Almost a new year

Well, I don't know if I will be able to post tomorrow because I will be pretty busy, so I'm going to post my last posting of 2006 now and if I do more later, great. What do I want to say? How do I sum up one of the wackiest, most difficult, most interesting years I have ever had. 2006 wasn't as difficult as 2005, but maybe that's because I was more able to cope with the hard things that happened. I definitely feel older. I am not far from thirty and quite frankly that is a bit scary. I learned so much this year; I hope it sticks. For the first time in almost three years I didn't lose any friends and for the first time in almost three years I met some new people and made what looks like will be great friends. I got a job (a real one), shock and awe!!! I passed my GRE's, applied to grad school, got denied, got some great experience in my field and took some more classes including my first graduate level class, in which I got an A :), thank you very much. I lost a relationship I really wanted, I lost someone who was very dear to me - Miss Emma, you are missed-, I finally came to terms with the fact that I'm single (and I actually like it now, gasp!), I learned a few things about paying bills -I'm sure there's more to learn-, I had some friends graduate (yes!, finally), I overcame some giant obstacles in my personal life, and I am happier than I've been in my whole life. Jesus became more real than ever and all the blessings I received have left me deeply grateful for the wonderful God I serve. There was so much to this year that it is hard to sum it all up in this one post, but basically it was a good year and hopefully next year will at least be as good; better is also fine with me.

Thoughts

I was talking to an unexpected person yesterday. I have to admit I was surprised by the conversation and the fact that I actually enjoyed it. Funny how you think you know yourself and yet the slightest change can change your opinion or your outlook. The conversation kept me awake long after I had signed off and lied down to go to sleep. My mind was racing and I couldn't seem to quiet it enough to actually rest. There was one question that kept especially bugging me. What is a Christian? How would I describe what I believe to be a true Christian? There are so many people out there who identify with the Christian religion, but what is being a Christian actually all about? Well, I did some looking and some refreshing of my memory and I have an answer. It may not be all inclusive but it is a start at least. The Christians were first called such at Antioch. Christian is a Greek word that means little Christ. The disciples in Antioch acted so much like Jesus that the Greeks referred to them as little Christs. So, in order to be a Christian you should be acting like Christ, enough so that people can see it and recognize it as such. The only way to act just like Christ is to have His spirit living on the inside of you and controlling you. That means that we can't act like ourselves with a little bit of Jesus added in the mix; we have to allow Jesus to live through us so much so that people see Him and not us. Does that mean we become perfect like Jesus? No, and definitely not overnight, but there is hope for us. We can strive for the goal, as the apostle Paul said, to become like Jesus and to attain His goal for our lives; and it is Him in us, not ourselves that makes it possible to do this. Paul said it was Christ in Him that was the hope of glory. It wasn't Paul and his great abilities or his amazing spirituality. It was the fact that Christ resided in him and gave him the ability to attain all God had for him, and the same is true for us. In and of myself I am nothing, "In me dwelleth no good thing." But I have Jesus and He gives me the ability to live beyond my limits and achieve what God has for me, for with God all things are possible and we are more than conquerors through Christ Who is our strength. That's what being a Christian is all about - hope for life and living life abundantly just as God intended us to.

Wednesday

Wow! What a day it's been. Actually, it wasn't that different from most Wednesdays, but the ending of it changed the whole day. I started out kinda dragging because I'm still not fully recovered from this cold I've had for a week now. Work was slow and pretty much uninteresting except for the fun conversations I had with my co-workers, especially that one about dating and marriage, Scott. The rest of the day was nothing terribly exciting or out of the ordinary for me, but around 8:30 tonight things began to look up. First, I had to make about a thirty minute trip to get home and I got to make it with my little brother, whom I absolutely love. Since he's been in college I only get to spend time with him on breaks, so it was nice to be with him, even if we did spend half the time sleeping in the back seat of my mom's car. Then when we were almost home, a thunderstorm hit. I love thunderstorms and this one was pretty big with lightning streaks and hail. To top everything off, when I got home, my niece started a fire and broke out the stuff for s'mores. There is nothing like sitting in your living room while it's cold and rainy outside and roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. That made my day. I know, I know. I can hear my girlfriends saying, "You shouldn't eat that kind of stuff right before bed. Once on the lips, forever on the hips!" Oh well. My hips will have to deal with it 'cause I enjoyed every minute of it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Isn't it funny how the last hour of a day can define the entire day? In this case I'm thankful it can and did.

Christmas

It's Christmas day. Everyone has stopped their usual activities, families have gathered, for a moment the hustle and bustle of everday has paused. We are celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior. Some would say there is magic in the air. Some would say there is the feeling that things which are not possible the whole year through are somehow possible on Christmas day. No doubt there was the presence of the supernatural on that first Christmas night, so long ago, when God came to earth in the form of man and started the process that would bring our desperate race redemption. We were so in need and He was and is so willing to meet our need. Yet, many will brush over the day and never see how a birth in a stable more than 2000 years ago affects them today. To them it's a nice story that touches your heart in some strange way but does little more. How sad, that they will miss the one thing that separates Jesus from all other gods - He came to man so that man could come to Him. Because He layed aside His glory and took the form of a lowly man we can have a personal relationship with Almighty God, the Creator of the universe. It is a thought that still, even 2000 plus years later, inspires awe in the hearts and minds of those who have experienced His salvation. This poem was written nine years ago, yet it is more real today than it was then.

"Where Christ Was Born"

Dark.

Dirty.

Smelly.

Lowly.

Crowded.

Shameful.

Despairing.

Sadly Lacking.

Uncomfortable.

Unfit for a King.

In need of repairs.

Into this was Christ born.

Not a stable, but my heart.