For those who are unaware: At all military base theaters, the National Anthem is played before the movie begins.

This is written by a Chaplain in Iraq :

I recently attended a showing of 'Superman 3' here at LSA Anaconda. We have a large auditorium we use for movies, as well as memorial services and other large gatherings. As is the custom at all military bases, we stood to attention when the National Anthem began before the main feature. All was going well until three-quarters of the way through The National Anthem, the music stopped.

Now, what would happen if this occurred with 1,000 18-22 year-olds back in the States? I imagine there would be hoots, catcalls, laughter, a few rude comments, and everyone would sit down and yell for the movie to begin. Of course, that is, if they had stood for the National Anthem in the first place.

Here in Iraq , 1,000 Soldiers continued to stand at attention, eyes fixed forward. The music started again and the Soldiers continued to quietly stand at attention. But again, at the same point, the music stopped. What would you expect 1,000 Soldiers standing at attention to do?? Frankly, I expected some laughter, and everyone would eventually sit down and wait for the movie to start.

But No!!... You could have heard a pin drop, while every Soldier continued to stand at attention. Suddenly, there was a lone voice from the front of the auditorium, then a dozen voices, and soon the room was filled with the voices of a thousand soldiers, finishing where the recording left off: "And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave, o'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave."

It was the most inspiring moment I have had in Iraq and I wanted you to know what kind of Soldiers are serving you. Remember them as they fight for us!

Pass this along as a reminder to others to be ever in prayer for all our soldiers serving us here at home and abroad. Many have already paid the ultimate price.

Written by Chaplain Jim Higgins
LSA Anaconda is at the Ballad Airport in Iraq , north of Baghdad

Uncommon...

imeem.com

Uncommon - Greg Long & Kristy Starling

---

So this is my theme song right now. I listen to it everyday - and I am continually blessed. Here are the words:

What if there's something bigger for me out there
Than the comfort of a life on this middle ground
I've played it safe but now I can't help but wonder
If maybe I've been missing out

'Cause I look around and see a sea of people
Everybody's moving in the same direction
And I think it's time for me to break away, break away

Chorus
I want to finally take the road less traveled
I want to run away from anything typical
I want the world to see the life I'm living
And call it uncommon

What if the right thing was harder than the wrong thing
But I did it anyway
Standing strong even when no one else was watching
What if I really lived that way

Every heart has its defining moment
This is mine and I'm not gonna miss it

I want to finally take the road less traveled
I want to run away from anything typical
I want the world to see the life I'm living
And call it uncommon

I don't care if it makes me look different
I'm never letting go of my conviction
Let the world see the life I'm living
And call it uncommon

I'm done with the easy way out I
'm done with the easy way out
Done with the easy way out
With the easy way out

What if I made it to the end of my days here
Only to find that my legacy was nowhere to be found
I don't want to waste another second
Give me the strength to start right now
Right now, right now, right now, right now, right now, right now

I take the road less traveled
I want to run away from anything typical
I want the world to see the life I'm living
And call it uncommon

I don't care if it makes me look different
I'm never letting go of my conviction
Let the world see the life I'm living
And call it uncommon Uncommon
Call it uncommon... I'm done with the easy way out

---

What a great outlook... more later! :)

Wow...

I really like not doing things the traditional way... but is this taking it a bit too far? :)

Introductions

I would like to introduce you all to my new niece - well maybe it's a nephew...! My sister had her first ultrasound yesterday and we got to see the pictures, here is my favorite:

So I think that it's going to be a girl, it doesn't matter, but I still think its true! So if I refer to it as a her - it's just because I hate saying "it"! Lets pray for mommy and baby to have a good FULL term!

My Utmost - Who rules?

June 23, 2009
"Acquainted With Grief"
He is . . . a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief —Isaiah 53:3

We are not "acquainted with grief" in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.

We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.

---

So - I'm convicted. After reading this morning's My Utmost for His Highest, Mr. Chambers has brought something to my attention that I know - but haven't thought of in a while. First - I think it's important that we see sin for what it is, "blatant mutiny against God." I have always thought of sin as anything that separates us from God. But I think it's even more than that - when we sin - we are choosing to let that rebellion against God to rule in our lives. When I choose to sin - I am choosing my master, choosing to allow God to die in me. Is that what I want? Is that what we should want? Are the temporal things we struggle with worth killing Christ within us?

You know - when I was younger there was an issue that I struggled with - telling lying. The first time was really hard, but you know every time I told another lie - it got easier! It was because I was allowing sin to rule within me, allowing God's life in me to die. Until I realized that it was a part of me, which scared me. I thought - I have to work harder now at telling the truth than lying. It had taken hold and I was this sin's servant. God forbid!

But there is hope! Mr. Chambers goes on to say "if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed" - Praise the Lord. God gives us the key - by the Blood of Jesus Christ - we can choose God. Choose to serve God with each decision, and every time we do - we kill sin in our lives a little more. I think that, the death of sin in our lives, in itself is worth making those "true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report" choices! And how amazing it will be when the very nature of God is our nature. Every choice - without a thought - will be for life! Are we choosing life today? Are we choosing to kill sin within our will? Our mind? Our emotions? Our desires? What are we doing with the choice we have?

---

Lord I pray that you would help me choose you, choose to kill sin within me. Let every part of me be choose your life. Show me the places that I still allow sin to rule within me. Show me how I choose to be in blatant mutiny with you! That is not my desire, God, I desire you to be the only Lord in my life, that I would worship you with everything I do. That sin would not have hold of me and that the work, Jesus, you did on the cross would be perfected within my soul. Let me be so in tune with you that your nature is my nature. Let me see the true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy things, and not only think on them - but choose them. Let me choose life over death with everything I do!
~ Amen

Probably my all time favorite skits!

Creation vs. Evolution - Hope

Creation vs. Evolution - Random

Creation vs. Evolution - Faith

:)

Youtube playlist!

Validation

awesome! Thanks Susie!

A Commentary on Twitter

Even if you don't know what Twitter is - you will still enjoy this!

Disclaimer: May obtain objectionable material... :) sorry...
Disclaimer 2: I twitter on occasion... and am fine with it! ;)

New game...

Last weekend we had friends in town and we played a new game (new to my family!) which is now my new favorite: Dominoes!

We had an amazing time with everyone, it's one of my favorite things - you know? To have time to spend with dear friends - great fellowship, marvelous food (thanks to the G. Family! :) ), fun games, and lots of laughing! God has blessed me so much with great friends and family.

Then on friday, I got home from work and there was a package on my porch. I thought - what could it be??? The return address said NE - so I knew it had to be from some of my friends that visited the weekend before. I was right!!! I opened the package to see my very own Dominoes game!

So this afternoon, when my uncle came over, we played Dominoes - even Grammy played! I was going to try and not mention who won... but lets just say Mr. T got second place! :) No worries - you will probably win next time...

So I must say - a GIANT THANK YOU to Miss Alice and fam, you all have blessed me in so many ways through the years and we LOVED having youall around for a bit! And thanks for my wonderful new game! May God bless you and yours!

And thank You, God - for all the wonderful people you have placed in my life!

The Delight of Sacrifice

So the question that's been rolling around in my head since church on Sunday - if I am not satisfied with my relationship with God - why am I not asking for more? If I have a friend that I want to get to know better - I call them, make time for them, make myself available, my agenda isn't important - only their's. But do I do that with God? Then I was reading My Utmost for His Highest today and this is the scripture for the day:

I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. (2 Corinthians 12:15)

I think God is amazing - I don't think I say that enough. Just as I'm struggling with wanting a better/deeper relationship with God and wanting to serve Him more faithfully, Mr. Chambers hits the nail on the head. He talked about Paul pouring himself out for his Beloved. That his only goal was to do the bidding of Christ. Can I say that scripture with the same assurance? "Paul said that he knew how to be a "doormat" without resenting it" (My Utmost). How often do we lay down our own comforts for what God asks us to do? Our only legacy not pointing to ourselves but rather the One who saved us. Mr. Chambers went on to say that Paul's goal wasn't freedom - which is so often the cry - but rather devotion to Jesus. What an amazing testimony!

"Lord let my action match my words - I want you, only you, and I don't know if I'm their yet - but I want my desire to be "spent for you", that I would serve you with delight, with a singleness of focus, and let that focus not waver!"

Reader? :)

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader   You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

3 guides for resolutions

I read on LifeWay the following 3 things that we should be using as our guide for making resolutions: 

1. "For the body, assume you have had a heart attack; now live accordingly."
2. "For the heart, assume everything you say about another, they can overhear; now speak accordingly."
3. "For the spirit, assume you have a one-on-one visit with your Creator every quarter; now live accordingly." 
   As a believer, we don't have to wait three months to visit with God. we can, and should meet with Him constantly. However, the thought of scheduling a regular "performance review" with the Lord could and should have an impact on my daily decisions and thus my life.

Kind of interesting - eh?

The author of that artical also said: Once a person reaches the point that he or she sees no value in seeking to become better by resolving to change, that person has given up on living life and has settled on simply existing. This, if you think about it, is in and of itself a resolution –- a resolution to settle for mediocrity.

Let's not settle for mediocrity - but always strive to change and to become more like Christ.  Which also reminds me of this Oswald Chamber's 12/2 entry - thanks Kate for pointing it out to me - and it was from my birthday! ;) 
"Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship with God that shows itself to be true even amid the seemingly unimportant aspects of human life... I am called to live in such a perfect relationship with God that my life produces a yearning for God in the lives of others, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God’s purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He wants!

This is the opposite of mediocrity - and it's what we are called to. So lets make our resolutions - consistant with what we are called to - and lets stand by them! No small task but we are able - in our weekness He is strong.

New Year's Resolutions

I know it's dangerous... thinking that is.

New Year's resolutions... everyone does them - how many keep them? The research I've read say about half of us keep them past the 2 month point. Kinda interesting - but probably not surprising. So I made a few - just like always, one of them is that I've started trying to take a picture of everything I eat... could be entertaining - probably will be very dull to most...  The other has to do with my relationship with God, I am going to read from God's Word every day. In the past I do well with this for a bit - but in the end - it usually slips away, don't get me wrong, I read it - when I have time... or when something comes to me... or at church... or when I know I'm going to talk to someone that will require me to have some scriptural backing... you know what I mean. But one thing that I struggle with is having a routine - getting in the habit of doing things - mostly doing things that are good for me. Going to be on time, getting up in time to actually have a morning routine and not just getting up and rushing to work, eating right - naturally as well as spiritually - and lets face it - it takes more time to do that, you have to plan and actually work to eat right, you can't forget and "just grab something somewhere..." and you can't just sit on the couch and watch whatever is on. You have to prepare food ahead and you have to put effort into reading instead of watching TV. My friend Joie does much better at this than I do, but she is a good example for me.

So here is one of the things that I'm working on to keep myself on task, I've started reading Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest and actually reading the scripture and praying and thinking about what it's talking about, not just reading it every once in a while when I'm bored... That's the hope for my morning routine.