Innocent of Evil

Have you ever been teased because you didn't know a famous movie star when someone mentioned him or her? Or have people accused you of being uncultured because you weren't familiar with a certain song or musical group? Has someone called you naive because you hadn't a clue about some popular word or phrase? 

The Bible tells us that we are to excel in what is good and be simple concerning evil. (Romans 16:19) That is not a concept widely encouraged, even in Christian circles. "We need to understand these philosophies and ideas and terms and watch these movies and listen to these songs and read these books or we won't be able to witness to people." Where does the Bible tell us to immerse ourselves in the world so that we can lead people to Christ? I've never come across that verse. On the contrary, we are to be "in the world, but not of the world." If we ingest these worldly ideas, we will soon find that we are fighting weeds that started with seeds of doubt planted by these doctrines. Instead we must delve into truth. We must consume our mind with good things (Philippians 4:8) and then we will know how to answer. You don't combat lies with more lies, you combat lies with truth. If you continue to fill yourself up with vain philosophies and worldly doctrines you will be giving up time to devote yourself to truth.

So, to all those who have been called "innocent," "sheltered," and "naive." Good for you! Continue to fill your mind with pure, good and noble thoughts. In the end God won't be saying, "I wish you had watched this movie filled with filth so that you could have been a better witness." He'll say, "Well done, good an faithful servant. You trusted me to give you the answers to these questions and controversies."

Life With Puppy: The First Evening

After getting much cute little snowball of joy, I headed back over to Lori and Tyler's to enjoy some spaghetti and John Wayne.

She was so cute! Everyone loved her. The boys played on the floor with her and she was excellent with them. Then, she so sweetly ventured to a corner and fell asleep on someone's shoes. Angelic. Peaceful. O bliss!

And then.... she woke up! Proceeded to go to the bathroom several times on Lori's floor, tried to satiate her chewing desires on someone's shoe and kept knocking a guest's drink on the floor and gravitating toward that area of the room to lick it up for the rest of the night. 

Crash. Bang. Boom. Welcome to the "real world" of puppyhood! 

After much apologizing, I brought her home and down into my room. 

Hmmm... How am I gonna do this? I thought. I grabbed a blanket off of our futon and scrunched it all up on the floor next to the head of my bed.

Great. This is fine. She'll just sleep here and it'll all be good.

HA! I spend the next half hour getting up out of bed and putting her back on her blanket. By about 12 pm, she had fallen asleep and I pulled the toothpicks out of my eyes so I could shut them.

2 am Whimper, whimper, whimper. Scuffle. Dripping sound. OH NO! I shot out of bed like a new mom. Picked up my wet pup and brought her outside. 

2:15 am Back in bed holding Nettie down on her blanket until she falls asleep.

3:30 am Whimper. No way! This time I promptly scoop her up and bring her outside.

3:45 am Back in bed, scratching Nettie's head to keep her on her blanket. She finally falls asleep. 

4:30 am Whine, whimper, whine. OK, here I go again. Up, outside, back in bed. "Now Nettie. Be a good girl and lay in your bed. You really shouldn't have to go potty anymore. It's just not possible you have that little bladder capacity! Please, O please, let me sleep. Lay down and don't get up again until I say so!" (When you lose a REM cycle worth of sleep, you start to go a little crazy)

4:45 am Nettie is finally asleep and I proceed to do the same. 

7:00 am Wake up. Eyes feel the way a dog's must when they stick their head out a car window. Dog... Wait? Do I smell something....

The Vital Institution

With today’s important vote on marriage in Maine, I thought it only appropriate to write down a few of my collective thoughts on this sacred institution and the importance of it’s impact on our world.

In our day and age, people are delaying marriage. “I want to live my life first, then settle down and start a family” is what they say, as if marriage is sort of a second choice. People in my generation don’t want to be “strapped down” to any one person, so they play the dating game for fun and frivolity. I think this is a direct assault on marriage and I also think it is a result of the lack of understanding of marriage in the youth of America. They see it as something to benefit or not benefit themselves; a gain mentality or even an upgrade in status. I must confess in my own life, these have been my views as well. It was something I was going to do eventually, but my interest in the here and now always took precedence.

The lack of understanding and motivation in generation X is directly effecting the families in the church. There are lots of scattered singles (not that singleness is a bad thing) who are living individual lives and this thought of the independent, fun lifestyle and prolonged adolescence pervades the church universal. It may sound like I’m being harsh, but just think about all of those thirty something year old men who play on their xboxes constantly. And we wonder why the church is weak.

I know many single women and a few single men who are very purposeful with the time they the Lord has given them in this season. They are just as important to the church. But the issue is the waning marriages. This institution that is supposed to be a sacred example of Christ and the Church is being pummelled and demeaned by the world’s non-chalant view of it. Live-in couples substitute for strong, life-long marriages. Divorces, remarriages and more divorces skyrocket in statistics. And the worst of all is that these things are happening within the church in nearly the same percentages as the world. We are letting the world influence the church far too much. It is no wonder that people are trying to re-define it!

Marriage began in the Garden of Eden between man and woman. Any other form of marriage is wrong. Adam and Eve were man and wife for life. If God had intended that Adam be partnered for life with another man, He would have established that from the beginning. If He thought that animals were enough for Adam, He wouldn’t have created Eve. Foundations. One man and one woman for life. These are the leaders and nurturers of the next group of men and women. The family is so necessary to God’s Kingdom and if a marriage is rocky or frail, the family will suffer. A good marriage that is centered on Christ is the force of the family.

So, what can we do to protect and encourage and strengthen godly matrimony specifically as single young men or young women? Praying fervently for the marriages in your sphere is a huge support! God uses the fervent prayers of His children, so don’t neglect this! Vote pro-family in today’s election. You may be called “homophobic” or “prejudiced” or even “hateful” by voting “Yes on 1,” but by the Lord, you will be considered a “good and faithful servant.” Invest in the marriages around you by encouraging women who are striving to be godly, submissive and house-building wives (Proverbs 14:1) if you are young ladies. Encourage and exhort men who are striving to be servant-leaders in their families, if you are young men. Offer to watch the children of the couples around you so that they can go out on a date and spend some alone time together. And, when the Lord brings the right person along for you, marry well!

The last one may seem out of your reach, ladies, but while you’re waiting for your Isaac, don’t get distracted by the “frogs” that try to trap you and you will be doing your part to have a godly marriage someday!

God is good. Rest assured that nothing will happen that He does not allow and His plans for His glory and the good of His people will always prevail! (Romans 8:28-29)

Lord, We Interrupt This Prayer For.....

Some of my favorites

The following are some of the photos taken during the Senior photo shoot. Amanda and Hannah were both extremely photogenic and it helped so much to have Ruthie there creating good poses! These are some of my favorite shots- they are more candid and fun- natural.

Seniors Will Be Seniors

I remember being a senior in high school. The world seemed to be so vast and full of opportunity. Life was just beginning, or so I thought! But due to all of these silly imaginings, seniors tend to go a little batty!

I had the privilege of taking some portraits for a couple of special young ladies that I know. They are wonderful- and I had A LOT of fun playing photographer. But they got a little goofy...

The hair spray pose.

The lipstick pose.

C'est manifique!

Now, now, now! No gossiping about the photographer!

Ladies of leisure!

Every good senior girl needs her juice box! Sophistication!

Strike a pose!

The Elephant tree

The ladies' elephant tree impressions.

The ladies doing and African dance called "The Elephant dance."

Pocahannah! 

Cutie-patutie!

This one just makes me laugh out loud! It's like a Lucille Ball face!

I am truly blessed to know these lovely girls and am looking forward to watch them grow in outward beauty (as you can tell, they are both gorgeous) and inward beauty, which they both possess in abundance!

Life With Puppy

How It All Began

It was a fairly normal Friday. Laundry, cooking and the normal things around the house. I was getting ready for a piano recital that coming Monday, so I was doing a bit of baking and planning and practicing. I was also rather looking forward to the evening, because I was going to Lori and Tyler's to enjoy the long-awaited Spaghetti Western evening that Ali had wanted to do for quite some time.

I headed over to the Smith's early, so I could hang out with them for a bit and play with the boys. Half way through boiling some spaghetti, my mom calls me and says "Your uncle is over here and he wants to talk to you." 

I wait. 

"Hey Kid!" comes my Uncle Boo-Boo's (don't worry, not his real name) voice over the phone. "Hi! How are you?" 

"Doin' good." Pause. "You've got a visitor over here waiting for you. One with four legs."

Panic. O NO! What am I gonna do. I can't have a puppy! I have nothing for it. I haven't prepared. I haven't read up on it.

"Ok... I'll be right over."

On the short drive back home I kept telling myself out loud:

"You're gonna walk in there and say, 'Well, he's awful cute, but I just don't have the time for a puppy right now. I really just want a husky. Not just a dog- a HUSKY.'"

I pulled into the driveway and gritted my teeth. I was going to say "no" very politely and play with the puppy for a few minutes, then head back over to the Smiths' and enjoy the evening.

I walked inside. Stepping slower and slower as I got closer. I opened the door to the kitchen and there, staring up at me with big BEAUTIFUL brown eyes and a white soft coat, was an adorable little puppy.

And, as you can probably guess. That is where this story ends and the new season of my life begins! There is no way you can prepare for it; there isn't much of a way to develop and expectation, but it happened to me. And now it is.... life with puppy!

** I've decided to write weekly about my adventures as a puppy owner. Partially to entertain and encourage others who have dogs or puppies and feel like life has changed. Also partially, to keep reminding myself of the humor in being a pet owner and all of the chances for character development!! ***

Please continue to pray for baby Addie. There is a possibility of her being able to have a living donor, rather than a liver transplant. This would be much better. She is in the hospital right now and they will wait a few more weeks before they find out definites. Thank you for your prayers!