August 23, 2011

moving out, moving in

Hello hello! I’m pretty sure I’m not the worst blogger in the world, but I’m definitely up there. And after having come back from Czech for the second time, I really, really want to work on a lot of things - blogging being one of them. So I’ve decided to move this party over to Wordpress! I’ve been using it for my other blog for two years and I really like the set up a whole lot better as far as writing long, wordy posts. Tumblr is great, but not really for that. So, if you wish to continue to follow the happenings in my life alongside our Lord and Savior, then head on over. I’m praying that this move will diligent. Until then, much love!

Sarah

March 29, 2011 • 1 note
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

“Cathedrals” by History of Painters

A couple of friends and I are gonna open for them in a few weeks. I’m stoked!

March 29, 2011
Bobble Head Christianity: To nod profusely in agreement with what is being taught in a message. Yes, I did come up with that term on my own. I’m clever, I know. Anyways! I’ve been noticing that I seem to do that a lot, and I don’t really know what to make of it. Sometimes I get annoyed with other people when they do it (including myself) and sometimes it makes me really happy when I see other people get into a sermon that way. What do you think? Does it bother you? Or do you like it?

Bobble Head Christianity: To nod profusely in agreement with what is being taught in a message.

Yes, I did come up with that term on my own. I’m clever, I know.

Anyways! I’ve been noticing that I seem to do that a lot, and I don’t really know what to make of it. Sometimes I get annoyed with other people when they do it (including myself) and sometimes it makes me really happy when I see other people get into a sermon that way. What do you think? Does it bother you? Or do you like it?

March 27, 2011 • 1 note
I just got back from our first Czech meeting of the year, and oh my goodness, I am pumped. We have possibly five new people coming with us this time! That would double our team from last year, which is a tremendous answer to prayer. But being in the Jeffrey’s home again, going over the schedule of our trip and all the finer details brought back a flood of memories: meeting Annie (and Lauren) for the first time (which of course blossomed into this remarkable friendship), eating Donna’s wonderful dinners together, sharing our testimonies with each other, their biting cat, hanging out afterwards until 3 in the morning on my birthday… And also little things that I had forgotten that happened while we were in the Czech Republic: the plane ride over, Bob’s continuous eating, awkward silence preparations, finding a hard-boiled egg inside my meat, and - of course - the camp dance. How I forgot about that, I do not know. Needless to say, I’m so stoked to go to this wonderful country in less than four (!) months with such wonderful people and see all these wonderful people again!

I just got back from our first Czech meeting of the year, and oh my goodness, I am pumped. We have possibly five new people coming with us this time! That would double our team from last year, which is a tremendous answer to prayer.

But being in the Jeffrey’s home again, going over the schedule of our trip and all the finer details brought back a flood of memories: meeting Annie (and Lauren) for the first time (which of course blossomed into this remarkable friendship), eating Donna’s wonderful dinners together, sharing our testimonies with each other, their biting cat, hanging out afterwards until 3 in the morning on my birthday… And also little things that I had forgotten that happened while we were in the Czech Republic: the plane ride over, Bob’s continuous eating, awkward silence preparations, finding a hard-boiled egg inside my meat, and - of course - the camp dance. How I forgot about that, I do not know.

Needless to say, I’m so stoked to go to this wonderful country in less than four (!) months with such wonderful people and see all these wonderful people again!

March 18, 2011
March 18, 2011 • 1 note

regeneration

My version of a prayer from the Puritan prayer book, The Valley of Vision.

Oh God of the Highest Heaven, occupy the throne of my heart, take full possession, and reign supreme. Lay low every rebel lust, let no vile passion resist Your holy war; manifest Your mighty power and make me Yours forever.

You are worthy to be praised with my every breath, level with every part of my soul, and served with my every act of life. You have loved me, married me, received me, purchased, washed, favored, clothed, adorned me when I was worthless, vile, soiled, and polluted. I was dead in sin, unable to see or hear You; I could not relish in Your joys or understand Your wisdom. But Your spirit has given me spiritual perception, opened me to the Word as light, guide, solace, and joy.

Your presence is a treasure of unending peace. No sin can separate me from Your sympathy, for You have captured me with cords of love and You forgive me daily - hourly.

Help me then to walk in a manner worthy of Your love, of my hopes, and of my choices. Keep me, for I cannot keep myself; protect me so that no evil will hurt me. Let me lay aside every sin that may be admired by many; help me to walk by Your side, lean on Your arm, and actively pray with You so I may be salt of the earth and a blessing to all.

February 24, 2011 • 212 notes • Flickr / bholt

(via leadme2thecross1)

February 23, 2011 • 2 notes

My friend gave me a CD for graduation and this sort-of song was the first one to play. It had been a while since I’d actually listened to it; usually I just skipped it because I would prefer to listen to an actual song. But today I popped the CD in and just listened to it and it made me stop and think. I don’t do that enough. Anyway, the song is called “Not Without Love (Benediction)” by Jimmy Needham.

February 14, 2011
The night before my brother’s twentieth birthday, our dad pulled out the old home movies. And there are always two moments that my family loves the most. One: on my forth Christmas, I didn’t get what I wanted, so I was grumpy and Dad was pestering me with the camera, and I marched up to him and hit it. The camera turned off right after that. And two: Daniel’s first day of school. My mom said that she was worried that she was going to start crying as she started filming, but I didn’t give her the chance, because Iwas such an emotional wreck. I clung to my mom’s leg, wailed about how I was losing my best friend forever, and gave Daniel about four or five goodbye kisses. And sure, it’s adorable to look back on, but I was a mess. And the funny (or sad) thing is I haven’t changed. A couple weeks ago, I went to Santa Barbara to visit my good friend Kelsey for her birthday and before I left, I met up with Daniel (since he goes to UCSB too). We went out to dinner, just the two of us, and after we said goodbye and I was watching him walk back to his dorm, I just started bawling. There I was, sitting in my car, risking another parking ticket, watching my brother get smaller and smaller, and crying like I was four years old again. It’s funny. After fifteen years, I still cry when my brother goes off to school. But I suppose that’s because after fifteen years, we’re still best friends.

The night before my brother’s twentieth birthday, our dad pulled out the old home movies. And there are always two moments that my family loves the most. One: on my forth Christmas, I didn’t get what I wanted, so I was grumpy and Dad was pestering me with the camera, and I marched up to him and hit it. The camera turned off right after that.

And two: Daniel’s first day of school. My mom said that she was worried that she was going to start crying as she started filming, but I didn’t give her the chance, because Iwas such an emotional wreck. I clung to my mom’s leg, wailed about how I was losing my best friend forever, and gave Daniel about four or five goodbye kisses. And sure, it’s adorable to look back on, but I was a mess.

And the funny (or sad) thing is I haven’t changed. A couple weeks ago, I went to Santa Barbara to visit my good friend Kelsey for her birthday and before I left, I met up with Daniel (since he goes to UCSB too). We went out to dinner, just the two of us, and after we said goodbye and I was watching him walk back to his dorm, I just started bawling. There I was, sitting in my car, risking another parking ticket, watching my brother get smaller and smaller, and crying like I was four years old again.

It’s funny. After fifteen years, I still cry when my brother goes off to school. But I suppose that’s because after fifteen years, we’re still best friends.

February 9, 2011

when today just isn’t your day

For all you 90s kids out there: good old Hey Arnold!

Today I woke up and realized that I hadn’t done my homework for my first class. So I threw on a pair of unflattering sweat pants and burned through my homework over a bowl of Corn Pops. I was already 8 minutes behind schedule, but hitting every traffic light didn’t help, and it just so happens that the homework is collected right when class starts in this particular class. So I walk in one minute late and I see that all the homework has already been collected, but I figure it’s worth a shot to set it up there - just in case. I believe he took it, but he may have just thrown it in the trash.

Then later, after all my classes, I headed home because I still had 2 hours before work. And I remember telling my self, “Don’t fall asleep. You aren’t going to feel rested and you’re probably going to sleep late.” But do I listen? No. I don’t. I fall asleep and wake up to see that I had only slept for about ten minutes, which was weird. But then the phone rang and it was my boss, wondering where I was. See, that’s the trouble with analog clocks (and being generally stupid). I’d really slept for an hour and ten minutes. So I rush into work, apologizing profusely because - believe it or not - this isn’t the first time this has happened. My boss was incredibly gracious, God bless her, but I still felt awful.

Then, I get a call from my mom asking where all the manicottis had gone. The night before, I had a few friends over and, being the young adults that they are, were extremely hungry. I saw manicottis in our fridge and I figured they were probably for dinner sometime, but I also figured [in my aforementioned stupid head] that I could just make myself some dinner and my parents could have the remaining four manicottis. Anyway, she calls me and asks me what happened to the rest of them and I respond with, “Uh, well, I may have, uh, made them for my, um, friends last… night.” Then she tells me how she bought garlic bread and was going to make this nice meal out of them when we had company over tonight - which just made me feel worse.

So, as I sit here looking back on all the low points of my day, it has come to my attention how very much I think about myself. Yeah, I had kind of a lousy day. Boo hoo, poor me. But at least I have a mom that cooks me dinner. At least I have a job to go to. At least I have the luxury of an education. Really, the only thing I don’t have is a good sense of responsibility, but I’m working on that. Sometimes “bad experiences” really blind me as to how blessed I really am.