J&K+8

"I don't know the devil, but I have to assume that when he hears a Christian judgmentally proclaim, "That could never happen to me," he does what I do when I hear the Black Eyed Peas song, "Boom, Boom, Pow," and that is the robot. He absolutely loves when we say that."

The Stuff Christians Like blog usually cracks me up. But today's post was different. It made me laugh, yes, but more than that, it made me stop and think.

Good stuff, Jon.

Dan Brown

A while ago I randomly stumbled across this guy Seth's blog. I don't know Seth. But a lot of his posts crack me up. The ones about Madonna are funny. And today's post is also really funny.

I liked reading Dan Brown's books, but Seth's right. He's kind of crazy.

Missing God

Okay, I'm convicted.

One of my new favorite reads these days is Pete Wilson's blog. He's funny, well-spoken, wise, relevant, and yet still writes with true humility. (Somewhat of a rarity among preacher/bloggers, I'm finding.)

Anyway, his post really got me today. Read this.

It's true what he says ...

Each and every day the God of the universe wants me to listen to Him, tune into Him, walk with Him and yet I often choose to drown Him out with the noise of the world. I’m missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime.

I wonder what opportunities I've missed? The thing I do know is that I don't want to miss any more.

Lord, help me not to miss You in the seemingly small and insignificant.

John and the Creepy Blue Horse

Today instead of reading my blog, you should read my friend Amber's post. It's stinking hilarious.

And it's true. That horse is CREEPY.

That's all. Goodbye.

Actually wait. One more thing. Congratulations to John Mayer on his Grammy win. And even more props to him for this.

Are You Alive?

MAY I PLEASE HAVE EVERYONE'S ATTENTION?
Thank you.

Now, if you would all please follow me to my brother's blog.

Stat.

His post today is BRILLIANT. Very deep and yet so funny at the same time. (Oh and be sure to watch the video.)

Then if you liked the post, leave him a comment. Hopefully this will encourage him to post more often. Because obviously, he's got good stuff to say.

Hollywood Couldn't Dream This Stuff Up

This story actually gave me the chills.

Just imagine what the world would be like if there were more people like Kris Hogan in it. I think people like him make God smile.

Thanks, Brant, for posting this and starting my morning off right.

Life Through My Lens

I've started a new blog. I'm calling it Life Through My Lens. It's my life in one photo a day.

It seems a little crazy, I know, as keeping up with this one already takes a lot of time. When I originally started this blog a couple years ago, it was going to be a photo blog. But it quickly became ... whatever this is ... an online journal? I love doing this one, but the photos have kind of taken a backseat.

This new blog was actually my boyfriend Chris's idea. He said it would be a good way to keep me taking photos and to document my year. He's right. Plus, I have a nice camera. I like to take pictures. I'd love to get better. I have boatloads of pictures and I should probably do something with them other than just take up space on my hard drive.

So I'll probably post every few days, but I'll make sure to post one picture per day. Stop by and let me know what you think!

P.S. I also have a post on Compassion's blog today. Sheesh, I'm like a blogging fool.

I Am Second

January 22 will be a year since Heath Ledger died. Actors in Hollywood die all the time, but for some reason his death hit me harder than most. I remember reading the headlines about him, and feeling a profound sadness. I was sad for his fiance, sad for his little girl, sad for his family but mostly I was sad for him.

I remember the big controversy about whether the pills he took were suicide or an accident - whether his role in The Dark Knight had influenced his death. Rumors were rampant and people looked for any reason why a young, successful actor would purposefully end his life. Whatever the cause of his death, it definitely shocked a lot of people.

Whenever something like that happens, I realize how totally hopeless the world is without Christ. So many are desperate for meaning and will do anything to find it.

That's why I Am Second is so inspiring.

Hearing these people put God first and proclaim the Truth is incredible.

Watch the ones about Rod Bayron, Brian Welch, Shannon Culpepper and Nate Larkin. Oh and I enjoyed hearing Jason Castro's story, too.

Actually, you should probably just watch them all.

One of the most amazing things about God is that He is a God of redemption. He longs to redeem broken people. I love this about God.

The world needs to know.

ht: Fay

Laughter is good for the soul.

One of my favorite bloggers has again written a post that cracked. Me. Up.

You should probably stop whatever you're doing and read it.
Right now.

It's that funny.

(This is especially for those of you - you know who you are - who failed to find the Dave Barnes videos particularly funny. If this one doesn't make you laugh, we might have issues.)

The Dachshund

I'm busy packing up my desk today for our move to the new part of the building next week. While the location of my desk won't be quite as sweet as it's been in the past, our team will still be facing the mountains. Woot!

Anyway, since I don't have much time to write today, I thought I'd point you to a very funny post I just read.

Happy weekend!

This Ordinary Day

Have you guys heard of Thisordinaryday.com?

Oh ... you haven't?
Well. You're missing out. It's my new favorite blog.

This post is one of my favorites.

Straight from their site, here's what this blog is about:

This project came to mind after a particularly rough time. I was spending too much time out of the day focusing on the hard aspects of life. Mean people. Frustrating students. No coffee on days I desperately needed it. As often happens with things such as those, the attention I gave them only served to make all the bad worse and the good harder to see.

Then one day someone told me to stop. As simple as that, she said I needed to see my life for what it was, a compilation of a million moments - some of them hard and painful, but many more of them overwhelmingly wonderful. For the first time in a long time, I took good advice the first time I received it and I did stop. I stopped looking at the bad and I started searching for the good.

What I found was startling.

Not only were there shining moments of beauty and grace happening all around me, but there were also everyday moments of ordinary life that were wonderful all in their own right. When I took away the lens of the negative and forced myself to look at the positive, I found that there were far more things worth celebrating in the everyday than I had ever realized. What I took from all of this was that this is it.

The kids playing in the park.

The crossing guard who smiles at me every morning when I pull into school.

Even the sweaters my neighbor puts on his dog (as unfortunate as animals in clothes are).

This is what our world is made up of. These ordinary things. And if we’re willing to take the time to see it, we’ll realize that this ordinary day is wonderful because it’s simple and complicated, beautiful and mysterious and wholly ours.

Once I realized all of this, it seemed high time to share it. I gathered the best minds I knew of. Some I’ve known for the better part of 20 years (bad 1st grade haircuts and all) and some I’ve only been lucky enough to meet recently. But all of them make my world a better place. These are people who live hard, who challenge the ordinary, who comfort and share in ways I can only hope to be like when I’m living life as the best version of me.

I asked them to think about the ordinary and celebrate the extraordinary. I asked them to write it all down and share it with the world and have faith that putting those ideas out there would help to add to the good in this world and take away from the bad.

And they said yes.

So here it is. Our take on the ordinary. Six days a week (because everyone needs one day of rest) we’ll have one writer share one set of thoughts, inspiration and hope. We hope these words find you well and help to make you more aware, inspired and connected to the things unfolding around you. We hope you will come back each week and take part in this project with us.

But most importantly, we hope you are striving to see the wonder in this ordinary day.

You're welcome.

Kirk, Bono and Stephen

I'm planning on posting a few wedding photos soon, but in the meantime, read this post on Stuff Christians Like.

I'm normally not a huge fan of sarcasm but it made me laugh pretty hard this morning.

The Boy

I'd like to introduce you to my brother Chris.


You may have noticed the link to his blog over there on the right. [It's the link called "The Boy" which is how he is known in my family.]

You should read it. Seriously, he's funny. And I'm not just saying that cause he's my brother. He used to call me "Hecky Becky" and put Tabasco Sauce on my retainer. I owe him nothing.

But he will make you laugh. For instance his post from a couple days ago made me laugh out loud. More than once, actually. So stop reading mine immediately and hop over to his blog.

Oh and in addition to his ability to contort his face like Jim Carrey and astound you with his wit, he also happens to be an extremely talented graphic designer. You can check out his stuff on his web site, Tscha*ching Design.

More Mayer Love

I really like deep thinkers. I find myself drawn to introspective and self-reflective people.

John Mayer is a deep thinker. The lyrics on his past couple albums make that obvious. As does his latest blog post.

He is surprisingly grounded for someone so often in the spotlight. Read it. It's worth your time.

I just keep becoming a bigger and bigger fan. Love you, JM!

Proof

I have a new post on the Compassion Blog.
It's about me and the little guy I sponsor, Youvens.

Two More Ways to Procrastinate

Happy Friday! We made it. In the words of the great poet, R. Kelly, it's the freakin' weekend and I'm about the have me some fun.

Today I refer you all to a couple links that you will not want to miss:

Thanks to a post from my co-worker Brian, I have found the most deliciously sarcastic blog. It's called Stuff Christians Like. Basically every post is a short feature on stuff that makes up Christian culture - "a tongue in cheek exploration of all the silly things Christians like." Here's my favorite:

Famous Christians
(Skip and Carolyn, this one made me think of a conversation we had once.)

A couple others that made me laugh out loud are:

Occasionally Swearing
Rob Bell

You should totally check it out. I love Jesus, but I can also laugh at the silly-ness we call Christianity.

The other link I'd suggest you all check out is one I've been waiting for anxiously since I heard it was happening. (Actually, unless you have an interest in photography, it probably won't be nearly as exciting to you. But since you love me, you can be excited FOR me.) The Pioneer Woman, a fantastic blogger and photographer, has finally added a section for Photoshop Techniques. Woot WOOT!

Hmmm ... on second thought, I might cancel all my wild weekend plans and become a Photoshop geek.

Entertainer, Creator

I've taken the Myers-Briggs peronality test several times and consistently been ENFP.

Until now.

I took an online version of the test and here are the results ...



ESFPs are cooperative, "here and now" people-persons that enjoy excitement and love new adventures. Because of their highly social nature, they are especially lively when they are the center of attention and hate being alone. ESFPs have a practical side that allows them to finish work efficiently and are often good problem solvers.

So there ya go. What are you?