[Finally] A Reason to Celebrate

Today is Father's Day...apparently.

I say "apparently" because I've never celebrated it. I won't go into details but suffice it to say that I've never had a reason to--I never paid any attention to the holiday. How strange--though perhaps some people feel the same way about Mother's Day.

Anyway, Happy Father's Day.

Not to any father that may read this (though you may deserve a "Happy Father's Day" as well), but to my Father.

Abba, Happy Father's Day. Thank you for caring about me, thank you for always listening when I tug on your sleeve, thank you for being faithful and putting people in my path that have helped to change me. Thank you for Jesus--the most incredible, intelligent, gentle, fierce, passionate, and patient man I've ever had the honor to know. Je t'aime. Amen.

Top Moments from Oklahoma:

20. Did I put on deodorant?
19. Merrick's plate licking @ dinner (don't ask why this cracked me up so much)
18. Dos Gabachos w/ the girls and the family

17. "Seriously!?"
16. "No kissing or I'm gonna puke!"
15. Writing the foundation...on the foundation

14. Watching Blake & Brandon use something that Dee and I "built"--and not having it fall apart on them.

(check out that scaffolding!)

13. Meeting Dee, Loreen and Amanda
12. Cutting wood with Blake's saw...and surviving it.
11. Meeting Trent & S. Cole
10. Smores over the campfire
9. Mini shopping spree at Zidas
8. Christi's homemade enchiladas (still waiting on that recipe, by the way)
7. Impromptu conversation with Becky in the parking lot
6. An OKC experience Saturday night, followed by an Edmond experience Sunday morning

Top 5:
5. Laughing with w/ Christi, Liane, Sara and Rachel G.
4. Breaking out of my selfish little world and doing something useful
3. The MUSIC! (Brandon, S. Cole, Brian, and Trent)

2. Rachel G's pink bandana-clad baptism
1. My own jean-clad, impromptu baptism by the bestest IC pastor ever

Jacob's Ladder

More than a week has gone by and I'm still thinking about it.

Originally I went to Oklahoma (Chandler, Oklahoma City, and Edmond) for a mission trip. But God, being who He is, gave me so much more than that--my first mission trip, 2 experience, LifeStock and my baptism. I couldn't have asked for a better time!

So many memories, so many pictures...so much red dirt on my shoes!

The mission trip was amazing--hard, hot, sweaty but exhilarating--who knew a girl could use a circular saw so well? ;) I'm not sure what I liked more, doing something that benefited someone other than myself (I'm not selfish all the time, you know... just, like, 90% of the time), or meeting girls from my online LifeGroup. Such a beautiful, lively, smart, funny bunch of women! Miss you all, more than you'll ever know!

Mama and Papa Donaldson--aside from having the coolest kids ever, you two are ... indescribable, almost. Whether it was having a discussion on relationships (Christi), or the bible (Brandon), I wish I could talk to you both all the time. Thank you for opening your home to us, and showing us such a wonderful time!

Waking Lazarus, T.L. Hines

Crime fiction with a supernatural twist? Perhaps.

Waking Lazarus is essentially the story of a man who dies and comes back to life...three times. Dissatisfied with his status as a local (and national) celebrity, he disappears into another role: that of a small town school janitor, in the middle of nowhere.

It's not long, however, before he once again finds himself the center of attention for all the wrong reasons. After the disappearances of children from nearby towns threatens to hit his area, protagonist Jude Allman once again finds himself with more responsibility than he cares to shoulder.

Hines's novel bounces back and forth between Jude's paranoid personality, to the lawmen attempting to break the case of the missing children, and the mothers who worry that their young ones will be next. Meanwhile readers also find themselves inside the mind of the kidnapper, a man who differentiates between his daytime and nighttime activities by referring to himself alternately as the Normal and the Hunter.

Hines manages to raise some interesting questions regarding the Other Side without offering easy answers; more than one character in the novel believes in and acknowledges God's power without being preachy or pedantic about it. Readers get to witness Jude being broken slowly from the shell of paranoia he's spent years building around himself just in time to be shocked (both creepily and pleasantly) by the revelations held within the last few chapters.

Admitting Ignorance

I'll admit my ignorance. Gladly.

Why do people have so many labels for following God? Is it disrespectful for me to lump us all in the category of Christ-follower(s)? Or is this like the many names of Jesus--a rose by any other name, and all that jazz.

I don't understand it, and maybe I'm getting confused over something trivial; I just read on someone's blog about the difference between a Mormon and a Latter-Day Saint--I'm not sure I understand it...still.

Hmm.