Wednesday | July 27, 2005

I'm a Fan

So I went to a concert last night.  I have noticed that one thing that really affects my thoughts and my feelings is music.  So whenever I listen to music live, it really gets me thinking about things, and analyzing things more than I already do.  I had a "Bible Study" with Ambre and Jamie tonight, and I was sharing some of my thoughts, they told me I needed to blog about them.  I love technology.

One of the bands I saw last night was Stain'd (along with Three Doors Down and Breaking Benjamins, heck yes).  They did their song "Outside", and while they were playing it, I was thinking a lot about the lyrics.  Here are a few of them, just so you can follow my thought process.

     I'm on the outside
     I'm lookin' in
     I can see through you
     See your true colors
     'Cuz inside you're ugly
     Ugly like me
      I can see through you
      See to the real you

It really seems like I've had a lot on my mind lately, and my relationship with God has not been the most amazing the last few weeks (which is a whole nother cool post in and of itself actually).  I have found myself being a lot less joyful, and a lot more grouchy because of it.  I know I can often think mean thoughts, or comments, or I can disagree a lot in my mind, but I don't always let this stuff come out of my mouth.  Ya know, give people the impression that I am perfect.  But my imperfections have been rearing their ugly heads lately.  And as I was listening to this song I was thinking, "That is so true.  I am ugly inside.  We are all ugly inside."  This was sort of a bummer thought.  Until I realized it is completely and utterly not true at all.  If there is one thing I have learned from our Identity in Christ series at church this summer, it is that I am NOT ugly inside.  I am a completely clean, beautiful, forgiven child of God, inside and outside.  It is only when I choose to live like an ugly person that I can have features of the ugly persuasion.  But I myself am not defined by this.  I am a child of God.

"I am deeply loved, completely forgiven, fully pleasing, totally accepted and complete in Christ.  He alone is the final authority on my worth and acceptence."
 ~That's from the book "Search for Significance", I'm not positive who the author is and I am  having internet problems right now, which are keeping me from looking it up.  But I        didn't make that line up, I got it from that book, I promise I am not trying to take credit for it.  But I will claim to have memorized it, and often repeat it to myself.

BTW, my internet problems (moving, lack of internet at new house) are making blogging difficult.  But the "whole nother" blog entry I mentioned earlier will come someday soon, I hope.  'Cuz it's a good one, too (the "too" is added because of my assumption that this one, or some other entry was good to begin with). 
Posted by childofGod at 23:28:47 | Permanent Link | Comments (4) |

Friday | July 22, 2005

Awww...Baby Stuff

I got to babysit for a one month old baby tonight.  He's adorable.  He's the new little brother of two of my favorite children in the world - Luke and Abigail.  Mom, Dad, Luke, and Abigail all went to the races tonight and left me at home to care for little Alex all by myself.  Sometimes, when I really think about this, I find myself becoming surprised that at some point in my life I became the kind of person that people trust home alone with their one month old child.  If only my high school friend, Megan, could see me now.

Another thing that surprised me when I really thought about it:
I just started cleaning house for this family recently, after they had their baby.  They pay me three times as much per hour to clean their house than to care for their newborn child.
Posted by childofGod at 23:02:59 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Monday | July 18, 2005

*Taps*

I find myself on the verge of tears, and I didn't even live there.  I always said the day these things went down, I would be there to see it.

Then I went and got myself a real job.  I guess I'll be playing Ring-Around-the-Rosie while a handful...well, a small bathroom trashbag full of my memories goes crashing to the ground.
Posted by childofGod at 19:47:14 | Permanent Link | Comments (4) |

Sunday | July 17, 2005

I Have Battle Wounds

I made it back.  And I have bruises to prove my adventure.  And it was so well worth it.

Becki and I showed up at the campground around 8:30 Friday night.  There were no open campsites.  Except we saw that the DNR guy was parked at one and taking the registration slip out of the post.  Turns out that the couple that was at that spot had a fight, packed up, and left, not too long before we showed up.  "God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God".

I love campgrounds.  Seriously.  It's like a completely different world.  When you stay at a campground, just about everyone else staying there becomes your friend.  This is weird.  When you stay at a hotel, you barely end up speaking to the person next door to you, or on the elevator.  But at campgrounds, anyone who brushes their teeth at the same time you do is open for conversation (well, maybe once they have rinsed).  Becki and I talked to the Campground Host (a nice guy in his 50s or 60s) and the DNR guy the first night we were there.  And we were old friends the rest of the weekend.  They both stopped to hang out at our site a lot throughout the weekend.  The couple across the road from us was all about helping us get a fire going (we will learn this...one day...), and the guys at the site next to us kept our fire going for us all Saturday night after we ran out of wood.  We liked to refer to these people as our friends.  Also, when we were out caving on Saturday, we ended up doing our last cave with two girls and a guy from a school in Illinois.  They turned out to be Christians, and super nice people.  We called them our friends, too. 

Caving was pretty sweet.  I decided from the get-go to ignore my irrational fear of tight spaces and go for it.  And that I did.  A lot of the caves we went in were just that - a tight space that you had to wriggle through on your stomach, get to the end, turn around and wriggle back out.  We sort of stopped wanting to do that.  We ended up at a sweet cave.  For any of you that go there - Wye Cave - it's totally where it's at.  It's a tiny opening in the ground, and then you climb down about 15 feet into a larger cavern.  The cave has a bunch of large openings, that you squeeze through small spaces to get into.  We didn't make it through.  I got an awful headache and was afraid I was either going to pass out or get sick - two very bad things to do inside of a cave.  So we turned around.  I guess this is a common thing in that cave on busy days.  So, do Wye Cave, but do it in the morning, or not on a Saturday.

So yeah, this weekend definitaly furthered Becki and my desire to spend next summer living at the Coralville Res. Campground.  Seriously, where else do you get the chance to hang out with all kinds of people you don't know, and might never see again?  Plus, rent would be sooooo cheap.  =)
Posted by childofGod at 22:52:51 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Friday | July 15, 2005

Goodbye again

So I am leaving again this weekend.  I'm headed out to do some camping and cave exploring with Becki.  I'll be back sometime Sunday.

This Sunday we are having a goodbye celebration for some of our Colorado State friends who are leaving on a mission trip to Ireland.  Sort of a bummer.  I'll miss them.  The two girls that are going were in my small group this summer, and we really had a good time hanging out and talking about God and our lives.  Wow, I miss having regular small group the way it used to be in Ames.


Posted by childofGod at 07:12:52 | Permanent Link | Comments (0) |

Thursday | July 14, 2005

Updates

I thought you might like some updates from my post earlier this week.

Termites:
The pest guy came on Tuesday.  He says we DO NOT have termites.  That it is either ants or mice, which he can't do anything about.  I guess he isn't able to do anything about those because they are not actually considered a "pest"  maybe "pets" is the correct term (Jamie pg.43).  So anyway, I am going to trust his judgment.  And continue to ignore the sound in the window frame.

Tripp family reunion:  My mom brought up the fact that I didn't have anything fun to share from my family reunion.  She wanted to make sure you all knew that our family really is a little odd.  I guess my "cousin" (or whatever relation he is) got married in May.  We knew nothing about this, and my parents just got an invitation to their reception.  So obviously this wasn't a big celebratory wedding.  But still...not a single (or married) person mentioned it at the reunion.

Indwelling of the Spirit:  Wendy and I had a pretty good conversation about this yesterday.  I am starting to feel a lot more confident about my beliefs now.  Today I thought of a verse we memorized for the outreach class.  Ephesians 1:13 pretty much says that when we believed in Jesus, he identified us as his own by giving us the Holy Spirit.  I read in John 14 today that if we love Him and obey his commandments He will send us the Counselor, the Holy Spirit.  This seems pretty striaght forward to me. 

SlimBrowser:  From what I could find on my limited browser knowledge, Firefox wins among those who are less limited in knowlege than I.  "Slimbrowser still uses the IE core, so in essense it shares most of IE's security problems and rendering problems." I quoted that because I didn't feel smart enough to actually say it myself.  But I think I know what it means to an extent.  Which is exciting for me.

So, today was not my favorite day at work ever.  Tonight, I don't feel like going to church and being around people.  Mostly I feel like sitting at home, watching Dawson's Creek and eating ice cream.  Maybe instead I should sit at home and read my Bible, I could eat ice cream still.

Posted by childofGod at 18:42:47 | Permanent Link | Comments (4) |

Wednesday | July 13, 2005

And then I found $20

Just wanted to share two quick things.

First a story I like to call, "God Does Bless Regular Tithing and Generous Giving"
I like when I get to see God's promises lived out in front of my face.  I have been taken care of so well financially ever since I started tithing, created a budget, stuck with the budget, and continued to give as much as my little budget could handle.  God is so good with his promises.  There is a plethora of ways I have watched him bless me right when I needed it.  I just wanted to share the ones that made me laugh. - A couple weeks ago I got out a pair of pants that I haven't worn since last summer, I tried them on and found $20 in the pocket.  So I got to but the Ginny Owens CD I have been wanting for quite some time.  Then today, I was starting to pack up some of my stuff, and I was going through old cards and letters.  I found a birthday card from my uncle and cousins, with $20 still in it.  I laughed a lot at that.

Second thing I wanted to share.
People frighten and intrigue me.
Don't leave this site without watching the video.
Posted by childofGod at 11:40:29 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Monday | July 11, 2005

Gross again

Reason #372 I know I live in a ghetto house:
We have termites.  Yes, I am fairly certain there are thousands of tiny insects slowly devouring our current place of residence.  Now, I have little to no issue with this, considering my lease is up in about 18 days.  I am confident our house will not collapse in the next 18 days.  The problem is the sound.  I can barely stand to hang out in our living room now, due to the gentle crunching sound of a termite feast in my window frame.  Sick.  The other day Laura had to move to the couch on the other side of the room, she couldn't concentrate because of the excessive noise level of our small, hungry, destructive friends. Double sick.

Anyway, I have been trying to figure out something fun to tell you guys about my trip to beautiful Lake Cornelia, by Clarion, IA.  And I really can't come up with any specific stories to tell.  I love my family.  I enjoy spending time with them.  I am very thankful that I am part of two separate families that love to spend time with each other as much as both my mother and my father's family does.  If you want more intricate details, feel free to ask.

I have been thinking a lot lately about the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  In the stories in the New Testament of people receieving the Holy Spirit, they all seem to include the small detail of speaking in tongues.  The Bible never states, "You know you have the Spirit when you speak in tongues."  But the stories all seem to be pretty consistent with that detail.  I have heard of people who hold the belief that part of having the Spirit inside you is speaking in tongues, otherwise, you don't really have it.  I don't believe that per se...but I have no clear argument against that reasoning.  Eddie says that with any aplogetics questions, you could go to www.carm.com, check it out, you can buy gurneys and sterilizers there.  I think what he meant, or actually said, was www.carm.net, it's Christian Aplogetics and Research Ministry.  I am going to research this further.

Eddie also said SlimBrowser is WAY (very emphatic on the WAY) cooler than Mozilla.  I may have to research that as well.
Posted by childofGod at 23:43:44 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |

Sunday | July 10, 2005

Pride...eww

So, I am still thinking through what is blog-worthy from my reunion this weekend.  But right now, I thought I would share with you something I was thinking about while I was "sleeping in" on Saturday.

I wish pride was something we could just get rid of instantly.  Say some magic little prayer and POOF - complete humility.

For some reason, pride is something that really disgusts me in other people.  The thing is, when I'm thinking, "Gross, I can see that person's pride."  The person is often completely unaware of the fact that it's showing.  Which tells me that mine is probably on display quite a bit, and I don't even know it.  A part of me really wishes someone would have the guts to tell me.  Kind of like those social situations.
"Excuse me miss, you have something in your teeth."
"Excuse me miss, your zipper is down."
"Excuse me miss, the tag on your shirt is showing."
Except in those situations, you thank the person and fix the problem - complete humility.

"Excuse me miss, your pride is showing."
"No it's not.  Where?"


Proverbs 9:7-9
Anyone who rebukes a mocker will get a smart retort.  Anyone who rebukes the wicked will get hurt.  So don't bother rebuking mockers; they will only hate you.  But the wise, when rebuked, will love you all the more.  Teach the wise, they will be wiser.  Teach the righteous, they will learn more.
Posted by childofGod at 21:56:46 | Permanent Link | Comments (2) |

Friday | July 08, 2005

Getting even more scared...

OK guys.  So I am going to be out of town all weekend.  I'm heading to beautiful Clarion, IA for a Tripp family reunion.  Wanna know something scary?  I keep thinking, "Wow, I bet this weekend will create lots of stories for my blog."  This could be the start of something terrible.

Anyway, I'll be back late Sunday night.  Wish me luck. 
Posted by childofGod at 13:08:34 | Permanent Link | Comments (1) |
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