Home again, Home again!

Oh man. It is a Monday morning, and, not only am I in my own city for once, but I have the day off and am staring across the table at my gorgeous groom. What an amazing treat for this holiday week. Wow! I love my job more than any person should, but, after a long fall on the road, it is nice to be home, sipping pumpkin lattes and worrying about Christmas cards instead of deadlines and index cards (I write all info about prospective students on index cards). Anyway, it's just so lovely.

So before I post a few pics, a little about my current thoughts. We are reading a book in my small group called "Humility" by CJ Mahaney. If you haven't picked it up, I highly encourage it. It's a quick read, and easy enough. It is changing the way I think about my human condition. As a human, I am inherently flawed. That's easy enough for us all to remember, right? "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Rom 8:28. That's something I have been told for most of my life. But what Mahaney does is takes it a step further. Not only are we all flawed, but our flawed nature makes us focus on our pride. On us. We try to take the glory away from God and away from his power. I live for me. But as a Christian, I don't get to live for me. Jesus sacrificed himself so that I could live AT ALL. And as a gracious act of thanksgiving of that sacrifice, I am to self-sacrifice. Be HUMBLE. And how often does this play out in my life? About 1 percent of the time. That's probably an overstatement. As a human, even when I do good things, I don't always have good, humble motives. We all want to be recognized, to be noticed. But God tells us, throghout Mahaney's book, that he notices those whose lives are humble and motives are pure. So my heart has really been focused on that for the last day or so. I want to have clean hands and a pure heart. How do I get there? Daily resignation to my sinful nature. Daily recognition of my savior's great love and sacrifice for me. Daily submission to his word. Living it out. I am not there. And probably won't get there. But I need help. So, feel free to call me out. Question me. As a body of believers, we are called to lift each other up and support each other in our goal to be immitators of Christ. So, off I go on my journey. Really, if you have about an hour, read the book. And then if you are in CoMO and want some coffee, call me and we will discuss.

So this week is Thankgsiving! Finally! We are headed out tomorrow to my parents to enjoy the holiday. Family is such a huge part of my life, I am thrilled to have a great family that I enjoy so much! Hooray for family!

My pictures are taking too long to load. I will post next time.

Here's to family, faith, and thanksgiving!

Platte City

This week has had a lot of nostalgia and so I just have some wierd comments...discombobulated comments.

I have a huge cold and I am grumpy so forgive the short post.

First, I got to drive past the house I lived in as a preschooler this week. I hadn't seen it in 15 years. A weird feeling came about me, being in a town that had a help in shaping me but I don't remember well. Being there felt like shadows of memories. I couldn't remember everything but I knew important things had happened there. I took pictures of the house, and I would love to show you, but I left my connecting cord at home this week.

Next, I am staying in Platte City, a town very near the town I lived in as an elementary student. My favorite grocery store closed, and is being replaced by a Price Chopper. How awful!

Finally, the church where I grew up was smashed into by a drunk driver last night. The driver drove all the way through the church office and is now being held on drunk driving and immigration charges. I can't believe it!

So yeah, weird, nostalgic stuff. I am ready for Thanksgiving.

Here's to childhood memories.