Lessons from Narnia

I read "The Last Battle" a while ago and a section from the book has been coming to mind recently. I thought I would share the text and let you come to your own conclusions about the message.

This is near the end of the book when one of the characters discovered that he had been worshiping the wrong god all of his life. Here is his encounter with Aslan.

"So I went over much grass and many flowers and among all kinds of wholesome and delectable trees till lo! in a narrow place between two rocks there came to meet me a great Lion. The speed of him was like the ostrich, and his size was an elephant's; his hair was like pure gold and the brightness of his eyes like gold that is liquid in the furnace. He was more terrible than the Flaming Mountain of Lagour, and in beauty he surpassed all that is in the world even as the rose in bloom surpasses the dust of the desert. Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death for the Lion (who is worthy of all honor) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroe of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said "Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou has done to Tash, I account as service done to me.

Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou has done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he say the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child? I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek."

Pet Peeve

So I've discovered that one of the things that really makes me angry is men who obsess over their weight, or even worse, MY weight (or any other female.) Don't get me wrong here. I think it's very important to be healthy and to eat good foods and stay active. However, there is a line. And it's a line that people really shouldn't be crossing when they don't know you all that well. Someone I know said outloud today that he thinks his wife should lose weight. And he tells her this. Now, I'm all for open communication. And sometimes the people you love do have to tell you when you are doing unhealthy things. But still, tact is important. Noone should feel like less of a person or unattractive just because they don't meet society's image of what a woman or a man for that matter should look like. Again, it's important to be healthy. But it's also important to be loving and to treat each other with respect. And commenting on someone's weight and what they should and shouldn't eat is more often than not, very hurtful. If I want to make popcorn with lots of butter, let me. If my friend wants to have an afternoon snack of ice cream, let her. Unless you are genuinely speaking out of concern for a very close friend or loved one, another person's eating habits is none of your business. Okay, getting of my soapbox now...

Weekend activities

Heather and I went to Hilton Head this weekend. It was lots of fun. :)

Hanging out at the aiport

So, the bad news is that my flight is delayed and I'm stuck at the airport. The good news is that I'm connecting to a signal somewhere and I can get online! Apparently there is some kind of bad weather in Baltimore right now, and we have to go through there to get to New York. From which we will drive to Vermont. I think I'm going to be getting to bed late tonight...

Anyways. I'm excited about seeing the tree colors in Vermont. I hope we are able to do some hiking on Sabbath. I love the sunshine in Florida, but I do miss hiking in the mountains. Hopefully I'll get to do a little of that this weekend!

Walking along

Today was a blah day. Work was boring and seemed to take too long. And then I finally moved the rest of my things out of the apartment. That was tiring and my back hurts. But I'm glad it is done. Also, sometimes I really confuse myself. There is something I have really believed in for a long time now that I just don't understand. It really doesn't make sense right now. I can't seem to shut the door, but every time I try to walk through it, I end up outside again. I don't know why it's so complicated. But I guess that's where faith comes in. If life had only open and closed doors, we wouldn't have to rely on God to lead us. We would easily know where to go. I just hope that I'm doing everything I can to truly hear his leading.

Congratulations Nikki and Mike

We had a very nice shower for my friend Nikki today at an adorable tea place. She's geting married in less than two weeks. Congratulations you guys! :)

What happens when Val and I leave for work...

What should we do today Bisous?













The same thing we do every day Oreo!

Watch some TV. Catch up on Grey's Anatomy. Make some popcorn. Check myspace.
And make sure to look nice and innocent by the time our mom's get home!

Thoughts

Recently I've been thinking about what it means to say that I am a Christian. I was raised knowing why I believed that Sabbath was the day God blessed and that the dead in Christ will rise when He comes again, ect. And while I still believe these things, lately I've been feeling more conviction of the things that I hold in common with many other Christians. Being a Christian means that you are a follower of Christ. That you have accepted Him as your Savior and seek Him in your life. And you want to spend forever with Him in Heaven. And while I think it is important to seek truth and read the Bible, I think it is so much more important to seek Jesus. One of my closest spiritual friends is not an Adventist. But I know she loves God so much and is truly a follower of Him. And because of that, I don't feel the need to tell her about the verses I know about that show the differences in our religion. If she asks, I'm happy to. But I trust that God will convict her of what He sees fit. And for us, we have so many great spiritual discissions about God and how He leads in our lives, that it usually doesn't feel necessary to talk about the things we see differently.

Anyways. I don't want to come across like I'm doubting our beliefs or anything. I believe in our message. But I do think it is important to focus on the big picture more than the little things. And how I see it, the big picture is all about Him.

Sick Day

So today I stayed home sick. Which was rather frustrating seeing as I have no sick days! But I felt terrible all night, and when I got up to take a shower I got really tired and started having cold chills. So, I figured if a shower wears me out, I have no business going to work!

I pretty much slept on and off all afternoon. I feel a little better now so hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to go to work and eat some food. I'm running on saltine crackers and Powerade!

So, you want to work with people...

Bill Cosby spoke at a convention I attended a year or so ago. He made us all laugh with his comments on HR. One in particular stands out right now. He said, 'So you decided when you were in college that you wanted to work with people. Then you graduated and MET the people...."

Today I feel like I 'met the people.' I like my job. I really do. But today was a really grumpy day. I won't go into detail, but let's just say I ever so briefly considered a job that was NOT working with people. Long-term, I would hate that. But today, it would have been nice.

Pride

Last night I watched the movie "Save the Last Dance." There is an interesting scene towards the end where one of the main characters is trying to convince his friend not to do something stupid. The friend responds by saying, look I don't have med school waiting for me. All I have is my dignity. And that's what I have to protect.

Okay so that's part one. Part two:
I ended up reading parts of Jonah as my devotional. It struck me that pride was also what he was struggling with. He had told the town that they would all die, and now, thanks to God's mercy and their repentance, they were going to live. He felt like he looked stupid. And because of it he just wanted to sit out in the heat and die.

It's funny how our pride affects us. It can cause us to do stupid things, or to be upset about really good things.

I think pride is one of the most difficult things to overcome. It forces us to admit weakness and be vunerable. But think how much frustration and trouble could be avoided if more people where strong enough to be humble.

Everywhere I go, there I am

Today was one of those days. Where everything just felt overwhelming and confusing. Sometimes I can see the "future" clearly and I feel confident and sure of myself and my steps . I know what I should do next. But sometimes I get tired and things start to look blurry. It's those times when it's helpful to have another person to remind me that things will be okay. You know, many times I can be that strong person who steps in and helps other people figure out the direction they should take. But there are times when I need someone to do that for me. I think everyone needs that.

Anyways. I think I've done enough thinking/packing/tv watching for today so I'm headed to bed. Night.

Forgiveness

So, here's my question. Is it possible to forgive someone who does not ask for it? I'm not talking about holding a grudge or being bitter as the alternative; clearly its important to be able to let go of things and move on. But if someone is never sorry, can they really be forgiven?

I've thought a bit about this topic since I heard a sermon on it at church. It was recently brought to mind again by an acquaintence of mine. This person lost their temper with me and was rather offensive to me a week or so ago. We used to be somewhat friends, the kind that talk and have lunch. But since this happenened, things are not the same with us. I'm not rude to him or anything. I'm over it. I just no longer have the desire to inititate conversation. I feel pretty sure that if an apology was made, I'd feel much more free to act as friends again. But since nothing of the kind has occured, I just don't feel the desire to go beyond casual conversation. Does this mean I have not forgiven him? Or is my reaction just the natural result of "broken trust."

Any thoughts?

Vacation

So I really need to go on a vacation. A real vacation. My last attempt at a vacation included getting stuck in Cancun during a hurricane for a week. Not really wanting to do that one again. But that was still a year ago! I do travel a lot for work and I've gone home quite a few times so it's not like I've been stuck in one place for a year. But I'm really feeling like taking a trip somewhere fun for a long weekend. Hopefully that will work out soon!

I have an odd cat

Some of you are already agreeing. Bisous is a special one. For instance, she doesn't really do well with dairy products. I learned this one the hard way. However, she LOVES carbs. She gets very happy when I feed her things like crackers or crusts, or chips. I don't give her too much people food, but I'll treat her every know and then. She also likes hummus. I haven't figured that one out yet. Maybe she has a salty tooth. Well, she's adorable anyways!

Happy Fourth Of July!

Here are some pictures from our cookout at Valeries house. We had a great time and the food was wonderful! I was rather proud of my flag dessert. :)
I am also glad to be alive after almost being a victim of the fireworks not once but twice. My favorite near death experience had to be Eli somehow throwing the bottle rocket in my direction. Luckily I have fast enough reflexes so that I was able to drop to the grass without any damage. Who let Eli have a bottle rocket anyways?! Happy Fourth of July!

In case you are ever bitten by a snake...

I learned something new yesterday. I went to a Vespers program hosted by a nature guy who has done things like catch aligators and study bears for 7 years. He said that if you are ever bitten by a land snake, the best thing to do is to shock the area that was bitten. It does something with changing the communication or structure of something in your arm, and it heals it much better and faster then the anti-venum that the hospital gives out. He said that the anti-venum kills as many people as the snake bite does. He actually owns a stun gun for the very purpose of shocking himself when he gets bitten by bees, snakes, and whatever else.
Now, I have to intentions of testing out this little theory, however it's a good little bit of information to store away just in case!

Counting your blessings

I talked with a friend of mine today who recently got fired for not working on the Sabbath. She was hired on with a schedule of working part time Mon-Thurs and did this for 5 weeks. Then suddenly her manager decided that she should work on Sabbath, even though she said she could not from the beginning. I'm surprised when I hear things like this. After all, employers aren't supposed to discrimate against religious beliefs. They are supposed to make reasonable accommodations. But I guess it doesn't always happen that way. It made me realize how blessed I am to work for an organization that encourages my Sabbath rest. Thank-you Florida Hospital!

Hurricane season

On the main page of weather.com today it annonced that there were no tropical threats. And went on to say" Tropical cyclone formation is not anticipated over the next day or two in either the Atlantic or eastern Pacific."

Does anybody else worry about the fact that it is worthy to note that there are NO hurricanes headed our way? I know that a hurricane makes the news. But now the lack of a hurricane is making the news....

Kristin's Wedding