Luci

Well, Luci Swindoll said it best,

"It doesn't take alot to make me happy

--just the right thing."

New gym socks. A hug from my mom, Dad rubbing my shoulders, my brother talking to me. My dog sitting on me (she's a 60+ lbs golden retriever), cherry limeade, Julie Andrews movies, letters from Mr. Galloway, Aunt Mard's house. Someone tucking my hair behind my ears, Christmas music, colored lights. Kasey holding my legs, Kasey and daniel. 116 memories. Car trips with Sarah. Leo, Indiana. Watching a child understand something for the first time, teaching, being understood. Cold water, a hot bath, getting my hair washed at the hairdressers, hearing Kristi say, "i like you, angie." hearing Kristi laugh,

hearing anyone laugh...
especially Craig.


and for the happiness in my life,
I am thankful.
very thankful.

Thank You, God.

Mongolian Beef

Hey, Mom and Dad, I had Chinese food with the Hubers tonight. My fortune from my cookie read, "All the effort you are making will ultimately pay off." Guess that means that this slaving over a hot book 5 hours a day and working in the schools on top of that is doing what all things do for me, from the letter to the Romans, "all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose...that I might be conformed to the image of His Son." Amen.

And I was fretting about not living up to being voted most likely to succeed...ha!

Prince Charming

In Search of Cinderella

From dusk to dawn,
From town to town,
Without a single due,
I seek the tender, slender foot
To fit this crystal shoe.

From dusk to dawn
I try it on
Each damsel that I meet,
And I still love so, but oh
I've started hating feet.

-Shel Silverstein

The Study of Life (as best I can remember it)

I was listening to Eric talk the other night about teaching jr. high science and it hit me, LIFE is LIFE. deep, I know, but let me expound. In Sophomore Biology, I learned about the 7 characteristics essential to physical life. So, If I believe that God is the creator of all things, corporeal and otherwise, then I can reason from what characterizes a physically alive organism to what characterizes a Life in the Son (some call this the spiritual life, others the Christian walk, whatever floats your boat, or raises your dead, man). Anyway, the characteristics of life, according to Biology, a sophomore textbook by Miller and Levine, Ph.Ds are:

1. Feeding: an organism must take in nourishment from something other than itself in order to provide energy to perform the other essential functions of life.
2. Respiration: similar to feeding, an organism must take in gases essential to cell activity.
3. Internal Transport: Some very small, simple organisms do not require internal transport to live, but once organisms reach a certain size, it must somehow carry oxygen, nutrients, and waste products to and from cells deep within its body.
4. Excretion: An organism must be able to expel toxins and poisons created as byproducts of cell function or otherwise ingested.
5. Response: Vital to escaping predators, to attaining food, an organism must respond to stimuli provided by its nervous system, if it has one, and by other specialized cells if it doesn't.
6. Movement: There are few animals who are sessile, attached to one spot. Most animals use a combination of structure and power, skeleton or body armor and muscle to move.
7. Reproduction: Organisms must create more of themselves or they will not survive as a species.

The characteristics of Life in the Son, according to Angie, who is most definitely not a Ph.D...yet.

1. Feeding: Communion: Christ said, "For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." (John 6:55) so He is our sustenance and eating and drinking from him is vital.
   
   Paul said, "11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." (Heb 5:11-14) John's Gospel begins with,"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. The same [the Word] was in the beginning with God and the Word was God. A few verses later he says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt with us." Do you see what they have in common?
   
2. Respiration: God's Inspiration: Until God breathed into us, we could not breath and its Him who sustains our every breath. Job 34:14,15 If it were his [God, the Almighty's] intention and he withdrew his Spirit and breath, all mankind would perish together and man would return to the dust. The word inspiration literally means, to breathe in, and all our inspiration, our understanding and creativity comes from the Creator. Job 32:8 "But it is the Spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding. "
   
3. Internal Transport: Fellowship: Individual Christians, each a temple to the Holy Spirit, together frm the universal Body of God, His Church. In church, there is a division of labor, some are preachers, some are encouragers, some are singers, some are gift givers, etc. For these parts to function as a unified whole, they must have fellowship, the spiritual equivalent to internal transport.
   

Ok, this is getting really, really long. Maybe I'll finish it some other time. But if I don't, here's what I learned so far. You can figure the rest out and get back to me.

To the Valiant Heart.

A' couer valliant, rein de'impossible.

"To the Valiant Heart, nothing is impossible." --Jeanne d'Albret (queen of Navarre, mother of the first of the Bourbon kings, Henry IV, who later adopted the phrase as his motto)

Baby, Don't Be Dumb.

Today's topic in Theology Class: Death. Fr. H used this analogy:

Picture a baby in the womb. He's all happy and warm, got all the food he needs, all the gooey stuff he needs, cushions, sleep, like McDonalds, he's lovin' it. He's like, "This is great! I'm in the womb, no loud noises except Mom's heartbeat, no bright lights, temperature's just right, food goes straight to my tummy, it's cozy." Then...

Birth Day. literally.

Baby comes out and he's screaming! "NOOOOO! Let me back in! It's so loud! so cold! so big and scary! I HATE IT!!"

We look at him and we're like, "Baby, don't be dumb." This world has ice cream, it's got hugs and kisses, it's got friendship and scuba diving, it's got love and grandparents. Why wouldn't a baby want to come here?

A baby doesn't want to come here because a baby doesn't know this place, it only knows the womb. The womb is nice. This place better, it's so much more intense than our experience in the womb.

[We will die, that much is inevitable. We don't want to die because we don't know much about it. Reports of what heaven (or, conversely, hell) is like are rare; as the pirate's parrot said, "Dead men tell no tales."]

The saints from all the ages, if they can see us, look down and say, "Don't be dumb, baby." Heaven is to us what Earth is to a pre-born baby. Don't be dumb, baby.

Trust.