Podcast Favorites

I love listening to Podcasts. Its like a whole new world has opened up to me. Two of my favorite podcasts are from RZIM called, "Let My People Think" and "Just Thinking". I think I've mentioned them before, but they are fascinating because they are Christian speakers who are very plugged into the culture around us. Their official title is "Apologists", which means they give a defense of our faith. I think as American Christians, we are somewhat ignorant to the culture around us, or we are compromised to it... or we don't care what people in the world are thinking about God. The speakers in these series are constantly answering challenging questions that will truly help us to love the Lord will all my heart, soul and MIND. I highly recommend them. I was listening to one today about Consumerism in America. Here was his parting quote and I couldn't agree more with him!

Looking good and feeling good has replaced doing good and being good and we don't know the difference anymore.
Stuart McAllister

RIP Lil' Jeni

Saturday was not a good morning. Not a good morning at all. Remember sweet Lil' Jeni who moved in after the original Jeni moved out? Yeah, well, he's no longer with us. The story is kind of gross so I will spare you all of the details. But the basic run down is this:

My backdoor wouldn't shut completely Saturday morning. Because I am a girl, I just kept trying to slam it harder and harder instead of actually finding out what was stopping it from closing and fixing the problem. In all, I probably slammed the door five times at least. It was at that point that I started to inspect the door to find the problem... ooohhhh... and what I found was half of Jeni's squished body in the door crack. The rest of the story is censored, but it was really upsetting to me.

Later that day I was telling the real Jeni what happened. She was really upset with me and actually said, "You need to stop killing your friends!" (he's not the first gecko I've accidentally killed). I was on the phone with my mom when it happened and she said, "Oh don't worry honey, another one will come along soon". I guess maybe I took the "new roommate" joke too far. But I am sad he died and of course- I didn't do it on purpose.

Lil' Jeni, you'll be missed.

Is the going getting tough?

Check out chapter 20 of 2 Chronicles. Jehoshaphat was about to get decimated in battle and he knew it. He gathered his people and they cried out to the Lord for deliverance. Then they worshipped our God. Here is God's response:



“Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat!

Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle.

Position yourselves, STAND STILL AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.”



Other versions say "Stand still and see the DELIVERANCE of the Lord". I love this verse. I love that our God fights our battles for us. So, today, instead of worrying, being frustrated, and despairing, I am going to spend the time it would take to do all that to go before God in prayer.... and watch how He moves!!!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!??

What is the worst possible way to start your Friday morning? I'll tell you because it happened to me today. Ok, maybe it's not the WORST way to start a day, but it's pretty bad.

On my way to work, I stopped across the street from my school to get some coffee and ran into another teacher. She says, "Did you hear? They might cancel school!" Me: "WHAT?!?! No way! Why?!?" My heart rate went up and I was getting really excited...

It turns out that the power was off in the town our school was in. The principal made the decision that if the power did not come back on by 8:00 (the time school starts), that school would be cancelled. So I went to my room and waited.... and anxiously watched the clock...... 7:55- no power. 7:56- no power. At 7:57 I was running around giving all the kids high fives and packing up my bags to go back home. As I was making my victory lap outside in front of my room, I heard a collective groan across campus and in slow motion.... I turned to my room.... only to find.... at 7:58.... the lights came back on!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!!

YOUTUBE

Ok, so somthing is wrong with the video I posted of Sione singing in my clasroom. I was so excited about it! If you are so curious and must see this video, you can go to youtube.com. In the search box, type in "sione" and I think he's the second video to pop up.