My life is an open book, for all to read
mine is a plain book, no matter how nice and exciting i try to make it look. although the book itself is much like everyone else's the writing on the pages is unique.
this book is not a story (epic or ordinary) and it is not an encyclopedia, where everything fits into nice segments, or a historic documentary, where the whole thing is laid out in a straight line. it is a diagram or description of facts, like the coding of a program. it is a 'map of me'. It tells my goals, dreams, emotions, and personality quirks. it explains the reasons for my actions and describes who i am. it is what makes me... me.
it might seems so simple but, like the rest of life, is not. if it were so straightforward we would all understand each other so much better. the problem is, every page of my book is written in a different language. where is the rationale in this? i don't know. ask the Author, the one who wrote my book. He understands every page and their hidden implications. naturally, my mother knows many of these 'languages'. My father is familiar with fewer. All of you can translate certain of my languages and in turn understand various pages of my book because of the time we've shared. but even i cannot read them all, let alone grasp their meaning. "know thyself" is a hard statement to fulfill.
to understand this better you have to realize i've been describing my life, my core, my self, my essence as a lifeless object, a book. and since we all have a life, it can be described as a book as well. these books are all essentially the same: they were all written by the same Author and have two covers with a binding (though some can be more appealing on the surface or more attractive on the inside). the books themselves are alike but what is written on the pages is distinctive.
this distinctiveness brings about one of every person's principal desires: to be understood. we want to convey as many parts of our book as we can to others. this is what the Author intended when he wrote us. "it is not good for man to be alone". as we relate to others and figure out how to read and understand another's book we better understand our own. as we discover the similarities in each other we begin to piece together a more comprehensive portrait of what He is like.
i encourage all of you to take the time you have to spend with the people around you and use it to better understand what makes them... them. you might be surprised what you find after translating a few pages.
"the language of love is universal" ~Ian Decour
my hope is that some day we will get to sit at the Author's feet together and have the books that we are and were meant to be read in full and made clear for us.
quote #14
God, grant me the Serenity to
Accept the people I cannot change,
The Courage to change the one I can,
And the Wisdom to know it's me.
a 'little' piece of Europe in america
stolen from Marisa
2 names you go by:
Big Ben (a few might know)
Brother, Son, not yet Husband
2 parts of your heritage:
Scottish
Jewish
2 things that scare you:
needles
never building Whithall
2 of your everyday essentials:
people
nothing else is essential for me
2 things you are wearing right now:
tie
that's it (just kidding)
2 things you want in a relationship (other than real love):
some one that has strengths in area were i am weak
beauty (inside and out)
2 truths:
my life isn't as exciting as it seems, all the time
my entire life is in a few milk carton crates
2 of your favourite hobbies:
dancing
reading a good book of any genre
2 things you want really badly:
to be fit... well i am fit... buff, really buff
ice cream
2 places you want to go on vacation:
any place where one of you is
Europe
2 things you want to do before you die:
build Whitehall
get married
2 ways in which you are stereotypically a girl:
uhhmm?
no
2 things you are thinking about right now:
I pick my dad up at the airport tommorow
ice cream
2 stores you shop at:
Goodwill
Nordstoms
quote #13
"I might tiptoe through life,
tiptoe backwards to give way to those i love
but, I am one of them....
one of those dreamers in this world.
those who would take those forward steps to actualize their vision
...no matter how small the action steps"
~BidWiya
quote #12
"I was so naive as a kid I used to sneak behind the barn and do nothing."
~Johnny Carson
quote #11
"they say evil prevails when good men do nothing, maybe they should just say evil prevails"
~"Lord of War"
thought #17
from "Mere Christianity"
which blade of the scissor is more important?
faith or works?
"...work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you..."
~Philippians 2:12-13
quote #10
"God is easy to please
but hard to satisfy."
~George MacDonald
The music i'm like'n
Jesse Cook &
James Blunt
quote #9
"The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation."
~Jacob Bronowski
i've been reading C.S Lewis "Mere Christianity". i originally got it for Ken. he's busy with books on money and real estate so i am reading it. One of the big things that stood out to me is you can't seperate faith & works. it's like asking which blade of the scissor is more important.
.
I've also been reading books by Marcus Buckingham. they talk about focusing on your strengths rather than your weaknesses. An entirely new concept for me. It really makes a team (and a family for that matter) seem so much more logical. you match your weaknesses with other poeple's stregths. (the body of Christ) I don't have to be able to pull off every pieces job. i can just do what i'm good at. how freeing is that. boy i feel good.
Life is a messy business
quote #8
"Be the flame, not the moth"
~Casanova
Look Up ↑ 廿弌
i always found it works better
I thought of Brent for some reason
we just had christmas the other night
and Ken is planning on going to capernwray.
i think if anyone wasn't to go with me over to Europe spring break 07 it would be great fun
*This is long but powerful*
THE WAR
.
The other day, my nine year old son wanted to know why we were at war...My
husband looked at our son and then looked at me. My husband and I were in
the Army during the Gulf War and we would be honored to serve and defend our
Country again today. I knew that my husband would give him a good
explanation. My husband thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go
stand in our front living room window.
He said "Son, stand there and tell me what you see?"
"I see trees and cars and our neighbor's houses." he replied.
"OK, now I want you to pretend that our house and our yard is the United
States of America and you are President Bush."
Our son giggled and said "OK."
"Now son, I want you to look out the window and pretend that every house and
yard on this block is a different country" my husband said.
"OK Dad, I'm pretending."
"Now I want you to stand there and look out the window and pretend you see
Saddam come out of his house with his wife, he has her by the hair and is
hitting her. You see her bleeding and crying. He hits her in the face, he
throws her on the ground, then he starts to kick her to death.
Their children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are screaming and
crying, they are watching this but do nothing because they are kids and they
are afraid of their father. You see all of this, son....what do you do?"
"Dad?"
"What do you do son?"
"I'd call the police, Dad."
"OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations. They take your call.
They listen to what you know and saw but they refuse to help. What do you
do then son?"
"Dad.......... but the police are supposed to help!" My son starts to whine.
"They don't want to son, because they say that it is not their place or your
place to get involved and that you should stay out of it," my husband says.
"But Dad...he killed her!!" my son exclaims.
"I know he did...but the police tell you to stay out of it. Now I want you
to look out that window and pretend you see our neighbor who you're
pretending is Saddam turn around and do the same thing to his children."
"Daddy...he kills them?"
"Yes son, he does. What do you do?"
"Well, if the police don't want to help, I will go and ask my next door
neighbor to help me stop him." our son says.
"Son, our next door neighbor sees what is happening and refuses to get
involved as well. He refuses to open the door and help you stop him," my
husband says.
"But Dad, I NEED help!!! I can't stop him by myself!!"
"WHAT DO YOU DO SON?" Our son starts to cry.
"OK, no one wants to help you, the man across the street saw you ask for
help and saw that no one would help you stop him. He stands taller and puffs
out his chest. Guess what he does next son?"
"What Daddy?"
"He walks across the street to the old ladies house and breaks down her door
and drags her out, steals all her stuff and sets her house on fire and
then...he kills her. He turns around and sees you standing in the window and
laughs at you. WHAT DO YOU DO?"
"Daddy..."
"WHAT DO YOU DO?" Our son is crying and he looks down and he whispers, "I'd
close the blinds, Daddy."
My husband looks at our son with tears in his eyes and asks him. "Why?"
"Because Daddy.....the police are supposed to help people who needs
them...and they won't help.... You always say that neighbors are supposed to
HELP neighbors, but they won't help either...they won't help me stop
him...I'm afraid....I can't do it by myself Daddy.....I can't look out my
window and just watch him do all these terrible things and...and.....do
nothing...so....I'm just going to close the blinds.... so I can't see what
he's doing........and I'm going to pretend that it is not happening."
I start to cry. My husband looks at our nine year old son standing in the
window, looking pitiful and ashamed at his answers to my husband's questions
and he says...
"Son"
"Yes, Daddy."
"Open the blinds because that man.... he's at your front door... "WHAT DO
YOU DO?"
My son looks at his father, anger and defiance in his eyes. He balls up his
tiny fists and looks his father square in the eyes, without hesitation he
says: "I DEFEND MY FAMILY DAD!! I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM HURT MOMMY OR MY
SISTER, DAD!!! I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM, DAD, I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM!!!!!"
I see a tear roll down my husband's cheek and he grabs our son to his chest
and hugs him tight, and says... "It's too late to fight him, he's too strong
and he's already at YOUR front door son.....you should have stopped him
BEFORE he killed his wife, and his children and the old lady across the way.
You have to do what's right, even if you have to do it alone, before its too
late." My husband whispers. THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at
war with Iraq. When good men stand by and let evil happen, son, THAT is
the greatest atrocities in the world. "YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO DO WHAT
IS RIGHT! EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALONE!" BE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN! BE
PROUD OF OUR TROOPS!! SUPPORT THEM!!! SUPPORT AMERICA SO THAT IN THE FUTURE
OUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER HAVE TO CLOSE THEIR BLINDS..."
This should be printed in every newspaper and posted in every school in
America. Of course that won't happen so we'll use the internet. If your
blinds are closed do nothing with this email. If they are open I do not need
to tell you what to do.
GOD BLESS!!!!!!!!!! Steven R Chandler, CMSgt
332 ELRS/Vehicle Management Flight Balad Air Base, Iraq
5 wierdest habits
1. change my socks... often enough
2. like Leslie, i sleep in a sleeping bag ontop of my bedding
3. i enter through many doors like Kramer from Sienfeld
4. i can't think of anything else because everything seems normal
5. to me
quote #7
"the reason the canadian government pretends to be environmentalists is because..
THEY WANT MORE GOATS!..............(votes)"
~Courtnay
sorry for the absence
i had a great time seeing lots of people in washington.
i just wish i was able to spend more individual time. with a few in particular
i've been real contemplative as of late. making lots of observations and planning for the future.
i'll get back on my blog horse soon. just give me time
