Cool blog May 31, 2007

OK, I’m not naive enough to think that more than maybe 10 people read my blog. I’m OK with that. Kind of. Nevertheless, I would like to recommend a blog that I’ve just started reading. It was recommended to me by this guy.

This blog is super cool. It’s this girl’s journey through medical school. I find medicine and doctoring (is that a word?) intriguing. She has a lot of cool stories and anecdotes to share, plus her writing is awesome. Check it out…you won’t be disappointed. It’s like Grey’s Anatomy….except without all the sex. It’s real life. I love it.

P.S. Make sure you read her blog with dictionary.com in another window (or tab). I have to look up almost every “medicinal” language word she uses! I’m learning so much!

What I’ve been thinking about… May 31, 2007

• Anyone else have weird dreams? The past two nights I’ve dreamt that two people very close to me have died. Consequently, the dreams have made me kind of depressed…it sucks. I know it’s not real, but in my dream, I’ve already mourned and everything. It’s awful.
• I just got the new Maroon 5 album. I wouldn’t say “wow it’s amazing!” It’s good, but nothing to scream about.
• I’ve pretty much filled up my 1 gigabyte iPod that I won last year at ministryCOM. I want to buy a newer, bigger (30 gig) one, but I can’t justify it yet.
• Even though it’s been a short week, I feel like it’s gone by slower than a normal week.
• I really need to drink more water.
• A pastor talking about losing weight?? I think it’s really interesting and I totally agree with him. God does care about the way we look and our issues with weight.
• I have a pink laptop bag and I make my husband carry it because it’s too heavy for me. Is that mean?
• I have no idea what to make for dinner tonight. Another foodnetwork.com recipe to the rescue!
• I activated Facebook mobile last month and racked up $40 worth of text messaging charges. I no longer have Facebook mobile.

Tired of the No. 1 May 30, 2007

Remember when I told you that my husband stayed up all night for the grand opening of Chick-Fil-A? We have been reaping the benefits of that big time! We had Chick-Fil-A twice this week already. Is it good? Oh yes. Am I gaining weight? Um, yeah. Do I like free food? Definitely.

I’m not gonna lie, though…I’m pretty tired of the No. 1 (that’s the free meal). Today we actually paid (gasp!) for something other than the number 1. I can’t eat the same thing every week…I just can’t.

Back from a trip, leaving for a trip May 24, 2007

What a crazy week. Monday and Tuesday my husband and I went to the Keys (for business, not pleasure…but we did have fun!) and the Dry Tortugas. We got back Tuesday night. We’re leaving today for Sanibel Island w/ my family for Memorial Day weekend.

I’m severely sunburnt from sitting on the deck of the boat ride back to Key West from the Dry Tortugas trying not to throw up from the 6 foot waves we were riding!

This is me at the beginning of the ride back to Key West…I really was having a good time:

This is me right before I told Joel very sternly…”I need to go out and get fresh air NOW!”

I was really ashamed of myself. I’m a Florida girl, born and raised, and I never get seasick! I even took Dramamine, but I felt myself fading fast whenever we hit those 6 footers. Oh well…I was really proud of our catamaran crew and passengers — many people had to go out to the deck, but not one person threw up! It was a good day for the crew! Here are some more pics for you to enjoy…Click the thumbnails to make them bigger…

Bad experience turned good May 17, 2007

Yesterday started as a great day. I got lots of work done with time to spare! I had to lead worship yesterday, which was really stressful because some of my wonderful volunteers didn’t show and I had to switch a song at the last minute. But, as always, God came through and worked in spite of me.

After I led worship, my husband and I decided to go out on a date (we try to have a weekly date night). We wanted to try this new pizza place called Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza. I had heard a lot of great things about it. So, we get there and take a seat. The place is extremely loud…not a great date place. The waiter comes over and takes our drink order. He never came back.

After about 10 minutes, we decided this wasn’t worth it and we left and went to John the Baker, which has pretty much the best garlic rolls ever. Our pizza was cheaper and probably better, but overall, the SERVICE was amazing.

Something else happened last night. One of those HUGE coincidence moments that happens sometimes. It really weirded me out. I’m still weirded out. Unfortunately, I can’t say what it is right now, but WOW. I don’t know what God is doing, but there are some strange things happening in my life right now!

More to come…:)

Jerry Falwell May 15, 2007

I was sad to read that Jerry Falwell passed away this morning. No matter what controversy has surrounded this man, we need to pray for his family. He has a wife, kids and grandkids. Also pray for Thomas Road Baptist Church, where he served as Pastor and founder of Liberty University. I know many students who were very close to him who are grieving at this time.

Read here for more info.

Free Chick-Fil-A and more! May 14, 2007

 

So it’s been a little while since I’ve blogged. There a couple of reasons for that: #1: my best friend had a baby last Wednesday! (his onesie says “instructions not included”…how cute!)I was with her in the hospital for almost 3 days. I had internet, but I was a little busy holding the baby and tending to the patient…:) The hospital should’ve paid me for the time! #2: I’ve just been busy!

Here are some random things that have happened since I last blogged:

• My husband spent an all-nighter at Chick-Fil-A with a group of guys from the church. You see, we have ZERO free-standing Chick-Fil-A’s here in south FL. They’re only in the malls. So, this is a big deal for us. Why did he spend the night there? Because, if you’re one of the first 100 people inside the store, you get 52 free meals for the whole year…that’s a free meal every week! I’m glad I get to benefit from this nonsense and I didn’t have to spend the night in the smoke (see below)!
• Apparently there are fires in every county in FL except Miami-Dade (weird). Because of the way the weather has been, all of the smoke has blown down to us. It’s been lingering for over a week now.
• South FL is in a draught. We had a storm last night that lasted for 10 minutes. They say that even if it rained all summer we wouldn’t recover from the draught. The only thing that would equal us out would be a huricane. Yipee.
• We had a great Mother’s Day with my Mom yesterday. We took her out to this neat Greek restaurant called My Big Fat Greek Restaurant! Never having Greek food, it was AMAZING! I would recommend it to anyone who lives here…Griffin Rd between 441 and I-95. Check it out!
• My husband transferred all of our home videos onto DVDs for my Mom for Mother’s Day. She cried. We watched a couple of the movies. Good times.
• God is really working on my heart recently…big time. It’s been really cool to see Him changing my heart in some areas. He is amazing. More details to come
• Joel and I are taking our FIRST vacation ever this Summer! I’m so excited. It will be great to get away for 10 days!!
• We’re going to Key West next week on the church! We are doing a series this summer called 7 Wonders of the Spiritual World and we’re using 7 “wonders of Florida” as metaphors to our core values. So, Joel and I are going down there this Monday & Tuesday and filming at the 7 Mile Bridge and the Dry Tortugas. I’m pumped. Apparently, the Dry Tortugas is the least visited National Park in the U.S. Maybe because it’s in the middle of the ocean…? It will be awesome.

So, apparently, we don’t ’suck’ May 7, 2007

Some cool things have been happening in the blogosphere in regards to our church! A couple of weeks ago, Monday Morning Insight caught wind of our 7 Nights of Worship from something Elmer Towns wrote. That was the first excitement.

Today, ChurchMarketingSucks.com wrote about us. This is so exciting for us. As we have been telling people our story and what’s going on, the word has spread. We are truly pioneers right now just trying to do something new and reach more people in our community.

God has truly blessed us and is continuing to shock us with the amazing things He has done through starting 7 Nights of Worship.

Check out our website for more information or leave a comment and I will answer any questions you might have!

God Things, Part 2 May 3, 2007

Earlier in the week, I posted a “God Thing” moment in my life. Here’s another:

In college, I did an internship for the Center for Reclaiming America; a non-profit grassroots organization. This is their mission, according their website: To inform, equip, motivate, and support Christians; enabling them to defend and implement the Biblical principles on which our country was founded.

The organization was founded by Dr. D. James Kennedy in 1996. Since then they’ve done a lot of great things in politics. According to their site: As a means to accomplish this mission, the Center focuses on the key fronts of the modern-day culture war: Religious Liberties, the Sanctity of Life, the Homosexual Agenda, Pornography, Creationism, and Judicial Tyranny, in addition to exposing organizations which oppose Biblical standards of decency.

Although, I didn’t agree with everything they did, I still really enjoyed working there. I learned a lot about politics and how the government works. Aside from that, they actually paid me, which is usually unheard of for intern positions. I got my own office, computer and phone! They gave me a lot of freedom. I made several of their publications and mainly did a lot of research for the writers. It was a fun summer. I even came back worked for them over my 6-week winter break.

After Joel and I got married, we moved to Lexington, KY for a brief stint. God soon revealed that He had other plans for us. He answered my prayers and moved us from hickville back to my HOME in south Florida. When we got back down here, I was actively looking for a job. Our church hired me about 3 months after we moved on a temporary basis.

The Center knew I was looking for a job and they offered me one about a year ago, after I had already gotten the temp position at the church. I went to interview and it went well. They offered me more money than I get here at the church. However, it wasn’t what I wanted to do and I knew God was telling me to stay at the church.

Now, a year later, the Center has closed its doors. Everyone (as far as I know) was laid off. I don’t even know what I would’ve done if I was laid off right now…especially after Joel and I just bought our new home. We would be in deep trouble.

If that isn’t a God thing, I don’t know what is.

Pray for the Center for Reclaiming America employees and for Coral Ridge Ministries. There’s a lot of stuff going on there that is stemming from Dr. Kennedy’s sickness. They need our prayers!

Invite me to church May 1, 2007

Cory Miller over at ChurchCommunicationsPro.com blogged about a campaign happening around where he lives called InviteChurch.com. I clicked on the link to their website. It’s a very simple site…just put your zip code in and you can find a church within the radius of where you live.

Well, I put the zip code where my husband and I live and a Google search came up and showed me the “churches” in my area code. The first was a Jewish Temple. The second was a Mormon church and the third was a drive-thru wedding chapel that is in the same plaza as the Publix that I shop at. Yes, a drive-thru wedding chapel. How romantic. It’s been there since high school…I’ve always wanted to drive-thru and see what happens.

Then I put in the area code of our church next and these were the top three: an evangelical church, a Jehovah’s Witness temple and a Catholic church. Our church? Way down the list…and not even our website…a yellow pages site just giving our church name, address, etc.

I’m not sure about this campaign. I’m not sure I would send people to that website.

You see, when you put your zip code in, it immediately does a search in Google for “church your zip” and any place of worship will show up in the search results. I appreciate the sentiment of this site and what they are trying to do, but I’m just not sure it’s working the way it was intended. Am I being too cynical?

Thoughts?