Evil BUT

Who thought I could have profound thoughts from something posted on twitter? I guess I forgot I was stalking the Daily Bible Verse postings. No matter how I came to ponder this passage, it is a great reminder.

Matthew 26:31-35

³¹Then Jesus told them, "This very night you will all fall away on account of me, for it is written:
   " 'I will strike the shepherd,
      and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' ³²But after I have risen, I   

      will go ahead of you into Galilee."

 ³³Peter replied, "Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will."

 ³⁴"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."

 ³⁵But Peter declared, "Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you." And all the other disciples said the same.

This passage is a reminder that we fail. As humans we all fail at pretty much everything. Here in Matthew, Jesus tells Peter he will fail, and Peter even fails just by not believing that he will fail. Epic fail.

Matthew 26:75

Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: ‘Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly.

We can read this and think, “Come on Peter, how could you not see this coming?” But we don’t realize that we have failed just by thinking that. In that moment we’re thinking that somehow we are better than Peter when actually we are the same. Just like Peter we are denying Christ by trying to blend into the world.

And to help you realize the reality of our own sinfulness, here’s a video from a person who is much wiser than me.

And now we see that we were sinners and we are sinners and we are evil by nature. I hope this is as low as we can go because there isn’t much lower. I guess it’s time for that big BUT

Romans 5:6-8

⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ died for us! Do you understand what that entails? Jesus Christ came to earth specifically to die in order to pay for our sins. And he didn’t just stay dead. He came back to life proving that he was and is the Son of God. He conquered death and sin for you.

John 3:16-18

¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

I put my faith in Jesus Christ when I was a young child. At that time I knew that God didn’t like the bad things I did and I realized that only by believing in Jesus and asking him to forgive me, could I ever have peace in my life, joy in my soul, and a definite hope of life after death.

Romans 10:9-13

⁹That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. ¹¹As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." ¹²For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Throughout my life, as I strive to follow Christ, I have seen more and more how much I still need God’s grace. It’s part of sanctification-becoming holy. We will always fail but Jesus died once for ALL. That means once for all my sins and all your sins and every one of everybody’s sins. When I fail I take it to God and ask him to change me into the person he wants me to be. Because I can not do it on my own. It’s all by the grace of God. 

I hope you have the same faith in Christ that I do. If not then here’s what you can do: Repent, Believe, and strive to follow Jesus. The last part’s not as easy as it sounds, but if you truly believe then you’ll want to follow him. If you’re not ready to take that leap of faith, I’ll be praying for you. Just know Jesus loves you.

Here's a song for you to listen to until I post another blog.

Up One on the Snuggie

I saw these pictures posted on another blog and thought I had to share it. I think it is hilarious because they up'd the snuggie. Now you can have entire sleeves with gloves in your blanket. HA!

 

Felting

I’ve added felting to my long list of crafting hobbies. Felting is the process of making felt from wool by either hot water with pressure or poking the fibers together with needles. Why would I want to make felt? Because I’m making it into forms, figures, shapes, and beads. I think it’s interesting to see the soft fluffy puffs of wool change, as I work with it, into unique stiff forms.
I happened onto this craft when I was looking at some “how to” patterns of etsy.com. There were these two cute hugging bears made from felting. I then found a link to buy a felting kit. One thing led to another and several days later my felting kit arrived in the mail. I’ve finished my first two projects. I created a heart necklace, (see picture up top) and a purple bunny figure.
My first attempt at flat form felting ended up with my shape sticking to the foam board I used to protect my table. I learned my lesson with a misshaped heart still attached to a chunk of foam. After that incident I was able to make a perfect heart and roll up beads that I turned into a necklace.
Felting reminds me of Romans 11:11-24 -I had to look that up. It actually reminded me of the branches being grafted in. Using felting makes more sense to me because I don’t understand tree grafting. I’m not a botanist. Either way, it reminds me of God’s grace. I’ve been felted into his family.

Sleeping in an Egg

This past week I decided to make a twitter account. But instead of having a regular twitter that is used for stalking friends, I’m using it under a false name. This way, people won’t bother me as I follow design magazines, craft websites, and rock bands. With a twitter like this I come across quite a few interesting things every day. Today I found something very odd. This bed.

Although it was a brand spanking new design from Lomme almost three years ago, I have never seen this bed or known of anyone who would even consider buying one. To house this beast of a bed, you would have to have an enormous bedroom and you’d probably have to cut a giant hole in the side of your house to get it into a house. I think that’s why they photographed it on a beach. They didn’t have enough money to move it into a house. They probably didn’t have enough money to build a set around it either, since no one would buy it. And I wonder now, is the mattress shaped oval too? And do sleep number beds come in oval? If I were super rich, I would like to have this bed. Then I could go to bed in it like a little yoke inside of this giant egg. Why would some one want to sleep inside of an egg?

Stuff of the Day

Song of the day: I Think We're Alone Now- Tommy James and the Shondels
Movie phrase of the day: "I saw something nasty in the wood shed!"- Cold Comfort Farm
Weapon of the day: Sticky lint roller- from Walgreens
Book of the day: In the Deep Woods- Nicholas Conde
Color of the day: Black or Red ( I can't decide)
Fantasy of the day: I remember the kisses in the hallways....
Word of the day: Dingle (They tricked me in scrabble! I could've won if only they wouldn't have lied about dingle...)
Dance move of the day: Shimmy
Restaurant of the day: Taco Bell
Sport of the day: Football (even though football players are wimps and pansies...)
Disease of the day: Sports fanaticism
Singer of the day: Olivia Newton-John
Electronic device of the day: Microwaves
Musical Instrument of the day: Bagpipes

Screamers

So we met her new boyfriend at the party.
“This is Charlie. He’s in the band.”
“So Charlie, what instrument do you play?”
In a hoarse voice he answered, “I do back ground vocals.”
Turned out, he’s the screamer in the band.

How would you like to be known as the screamer for a band? Metal bands like to have screaming in their music, but I found out that some bands have one person who is their “screamer.” They prefer to be called a vocalist, but we all know what they’re actually doing. They are destroying their voices to further help teenagers rebel against their parents by listening to what their mother’s would call “demon worshiping” music. It’s all in the screaming. I am not completely against screaming in music, but most of the time it gets on my nerves. So if that’s your dream to be the “screamer” in a band, go for it. But I would take a second to consider the consequences. Do you really want to learn sign language when you turn thirty because you’ve destroyed your vocal chords to the point of being completely mute for the rest of your life? Happy screaming!

(The short conversation at the top is fictional. Any similarities to actual persons or boyfriends are pure coincidence.)