There’s something going around out there. Out on the internet. And it seems to be spreading.

Perhaps you’ve seen it?

It is often accompanied by the following hashtag:
#JANphotoaday

And I’m joining in the fun. You should to.

Get those creative juices flowing again. Reboot from the holidays and the desire to never touch a camera again and have a little fun with it.

Want more info? Check out this site – she has all the info you need.

And if you want to keep track of my progress, my instagram moniker is PersimmonPulp – just like twitter.

Come join the fun!

2011 Reading Challenge

Jennifer has

read 44 books toward her goal of 125 books.

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44 of 125 (35%)

view books

Well, I almost made it. For some silly reason my consumption of books drastically reduced around the end of August. Funny how getting a job can do that to a person.

I suspect that had I had the same amount of free time in the last 4 months of the year that I had in the first 8 I would have made that goal. Or upped it (again) to a higher one.

This year I am planning to go back to a more modest goal. Perhaps my original goal for last year… 50 books.

We’ll see if I make it.

I was reading Genesis 3 yesterday as part of my YouVersion reading plan, and it has kept knocking around in my head since then.

You can take a look at the passage here

This is the biblical account of the very first sin to enter the world. The original. Numero uno.

Eve has been created, and has been told the few rules of paradise. It would seem that she has been left to wander as she wills, and she found herself in conversation with the crafty serpent.

This crafty serpent decides to stretch the truth just a teeny tiny bit – most of what he says is true, but not all of it. Yes, eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil will open her eyes and give her wisdom – it will make her like God in that way. She will know and understand the difference between good and evil. And no, she did not “die” that day in a physical sense, but in a spiritual sense, she did. And physically, her days just got a number put on them. Her body began to decay and every breath brought her closer to death.

What has been knocking around though comes after that part. She takes the fruit, shows it to Adam and they eat it together.

And their eyes were opened. Sin entered into Paradise.

What is the very first thing they do? They hid.

First they hid their nakedness with fig leaves. Then they hid themselves from God.

That’s the thing with sin. It creates division. It separates us from God. It causes us to look upon ourselves and feel that we need to hide ourselves away because we aren’t pure and spotless anymore. It makes us turn away from God because He is pure and spotless. He is Holy.
Then what happened?

The blame game starts. They were caught in their sin. Once God called them out of hiding & began to repair the rift in the relationship they start passing the blame. Avoiding responsibility.

Genesis 3:11-13
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Adam passes the blame to Eve, and she passes it on to the crafty serpent. At least the serpent didn’t pass it along too. But no matter how far they passed it along, all they did was make the number of people who would be punished larger.

Because sin must be dealt with, and the consequences must be faced.

The serpent was cursed to slither on its belly & eat dust all of its days. It would no longer find a sympathetic ear in the woman, and it was cursed to have its head crushed.

The woman was cursed with pain in childbirth – one could assume she was cursed with monthly reminders of that pain as well. She was also told that she would live in submission for the rest of her days – but not like it.

Adam was cursed with toil and hard labor. No longer would everything he put his hand to be easy, he now had to work hard for everything he got. He had to fight against weeds and thorns to get the food to feed his family until the day he died.

Oh yes, death was now a reality for them, but not just their death.

Verse 21 says “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”

A sacrifice had to be made to atone for the sin. Something had to die so that they could go on with their lives.

They found themselves kicked out of paradise, now with knowledge of evil, and faced with lives of pain and hard labor.

Thankfully they still had God in their lives. And thankfully God also provided the ultimate sacrifice for us – the Lamb has been slain to take away our sin and bring us back into relationship with God. We are clothed in His righteousness so that when God looks upon us He see’s Jesus – a pure and spotless life lived for Him.

When sin separates us from God, we need to walk into the light, not hide from Him. He longs to bring us back into relationship with Him. If He didn’t, Jesus would never have been born a Man, would never have lived a human life, and would have been spared the humiliating torture of the cross.

But He loves us. He created us to be in relationship with Him. And He gave us free will so that we could choose to show Him our love and give Him our worship.

When we find ourselves going through trials, we often have the question “Why Me?” going through our heads. We often focus on ourselves and our circumstances. We often adopt a “victim mentality” as our viewpoint.

But this in not where God calls us to look.

God calls us to fix our eyes on Him, not on our circumstances. He calls us to cling to Him, not our ‘stuff’.

Carlos Whittaker has a song on his Ragamuffin Soul album called We Will Worship You that sets this idea to music. He took the chorus lyrics from a prayer… a prayer from the Book of Puritan Prayers. But it’s still so very applicable (if not more so) today than when it was first penned.

Here are the lyrics to We Will Worship You:

We fix our eyes on You, You are God alone
We fix our eyes on You, You’re our only hope
For all we have to lose is our very souls

Hallelujah hallelujah
Hallelujah hallelujah

© 2009 Carlos Whittaker | Jason Ingram

I urge you to really read those words and really, truly think about them. When we fix our eyes on our circumstances, on those around us, or on the ‘stuff’ in out lives that bring us comfort it means that we are taking our eyes off of Jesus. When we take our eyes off  of Jesus, we begin to sink in the waves of the storm that surrounds us.

However, when we fix our eyes on Jesus, we can do anything. We can walk through any storm. We can thrive and live a life of abundance.

What comforts are taking your focus? What circumstances are distracting you from God? What joys are in your life that aren’t from God? Are you always striving for more ‘stuff’ to satisfy your cravings? Or are you satisfied with God – His unfailing love, His grace, His holiness?

This is the prayer of my heart today – that I would be satisfied that God is enough. That I will boldly walk into unfamiliar territory with my eyes and my heart firmly fixed on God and His plan for me.

That through it all I will choose to worship God rather than me. That I would focus on God instead of my circumstances. That the joys in my life will come from His hand and with His blessing. That He would be enough.

It just keeps coming back to perspective.

A thousand horsemen beating kettle drums…

Skin that’s been attacked by a polka dot cactus…

Ears that are going deep sea diving…

Teeth that are crying out for a trip to the dentist…

Eyes that feel like they’ve been crying for 500 days in the desert…

The throat of a fire-breathing dragon…

A nose that forgot its job…

and a body that feels like it’s been through a boxing match… or 12.

What do these have in common?

THE FLU.

Help, I’m under attack, and my body is running amuck!

Yuck.

**This may anger some. These are just some thoughts that I am having today, some questions that have been brought up in my own mind. I apologize if I offend anyone… but if I cause you to think about things, then it will be worth it.**

As I sit here today, I find myself unsure how I feel. The news of the death of a very infamous man was released yesterday, May 1, 2011, in a bit of a replication of the death of an infamous figure released decades ago on May 1, 1945.

Osama bin Laden is dead.

He was apparently killed by a US bomb somewhere around a week ago. Most of America is congratulating themselves that “We Got Him!” and a man that led thousands of terrorists to kill thousands of innocents has been removed from the picture.

On the side of Justice, I can agree that this should feel like a good thing. I admit to having a few moments of relief that the man that thought up the bombings on 9/11 is no longer able to plot against us.

But I also mourn the loss of a human life. No, I mourn the jubulation that so many people feel over the loss of a human life.

And then I wonder why it is that ONE DEATH can mean so very much, while unborn children are slaughtered daily, children are sold or taken into slavery and raped and abused daily and soldiers are killed in war… but “America” doesn’t seem to care.

Yes, this man led others to senselessly murder thousands in a single day, and yes, we should be relieved that he is gone… but I assure you that there are others ready & willing to take his place. Yes, we should care that he has been removed, but what about the other invisible deaths and tragedies that surround us daily?

I was at a youth girls get-together last night when the news came out, and there were mixed responses. One person wasn’t sure who he was. Most were quite joyful that he was dead. But one of the girls looked at me and said what I was feeling inside. She said “I’m glad that he’s gone, but I can’t help mourn the loss of a life. He won’t be going to heaven unless he had a drastic conversion experience. He will never know God!”

Osama bin Laden showed us what religious fanatacism looks like. He showed us what it looks like to have a passion about your beliefs, how to have a belief strong enough that you are willing to die for it.

As Christians, we could learn a thing or two from Islam. We could learn how to not be complacent. We could learn to take a stand for what we claim to believe in.

Let me say right now that I am NOT saying we need to go around killing people in the name of God! The bible tells about a God that is LOVE. He said that His people would be known by their love. I serve a God of forgiveness and love and justice and mercy and gracy – a God that is holy, that cannot tolerate sin. A God that sacrificed His own Son – all to spare us from death and eternal seperation from Him.

What woujld this country – this world! – look like if Christians set out to love the world around us with as much passion and religious fervor as the radical muslims that followed bin Laden?

What if we had redical love for the world around us? What if we celebrated each person who died to themselves and gave their heart over to Jesus with the same dancing in the streets and exultation that we are currently celebrating the death of one man?

Passion is very attractive. Passion draws humanity like a flame draws moths – we can’t resist it.

How can we, as followers of the One True God, have passion for a God that doesn’t demand our worship and adoration? How can we have a greater fervor for a God that loved us into existence?

So yes, I am thankful that a mind that contemplated evil upon my country will no longer contemplate that evil against us. But I also wonder if we can learn something from him. And I am sad that he crossed over to something so different than he expected to. I am sad that he never knew God.

It’s hard to believe it’s already halfway through April! This year certainly didn’t start our slowly in our household.

It’s been an interesting year thus far. We’ve had two casts (the 2nd is due to come off tomorrow – yay!) and a 2nd car has been down for about 7 weeks. Yes, life has been a bit more interesting.

But broken hands, broken wrists and broken cars aside, life is moving it’s way along. The girls are very active – one in soccer 2 night a week with games on weekends, and the other with dance on those same two nights (!) and her 2nd recital coming up next month. She’s just a little bit excited to get back to dance once the cast comes off.

Me? I just want my car back.

But in the midst of all of the busy-ness and the broken-ness and the forced stay-put-ed-ness (is that even a word?) God is teaching me. God is teaching me that at times we all get broken. After we are broken, we have a period of rest. A period of healing. And that period of healing isn’t always as long as we expect it to be – and yet still at times seems to stretch for an eternity! But once that time of rest and healing has past, we have to get on with our lives.

We can’t wear the cast forever. If we did, our skin would not like us much. Our broken-ness would never truly heal, because it would never re-gain the strength it needs to function properly.

Have you been broken?

I have. It hurts. Being broken is not fun at all, and I very often lack the patience to step back and allow that time of rest and healing before I jump back into “normal” life. But we need that. We need the chance to allow the healing to take root before we rely on that broken area to support us again.

And once we have given it time to repair, we need to start flexing those muscles again. We need to re-build the strength that once was there. We need to get back into life.

As we approach Easter, I am also reminded that our Savior was broken. He was broken for us – to heal the rift that sin created between us and God. His body was tortured, He gave up His life willingly, and He allowed His disciples to fully experience the broken-ness of His death for a time – but then He brought healing and restoration.

He was broken for me. His broken-ness heals me. It allows me to embrace life and to flex those muscles and gives me that strength that I can rely on – that which was broken has healed to be stronger.

His broken-ness is my strength.

As you may have heard, I am participating in the Arlington Relay for Life on June 4-5.

The video linked below helps describe why I am doing this – in remembrance of those that we have lost to cancer, and in honor of those that are still with us as SURVIVORS.

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY11?sid=1058&type=fr_informational&pg=informational&fr_id=33738&first_name=Jennifer&last_name=Hudson&cons_id=19525365

This year, over 1.4 million Americans will hear the words ‘You have cancer’. I know too many people who are touched by cancer, and that is why I have joined the American Cancer Society on a mission to save lives and create a world with more birthdays by participating in the Relay For Life here in Arlington.

The Relay is a huge part of the fundraising for the American Cancer Society, and the money raised goes to a variety of areas within the organization.  If you want more information on how the money is used, please take a look at this page: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY11GW?sid=1044&type=fr_informational&pg=informational&fr_id=33738

Please, support me in my efforts by using the link below to visit my personal web page and make a donation. Every dollar raised brings us one dollar closer to a cure, and to a time when the number of people who have to hear the words “you have cancer” is zero.

My personal goal is to raise $200 – if you could give just $10, that goal will be reached very quickly. Please consider supporting me as I walk in this year’s Relay for Life!

Here is the link to my personal page: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY11GW?px=19525365&pg=personal&fr_id=33738

Thank you so much for your support.