Yikes!  August 2???  Seriously. . . . That's bad.  Well I am not dead.  I must tell you that there are thirty six days until Christmas and I must extend to you an invitation to my myspace site here:

www.myspace.com/megasparkle04

Go there.  More updated.  *laughs* It certainly couldn't be less, right?  Love you!!

:o)

Yup.

That's all I have to say.......

that and.......

3 DAYS

Done now.

Faith Exemplified

My friend Chris is amazing to me.  Yet again, I am going to feature one of his postings here.  Talk about a true witness of Christ.  And I know that praise embarrasses him, but truly, I am not praising Chris.  I am praising Christ who lives in and is reflected through the things Chris does. 

Here's what Chris had to say:

a period of absense, or the feeling thereof Some people think, all to often, of the phrase "God is in control" as a Sunday morning creed.  The very idea  of a God helps them sleep at night but is so absurd when applied to reality. I'm finding that the phrase, "God is in control" is hardly one to help you sleep at night. Loans are falling through, my family is having crazy difficulties, health issues are in abundance, and I'm stuck in a place I can do absolutely nothing about it.  Which brought me to the beatitudes in Matthew.  Yeah, it's a bible thing, but bear with me.  I want you to understand something.  I'm gonna go through em all because most people read them and smile and feel all happy.  Let me make something clear, the underlying issue is not to make you smile and feel warm fuzzies, but a sober acceptance of what's to come in your life. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God." Yeah, it sounds nice, and it is.  But look at it.  Poor in spirit.  Sometimes translated as humble.  It shows that you've experienced enough to know you're not in control and you need help.  You don't dare be proud because by now, you know you can't fix it. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." To mourn, you have to have something to mourn about.  Often I've read that and not applied it to me.  I don't apply it to circumstances.  "Blessed are those who mourn the loss of loans, for they will be comforted," or "Blessed are those who's grandfather has diabetes but he doesn't do anything about it, for they will be comforted."  "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." Meek.  Substitution for submissive.  Those that submit to God will inherit the earth.  Again, apply it to circumstance.  I know I don't submit everything to God.  Example: My loans.  (Yes, it's gonna be a running theme here, STUF)  I have to accept a sucky circumstance.  In order to submit, there must be a command.  This means no matter how bad the command may seem, I have to submit to the will of Something higher. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." What happens when you're hungry or thirsty?  You get irritable, tired, grumpy.  Eventually you find it hard to go on.  Think about ground when there's been little rain.  It gets cracked and dried (dur on the dried part).  For one to be filled, they have to feel the pangs of hunger and the sharpness of thirst.  It's desperation.  "Blessed are those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy." To be merciful, you must be offended in a way that you had the chance to retaliate.  Mercy isn't just saying, "Jerkface, you're lucky I didn't punch you," but to feel utter compassion for those that offend you.  For those that make fun of you.  Think of all the times someone's ever done something or said something to hurt you.  I certainly don't find myself with the ability to feel mercy towards many of them. "Blessed  are the peacemakers...." (I'm getting lazy) To have someone make peace, there must be a lack of peace to begin with.  To live in a warring world and live each day as peaceful as you can.  I'm not talking hardcore zen meditation peace, though often that does instill a sense of calm, I'm talking about the peace that stems from seeing a situation and wanting a resolution.  "Blessed are those who are persecuted..." This one's the most obvious of all.  Persecution isn't just being called something once or twice.  Persecution, in this instance, is the act of two people.  One, doing the persecution, and the second being the persecuted who continues inspite of the persecution.  To be insulted and give up is not persecution.  It's not being a martyr.  None of the bruised ego's who got hurt once and gave in (on this instance) can be counted as persecuted.  Persecution involves perseverance, be it willing or unwilling. So now that you've stuck with me so far, let me tie it all together. The people who say "God is in control" and never had the chance to prove otherwise have no idea what they're talking about.  They read the above words only as niceties to live by.  Those who say "God is in control" and have lived proving it see those  above statements as promises of bad times in life.  I wish I were more the second than I was the first.

Posted 7/25/2006 at 1:18 PM - email it Give eProps or Post a Comment

After taking the time to catch up on my subscription readings and realizing with a sinking feeling that it took almost ten pages of scrolling to do so, I have resigned myself to updating.

So much has happened this summer that none of you "I only know what happens in your life if you update your online profile" people could possibly know about and for that I blame myself.  In the beginning of this summer there were travel plans abundant.  I am happy to say that thus far they have not diminished in number or expectation or even duration!  That's a big deal.  My trip to Texas was FABULOUS as usual, thank you, Shandra!  Unfortunately, it was minorly marred by the advances of a stealth Married Guy hitting on me, but we live and we learn, right?  I did get my second peice of art and it is, beautiful, if I do say so myself.  I then arrived back home again.  I have so far completed five summer courses and done exceedingly well in all of them.  I am glad because this means I will be graduating at least on time and perhaps early!  Yay!  My latest trip to Minnesota was equally rewarding.  I got up there safely (a miracle and nothing less) and set up camp.  I then had to break down camp and relocate because my darling Chuck and Charlie decided they liked a different area better.  There is a reason I prefer to follow from the get go.  Anyhow, I reset camp, then wandered off to meetings with various old friends.  My great friends Eric and Duncan were easily located and then of course there was Lizzy, Brian, Suzanne, Charity, Jeff, Randy, Greg, Jason, Ben, Nerissa, and many more old and new faces to find.  God led me to forgiveness of Jon and Becca, which has helped my walk immensely, and I didn't even truly mind the torrential downpour that ensued to effectively force me into sleeping in my car for the remainder of Sonshine 2006.  I have fallen in love with the kind folks at the HM stage and will never again accept duties there as punishment.  (HA!  You've been conquered, Jeff!!)  In the midst of all this I have been working 5 days each week at the Bothwell.  Lovely people, not the coolest job, but it pays the bills for the most part.  Also, I have had the incredible opportunity to get to know a certain Michael.  He is coming to see me in just a little over a week and I can't tell you how psyched I am!  There are so many things you can learn about yourself by getting to know other people.  That is an interesting revelation for me.  There are a million things to do to prepare for his visit, so I made a list and I keep plugging away at it.  In news closer to home, I have lost respect for one person, deepened my respect for a few others, and as a result have changed some things about my class schedule.  My friend Amy showed me a lot about what it means to sit and listen, and while I still have a lot to learn on the subject, I am glad to have been a set of ears.  One of my best friends of almost ten years now is finally seeing what it means to be pursued by a Godly man.  In this instance I won't use names, but those who need to know know what I am talking about.   I am looking forward to a trip to North Carolina's coast very soon, especially for the good company and great conversations I know will happen.  I couldn't ask for a better person to accompany me.  Also in the future, there appear to be a great many opportunities in the ministry arena.  I can't wait to dig in and get going on the Roses again, and the as-yet-unnamed women's ministry that Mandy is working to set up will be a joy to help with.  To see the Cru Kids again will be nice, and I can honestly say that faith organization is one of my favorite parts of CMSU.  I miss my roommate a lot, so school starting will fix that as well.  Christina, you must come home soon!!!  The only other news is that on August 21, I will renounce all claims to teenage years and become 20.  My little brother will be helping me to plan the party and it will have some completely childish theme.  Expect Spiderman or something similar.  

This has been an update.  I hope you feel like you have been with me through it all.  I really just gave the highlights because I knew it would take too stinkin long to tell you all the wonderful details.  In summary, I am happy and I am learning, and God is still romancing me.  It has been an amazing summer thus far, and only getting better. God bless!!!! 

~Megan~