take me away.....

a while back when I had lost my voice, my dad called me and he couldn't really hear me so naturally he was worried. after my small group, he called me again just to make sure I was alive and to remind me to get enough sleep. this past weekend was my dad's birthday. The funniest thing about his bday is that every year, my mom will send him out to buy groceries and he never suspects that he is buying groceries for his own "surprise" bday hurrah that my mom's planned for him. That's what I love about my dad.

I love my dad because he's:

selfless: just like the whole shoppin for his own bday party thing... he never expects anything back when he acts out of kindness. You know how we're always encouraged to do things in secret not expecting to be rewarded? That's the kind of guy my dad is. Sometimes I wonder how he does it... loving others comes naturally to him. If you've ever met my dad, you know he always looks like he's smiling....it's no mask...I kid you not.

patient: by far the most patient man I know. I guess for any guy out there that lives with three other women being patient is something that's simply practiced. My dad is the go-to guy in the family. When something is broken, when we cant figure out stuff on the computer, when the house needs cleaning... we just ask and my dad doesnt even whine...he'll just do the stuff that we're too lazy to do. I remember when my sister was little, she was too impatient to sit on the potty to wait for the poo...so my dad would sit there with her no matter how long (and boy..sometimes she took a while) and he would feed her prunes or grapes...maybe that isn't patience..maybe he's just weird... but c'mon how many people would wait for you in those circumstances?

encouraging: a lot of times when I talk to my dad I tell him stuff that's going on in my life and somehow I always manage to vent. It's weird cuz my dad brings out the problems I never knew I had =P So after my babbling he always quotes scripture and imparts wisdom on my feeble mind. He always manages to say the right things....even if I dont wanna listen...but he's a patient guy so he knows I'll eventually come around. not only is he encouraging but he checks up on my sanity every once in a while too. so I guess that's what happens when you're the middle child of seven.


so that's one of my most favorite people in the world. it's cliche but we should always count our blessings and surely my dad's one of mine.

speaking of favorite people...I have two of my favorite people coming to visit me!!! (tomorrow ahhh!!!) they are the people that lived through my dark ages...from purple spandex to Shannon Miller obessions, going to the county fair...and numerous family retreats. this year I'm blessed with seeing them twice!! since this past june I hadn't seen them for 2 years and yet everytime we get back together...we pick up where we left off. so now i present to you...our second most embarrassing picture (second to that only of a picture of us wearing bicycle helmets to go horse back riding).

thirst no more........

retreat was good. i learned a lot about prayer and did some re-examining of my prayer life. It's really interesting when you read the Bible and notice how prayers in psalm were written. Some of them are so God centered and they acknowledge all these qualities of God. The author wrote in such a way that leaves his reader in awe because in his writing he displays such a strong understanding of who God is. I think it's the same with worship songs, the reason why the words can speak to our hearts so well sometimes. Song writers express their understanding of God in the lyrics and when we sing it we feel that much closer to God because we sort of grasp a deeper understanding of God's majesty. And I also like the practice of listening prayer. So it's been said that praying is communication with God. That means that we speak to God and God speaks to us right? I think the listening to God aspect of prayer is often forgotten. Sometimes our minds are so cluttered with thoughts of everything BUT stillness. Listening is hard to come by sometimes, especially when it's with God.

so someone asked me a really interesting question. they asked me if asking to see God was the same as testing God because non-christians see it as testing God. the only conclusion I could come up with is that God is always present and we're the ones that miss out on seeing him. When we ask God to show himself to us, we're in a sense asking him to open our eyes and allow us to be aware of his presense when our view is too clouded with other things. I dunoo..what do you think? Is asking to see God testing him?

so ive realize that God answers my prayers in progression. most things that i pray earnestly about are never a yes, no or maybe. there's always a series of events that sort of lead up to the big shabam answer. God's concept of time is definitely unlike ours. His idea of patience is never one I'm willing to be happy with...he's got eternity. but anyhow, although these answers are always in a series of events, I think he does that so that I'll always have reason to hope that he's working. He's answering the prayer, just not in a way that I can imagine...slowly but surely. It's funny, although the answers can be both frustrating and disappointing sometimes, I know that's not the conclusion of the answered prayer so I always have some hope that things just sorta work out in a settling manner and they always do.

"be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."
romans 12:12