All in All

GAH! I'm so tired of people saying they want their own Edward or Jacob or Harry or whatever other popular fictional character is out there. I saw a flair a few minutes ago on Facebook that did, however, make me smile. "I don't need an Edward... I have a Jesus."

How true is this, people? I know how bad I am about wanting these things I don't have, and this brings this home for me. Why do I want anything else when I can have Jesus Christ, the Creator of the universe! It just hits me sometimes how worried and worldly I can be.

My other thing is this... A few flairs down from this, I saw one of those "Team Jacob" flairs. If you know me, you know I'm a twi-hard. BUT it frustrates me when I see those, "Edward ruined real men for me" flairs and things of that effect. Yes, I think Meyer is a wonderful author, but she's not God! I'll never understand how anyone can say that a fictional character ruined real people for him or her, when really, nothing can be better than the real thing. Edward Cullen is a fictional character, created by (wo)man. Real people, with their strengths and weaknesses, are GOD'S creation! Nothing created by man will ever trump something God has made... Look at flowers. Sure, plastic ones can be pretty, but they are never as wonderful as the fragrant, fading, soft real ones... There's no comparison. God wins, ever time.

Please, please, please, please, PLEASE pray!

Ok, so I have three friends/brothers in the military, and I'm begging you guys to pray for them! One, a youth pastor from a church I went to St. Louis with, is to be shipped to Iraq on October 4 of this year. Another is scheduled to leave for Iraq sometime in 2010. The third is scheduled to leave for Afghanistan sometime between March and June.

I care a lot about these guys, and I'm worried about all of them. I'm begging you guys to lift these guys up in prayer and just ask God to keep His hand on them during their time they're over there and to bring all three home safely, preferably to the United States.

Thank you guys! Love you and God bless.

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Does your life ever just feel... Loud?

'Cause I don't know about anyone else, but sometimes I feel like everything is happening at once, and there's no calm; it's just chaos. Between work, school, friends, guys, trials, and our own selves, there's no quiet. Even in the silence of a room, your mind is still shouting, pointing out things you need to do or shouldn't do or have done but shouldn't have... It fills with tomorrow or yesterday or sometimes even right now. No matter what it is (and I'm not saying it's not important, don't get me wrong. Sometimes we have to think about that stuff), it's still there, and it's still screaming for your thoughts and attention.

I don't know if anyone else ever feels this, but I often feel that God's voice and Jesus himself get lost in the mess of other sounds cluttering our minds. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow dig themselves in there, and they fill our heads with noise.

The Bible tells us that the Father's voice is found in the quiet whisper. Check out 1 Kings 19:11...

¹¹ The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Amazing, terrifying, earth-shattering things happened, and even though we know God was there because He is omnipresent, He didn't speak through the loud, flashy things. Christ spoke in the gentle whisper. And if the powerful wind and shattering rocks and the earthquake and the fire had all been happening at the same time, God's whisper would have been drowned out.

This is one of those 'three fingers pointing back at me' things... Because as I say this, it probably applies more to me than anyone else. Because that is SO us. We let life be loud, and we don't take the time to quiet our minds. With our own earthquakes- whether they be trials, boyfriends, school, work, sin- drown out the quiet voice, the gentle whisper in which God will change our hearts!

This is just as much a reminder to me as it is to you... Quiet your mind and your heart, and listen for that gentle, loving whisper, for it brings the presence of the Lord and He will change your life.

(P.S. To make sense of the title, the word God is mixed into the clutter, basically unnoticeable, just like when we let our minds get cluttered... We drown Him out.)