this is bluegrass August 29, 2008

                                                  The Tony Rice Unit- Blue Railroad Train

 

 

the question was asked on my last post, “what does bluegrass sound like?”. here is your answer. being from where I am I didn’t think that there are parts of the world that haven’t heard bluegrass. Michael could answer a lot of questions about it because he just finished reading “The history of Bluegrass”. Maybe he will do a blog post about it and add some you tube video. For now I can tell you that it’s origin is the Kentucky mountains but you will find it all over the eastern side of America. i think it is classified as “mountain music”. The songs are usually about religion, work, love and life. The instruments consist of guitar, mandolin, banjo, upright base, fiddle, and maybe harp. It is happy and blues. very easy to dance too. Bill Monroe, I think, really helped to make it popular but it has been around for a long time.

 

if anyone could add some more info that would be great.

 

Michael, if I am wrong with any info, please correct me.

fearfully and wonderfully made August 28, 2008

        psalm 139

O Lord, you have searched me

   and you know me.

You know when I sit and when I rise;

   you perceived my thoughts from afar.

You discern my going out and my lying down;

 you are familiar with all my ways.

Before a word is on my tongue

   you know it completely,O Lord.

You hem me in-behind and before;

  you have laid your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for

      me,

  too lofty for me to attain.

Where can i go from your spirit?

   Where can i flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

 if I make my bed in the depths, you

  are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

  if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

  your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say,”Surely the darkness will hide me

  and the light become night around me,”

even the darkness will not be dark to you;

  the night will shine like the day,

  for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;

  you knit me together in my mother’s

       womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

   your works are wonderful,

   I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you

  when i was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the

     depths of the earth,

  your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

  were written in your book

  before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts’

    Oh God!

  How vast is the sum of them!

Were I to count them,

  they would outnumber the grains of sand.

When I awake,

  I am still with you.

   

  I was planning my curriculum for my pre-schoolers today and their Bible verse to memorize the month of September is, Psalm 139:14- I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

     We will be talking about how God made everyone different and special and I started thinking about how in the eyes of God who created us we are completely known and unconditionally loved. There is absolutely nothing about us that God does not know; therfore nothing we think or do or say can surprise him or cause him to abandon us. He is constantly thinking of us – with love!

 

Unknown Illness August 26, 2008

  Lately I have been thinking a lot about this one memory, and since this blog is about things I think about, I figured I would share this thing I am thinking about.

  Some of you may remember this. Some of you may have experienced this with me. Some of you might not have really known us then but remember being asked to pray. For some reason, God has it in my head so I’m going to let it out.

  About this time 7 years ago my husband (the love of my life, my best friend, my soulmate, the bread winner, the father of my children,and..) was put in the hospital by his doctor for an unknown illness.

   I remember he was suffering from a terrible headache he could not get rid of. His head hurt for a few weeks before he finally went to the doctor. The pain was so bad by the time he finally went that Dr.Perry called me at work himself and told me that he had given Michael a shot for the pain and had him laying in a dark room and he was going to put him in the hospital for tests.

   I went straight to the doctor and there he was. Laying down in a dark room, feeling pretty weird from the shot. I think that at this point God put blankets over both of our eyes, because I never realized how sick Michael really was until it was all over and I don’t think he did either. He told me his head hurt pretty bad but he was more focused on the fact that his doctor prayed with him.

  When we got him to the hospital, they immediately got him in a room and did all the usual things and then Dr. Perry came over and started running tests. Very quickly they found out that his white blood cell count was not good, so they decided to do a spinal tap. ( I will not go into detail about this because it brings back very bad memories, ones that I don’t want Michael to relive.)

  Shortly after they came back with the results. Michael had bacterial menegitis. He was very sick. Dr.Perry said that only 1 person in the last 11 years had contracted this illness in our city. It was not common.

   So, they had Michael on a steady flow of pain meds and antibiotics and he was in the hospital for a really long time. I remember at one point we thought he had a stroke because he was in so much pain his eyes were not blinking together.

   After he came home he was still out of work for awhile. Michael hardly ever gets sick and hardly ever misses work and I think he was out of work for at least a month. When he came home from the hospital, it was September 9th, because 2 days later was the attack on the World Trade Center. (But that will be another post)

   The reason why I said that God put a blanket over my eyes was because my husband was so sick and he could have died, but I never thought of that as a possibility.

   I love the way God works. He really does know what is best for us and he knew that me thinking that way would not be a good thing, so He just took it out of my brain. Awesome!

laziness August 25, 2008

2 thessalonians 3:10-”if a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

     i always thought this was a crazy verse, but taken in the context for which it was intended, this is what i think it means. it was a problem then and is a problem now. there are people who want a free ride. they are idle, lazy, and content to live on handouts from others.

     in 1 thessalonians 5:14 paul says to warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, and be patient with everyone.

     in 2 thess. 3:11 paul also calls these people “busybodies”. in other words, they are meddling in other peoples affairs. this is all aimed at one thing: getting idlers back to work. these people should not be viewed as enemies but as brothers and sisters(2thess.3:15).

    they should not be dealt with harshly or without love, but with kindness and encouragement so they will do their part to support themselves and the gospel.

    i don’t know about you but i have noticed that when i am idle i am a “busybody”. when you are not doing anything it is so easy to look at others and see what they are doing.

SO, GET BUSY!!

amazing grace August 22, 2008

      Michael and i started doing a Bible study together called “amazing grace”. at first it was great but then we got further in the book and said “what?”. we decided last night to ditch the book and start a study about the 4 gospels. we talked about it and we were not getting anything out of this book. i am sorry to talk badly about this book but maybe it is just that we are not smart enough to understand the book.

please explain if you get this: the doctrine of grace is forbidding in its technical terminology, and confusing in the variety of the formulations which its successive exponents have given to it.

i get “confusing”!

how about this one: for who aught to my charge shall lay?

does anyone know what metahistorical, experiental, and eschatological means? me and michael do now.

just so you know: spell check didn’t even know these words.

i need a book that talks to me in my own language. if anyone out there knows of a great book for me and Michael to study together please let me know. but for now we are going over the 4 gospels and i am sure this will culminate many blog posts.

time to go back August 20, 2008

                                                           

          it is that time of year and children are going back to school. which means it is time for me

            to go back to work. this picture was taken last year during one of our trips to school.

         i am sad to be going back because i love to be at home with my family and taking trips to the beach and to the pool, but i am glad because i think i have the best job in the world.

                                               1. i get to color.

                                               2. i get to paint.

                                               3. i get hugs.

                                               4. i get true love(children either like you are they don’t. what you see

                                               is what you get).

                                               5. i get to teach them Bible stories and verses.(if i worked in the public

                                               school system, i couldn’t do that).

                                                6. i have the best boss.

                                                7. i get a pay check.

                                                8. it’s good exercise.

                                                9. it’s at church.

                                                10. did i mention that i get a paycheck.

           this year i have some new table toys and a new car track rug ( my children will really love this).

 

          last spring i took a class called “color me healthy”. it teaches children through colors how to enjoy fruits and veggies and exercise. i am very excited about this because some of the children only want to eat chicken nuggets and fish stix. every Monday they will try something different.

 

          mrs. henny penny will be coming to see us every week from the public library. we’ll start chapel back up and visit school, along with learning abc’s and 123’s and Bible verses and name writing and nature and seasons and months and birthdays and …………

         it is going to be a busy year, full of fun and exciting things to do.

                                       

                                       this was before our christmas program last year.

 

i have my dream job.  WHAT IS YOUR DREAM JOB?

“i would love a good crisco commercial” August 18, 2008

 

well, here it is robin. a good crisco commercial.

 

last night our sunday school class got together to catch up on our sunday school lesson and break bread together. we were in acts 17:16-34 talking about paul’s trip to athens.

 

in athens paul is greatly distressed because while walking through the city he sees that the city is full of idols. he starts to reason with these people and the philosophers hear what he is saying and want to hear more. in acts 22 and 23 paul says ” men of athens! i see that in every way you are religious. for as i walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, i even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. now what you worship as unknown i am going to proclaim to you.”

 

we were talking about idols that we have today and we started talking about commercials and how they make you feel like you need something that you don’t have and Robin said “i would love a good crisco commercial”. i don’t know where that came from. robin will have to comment and explain, but it got away with me and i thought it was hilarious. so, robin here is your crico commercial.

 

 

but anyway, paul goes on to tell these philosophers what God is by saying: acts 17: 23-28 ”he made the world and everything in it, he is the Lord of Heaven and earth, he does not live in temples built by hands, and he is not served by human hands,as if he needs anything. he gives all men life and breathe and everything else. from one man he made every nation of man, that they should inhabit the whole earth and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

     God did this so that men would seek him and reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each of us. for in him we live and move and have our being. as some of your own poets have said,’we are his offspring.’

 

what a great description.

 

 

Jesus has a wonderful way of meeting people where they are. when he is at the seashore his words are about fishing. when on a mountainside, flowers of the fields and birds of the air. Paul follows in this respect while talking to these people in Athens. he affirms these people are seeking and their desire to be religious and even quotes some of their poets. the best way to reach people is to speak their own “language”.

the family of God August 15, 2008

    i just finished this great book called “what is a healthy church?” by mark dever. i want to say thank you to beth for letting me read her book. it was very informative and easy to read. i know alot of people have already read this book but if you have not. i recommend you read it. our sunday school class is reading through the book of acts and this book was very timely.

    i think it would be great if our churches could go back to the way God intended them to be. dependent. connected. related. these are just a few words to describe the first century believers.we live in such an individualistic (is that a word?)world that the intimacy between this group of believers might surprise some of us or even put us off. the early Christians voluntarily share their resources and willingly invest their hard-earned money in the lives of others. acts 2:46 says that they broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. they met in the temple regularly and fed on the heavenly bread of the word of God. their lives were intertwined and interconnected..

    like paul said about being a part of one body, these believers draw life from each other. they share joys and sorrows. they are a family to each other.

for when i am weak, then i am strong August 12, 2008

  2 corinthians 12:10

       the problem with believing that God wants to heal people is the fact that not everybody is healed. the apostle paul had a thorn (pain, suffering) in his flesh. he pleaded with God three times to remove it  and  God refused.  but God did give him grace and power to live with his pain and suffering.

       God  just doesn’t heal in the way we expect. because he is sovereign, he has many options. he can heal instantly. he can heal through medicine or medical procedures. he can even heal through death. just because we doubt or haven’t seen  healing or just if we don’t believe miracles are not for this modern day doesn’t stop God from doing what he promised in what ever way he chooses.

        an intimate relationship with God sometimes brings an experience- one that is mysterious because God is mysterious.

         for everyone i know right now that has a thorn in their flesh i know that God is with you and is giving you an awesome testimony. i love you and i am praying for a miracle.

a dream i didn’t even know i had August 11, 2008

                                            

        i love north carolina. i have never had any desire to leave it. you have the ocean. you have the mountains. you have big cities and countryside. north carolina has everything i need. until michael earned an all inclusive trip for 5 days and 4 nights to cancun mexico. i was ok about it at first because i just kept telling myself that something was going to happen and we were not gonna be able to go, but then we got our passports and it could maybe happen, but probably not. then we started to pack and then my mom came to take care of the kids. then it got alittle more real. then, we got up at 4 am and drove to raleigh to the airport. we were going now and there was no stopping us. i had never been on a plane before. i was really scared but i kept it together. the airport was cool and then we got on the plane. when that plane took off it was awesome. i knew then that i love to fly. we were so high but you could still see buildings and pools and cars. we landed in dallas-fortworth. i loved landing too. dallas airport was huge but we followed the signs and rode the tram and went right to where we were suppose to. the plane we got on to go to cancun was alot bigger then the last. we flew over the golf and  then like a light switch being turned on the water turned from blue to the most beautiful sea green i have ever seen. we flew over a mangrove jungle as we were landing. going through customs was crazy. those of you who know me, know i talk to much sometimes and when we got to the customs guy i asked him some many questions that i got us searched. michael thought it was hilarious. our driver was waiting to take us to the jw merriot for 5 days of fuuunnn!this was the view from our room. beautiful pool and even more beautiful sea. our first day we went to tulum an ancient mayan ruin. it was hot but really cool. there were iguanas everywhere.

after tulum we went to xel-ha for some lunch, walks in the jungle, a lazy river ride through the jungle to a beautiful lagoon to snorkel. this place has macaws and dolphins and fish and coral and hammocks and food and trees and…………

              

after an awesome day we came back to the resort and had a great dinner at gustino’s italian grill. we were sat with 8 other people from toyota from all over the us. they were all very nice.

                                                 

after our dinner we walked down to the piano bar were a woman was rolling cigars. one of our experienced travelers that we had eatenwith helped michael pick out a good one. then we went back to our room and sat on the balcony and just soaked it all in. the next day we did some shopping and ate at hard rock.

                                        this place was crazy. michaelwas in heaven with all the guitars. we got a lot of pictures. saturdays we went to go play golf at the hilton. that was the most fun. michaelgot too close to a alligator and i chased iguanas. the course was beautiful and fun to play and they gave us really nice clubs to play with.i have never had a desire to travel before i took this trip but now that i have seen how beautiful other countries are and how fun it is to fly , i want to go somewhere else. but only on toyota’s dime.

                                                         

 

thank you to my husband for working so hard everyday  and thank you to toyota for caring about their employee’s and making them feel valuable. this was a dream i didn’t even know i had.