - it didn't matter where we were - McDonald's, Olive Garden, or at home. We still joke with my dad about how much it used to annoy him and always have a good laugh remembering my brother's antics.

In high school, my brother attended a votech and started learning the basics about the culinary arts. He not only enjoyed it but he was really good at it. He worked at a couple of restaurants as a sous chef and entered a culinary arts scholarship competition through the Vocational Industrial Clubs of America. He placed first at the state level and then in the top five at the national level. Because of his achievement in this competition, he obtained part of the funding for his college education, which would be at The Culinary Institute of America. He completed two years there and is now a very successful pastry chef in El Paso, Texas.

I know he works very hard, long hours and it's not always easy work, but I can tell he really enjoys what he does. There's no way he would work so hard doing anything else, I think. When I visited my family over the Thanksgiving holiday, we paid a visit to the Greenery Market where he works. I’ve seen his pastry creations before, but for some reason, this time, it struck me how intricate and detailed they are! I was very impressed and proud just to realize how much care goes into the things that he makes. Of course, I got to sample some, too, and let me tell you they are tasty! (Below is just a sampling of all the different things he makes!)

There is a lot more to his story that I’d love to share, but it would take me too long. He has definitely had his moments of despair, depravity, and grace. God has worked out a beautifully redemptive story in his life and everytime I get to visit with him, I think I am most reminded of God’s activeness in our lives. God doesn’t ever take a break and when I look at my brother, I can see how God continues to move and work out His will in our lives as we allow Him to.

So, here’s to my brother, the pastry chef artist, who still amazes me with his energy and humor and still plays with his food! Love you, my big little brother!