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Summer by the numbers
3 months ago
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Holy Discontent!
What a week this has been with all the celebrity news and of course, the Jon and Kate+8 drama (I do not follow the show but have heard so much about it on Facebook and in the news that it just leaves me appalled the way they are dragging their children through this media circus)! Today while I was at Church we had the treat of taking a break from our regular message series and got to watch a message from Willow Creek Chuch and got to watch the message from their annual leadership conference which inspired the book "Holy Discontent: Fueling the Fire that Ignites your personal Vision."
I found a review on Amazon.com that really illustrates what the message of the book is about. Here is a Snippet of it "Hybels doesn't come across as an expert but rather as a fellow traveler cheering us on to find our holy discontent, develop it, and keep it alive. If you find yourself frustrated by injustices in this world and wanting to do more than just complain about it, Hybels encourages: 'Figure out what you can't stand. Channel your holy discontent energy into helping to fix what's broken in this life."
The teaser for the book asks this question: What is the one aspect of this broken world that, when you see it, touch it, get near it, you just can't stand? Very likely, that firestorm of frustration reflects your holy discontent, a reality so troubling that you are thrust off the couch and into the game. This is what inspired me to write this post today. I have had the moments in my life where I got to this point and these inspired me in my life. Here are the areas in my life where I have had that Holy Discontentment put on my heart.
1) Fighting Legalism in Churches--As someone who has been rejected by a Church in the past because of Legalistic issues, I find it very important for Churches to reach out and be supportive of people, not judgemental. When I say this I mean political or otherwise. As a Christian I do not believe I have to be a cookie cutter image identical to everyone else. I am not perfect but I also do not feel shaming people for their faults is going to convince them to walk into your church door. It's judgement and non-caring attitudes I feel that have causes a lot of churches to close their doors. Today only 30% of Americans attend Church. I am doing my part to help my Church reach out to others in the community.
2) Mental Health& The Disabled--I get so tired of people telling others who suffer from depression or other mental health issues or physical disabilities to "Snap Out of it". You would not say that to someone who has diabetes or Parkinsons. I also get frustrated when politicians go and cut funding in these areas but open entertainment halls or baseball stadiums. This area is one I focus on through my career but I believe my career has a dual purpose. It's not just a paycheck for me, it's to help others but to have someone who cares out them and is willing to take the time to sit with them and listen.
There are more but these are the big two in my life. I already asked the library to purchase the book for me so I can dive in and learn more about this issue. I know this is not your average, "New Things" post but it has been an important new thing for me.
-Jackie
I found a review on Amazon.com that really illustrates what the message of the book is about. Here is a Snippet of it "Hybels doesn't come across as an expert but rather as a fellow traveler cheering us on to find our holy discontent, develop it, and keep it alive. If you find yourself frustrated by injustices in this world and wanting to do more than just complain about it, Hybels encourages: 'Figure out what you can't stand. Channel your holy discontent energy into helping to fix what's broken in this life."
The teaser for the book asks this question: What is the one aspect of this broken world that, when you see it, touch it, get near it, you just can't stand? Very likely, that firestorm of frustration reflects your holy discontent, a reality so troubling that you are thrust off the couch and into the game. This is what inspired me to write this post today. I have had the moments in my life where I got to this point and these inspired me in my life. Here are the areas in my life where I have had that Holy Discontentment put on my heart.
1) Fighting Legalism in Churches--As someone who has been rejected by a Church in the past because of Legalistic issues, I find it very important for Churches to reach out and be supportive of people, not judgemental. When I say this I mean political or otherwise. As a Christian I do not believe I have to be a cookie cutter image identical to everyone else. I am not perfect but I also do not feel shaming people for their faults is going to convince them to walk into your church door. It's judgement and non-caring attitudes I feel that have causes a lot of churches to close their doors. Today only 30% of Americans attend Church. I am doing my part to help my Church reach out to others in the community.
2) Mental Health& The Disabled--I get so tired of people telling others who suffer from depression or other mental health issues or physical disabilities to "Snap Out of it". You would not say that to someone who has diabetes or Parkinsons. I also get frustrated when politicians go and cut funding in these areas but open entertainment halls or baseball stadiums. This area is one I focus on through my career but I believe my career has a dual purpose. It's not just a paycheck for me, it's to help others but to have someone who cares out them and is willing to take the time to sit with them and listen.
There are more but these are the big two in my life. I already asked the library to purchase the book for me so I can dive in and learn more about this issue. I know this is not your average, "New Things" post but it has been an important new thing for me.
-Jackie
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Ouch ooch eech ouch~
Last night we finally got the last load of stuff from the apartment. My husband and his friend did not get to our new place until about 8:45-9pm though. What a haul! We did not finish until after 11pm on a work night. Thank God I have such great people living in our complex, offering to open the doors for us and assisting with things that needed two hands. With that said one of my new things for the week is moving at night, going to bed super late on a work night, still getting to work at a reasonable hour and though my clothes are in piles and boxes, looking my best this morning anyway! Honestly though, I will be glad when all this moving stuff is over. We clean out the old place this wknd and check out on Monday. Gah!
I have also started to take my new commute to work. No more 694 to 94 which is a big old mess! Now I get to take 35W which is a lot easier of a commute. Just have to take 35W a small ways and then take back roads to get to work...it's nice. The photo above is the view of the city I get to see each morning right before I reach my exit. What's even nicer is that I pass by 2 of my favorite eating establishments on the way home--Counsins Subs and Baja Fresh. I save those for special occasions but I love that they are there when need them.
I have also started to take my new commute to work. No more 694 to 94 which is a big old mess! Now I get to take 35W which is a lot easier of a commute. Just have to take 35W a small ways and then take back roads to get to work...it's nice. The photo above is the view of the city I get to see each morning right before I reach my exit. What's even nicer is that I pass by 2 of my favorite eating establishments on the way home--Counsins Subs and Baja Fresh. I save those for special occasions but I love that they are there when need them.
Friday, June 19, 2009
New things of yesteryear
Today I was doing my routine checking of e-mail before work and came across a blog about Food and Drink Trends of the 1990's......Surge, Mentos, Koala Yummies, etc. When I thought about the post I realized there were a lot of trends I enjoyed that were not in this post...Doritos 3D, Clearly Canadian, Pizza Hut's Bigfoot pizza and of course Crystal Pepsi. I went beyond what I would normally do and researched some of these trends--the biggest one being the Okay Soda Trend. The idea for Okay soda came from the same gentleman who came up with the idea for New Coke in the 80s. They found that Coke was the 2nd most commonly used word in the world while the #1 word was Ok. So they came out with Ok soda and released it in limited test markets (Minneapolis, MN included) in 1994. Despite a strong "Gen X" ad campaign..the soda flopped. I remember trying it and thinking to myself "This is just okay...nothing special." I also started a dialogue on Facebook posting the article about the food and drink trends of the 90's and also talking about my favorite 90's trends. Over all, I love 1980's Nostalgia the best (80's items, 80's movies, 80's cit coms...) but since my teenage/college years were in the 1990's it's also nice to take a trip down the road of that decade once in awhile. Above is a picture of Mario Brothers soda. For the life of me I cannot remember this at all. Can anyone else?
-Jackie
Thursday, June 18, 2009
In With the New
Tomorrow will be one week since we officially moved in to our new place. Even though we do not have our stuff entirely out yet, it's been a lot nice being here. (Praise God!) This is the first apartment where we have been on the 3rd floor and have a view of the city from our deck. We also for the first time have our own walking trail and field area behind the complex. Besides picking up a load or two this wknd we will probably be taking it easy until next week when we can get the rest of our stuff out and start preparing for check out on the 29th. I have taken 10-15 minutes off my commute too which is really nice.
Some other new things for the week.
1) WE have chosen to go without TV until we get our DTV rebate card in the mail. I procrastinated on this one, which is highly unlike me. It's been nice to not have TV as a distraction.
2) I did rent "She's just not that into you." I thought it might be kind of dumb but I was actually pleasantly surprised. Besides one storyline and some slow moving points in the movie, it was actually okay!
3) I tried Jones Soda for the first time. I have never had a soda that tastes so much like the flavor it is representing! (Green Apple). I will have to try some other flavors down the line too.
I know I have been away for awhile but am hoping to get back on track with keeping you all updated on my new things.
Take Care,
Jackie
Some other new things for the week.
1) WE have chosen to go without TV until we get our DTV rebate card in the mail. I procrastinated on this one, which is highly unlike me. It's been nice to not have TV as a distraction.
2) I did rent "She's just not that into you." I thought it might be kind of dumb but I was actually pleasantly surprised. Besides one storyline and some slow moving points in the movie, it was actually okay!
3) I tried Jones Soda for the first time. I have never had a soda that tastes so much like the flavor it is representing! (Green Apple). I will have to try some other flavors down the line too.
I know I have been away for awhile but am hoping to get back on track with keeping you all updated on my new things.
Take Care,
Jackie
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Figuring out that there is a reason for this
As a few of you already know, we are in the process of moving out of somewhere that in our two years of living there has become a rat hole. The funny thing is, we passed up the place we are moving into on Friday for our current place two years ago because they had a better move in special (and because back then the complex looked 110% better than it does today). Normally I would be kicking myself for not moving there two years ago, but last night I realized something....
In 2007 I was working at a different job where I would end up getting home around 6 or 7pm. I had to do a lot of driving for this job and if we had been living (at our soon to be new home) I would have been taking a different direction home on August 1st, 2007. That direction would have put me on 35W the day the bridge went down. I remember the events of that day very clearly and though I can't tell you for sure what time I would have been on that bridge, I am grateful I had a different route to take home during that time. So my new thing is being grateful for the good times I had at our current place and how life has a funny way of working things out sometimes. (With that said my heart continues to go out to all of those who were involved or lost someone on the bridge that fateful day).
-Jackie
In 2007 I was working at a different job where I would end up getting home around 6 or 7pm. I had to do a lot of driving for this job and if we had been living (at our soon to be new home) I would have been taking a different direction home on August 1st, 2007. That direction would have put me on 35W the day the bridge went down. I remember the events of that day very clearly and though I can't tell you for sure what time I would have been on that bridge, I am grateful I had a different route to take home during that time. So my new thing is being grateful for the good times I had at our current place and how life has a funny way of working things out sometimes. (With that said my heart continues to go out to all of those who were involved or lost someone on the bridge that fateful day).
-Jackie
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
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