LOT 8 Viewing Party

If you were at all interested in Project Runway, then you know that our very own Chole Dao from Houston won! And if you're a Chole fan, then you know she has her own store, LOT 8, on Kirby. Friday night from 8-11 she'll have her winning collection at the store for everyone to see, and she will be there to autograph LOT 8 tanks. If you can't make it Friday night, then the collection will also be there Saturday from 10am to 7pm. Anyway, I'm super excited, so I wanted to pass the information along to my fellow Project Runway fans. ;)

Bring It On!

Laurie has challenged me to a fight over Kirk Phifer all because of an innocent picture. She even went so far to say that I'm in it for the ring and not the man. Do I come across that shallow? I'm never one to back out of a fight, so Laurie, BRING IT ON! I do hope that after I beat you up, we can still be friends ;).

BTW: A thought just occurred to me... Kirk hasn't said one thing about this little quarrel. You know he knows about it; he lurks the blogs. I'm wondering if I should proceed to fight for a man that's leading on two wonderful, Godly (and don't forget beautiful) Christian women. What do you think?

Twitter-Patted

Quote of the day:

Nearly everybody gets twitter-patted in the springtime. For example, you’re walking along minding your own business; you’re looking neither to the left, nor to the right when all of a sudden you run smack into a pretty face Who-o! Who-o! You begin to get weak in the knees, your head’s in a whirl! And then you feel light as feather, and before you know it you’re walking on air, and then, you know what? You're knocked for a loop! And you completely lose your head!

Here's to Spring Time Twitter-Pats ;).

Continue to Work Out Your Salvation

"Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling..." - Philippians 2:12

This verse always use to leave me a bit perplexed. I wondered what it meant to "work out your salvation". I was thinking about that verse again tonight as I was reading. You know how something reminds you of something else and your mind starts rambling. Now when I think of Php 2:12, I'm not confused because of a "blurb" I read in my Bible a while back. Scofield really made it clear to me.

The Hebrew and Greek words for "salvation" imply the ideas of deliverance, safety, preservation, healing, and soundness: "Salvation" is the great inclusive word of the Gospel, gathering into itself all the redemptive acts and processes: justification, redemption, grace, atonement, imputation, forgiveness, sanctification, and glorification.

Salvation is in three tenses:

1) The Christian has been saved from the guilt and penalty of sin (Lk 7:50; 1 Co 1:18; 2 Co 2:15; Eph 2:5,8; 2 Ti 1:9) and is safe.

2) The Christian is being saved from the habit and dominion of sin (Ro 6:14; 8:2; 2 Co 3:18; Gal 2:19-20; Php 1:19; 2:12-13; 2 Th 2:13). And

3) The Christian will be saved at the Lord's return, from all the bodily infirmities that are the result of sin and God's curse upon the sinful world (Ro 8:18-23; 1 Co 15:42-44), and brought into entire conformity to Christ (Ro 13:11; Heb 10:36; 1 Pe 1:5; 1 Jn 3:2). Salvation is by grace through faith, is a free gift and is wholly without works (Ro 3:27-28; 4:1-8; 6:23; Eph 2:8). The divine order is: first salvation, then works (Eph 2:9-10;

Tit 3:5-8).

"...for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose." - Philippians 2:13

Because of salvation, we as Christians are being saved from the dominion of sin because God works in us to will and act according to His good purpose. Praise the Lord that because of Jesus' redemptive act on the cross, we are no longer slaves to sin (Ro 6:6)! Now if only we would act that way...

CHoCoLaTe

The five elements that make up chocolate are:

C - carbon
Ho - holmium
Co - cobalt
La - lanthanum
Te - tellurium

Together they make chocolate. Who knew that when combined they would taste so good?

BTW: I'm really not that smart; it was one of my brain teasers this week. Just thought you would like to know ;).

Waiting...

There are three answers to prayer: 1) Yes 2) No and 3) Wait. Right now the answer to my prayers are "wait". When you're waiting for answers that will determine your future, it can be very difficult. I was reading over past entries in my journal the other night, and I was surprised to read an entry from October that began much like the one I had just written. I was basically praying for the Lord to help me trust Him during this waiting time. I didn't realize it had been so long. I often go back to a quote for encouragement by Oswalt Chambers from "My Utmost For His Highest" that I wrote in my Bible:

"What we see as only the process of reaching a particular end, God sees as the goal itself...His purpose is for me to depend on Him and His power now... If we realize that moment by moment obedience is the goal, then each moment as it comes is precious."

So instead of feeling like I'm wasting my life while I wait for an answer, I'm resting in the fact that I'm actually obeying the Lord by waiting and trusting Him.

And just to refine me even more, another load gets thrown on the already heavy pile. I was telling Karla the other day that some people say that God will not give you more than you can handle. I completely disagree. God does give us more than we can handle, so we will give it to Him instead of trying to deal with it ourselves. In response, we will acknowlege His glory and in return glorify the Lord. If God does not give us more than we can handle, then why did He tell Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness"? Paul's response? "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

Like Fred Luter preached on Sunday, sometimes when our faith is attacked, fear sets in. But a friend reminded me of a verse in Mark 5:36. Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe."

So, I want to encourage you that if God gives you more than you can handle, then give it to Him. He can do a lot better job with it than we can! And if fear starts to creep in, "don't be afraid; just believe."

"Cast all your anxiety on HIM because HE cares for you." 1 Peter 5:7

Are Christians Too Lazy?

I read an article from my "Christianity Today" email called "Spiritual Fastfood". They were talking about a new Bible that came out in September called The 100-Minute Bible. It's basically a summary of the Bible that can be read in 100 minutes. They also mentioned The Bible in 90 Days that Zondervan publishes and The HCSB Light Speed Bible. "The Bible in 90 Days" takes you through the Bible in 90 days by reading twelve pages a day (taking approximately one hour to read). And the "HCSB Light Speed Bible" teaches the reader a "speed-reading technique" that enables the reader to read through the Bible in 24 hours. Although I don't so much have a problem with "The Bible in 90 Days" (although I don't recommend it), I have issues with the other two. The Bible is the WORD OF GOD, God's letter to His Children. It burns me that people settle for a summary of it or speed-read through it. Martin Luther read through the Bible so many times that he could give you a summary of every chapter in every book - that should convict us. To quote the article:

The Bible has long been one of the world's least-read bestsellers. According to pollster George Barna's January 2005 survey of more than 1,000 adults, 45 percent said they read the Bible during a typical week. But publisher Zondervan said that while 91 percent of Americans own at least one Bible, only 22 percent have read through the entire text.

I think Christians are way too content to read what other people have to say about the Bible instead of reading it for themselves. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for Bible Studies, but we should also dig into the Word of God for ourselves. I agree with Schultz:

"[The Bible] is intended to be read slowly, studied, memorized, and meditated upon, rather than becoming the object of a slick speed-reading course."

A Bible Reading Calendar that I recommend is Robert Murray M'Cheyne's. It takes you through the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice in a year. If you haven't read the whole Bible, then I encourage you to.

Stop Buggin' Me

So, it all started last week when I was attacked by a dragonfly in the shower. The thing literally flew right towards me. I got the shower head and sprayed it down. The bathroom was drenched with water, but the thing finally drowned. I thought it was never going to die!

Then Saturday, our house was invaded by wasps. One got in my bathroom (popular place for insects I suppose). I locked it up and got my sister to rescue me. Melanie, my brave hero, killed it. (Thanks again.)

And this morning as I was driving to work, a bug that I can't quite describe flew through my moonroof. The thing kept flying right in front of my view just to taunt me. So, I was driving down 290 with my left hand on the steering wheel and my right hand with a rolled up magazine trying to swat the little creature. I was unsuccessful, but I probably entertained some confused on-lookers. Fortunately, once I got to work, the flying thing flew out when I opened my door . At least it won't be there on the way home.

A Few Rodeo Pictures

Melody settled for a black cowboy hat (see previous post). Maybe next year she'll get her cowboy in time for the rodeo.

I'm trying to defend myself against Alison. Who said she was the sweetest person they know? She almost took my head off! And she smiled in the process.

I just love the rodeo! It's the only time of year that I somewhat enjoy the smell of fresh manure, beer, cigarette smoke, fried food, and dirty animals.

Yes, this is George. Yes, we were sitting at the very top. Yes, we could still hear him. And yes, we had lots of fun.

Fried Oreos

These are fried oreos. Sound disgusting? Actually, they're pretty good - greasy, but good. We had heard about them from various people, so we thought we'd try them out. They taste like funnel cakes with chocolate in the middle. This place that sells them (in the carnival area of the rodeo) also fries twinkies, cookie dough, candy bars and all sorts of other stuff. I think they're trying to kill America one heart-attack at a time.

Black Cowboy

So, I went to the rodeo last night with Alison and Melody (George Strait was wonderful by the way - don't be jealous). I emailed Melody to see if she wanted to borrow my black cowboy hat, but instead I wrote:

"...Oh, I have a black cowboy if you want to borrow it. I'm wearing a pink one, and I think Alison's going to have one too. You're more than welcome to it."

Her response?

"...And Kelly, I would love a black cowboy.... although I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to wear him.... Well, I guess I'll sort it out tomorrow."

;) Very funny, Melody! I guess I should read over my emails before I send them to people. Just in case you were wondering, we all looked very cute in our cowboy hats. I'll upload a picture soon.