HE WON!

Dale Jr. won at Michigan!

That's right. To the haters out there, you've been proven wrong again!

GO, 88, GO!!!!!!

I want my car back!!

Yeah. I dropped my car off to be aligned and get new tires yesterday. I promised her I'd come pick her up later on that day, hoping that the tire fixer/aligner people would get their work done quickly so that I could come collect that ugly, but mostly reliable, piece of machinery that has been through so much with me. Mostly because of me, honestly... A few too many wrecks.

But alas, I had to break my promise because the people didn't call me to tell me if she was all done or not.

So my dad was going to take me to pick her up today, when he remembered. The tire place is closed on Tuesdays. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

This is particularly problematic because I have to go to work at 6:15 in the morning, and no one in my family loves me that much. lol. Just kidding. They could take me, but my sister was going to hang out with her friend in Rock Hill tomorrow, and I work in Lake Wiley. My parentals were going to be at work. Dad in Rock Hill, Mom here in Y-town. Oh, noes!

That is a major problem. MAJOR problem.

Then, Dad conveniently remembered his truck that he never drives because it guzzles gas. Oh, boy! I get to drive the gas hog tomorrow. Oh, boy. He won't let me drive his care, because, well, I have no knowledge of the world of stick shifts. :(

Anyways, Sunday, Jules and I saw Indy. It was good, but not quite what I'd expected. Shia LeBeouf was surprisingly good in it, and Harrison Ford, as usual, kicked butt. However, for a classic Indy lover, it was not the greatest of all Indy movies. That honor, I think, belongs to "The Last Crusade." At least, I think so.

Then we went to Broadcast, where I sat in on Bess's small group, which was amazing. I can't wait to see how I can get more plugged in with them!

Anywho. Yesterday, we played Clue for a long time. Darn that Colonel Mustard. lol. It was really fun, and then we went to the $1.50 movie theater with my mom and saw "Meet the Browns." Once again, Tyler Perry didn't disappoint me. Drama, comedy, and Madea. What else do you need?

So... I might be going to the movies again on Saturday with some of my friends from my church here in Y-town, so yeah... Any suggestions of what I should see?

Probably not, but that's OK. lol. :)

Now I'm jamming out to Switchfoot. Can I get a heck yes?

This post has been brought to you by the letter I and J and the number 2i. Get real. :D

Blessed Be Your Name

Blessed Be Your Name
By Matt Redman

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

Wow. Yet another awesome song we sang at Hope Point this morning. :D

This song was prefaced by Richard's sermon, which was entitled Crying With Hope. If you don't go to Hope Point, I'd suggest you go check that sermon out at www.hopepoint.org.

Anyways... The concept behind it was glorifying God despite utter suffering and pain. (Text was Ps. 31:1-5. Awesome awesome Psalm). And, honestly, I have to say that this has been one of my most intense struggles. If you didn't know, my family has been through a lot this past year, and my parents will be divorced by this weekend. Yeah. And that got me thinking...

In the Psalm Richard used, David asked God to be his Rock and his Strong Fortress. And as I look back, I realize how many times I used my family as my rock. When I was in trouble, disoriented, afraid, I could always find my way back to where I wanted to be by relying on my family. I realize now that this was making my family an idol.

But anyway... How difficult is it to make this song true of our lives? In either circumstance, really...

When we're having hard times, it's hard to praise God. We want to blame Him for our pain. And when I say that, it sounds silly. Ridiculous, honestly. Why on EARTH would we place blame with the One who loves us more than anyone else ever could? It's so easy to be ridiculous, it seems. Why on earth do the things that honestly make the most sense seem so difficult to swallow?

But it's also really hard "when the world's all as it should be" to give God the praise and glory. We kind of settle into our complacency, not realizing that our need for God is just as great in our joy as in our sorrow. It's easiest for me to worship God at the end of a major struggle. But once all is well and good again, I go back to, "I'm OK."

And I'm not.

I'm never OK.

None of us is ever OK.

I long for a day when my pain and sorrow as well as my joy and dancing will both be covered in the words, "Blessed be the name of the Lord."

Yeah. Sweet.

In my heart and my soul, I give You control...

From The Inside Out
by Hillsong United
album: United We Stand (2006)

A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in your grace

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending,
Your glory goes beyond all fame

In my heart, in my soul, Lord I give you
control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise
become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Your will above
all else, my purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending,
Your glory goes beyond all fame

In my heart, in my soul, Lord I give you
control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
Let justice and praise
become my embrace
To love You from the inside out

Chorus 2x

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending,
Your glory goes beyond all fame
And the cry of my heart is to bring You
praise
From the inside out Lord, my soul cries out

So, yeah... we sang that one at Hope Point this past Sunday. Johnny sang it, by the way, which was awesome, b/c I don't know if I've ever paid attention to his voice before, since he usually sings harmony parts and stuff. His voice is awesome. Seriously awesome.

Anyways, this song to me is an amazing prayer... And when I sing it, I feel like I can't get close enough to heaven... I just wanna raise my hands and jump and... it feels like my heart is going to burst from the joy of knowing that God is so flipping amazing. Basically, it's like Josh said right after we sang it... I just wanna jump out of my shoes! I was talking to my dad last night about how God forgives sin no matter what it may be. But as I sat there, all I could think of was that not only is He a forgiver, He is everything. There are so many facets to his personality that I will NEVER know him fully. and that's OK. I'm not meant to. As Larry and I discussed at some point, if we ever fully knew God, we would be destroyed. Not even a man like Moses, one of the OT "heavyweights" was allowed to see God in all His glory and splendor. It would have killed him on the spot! What makes us think that we deserve to see all of that glory more than Moses did?

But the deep desire to be known and consumed from the inside out by someone else... What a beautiful picture of love? To really know every single thing about a person, and love them despite their worst mistakes and deepest sins is a beautiful love. It's also a beautiful vulnerability to ask someone to know you that deeply. And to ask God is even better, because you are being vulnerable with someone who loves you more than anything and will NEVER hurt you. Pretty sweet, huh?

Another part that never fails to get to me... "Your will above all else./My purpose remains/The art of losing myself/In bringing You praise." It reminds me of Central Asia and how we learned just how important dying to self is to our acts of worship and love of our Creator and our brothers and sisters. I want to be so purposeful. I want my life to be about losing myself in bringing praise to the God Who made me and loves me more than anything. How awesome would that be to finally come to a place where I don't care anymore about my desires or what I "want" so much as being totally wrapped up and lost in the glory and praise of God? How freakin' incredible? It's so difficult to wrap my mind around. It's so much easier just to do the things that I want to do... To goof around on Facebook for hours, or to watch TV, or to catch those few extra hours of sleep. Why can I not find that desire in my heart? I want to want it. That's something else I've discussed with friends lately. I want to want to do the right thing. But I don't. Oh, for the grace of God to want what's right instead of only to want to want it. (Did that confuse you? I think it confused me.)

This song brings me to a lot of things, but the greatest is that concept... What God is... Who God is... Saweet.

• God is the ultimate Father... He will never leave or forsake His children. He disciplines them when necessary, but only out of deepest love and concern for their well being. He never treats them as stupid, but as beloved in His sight. The apple of His eye.
• God (Jesus) is the ultimate Big Brother. He never picks on His little brothers and sisters, but rescues them from trouble of their own making, and dies to keep them from suffering.
• God is the ultimate Lover. He knows us deeply, intimately, personally, in such a private way that even an earthly husband or wife could never know us that deeply. I don't know how that is for guys to think of God that way. I mean, it's kind of odd, I guess, since Jesus was a man and all. But at least, for me as a woman, it's amazing to think of someone who knows me like that and loves me no matter what!
• God is the ultimate Hero. He rescues us from the pits of our own sin, the great monsters/villains of life. He flies in, like a Super-Superman, and rescues us. Added bonus? With God as your superhero, there is no tragic/whatever flaw... There is no Kryptonite that renders Him helpless. There is no weakness. Pretty sweet.
• God is the ultimate King. There was a time when being King meant you could do whatever you wanted to without worry of being challenged. Think Henry VIII cutting off his wives' heads left and right. Punk. But anyway. This is not the kind of monarchy that they have in England now. God is no figurehead. He is the ruler of the universe. He answers to no one, and everyone will one day answer to Him. But the beauty is that He uses this unlimited power to become a man and die for the poorest of the poor, the dirtiest of the dirty, the most sinful of the sinners. Us. We are those people. He died to make us into saints. I can't even imagine that. But He still rules the world. He parts seas, He calms storms... Nothing is beyond His hand of control. And that, my friends, is amazing.

So in the end, I am again amazed by the God I serve. Yay for worship music reminding me just how awesome and great He really is. How incredible He is, and how beautiful it is to be known, loved, consumed and controlled by the most amazing God EVER!

I've loved you since the first time I laid my eye on you...

Lol. Gotta love SpongeBob. Good cartoon.

Anywho, so, I've now been home for 3 1/2 ish days. It's been interesting. I am glad to be here, but at the same time, it's a little weird.

When I got home on Sunday, after church/hanging out with Roxie, I hung out with my mom and sis for a bit, then went over to Jerica's. We went to her church's family fun night. I was also pleased/amused to hear that Kirby called Kyle Busch stupid in his sermon on Sunday. :D Too bad I missed it, but it was awesome to go to Hope Point, as always. Anywho, so yeah... Kirby is pretty cool. Any race fans who want to hear Kirby call Kyle Busch stupid, just go to http://www.rrbc.com/ and d/l this week's sermon.

I've seen Jerica every day since I came home. lol.

Monday, I had lunch with my mommy, and chilled around the house most of the day before going to eat dinner with Jerica at Zaxby's, joined by Jami and Nina, her sister and cousin. Twas fun. We went to their softball game, where Jerica, much to our shock and disbelief, hit the ball, made it to base, and didn't duck while she was running. lol.

Yesterday, I worked my first shift at my new store, and it wasn't too bad. I'm still getting used to it, but I kind of enjoyed it. I worked with a really nice shift, and it was not bad at all. Then, I went to my mom's work, ate dinner with her (Zaxby's again. Go figure) and went swimming with Jerica. We played volleyball, Colors, and Truth or Dare. I felt like I was in middle school again. And she def. asks hard questions. lol. And on colors, we switched the category to NASCAR drivers, and she picked freakin' Patrick Carpentier. Who the heck would guess him? I got dunked an ungodly number of times, and finally guessed, only when given the race team and the number (and still missed once). lol. She said 10, I went a year behind and guessed Riggs. lol. Blast. She's a mean mean little monkey.

Today, I went swimming again, after eating dinner (that's lunch to you Yankee's who don't know... Supper's what y'all call dinner. ;D) with my daddy and Chase in Rock Hill.

And now, I'm this wonderful lobster-like shade of red. Red is, you know, my favorite color, and perhaps the very best color of all. However, it does not suit skin very well. And I have a stupid line, because my bathing suit strap crosses over in back. Ew.

Well, anywho... So, I watched the movie "The Ultimate Gift" again, and it made me cry. So freakin' good. Go watch it. No excuses. No later. Just go watch it. Right now. Like, stop reading this, and drive to Blockbuster/Movie Gallery/Hollywood Movies/Videos to Go/your local video rental store of choice, and RENT THE FREAKIN MOVIE! GOSH!

Speaking of that, it made me giggle when I was looking at the Fight Club app on Facebook, since your fighter can be a sensei. "Bow to your Sensei. BOW TO YOUR SENSEI!" Geez. Good times.

Anywho. So, I'm very bored now. 'Bout to go to town and replace the chain for the necklace my daddy gave me...

Hopefully later I'll do another song thingie like I did for "Beautiful Scandalous Night" Don't know if anyone cares, but OK. lol.

Later, kids.

Until next time, eat your veggies, don't talk to strangers, and look both ways before crossing the street.

This blog was brought to you by the letters A and Q and the number π.

Peace.