Dandelions

On a beautiful morning such as this present day's, I found it impossible to resist the urge to take out my camera and snap a few shots. Of course, with the lovely little yellow flowers dominating the landscape it's not surprising that the dandelions were the subject of my  photo shoot.

What Guys Are Looking For

A friend posted a link to this blog on facebook. It's right on the money so I thought I'd share it with you.

What a Christian Guy Is (and Isn’t) Looking For In a Girl

 It would be foolish of me to speak for the entire male gender, so I’m not gonna try. I AM gonna go ahead and speak for myself and other good, stand-up, Christian fellas out there though… Because I’m fairly certain they’ll agree with or at least relate to the following thoughts. I’m also going to assume that most of you reading this are female, because…let’s be honest…if you’re here, you clicked on a blog about “what a guy is looking for.” There could just as well be a blog post about what girls are looking for, but I’m not the person to write that one (maybe YOU are). That said, here are some things that go through our often-oblivious, but occasionally-observant male minds.

    What we’re not looking for… 

Essentially, everything that a guy finds unattractive in a girl is rooted in one thing…

Insecurity.

When a girl is self-involved, speaks highly of herself, and puts others down to make herself feel better… It’s probably because she’s insecure. 

When a girl is constantly putting herself down, making self-deprecating comments, and lacking self-confidence… It’s probably because she’s insecure. 

When a girl acts provocatively, says things to get attention, and dresses to turn heads… It’s probably because she’s insecure.

When a girl is clingy, needy, desperate, and assumes the worst… It’s probably because she’s insecure. 

When a girl has poor self-image, doesn’t think she’s pretty, and the way she presents herself doesn’t reflect how God views her… It’s probably because she’s insecure.

See a pattern? Of course, no one will ever be perfect, and we all have struggles (us guys have our fair share of insecurity issues, trust me). Regardless of male or female, nearly every word and action can be traced back to the way we view ourselves.

    What we’re looking for…

A girl who knows who she is. 

The only way a girl (or person, for that matter) can know who she is, is to understand how God sees her… 

How does God see you?

He created you.

“For we are God’s masterpiece.” (Eph. 2:10a NLT)

He knows you.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” (Jer. 1:5a)

He loves you.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” (John 15:9)

He thinks you’re beautiful.

“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.” (1 Pet 3:3-4)

No seriously, He thinks you’re really beautiful.

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” (Psalm 139:14)

He gave His life for you.

“While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8b)

He’s there for you. 

“The Lord is near to all who call on him.” (Psalm 145:18a ESV)

He has plans for you.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer. 29:11)

    This is how God sees you. He sees a heart that He created and longs to have divine relationship with through Jesus. A person who has embraced that relationship and can grasp how valuable the heavenly Father says they are, is a person who can share in a healthy, earthly relationship…and that’s what the good guys are looking for.

    A girl who understands how she’s viewed in the Lord’s eyes, can be irresistible to a guy whose eyes are on the Lord.

 

Our God's Alive

This past weekend I headed down to Chicago, Illinois with my brother and some friends from church for a Bible conference. It was so edifying! I learned so much and had such a fun time!!! I was able to meet a whole bunch of really nice people and see old, dear friends.
There were actually two conferences going on at once. One was geared towards people going through a college series, "Grace School of the Bible" and the other was aimed at young people as it was a Purity Conference. I was able to sit in on three of the GSB messages but spent most of the weekend learning and relearning things about what God's word has to say about purity.


I was hoping to post a few picture, but I left my camera with some friends.... so I have to wait a while before I get it back.


On the long 41/2 hour drive one of the guys played this song that was new to me. It has a powerful and uplifting message. Give it a listen:

In the Local Paper

Our new, local paper, The Pulse, decided to have a whole issue with articles and whatnot provided by the readers. Upon hearing this I thought I might as well send in a poem and see if they'd publish it. I wasn't expecting that they would so I was surprised when I received a confirmation email asking for more information and a photograph to add to the paper!

I have to admit, it's a bit freaky having a poem out there for the "world" to see.... but it's exciting all the same!
Here's the link to page: 
 Wisconsin Poem, 1st page, 
 Wisconsin Poem, 2nd page

60 Seconds

My mom and I discovered this cool little website where you are given 60 seconds to write as much as you possibly can with one word to work off of. There's a new word every day. It's quite neat!

It's a really good exercise that will stretch your imagination and expand your writing abilities. 

Lets see how creative you can be in a few seconds.... 

Writing in 60 Seconds

Simply Marvelous

We celebrated Easter on Monday and my parents, siblings, niece & nephew and two of my grandparents had a very nice dinner together. We had boiled dinner (which is traditionally a St. Patrick's day meal) and I decided to try making a new dessert: Meringue Marvel.

The "cake" part consisted of a dozen egg whites, arrowroot powder, vanilla extract, sucanat. I didn't read the recipe before starting and my sister Emily was helping out and discovered that the meringue mixture was supposed to bake for TWELVE hours at 150 degrees!!! We didn't have twelve hours so we turned up the temp to 200 and cooked it for 7 hours instead. It worked out fine.... however I can't say it worked out better than the lower temp/longer cook time as it is the first time I've cooked meringue. 

Then I whipped cream for the middle. I didn't add any sugar (which I normally do when making whipped cream). I shaved some bakers chocolate into little pieces and then staked it all together.When putting the chocolate pieces on the top layer I was originally going to make a design but I had lots of chocolate left over and decided to just cover the whole top. 

Meringue, whipped cream, chocolate pieces, a sprinkle of peach brandy, meringue, whipped cream... etc.

It looked awesome and it tasted AMAZING. It wasn't too sweet but it wasn't bland either! Perfection at it's best. We also cooked some berries on the stove and drizzled that atop our fluffy slices of marvelous meringue. It was heavenly.

The First of April

Doesn't it strike you as odd how we humans find humor in jest? We get so offended by lies, hurtfulness, dishonesty and so-on, in real life but all the while we encourage it through celebrations and comedy. Now this isn't to say that we shouldn't have a good laugh or find something amusing, and sometimes it's unavoidable and we must laugh.  However, if one party derives merriment while the other suffers loss, then the joke is no longer funny. ...and so this brings me to ponder on the first day of this month.

There are so many holidays and celebrations that encourage ideas that go against American and, most especially, Christian morals: honesty, truthfulness, justice, peace.... to name a few.
 Let us pick on April 1st.

April Fool's Day encourages pranks, tricks, jesting, and "The joke's on you!" sort of mentality. In certain, harmless ways a joke can be innocent fun. However the number of "innocent" pranks that cause dissension, I would dare to guess, outweigh the ones that cause joy.

 Matthew 7:12 "Therefore all things 

whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, 

do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets." 

I know from my own experience how much fun is was to play a trick on someone else, but then when it happened to me I did not like to be tricked at all. It's a simple concept that boils down to the second greatest commandment of God, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."  (only second to loving God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength. Mark 12:30)

 Mark Twain said, "Everything human is pathetic. The secret source of humor itself is not joy but sorrow. There is no humor in heaven." I have to disagree that everything human is pathetic because the very fact that we are created in God's image goes against that idea. However, I would agree that in heaven there is simply joy. Joy is not something to laugh at. It may cause joyful laughter but it would not be humorous. Therefore it seems to be true that sorrow is the cause of our jest. 

That reminds me of a book in the Bible, Ecclesiastes, which I find to be most interesting. As King Solomon ventures over the deeds of man and and all that he does, his findings are quite depressing from a worldly perspective. Without the hope of eternity with God we are simply aimless men living a life of vanity.

Ecclesiastes 1:2, "Vanity of vanities, 

saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity."

Proverbs also comes to mind. The book about wisdom vs. foolishness. Some verses especially caught my eye as I was searching for an applicable verse on this subject: Proverbs 6:12-19, in which we discover what God finds abominable. Read and see if you think any of these traits would apply to our beloved April Fool's Day:

A naughty person, a wicked man, 

walketh with a froward mouth.

He winketh with his eyes, 

he speaketh with his feet, 

he teacheth with his fingers;

Frowardness is in his heart, 

he deviseth mischief continually; 

he soweth discord.

Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; 

suddenly shall he be broken without remedy.

These six things doth the LORD hate: 

yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

A proud look, a lying tongue, 

and hands that shed innocent blood,

An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, 

feet that be swift in running to mischief,

A false witness that speaketh lies, 

and he that soweth discord among brethren.

When rubber meets the road it is simply foolishness to celebrate such an attitude for jesting and mischief. However it never hurts to recognize the pathetic state we humans truly are in. It brings to mind how much a lost sinner needs a saviour and that Christ Jesus took away all of our worthlessness the instant we trusted in His work on the cross. What amazing grace we have, indeed! That God would send His perfect Son to save a corrupted and wretched human race. It seems only right that we should think of the first day in April as a day to recognize how blessed we are to have been saved from our foolishness, rather than to glory in it.

Mark Twain's perspective on the first day in April seems to complete this note: 

"April 1. This is the day upon which we are reminded of 
what we are on the other three hundred and sixty-four."