My friend Chewy
Now I don't think I have ever called him Chewy to his face. In fact I am not sure I remember how he got that name....something about back hair?
My friend Brian Jeanseau is the monthly Blog Star. I will be highlighting a new person in my life each month that inspires me, encourages me, or makes me laugh. This month's BS does all three.
Let's start with why Brian inspires me...
Brian is one of the most real people I have ever met. He is honest, forthright, and nice when doing it. Brian cares for his family. I think that is fantastic. He provides for his family, financially and I know he takes his wife on dates. I have observed him being an excellent husband and father.
Brian is encouraging. He recently took over as worship leader for our church and is doing a phenomenal job. I felt SO cared about the first week after worship he sent all of us an email informing us of how proud he was....so neat. He is always pushing me a little further than I want to go, and I truly feel he believes in me...I cannot say that about very many people.
Brian makes me laugh...Mallard duck. Enough said.
I think Brian is one of the best people that I know and all of you should be lucky enough to have a friend like Brian.
Kat
Screw the check crap, I am a freakin' child of God...and that makes me thankful.
I have become a member of the "Check fraudulent Club." No I have not started counterfeiting checks in the McVicker's basement(next to the Meth Lab...AKA "Brew Kitchen"). Yours truly had some checks that got into the hands of the devil's handy men(or women for that matter). Okay so I am kidding about the DH men...just need a little humor. I came home on Wednesday from a relaxing evening in the suburbs to find a letter from Winco Foods notifying me of a dishonored check. I thought that was weird since I have not shopped there in forever and I certainly did not spend $129. I mean come on...I don't think I have EVER spent that much on groceries..I am single...well maybe when I was a youth leader and all of those teenagers eating me out of house and home. Anyways I called the store and found out there was another check for $98...called the bank the next day to find out it is 6 checks thus far. Did I mention that this is on my closed account from WA? Yeah so I had to file a police report, they are sending me some stuff to sign, then as far as I know now I will have to take a police report to each place that this person wrote a check..needless to say I was hacked. I was more stressed than anything.
Tommorow I am teaching on Phil. 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Kinda funny the scripture that I have been studying for the last week and a half is perfectly applicable to my present life circumstances.
I have spent the last couple of days realizing how truly blessed I am, which leads me to being thankful. I have had a really shitty last year, but despite the ebb and flow of life I realize I always come out of it fine. I survive.
The God that is my very breathe, my very reason for living, is my strength. Father I thank thee.
I am thankful for relationships, love, truth. Father I thank thee.
Take time this week to be thankful for your existence, purpose, and His divine beauty shining on you.
Kat
Thoughts from this Week
I watched the movie Grand Canyon last Sunday. I had not seen that movie in several years and was surprise by the poignant theme. I came away from that movie thinking/rethinking a lot of stuff in my own life as to how I am living and how that may/may not affect my world, my community.
Fast forward to Friday I am driving to work and I take a different route one that included me stopping by the yuppie Safeway(have you seen the ones with track lighting in the cheese/wine section?) for an energy bar before work. I decided to go up Cornell to 158th and drove by the large building I drive by on the 26 occasionally. I always looked closely at this building wondering what it was. They were obviously doing some sort of additions and thought it was perhaps a new college building or perhaps a high school, or a home for corporate offices of some sort. To my amazement it was a church. I saw the sign for a presbyterian church and was speechless. Now what I am about to write may seem judgemental...but I need to pose the question...why? I don't get it. I don't. Multi-million dollar(guessing...not really sure of the exact numbers) building projects when there are people with no food or clothes for people in the community. I just don't get the world today. I don't understand how we have a society in which the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. I was angry when I saw that it was a church. I am not trying to be a bleeding heart liberal but I feel something is severely wrong with this picture.
I was reading Blue like Jazz by Donald Miller again this week and he writes about problems. He states that the problem does not lie in the politics of the world, the church, but essentially the problem lies within us. He states that the only true change, true life-giving, God-honoring change would have to start with the individual. I whole-heartedly agree. It does begin with me.
When I have these moments of enlightenment I am jacked up and ready to make a change. I harbor these utopian ideas of evolving into a better person. I need to give more, consume less, live a life of simplicity. Give to the poor, I don't really need to buy make-up or shoes, I can give it away. I don't need to drive or buy products that are not good for the environment. I make list after list of all of the things I want to change about myself, my habits, only to be disappointed at my lack of discipline and follow-through. So I ask myself, how do I make changes in my life? Miller says that the path to joy winds through a dark valley of our own depravity.
I know that are times in my life when I have looked at my own crap and been so completely discouraged at my progress. I see who I am and all that I aspire to be and it makes me sad that I fall SO short of my expectations. The only thing redeemable thing about my life is the fact that as I may be overly critical of myself,God is not that way. In fact he is just proud of me that I get up and make the effort to live my life and want him to be apart of that. I think that things will really start to change not only in my own heart, but in the hearts of men and women in this world is when we see that we are a really screwed up people in need of someone to save us. Yes the problem is in me, but there is someone who wants to hold me, love me, and show me who I was intended to be without all of my self-absorption. In the light of that knowledge we CAN as Eugene Peterson says be made into our true selves, our child-of-God selves.
Peace
Kat
