Cool with that

One of my friends said the funniest things today.

Friend#1:"It the end of the world."(This was in reference to something someone did and he was being sacasticly appoled.)
Friend#2:"Yeah, I'm cool with that."

I know this may seem like a very weird conversation and you may be like that's not very funny, but here is my point. My friend#2 wasn't at all phased by the "end of the world". He was in fact looking forward to it. He was cool if Jesus decided to tend the world right now.

How often do I think,' I want to be able to live through this experiance before Jesus can come. I want to get married, have kids, and be at the end of a prosperous and good life before I want Jesus to come again.'

Well, God has His own plan. I am just a part of that plan and if god decides to send His son before I have lived through everything I want to...I'm cool with that.

2 Peter 3:10-11

“ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ”

Rie's Favorite Quotes

Here are some of my favorite quotes. Some of them will make you sit back and think, other will make you laugh. All of them are a little portrait of my-self. It just might be describing my evil self so watch out.

1."What is life without adventure? And what's an adventure without sacrifice to prove its validity?" ----Rebeccah Pruitt
2."The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."
---- George Carlin
3."Nothing is yet in its true form."
--C.S. Lewis, Till We Have Faces
4. "Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self..."
--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
5."Beside being complicated, reality, in my experience, is usually odd....Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed."
--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
6."I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God."... A man(who) said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be either a lunatic... or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse."
--C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
7."In the same way a Christian is not a man who never goes wrong, but a man who is enabled to repent and pick himself up and begin over again after each stumble- because the Christ-life is inside him, repairing him all the time, enabling him to repeat( in some degree) the kind of voluntary death which Christ Himself carried out."
-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
8. "Teach this to your children and your grandchildren...(bit of wisdom that I hope I remember to tell my kids and I hope I'm around to tell my grandchildren)"
--Dad
9."The effective range of an excuse is zero meters."
--Dad
10."That is some sweet (verb with an ing ending) action."
--Philip
11."We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and then bid the geldings to be fruitful."
--C.S. Lewis
12."Your mom's a (something just said), Oh."
13."Is this a kissing book?" --Princess Bride
14."This is true love - you think this happens every day?" --Princess Bride
15."This is your badness level. It's unusually high." --Lilo and Stitch
16." INCONCEIVABLE." --Princess Bride
17." I'm not a witch, I'm your wife." --Princess Bride
18."Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." --Karl Marx....or oh wait, Princess Bride
19."This is my family. I found it, all on my own. It's little, and broken, but still good. Yeah, still good." --Lilo and Stitch
20."You can, but you may not."
--Mom
21."Let's just say I have the benefit of hindsight." "Well, congratulations to you and your magical butt."
--Get Fuzzy
22."The wheel is still spinning, but the hamster is long dead."
--Sharon Ring
23."No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."
--Eleanor Roosevelt
24."Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people."
--Eleanor Roosevelt
25."To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without fate, no explanation is possible."
--Thomas Aquinas
26."I think, therefore I blog"
--Jollyblogger
27."4 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires."
--Bible
28."Who are you to tell me
That I'm less than what I should be?
Who are you? Who are you?"
--Barlow Girl
29."To live would be an awfully big adventure."
--Peter Pan
30."The World could use a bit more modesty."
--Bryce

So there is a little insight into my character. I'll think of more great quotes later, but that will have to do you for know.

Paraoxysm: A sudden outburst of emotion or action

My pastor just used this word in His last sermon. I thought it was cool so I decided to post about it. (can you post about a word? well I guess if you can post about a cat...)

Hebrews 10:24
24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

How can we spur our fellow Christians toward love and good deeds? My pastor said we should have a paraoxysm. You can use and JOYFULL!!! paraoxysm or a Angery paraoxysm. Paraoxysm can be in all sorts of emotions. But the point is you can use emotions to spur others toward Christ.

I often don't do this. If some one needs spurred on or maybe the equivilent to a fire lite unders their rears, I tend to hold them and say,"It's okay, baby." I should be saying,"Don't just stand there pouting, use this situation for the glory of God. Enough mopping and get moving." Maybe I don't have to be that harsh with them, but I need to be pointing them toward the cross.

God gave us paraoxysms for a reason. To use them.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!

Things I am thankful for:
1. My God (with out Him I would be lost)
2. My Family (they give me a place to belong and make me feel special or "spethial")
3. My Church (I am so blessed by their spiritual guidance and help)
4. My friends at college (another place were I am blessed by my fellow Christians)
5. Music ( if I didn't have a piano to bang on and a song to belt to, the world might not live to see another day)
6. Soccer (fun with friends and getting to kick the stuffing out of a ball)
7. Chocolate Chip Cookies (duh)
8. Inspiration and Creativity (God has blessed man with the ability to create in which I find joy every day)
9. Books (Cold day+ No school= Curl up with a good book or Sunny day+ No school=Sit in the sun while reading)
10. This blog and all the people who read it (thank you for reading my feeble attempts to use the gifts that God has given me)

One of my friends at college wrote this totaly awsome post. I read it and I just sat back in awe of how deep it was. (is?) But anyway, thank you Athene. I was truly blessed by what you wrote.

"you know i don't think i've ever asked you how you were and have had you respond with anything better than fine or ok. that's not very inspiring. maybe you should work on that."

knife inserted and twisted.

ouch. funny how it only hurt a little then. and the hurt only grew over these past three years. it was one of those conversations you just can't shake.... the words remain echoing in your mind, your location, what you were wearing and doing, who you were with, all etched in memory forever.

but a seed was planted in my mind. what's it gonna take for me to be more than fine? what's it gonna take for me to say that and mean that? the last thing i want to do is say i'm great when i'm not. i can fake it like the best of them, it's a special girl quality, i think. but i knew then that i didn't want to do that. so i remained fine and so-so. but having no clue what would make it better.

lalalala..... three years pass. three years that shook my world. (hahaha, that makes it sound like everything is peachy now...hahaha. that's a laugh. i'm only saying this because this is one of these random moments of clarity in which i must record what i have discovered or i might forget it when things get cloudy again.) and in those three years i mostly realized that life sucks with a capital S-U-C-K-S. i was not inspired to try and be inspiring at all. but lo.... i waited out the storm and i realized i was able to survive it. and i thought i'd be at the point where i could say i was doing great. almost all of the chickens were lined up. then WAHBAM!!! SMASH!!! THUNK!!! BLAM!!! KABLOOIE!!!

put a timer in that idea, honey. it's over baked.

if you wait for all your circumstances to fall neatly into order exactly the way you want them to you'll never be able to say you're doing splendidly and mean it. because i don't think that ever freakin' happens. there's always something in the way.

now we are at the present. or the mostly present. piles of books i've read scatter my floor.... each read looking for some answer. pages and pages of my thoughts sprawling all over my journals hoping for someway that a new thought might spill out of my pen. miles driven in my stupid, ugly, unreliable car hoping that with distance clarity would come. hours have been spent over tea and coffee..... hours talking, thinking, and praying.

don't ask me how. but i've stumbled across something brilliant. i've found an answer.

praise.

i read the psalms. positively dreadful things happen in them.... but they are filled with praise. my journaling started to write of god's goodness... my trips to wac and sg showed me praise during suffering in a way i never thought was possible (so much more than i can go into now.... ask me about it sometime... i'd love to tell you). the hours over coffee nudged me to look at the big picture.

oh everything still is effed up. but it's all in perspective when you realize that you cannot question god's goodness or his plan when you look at the cross. i mean, just imagine being one of those people who were there when christ died. trying to believe that he'd rise again...but really being full of sorrow and doubt. but he did rise. and we have the advantage of being able to look and see that he does rise again... so when it is dark... those days when it seems like he is dead... i can praise because i know for sure that he will rise.


...i really wish you were here to ask me how i am. because i know now...

"i'm dancing for joy in the depths of hell."

God works in mysterious ways. One of my friends from college told me the story of how she got engaged and it touched my heart. She has truly been blessed with a husband who loves the Lord and her. Here is her story:

There was nothing particularly stunning about that Tuesday morning on June 21st, 2005. I awoke to the usual sounds of the neighborhood and the light of a familiar sun. My alarm clock (thankfully silent) proclaimed the digital hour and my carpeted floor quietly begged for the services of a vacuum cleaner. However, one small thought in the back of mind pierced through the mundaneness of it all: "Miss Ladny, you will probably get engaged today". I was not surprised by this musing, for Jason had given me several clues to substantiate my suspicions.
About a month before I had even moved to GA (to an apartment significantly closer to him than my residence in MD), Jason had sent me a letter raving about his excitement over a certain crabbing trip we were to take in June. I would have thought he'd be more excited that we'd be separated by only three hours of driving as opposed to the previous nine.But for some reason, he seemed unusually focused on this vacation. In addition to this letter, Jason had alluded several times to the significance of the number seven, even going so far as to elaborate on the importance of a Seven-month anniversary as opposed to a six-month one. And wouldn't you know? Our crabbing trip would include our seventh anniversary. Finally, he repeatedly mentioned his desire to frequent one of our special spots on Greenberry point. And I knew that we would be visiting that romantic little penninsula after dinner that night. When I called Jason that morning to find he was out "running errands", my hypothesis was confirmed.
Jason and I had talked about marriage from day one of our courtship. We'd discussed schooling, our goals for the first few years, and had even picked a date. He had spoken to my parents, we had our friends' approval, and heck, I already had my wedding dress. I knew the formal proposal was soon coming. And we both knew what my reply would be. Yet for some reason, I was still a bit nervous at dinner. Jason had taken me to a very nice seafood restaurant in Eastport. The food was delicious and the view was beautiful. But I was more so taken aback by a peculiar habit of our waitress. Every so often during our meal, she would present me a yellow red-tipped rose- my favorite flower. I was even more surprised when Clif Stagnero greeted us near the end of our meal. I had no idea he was working at the restaurant.
Afterward, we changed into casual clothing more condusive to walking around the Peninsula. When we arrived, I assumed that we would head straight for "our special bench", he'd romantically pop the question, and that would be it. But no. Thankfully, Jason is delightfully much more creative than that. After picking up a Bible and some bug spray (He's so thoughtful!) we went to a low tree and climbed it. We prayed. I would have been happy to spend my evening in the slowly swaying branches, but we had places to go. Our second stop was atop a wooden fence bordering the rocks and crashing waves of the Chesapeake.There Jason and I read passages concerning the very applicable topic of joy. After jogging to our third stop, we rested on a bench and Jason asked if I were thirsty. After answering in the negative, Jason replied with "Well, I am," and reached under the bench to procure a bottle of sparkling grape juice. There was also some gouda and we had a short "wine and cheese" tasting party. I was highly gratified and amused.
On our fourth stop, Jason asked me to shut my eyes. And when I opened them, he had a basket of 77 yellow red-tipped roses. On each one was tied a small note describing something about me that brings him joy. He read each one to me aloud. I was humbled by Jason's attention to detail and also by an encouraging epiphany; if Jason, a mere man, takes so much delight in me, how much more does God- He who knows every hair on my head? After Jason mentioned that this had been our fourth stop, I started counting...(I've always been slower to recognize any mathematical pattern). Our fifth stop was at a different bench overlooking the city of Annapolis. Jason informed me that just being close to him brings him joy. So we held each other for a little while.
The sixth stop was particularly touching. We climbed down a rocky embankment to the water and Jason asked me to sit down. Then, after declaring that he wanted to serve me, he asked if he might wash me feet. And he did, using a bowel, soap, and towel he had hidden there for that purpose.
Finally, we treked to stop number seven. Our bench. I knew it was coming. And I was rather taciturn. Was this really happening after so many years of dreaming and praying and hoping? I sat down at our bench and Jason retrieved a small, ornately carved box he'd gotten in India. he knelt before me and opened it after I'd had a bit of trouble trying to.Inside was a key (that he asked me to hold onto for a while), an "eternal flower" (which was to represent his love for me), and a small wooden box with an angel carved onto it. Jason said that he'd gotten the box in Chattanooga and it was to remind us that God would always be with us. And inside was ring. Then he asked me the question I've waited my life to answer; "Katherine Ann Ladny, I love you. Would you make my joy complete? Will you marry me?" I smiled and answered a quiet, "Yes, Jason Andrew Mitchell". He put the ring on my finger and (after asking...such a gentleman) kissed my hand.
Then he asked me a question I wasn't expecting at all. "You wanna go on an adventure?" Hey, why not? He led me by the hand to the shore and I found the lock that my key went to- it was attached to a two person kyack (sp?). We donned our life jackets and rowed across that part of the bay to the light of a full copper moon. When we moored at the docks in Annapolis, we dried off and Jason led me to the pier. Now, unbeknownst to Jason, I had years ago asked God that the man I'd marry would ask me to dance with him on the pier. And Jason was carrying a small basket with tea lights and an old book. The title? "Modern Ballroom Dancing". He opened the book (after attempting to light the candles...the wind wasn't quite cooperating) and on the inside cover it read, "Kate, I love you. Shall we dance?" I actually had thought that I might have had to teach him! But Jason had taken lessons behind my back and was well prepared for this night. As I stood gazing into his eyes, I was suddenly surprised by the sound of a live violin behind me. I couldn't believe it! Jason had successfully won my hand. But it had been months since he'd won my heart. And we danced...
At the end, we embraced to the applause of all the strangers at the pier. We called his parents to ask for a lift back to the peninsula. We were tired, wet, and elated. And thus we were engaged on anything but an ordinary Tuesday, June 21st, 2005.

Looking Glass Self

I wake and go to the mirror
I look at the girl in the mirror
Is she happy?
Is she kind?
What is her purpose?
Does she find satisfaction in her life?
The questions I ask
My looking glass self
Are to hard for me to answer
I stick to the easy questions
How does my hair look?
Should I wear eyeliner today?
My looking glass self
May seem superfical to reality
But that is because that
Is who I made her to be.

Proverbs 3:7

⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

⁷Don't assume that you know it all.

Run to GOD! Run from evil!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

⁷Don't be impressed with your own wisdom. Instead, fear the LORD and turn your back on evil.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the LORD and depart from evil.



Rie's version: Don't try and look cool in you own eyes. It isn't cool. Gods cool. It's cool to trust in Him. He can help you through everything. If you looking at God then you aren't looking to get in trouble or falling into sin.

1 Peter 3:6

⁶For instance, Sarah obeyed her husband, Abraham, when she called him her master. You are her daughters when you do what is right without fear of what your husbands might do.


As a single girl I am looking forward to getting married. But there alot of things that I know I will have a har time with. One of those things is trusting my husband to lead me and our children. If I see something going wrong I want to take over and fix it.

God will place my husband over me. I will need to respect him and follow him. This might meen letting my husband make discions that I would rather make. But the key words here are I will have to trust God.

I pray that the Father will supplie that I can respect and follow. And I pray that He will give me the heart to follow my Husband and follow my Lord.

Matthew 20:28

²⁸just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

I have a purpose on this earth. That is to first serve my God. The second is to serve those around me. To all those who know me,(and those who don't) pray that I would be a good and faithful servant to my God and others.

One of my friends from school, Jordan, gave me his blogsite. He had this poem on there. Pretty cool Jordan. Write more. I love poetry! (But only if it's done right)

"I Dare to Say"

How does a man measure happiness?
Is it the quantity of his joy?
Or is it the quality?
I dare to say it is both of them.
For many small laughs,
can amount to much joy.
Yet a burst of laughter,
can set the spirits soaring.

How does a man show his love?
Do his actions reveal it?
Or is it his words?
I dare to say it is both of them.
For if he simply acted,
he would merely be a mime.
Nor can he only speak,
for who then would he hold in his arms?

Ezekiel 16:14

¹⁴ And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign LORD.


As a girly girl I am sometimes obsessed with how I look.( Just ask my sisters how much time I spend in the bathroom to get ready) But this verse speaks to me, because it shows how God made us beautiful. First He created us the way we are. He planned how big our nose would be, how to connect our legs to our hips, and what color our hair should be. He then planned what personality we should have. Are we shy and quiet or do we have more charisma and spotlight quality's than most people?

But what seems to me to be the most brilliant is the beauty God gives us through His spirit. It isn't something you'll find on the fashion runways or in any magazine, but look at a girl or woman in love with her Savior and you will see one of the most beautiful things in the world.

Life Explained

On the first day, God created the dog and said: "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at
anyone who comes in or walks past. For this, I will give you a life span of twenty years." The dog said: "That's a long time to be barking. How about only ten years and I'll give you back the other ten?" So God agreed.

On the second day, God created the monkey and said: "Entertain people, do tricks, and make them laugh. For this, I'll give you a twenty-year life span." The monkey said: "Monkey tricks for twenty years? That's a pretty long time to perform. How about I give you back ten like the Dog did?" And God agreed.

On the third day, God created the cow and said: "You must go into the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer's family. For this, I will give you a life span of sixty years." The cow said:"That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. How about twenty and I'll give back the other forty?" And God agreed again.

On the fourth day, God created man and said: "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. For this, I'll give you twenty years." But man said:"Only twenty years? Could you possibly give me my twenty, the forty the cow gave back, the ten the monkey gave back, and the ten the dog gave back; that makes eighty, okay?" "Okay," said God, "You asked for it."

So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play and enjoy ourselves.
For the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family.
For the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren.
And for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.
Life has now been explained to you.

La Shawn Barber's Corner wrote something that made me laugh.

"I’m glad he’s(George Bush) in the White House screwing up instead of John Kerry."

I know that our President hasn't been racking up the brownie points lately, but I still love him.

Psalm 94:19

¹⁹ When anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought joy to my soul.

Let's just say that alot of things have been on my mind latly. I have been stressed about school , relationships( not my own!), friends, youth group, the future, and a whole host of other things. Yet I find comfort in my God. Tell me, what other religion or belief can give me that? The peace and consolation that my God gives me is an undeniable truth.

Lord, fill my spirit with your peace. Take my anxiety and have it draw me close to You. May I rely on Your grace for my future and my today. Amen.

Beauty and Power

I Peter 3:3-4
3Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. 4Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight.

When I was younger I wasn't very pretty. After a while I got use to that fact that I wasn't drop dead gorgeous and was satisfied to be that way. In my last year of high school some thing happened and I suddenly got quite beautiful. When that happened I discovered a new kind of power. The power to attract men. This was quite a thrilling and rewarding experience; however, the Lord convicted my heart.

He showed me that trying to be beautiful just receive earthly praise is so underrated. What I really want in life is to known for serving to Lord faithfully. This isn't always the first and foremost desire of my heart, but if the Lord is the center of my life as He should be I am not focusing on me. I am focusing on my Savior.

May I encourage my sisters in Christ to remember who they are in God's eyes and not the eyes of men.

Proverbs 31:30
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Habakkuk 2:16
16But soon it will be your turn! Come, drink and be exposed! Drink from the cup of the LORD's judgment, and all your glory will be turned to shame.

As I draw nearer to my Lord and come to know Him more, I realize just how filthy I am. I see just how much sin has tainted my life. It hurts when I see this great sin. It brings me to my knees crying to the Lord for help. My sin is overwhelming to me, but to God it is something that is part of His great plan. He has covered it with His son, Jesus Christ.

John 14:6
6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Father, thank You for Your son and the blood He shed for me. Amen. (And Hut-Glory!!!)