Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Impossible?

I want to start this post off by sharing a little bit of my background. I grew up in a family that didn't really go to church. Before I was 15 I can only remember going a handful of times, and most of those were for weddings. When I was 15 we moved next door to, and became friends with this great family who attended church. To make a long story short, I started going, and God changed my life. Since then, I've really been praying that everyone else in my family would get the chance to really meet God like I did. To give you some perspective, I just had a birthday and I turned 39. So
we're talking 24 years!

A couple of Sundays ago one of my sisters called me out of the blue and asked if she could go to church with me. I of course told her yes and we were on our way. I've been going to a church called Central here in Las Vegas, and it's been growing on me. I'm having some serious Rock Harbor withdrawals! Rock Harbor was the church I was attending in Orange County. I LOVED it! But God is the same no matter where I go to church, so I've been sucking it up...But anyway, back to my sister...Of course on the Sunday that she asks to go with me there is weirdness on the way to church. Some radical pro-life group decided to protest in front of the church. As we get closer we begin to see people holding up these large banners with picture of aborted babies on them. Very graphic. I can't imagine what I'd have been feeling if I were a parent bringing my kid to church that day. As adults my sister and I were both shocked. She of course begins to ask me who the people are, and if they are connected with the church. I know they're not, so I'm trying to re-assure as we head in the door. By this time I'm worried that the ugliness of our experience getting to church will hinder her from getting anything from the service. But God rocks...my sister had a life changing experience, and it was pretty cool. God spoke to her in a specific way that really affected her. The whole situation just reminded me how GREAT God is. He took a situation that seemed kind of impossible, and he still made it work.

My sister was so excited that she signed her kids up for children's church. Her excitement also motivated my other sister to come with us last Sunday. So imagine the smile on my face as I'm sitting in church last Sunday with both of my sisters, my mother, and one of my brother in-laws (who grew up Jehovah's Witness)...pretty darn cool!

Friday, July 17, 2009

Food, Inc

FINALLY went to see Food Inc. last week. It was a real eye opener. It made me both sad and angry, and I think it's a movie that everyone needs to see. Here's one of the statistics from the movie that scared me:

1 out of 3 children born after the year 2000 will at some point in their lives develop type 2 diabetes. For minorities that number jumps to 1 out of 2.

That is just unacceptable! We really need to take a look at the foods we eat, what's in them, and where they come from. It made me take a look at my own family, and the way I was raised to eat. I'm sitting in my sister's kitchen typing this blog and as I look around at the food she has, I'm realizing that probably 90% of it is processed. Most of it contains chemicals that our bodies were not meant to process.

Seeing the movie makes me want to pay more attention to the foods that I put in my mouth.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Today...

Today was filled with the Michael Jackson memorial. The one thought that's been running through my mind all day is - why do we wait until people are dead to celebrate them? Let's be honest...a week before he died MJ was being ridiculed by the media, but now everyone wants to honor him as the true "King of Pop". Today has challenged me to celebrate the people in my life. Someone you know and love has a birthday coming up...What if on that day, you took the time to sit them down, and tell them what they mean to you? I'll bet that would be a lot more memorable to them then any gift you could buy them. Just a thought...

On the job front, I'm still not having any luck. I'm not really loving Vegas at all, and I'll admit that I'm a little confused as to what my next step should be. Whatever that is, I'll need money to do it, so I'm really just trusting that God is going to provide. Have I mentioned that I suck at trusting and waiting?