philippians 4:6-9

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything,
but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—

think about such things.

Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Philippians 4:6-9 NIV


Sometimes I have to finally admit to myself that God knows what He's talking about. He has it figured out so much better than I do. I don't have to search far to find the answers. I don't have to make them up or come up with a way to make it work on my own. Here He is. And He is commanding my full attention. He is commanding me to not be anxious and giving me the exact reasons why and what will happen if I follow his loving lead and cast aside my own pitiful attempts at figuring everything out on my own. Here is how The Message words the same verse...


Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!

Make it as clear as you can to all you meet that you're on their side, working with them and not against them. Help them see that the Master is about to arrive. He could show up any minute!

Don't fret or worry.
Instead of worrying, pray.
Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.

Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down.

It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—

the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.

Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

Philippians 4:6-9 The Message

PSYCH!

I feel that I would be doing the world an injustice if I did not introduce as many people as possible to the tv show "Psych". I have to admit that when I was first introduced to it this summer by Jared from the Boro I was less than interested but as I continued to watch I became hooked. The premise of the show is that Shawn is a "psychic" detective helping the Santa Barbara police department solve cases with his "psychic" abilities. In all reality he's not really a psychic but rather insanely observant, ridiculously smart and just outright hilarious. (If you've seen commercials for the new show The Mentalist on CBS, they basically ripped that idea off of Psych but made it into a drama, LAME) But anyways, Shawn runs his agency PSYCH with his best friend Gus. These two play off each other to create pure comedic genius and I will admit that for the last week I've been watching reruns of this show all day as I sit at the computer working. Psych airs on USA and the first 2 seasons are out on DVD.
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In the meantime, here is a little taste of Shawn & Gus at their finest, going undercover to solve a murder case on the show "American Duos".

And some funny moments from season one :)

laughter makes things better

it's been a long week and a half or so in my life recently and instead of mulling over everything i'd rather just laugh. and of course, fail blog never ceases to make me laugh :)

God is relevant.

I've been pretty much in a pain medication coma all weekend down with a bad case of strep throat or something similar that makes me feel like I'm choking on my own tonsils and my ears have knives in them. I'm still pretty out of it but I wanted to share with anyone who has been following my journey with Relevant Church as their graphic designer/communication arts person (whatever I'm called) some photos from our first open house out in Williamsburg, VA this weekend. I haven't gotten a chance to hear first hand how it all went because frankly my head feels like it's a helium balloon high up in the sky but so far what I've heard is God was totally there and is definitely walking with us on this amazing journey. Check it out.

curiosity killed the cat.

Today's Fail Blog made me laugh and then reminded me of myself when I try to live my life as if I know what's best for me, sticking my nose up and my head into things where I know God would rather I trust Him when he says "It's probably not a good idea to stick your head in that Little Tikes car." Really, sometimes I think He must know better than I do :)

finding.

i've started to brainstorm the visuals for the first 6 months of teaching at relevant. the vision of relevant is to BE relevant. so i'm searching for relevant. for beautiful. for culture. i'm searching for ways to bring God to the forefront of that beauty and to make His presence known where people are simply chalking up the beauty to whatever or wherever the wind blows. in my search i came across this. i'm sorry but this is so ridiculously beautiful that i had to share.

Carlos Lascano


A SHORT LOVE STORY IN STOP MOTION from Carlos Lascano on Vimeo.

jesus reads my blog

jesus reads my blog. and reads my books. and sits next to me while i drive my blingin 92 honda civic (He particularly likes the sunroof). jesus hangs out with me while i drone away at the computer all day doing what i love. He enjoys my meals with me (especially those green beans). and sits on the counter while i brush my teeth (once in the morning for me and once in the evening to keep my husband happy). jesus runs with me on the eliptical, kicks my butt on the bench press, and enjoys chocolate protein shakes. jesus enjoys watching tv shows with me on DVD with a heating pad and playing strategy games. He laughs. jesus celebrates all the everyday things i do, even as i do them without giving him a second thought. when i designed this tree, jesus was hanging out in photoshop with me. just like every other day. but this was one of the things i did when i finally gave him a second thought. now this tree is in newspapers, on postcards, on the internet. it's growing for Him. and the best part of His tree are its' roots. they will stretch out to touch the world. they will be relevant and honest and madly in love. this is the assignment jesus has given me. and i figure that as long as He is with me while i'm putting my socks on and when i'm checking my email, surely He will be with me when i learn to love Him and give that love to His world.

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And since I showed you some of my artwork made on a computer, here is a lovely gem I found created by none other than my beloved husband in the highly complicated program known as Paint. He titled his work "goat.bmp".

don't vote

i'm not really a fan of celebrity endorsements of politics but this is worth watching simply for jonah hill and the fact that we really all should vote regardless of what celebrities say. if you don't feel like voting or think you don't care please just find someone that you respect, ask them who they're voting for, and vote whatever they say. and if you can't find someone you respect, ask me, and you can make my vote count twice :)

losing something to keep it.

I read something a while ago that has stuck with me. I am going through a time in my life right now where I feel a certain amount of unrest. Atleast more than I feel that I felt when I was younger and supposedly more carefree. My life feels increasingly uncertain. I don't know what God has planned for me and I don't know what or where I'll be beyond today. So this little thing that I read has been something I remind myself of when I start to worry and feel scared that my life is not in my control.
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"In order to keep us from becoming too attached to earth, God allows us to feel a significant amount of discontent and dissatisfaction in life-longings that will never be fulfilled on this side of eternity. We're not completely happy here because we're not supposed to be. Earth is not our final home; we were creating for something much better."
-Rick Warren "The Purpose Driven Life"
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This is a scary and comforting truth. To know that God is aware of me at this level feels like ultimate love and then comes the realization that alot of my discontent comes from living for myself and expecting everything to go my way and make me happy. Letting go of life allows us to live it. God is crazy. And I love Him for that.
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p.s. that is my sister up there, showing us her heart :)