Sunny Days....Keepin the clouds away....

I don't actually plan on stealing Jars of clay lyrics for my post titles- today it just fit. : ) It's been nice this entire week so far- and is supposed to be for the rest of it. I went on a long bike ride today- ended up being about 15 miles- tiring, but it was nice. It's about 75 deg. (farenheit) (and insanely windy) I'm not sure what that is in Celsuis- It's nice. Like summertime over there. Tonight we have bible study for the teens at my church, which is usually good- and a good chance to hang out with them and see how they're doing. That's my day. quite relaxing, I didn't even have to work. I get my pic's back (the ones from Belfast) on saturday. I'll probably posst some soon after. Sorry for the random-ness today, This is what spring weather does to my head. I'm addicted to the outdoors. Well, since I've nothing very serious to actually say- or funny for that matter- That's all for today.

China?

I have a friend who, among other things, served as a great reminder today when I read my email. She was planning on taking a gap year come autumn to China. She was getting everything organized, and from what she said, it was sounding as though it was going to work out. Then came the blow. She found out they had changed the age to twenty, which she isn't. She was really disappointed. She still has a spot though, for a six week trip in the summer. I don't know if that's what God has for her or not, but I think it is a reminder that so often we think we know how things are supposed to go, so often they don't go completely to plan. I told her that I think she should go along with the summer thing unless God shows her otherwise. Maybe he does want her to go to China, maybe just not exactly how she thought. Maybe she will take a gap year, just not yet. whatever it is-God always leads us. He will show you eventually the things he has for you. As they say - patience is a virtue. (which I probably don't posses much of myself.) But it's also about trust. I can't answer her question about China. Actually, I can't even say what God has for me a year down the road. But I do know that God will lead me, he'll lead my friend who wants to go to china. And he'll teach us all not to be afraid when we don't always know, he'll teach us more and more how to trust him and see that he leads us in every tiny part of our lives. He doesn't lead wrong. So, is it China? I don't know and can't tell her, but God does, and will tell her "all in good time" - that's all that matters.

Salad Maker.......

I work at an italian restaurant in my hometown of Decatur called "Pastabilities". Most of the time I'm in the back (kitchen) on salads and cold prep. (and occasionally the dishroom helping out- I get bored if I'm not busy) So one of the guys who works there the other night was like "why are you always so cheerful? Don't you ever get mad?" which quite honestly, I'm not always cheerful, and.... I do get mad. But the amazing thing is for someone to notice a difference in you. Then when you tell them why (my reasoning being I know God loves me, so that makes it easier for me to love others and the situations I'm put in, and also that I'm so much better off-even on my worse days than so many other people) it's not just words you're saying to them, it's words you are living- and they are so much more likely to see that it's true, than if you were to just say words to them. I just love the fact that it doesn't so much matter what place in life you are, in every single thing you do- even if it seems utterly insignificant- you have the opportunity to do something for Christ. You have the chance to love people because you know he loves you. And every time something like that happens- wow, what can you say? It's just so amazing what God does in us. I love my job. It's not always the greatest- and usually involves working quite hard, and not doing the greatest jobs- but I am the only christian there (despite many very nice people) that I know of- and what a chance it is to show love to other people, just by smiling, saying something nice if they're having a bad day, helping out and working hard in their area, saying it's okay if someone else wants to go home early even if I just got asked if I wanted to(and I did) . I'm not saying I always do all these things, but sometimes, and I try to as often as I can. What an opportunity. I am not just a salad maker.


I'm still reading in Jeremiah, and so often I am amazed. You have God's people- who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to do anything and everything to provoke God's anger. Then you have God. He takes forever to get mad at them. Then when he finally does, He tells them what's going to happen, actually he even gives them the chance to repent. But you know what gets me? He tells them, through all this- that through what happens he will reconcile them to himself. He will restore them to where they should be. So you have this people, who deserved to have been punished for their sins long before they were, and a God willing to do anything to bring them back to him. He tells Jeremiah all this doom and gloom to pronounce to the people but doesn't stop there. No, he tells them he will bring them back, that through this he will restore his people. His people who don't deserve to be treated anywhere near that well. He still loves them through everything. His heart breaks over them. He hasn't changed. His heart still breaks over us today. He still loves us unconditionally, shows us mercy beyond what we can comprehend. He was willing to do eaverything to reconcile us to Him. We owe him everything we are.

Spring....not quite yet. : (

Well, the last few days have been quite nice, so I thought spring was nearly here. But today it's a wee bit colder, so I guess it's not quite here yet. I don't really have much to write, I'll just post a part of Jeremiah 31 that I read yesterday. It's really beautiful.

³¹"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ³²not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Miss all you in Belfast and Bangor. Hope everyone has a nice day.

Sunshine.....it's been a long time

Well, Happy St. Patrick's day. I think the weather and other things may cause me to neglect writing today. And at the moment- I honestly don't care. I want to go outside. The weather is beautiful. Another nearly cloudless day, the sun is out, and it feels great. I'm gonna go enjoy it while it lasts. Cya & hope the weather is just as nice for all of you.

different roads and many to travel

different roads and many to travel
time will whisper which was followed
solemn, joyful, torn and battered
Each has revealed its purpose at end.

I find it amazing how different our lives can be. No single person has the same life, detail for detail, moment for moment. It amazes me how astonishingly unique we all are. God has a different path for all of us and yet each still leads in the same direction (so long as we chose to take it) : to Him. We all go through different things so that in the end we may know Him. In the problem of Pain -C.S. Lewis says:
"The christian doctrine of suffering explains, I believe, a very curious fact about the world we live in. The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God witholds from us by the very nature of the world:but joy, pleasure, and merriment, He has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ectasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God: a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bathe or a football match, have no such tendancy. Our father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home."

All of our lives are so different, but most are scattered with some sorrow and some joy. I think sometimes we may partly understand the purposes of some of our circumstances, during them or after the fact. One of the great things to me is that I can speculate all I want as to why this or that happened. In the end it will probably do me no good unless it helps me to realize that God has His own purposes that are beyond me. And quite frankly, I don't know what they are much of the time. Sometimes you only get so many answers, and in the end you're left trusting that God knows what His purposes are. And as long as you are doing as He tells you, following the road He sets before your feet, you don't always need to know why. It will be a beautiful thing when God fully shows us all of the "why's" to the roads He set us on.