There's a common misconception that aligns progressiveness with immorality.

It just struck me that "forever" is a very vague word, at least in our society.

I don't listen enough.

On Friday I leave to visit my family for the weekend. I miss them and these days feel "forever" long. :)

New Obsession

Dustin O'Halloran.

Whoa!!!

I just ran, with the good help and encouragement of a friend, the scenic loop at Cherokee Park which is 2.3 miles long! We only made a few stops for water and walking in between!! Those are some big ass hills! I started running last summer and could only jog the distance of a few light poles at our local water park. This is most definitely a marked improvement.

At one point during a sermon a few weeks ago, the speaker stated something along the lines of how Christianity isn't pessimism or optimism, but realism. I've used that statement more than once in conversations about the gospel lately. I think it's so very true in that it communicates a healthy balance between the daily acts of celebrating grace and repenting of sin.

We have the overwhelming debt of our own transgressions on one hand (pessimism/wrath) and the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the other (optimism/grace). If we dwell too heavily in the weight of our sin, we'll never experience the freedom and joy Christ promises. Jesus spoke, "If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full" (John 15:10-11). I fail to keep his commandments everyday, but joy remains because I am reminded of the price Christ paid for the world on Calvary.

In the same way, if we relentlessly bathe in grace without remorse for actions done against God, we forget about His hatred/judgement against sin and God mentally morphs into this jolly good buddy instead of a mighty, and powerful Lord. I am reminded of Romans 5 and the beginning of Romans 6 where Paul writes:

"Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?"

So yeah. We can't become so lost in the freedom of grace that was poured out on the cross, that we forget the reason for Christ's coming in the first place--our sin. And! We can't live defeated lives because of our inability to embrace that forgivness. (I'm repeating the same things) Anyway. I love it, this reality.

Not to mention, one could also state that despite our feelings, emotional states, pessimisms, optimisims, philosophies, theologies, doubts, and assurances, the truth/reality of Christ and his fulfillment of God's promises through the Cross, remains absolute and unchanging. Goosebumps. Ahhh...

A few other things:

A friend called me odd today, and I didn't know quite how to take that.

Also, I took the above picture in my best friend's back yard a few weeks ago. I think the tree on the right looks like a heart. :)

Things I know...

Cindy--unsweet tea, lemon, one pink, one blue

Pat--unsweet tea, lemon, one pink, one blue, breakfast proper: eggs over medium, white toast, and bacon

Bud--unsweet tea, lemon

Jim or "Mr. Payne/Pain"--unsweet, no lemon, breakfast proper: eggs over easy and bacon (Curiously, both Jim and Pat say they're ordering the "breakfast proper" but order different things)

Dale--sweet tea, no lemon

Tim--iced latte

Earl, Security guard--Diet Pepsi and chocolate chip cookie

Paul, Security guard--Mt. Dew, can

Jayme, musician--Two breakfast clubs, no bacon

Jim, Mr. Whelan--For lunch, a large cup of soup or chili, no bag please and for the late afternoon, a large non-fat latte and an oatmeal raisin cookie

Jenny--the skinny, jenny, cinammony

Judy--half and half tea, lemon

Barbara--Farmhouse salad, Ranch dressing, less lettuce ("Let us have less lettuce please!")

Tirisha, Barbara's friend--Farmhouse salad, Balsamic dressing, less lettuce




Nameless faces whose orders I also remember:



blonde girl--two cups of ice

Woman with two daughters who reference the the third Jonas brother as the "Bonus Jonas"--scone, ice, side of bacon

Man with diabetes that leans on counter--cheddar omlet with bacon and side of bacon, sometimes two sides of bacon

Jan, author--side salad with two dressings, the extra one she gets for free

Cleaning lady that wears a back brace--sweet tea to the rim, lots of lemon

Sweet lady, curly hair--unsweet tea with a pinch of sweet at the top

Young guy with gray hair and glasses: blueberry bagle, no butter or cream cheese

Guy with glasses and weird button-ups: two diet pepsis and usually a breakfast burrito

skinny lady with glasses: For lunch, blueberry bagel, one butter, one grape jelly


hmmm...I think this means I'm learning proper queues at The Queue.

Themeless, but not pointless.

I kept referring to the the 4th of July as Halloween. Ridiculous.


And I like this:

"Jesus does not want us to worry about the future. God knows what we need to live. When He wants us to die, we will die. As as long as He wants us to live, we will live. He will provide us with the food, drink, jobs, housing, with everything that we need to live and glorify Him in this life until He wants us to glorify Him by dying. Worrying and fretting and obsessing about the future, even if it is a psuedo-holy worry that attempts to discern the will of God, will not add one single hour to your life, and it will certainly not add any happiness or holiness either." --Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something

He's basically just restating Matthew 6:25-34, but the way he says it just kind of slaps you in the face, you know?

I made my first latte at work today! yeeeaaaah.

My two favorite events at the Cafe:

Slicing lemons

and

Lunch.
This one bird keeps eyeing me down when I eat outside. One day I fed him crackers and he hasn't forgotten. He bounces around my table and sometimes perches on the chair beside me. I know it's the same one because he has a hurt foot. Foot? Do birds have feet? What do you call bird feet? Talons? Claws? Feet just sounds weird. I don't know. But, yeah. Our sandwiches are amazing and I have a bird friend that kind of gives me the creeps. Makes for a good combination.

I don't have to work on Friday and I'm estatic. I will most definitely be sleeping in and going for a morning run--two things I have yet to do in almost two weeks. Afternoon runs just aren't the same probably because most of them are without Miss Erin. :(