potlucks

Years ago, a group of guys were getting together to put the info and schedule etc. together for a church softball league.

One of the wives (my friend) INSISTED her husband go pick up a couple pies from Marie Calendar's because all there would be avail was chips and soda if he didn't bring something else.

He argued that the guys would do better than that!

Their food that night?

chips

soda2 pies

 

 

 

high maintenance

A group of people in my office regularly take turns doing a Starbucks run.

 

I want peach ring tea

If they don’t have that I want a very berry hibiscus refresher

If they don’t have that I want an orange spice iced coffee sweetened with a whisper of cinnamon

And if they don’t have that I want a dark roast with no room for cream

 

The name on her cup...

 difficult

proof the world is coming to an end

 

Nicki Minaj has a clothing line for Kmart.

repentance

I was talking with a friend of mine and had a wonderful revelation.

I have always struggled with understanding some things.  Like, how could David be such a SINNER and be called a man after God’s own heart and righteous and yet part of me identifies with that combination.  I always secretly believed that I could sin and still love God and be close to Him.  There are obviously many issues that come along with that like guilt and the sin separating me from God – except that the sin only separates me from God it doesn’t separate God from me.  God never leaves me.  He never forsakes me.  I forsake Him because of my own guilt.  The parable of the prodigal shows me that.  I believe people who say they are homosexual and love God.  I do not find those two things automatically mutually exclusive because if they are people who commit adultery or have sex outside of marriage but have hetero sex are in big trouble.

I’ve always been taught that repentance means to feel sorry for my sin and then turn away from it.  But that is not the Greek/Biblical definition of repentance.  The Greek definition is to turn away, to be changed from it. (http://biblesuite.com/greek/3340.htm)  This sits well with me.  How else could David be a man after God’s own heart and still commit the egregious sins he committed? 

I wonder how much the enemy has kept us from by keeping us focused on our own guilt instead of on following God balls out (if you’ll excuse the expression) failures and all and just keep going after all He is and all He wants for us.  Our guilt stops us in our tracks because we have the idea that God holds it against us when He tells us he doesn’t.  He gives the example of a loving father (not a bad father) to show us who He is.  He gives us the example of the prodigal who wants to go his own way and takes all God has to give and lives the life he thought he wanted to live and finds himself at the bottom only to discover he’s homesick and wants his daddy again.  When he goes home, there is Dad with open arms waiting expectantly to throw a party for his son’s return.  Is that how you feel after you sin and turn back to God?  Or do you still feel like you’re not good enough?  Like you have to “pay” for what you’ve done.  I think we convince ourselves that some payment is due even though perhaps we don’t give a voice to that semi-unconscious belief.

Throw off all that hinders you.

I am becoming renewed.
I am excited!
I can’t wait to hear what else God wants to tell me.

meet the puppies

This is Molly.

 

Molly is a DIVA and totally in charge.  She is also a cuddler and really (really really) insists on being with you, on you (preferably on your neck) or next to you.  But on you is best.

When she chases her brother around she goes for blood, tail, and, ahem, the nether regions.  Max has learned to run fast, but I worry a little about him sometimes.

Though I'll be stoned for saying I like one dog over the other, Molly is my favorite

(though I still prefer my cats).

 

So far Molly has been named: 

Precious Leia

Madam (something or other from The Wombles)

Girl

and now Molly.

 

 

This is Max.

 

Max is Molly's brother.

He is much calmer in general.  Wants to be a part of things but when it's time to sleep, he goes down by your feet to actually rest where Molly insists on staying on your neck, possibly inhibiting your ability to breath.  Max can roll over, but not yet on cue.  We're working on it.  Max will not go potty outside.  This is the dog that comes back in the house so he can use the pee pads.  (sarcastic smile)

 

Max's names so far have been:

Starbuck

Orinoco (another Wombles reference)

Boy

and now Max.

 

 

Max also has the strangest fur I have ever seen.

Not that you can entirely tell from this photo, but he kind of looks like he's wearing a tutu and has a Flock of Seagulls kind of forward swoosh thing doing on in the front, except Max doesn't get up in the morning and use 2 cans of hairspray to get his hair to become an immovable slide upon which other creatures could play on.

 

I sincerely doubt my ability to keep these dogs on a daily basis.  Usually around the time I'm trying to sleep and the other people in the house refuse to walk the dogs (that would be early morning when I've convinced myself the next 15 minutes of rest will make me feel more refreshed than the previous 6 hours I just spent sleeping.  Don't argue with me, I know how important those 15 minutes are.)  I cannot seem to convince anybody in the house that dogs need to walk (and pee) the moment they wake up -- just like humans!

 

There is a good chance on any given day that these puppies will need a new home.  Any takers?  They have all their shots but are only puppy pad trained (not fully housebroken).     No?  I didn't think so.  I guess I need to keep training them. :)

 

Have I told you how much I love my cats? =^.^=  

 

 

 

Word of the Week

Because the world is too serious (and because I work in corporate America and I don't necessarily fit in here) I try to add a splash of color and fun to our offices and now I'm sharing that with you.

Feel free to print and share.

women in the church

We have it all wrong because we don’t understand how Paul wrote and what God means.

Does Jesus condemn woman as filthy and seductive?  Does He say that our speech is not to be heard?

Does Jesus say that women are less than men?  Less morally capable?  Less intelligent?

Well, the Talmud (oral Jewish law, Pharisees were famous for it… adding to THE Law from God)

Nowhere in the OT does God say that women cannot speak in church.

Go ahead and check. J

Apparently the Talmud does say to silence women.  This sounds much more like a Muslim teaching to me and since they are all from the same line, it’s not a stretch that this teaching would be in both systems.

The Talmud clearly affirms the silence of females:
“A woman’s voice is prohibited because it is sexually provocative” (Talmud, Berachot 24a).
“Women are sexually seductive, mentally inferior, socially embarrassing, and spiritually separated from the law of Moses; therefore, let them be silent” (summary of Talmudic sayings).

“It is a shame for a woman to let her voice be heard among men” (Talmud, Tractate Kiddushin).
“The voice of a woman is filthy nakedness” (Talmud, Berachot Kiddushin).

Does this sound like the voice of Jesus?  Do you think this is the kind of thing He said to the woman at the well?  To the adulteress the crowd was trying to stone?  Does it even sound like Paul?  It really doesn’t.  It sounds like man’s heart.  Like his desire to control and rule over things.  Look around the world and where greed and corruption flourish man is in control without being accountable to God.  Without a relationship with the creator of the world who desires an ongoing and intimate relationship with us.  What I really see above is that man’s heart is evil and corruptible if they think that every time a woman opens her mouth it is sexually provocative.  Typically, in our culture it is men who have the stronger sex drive.  I think it interesting that they try to put their own sins upon the woman.

I don’t see the Bible teaching that spiritual gifts are based on what chromosomes you have.  They are not dependent upon the sex of the recipient.  Thus, woman can have the gifts of teaching and pastorship. 

You can read more at THIS BLOG.
(THISis really good too, though I warn my Catholic friends, you will not like what she has to say)

And my new mantra for when people talk about how wives are to submit to their husbands is to reply… and husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church, even to the point of laying down their life for them.  That’s the kind of man I will submit to!