So often we say words or read words and rarely give any thought to what they really mean. I feel this is far more common in the realm of "Christianese" than in our everyday language.
Take for example the phrase "Jesus is Lord". We say it frequently, we put it on our cars in the form of bumper stickers, we wear it on our lapel pins, and some even carve it in stone and put it in their yard. But do we really know what it means?
Lord (as defined by dictionary.com) is a person who has authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, or ruler; a person who exercises authority from property rights; an owner of land, houses, etc.; a person who is a leader or has great influence in a chosen profession: the great lords of banking.; a feudal superior; the proprietor of a manor.; a titled nobleman or peer; a person whose ordinary appellation contains by courtesy the title Lord or some higher title.
So is Jesus really Lord in your life? Does he have authority, control, or power over you? Do you say that he does, but when it comes time for him to actually exercise that control do you take it back and tell him "I can handle this"?
At my church through the week we have been reading through Romans. Last night I read Romans 6-7. **Side note: if you have never studied Romans I would suggest it...there is some amazing stuff in there that you miss if you aren't careful** In the chapters it made mention of the word holy:
"...so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness." (6:19)
"So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good." (7:12)
I was raised in church and if someone came up to me on the street and asked me to define holy, I don't know that I could. So while reading, I decided to define it.
Holy (as defined on dictionary.com) is specially recognized as or declared sacred by religious use or authority; consecrated: holy ground.; dedicated or devoted to the service of god, the church, or religion; saintly; godly; pious; devout; having a spiritually pure quality; entitled to worship or veneration as or as if sacred; religious; inspiring fear, awe, or grave distress
I have discovered that you can't simply take words and assume that you know what they mean. You also can't go around using terms and not have a clue what they mean. It just doesn't make sense, especially since we have such a wide array of resources avaliable.
Don't just see the words as words on a page, learn them, use them, love them!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
I resolve..
Here it is, the beginning of a new year. If you are anything like me, it snuck (is that a word) up on you! We are starting a new decade, so I have decided to actually make some resoultions this year...it just felt like the thing to do. So here are some:
1) Grow in my relationship with God. I feel as if over the past few years I have been making my relationship with God an after thought. It is time to make it a priority! This may mean that I need to really evaluate some people and things in my life, but I am up for it!
2) Don't be afraid of change! All of my life, I have had many constants and have never really had to deal with a lot of changes, but I feel this year in my life there are changes coming. I don't want to be afraid of them, but embrace them and realize that all things happen for a reason and that "He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20)
3) "Grow some ovaries" (I can't use this phrase without giving credit where credit is due, so thanks Kandy). Now I realize that some of you may be terribly concerned by this statement and feel that you don't know me at all, so before you go starting rumors, let me clarify! When Kandy and I lived together in college she would tell me to "grow some ovaries" when I needed to buck up and do something that I may not have wanted to do. She would tell me that because she felt it was pointless to tell another girl to grow some balls. So I say this as my 3rd resolution because I feel that too often I keep my feelings bottled up and then explode. I don't want to do that anymore. I want to "grow some ovaries" and be able to tell folks what I am thinking. This applies to so many areas of my life!
I feel this is a good start for my resolutions, I will come up with a few others and post them later this week, so stay tuned!
1) Grow in my relationship with God. I feel as if over the past few years I have been making my relationship with God an after thought. It is time to make it a priority! This may mean that I need to really evaluate some people and things in my life, but I am up for it!
2) Don't be afraid of change! All of my life, I have had many constants and have never really had to deal with a lot of changes, but I feel this year in my life there are changes coming. I don't want to be afraid of them, but embrace them and realize that all things happen for a reason and that "He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20)
3) "Grow some ovaries" (I can't use this phrase without giving credit where credit is due, so thanks Kandy). Now I realize that some of you may be terribly concerned by this statement and feel that you don't know me at all, so before you go starting rumors, let me clarify! When Kandy and I lived together in college she would tell me to "grow some ovaries" when I needed to buck up and do something that I may not have wanted to do. She would tell me that because she felt it was pointless to tell another girl to grow some balls. So I say this as my 3rd resolution because I feel that too often I keep my feelings bottled up and then explode. I don't want to do that anymore. I want to "grow some ovaries" and be able to tell folks what I am thinking. This applies to so many areas of my life!
I feel this is a good start for my resolutions, I will come up with a few others and post them later this week, so stay tuned!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
i remember...
If you know me at all you are probably thinking why in the world is "I remember" the title of this post, because the next words should be "very little". I know this about myself and am secure in the fact that I don't remember things unless I write them down. So the other day I was laying in bed wide awake and decided to read my journal that I have had since 2000. (side note: I clearly don't write in it often since I have had it since 2000 and it is not full). It is amazing how things change in a span of 10 years and at the same time it is amazing how much things stay the same. Here are some examples:
- Just 10 years ago I moved in with my dear friend Kandy for the summer and had no idea how much this would change my life! There are so many memories from those short few months that we lived together, but so many of those memories pop up so very often. I can honestly say she is one of my best friends and one of the people in the world that really knows me. Who would have thought 10 years ago in the "crack stack" that a friendship would begin that would last a lifetime.
- 10 years ago I was just finishing up the first semester of my junior year in college. If you would have told me then that I would move to Arlington and teach 7th grade in Duncanville, I may have laughed at you. Even though my major was secondary science education I really wanted to teach high school biology. But you know, "His ways are higher than our ways and the path that He has laid is good and true".
- 10 years ago my sister was in high school. Now she is married and has a child.
- 10 years ago I thought that once I graduated from college the logical order of things would be get a job, get married, have kids. Boy has that changed. Here we are 10 years later and I am not married nor do I have kids. But I do have a job, which I am thankful for!
- 10 years ago, I was living in some of the most ghetto joints with roommates, and now...I own a house and live alone. However come March I will have a roommate and I would be lying if I said that i wasn't nervous about this matter. I have lived alone for 7 and a half years...
- 10 years ago the Rangers had never won an AL pennant nor had they been to a World Series. I can now say that they have done both and I was privileged enough to be able to experience Game 3 of the World Series!
Saturday, October 23, 2010
The sweetest thing...
Holy cow!!!! I never thought I would say these words, but the Rangers are going to the WORLD SERIES!!!!
If you know me at all you know that I have been a Ranger fan for as long as I can remember. Every season they start out well and blow it after the all-star break or start playing after the all-star break, which is always just a day late and a dollar short. But this year is different. They started out the year with some controversy...Ron Washington doing drugs, had a little bankruptcy situation, a change in ownership, and several new additions to the roster. But clearly all those things added together made them stronger.
Now this post season they started out playing the Rays and won the first two games (I was unable to watch these two games because I was at work), they then lost two games to the Rays (which I watched) and then beat the Rays in the final game of the series (which I didn't watch). Are you seeing a pattern here? Long story short, I watched last night's game with hesitation, but I was so glad I did and was able to witness history! I was joined by a number of friends and boy did we celebrate when that last and final strike was called! There were some tears shed! I will say last night may have been one of the best nights of my life. That is until my wedding day and the birth of my future children, and of course the day the Rangers win the world series!
If you know me at all you know that I have been a Ranger fan for as long as I can remember. Every season they start out well and blow it after the all-star break or start playing after the all-star break, which is always just a day late and a dollar short. But this year is different. They started out the year with some controversy...Ron Washington doing drugs, had a little bankruptcy situation, a change in ownership, and several new additions to the roster. But clearly all those things added together made them stronger.
Now this post season they started out playing the Rays and won the first two games (I was unable to watch these two games because I was at work), they then lost two games to the Rays (which I watched) and then beat the Rays in the final game of the series (which I didn't watch). Are you seeing a pattern here? Long story short, I watched last night's game with hesitation, but I was so glad I did and was able to witness history! I was joined by a number of friends and boy did we celebrate when that last and final strike was called! There were some tears shed! I will say last night may have been one of the best nights of my life. That is until my wedding day and the birth of my future children, and of course the day the Rangers win the world series!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The big one...
So yesterday was the big one...I turned the big 3-0! Honestly, everyone tends to freak out about the fact that turn 30, but I am okay with it. Honestly it feels no different than 29. The only difference is that I get to check a new age box on forms...
Going back to the whole "scared of 30" concept for a moment. When I was younger (15ish), I used to think that by the time was 30 I would be married, have a few kids and be very happy with my life. As I reflect on that as I am now 30, I see a very different picture. I am 30, not married (not even in a relationship), and no kids (unless you count my dog). But regardless of not being where I my teenage brain said I should be, I am very happy! I have an awesome church, I am surrounded by awesome friends, I love my job, I have a house, overall...I can't (and shouldn't) complain!
Enough of that...as yesterday was my birthday, it was a day to celebrate, and here is how I did:
(if you don't know me well, the series of events may appear to be totally unrelated, but if you do know me then the series of events you are about to read will seem in true Randa fashion)
We (and by we I mean me and 3 of my friends) started the day with lunch at Cheddar's. Which one of had been there is forever and quickly decided that we have no idea why we don't go there often. The food is good, they give you large portions, and it is fairly cheap. So after eating lunch we journeyed down the street to the nail salon that came highly recommended by Jill.
We arrive at the nail salon and all get a pedicure. We faced the task of selecting a nail color...holy cow, you would have thought we were picking the person we were going to marry the way we agonized over the color choice. (side note: when stating we in that last portion, I actually mean I, but it makes mr feel better to involve all the others as well) I chose a nice teal-ish color, Robin chose a blue-ish color, and both Rachel and Jill chose a shade of orange. We all got a lovely design, and Robin and I got manicures. My freshly manicured nails were painted a lively shade of clear, and yes I received many a comment later about why did I not get a color. I am just not a color on my nails sort of gal.
After pampering at the nail salon (and being sang happy birthday to by the Asian ladies) we went shopping. I will spare you all the detail of that...just know there was fun had.
I then proceeded home to change clothes and head out to the Rangers game! A group of us went, there were about 10, and I was honored to spend my birthday with these folks. The whole time we were really prayin that the 60% chance of rain that had been advertised all day would not become 100% while we were there, and it did not! We had a nice breeze, great seats, dollar hot dogs, and a Ranger win! Now that is a good night at the ballpark if I do say so myself! After the game, we were waiting on the shuttle to take us back to our car, but decided we would get there faster by walking (which turned out to be a true assessment). We did walk about 1-1.5 miles, but it was worth it.
Overall, I had an amazing 30th birthday, and would not trade a second of it.
But yesterday was just the beginning of the celebrations, I still have about 4 more days of celebrating coming up!
Going back to the whole "scared of 30" concept for a moment. When I was younger (15ish), I used to think that by the time was 30 I would be married, have a few kids and be very happy with my life. As I reflect on that as I am now 30, I see a very different picture. I am 30, not married (not even in a relationship), and no kids (unless you count my dog). But regardless of not being where I my teenage brain said I should be, I am very happy! I have an awesome church, I am surrounded by awesome friends, I love my job, I have a house, overall...I can't (and shouldn't) complain!
Enough of that...as yesterday was my birthday, it was a day to celebrate, and here is how I did:
(if you don't know me well, the series of events may appear to be totally unrelated, but if you do know me then the series of events you are about to read will seem in true Randa fashion)
We (and by we I mean me and 3 of my friends) started the day with lunch at Cheddar's. Which one of had been there is forever and quickly decided that we have no idea why we don't go there often. The food is good, they give you large portions, and it is fairly cheap. So after eating lunch we journeyed down the street to the nail salon that came highly recommended by Jill.
We arrive at the nail salon and all get a pedicure. We faced the task of selecting a nail color...holy cow, you would have thought we were picking the person we were going to marry the way we agonized over the color choice. (side note: when stating we in that last portion, I actually mean I, but it makes mr feel better to involve all the others as well) I chose a nice teal-ish color, Robin chose a blue-ish color, and both Rachel and Jill chose a shade of orange. We all got a lovely design, and Robin and I got manicures. My freshly manicured nails were painted a lively shade of clear, and yes I received many a comment later about why did I not get a color. I am just not a color on my nails sort of gal.
After pampering at the nail salon (and being sang happy birthday to by the Asian ladies) we went shopping. I will spare you all the detail of that...just know there was fun had.
I then proceeded home to change clothes and head out to the Rangers game! A group of us went, there were about 10, and I was honored to spend my birthday with these folks. The whole time we were really prayin that the 60% chance of rain that had been advertised all day would not become 100% while we were there, and it did not! We had a nice breeze, great seats, dollar hot dogs, and a Ranger win! Now that is a good night at the ballpark if I do say so myself! After the game, we were waiting on the shuttle to take us back to our car, but decided we would get there faster by walking (which turned out to be a true assessment). We did walk about 1-1.5 miles, but it was worth it.
Overall, I had an amazing 30th birthday, and would not trade a second of it.
But yesterday was just the beginning of the celebrations, I still have about 4 more days of celebrating coming up!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
There is only one....
Word to describe last night's episode of "Glee". AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you don't know this about me already, I am in love with Glee...more specifically Matthew Morrison, but that is neither here nor there. A few friends and myself have been gathering together every Tuesday night of this new season, sharing some tasty morsels, and watching Glee. We love it...we all want to get track suits for the season finale and say "that's how Sue sees it"...if you watch the show you can understand. If you don't you probably now find me a bit more strange. But please don't let your opinion of me influence your opinion of the show...Glee is AMAZING!!!!
Last night's episode had to be one of my favorites. I really enjoyed the Madonna episode (minus a small portion of the story line) and I will always enjoy the episode from last season when Puck sang "Sweet Caroline". Let me tell you why last night's episode was so AMAZING. Not only did they sing and dance to "Ice Ice Baby" (yes folks, stop collaborate and listen...), but they also sang and danced to "U Can't Touch This" (my, my, my...music hits me so hard makes me say 'oh my Lord'). And then to top it all off, Molly Shannon and Olivia Newton-John were on the episode as well. If you don't realize what a muscial masterpiece this is folks, then please contact me...I will help you to understand.
That is all I have for today...I just had to mention to the world how AMAZING last night's episode of Glee was!
Last night's episode had to be one of my favorites. I really enjoyed the Madonna episode (minus a small portion of the story line) and I will always enjoy the episode from last season when Puck sang "Sweet Caroline". Let me tell you why last night's episode was so AMAZING. Not only did they sing and dance to "Ice Ice Baby" (yes folks, stop collaborate and listen...), but they also sang and danced to "U Can't Touch This" (my, my, my...music hits me so hard makes me say 'oh my Lord'). And then to top it all off, Molly Shannon and Olivia Newton-John were on the episode as well. If you don't realize what a muscial masterpiece this is folks, then please contact me...I will help you to understand.
That is all I have for today...I just had to mention to the world how AMAZING last night's episode of Glee was!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
what a weekend...
So many things to talk about...where do I begin.
Let's start with Thursday (yes I know this is not technically part of the weekend, but roll with me on this one)...Thursday started out with snow, yes that is right, snow. When I woke up Thursday morning there was about 1-2 inches of snow in my yard. I got ready for work, and when I arrived it was STILL snowing, and continued snowing until sometime Friday morning. We were released from school early, which NEVER happens. When all was said and done, we had a total of about 10 inches of snow.
Friday, school was cancelled! Oh was a glorious event! Snow day = do as little as possible. I cleaned the house and watched movies...it was beautiful! But I had to be at church by 6:00 because I had volunteered to help with wake-up weekend (a.k.a. disciple now) with the youth. To be totally honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I didn't know what to expect, I didn't know what I was going to be doing exactly...it was just all very uncertain (in my mind at least). My friend Robin and I were hosting 10th grade girls at her house...
We got to the church, ate, and then went to a large group service...it was good. We then went to the host home and met as a co-ed group. I was still very uncertian of what my role was, so I just hung back and observed the happenings.
Saturday...wake-up weekend continues. We started with an AMAZING breakfast at the host home and then proceeded to the church to have a group service. We had lunch and then were assigned our mission project. We were assigned the task of making Valentine's day cards and taking them to the residents in a local nursing home. We all sat at tables and were given construction paper, scissors, glue, and pipe cleaners...kind of brought back memories of grade school. We were about to leave and someone called the home and discoverd they had 130 residents, we had 35 Valentine's card. This is when operation "make 90 more Valentine's cards in 25 minutes" began. We had a nice little assembly line, some were cutting hearts, some were gluing said hearts, some were folding construction paper, some were writing...it was a beautifully orchestrated even that accomplished the goal. We went to the nursing home and handed them out...let me just say this was an experience.
Saturday night we had another large group service...I think I got more from this service than some of the youth. It was amazing!
The praise and worship music was great, the speaker said just what I needed to hear...I felt like everything about was just for me! Afterwards we went back and had small group time, and the girls really began to open up. It was all so great.
Sunday, we went to church and then that evening some friends came over and we watched "Amazing Race", ate pizza (which if you have never had Papa Murphy's pizza, you need to try it), had browines, and just enjoyed life together.
I apologize for the lengh of this post, but I had to share...
Let's start with Thursday (yes I know this is not technically part of the weekend, but roll with me on this one)...Thursday started out with snow, yes that is right, snow. When I woke up Thursday morning there was about 1-2 inches of snow in my yard. I got ready for work, and when I arrived it was STILL snowing, and continued snowing until sometime Friday morning. We were released from school early, which NEVER happens. When all was said and done, we had a total of about 10 inches of snow.
Friday, school was cancelled! Oh was a glorious event! Snow day = do as little as possible. I cleaned the house and watched movies...it was beautiful! But I had to be at church by 6:00 because I had volunteered to help with wake-up weekend (a.k.a. disciple now) with the youth. To be totally honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I didn't know what to expect, I didn't know what I was going to be doing exactly...it was just all very uncertain (in my mind at least). My friend Robin and I were hosting 10th grade girls at her house...
We got to the church, ate, and then went to a large group service...it was good. We then went to the host home and met as a co-ed group. I was still very uncertian of what my role was, so I just hung back and observed the happenings.
Saturday...wake-up weekend continues. We started with an AMAZING breakfast at the host home and then proceeded to the church to have a group service. We had lunch and then were assigned our mission project. We were assigned the task of making Valentine's day cards and taking them to the residents in a local nursing home. We all sat at tables and were given construction paper, scissors, glue, and pipe cleaners...kind of brought back memories of grade school. We were about to leave and someone called the home and discoverd they had 130 residents, we had 35 Valentine's card. This is when operation "make 90 more Valentine's cards in 25 minutes" began. We had a nice little assembly line, some were cutting hearts, some were gluing said hearts, some were folding construction paper, some were writing...it was a beautifully orchestrated even that accomplished the goal. We went to the nursing home and handed them out...let me just say this was an experience.
Saturday night we had another large group service...I think I got more from this service than some of the youth. It was amazing!
The praise and worship music was great, the speaker said just what I needed to hear...I felt like everything about was just for me! Afterwards we went back and had small group time, and the girls really began to open up. It was all so great.
Sunday, we went to church and then that evening some friends came over and we watched "Amazing Race", ate pizza (which if you have never had Papa Murphy's pizza, you need to try it), had browines, and just enjoyed life together.
I apologize for the lengh of this post, but I had to share...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)