The Sights of Music

I went to midnight mass this morning to start off my wonderful Christmas day. It was very interesting. We began by singing and as the organ began to play I noticed there was nobody on stage playing or even singing. I turned towards the music and it was coming from behind and above me in a balcony. There was a choir singing and musicians behind them. I turned back around and sang some of the words along with them thinking how awkward it was to be facing away from the music. I started to think some more as the next song began and I looked up towards a statue of Jesus on the cross which was at the head of the room. I realized that we don't need to see the music be preformed in order for us to praise God. We listen to music. We hear the words. We don't need to see someone else sing the words. I realized that the congregation and the choir were both singing together towards Jesus at the cross. We weren't singing to each other but together and at the same time apart for the glory of our Lord. That was when I realized that we don't need to see our worship music for it to be real because music isn't for the eyes but for the ears.

Give it up

If Jesus knocked on your door and said leave your family and don't say good bye, follow me. Would you? If he walked up to you and said, you're dad is going to die tomorrow but I want you to leave him now and follow me would you? What if you got a bonus at work and He was chilling by your car after you got off and he told you to take that bonus and give it away would you? That is exactly what Jesus asked people and asks of us now. Luke 9:61-62 says "Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” 62.But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” He told that man, if you are to follow me, you will give up everything. Leave it behind and give it up for me. Tuesday night I was sitting in service and the speaker was talking about how people in Haiti live off of less than 10 dollars a day. I thought, I can do that. But really, we rely so much on money and our things that we don't realize that we can plow threw 100 dollars in a day without a sweat. The Pastor Sunday was talking about a man named John Wesley decided that he could live off of 28pounds a year and give away the rest if he made any more(this was about 1731 at the time). At first he made 30pounds so he gave away 2 and kept 28. A year or two went by and he made more but still only kept 28pounds. By the fourth year he was making 1400pounds, and yet he still only kept 28pounds of it, giving the rest to charity and such. Today he would be making about $160,000 a year and yet he lived on only about $20,000 annually. How crazy awesome is that!? What is stopping all of us from only living on what we need? Why do we actually need all the rest? Why can't we give it all up and follow Jesus without worry? We don't have to know exactly where our money is suppose to go to at the beginning. It could be just a tithe to the church and once we start God will show us where He wants our money. We don't have to start huge as long as we are giving it truly to honor Him.

Clutch and Go

So the Maxima I had been driving broke down and is now all fixed up which is very handy. It is a standard and it has been fun getting back into the swing of driving it. I'll admit that when ever I don't shift in time or give it too much gas I get aggravated after a while, but I'm getting a lot better. As I was driving home I was thinking about some stuff in my life that is bothersome and shouldn't be. I came up to a stop sign  and as I started to go I didn't let the clutch out enough and wasn't giving it enough gas so it was a super slow and some what delayed start that was a little frustrating. At the next stop sign I tried to figure out how to fix the problem. I gave it more gas and let go of the clutch a little sooner and the car began to go smoother than before. As I was doing this I was still thinking about things and what I came to realize is that I need to learn to let go of things better, just like the clutch. If I would just let go sooner and press the gas more I would be able to drive smoother. So once I start to let go of things I can begin to have fun and complete things in my life and go about it more happily. I think that if we just try to accept that we need to let go of things, or let things not bother us anymore we will be able to enjoy things more. We need to remember that God will be next to us when ever we need help driving through tough times.

I have it in my pocket, sorry it's hard to see

I was sitting on the couch today and a friend was on the other couch while we watch the Ou Osu game. She said how she was cold and wanted a blanket and right after that my sister pointed to a blanket that she was sitting on. I thought it was kind of funny because I bet that happens to us all the time. I bet there are many times when we want what we already have, like money for instance. Many times we make enough to keep us going yet we still want more. Or say we have a decent coat but we still say we need one as we ware our current one. I just thought I was interesting how we want what we already have. Next time I think how I want something I am going to step back to see if I have it or even need it for that matter.  

Awesome Theaters

I went to the movies with a friend at the dollar theater today. The dollar theater is a huge switch from our theater uptown which is more high class. This theater however was much smaller, less clean and the screen even had been cut and stitched back together. It didn’t even matter how the theater was or that our movie stopped working towards the end, even though my friend kept making fun of it. Ultimately it doesn’t matter about the quality or fanciness of the event or place but about the company we share it with.

Of course Thanksgiving.

Today is thanksgiving. Lots of food that was eaten and many new memories were made. This is the day when everyone says why or what they are thankful for. Why do we only do that on this certain day? It isn't out of the ordinary, it is in our comfort zone because it is what we are supposed to be doing. I sometimes find thanksgiving the day were we think of the thing(s) that we should be thankful for, have been thankful for, want to be thankful for, or it is when we realize what we are thankful for. Which I suppose is what we should do.We should try to be thankful for things everyday, not just on this Holiday. I know I say a lot of things that we should do and I'm in no means trying to say I have mastered it. That is why I say 'we' and not 'you'. I am trying to work too.

Shoot the Milk

Today was a really relaxing day since I didn't have work. I did some running around for my mom and hung out with the family. By doing nothing today I saw how healthy it is for a person to just relax for a while. It makes you alive and carefree. Not much for today other than the weather was incredible and I only have God to thank for that! He controls everything and it is awesome to know that He is in control and can make the day feel so awesome!
Also. Shooting a gun through milk does not stop an explosion.

Sorry Folks

As a friend has pointed out to me countless times ... It has been a while since this blog has been updated. I am sorry for that. From not doing this and not having this on my mind all the time, I have become less aware of what I can benefit each day. But by having that friend there to remind me how long it has been since I've updated; it has kept me thinking about how or in what way I could benefit from each day I live and kept me working on trying to keep this updated. Having that person that keeps you on your toes is always a good thing!

Hearing What You Say

I played pool with a little boy I watch tonight and everytime i missed the pocket I would say "dang it" or something along those terms. After a while everytime the boy would miss he would say "dang it" . I decided to have an experiment and so everytime I missed I would change what I said to "drat", "darn it", "dang it", "aw man" and such. And funnily enough he would say whatever phrase I said without really thinking twice about it. I found it a little amusing and also interesting that words can spread from person to person really quickly. We need to really watch what we say, especially around the people we know who look up to us or respect us. Later on what we say will bite us in the face when a child or your own kid comes up and calls somebody a "frigin idiot" because they got mad.

Life Perfect?

I was reading a letter from a very very close friend of mine today and she told me that life is perfect. Which I thought was interesting because a million and one things in life isn't perfect. I kept on reading, and she said that "no what goes on in life isn't perfect, we are not perfect, and something else isn't perfect but His plan that He has for us is truly perfect and the life that He has given us with the path that we take is perfect and doesn't even come close to falling off his course. life is perfect" I thought that was really cool and I had never thought about it before. I knew God had a plan for us all and I suppose I knew that it was perfect, I didn't second guess that. I just hadn't thought of how flawless it was. His plan for us is so flawless it is incredible how everything all works together. His plan is perfect and everything is going to happen the way it should. That doesn't mean we won't sin. That doesn't mean people won't get sick. That doesn't mean wars won't occur. It means He is allowing all of it to happen because it fits in his perfect plan.

Our Job

Earlier tonight I was sitting on the floor with my friends listening to my pastor speak about our role in the church and how vital it is. While we was speaking about that I was kinda thinking about school and life, along with the sermon. and with hearing how we should be in the church I started to wonder about how we need to be in our live. We shouldn't worry too much about why we are going to college or what we are going to do and how much money we will make or how we will get by. All we need to realize is that our job is to glorify him and to reach out to those people who need Him and show them His grace and mercy and love and bring them to Him. That doesn't mean we have to drop everything and move to Africa. But we should go to school for what we enjoy, our passion and do it for Him. Allow for Him to work through us doing the things we enjoy with the goal of sharing His love. First we have to ask Him to lead us to what we wants which can change our desires but we should ask for Him also to give us the heart of understand for His will and then we can fulfill our job of being His.

The Signs We Miss

So I am home all day today because I am sick and I ended up watching a couple of movies with my siblings. My little sister and I watched Anastasia which I haven't seen in a while now. There was a part where Anya is sitting in the snow and she looks up to the sky asking for a sign. Right after that Pooka (the dog) pops up out of the snow (obviously the sign she was asking for) but she looks at the pup and tells him to go away because she is waiting for a sign. How many times do we ask for God to show us something, to show us the way for school, marriage, or work and He gives it to us and we bypass it not even noticing. I think that when we ask for a sign to also ask for the open eyes and heart to see the sign.

Funny

One funny thing I learned today that the screwdriver was invented before the screw. We are just wanting to cause us more work and problems before we get them.

Keep In Mind

I was listening to a song on my way to dinner with my family and two of the verses were
"Be Strong In The Lord, Never Give Up Hope" and I stopped and thought what does that mean, be strong in the lord? We have to realize how weak we are and how we need Him to keep us going through the day. When we have challenges through out the day or week, we have to trust, or be strong in God that he will help us get through it. By keeping our faith in Him and trusting in Him we must never lose our hope in what will come.

A day for praises

I was looking at the sky while walking to my car and stopped and just stared at the clouds. They are just so gorgeous. How crazy is it that we are blessed to have such a wonderful piece of nature. I think that if we all just stop for a second just while we are going to our car, and look around at the trees, the clouds, just the life we have. I know that it is fall and the leaves are falling off the trees but if you look at dead trees they are pretty cool. You are able to fully see how the branches intertwine with each other and how they form the body that keeps the trees full of leaves during the spring and summer!

Stay true, stay you

When I got off work I had to go take care of two boys after they had gotten home from school. This was already planned earier that weekend and as I was on my way to their house my mom called asking if I could pick up my sister from school because she wouldn't be able to today. I told her that I already had these boys but I would see what I could do. I told the boys mom that I had to get my sis from school as well but I offered to take the boys with me. She agreed. After running around everywhere and dropping my sis off at church then taking one of the boys to soccer practice I got a call from their mother saying she got of work early and would be able to pick them up early. So when things seem to pile up, stay true to what you agreed to do, stay calm, talk to God, and it will all be okay.

Open Heart

I was sitting in service listening to the sermon and the pastor had said how we need to come to hear the word with an open and willing heart. A lot of times though we get caught up in the mishaps of the week or of the morning even and by the time we get to service we are sitting there reluctant to what is being taught. We are there because we are supposed to be more than we actually want to be.  The pastor told us that we need to pray for an open heart and to make us willing inside. as he said that I thought of how hard that actually is. I mean, if you are upset you don't want to be happy go lucky. You want to stay in your state of anger. That applies in any situation too. At work, school, hanging out with friends or family, or even just chilling by yourself. If we stay in a constant hatred towards things we aren't going to enjoy life very much. The hard part is actually asking for what you don't want. Asking for that open heart, asking to make you willing inside. This is where we need people to help keep us accountable. We need those people to lift us up when we don't want to be. We also need to be that person for others. Time and time again I see and face this problem, but the more we keep our focus on God the less complicated it gets. So by wanting to please Him and having that person to keep you up can help so that you are able to ask God to give you that open heart that you aren't really feeling right now but you know that all in all you long for.

It cant work

I just got back from visiting an out of town friend and her husband today. I hung out with them all day just relaxing and watching movies. I sat on the couched and watched how much in love they were. I saw how much she adored him and how he would do anything for her and how much their baby brings them even closer together. It kind of amazed me at how well it was working out. Not that they couldn't make it work but of how genuine it was. You don't see that often and it was really cool to see. My friend and I went to go get coffee earlier today and we stood outside with her baby boy just talking about God and relationships. She was telling me how that only way her and her husband are able to do this is that they both love God more than each other. She told me that she wouldn't have it any other way, that it isn't enough to just love your spouse and it will work. She said that you both have to put God before the other and love him more than the other. I suppose I had already known this in the back of my head but I don't think I have actually heard somebody say it that way. It made me think that whatever relationship your in won't work out unless you both love God more than each other.

Oct 15. - 22

I'm sorry I have not been on in a very long time. I have not been able to get to a computer. Going through this past week trying to organize my time with work, family, and friends I have realized the value of time and the phrase "live like we are dying". Five days a week my day starts around six am and ends around twelve am. I work most of it and try to throw in family and school into it. Seeing how each day goes and how much I can get done in three hours amazes me. On Wednesdays in three hours I can do crafts with kids, have snack, play outside, eat lunch, and do a school lesson with them. Sometimes the time flies by and sometimes it seems to drag on. The other day I got off work early so I went back to the house and watched some TV. In two in a half hours all I had done was eat, do dishes and sit around. I don't think we realize how much we can get done in the day that we are given. I was listening to a song and they had said to "live like we are dying" and I laughed to myself because if you really think about it we are dying. Each day we get closer to our death. We can't go back a redo a day. It seems as if we need a dead line of how many more days we have so that way we can make our lives more significant. We aren't realizing that since we don't have a dead line in front of us it is as if we have an unlimited about of days! Imagine all that amazing things we could do and the impact we could make if we had an unlimited about of days left! I think we take for granted all the time we have in this life by think that if we don't have a dead line, we can do anything because there is all the time. We should live each day with the ambition to accomplish the same or more than yesterday, to sets goals for tomorrow, and to have the satisfaction if it would be our last.

Be that person

I was at small groups last night and once the lesson had finished we just sat around and talked about nothing and everything. We talked about movies we like our views on things and different situations we face in life and such. As we were talking and sharing who we were some with our leader I thought how crazy important it is to have someone in your life for you to just talk to, not to get advice or to be pitied by, but to just have a person who cares and will listen and laugh with you. Feeling how it does to have that person, and seeing how it affects to other people in the group made me realize that we need to be that person for other people. We don't have to be close to them, just when they want to talk, tell you about their day, something funny they hear, or a serious problem. We should be there to show them Gods love through the attentiveness we give to them showing how we care.

Picture Perfect Past.

I think that we take too much time holding the pictures of our past. We see the pictures and that is what we hold our future too. We don't give the future room for anything else other than what we know or what we want. And that isn't necessisarlly bad, but we have to keep our pasts as pasts and put the pictures in our wallets; away but always there to remember and keep, instead of our cell phone background; always in front of us when we make any contact about anything so that what we do revolves around it. We should hold them tight but let our future flow in any direction and even though it is scary it will be new great, and maybe our past will be apart of it.
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Uncertain Plans

I was out late and I still had to go drop off some stuff at a friends house and go to a different friends house to pick up something and I was also suppose to get home because I had to get up early the next day. Well my mom called and asked what I was doing and what my plan was. All I knew was what I had to do and I didn't really have a plan, I didn't know wether my friends were home or anything. And telling her that frustrated her because she needed an idea as to what I was doing. I also was keeping up a friend of whos house I was at during the time. So I realized that even though not having a plan works for me, it doesn't always help the people in my life around me. And as I learned three years ago at a camp "It's not about me". I think it is fine not having a plan, but I think that it is smart to have a good idea of how it will go down so that other people whom we love won't have to be stressed out about our uncertain plans.

The Source

My brother had a football game tonight but I also had to babysit. He was going to be running back and I didn't want to miss it, so I frantically was trying to figure out how to go to his game but still take care of the kids I was watching. I was contemplating everything I could, I even called my mom to try and figure things out and got even more frustrated when I didn't hear things I liked. Finally I called up my brother and asked how important this game was and once he had told me that this game wasn't a big deal; I felt fine to watch the kids. So whenever this is a situation or problem you have, don't try to think of ways to go about it without even knowing what it entails. Go to the situation, go to the source and see what you should do from there, otherwise things will just be difficult.

The bullseye

*Soon to come
(I wrote it down but misplaced the paper)

Its all in your head

I find it very interesting that we do alot of things our brain tells us too, even though we know it won't work or isn't right. I was eating lunch with my sister today and she had some chips on her plate; she picked up a large chip that had a few smaller chips on it and shook them off. I asked her why she did that if she was going to eat those small ones as well and she laughed and couldn't give me an answer. I bet so many times our minds tell us not to do something and so we automatically don't do it and a few seconds after realize that we should or vice versa. The other day I had a frapp in my hand and I was driving home. I had to take a turn and the drink was still in my hand and also holding the wheel at the time. In my head I knew I needed to slightly turn and let the wheel spin back so the drink wouldn't spill; but what did I do? Turn the wheel the whole way totally spilling my whole drink in my car. And all I could do was laugh because I had just thought that I needed not to do that. I suppose that is why we are supposed to think about our choices, but not just think, we need to stop and think that way it gives us time to do what is right.

Do it for who?

When we do things, why do we do them? Do we do them for us? Or for others? I went to get ice cream for two boys I watch and I was blessed to just sit and watch them enjoy the treat they were given. When we do things not intentional for our happiness we in return get even more happiness. This is also how we should live our lives for God. Just going out and doing anything and everything for him, not us. For His happiness, not ours. And in return without even expecting it we will be just as happy knowing that we have done things to please him. It really is crazy how that works. Just thinking things for Him and doing small things that would please Him make us a more happy person at the end of the day.

Finding the Better

Even if you dislike something so much to the point of crying or wanting to scream, you have to just let yourself relax a bit and not focus on all the small things you don't like. You will see the bigger picture and then you will be able to find small qualities to enjoy. You have have an open mind about things. Don't let the annoying negative aspects override the positive aspects of what ever it is that you're doing. (In my case it is school).


Extra!! - If you do what you need to do first, you will (eventually) get to do the things you want to do.

We Live so Well that we Laugh so Often because we Love so Much.

So it is just about the end of today and I am chilling on the couch and I see six words framed above the fire place:
"Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much". It is interesting, people have so many of those phrases or sayings in their homes, on sticky notes, on their facebook wall, but do they actually see what the words are saying? Or do they post it because it sounds good and they just know what it means, but not how to apply it? And i'm not going to lie, I do it all the time. I will post those sayings and have the phrases as my greeting for my phone not hearing to them or applying them to the life I live.
Live Well: Go each day in a positive way, with an ambition of teaching somebody, or shedding some light for someone. Live healthy. Chose our words and actions in a way that wouldn't harm others or ourselves.
Laugh Often: All you can do in life is laugh really. There are things you can't do anything about, so why get upsest or frustrated, I mean I understand and get upset at times but it makes things so much more easier if we could all just laugh. It does say 'often' and not 'all the time' by the way. And also we shouldn't be so strict on ourselves, loosen up and things will become more enjoyable.
Love Much: No matter who they are or what they have done we must love them. So we will pour out our hearts that are (hopefully)full of His love to the people around us. We shouldn't love some, but we need to love much.

Found this out at work

Oklahoma is ranked 6 in the nation for having starving people, yet it is also one of the highest ranking states for fat people. How did that happen?

No child in us

Why is it that a child can accomplish more than an adult? Maybe because they know no danger. Or they have never lost the trust of a person before.
What ever it is I believe we all need to be more like children.
I was at the park today with a 6yr old boy I was watching and we went over to the monkey bars to play and there happened to be three other children there. The boy I was watching walked right up to them and started talking to them like he had known them his whole six year old life. And what was even better was they talked back like it was no big deal. Later on a small boy came up to me (whom I did not know) and asked me to help him with the monkey bars. Once I was done I just stood back and watched these boys play and as I did, the smaller one would say how he was going to try something and the boy whom I was watching offered to help him so casually I was a bit astonished.
I mean, these kids had never met, yet could walk up to each other and carry on a pleasant conversation. And these kids who probably wouldn't care if they ever saw the other again in their life were willing to stop from sliding to help the other with whatever they needed.
Why can't we be like that?  Why is it that we are so scared as to what the other person is thinking to just sit down and talk with them? Why is it that when we see someone in need of help. We can't help untill we are done helping ourselves. Or just simply pass them by for the next person to ignore.

Interesting..

I honestly don't feel like I learned much today. But I was allowed to live another day, this day, for some reason. I have come to realize today how important family is and how important it is to reach out to others. Your life means nothing if you stay couped up. You need to get out there and share His love with people. Also learn that Oklahoma is one of the most dangerous states to live in. Alaska is also one of the most dangerous states to live in and they don't have the death penalty. Funny.

Open hands and Coffee

I was having coffee with a friend and he was telling me about a conversation he had had earlier that he wished to share with me. He told me to cup my hands together, and so I did. He told me that with all of the things in your life, we should hold with our hands wide open ready to give them to God. He then told me to make my hands into fists, so I did. He told me that if we hold on to things too tightly God will have to pry our fingers open to get what we are holding on to and it is going to hurt. But if our hands are open wide we will be happy to give them to Him.
So if we just keep our thoughts open then He won't ever have to pry. They will just be there for His taking and molding.
If we keep our plans and thoughts flexible to God then when it does come for Him to make alters to our plans it won't hurt since we are holding them out to Him.