Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend was b.u.s.y.. It started Friday night with dinner at the Huxford's place and then dessert at The Melting Pot. It was my first time experiencing The Melting Pot, and let me just say there is nothing better than a plate of strawberries and pot of chocolate. It was delicious! The best part? Not spending a dime. Harrison, Lindsay's husband, bought a $50 gift card for $25 off of the Groupon website. If you haven't heard of it, you need to check it out. You can get crazy good deals in your city!

Saturday morning brought the weekly trip to Classic Coffee, my fav local coffee shop in walking distance and then small group with some amazing college girls. We are currently talking about fun stuff like....boys, dating and God's will for us in the mix of all of that. Girls never get tired of talking about boys.

After a quick drop off at Goodwill, Kelly (a student in the study) and I went to dinner at Z Pizza (yum, organic pizza) and then made a short shopping trip to Homegoods. I found it hilarious when she said "Homegoods? That is my mom's favorite store." Seriously....does this mean I'm getting old? Anyway, I came home with 3 yummy smelling candles and this cute lamp. Don't you love it???



Then we caught a late night movie and saw Edge of Darkness with Mel Gibson. Patrick and I are extremely cheap when it comes to paying to see movies in the theater. We are rarely willing to do it, especially since we have a Redbox so close. BUT, we bit the bullet and went with a couple of students. I would give it a C-/B+. Definitely a movie I could have waited to watch at home, but Mel Gibson makes any movie good. Good story line and a lot of action.

Help

Okay friends and readers....I need your help. I am one week away from ending the kick-butt Jillian Michaels workout I have been doing and I am geared for running. I am gong to be training for a 5k and then a 10k, so I am going to need some good music to keep me going. I am trusting y'all to help me put together a playlist of workout music that is upbeat and will keep me going when I am ready to stop and walk the rest of the way. I know there aren't many of you, but I need all you got. Even if you only stop by every now and then, please leave a suggestion! Thanks in advance!

You are What You Eat

After recently having to return some jeans my husband surprised me with....because I couldn't fit in them....I decided to get more intentional about my eating habits. I have always been into being healthy. I love working out. We are the annoying people who get up at 5 am to workout 5-6 days a week. My main battle is my addiction to frappes, which I give complete credit to for the whole jean incident. Besides cutting down to just one frappe a week (believe it when I say this is a big step), I have become much more aware of how I snack. I have discovered some yummy snacks that don't undo the hard work I do in the gym....so I thought I would share.

1. Apple Slices (or Celery) and All-Natural Peanut Butter
Once you taste all-natural, organic peanut butter, you will never go back. Go easy
on the peanut butter though. A couple of tablespoons should do it.

2. Baby Carrots and Hummus
....or fat free ranch...whatever you prefer

3. Cottage Cheese with Pineapple
I still haven't been able to down this, but Patrick has picked it up and loves
it. Packed with protein.

4. Greek Yogurt
Holy Cow! I don't know that I will ever eat regular yogurt again. So creamy. Fat
free. High in Protein. Real fruit pieces. There is nothing like it.

5. Almonds

6. Popcorn
NOT microwaved people. Make it on the stove or in a popcorn maker. It is so much
better for you...and taste a ton better too!

7. Holiday Grapes
I don't when these things are in season, but they are massive in size and taste.

8. Tomato Slices with Italian Dressing and Feta Cheese

9. Strawberries, Blueberries, NAKED Granola and a little Whipped Cream

10. Baked Tostitos and Salsa

So, do you have any healthy snacks you want to add to the list????

Theological Wrestlings

I had a break down last week. I don't intend to open up a theological debate, so please refrain from going down that road. I just want to communicate that since I have started my journey through scripture, I have had to wrestle with a theological issue that I thought I had already settled...an issue that I would never budge on before.

John Piper explained the reformed theological position on predestination best at the 1997 Passion Conference in Austin, Texas. I encourage you to listen to this or read it so that you are not confused on what I am talking about. I would also like to add that I am not claiming my theological stance. I am simply saying that this is a topic I have previously held in a very closed hand. I knew what I thought and it wasn't ever going to change. Now, as I read scripture in its entirety, I have had to back-pedal a few steps and actually wrestle with some things.

I understand the difficulty of the idea. The idea of predestination completely contradicted the idea of free will to me. And the God I knew would never create people specifically for hell. That didn't match up at all with the characteristics of my God. My husband gently explains that the other side is that if God, foreknowing the decisions and ultimate eternity of the person, still creates them, it is essentially the same truth being played out.

In Genesis, Abraham and Sarah move to Egypt and Abraham instructs Sarah to lie and say that she is his sister, in order that he may live. Sarah is taken as a wife of Pharaoh and Pharaoh, as would be expected, sleeps with her. Because of this, a curse falls on his entire house. He finds out why and lets Abraham and Sarah leave. So my question is why wouldn't the curse fall on Abraham? He was the one that lied. Pharaoh wasn't doing anything wrong, as far as he knew, but his entire house was plagued. This doesn't seem fair at all.

In Genesis 27 Jacob fools his father into thinking he is Esau and steals his brother's blessing from their dad Isaac. Esau, of course, is mortified and begs for any blessing that may be left, but there were none. Jacob then goes through life winning one victory after another and being blessed abundantly. Esau's life looks much different. This seems so unfair to me. Why didn't the Lord come down on Jacob? Why, instead, did he get a life full of victory and blessing while Esau got the proverbial lump of coal? Why did God favor Jacob?

Romans 9 is what sent me over the edge. Paul speaks specifically about Jacob and Esau in verse 13, "Just as it is written: 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.' What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'" Scripture called me out. This is exactly what I was thinking..."God wouldn't do that...that isn't fair." Then, in verses 21-23 reads, "Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for his glory..."

Do you see my dilemma now?

The Power of Influence

So, I'm still reading Genesis for any of you that would like to join me on my journey through scripture this year. It is never too late. :)

I heard someone once say that God gave women the power of influence, particularly over men...most specifically their husbands. It starts when we are young and know exactly what we need to do to get Daddy to cave in and continues into adulthood when we want to blow the budget on a purse or a new pair of shoes.

Although I am just in the first book of the Bible, I have already read about two women who influenced their husbands and changed history. Eve is the first to bite the fruit and then she gives it to Adam. Next thing you know....fall of man and humankind as we know it....or as they knew it, rather. Less than 20 chapters later, Sarai (later called Sarah), in spite of God's promises, faithlessly suggests her husband sleep with her servant in order to bare a child. Result?

My first instinct is to blame the man. What is it with passive men? Where are the leaders here? Where is the man who will stand up to these crazy women?! But then I see the lesson to be learned is how easy it can be to influence the men who love us and what a large responsibility that is. I can think of so many ways I influence my husband with just a simple comment or short conversation. It isn't a question of IF I am influencing him...it's a question of HOW I am influencing.

Are You SEC Loyal?

In the SEC we unanimously agree on two things:

1. We do NOT like the Florida Gators
2. We always pull for the SEC in non-conference games

In spite of the fact that all of the Bama and Texas fans took up every possible form of a parking spot in Pasadena today....hence, we couldn't get to the bank....I'm hollerin' (that's southern for "screaming loud with my mouth full of fried food") for Alabama to show everyone how we do it in the SEC! Roll Tide.....for today!

Diamond in the Rough

I was reading one of the exciting chapters in Genesis...you know, a genealogy chapter of Adam. Did you catch the sarcasm? Verse 3 in chapter 5 begins a 29-verse list of names and years....and more names. Every verse is written with the same order of words, only the names and numbers changed.

"When ____ had lived ___ years, he became the father of ____. And after he became the father of ___, he lived ___ years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, ___ lived ___ years, and then he died."

This exact group of words are repeated for 29 verses, with one exception. In the middle of this repetitive script, there is a change in wording for one man.

"When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. And after he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived 365 years. Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away."

.....then it was right back to the regular script.

The first words that break the repetition are "walked with God". In every other verse the person "lived for ___ years...", but Enoch "walked with God for ___ years". There is an obvious distinction here, let alone the fact that he didn't die. There seems to be a difference between just living life and walking with God through life. When it is all said and done, I hope my friends and family can say that I "walked with God for ___ years".

Day 1

So today marked the first day of the 2010 journey (until I can find a better name for it) I have embarked on (with a few of you!) and I have already seen how easily Satan distracts me from staying on task with this. We made an 8 hour drive today, which made it very easy for me to believe I was just too exhausted and too busy to get this done today....but I fought it off and got it done! Day 1...successful.

Today's reading was Genesis 1, 2 and Psalms 1. I immediately found myself confused while reading the first 2 chapters of Genesis. If you notice in Genesis 1:27-30, God creates man, blesses him and gives him instructions. But then you find God creating man (again?), mentioning much more detail, in Genesis 2:7. I was initially wondering what was going on here, so I asked my theology student husband and he enlightened me to the fact that it was normal in Mesopotamian literature, to first give a brief summary (chapter 1) and then provide the material and corresponding details in its entirety (chapter 2). Interesting huh?

The Psalms are some of my favorite verses in scripture. In today's reading in Psalms, verse 3 stuck out to me the most. I plan on making a book of these verse that stick out to me on this journey. What about you? What verses stuck out to you?

"He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." Psalm 1:3