no, it's not some cool new saying i made up. that would be neat though.
i just finished this awesome book called Under the Overpass and it's changed my view completely about what it means to show Christ's love to others, and how my view toward the homeless/poverty-stricken population needs to change. i'll write more later, break time just ended.
in the meantime, check out www.undertheoverpass.com until i get back.
keep it real.
~jen~
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
b to the izzy
yeah, sorry for lack of updates to anyone who checks this. i got home here in michigan friday night and have been going non-stop pretty much ever since (except monday...ahhh i slept in that day! good times). i've been working 8 1/2 hour days at work...but i'm not complaining, it's fun to see the company doing so well now. plus friends from church are starting to get hired there so that makes it even more funner (hehe i just like that word).
josh gave me my 1st guitar "lesson" last night. it was pretty frusterating on both of our ends, but we'll get there eventually. most of the time consisted of the following circle:
me: "okay josh, teach me how to strum, i know how to play the basic chords"
josh: "...i can't teach you how to strum, i don't know how i do it, it just comes naturally"
me: "well still, just teach me how"
josh: "i can't..."
:::silence:::
josh: "here, start playing this song how you normally would"
me: "no, see i don't even know how i would strum it because i just don't even know how"
josh: "yes you do, just start"
:::silence::: (both of us staring at the songbook)
josh: "go!"
:::silence:::
me: "josh i can't! i'm strum deficient! i don't know where to even start!"
...a little bit later...
josh: "i can't teach you how to strum, i can teach you how to play chords and how to pick, but i can't teach you how to strum"
me: "fine, teach me how to pick then"
josh: "...well first you need to know how to strum..."
...
it can only get better from here :)
one day i WILL be able to play with the best of them - look out shane barnard.
okay i'm going to bed. work tomorrow and then straight to our softball game which we are almost guaranteed to lose, since we've never won a game. :) but we sure have fun losing!
keep it real.
~jen~
josh gave me my 1st guitar "lesson" last night. it was pretty frusterating on both of our ends, but we'll get there eventually. most of the time consisted of the following circle:
me: "okay josh, teach me how to strum, i know how to play the basic chords"
josh: "...i can't teach you how to strum, i don't know how i do it, it just comes naturally"
me: "well still, just teach me how"
josh: "i can't..."
:::silence:::
josh: "here, start playing this song how you normally would"
me: "no, see i don't even know how i would strum it because i just don't even know how"
josh: "yes you do, just start"
:::silence::: (both of us staring at the songbook)
josh: "go!"
:::silence:::
me: "josh i can't! i'm strum deficient! i don't know where to even start!"
...a little bit later...
josh: "i can't teach you how to strum, i can teach you how to play chords and how to pick, but i can't teach you how to strum"
me: "fine, teach me how to pick then"
josh: "...well first you need to know how to strum..."
...
it can only get better from here :)
one day i WILL be able to play with the best of them - look out shane barnard.
okay i'm going to bed. work tomorrow and then straight to our softball game which we are almost guaranteed to lose, since we've never won a game. :) but we sure have fun losing!
keep it real.
~jen~
Monday, May 09, 2005
Saturday, May 07, 2005
bittersweet saturday
hey that title would make for a cool name for a song, eh? eh!!!! (can you answer a question with an "eh!"? ... shoot, i'm not sure, i thought i had learned all the in's and out's of using the canadian fun phrase by now).
so yes, today was a bittersweet saturday. let's start out with the sweet part, 'cause that's always funner. today was my first saturday in lynchburg in over...2 months i think, that i didn't have to work all day!! AMEN! it was absolutely amazing and everything i could have dreamed of and less! HA, fooled ya :) just seeing if you guys are really reading this or just skimming. anyway, i had my last shift at j crew last night, and i am job-less now until about...may 17th. but then i'll be working for my dad and with fun people so that's cool. plus it sure makes for a fun, flexible schedule! (i'm spoiled, dad, aren't i? okay i'll admit it...you, mom, & sadie were right all along)
so this morning started out superbly (ah - great word) with a delicious pancake breakfast at tara's house with some of my most favorite people in lynchburg! it was the spring break crew, minus jamie and plus sarah, who was being the good one of the group over spring break by going on a missions trip. hehehe :) good times, as always, this morning!
OH! and then we drove by the site for our new house for next year! they finally dug a hole for the foundation. that's a good place to begin i suppose. there's not much else there yet, but there is a port-a-john, so if all else fails, we'll have that as a multi purpose room. SO stoked about next year!
then later this afternoon, me and benton (jessica, for those of you less familiar with the beautiful cali-sister blonde i spend much time with) went to roanoke to get a hollister fix in. mmmm! i got a track jacket, that's it. but that's more than enough to satisfy me. and i also stocked up on some much needed CD's i've been holding out for. i got Vertical Momentum-Trading My Sorrows (a various artist worship CD with this amazing song called Search Me, Know Me), Jack Johnson-Brushfire Fairytales (ROCK ON!), and Lauryn Hill-The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (_____-fill in the blank, i don't know what to say right now, but it's a good CD). um...i think that's all i got. yeah, it is. and another plus about going to the r-to-the-oanoke is that my cell phone goes back to digital service so i can send and receive pictures & update my phone's "roaming capabilities" as the verizon lady always says when i call her. it's great, you always feel like you have a new phone when you do that. i do, anyway. oh the joys of small things in life.
then the bitter part of my bittersweet saturday. i got back to campus and went to make coffee (yeah, imagine that) and realized jen's (the other one, not me) coffee maker was gone. so i checked her room and all her stuff was gone, too. for those of you that don't know the background, jen sorta disappeared on us right before spring break. she came back a couple days after spring break just long enough to pack a suitcase and then she was off again to "go home just for Easter". we didn't see her again for a couple weeks, but then she popped in just a couple times. i still haven't seen her since that one day right after spring break. no one's seen or heard from her now for...i don't even know, atleast 3 weeks i guess. anyway, because of some other things that went on, i was (and still am) really worried about her not only for her well-being, but also for her spiritually. there's just some stuff that went on that led me to believe there was a lot more going on inside of her than just "rebellion" or whatever you'd call running away. i've been praying so much for her, praying God would bring her back to Him soon and also bring her back to us. yeah, it's been weird not having her around, but i felt like as long as her stuff was here, we'd see her again. but now that it's all gone...it's just hit me all over again that this is real and i may never see her again, this girl that i had gotten to know and love thru living with her thru the majority of this school year. even if i never saw her again, i would settle for just knowing she was following God with her life and was His child. urgh - it's SO FRUSTERATING and discouraging and...empty feeling with not knowing what's going on and not seeing her come back. it's really unsettling.
i know God is just and He is good, yet it i still struggle with understanding why He would let His child to continue down the wrong road and allow the powers of satan to overtake His child's life...it must have to do with that whole "free will" thing...but i sure wish sometimes that we didn't have a free will when it came to these things. it's like...i'm praying so much for her and don't see why God would withold answering my prayers (and other people's, because i know others are praying for her too) for His child to come back to Him. but then when i start questioning God like that, i feel guilty and know i have no right to question His ways. so then i just feel bad like i'm going against God by questioning Him. i've concluded it's a lose-lose situation.
but then i know that's where faith comes in. because i KNOW God is just, He is good, He is merciful, and He is love. sometimes all we'll be able to do is come to Him with our burdens and trust that He's in control, no matter the outcome.
and so concludes my rants and raves about my bittersweet saturday. :)
sike - just kidding, i remembered something else. tonight benton got a call from her friend she was going to have an apartment with next year. her friend decided she wants to live on campus next year, so now benton has no idea what she will do. :( so that was a big bummer for her, and a bummer for me 'cause i feel bad for her. :( we'll see what we can do.
okay, i'm concluding now, incase any of you are still with me here.
keep it real.
~jen~
so yes, today was a bittersweet saturday. let's start out with the sweet part, 'cause that's always funner. today was my first saturday in lynchburg in over...2 months i think, that i didn't have to work all day!! AMEN! it was absolutely amazing and everything i could have dreamed of and less! HA, fooled ya :) just seeing if you guys are really reading this or just skimming. anyway, i had my last shift at j crew last night, and i am job-less now until about...may 17th. but then i'll be working for my dad and with fun people so that's cool. plus it sure makes for a fun, flexible schedule! (i'm spoiled, dad, aren't i? okay i'll admit it...you, mom, & sadie were right all along)
so this morning started out superbly (ah - great word) with a delicious pancake breakfast at tara's house with some of my most favorite people in lynchburg! it was the spring break crew, minus jamie and plus sarah, who was being the good one of the group over spring break by going on a missions trip. hehehe :) good times, as always, this morning!
OH! and then we drove by the site for our new house for next year! they finally dug a hole for the foundation. that's a good place to begin i suppose. there's not much else there yet, but there is a port-a-john, so if all else fails, we'll have that as a multi purpose room. SO stoked about next year!
then later this afternoon, me and benton (jessica, for those of you less familiar with the beautiful cali-sister blonde i spend much time with) went to roanoke to get a hollister fix in. mmmm! i got a track jacket, that's it. but that's more than enough to satisfy me. and i also stocked up on some much needed CD's i've been holding out for. i got Vertical Momentum-Trading My Sorrows (a various artist worship CD with this amazing song called Search Me, Know Me), Jack Johnson-Brushfire Fairytales (ROCK ON!), and Lauryn Hill-The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (_____-fill in the blank, i don't know what to say right now, but it's a good CD). um...i think that's all i got. yeah, it is. and another plus about going to the r-to-the-oanoke is that my cell phone goes back to digital service so i can send and receive pictures & update my phone's "roaming capabilities" as the verizon lady always says when i call her. it's great, you always feel like you have a new phone when you do that. i do, anyway. oh the joys of small things in life.
then the bitter part of my bittersweet saturday. i got back to campus and went to make coffee (yeah, imagine that) and realized jen's (the other one, not me) coffee maker was gone. so i checked her room and all her stuff was gone, too. for those of you that don't know the background, jen sorta disappeared on us right before spring break. she came back a couple days after spring break just long enough to pack a suitcase and then she was off again to "go home just for Easter". we didn't see her again for a couple weeks, but then she popped in just a couple times. i still haven't seen her since that one day right after spring break. no one's seen or heard from her now for...i don't even know, atleast 3 weeks i guess. anyway, because of some other things that went on, i was (and still am) really worried about her not only for her well-being, but also for her spiritually. there's just some stuff that went on that led me to believe there was a lot more going on inside of her than just "rebellion" or whatever you'd call running away. i've been praying so much for her, praying God would bring her back to Him soon and also bring her back to us. yeah, it's been weird not having her around, but i felt like as long as her stuff was here, we'd see her again. but now that it's all gone...it's just hit me all over again that this is real and i may never see her again, this girl that i had gotten to know and love thru living with her thru the majority of this school year. even if i never saw her again, i would settle for just knowing she was following God with her life and was His child. urgh - it's SO FRUSTERATING and discouraging and...empty feeling with not knowing what's going on and not seeing her come back. it's really unsettling.
i know God is just and He is good, yet it i still struggle with understanding why He would let His child to continue down the wrong road and allow the powers of satan to overtake His child's life...it must have to do with that whole "free will" thing...but i sure wish sometimes that we didn't have a free will when it came to these things. it's like...i'm praying so much for her and don't see why God would withold answering my prayers (and other people's, because i know others are praying for her too) for His child to come back to Him. but then when i start questioning God like that, i feel guilty and know i have no right to question His ways. so then i just feel bad like i'm going against God by questioning Him. i've concluded it's a lose-lose situation.
but then i know that's where faith comes in. because i KNOW God is just, He is good, He is merciful, and He is love. sometimes all we'll be able to do is come to Him with our burdens and trust that He's in control, no matter the outcome.
and so concludes my rants and raves about my bittersweet saturday. :)
sike - just kidding, i remembered something else. tonight benton got a call from her friend she was going to have an apartment with next year. her friend decided she wants to live on campus next year, so now benton has no idea what she will do. :( so that was a big bummer for her, and a bummer for me 'cause i feel bad for her. :( we'll see what we can do.
okay, i'm concluding now, incase any of you are still with me here.
keep it real.
~jen~
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
shoot...shouldn't have drank that coffee
HA!
here i sit, wanting to go to sleep but unable to because of 1 simple culprit - brazillian sunrise coffee. it's a dark roast, which means it's a strong brew. i thought i'd drink that tonight at 10pm because i thought i would be up late studying for a humanities test tomorrow and doing a math quiz i thought was due tomorrow. well, the studying didn't take long and i found out the math isn't due 'til Friday afternoon...so now i'm being kept up for now reason :)
i got to go home last weekend for jared & kristen's wedding!! awwww, great time! they're so awesome, i love 'em! and seeing my family makes it all most excellent. i sure do love them!
sunday night was really encouraging - i went with becky & tiff to applebee's after church because they've been going every Sunday night to witness to this waitor there. it was so cool to see the friendship they've built with him just by showing up there once a week. since tiff's leaving for colorado for the summer next week, hopefully i can get to fill in for her while she's gone :) it was just so awesome to see the girls getting out there and sharing the love of Christ with strangers they meet.
i left my notebook of sermon notes in the pew at church. sad. i hope someone finds it and knows it's mine! there's a lot of good stuff in that thing.
OH! i read Lamentations this past week out of pure curiosity. wow, i think it's my favorite book of the OT (at the moment, anyway - hehe). i don't even understand half of it i'm sure, but i still got some amazing things out of it. the Lord has destroyed Jerusalem and the people are in horrible shape and all. and i'm not totally sure why He did it, so if someone has the background on it, please fill me in! i think it was because they had fallen into so much sin? don't quote me on that though. anyway, the first half of the book is Jeremiah lamenting about what's happened. but then all of a sudden, he switches tones and totally praises the Lord for who He is, His justness, His righteousness. like...that just SO amazes me. here he was, along with the rest of the people, suffering horrible things at the hand of God's wrath, and yet he still acknowledge's God's goodness and total justness. amazing. it sure convicted me in that so many times when i "suffer" things, i tend to think "oh, woe is me...". but here jeremiah was, knowing that the events happening were because of his and the people's sin (i think?), and he's not bitter about it. and then i was reading some of the Psalm's that are cross referenced with the end of Lamentations, and it was so cool to read the Psalm and now understand what David was dealing with when he wrote it. (or did Jeremiah write the Psalms that coorespond to Lamentations?)
hehehe so obviously i don't have a good grasp of what all is going on in the book, but i still love it!! and i want to learn more! can anyone fill me in on if Jerusalem ever gets put back together?
alright, i suppose i'll just get in bed and read 'til i fall asleep.
keep it real.
~jen~
OH PS - funny story. okay, the setup for this story is i just walked into the room tonight and kristen was in bed but i knew she wasn't asleep yet.
so i asked "hey kristen, can i listen to luke smith's cd real quick? i'm borrowing it from boonie"
kristen: "of course, you know you can listen to whatever you want as loud as you want. it doesn't bother me"
me: "aw, cool thanks!!"
:::a few minutes pass. during which time i have some silent expelliations of gaseous material:::
kristen: "okay, i can take music playing, but i can't take the smells!!!!!"
hehehe oh the joy of being an anosmic.
here i sit, wanting to go to sleep but unable to because of 1 simple culprit - brazillian sunrise coffee. it's a dark roast, which means it's a strong brew. i thought i'd drink that tonight at 10pm because i thought i would be up late studying for a humanities test tomorrow and doing a math quiz i thought was due tomorrow. well, the studying didn't take long and i found out the math isn't due 'til Friday afternoon...so now i'm being kept up for now reason :)
i got to go home last weekend for jared & kristen's wedding!! awwww, great time! they're so awesome, i love 'em! and seeing my family makes it all most excellent. i sure do love them!
sunday night was really encouraging - i went with becky & tiff to applebee's after church because they've been going every Sunday night to witness to this waitor there. it was so cool to see the friendship they've built with him just by showing up there once a week. since tiff's leaving for colorado for the summer next week, hopefully i can get to fill in for her while she's gone :) it was just so awesome to see the girls getting out there and sharing the love of Christ with strangers they meet.
i left my notebook of sermon notes in the pew at church. sad. i hope someone finds it and knows it's mine! there's a lot of good stuff in that thing.
OH! i read Lamentations this past week out of pure curiosity. wow, i think it's my favorite book of the OT (at the moment, anyway - hehe). i don't even understand half of it i'm sure, but i still got some amazing things out of it. the Lord has destroyed Jerusalem and the people are in horrible shape and all. and i'm not totally sure why He did it, so if someone has the background on it, please fill me in! i think it was because they had fallen into so much sin? don't quote me on that though. anyway, the first half of the book is Jeremiah lamenting about what's happened. but then all of a sudden, he switches tones and totally praises the Lord for who He is, His justness, His righteousness. like...that just SO amazes me. here he was, along with the rest of the people, suffering horrible things at the hand of God's wrath, and yet he still acknowledge's God's goodness and total justness. amazing. it sure convicted me in that so many times when i "suffer" things, i tend to think "oh, woe is me...". but here jeremiah was, knowing that the events happening were because of his and the people's sin (i think?), and he's not bitter about it. and then i was reading some of the Psalm's that are cross referenced with the end of Lamentations, and it was so cool to read the Psalm and now understand what David was dealing with when he wrote it. (or did Jeremiah write the Psalms that coorespond to Lamentations?)
hehehe so obviously i don't have a good grasp of what all is going on in the book, but i still love it!! and i want to learn more! can anyone fill me in on if Jerusalem ever gets put back together?
alright, i suppose i'll just get in bed and read 'til i fall asleep.
keep it real.
~jen~
OH PS - funny story. okay, the setup for this story is i just walked into the room tonight and kristen was in bed but i knew she wasn't asleep yet.
so i asked "hey kristen, can i listen to luke smith's cd real quick? i'm borrowing it from boonie"
kristen: "of course, you know you can listen to whatever you want as loud as you want. it doesn't bother me"
me: "aw, cool thanks!!"
:::a few minutes pass. during which time i have some silent expelliations of gaseous material:::
kristen: "okay, i can take music playing, but i can't take the smells!!!!!"
hehehe oh the joy of being an anosmic.
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