Happy Girl

No thanks Jon and Kate.
I don't need your family drama.
I have more than enough of my own - thank you.

I just started reading Radical Cross by A.W. Tozer. I've had it for a while, but that's usually how I do things. I've been reading Redeeming Love since Valentine's Day 2008 and I'm just half way through. What can I say? I'm A.D.D. I usually don't read the Foreword and Preface in books, but I started reading this one and it looked good, so I kept reading and I found this little beauty.

"Until we see the price God paid for our peace in His own Son, we will be paying with our sons' and daughters' lives on the battlefields of our hates and brutalities, only to find peace ever eluding us."

I'm currently taking book suggestions.

**Before I get feedback, I want to clear up that this has nothing to do with my view of the military. It does have to do with my view of war. I don't like war and I don't think God likes war. I don't really think it's necessary, but we're humans and it's inevitable. I fully respect and completely appreciate the work and service of our military men and women. My Paw Paw forged his birth certificate when he was 17 so that he could join the Marines a year early. He was in Saipan during WWII. He was chased by Japanese soldiers to the edge of a cliff where we had to make the decision to jump off or get shot. He jumped and broke every bone in his foot. He's been in explosions and more life threatening situations than I could ever imagine. He went to Washington D.C. a few weeks ago. When he was walking down the street, a Japanese family came up to him and thanked him for his service. People from the same country that was trying to kill him and everyone with him appreciate his service. He must have been doing something right. I believe God works all things out for good and even though I don't believe God likes war or wants war doesn't mean I don't think He uses it to His glory. He's done it before. I just think if Christians embraced the message of the cross fully and wholly, trusted God, and pledged our allegiance to Him alone and not our politics or our country, that we would find ourselves in a very different America and a very different world.**

I'm sure you've all seen this video clip somewhere. Apparently it's a pretty big deal, but I haven't figured out why yet. Although I think she could have answered the question a little better, I genuinely respect her answer. As a disclaimer, I'm not sure where I stand on this issue quite yet. I'm still searching out and asking God about it. I know what I've been told and taught my whole life, but I want to find out what the Bible says about for myself. As of right now, I'm leaning toward the right. But whether I'm for or against it, I still think the circus around her answer is completely ridiculous. I find fault mostly in the Miss USA organization and here are some reasons why:

1. Perez Hilton asked. If he asked me the same question, knowing he is the most famous gossip blogger on earth and that he could destroy my reputation with a click of a mouse, I probably would have just said what I knew he wanted to hear. It took a lot of courage for her to stand in front of him and millions of people and say something that she knew she was going to get hassled about.
2. I heard one of the executives say that Miss USA is not a place for politics or religion. I agree - it shouldn't be. If this is true, then why did they approve this question? I honestly don't think the question should have ever been asked if they have no interest in the contestants political or religious beliefs. Gay marriage has very little to do with the roles of her being Miss USA.
3. Don't ask if you don't want to know. I tell people that all the time. If you want me to lie to you, I will, but don't ask me a question if you don't like the answer I'm going to give you. If they honestly didn't want to know her opinion, they never should have asked.
4. I'm gathering that they would rather have a Miss USA that lies about her opinion to please the majority, than a Miss USA that is an honest "bigot". Read this. It shows just how much integrity there is in this organization.

I heard her called a "bigot" today on a morning talk show. I looked up bigot on dictionary.com and it said the following:
Now correct me if I'm wrong, but is Perez Hilton himself not being a bigot? She never said anything derogatory about the gay community. All she did was answer the question she was asked. She's said many times since then that she loves gay people. But yet she is "utterly intolerant" of them? I just don't see it.

Perez wrote on his blog a few weeks ago, "When YOUR 'opinion' gets in the way of my rights, privileges and protections, I'm supposed to smile and be nice? Hell no!" Seriously? He REALLY thinks that her opinion is going to get in the way of his rights? It's not HER opinion that does that, it's the opinion of 55% of the United State. Maybe he should find nude photos and dig up dirt about the millions of people that have the same opinion as her.

The only time the bible uses the word "homosexual" is in 1 Corinthians 6:9. I completely understand that any kind of sexual immorality outside of marriage is a sin - gay or straight. What I've yet to discover is if God finds fault with married gay couples that don't commit these sins outside of marriage. The main thing I always fall back on is the fact that man and woman were created together in the Garden for the purposes of reproduction. I'm still sorting all of this out.

I'd like help trying to figure this stuff out, Bible scholars (this means you Jamie and Joseph)! I don't just want your opinion though. I really want hard biblical evidence to back it up. And don't tell me about Sodom and Gomorrah because that was the Old Covenant and I haven't seen God send down hell, fire and brimestone lately, or in the New Testament. He also killed people on the spot and opened up the earth to swallow folks whole, which he also hasn't done in a while. God doesn't have to punish us for our sin anymore because Jesus took all that on Himself for us on the cross. Therefore telling me the ways God punished homosexually immoral people back then isn't going to answer my question.

I have no idea how to conclude this random, probably contraversial blog.

Happy trails!

Those are some fantastic looking kids. :)

The only thing I want for my 20th birthday is for my family to start acting like a family again.
I miss the right half of that picture more than words can express.

I am a part of this amazing group of about 20 young people. We call ourselves D.E.P.T.H. youth drama team. It stands for Directing Every Person To Him OR Dedicating Every Performance To Him. I'm not sure who came up with that, but it's really long.

I've been lending what small amount of talent I have to this group for almost 8 years. I came to a practice with Megan Picklesimer in the fall of 2001 and I fell in love. I remember the first drama I ever practiced. It was a spoken drama called "Sin Detector" or something like that. Megan Williamson and Patrick Galloway were in it with me. Apparently Megan was sinful and Patrick and I couldn't let her in our church or something. It was really silly.

Since then, we've kind of drifted from spoken drama and focused more on human videos. During the 2004 year, we learn SO many new dramas and did workshops and it's really paid off because we're still using those. For the last month, I've been really bored at practices. Let's just be honest. I've been doing and seeing the same dramas for like 5 years and I was getting pretty desensitized to them.

However, at practice last night, my hope was renewed! Ralphie, our fearless leader, told us that we're reinventing some old ones to have new meanings and incorporating new people and I must say, I'm really proud. We changed around an old favorite that I like to call "The Baby Mama Drama"; others call it "The Dead Baby Drama". I wont give it away, but I will tell you that Caleb and I are the parents in the drama. That should keep the rumor mill going for a little while. :)
Here is the song. It's "Made Me Glad" by Hillsong. I love this song!


Ralph was full of surprises last night! This is another oldy but goody that is getting a face lift. I love it. I'm a demon in this one, and I'm SO excited!


Unlike Jamie Golden, I love drama!