15 books

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. List 15 books you've read that WILL ALWAYS STICK WITH YOU. They should be the first 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

1. Maniac Magee- amazing book that I still try to read again at least once a year.
2. Dr. Mr. Henshaw - I totally wrote a journal to a friend just like the kid in the book did.
3. Blue Like Jazz- I love the way Donald writes.
4. Zorro by Isabel Allende- One of my all time favorite books! I don't know why I haven't bought a copy. If you get a chance, read it!
5. Too Many Tamales- This was the first book I read aloud on my own.
6. The Book of Bunny Suicides- Alexa first introduced me to it and it's very interesting!
7. The Republic- the cave allegory is one I love using to illustrate God in our society!
8. The Essential Calvin & Hobbes- It's Essential!
9. Humility by C.J. Mahaney, This book was given to me by a woman on staff at ASU because I house-sat for her...it had some really good stuff that taught me a lot on rest.
10. Case for Faith
11. The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus- the Rhino illustration has stuck
12. Angels & Demons- really intertaining when you take it for what it is...fiction
13. Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
14. The Phantom Tollbooth
15. The Polar Express- when we read this in kindergarten, our teacher lined up the chairs like we were on a train, played a tape with train noises, dimmed the room lights to reveal a Christmas tree and gave us each a hot chocolate with colored marshmellows as she read the book outloud. It was amazing! Thanks Mrs. Murphy!


...your turn!

empty pages

It seems to me the times I want to look back on and remember are the times I am absolutely horrible at keeping up in my journal! I'm reading in Jeremiah and was thinking about how the Israelites became so distracted they completely forgot all the amazing things God had done for them! I don't want a couple of months or even years to go by and forget all the amazing things God has revealed to me this summer through funding and life. I am going to make it a point to journal more these last few weeks of summer...if you see me, please hold me to it!

Exactly One Month!

It's so odd for me to try and think that I am only one month away from moving into my new home out in Long Beach. God has led me into this new adventure of serving with the Navigators on EDGE Corps. As I am so excited to get started into this new ministry, it can seem a bit intimidating to start over again.

As weird as it may sound to m Dutch, New Zealand or Texan friends, After four years, I somehow fell in love with the desert unbeknown to me! But God works in His own time and way and has called me to California for this next season. I'm really excited for the training and experience as well as I feel blessed to be able to have Bible study twice a month with dear friends who know me and encourage me!

I truly am excited for this next adventure...I just can't believe it's all coming up so fast! One month!

He knows...

One of the stories that has resonated in my heart since my time in Colorado has been Mark 12:1-12. It is the story of a paralytic being brought to Jesus by his friends.

Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." (v. 3-5 NIV)

I think of being one of the other people in the room having dirt and debris from the roof falling around them. The sun was creeping in to the packed room through the expanding hole. And yet one of the things I love the most is this man's friends simply knew they had to get him to Jesus. After lowering the paralytic through the hole they didn't give Jesus instructions or tell Him what their friend's need were. They just got him there. And Jesus's response was a greater need than maybe the friends knew...He forgave the man's sin. And then after knowing what the others were thinking Jesus told the man to take his mat and walk as well.

Well, if this room were really crowded and as the verse states, the man took his mat and made his way through the wall to wall crowd to go home. He probably had to maneuver through the amazed crowd just to get out the door!

But here is the part that sticks with me! Sometimes I don't know exactly what my friends need prayer for at the time. Sometimes prayer requests can deter as our humanness may block out of fear what is really going on. So what I am doing in particular for a friend of mine is just praying to put her in front of Jesus. I have no idea what exactly is going on in her heart, but I know Jesus has the answer. I'm not going to lie, she has been through a lot these past few months. So I pray and do what I can to dig through that roof and lower her at His beautiful feet. And as she is lowered through the hole and presented before Him, I pray she looks up and sees Him as well.

Welcome to Babylon

http://www.paradisechurch.com/explore/messages/audio/556.mp3

There are a lot of announcements...but I truly enjoyed this message from my church back in Arizona.

Trusting God...

Most of the 10 days I spent in training at Colorado Springs had something dealing with the idea of trusting God. When I think of trusting God to provide in what may seem to me as strange or odd ways, I can't help but think of Elijah and the ravens feeding him in 1 Kings 17. So meet Elijah the duck. He is being given exactly what he needs by God, who is using a bird to provide.

This is my desktop background so while I am fund-raising $34,000 by Aug. 15th, I won't forget who my bread is ultimately coming from. Will you join me in praising God for the work I know He is doing and is going to do?