Not By Sight

I was first introduced to John Piper at One Day 2000, a massive gathering of college students (although I was a high school senior) outside Memphis, TN. It was an incredible experience…one that I cannot even describe very well. You are in the middle of a huge farm with thousands of students. You have been sleeping in tents and using porta pottys for three days–rain has been coming down, leaving everything and everyone soaked and covered in mud. You gather with the crowd to lift your voices in worship and you wonder how much better heaven must be than this, the single most awe-inspiring event in your life thus far.

Well, it was at this event that I heard a sermon that has stuck with me. Piper took the stage amidst the drizzle and fog and preached a sermon that pretty much changed my thinking from then on. This was a turning point in my life and my faith. From there, not long after, I met Jason and then Eric, who became my pastor. God slowly opened my eyes to the doctrines of grace and the beauty of his sovereignty. I don’t think I have shared this event with many people or even thought fully of it’s impact on my life, but last week it was brought to the forefront of my mind.

I will share some of the points of the sermon that hit me the hardest…

You don’t have to know a lot of things for your life to make a lasting difference in the world. But you do have to know the few great things that matter, and then be willing to live for them and die for them. The people that make a durable difference in the world are not the people who have mastered many things, but who have been mastered by a few great things. If you want your life to count, if you want the ripple effect of the pebbles you drop to become waves that reach the ends of the earth and roll on for centuries and into eternity, you don’t have to have a high IQ or EQ; you don’t have to have to have good looks or riches; you don’t have to come from a fine family or a fine school. You have to know a few great, majestic, unchanging, obvious, simple, glorious things, and be set on fire by them.

But I know that not everybody in this crowd wants your life to make a difference. There are hundreds of you - you don’t care whether you make a lasting difference for something great, you just want people to like you. If people would just like you, you’d be satisfied. Of if you could just have good job with a good wife and a couple good kids and a nice car and long weekends and a few good friends, a fun retirement, and quick and easy death and no hell - if you could have that (minus God) - you’d be satisfied. THAT is a tragedy in the making.

Piper goes on to talk about an example of such a tragedy…

I tell you what a tragedy is. I’ll read to you from Reader’s Digest (Feb. 2000) what a tragedy is: “Bob and Penny… took early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells.” The American Dream: come to the end of your life - your one and only life - and let the last great work before you give an account to your Creator, be “I collected shells. See my shells.” THAT is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. And I get forty minutes to plead with you: don’t buy it.

Piper looked out on the crowd and you could see the compassion in his face, the wisdom in his eyes, and the sincerity in his voice. It’s not every day that you hear a sermon that utterly shakes you to the core and makes you realize you don’t have a clue what you believe and what you do believe may not even be the right thing to believe.

So I look out on you as sons and daughters and I plead with you as a father - perhaps the father you never had. Or the father who never had a vision for you like I have for you, and God has for you. Or the father who HAS a vision for you, but its all about money and status. I look out on you as sons and daughters and I plead with you: Want your lives to count for something great and for eternity. Want this. Don’t coast through life without a passion.

Then Piper said these words…

One of the reasons we are not as Christ-centered and cross-saturated as we should be is that we have not realized that everything - everything good and every thing bad that God turns for the good of his redeemed children was purchased by the death of Christ for us. We simply take life and breath and health and friends and everything for granted. We think it is ours by right. But the fact is that it is not ours by right.

We are doubly undeserving of it.

1) We are creatures and our Creator was not bound or obligated to give us anything - not life or health and anything. He gives, he takes, and he does us no injustice.

2) And besides being creatures with no claim on our Creator, we are sinners. We have fallen short of his glory. We have ignored him and disobeyed him and failed to love him and trust him. The wrath of his justice is kindled against us. All we deserve from him is judgment. Therefore every breath we take, every time our heart beats, every day that the sun rises, every moment we see with our eyes or hear with our ears or speak with our mouths or walk with our legs is free and undeserved gift to sinners who deserve only judgment.

And who bought these gifts for us? Jesus Christ. And how did he purchase them? By his blood.

And I was opened to a truth I had never before embraced. And I was set free. I will not have only shells to show. I will not.

Go to this site

http://labs.wanokoto.jp/olds

Click browse, choose a photo and click the “upload” button underneath

It’s in Japanese but you can assume what the buttons mean

Voila, you have “vintage” pictures

From this…

To this…

Jason and I are definitely not the type of people that eat out every meal (I do actually cook, people) but we do enjoy dining out. But, we also live on a budget. How do those two things mesh, you may ask. Allow me to share how we accomplish this (that is, besides the plethora of gift cards we receive from family and my students as Christmas gifts). E-mail. Yes, it’s that simple, folks. If you have an e-mail account, you too can dine in style without spending a ton.

Those of you who know me know how, um, we’ll say frugal my husband can be. So, the e-mail sign up from out favorite restaurants serves as the perfect solution for us. (We also use coupons a lot, but that’s for another post). All you have to do is visit the websites for your favorite restaurants and see if they have a mailing list. If so, put yourself on it!

Here are our favorites…

Bennigan’s We just went here last night and enjoyed a BOGO free entree’ thanks to a birthday e-mail for Jason. Also, they are having a “donate $1, get an appetizer” special and their “3 course combo” special. Our meal included: 2 waters, mozzarella sticks appetizer, quesadilla appetizer, 2 orders of Cajun Chicken Pasta, and 1 Death by Chocolate dessert all for the low price of around $12 (not including tip). And we brought home food for at least 3 more lunches.

Souper Salad Souper Salad has had several price increases over the past couple of years, but we still love going there and it’s fresh and yummy. They send out BOGO birthday e0mails, also, and other occasional offers.

Steak & Ale One of our all-time favorite restaurants. You can’t beat the dark bread, excellent salad bar, and the Kensington Club steak. They send out BOGO offers for birthdays and anniversaries.

Red Lobster  Their offers are not as great as the first three, but it will still save you some money.

**I do recommend creating an alternate e-mail account other than your primary ISP account for signing up for offers such as these. Yahoo! is a great choice and it will keep your home inbox from getting insanely full. And, in case these restaurants share your information, they won’t be sharing your primary e-mail address.**

Anyone ever gotten one of those “hey, you have won a free trip” things in the mail? I am sure you have…most people have. And most people put them straight in the circular file (as in, the trash). Well, we got one the other day and Jason decided to just call and see what it was all about.

Here’s the deal…we go to a 1 1/2 hour presentation about time shares or some such at Lake Palestine (near Tyler) and we get our vacation. 4 nights, 5 days. On Royal Caribbean. To the Mexican Riviera. ALL meals included. HELLO!! How awesome is that? I mean, who cares if we have to sleep in twin beds and never leave the ship. I am not passing up a free cruise.

On Saturday we celebrated Jason’s 31st birthday with lunch at Mastergrill. If you like meat, you should go there, they have a lot of it. Personally, I was actually a little disappointed with the food. This restaurant had been hyped up big time by friends so I probably went in with my hopes too high, but it just wasn’t as great as I was expecting. Don’t get me wrong, it was still good, just not uber good. However, the pineapple was my favorite part…go figure.

Jason got a Plug n Play Jeopardy game for his birthday. On Saturday night, we played a couple of rounds. If you want to feel dumb about the insane amount of useless trivia that you don’t know then I recommend this game.

I have been rewatching Gilmore Girls on DVD lately. Seeing as how these are Steph’s DVDs and I have had them since September, I figured I needed to get one more watching in before I will see her in May and she will most likely want her collection back. Jason loathes GG, (I say it’s because he can’t keep up with the fast-paced dialogue) so that seriously hinders my watching time…I have to fit it in while he’s gone or working on homework. However, I still need to see the final season…Steph, did you buy that one yet??

Speaking of seasons on DVD, I am very behind in my 90210 watching. The 4th season is already out and I have only made it through half of the 2nd season. I really, really need Netflix.

I also made banana pudding this weekend. No, not from scratch…what, am I Martha Stewart or something? BUT, it was the Cook & Serve and NOT the instant stuff, so that’s something. Anyway, Jason liked it and that’s what matters because it was for his birthday. Have you ever tried putting birthday candles in pudding? Not too easy.

Yesterday, at church, the pastor referenced Job 42:2

I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.  

One of my favorite verses. The sovereignty of God is one of the most comforting doctrines to me. How people can deny it, I will never understand.

Hope your weekend was restful and fun!

For a while now I have been semi-interested in being more conscious about the chemicals and substances I put in my body and on my skin. I say semi-interested because I don’t want anyone to get the wrong idea about my zealousness on this issue. There’s been a lot of thinking, a lot of talking and that’s about it.  I mentioned a while back about getting rid of toxic household cleaners….well, that hasn’t happened…yet. Actually, for the most part, I haven’t done anything at all except read a lot about it.

But, now that I am going to a new chiropractor she has confirmed my suspicions.

TOXINS ARE BAD.

Duh, right? I mean, they are toxins, after all. Ha. Apparently not to the FDA.

Well, anyway, so after over a year of talking with Stephanie about how we really should use natural stuff, get rid of toxins, blah, blah, blah…I am actually taking some baby steps. I stress baby steps. So, as with anything that someone gets paranoid about, they share their concerns with anyone who cares (or even, people that couldn’t give a rip), so here you go…

First of all, if you don’t get anything else, get this–PARABENS are bad and they are in everything!! Seriously, it’s like you can’t get away from them. Look for fancy words like ethylparaben, propylparaben, and butylparaben.

Here are some other things I have learned:

• Petrochemicals are bad. This stuff comes from petroleum and natural gas and they put it in hair products, body creams and facial cleaners (usually for it’s foaming action). Go ahead, go check your mousse or shaving cream.
• Phthalates are worse. They cause premature development, reproduction issues, birth defects and have been linked to cancer. You can find these evil creatures in perfume, hairspray and deodorant. Oh yeah, and in fixatives and plasticizers. Isn’t that what everyone wants all over their armpits?
• Formaldehyde. Okay, I have always heard this one but I thought they didn’t use it anymore. Think again.
• Artificial Colors and Fragrances can cause a whole array of problems such as hyperactivity (that explains a lot about our current society), depression, cancer, etc. Some really bad ones are Toluene, Methylene Chloride, Nezyl Chloride, and Red #3. Stay away from Red #3, I repeat, stay away from Red #3.

Well, upon learning all of this information you would think I have rid my toxic filled household of all culprits. However, I haven’t ’cause then Jason and I would be walking around with greasy hair, dry skin, smelly armpits, and yellow teeth. Therefore, as I run out of products I currently own, I am replacing them with safer, more natural alternatives. It has taken me a long time to find a body wash, shampoo, conditioner, bubble bath, etc. that I really like and change is going to be hard.

I’ll update soon about product reviews and how we are doing with the change.

As some of you already know, Jason and I are headed to Japan in June. For two weeks. Needless to say, I am super excited. And nervous. I have been overseas one other time, in 2005, when I went to Italy for almost 3 weeks. However, I was extremely prepared for that trip and had studied the culture, especially the art and architecture, before leaving. My knowledge of Japanese culture is limited to my reading of the book, Memoirs of a Geisha. Okay, it’s not that bad, but seriously, I know next to nothing about Japan. Then why choose that country, you may ask? Well, we actually have a friend who lives there right now, thus making the trip actually affordable (not having to pay for accommodations for more than half of the time).

In light of this, I am asking for tips, advice, information, etc. Anyone been to Japan? Anyone have a list of “must sees” for Japan? Anyone have an idea of what to expect?

While searching for all things travel, I came across this column discussing tips on how to avoid being a stupid American overseas. I love #4 “Not Eating at the Local McDonald’s and Hard Rock”–while in Italy, I managed to avoid both of these eating establishments, although most of the group did not. And I agree with the columnist–Hard Rock t-shirts from exotic locales haven’t been cool since the 90s. Anyone who has been overseas, especially with college students, can relate to these tips!

Sushi, anyone? Guess I better brush up on my chopstick skills.

Our new (and some gently used) furniture…

The dog on our new rug…

Kitchen Buffet/China Hutch waiting for fresh paint and new hardware…

83 more days