it's TOO early!

So I'm finally putting up my Christmas tree this weekend. For those that know me, they could probably hear the sarcasm in my voice right there! Each year it gets worse! I mean you can't even celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving because of all the Christmas stuff in the stores! There was even a house in my neighborhood that had their Christmas lights turned on, on Halloween, but would not answer the door for trick or treaters! and they had put those lights up a couple of weeks BEFORE that! come on people slow down!

Thanks = Praise

If you really think about it, the word Praise & Thanks are very similiar
Praise: the offering of grateful homage in words or song, as an act of worship.
Thanks: a grateful feeling or acknowledgment of a benefit, favor, or the like

I was reading through some old blogs yesterday and found this. I do think it's fitting on this Thanksgiving Day!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Praise until it stops!
Radiate was awesome tonight. Pastor Steven said something that made me think about some friends that are going through some rough stuff right now. He talked about how it's not a coincidence that right after the book of Job, the one book that everyone refers to when they are going through troubles, trials and bad times, is the book of Psalm - a book of Praise! And do you think that it's another coincidence that the longest book in the Bible is all about Praise? I think not! What were we created to do? PRAISE! He talked about how in Psalm 66:3, it says "Your enemies shall submit themselves to You" So when WE Praise, the enemies we face will submit themselves or in other words, they will STOP! When we praise, the enemy stops!
So I say to my friends, Praise! Praise Him! Praise! and when you feel like it's not working and you're hanging on by your pinky, Praise some more! Praise until IT stops!
And what's really crazy about all of this, is that I talked to this friend last night and we actually talked about Job! and about how she is reading a lot of the book of Psalm! So keep Praising and hanging on, my friend!
And WHEN it stops, Praise some more!

Giving Thanks for Past, Present & Future

I thank God for my past. I am thankful that I grew up in church and even though I strayed, I am thankful for His grace that covered my sins! I thank Him for the struggles I went through because they’ve made me a strong person.

I thank God for my present. I am thankful that I’ve come back to Him and for His grace that covers my sins! I thank Him for the struggles I go through because they are making me a stronger person.

I thank God for my future. I am thankful that I am moving forward and growing in Him and I know that if I mess up, His grace will cover my sin. I am thankful for the blessings I will receive because I know they will make me a more thankful person!

My prayer today

Don't know where to begin
It's like my world's caving in
And I tried but I can't control my fear
Where do I go from here?

Sometimes it's so hard to pray
You feel so far away
I am willing to go where you want me to
God I trust you

There's a raging sea
Right in front of me
Wants to pull me in
Bring me to my knees
So let the waters rise
If you want them to
I will follow You
I will follow You
I will follow You

I will swim in the deep
Cuz You'll be next to me
You're in the eye of the storm and the calm of the sea
You're never out of reach

God You know where I've been
You were there with me then
You were faithful before
You'll be faithful again
I'm holding Your hand

God Your love is enough
You will pull me through
I'm holding on to You

God your love is enough
I will follow You
I will follow You

Laughing at Myself!

Last Monday night I went to a Pampered Chef party at Christy’s. Leslie and I rode together and she had told be before the party that she needed to leave by 8:30 so I decided to park in Christy’s back driveway so we would not get blocked in.
Now before I go on, I’ll tell you a little about her back driveway and my driving skills: ok so her back driveway is gravel and on a small hill and my driving skills, well they are very good except for backing up – I sometimes struggle with that.
Now for the rest of the story. So we’re in the car and I start backing up. I go a little crooked and I think to my self “I should probably pull up and start over” Did I? Um, no. Leslie mentions, how crooked I’m going and then all the sudden, “Crash!” right in the ditch I go! I try gunning it forward – stuck. I try gunning it backward – stuck! I was STUCK – backend in the street, completely bottomed out – frontend in the ditch! After that it’s a bit of a blur of laughter, jokes, Bullitt County good ole boys trying to pull my car out and then eventually calling a tow truck! After the tow truck guy finally got me out he informed me that the good ole boys had bent some sort of rod in the back of the (of course he mentioned all the car parts and specific rods but I don’t remember what he said, heck I didn’t remember 2 minutes after he told me!) Anyhoo, I had to get some work done on the car, but thankfully my insurance is going to reimburse me for that! Moral of the story: Listen to that little voice in your head that tells you to stop and start over!

I’m pretty sure that none of my friends will ever let me live this one down. It was all over Twitter that night AND I think Gary is still walking around giggling about it!
And I will also say that I’ve had favor throughout the whole situation! For example, I don’t have AAA, but Leslie does so I used her card. The AAA guy was supposed to charge me for the tow since she wasn’t there at the time, he didn’t. And my insurance didn’t give me a hard time – I thought they might since they weren’t able to inspect the car before I got it fixed.
A few people at work were surprised that I have such a good attitude about it – I was surprised they thought that – I mean, seriously you HAVE to be able to laugh at yourself!

Hysteria among other things...

Hysteria was a success! Yes it was hard, but it was so worth it! We had over 3000 people come in our doors just because of it! I know lives were changed and I can't wait to hear the testimonies that come from it!
I loved hearing people's reactions when they came out "What is this place besides a haunted house?" "This is a CHURCH?!"
I wanna say thanks to all the dedicated workers! We couldn't have done it without you! Thanks to Pastor Luke, Dana & Kim and their families for all the sacrifice and stress you had to go through! We definitely couldn't have done it with out YOU! I also want to say thanks to all the other people that didn't work directly in Hysteria but were there every weekend - Jehovah Java workers, concession workers, ticket takers, security, etc
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Yesterday at the Vision was awesome! Pastor gave a great message for some messed up people! Praise & Worship was awesome! His presence was thick and it was just what I needed! I want to be better not bitter!
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Tonight I'm going to a meeting for the Drama Ministry and I'm very excited to join! It's going to keep me even more busy, but I'm SURE it'll be worth it! It's funny some people I used to work with would ask me to do stuff and then they would say "Oh let me guess you can't, you have choir?" so now they can say "oh let me guess you can't you have choir AND drama!" Hey it keeps me outta trouble!!!