Discovery

I realize that eschatology can be an imprecise study at best, however I heard a sermon this week regarding the end times, which got me thinking. I don't know when the end will come, I don't know if Christians will be taken away before chaos rules the world. But I started thinking about some people I know who already seem to be lost in chaos, before any of this crazy end times chaos has started, and I started getting scared for them. If all the Christians were to disappear, and all the world were to be deceived afterward, it seems impossible to think that anyone could become a follower of God and remain so through persecution without a strong Christian to lift them up. I suppose it all boils down to worry. Worry for my friends and family, that in the end, there will be a right or wrong side and that they will choose the wrong side. But last night, in talking to two friends, I came to the conclusion that I cannot worry for everyone. One friend said, "Worry is an indication that you lack faith in their own decisions." And further, if Jesus really did come to save mankind, then the saving is His to worry about, not mine. I can only do His bidding and learn to listen when He speaks. And tonight I learned that since the burden of worry is lifted off my shoulders, I must fill this new found time with becoming the person I was meant to be, and being that person sincerely, without any fancy glaze on the outside hiding who I really am.

Its a rough morning.

A real post

Some of you may have noticed I haven't written a real entry in quite a long time. "How are you?" you ask. In fact, the last entry where I came close to expressing myself on this blog occurred on August 27th, 2009 and it was a somewhat cryptic message. In actuality, the approach of fall and winter does not sit well with me and often affects my mood. While good things (lots of them) have happened in the past few months, I have not felt motivated to write about it. I sit, and enjoy the thrill of each new thing, however, when it comes to motivation, I tend to feel like the picture above.

Tonight, I feel somewhat restless, as if I know my life has an awesome path ahead of me and I want to go down it, but for some reason I feel stuck and unable to continue forward. It also does not help that I feel as if my body is permanently damaged from my recent head cold, and will never recover the energy I lost to that illness.

Wikianswers

Answers.com is a place where one can ask a question, and anyone in the world can answer it. The world is lucky my sarcasm has not penetrated the vast knowledge contained in answers.com.

Observe the following question:
What are your chances of getting pregnant while I'm on birth control?

My chances of getting pregnant have everything to do with my health and sexual life, and nothing whatsoever to do with your being on birth control. However, I am thankful for your concern, as pregnancy is not something I feel would be beneficial to me at the particular life stage I am enjoying at the moment.

Huh?

Me: Hi, do you have a lost-and-found here?
Her: Yes, what did you lose?
Me: A grey scarf.
Her: What does it look like?
Me: Its grey fabric, fuzzy, long and thin so you can wrap it around your neck...

In short, it looks like a grey scarf.

Chain letters

While throwing out some old papers, I discovered the following chain letter (yes, an actual chain letter like through the mail):

To shorten it a little, I'm going to paraphrase in a few places.

"Dear Meghan

Six kids in 1990 started this chain letter. If it goes through 1999 (insert promise of an outrageous thing that will happen here).

(Insert warning and guilt trip about breaking the chain here.)

Copy this letter word for word, except drop the top name and address and add your name and address at the bottom. Send this letter to 6 kids and then send a postcard to the kid you dropped at the top. Please complete this in 4 days or the chain will be broken. In 24 days you will receive 84 postcards from around the world. (Insert a supposed tie to a reputable entity to make the letter legitimate here.)

6 names and addresses follow."

On the back of the letter, in my handwriting is a whole lot of math. Clearly, I was concerned about the idea of receiving 84 postcards. Now that I have rediscovered this letter, it occurs to me that it is a good thing I did not participate. I would have been opening myself up to the possibility of receiving 46,656 postcards (6 ^ 6 postcards) from around the world in 24 days. I don't have the space for all that! I'm trying to throw stuff out as it is.

It just goes to show that even back then people couldn't do simple math to save their lives.

Labor of Love

It was not a silent night;
There was blood on the ground.
You could hear a woman cry
In the alleyway that night
On the streets of David's town.
And the stable was not clean,
And the cobblestones were cold,
And little Mary full of grace
With tears upon her face
Had no mother's hand to hold.

It was a labor of pain, it was a cold sky above.
But for the girl on the ground in the dark,
With every beat of her beautiful heart,
It was a labor of love.

Noble Joseph by her side,
Callused hands and weary eyes.
No midwives to be found
On the streets of David's town
In the middle of the night.
So he held her and he prayed,
Shafts of moonlight on his face.
But the baby in her womb,
He was the maker of the moon.
He was the Author of the Faith
That could make the mountains move.

It was a labor of pain, it was a cold sky above.
But for the girl on the ground in the dark,
With every beat of her beautiful heart,
It was a labor of love.

For little Mary full of grace, with tears on her face,
It was a labor of love.

It was not a silent night, on the streets of David's town.
~Andrew Peterson