Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough worries of its own

According to mapquest.com, Fuller seminary is just a short, 1800-mile jaunt from my house. That's only like 5 states away, right? I'll be pretty much living in LA. That's right, Ivan has decided that maybe Fuller is the best seminary for him and it seems like a good idea to move to one of the scariest places in the world. Thinking about moving to Pasadena isn't like thinking about moving to Dubuque. We have no way of seeing what the place looks like or going for job interviews or anything until we arrive. I am thinking we will have to take just a few things in our truck until we can afford to have the rest of our stuff shipped out, which may be NEVER if we are living in a place where the cost of living is, well a little different than IOWA! I will no longer be in a place that's 95% white, not that that bothers me, but it will definitely be culturally different. I have never even seen the Pacific ocean.


I am going to go for the love of my husband, scary as it might be. It is an adventure, and I will not be afraid, because Christ is with me always, and what can anything on this Earth do to hurt me? What does it profit me to worry about it? If this is truly where God is calling us to go, everything will work out. Amen.

St. Patrick would be ashamed...

The real St. Patrick was a Christian convert who made it his life's work to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to Ireland. A man devoted to God. I am certain that he would be ashamed that the U.S. has construed the day of celebration in his name into a sick day of "celebrating" "Irish culture" by getting drunk off our asses. Its okay to have a green beer on St. Patty's day, but I seriously heard a radio DJ commanding all of his listeners to have a 13-hour hangover on Sunday. That is sad. Drunkenness leads to all kinds of terrible things like fighting, rape, car accidents that lead to deaths, and generally being an idiot. Then, people think they are somehow entitled to take NO responsibility for their actions and that is somehow the fault of the alcohol. Not to be cheesy, but alcohol doesn't rape people. People rape people.
Do people seriously believe that St. Patrick's day is celebrated in Ireland the way it is celebrated here? St. Patrick's day has always been a religious day in Ireland and only became a national festival in 1995.

Why I am the worst of sinners

I am the worst of sinners. I am not worthy to come before God's throne and bow at his feet. Yet he has allowed me. Such beautiful amazing grace!

When I was oh say, 16, I made it my primary concern in life to hate Christ and all things Christian. A lot of my family didn't realize it or refused to acknowledge it was so, but I repeatedly told them and all my friends how I despised Christianity, even to the faces of those who called themselves Christians. Yet, God, in His mercy, scooped my undeserving self into his loving arms anyway.

I am a criminal.

I am a criminal who's been redeemed.
He has saved me.
He has set me free.
Thank you Jesus,
for rescuing me.

A Whole N'other Area Code

A different zip code. A different area code. A different church. A different apartment. A different set of college campuses. A different bank. A different river. A different set of friends. A different landscape. A different grocery store. A different coffeeshop. At least I'll still be able to use "a whole n'other."

If I knew then what I know now. Part I

Learning to think for yourself.

I wish I had known the value of thinking for myself like 10 years ago. Growing up, I kinda just let myself believe whatever my teachers and my family told me to think. There were no political or scientific debates around the dinner table at my house. There were no consequences for thinking one way or another and nobody questioned any of it.
Then God wrecked my life.
I became a Christian in high school, but I didn't become a thinker until college. When I came to college, I realized I would have to defend my faith on an intellectual level. Suddenly, my entire way of thinking about others, about God, and about the world didn't work anymore, and I felt attacked by most of my professors and thier curriculum.
Also in my life at this time, I was spending a lot of time with Ivan. He is someone who grew up experiencing "thinking for yourself" in a very different way. His family would have big discussions over the dinner table about all sorts of things. And Ivan grew always questioning everything...always curious about everything (its one of the things that makes him so charming). Every time he is confronted with a viewpoint different than his, he examines it carefully from all sides before making a decision about it, rather than following one way blindly.
I am eternally grateful to Ivan for causing my to have to step outside of my box a lot more often than I would like to. Things are always interesting when he's around.
Still, I am just a beginner at thinking for myself, and that's sad. I am determined that my kids won't have that same struggle.