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.

loads of nothing

Not much to actually write about today, still kinda sick, just got off work and it's very nice outside today. My problem is that other than the bike ride over to my dad's house, I have nothing really to do, and on a nice day like this, (even if I am tired- and don't feel the greatest) I want to go out and do something. I think if I ever become a writer, I'm definately going to have to have a laptop or something, because there are going to be days where I'll just have to be outside writing-it'll just be too nice to stay inside and write. Well, what can I say? warned you today's would be loads of nothing. : )

iced tea and dayquil

So, I won't write much today, because I have a bad cold. If you were to talk to me you'd probably laugh, because it's one of those colds where everything you say sounds funny. Anyways, slept in today, got nearly 12 hrs. of sleep and still felt like I could sleep more. A little afternoon I went to Target with my brother to get dayquil sinus medicine so that I'll feel half way decent tomorrow when I go into work. There's a starbuck's in Target so we stopped to get something, and I thought I'd get a cup of tea, since I hadn't had any since I left Belfast. I asked for tea (forgetting I was in America) with milk and sugar in it. The girl gave me a slightly odd look, then said that there was sugar and milk over there (pointed) if I wanted it in it, so I just asked for it black. Here's the funny part: when she gave it to me, (a result of my being dumb and forgetting I was in America) it was iced tea. And all I thought was, "oh, yeah, I probably should've specified that I wanted hot tea." But I guess that's why I got the odd look when I asked for milk and sugar in my tea. That would be strange in iced tea. So, now I'm going home- to hopefully rest and feel better. Oh, and I did end up getting a proper cup of tea later today. That was nice.

LUV ........ and love

^"4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not selfseeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

What is our perception of love? The world has so distorted what love is........ Sometimes I find it hard to watch movies, or shows, or read cards even, without being confronted with the reality of what love isn't. It's sad how people dress things up as love and in reality it is the opposite. I was in Belfast during Valentine's day. One day, like a week before valentines, I went into a shop and noticed some cards. One of them really caught my eye. I can't remember exactly what it said- but it was something like this: Love is... passion, lust, - well, can't remember the other 2 or 3 things, but it was basically a list of feelings, and selfish ones at that. I remember walking out of the store disgusted. I think it's a major problem that so many people have no concept of what love really is anymore. Do we define love ourselves? Or does God define love for us? In Romans chapter 12 it says:
⁹Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹²Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.Do not be conceited.

¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. ¹⁸If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”says the Lord. ²⁰On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

If only we lived lives like this to others, if only I were consistent with loving others, so often I find myself only being selfish. So I will end with this:

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

It's all within our motives of doing things, and God helps change our motives. I want to do nothing except out of love for God, and through that-love for others. I want to be so compelled by God and who he is that when I do something for someone- I think of him-and- that that person thinks of him. That it won't be about what talents I have or lack, what I have achieved, or even who I am. That it will be about truly loving others, the way God loves us. I leave you with this to think on - when you feel inadaquate, when you feel you have nothing to offer, when everyone else is more talented than you or more intellectual, or anything... There is something we are all capable of offering with God, and it is the most effective and lasting of all: LOVE.

¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Bike rides and cold days

So, I learned a lesson today: It's easier to walk than to try and ride a bike with a flat tire. So, I'd reccomend to any of you out there who want to get in shape, just make sure your bike tire is good and flat and go on a nice long bike ride with it. : ) (and if you're still not satisfied, try riding it up a large hill like that. )
I came back home and it's still winter, everything is ugly and dead(and there's no snow) and it feels like no time has passed since I left. In Belfast when I left, the mountains by glencairn were a nice green, the flowers were all coming out, it may have still been a wee bit cold, but it didn't look dead. Today makes me wish I were back there so that I could go hiking up the mountain that I did quite often.
I really wish I had something interesting to write about today, but I don't. Some days you can write, some days, well you just write to write- and aren't really saying anything. Do you think that's a waste of words? I do. You can waste food. You can waste money. You can waste nearly anything, I think you can waste words too. It seems like people, me included, waste words all the time. We spend words on people- we talk about people, we hurt people, we talk about this and that, all the things we have accumulated, all the things we are going to do, where we've been, what we've accomplished. We talk about us. ourselves. How often do we talk to someone to actually get to know them? How often do we make small talk, or talk about something to someone just so that we may better understand where they are coming from? When was the last time I used my words to help someone? How often do we say words we don't mean, and how often do we say words that don't mean anything at all ? Don't use your words lightly.

T.V. Conversations

I once read a book where the author was talking about how he went out and bought a tv because he heard a speaker say that it rots your mind- stuff like that, and he thought it sounded like bliss, because he wouldn't have to think about anything while he watched it-good for relaxation. I think that is hilarious. I wish I could do the same : ) . My problem with T.V. is that if there's anyone else around, I'll usually talk to them the entire time a show is on, it's just there for background noise, I think. The other problem is that if I'm seriously watching TV- and not talking during it, I'm always analyzing things about it. I can't sit through any type of show without analyzing something in it. And then there are times when I have entire conversations with God while watching TV. I know that has to sound kinda odd, but I talk to him about the stuff that's on, and tell him what idiots we humans can be without even realizing it most of the time. And about all the stuff that happens, what I think about it, and ask him what he thinks about it, and watch how self-consumed we all are. T.V. is more of a learning tool than we realize (in moderation- I don't think I could take too much of it)
So to all in Northern Ireland- I started back at the restaraunt I work at today. It was fun, nice to see everyone there again. They say I've got an accent, although I deny it and they tried to coax me into saying "Where's me lucky charms?" I refused- to their disappointment. See how exciting Decatur Illinois is? : ) Actually, it also snowed today, but none of it really stuck and by about noon or so it had stopped. It really doesn't feel colder over here, but it also isn't nearly as windy as it is in Belfast. I hope you all are doing well. I guess that's all for today. Cya

Back home and away from home

Hiya, to all in Northern Ireland, and hi to all in the states. I'm back home at the moment - and away from home- all at the same time. Quite a feat? So, it's nice to see the sun in the the states, although I nearly miss the rain in Northern Ireland. It makes for a nice change though, at least for a wee while.
Anyways, I will apologize for my horrible punctuation in all my future postings to come- in advance. I just write, and probably won't give a passing thought to it.
It's always so interesting to come back to the states and realize again all those small differences between it and NI. just for an example, I decided to turn on the television this morning after I'd been up a couple hours (mistake 1 ) -just to flip through, to see if there was anything good on. So I'm fliping through all these channels (in which case I might add that we have like, massive amounts of channels on cable and there's still nothing worth watching on the majority of the time) and then I notice all these commercials, infomercials, etc..... and I swear I saw at least 4 different channels advertising for ways to lose weight. One of them seriously made me laugh, for a few minutes actually. It was advertising this thing that basically you put on and it covers your legs, waist, all that, and makes you look more "shapely" . I thought it was absolutely hilarious. Not only because they were showing pictures of before and after and there was no way the people weren't making themselves look as bloated as possible. But also, people will pay that much money or go to that much trouble just so they can still be lazy and look nicer. That's how our society is. They want to have all the benefits possible, without ever having to do anything themselves. Basically, in short, they, no , WE are SELFISH. It's apparent in so many things. So, to end with something light: all you's in central illinois- It's sunny outside- it's absolutely gorgeous. TAKE A WALK. ENJOY IT, and maybe while you're at it, do something nice for someone else, do something that's not just for your own benefit. Work hard for something. It makes you a much more bearable person at the end of the day.