If you could love me as a wife
and for my wedding gift, your life
Should that be all I’d ever need
or is there more I’m looking for
and should I read between the lines
and look for blessings in disguise
To make me handsome, rich, and wise
Is that really what you want
I am a whore I do confess
But I put you on just like a wedding dress
and I run down the aisle
and I run down the aisle
I’m a prodigal with no way home
but I put you on just like a ring of gold
and I run down the aisle to you
So could you love this bastard child
Though I don’t trust you to provide
With one hand in a pot of gold
and with the other in your side
I am so easily satisfied
by the call of lovers so less wild
That I would take a little cash
Over your very flesh and blood
Because money cannot buy
a husband’s jealous eye
When you have knowingly deceived his wife
-Derek Webb, Wedding Dress
I bought this CD today and really liked this song. I like the fact that Derek Webb doesn't beat around the bush. I know that I've felt like this about my relationship with Christ way more often than I'd like to admit.
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Yeah, lots of random thoughts to come.
This week was spring break. I chilled in T-town the first part of the week, particularly because it was raining cats and dogs. I had lunch with Josh and Dianne at Mug Shots on Monday, and it was SOOOOO good. I also had weigh-in at Weight Watchers and found out that I have now lost a total of 15 pounds, so hooray for that! After this, I went shopping for some new clothes because most of what I have is too big now. I got some fun shirts at Old Navy and Gap, a pair of knit gauchos from American Eagle (INCREDIBLY comfortable pants), and a pair of shoes from Payless. Tuesday I went shopping at the outlet malls in Bessemer on my way to my parents' house. I found some really fantastic pants at the Gap outlet -- a pair of cropped jeans and a pair of khaki wide-leg trousers. I also bought some more shirts, at Gap, Rue 21 and Tommy Hilfiger.
I made it home Tuesday afternoon, saw my parents for a little while, then went to eat dinner with Brittany, my friend who lives in Enterprise. We cooked, and it was GREAT! We had a lot of fun just hanging out at her apartment and catching up on life in general.
Wednesday I went to the gym with my mom so I could work out at least once this week. It was a good thing. Then we went to Dothan, where I did still more shopping. I bought a pair of brown Nine West heels for $15 and a really cute skirt at McRae's, which is changing over to Parisian and was having a HUGE sale. I also got a dress for a wedding I'm going to in May. It's very pretty (Red, sleeveless, V-neck, calf-length, flowy). It was nice to spend time with my mom and Meemaw. We ate lunch at Picadilly Cafeteria, where I had some yummy pork loin with rosemary mushroom sauce.
I hung out with Josh Mallory and his friend Jarred last night. We sat in Books-a-Million and talked for a while, then went to Josh's house and watched Lost.
Today was the day of all the occurrences mentioned in my subject line for this post. I was supposed to have lunch with my friend Bobby at noon, so I went to Ozark a little early because I wanted to walk around and take some fun photos of things around town. So Bobby called at 11 and asked if we could meet later in the afternoon. I said OK, even though I was a little annoyed, and he said he would call me when he finished up all the errands he was running. So I decided to head on to Dothan rather than going home, figuring I could waste a few hours pretty easily. I drove around for a while, ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant (I can't remember the name ... it was on 231 going toward the beach ... El Metate or something like that), bought a book at Red House Books, took a picture of a giant peanut, and had some chai tea at Dakota while I sat and read the entire book that I bought. The chai tea and the book were both pretty good (the book was Come a Stranger by Cynthia Voigt ... like I told the lady in the book store, I love being a secondary English major because it gives me an excuse to buy and read young adult literature!). By the time I finished the book, it was about 5:30, so I called Bobby and left a message. Then I went to Old Navy and killed some more time before finally calling him again and telling him that I was going to head home. I'm not really sure what to think. I dont't really think he just stood me up for no reason, so I really hope everything is OK.
Well, after all this, I was driving on my merry little way toward home, going a pretty average 60 mph on County Road 33, which has a speed limit of 40. Nobody ever goes 40 because cops are NEVER on that road -- well, not until tonight. For some reason, a state trooper was out on the road and pulled me over. Thankfully I hit the brakes before he clocked me, and I had the presence of mind to be super polite to him. He was nice, and he only gave me a warning. I was a little worried because a ticket would have really sucked!
Oh, yes, I also bought two good CDs today ... a new-ish Watermark CD and Derek Webb's CD. I'm probably going to post some thoughts on one of his songs in a little bit.
Anyway, that was my wonderful, adventurous week so far. I'm heading back to T-town tomorrow.
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Saw this tonight with Josh, Anneliese and another girl whose name I can't remember. I thought it was pretty interesting. It was based on a comic, but it was a lot darker and more violent than most comic book movies. I enjoyed the numerous literary references in the movie, particularly the parallels between V and The Count of Monte Cristo. The set, especially the Gallery of Shadows (V's home), was pretty spectacular. Special effects were good; they blew up Parliament, which was impressive. Natalie Portman was amazing, and Hugo Weaving was good, too. As for the storyline, I liked it; the part of it that interests me the most was V's character, which is, I suspect, what the writers intended. The viewer never finds out who V is, and that's because, as Natalie Portman says at the end, we are all V. V didn't represent a man, he represented an idea, and "you can't kill an idea." It's probably been done before, but it was well done in this case, I think. There were some slightly cheesy elements of the movie, but altoghether, I liked it. I recommend it, unless you have a weak stomach.
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Good times tonight with Holly and Jessica.
We went to Birmingham for dinner. We ate at a place in Hoover called Taste of Thailand; we split a noodle bowl, some spring rolls and fried rice. It was very, very good! The noodle bowl had chicken with peanut sauce, fried noodles, broccoli and carrots. We planned to go to an art show after that, but when we arrived at the gallery in downtown Birmingham, it was closed, even though someone who works there told Holly they would be open tonight. So since we were already downtown, we decided to drive on down to Five Points and try to find something else to do. We ended up at Starbucks because we were freezing and coffee sounded really good at that point. We asked the girls working the counter if they knew of anything to do, and they pointed us to a free arts events listing. So we looked through that and discovered that Taylor Hicks Band was playing at a bar in the Lakeview part of Birmingham; in case you don't know, Taylor Hicks is a current contestant on American Idol. I had heard that the band was pretty good, so we got back in the car and drove toward Lakeview, with directions from one of the Starbucks workers. After a small amount of confusion, we found the bar, then walked around for a while because the show didn't start until 10. We listed to THB for a little more than an hour; they were very good, and we had a lot of fun listening and watching people in the bar. After this, Jess and I drove home, and Holly drove to her friend's house to spend the night because she's going to a wedding tomorrow in Birmingham.
This was a really fun night. Hopefully I will have pictures to share later.
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After putting Brennan Manning's
The Ragamuffin Gospel down for a few weeks, I decided to re-start reading it a few nights ago. Here are some quotes I liked in the first chapter and some thoughts on a few of them.
Too many Christians are living in the house of fear and not in the house of love.
I definitely think this is true. We are afraid of what we don't understand or what we are not used to. We are also afraid of not being accepted; for me, it's a problem with not being able to accept myself at times. We speak in grandiose terms of God's grace and love and acceptance, but it's a lot harder to live it.
Why am I afraid to dance, I who love music and rhythm and grace and song and laughter? Why am I afraid to live, I who love life and the beauty of flesh and the living colors of the earth and sky and sea? Why am I afraid to love, I who love love? --Eugene O'Neill, The Great God Brown
Unfortunately, I feel like this more often than I care to admit. Life becomes ordinary; I don't feel the joy that Scripture promises. I have a Scripture hanging on the door of my bedroom to remind me that I don't have to live that kind of life: "...Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).
"Justification by grace through faith" is the theologian's learned phrase for what Chesterton once called "the furious love of God." He is not moody or capricious; He knows no seasons of change. He has a single, relentless stance toward us: He loves us. He is the only God man has ever heard of who loves sinners.
That's about enough said. Thank God He loves me, a sinner, a silly girl who has her head screwed on straight only about 5 percent of the time, if that.
The church is not a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners. --Morton Kelsey
This is something that's way to easy to forget. Christ summed it up well when He spoke in Scripture about how the healthy aren't the ones who need a doctor.
God not only loves me as I am, but also knows me as I am. Because of this I don't need to apply spiritual cosmetics to make myself presentable to Him. I can accept ownership of my poverty and powerlessness and neediness.
Amen. Amen.
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| You Are 16% Evil |
You are good. So good, that you make evil people squirm.
Just remember, you may need to turn to the dark side to get what you want! |
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| You Are 56% Open Minded |
You are a very open minded person, but you're also well grounded.
Tolerant and flexible, you appreciate most lifestyles and viewpoints.
But you also know where you stand firm, and you can draw that line.
You're open to considering every possibility - but in the end, you stand true to yourself. |
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You Are Olive Green
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You are the most real of all the green shades. You're always true to yourself.
For you, authenticity and honesty are very important... both in others and yourself.
You are grounded and secure. It takes a lot to shake you.
People see you as dependable, probably the most dependable person they know.
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Yeah, yeah, but I haven't posted on here in a while, and I just remembered that I wanted to share a few good quotes I've come across lately:
"The opposite of war isn't peace; it's creation." --Mark Cohen, Rent
Salvation has surprised us, because we never were expecting it." --Ahmad Shawkat, Bilattijah
On a more silly note:
"Get it out of here, Wretched Simmons!" --Strongbad
"Strongbad, you are a horse's tweese!" --Marzipan
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Yeah, two posts in one day. It's amazing. But I had two separate trains of thought in my head, and they are utterly unrelated, so I figured two different posts would be appropriate.
I was walking to work from the Ten Hoor Parking Deck today, listening to my iPod when I noticed something. As "La Vie Boheme" blared in my ears, I watched the people walking by and around me. And I realized that each of these people had his or her own rhythm, kind of a way of dancing through life. Some people live ballet, some people live jazz, others live modern or even free-style. But if you watch, each one has a beat, a style, a function, even. It's amazing. I want to write a poem about this.
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http://tuscaloosanews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060309/NEWS/603090363/1007
So, the folks that have been setting churches on fire around the state have been caught. Rednecks? No. Middle-aged has-beens? No. Hacked-off atheists or homosexuals or fill-in-the-blank with whatever anti-church stereotype you wish? No.
These idiots were college students from affluent areas of Birmingham. They said they started doing this "as a joke."
I don't think anyone else got the joke.
The Tuscaloosa News article I posted above chronicles the reactions of some Birmingham-Southern students that knew the two boys that were arrested from there. The article discusses how no one would have ever guessed that these kids would have done something like this; it talks about how they were talented actors and singers, probably on the road to great fame and happy, prosperous lives.
Well, unfortunately, the happy ending they were once promised doesn't look likely any more, and it's their own fault. It's really unfortunate that two college kids with so much ahead of them would do something so incredibly stupid.
Now their whole lives will be tainted by 9 (or possibly 10, pending a ruling in the 10th church fire in the area) nights of bad judgment.
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