[insert your life here]

I have gone camping for the weekend... my dad and I left the house at 7 am this morning. Then we stopped to buy food at safeway and this awesome little bakery in Bothell, and now I am sitting here.... waiting for him as he waits for some system to reboot or something at his work. I already took an hour long nap in the car and then he called me because he was getting bored of waiting and wanted something to do (he didn't say that, I picked up on his implications). SO... soon we will be gone camping. on South Whidbey. yay!

Yesterday I was driving home and I saw the most magical thing I have ever seen on 194th St (the main drag of reintree). In front of me a bird and a squirrel simultaneously danced across the road. The squirrel leaped! The bird Dived! and they made this perfect waving action as they crossed the road together. I thought they were best friends.

I wish I would've had a camera... But even with a traditional point and shoot digi or manual cam I would've missed the shot. SO it makes me wish even more that I had a camera attached to my nose or something so all I had to do was itch my nose and it would take the picture of whatever is before me.

wouldn't that be rad.

if only I were that cute...

then all the toddler boys would dig me.

haha! maybe that shouldn't be my goal.

either way.. this picture is cuter than a 6 yearold with a lollipop.

entertainment and angry little asian girls.

I was driving to the Woodinville Park and Ride this morning and during the discussion with my head I was graced with this rad little thought: people are cool! I just got super giddy as I drove by all these random people that I didn't know and they just made me happy. Then I saw the guy who runs laps on that big hill and by the park and ride and such and I was just like, "Dude! He is so cool!!" Because he runs up that hill every day and at an awesome pace.. he's just cool.

So today, God, I am thankful for various people you have created and the random joy they can bring to my life. And I hope I can bring random joy to their's as well.

people are rad!

**intro music plays**
(doo doo do do doo doo do do)

Hello and welcome to the Weekend Exploration. An exploration on the weekend of our heroine's adventures and ponderings of the previous week. It is July 13.

Our top story is....

OK, so nothing is really toppage material right now.. I just have a few minutes at the keys while my dad mows the lawn with which I would like to ramble and just get out this crazy innate desire to write. So... maybe I will make a table of contents:

Laserhead
The Spirit's Corner
Raw Minutes (from the last encounter)
Future Expeditions

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Laserhead

Laser Radiohead at the Pacific Science Center in the lovely downtown Seattle=amazing high with little to know future ramifications.

For a mere seven dollars and fifty cents I was able to lie on the floor the planetarium and watch science at work. Not only were the sounds amazing (loooove radiohead) but the sights. It amazes me what can be created with "a device that utilizes the natural oscillations of atoms or molecules between energy levels for generating coherent electromagnetic radiation usually in the ultraviolet, visible, or infrared regions of the spectrum." The way the lasers just painted colored lights on the ceiling: the flow, the rapidity, the colors! It was so... dizzying and wonderful. The finale was great! They fogged up the room and shot tons of lasers across the room just feet above our heads! It was very trippy. Laser images of note: the sad robot, the devil singing from the mountain tops, and that one rad laser effect that can be hardly described as melodious... it was just breathtaking.

I really recommend this show to everyone!

And thanks to my three friends who joined me on this righteous expedition: Ryan, Lauren, and Kyle are the bomb-diggitiest of all the bomb-diggities.

***

The Spirit's Corner
but, oh, so much more

So many rad things are being brought to my attention, I hardly even know where to begin.

Let's go with Oswald Chambers!!! yeah!

July 11th: "A spiritually vigorous saint never believes that his circumstances simply happen at random, nor does he ever think of his life as being divided into the secular and the sacred. He sees every situation in which he finds himself as the means of obtaining a greater knowledge of Jesus Christ, and he has an attitude of unrestained abandon and total surrender about him."

The day I read this I found myself driving past a sign and saying, "I can know another aspect of Jesus' character by passing this sign." I entered a place of reflection so many more times in the day because I was looking for what I could learn about Christ. Even still, the desire to learn was hardly flamed enough. The beauty of Christ is that His true beauty is not comprehendable by our minute minds so we always have something new to learn and that desire to learn needs to be so red hot because that is what we have been called to.

Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. (Phil.3:8-9)

July 12th: "My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace, nor even blessing, but Himself, my God."

...

On to John Fischer's "On a Hill too Far Away":

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. (James 5:16)

"The cross cuts deeply into our lives, but it can be known only as far as the knowledge of our sin goes. If we don't make our sin known to ourselves and others, our experience of the cross will be a shallow, sentimentalized version of the real thing."

"True worship takes us low before it ever takes us high. Worship starts at the cross every time."

"Coming together at the cross also roots our worship in fellowship. True fellowship grows out of facing and confessing our real sins to one another and receiving our forgiveness together. Evangelicals love to perform this process of cleansing seperately, away from everyone, so we can then come back together as neat, clean Christian people. But this is not God's way."

Since my childhood I have had the mind set that my relationship with God is MY relationship with God. What God reveal to me is what God reveals to ME. I haven't been one to confess sins with others because, honestly, I have a hard time being weak and vulnerable in front of others. That's why Carly and Erin are somewhat happy when I actually cry in front of them (which hasn't happened often). I have been trained to put my best foot forward while disguising the limp one I drag behind me: and I am good at it. But I do believe that public confession and public sharing are necessary parts of God's Church. and God will continue breaking me so that I will be vulnerable with the right people.

...

I almost didn't go to Sunday School this morning, but I am SO glad I did. My pastor has been leading a discussion on Biblical contentment. I hear the word content and little red and aqua flags start to wave in warning. Contentment means lack of motion and therefore lack of growth and therefore SIN! Right?

not so much.

Biblical contentment, in one aspect, means non-anxiousness. A need is present, you are aware of it, but you don't stress over it. You trust God to take care of the need. Contentment in God's ever working grace. It's like a river: at peace but constantly moving. The phrase: Peace like a River, offers so much more to me now.

...

Went to Mars.Hill tonight as well. I love Mark Driscoll, the pastor. At communion I took my bread from him and when he looked directly into my eyes and the eyes of each individual who walked up to partake, you knew he loved each soul. You knew he honestly cared for each and every child of God. It was so touching... I want to be able to impart that love to others when I look at them. A hymn we sang said something to the effect of, "Christ in every eye that sees me/Christ in every ear that hears me." I want to be transposing Christ from my heart to the heart of every individual I come in contact with. There is something worth living for.

A few of my favorite points he made (in brief):
--at the bottom of every problem is folly. Cure the folly (with wisdom) cure the problem.
--First things first: Go to God... after you've gone to Him, get further assitance from counselors. God takes priority.

Can I just say I love the book of Ecclesiastes!?

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Raw Minutes

raw material has been lacking words. so I've decided my mind set for the blog needs to change. I keep wanting to post only finished products but I have no time to finish anything. So, Raw material is going to be truly raw with the occasional polished blemish. I am starting to get back the poetic vision I had lost since coming home. I miss crafting pictures with words but it's all coming back to me.

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Future Expeditions

This coming week will see the start of my second week at Wells Fargo with a finale at the South Whidbey state park as I embark on a trip to the lovely island with my snoho church family. Good times on the horizon. God times. rock!

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Useful Phrases

"You have spanked my inner child!"

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ok, goodnight.