Up in the Sky & New to the neighborhood

These are the sights of our day today.

1. The "Up" blimp on my way home today.

2. Our new neighbor, Ramona the Momma Raccoon.

Projects

I finished my spring projects but I moved the pictures over to my design blog if you would like to check them out :)

handyinteriors.blogspot.com or click from the list of blogs to the right>>>>

Earthquake Lesson

Nordy, our pig, is very resilient

....and maybe we should bolt our TV to the wall b/c it moved quite a bit too. 

We just experienced a long, fairly violent, and jolty earthquake followed by a rolling after shock. Frames and stuff fell of shelves and Nordy fell off the desk. 

Don't worry, we ran to the doorways. We are safe,  Nordy is safe, but Palmira our dog is a little shaken. It was her first "big one" experience and now she can't take her eyes of the news on TV.

Night to Morning

I am on the verge of what could be a very stressful and intense week. I honestly cant remember a week with this much happening that I have so little control over or that could change so much. So I decided as a man standing on a cliff that will crumble around him even if he decides he doesn't want to jump that I would spend some time with Jesus. 

Its 9 pm in May and Im not in Alaska so it was dark. . . as I was walking I realized there are a ton of things that happen everyday over which I have no control, including the sunrise. If God should so choose that the sun not rise tomorrow I could only respond. I could choose to go crazy, I could choose to act like  nothing happened, or I could seek out how God would want me to respond in light of not having a morning. 

If things go badly this week I am effectively left with my response. In the same way I could go crazy, I could pretend like nothing is going on, or I could seek God and search for his will on my response to the situation. In the case of this week everyday will bring a new challenge and each day I have a desire of how I would like to see them play out. I think it is for these moments that Jesus offered this advice. 

In Matthew 6 Jesus says pray like this 

"Our Father in heaven, 

   Reveal who you are. 
   Set the world right; 
   Do what's best— as above, so below. 
   Keep us alive with three square meals. 
   Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. 
   Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil. 
   You're in charge! 
   You can do anything you want! 
   You're ablaze in beauty! 
      Yes. Yes. Yes." -The Message 

My challenge this week accept the passage that reads "Do what's best- As above, so below" and respond rightly to that. 

Lotto

Last Friday I stopped by the local gas station on my way to work and decided to purchase a lotto ticket for the very first time. I purchased one for the Super and one for the Mega.

I check my numbers on Monday and I had three numbers that matched on the Mega and one of them was the "Mega" number! I took my little ticket into my gas station and my friend the attendant gave me $11.00.

Heck ya! I am now a fan of this whole lotto thing. :)

Busy?

Aren't we all?

Questions: 

• Why is it that we hide under the excuse of busyness?
  
• Why is it that everyone thinks they are busyier than the rest?
• Isn't that list of to-do's endless? 
• Ever realize that we are often too busy for God? yikes.

It’s time to grow up, take responsibility and prioritize people, stop hiding behind our excuses. 

I think it's incredibly possible that we are just being lazy through our busyness. Crazy concept, I love to-do lists. I feel like I've accomplished something once I can check it all off, but then the next day, I already have a new list or maybe even later on that night I start making my list for the next day! So where is the lazy part of this if I accomplished everything on my list? There's a good chance I'm not including community or church. Not that it should be part of a to-do list, but I think it's too easy to push these things secondary to our busyness of "to-do's'".

I think busyness is something we all struggle with especially today. I feel like we pride ourselves on our busyness, like it makes us important. I also think it's important to not let our busyness take control. Prioritize & Pray about it. 

My key points to this rambling....

• Excuses - People aren’t stupid, excuses are cellophane, transparent, you can see right through them.
  
• Busyness - These are often times when God gets pushed aside. Would you tell God you were too busy for Him due to your school, work, tv schedule, or parties?
  
• You make time for the things that are important to you. 

Luke 10:38-42 (NLT)

 ³⁸ As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. ³⁹ Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”

 ⁴¹ But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! ⁴² There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

John 17:4 (NLT)

 ^{4 I brought glory to you here on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.}