I'm reading this book...

It's Called Sex God: Exploring the endless connections between sexuality and spirituality by Rob Bell. It was a suggestion from Kati Bailey, and well I am only on chapter 3, but it is AMAZING! So as I am reading it I have been marking different things that have stood out to me and well I have decided to talk about them in a post.

The first thing that struck me was he mentioned the book of Psalms and where it says that "The Lord has established his throne in heaven and his kingdom rules over all." Bell then stated that to the Jewish mind "heaven is not a fixed, unchanging geographical location somewhere other than this world. Heaven is the realm where tings are as God intends them to be. The place where things are under the rule and reign of God. And that place can be anywhere, anytime, with anybody." When I read this I was like WOW!!! That is so true, yet we (as in this generation) forget that God is omnipresent, he really does see EVERYTHING we do and this hit me hard. We think that God only sees us on Sunday, so we dress up, and act like God wants us to act on Sunday then turn around the rest of the week and be who this world wants us to be, and I believe at some point we are all guilty of it. As Bell said the Jewish people don't think of heaven as a set geographical location, and I feel we think of it as having an address, as being like a planet and having its own little spot and destination that we will report to but it isn't. HEAVEN is everywhere and anywhere God wants it to be.

Another point Bell brings up is treating people as objects (which is pretty much the WHOLE 1st chapter). There were a couple of passages I marked that deal with this issue so to speak. Bell had previously talked about the passage in the Bible about lusting and gouging your eye out (Matthew 5:27-30 I think) He stated that Jesus' point with that statement was not to mutilate your body but "that something serious- sometimes hellish- happens when people are treated as objects, and we should avoid it at all costs." There is another whole section in chapter one called "THE NEW HUMANITY" that impacted me also about this topic and I am just going to put little blurps from it: "God created us "in his image"; What we often do is reverse the creative process that God initiated. We start with different cultural backgrounds and skin colors and nationalities, and it's only when we look past these things that we are able to get to what we have in common- that we are fellow image-bearers with the shared task of caring for God's creation. We get it all backward. We see all of the differences first, and only later, maybe, do we begin to see the similarities." I feel that that, speaks for itself. There is yet another paragraph that talks about objectifying people "When a human is mistreated, objectified or neglected, when they are treated less than human, these actions are actions taken against God. Because how you treat the creation reflects how you feel about the creator." This little passage right there spoke volumes upon volumes to me. Sometime in all of our lives I am sure someone has made fun of someone else, by doing this we made fun of God. If we are ALL are made in HIS image then if we made fun of someone we made fun of God. When we exclude because of race, sex, or disability we are excluding God and are tell them, along with him, that "You Aren't Good Enough, Your Different, You Can't Do This or That." So next think are you making fun of God, Is how you treating His creation showing how you feel about him?

That is just somethings I found from chapter 1 that really spoke to me personally, and that I feel would speak to just about everyone. The second chapter was very interesting as well and believe I will cover that one in a separate post (I have quite a bit marked again!).

Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father. (Ephesians 2: 16-18 THE MESSAGE)

:) The Begining

Hello!

I am new to this, and I decided to do it for a few reasons. A friend of mine has one and she is doing wonderful things in her life and is so inspiring! Another reason is I decided to do this is because I needed some place to put my feelings down other than facebook. And lastly I think that I need to reconnect with myself since I have been so busy lately with school, and I think writing things down will help me with that.

So a little about me:

I am a sophomore in Marshall University School of Nursing. I am an only child and I'd say I am neither a mommy or daddy's girl, I am both! Family is very important to me and so are my friends. God plays a big role in my life, but he should really play a much bigger one & I am working on that. I am usually conservative. I follow sports & love them; football, basketball, hockey, tennis, and just recently baseball (which I still am not too into). I watch high school, college and professional sports and have "my"teams in all of them. I was born in Japan due to the Marine Corps, and I was born with cleft lip. The city of Philadelphia means a whole lot to me, and those Eagles are my love. I love WV, since this is where I've grown up and "THE HERD" has its own special place in my heart, always has and always will. When I graduate I want to work in the OR or the ER. Reese's anything is my weakness. I am a super picky eater. I have fallen in love with a few companies: Vera Bradley, TOMS, and The Pottery Place. I love zebra print anything, and I love Zebras: on March 25 and 26 I am going to the zoo to take pictures of them :) My all time favorite color is orange. I love to shop. I love to read but because of school I don't usually have time. Music plays a big role in my life and I like all kinds of genres: Country is my favorite, contemporary christian, southern gospel, rap, hip hop, rock, jazz, r&b, etc. I own a guitar but don't know how to play it. I have a bucket list :) Maybe one day I'll post it! My poodle, Princess, is awesome even if she loves my mom more than she loves me. The beach is the best in my eyes, and it always takes my breath away at how beautiful it is and how big it is and how God could make something so wonderful. I was part of something at Marshall last year that really took my breath away and put life into perspective: Be Hope to Her. It was literally AMAZING to me to know that what we did helped so many, but I never thought that it would change and impact my life the way it did and it is coming up real soon again!!!!!!!!! :D and I am really excited. If you want to read about it click here: http://www.nuruinternational.org/takeaction/bh2o.html
I have been to the Bahamas on a mission trip and it was eye opening. My favorite movie is: GONE IN 60 SECONDS, yeah I am serious. I love all kinds of others too though, including new and old DISNEY movies :) I also watch the Disney channel and love the food network. I love these tv shows and watch them every week: House, Secret Life, Make it or Break it, Greek, NCIS, Biggest Loser, Mercy, Criminal Minds, Bones, CSI: Las Vegas, and Marriage Ref. A few of my favorite quotes are: Life is a handful of short stories, pretending to be a novel; Student Nurse: kinda like a deer caught in the headlights; BEE POSITIVE; And its funny how it’s the little things in life that mean the most Not where you live, what you drive or the price tag on your clothes. there’s no dollar sign on a piece of mind this I’ve come to know - Zac Brown Band; Why do we go dancing in circles, When we know it never ends? We come so close, To loving each other and then... we go dancing in circles again - Love and Theft

Well that was more than a little.... oops :) but here is what I am leaving with

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. Matthew 6:34 (The Message)