I Blog On Fridays: September 2011

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

I'm not afraid

Psalm 118:6
The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

Psalm 27:3
Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.

Interesting thought - as Christians we should be able to say: "I don't care if the whole army sets out to get me, I don't care if the whole world rages war against me, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. God is with me! What can some humans do to me? The creator of the universe is backing me up."

I'm not sure I would be able to say that if the whole army started charging at me... I would love to have that kind of faith.

MMM <3

Who are you?

Who are you?

The man who lost his job and feels like the whole world is falling down?

The woman who doesn't know what to do with her family and feels like no one cares?

The child who doesn't know how to witness to a lost friend?

The person who said no to God and doesn't know how to come back and say yes?

The woman who lost her child and feels like God has turned away?

The kid who wants to be loved?

The kid who wants to fit in?

The person who has a broken heart that you think will never be mended?

The person who thinks the whole world has betrayed them?

Who are you? Be honest with yourself...

Let me tell you something.

No matter who you are

No matter what you've done

No matter how hurt or how sad or how angry you've been

No matter how many friends you have

No matter how big your house is or if you have a house at all

No matter what job you have, Congressman or Garbage Man

No matter what makes you smile and what makes you cry

No matter what color hair you have, how tall you are, what color eyes you have, if you are outgoing, quiet, easily angered, overflowing with love and grace, no matter who your parents are and what life you live

No matter who you are

You are loved.

Please read that last sentence aloud.

You are loved so much.

You are beautiful

Wonderful

Worth it

Awesome

Loved.

You are worth dying for.

An interview with God

I dreamt I had an interview with God. "Come in," God said. "So, you would like to interview Me?"

"If you have the time," I said.

God smiled and said: "My time is eternity and is enough to do everything; what questions do you have in mind to ask me?"

"What surprises you most about mankind?"

God answered:

"That they get bored of being children, are in a rush to grow up, and then long to be children again.
That they lose their health to make money and then lose their money to restore their health.
That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, such that they live neither for the present nor the future.
That they live as if they will never die, and they die as if they had never lived…"

God’s hands took mine and we were silent for a while and then I asked…"As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons you want your children to learn?"

God replied with a smile:

"To learn that they cannot make anyone love them. What they can do is to let themselves be loved.
To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have in their lives, but who they have in their lives.
To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others. All will be judged individually on their own merits, not as a group on a comparison basis!
To learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most, but is one who needs the least.
To learn that it only takes a few seconds to open profound wounds in persons we love, and that it takes many years to heal them.
To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness.
To learn that there are persons that love them dearly, but simply do not know how to express or show their feelings.
To learn that money can buy everything but happiness.
To learn that two people can look at the same thing and see it totally differently.
To learn that a true friend is someone who knows everything about them…and likes them anyway.
To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by others, but that they have to forgive themselves."

I sat there for a while enjoying the moment. I thanked Him for his time and for all that He has done for me and my family, and He replied, "Anytime. I’m here 24 hours a day. All you have to do is ask for me, and I’ll answer."

People will forget what you said.
People will forget what you did,
but people will never forget
how you made them feel.

~ Source Unknown ~

Found on: http://www.appleseeds.org/interview_God.htm

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Even more Q & A's!

Questions and Answers with Molly (Molly wrote both the questions and the answers)

Topic: throwing knives in the air

Q. That is a ridiculous topic. Will you please reconsider?

A. No. That is a perfectly acceptable topic.

Q. Fine. What do you have to say about it?

A. About what?

Q. Throwing knives in the air… your odd topic…

A. Oh. I don’t think it is a good idea.

Q. Don’t you think most people in the world would agree with you on that?

A. Not Anti-Knife-On-Ground people

Q. Who are they?

A. They call themselves the AKOG people. They are completely against having knives in safe places, like in drawers, on counters, and on the ground.

Q. Do you really think it’s safe to have knives on the ground?

A. It’s better than having them in the air…

Q. But it’s still not safe. What if someone stepped on one?

A. Let’s hope they had shoes on.

Q. What?! What if they don’t! That could be a very dangerous situation!

A. Why?

Q. MOLLY! Someone could step on the knife!

A. Oh. Yeah, I know. But we are now off topic.

Q. Topic?!?!? Who cares about the topic?! We are talking about leaving knives lying around on the ground, which is not at all a good idea!

A. I never said it was. And why are we talking about this anyway? Are you planning on leaving knives in the ground in your room? I’m not going near your room any time soon!

Q. Back to topic.

A. Thank you. What was the topic again?

Q. Throwing knives in the air.

A. What?!?!? That’s a terrible idea! Someone could easily get injured!

Q. *sigh* my point exactly. Who was the one who said to change the topic? Huh? Wasn't it me???...

A. Me.

Q. No, me.

A. We are one in the same person.

Questions and Answers with Molly

Questions and Answers with Molly (Molly wrote both the questions and the answers)

TOPIC: the current weather

Q. Do you have a problem with the current weather?

A. As a matter of fact, I do. It is too cold to be August. I must have slept for a couple of months and not realized it.

Q. Have you taken appropriate measures to deal with this extreme weather?

A. I have. I am wearing boots and a hoodie

Q. BOOTS?!?!?!

A. Yes. Only because I was outside this morning and I made the mistake of putting on wet flipflops that had been outside overnight. My feet felt like they were in trays of ice. Feeling bad for my feet, I decided it must be time to don the boots

Q. And the hoodie?

A. I didn’t want to freeze! Last night I was outside for about 5 minutes or less and my teeth were chattering like crazy! The hoodie is to protect me from potential frostbite.

Q. Frostbite? Molly, you have not only got out your coat and hoodie, but you’ve gotten out your winter vocabulary!

A. I know. The weather is not helping my brain register that it is still August. My brain has taken matters completely into its own (nonexistent) hands and accessed the winter vocabulary. I have been trying to convince it that it is still August, but it won’t believe me

Q. Neither will I. Molly, it is September.

A. Oooops.

Q. Do you have anything else to say about this terrible change in Barometric Pressure?

A. What?

Q. The weather.

A. Oh. Only that I don’t like it and I think people need to start calling the Weather Channel and complaining.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Note to everyone...

And if any of you make blogs, I'll be sure to read them! I love reading blogs! Please do, and send me a link via email or post it in a comment!

Molly

YAY! 100 posts!

Oooops... I almost typed 3 zeros in the title :)

Well anyway, I've finally reached 100 posts! Wow! And all you readers out there are what keep me motivated! I have 122 comments and 568 pageviews! Every 4.6 times (on average) someone looks at my blog they comment! Wow! I started this blog on May 21, 2011. That's just 115 days! Let's see, that's an average of 1.06 comments per day, about .86 posts per day (though usually I do a lot each day and not every day), and 4.94 pageviews per day!!!!!

Thank you all, you're all awesome!

Miss Molly

Hearts

The Wishes

Let's do a bit of imagining for a minute. Close your eyes. That's sure to make it hard to read this... how about this? Just make a picture in your mind with your eyes OPEN and read the screen at the same time. Deal? Or if you're really talented, read this with your eyes closed.

Here's the picture: a genie walks up to me. Backtrack... I don't think genies walk. I think they float or something after you rub their lamp. Start over.

I rub a genie's magic lamp. This guy comes out...

Haha :) He asks me what three wishes I would like. I think for a minute, then reply "I don't think you'd be able to give them to me."

He looks at me for a minute, then says "how bout you ask anyway? Ya never know!"

I sigh, and reluctantly say, "alright, here they are...

"I wish that every person who looks at me sees Jesus in my actions and my words.

"I wish that I can convey to them the immeasurable depth of my Savior's Love.

"I wish that I can learn to control my tongue, to keep sin from leaving my lips, and to really think about what I say.

"I wish that I can keep my thoughts on things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.

"I wish that I can always learn to be a servant, letting God work through my hands and my actions.

"I wish that I could stop sinning.

"I wish that my life would be a beacon of hope to the hopeless because they see Jesus.

"I wish that I could be a bubbling stream of joy and hope, and that my words would speak of Salvation to all that will listen. I wish that my optimism would bring happiness to those around me.

"The list goes on... I wish to be pure, loving, kind, peaceful, patient, good, gentle, faithful, and self-controlling. What do you say? Can you grant my wishes?"

The genie is speechless for a minute. Then he speaks, "I can only do three wishes per person... let's start there."

"Genie, no. I know you can't do them. I know you can't change my thoughts, words, and actions."

He looks disappointed, as though I actually might have believed that he could. Finally, his face lights up with an idea.

"Hey Molly, here's the deal: I can't change your thoughts, actions, or words, you are the only one who can. But I know someone who can help! His name is God, and if you pray to Him and ask for help being the beautiful Christian He wants you to be, He will be there to support you and guide you!"

Open your eyes. That's the promise we all receive as Christians. That God will send His Holy Spirit to dwell in our hearts and guide us and help us. Even when the road is tough and it's hard to discern right from wrong, His Spirit can help.

All you have to do is pray a prayer something like this:

God,

I know I'm a sinner. I know that I do wrong. I say things without thinking, and I do things that hurt people.

Please be in my heart and help me to make the right choices. Help me to share your love and be a beacon of light and hope in a dark land. Help the words I say to be the RIGHT words, and help them show love and not anger or hard feelings. Help me to forgive easily and forget the wrong done to me.

God, I want to be more like you. You are holy, true, noble, pure, right, good, amazing, and praiseworthy, and I'm not anywhere near your holiness. Help me to learn your ways.

Please let your Holy Spirit live in me. I love you.

In Jesus' name, amen.

God bless, ~Molly

Monday, September 12, 2011

Someone Else

Obituary
Our church was saddened to learn this week of the death of one of our most valued members, Someone Else. Someone's passing creates a vacancy that will be difficult to fill. Else has been with us for many years and for every one of those years, Someone did far more than a normal person's share of the work. Whenever there was a job to do, a class to teach, or a meeting to attend, one name was on everyone's list, "Let Someone Else do it." Whenever leadership was mentioned, this wonderful person was looked to for inspiration as well as results; "Someone Else can work with that group."
It was common knowledge that Someone Else was among the most liberal givers in our church. Whenever there was a financial need, everyone just assumed Someone Else would make up the difference.

Someone Else was a wonderful person; sometimes appearing superhuman. Were the truth known, everybody expected too much of Someone Else. Now Someone Else is gone! We wonder what we are going to do. Someone Else left a wonderful example to follow, but who is going to follow it? Who is going to do the things Someone Else did?

When you are asked to help this year, remember -- we can't depend on Someone Else anymore.

From:

http://www.the-modern-christian.com/christian-clean-jokes-2.html

Exalted

Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.

— Nehemiah 9:5 (NIV)

Let's break this verse down. Defining some of the words:

Blessed = made holy, consecrated
Consecrate = Make or declare (something, typically a church) sacred; dedicate formally to a religious or divine purpose
Exalt = Hold (someone or something) in very high regard, think or speak very highly of

This verse is saying that we want God's name to be made holy and sacred. We want to hold it in high regard, and to think and speak highly of it. We want to hold it above all blessing and all praise; we want His name to be exalted to the highest spot in our minds.

Exalting and blessing God's name means that we don't use His name in vain, or in ways that are dishonoring. We must think of His name as the very best thing.

Think about that... - Molly

Want to make Iron?

So you're interested in making some Iron? Here's the deal: it's not the easiest thing to do in the world. This is what you'll need to make 1 ton of Pig Iron, which then can be made into wrought iron, cast iron, or steel.

Ingredients:
-2 Tons of Iron Ore
The price of Iron Ore for 1 ton was about $117 in August - total price: $234
-1 Ton of Coke (which is Charcoal made from coal)
I could not find a price on Coke but to buy normal charcoal it is $7.48 at Lowe's for an 18 lbs. bag. You would need 112 bags for 1 ton. 18 x 7.48 = $837
-1/2 ton of Limestone
Using this equation: a cubic yard of gravel is approximately 2700 lbs. 1 ton is 2000 lbs. and since we only need 1/2 ton we only need 1000 lbs. That's approximately 1/2 cubic yard. From the company Dirt Cheap Mulch Co. in Texas, a cubic yard of Limestone is $50. A 1/2 yard would be $25. But then there's shipping it to Michigan... that would cost over $3000. But my mom said you can buy it here for around the same price and ship it for $35!
-5 tons of air for the fire to consume :) free!
-You will need to borrow a blast furnace from someone... got any friends in the Pig Iron industry?
-Heat proof suit (can be purchased online for $3201. Unfortunately, it only works up to about 2000 degrees and we are going to be working with 3000 degree temperatures. Sorry, you might melt)

Total price of materials: $4332 (please note this is an estimate)

Step One:
Preheat oven to about 3,000 degrees (please wear safety goggles and a heat proof suit.)

Step Two
Put the iron ore, charcoal (or Coke), and limestone in the top of the blast furnace.

Step Three
Operate the furnace so that air blasts in through the bottom

Step Four
The Calcium in the Limestone will mix with the Silicates (in the iron ore) to make slag

Step Five
Liquid Iron will collect under slag

Step Six
Every so often you will need to let the iron flow out to cool (time to get the heat suit out again!)

Step Seven
To finish it into Pig Iron, you must let it flow out into a bed of sand. When it is cool, you will have Pig Iron!

Step Eight
Oh wait, you wanted normal Iron. Pig Iron is almost useless, because it is very fragile. Sorry.
Do one of the following three things to the Pig Iron:

TO MAKE WROUGHT IRON:
Melt the Pig Iron and mix it with slag
Hammer it so much you hammer out most of the carbon
You might need a hammer. A Kobalt 4 pound Engineers Hammer is about $15 at our local Lowe's. Plan for this in your budget.

TO MAKE CAST IRON
Melt the Pig Iron and mix it with Scrap Iron (you might be able to get scrap iron at a junkyard)
Purify it
Add alloys

TO MAKE STEEL
Purify it even more and follow these instructions:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/iron4.htm

Well, if you still want to make Iron, you will need a budget of about $5000. Plus a blast furnace. And a really brave person to go near a 3000 degree furnace in a heat suit that works up to 2000 degrees. I am not willing.

Molly

Sources:
http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=iron-ore
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blast_furnace
http://science.howstuffworks.com/iron3.htm
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=purchase+charcoal&safe=active&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=15527376435431277000&sa=X&ei=_S5uTrjbO4SNsQK7kLHaBA&ved=0CDcQ8wIwAg
http://answers.ask.com/Business/Constructions_and_Materials/how_much_does_a_cubic_yard_of_gravel_weigh
http://www.dirtcheapmulch.com/item26423.ctlg
http://www.nwironworks.com/2000_series_suit_detail.htm

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Amazed

I was floating on the lake the other day (we were up north). No, I was not floating on my back, as many of you had hoped. To inform those who don't understand, I have not been able to figure out how to float on my back. And many people have tried to teach me :)

No, I was sitting on a foam board thingy. If you know what I mean. Maybe not.

Anyway, sitting there, seeing the beauty of the lake, it was hard not to think about the amazingness of God. How much He has created. How majestic it all is. Looking in at the shore and seeing people there, with the beautiful hills behind them, I was reminded of this verse:

Psalm 8:3-4

³ When I consider your heavens,
   the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
   which you have set in place,
⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
   human beings that you care for them?

Wow. Think about this. God made the Heavens. He made the oceans, the mountains, the storms, the wind, the sun, the moon, the stars, and everything else. Why should we get paid any mind?

The answer is because He loves us. He made us. We are children of the Living God, author of all creation.

Wow.

Molly

Great blog post by Adam Young

Truth and Love

On July 12th, 2011 by Adam Young

Twelve years ago my parents gave me a Bible for Christmas and over the course of the past decade, wherever I’ve gone, it’s gone with me. The tattered pages are dog-eared and a latticework of highlighter and handwriting cover most of the book itself, a tangled network of discoveries, convictions, confessions, thoughts and questions.

It’s a devotional Bible with bits and pieces of insight written by Max Lucado before and after each chapter. A few nights ago I was snuggled into my bunk on the tour bus about to begin the book of 2 John when Lucado’s well-worded preface sparked a new flicker of perspective like a kitchen match in a dark room.

Here’s what he wrote:

The single most difficult pursuit is truth and love.

That sentence is grammatically correct. I know every English teacher wanted to pluralize it to read: The most difficult pursuits are those of truth and love but that’s not what I meant to say.

True, love is a difficult pursuit. Correct, truth is a tough one, too.

But put them together, pursue truth and love at the same time, and hang on, baby, you’re in for the ride of your life.

But that’s the task of the Christian. Love in truth. Truth in love. Never one at the expense of the other. Never the embrace of love without the torch of truth. Never the heat of truth without the warmth of love.

Never would be easier if we could choose between the two, but we can’t. So John, in this second letter, calls for a hybrid.

“I love all of you in the truth, and all those who know the truth love you. We love you because of the truth that lives in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, will be with us in truth and love.”

2 John 2-3

Truth and love. Love and truth. Never one without the other. To pursue both is our singular task.

A compelling notion but one I’ve never thought too deeply about until now; the idea that truth and love must walk hand-in-hand. Everyone strives to love by all capacities the word includes, and naturally that’s an beautifully admirable thing to pursue, BUT how powerless is love without TRUTH? Applicable to my own life: how often do I worry about living a pure life of love if/when I’m not living the way God has commanded me as a follower of Christ? By all means, I am guilty.

So often I’ve heard quoted something cliche and melodramatic like, “all you need is love” in response to so many of life’s toughest questions and hardest struggles, but sometimes it’s easy to lose focus of that truth-shaped hole, that essential missing puzzle piece that’s required in order to glimpse the bigger picture which demands both love and truth, the latter being life lived as God has commanded.

I spent the night tossing over it and it seems all roads lead to one conclusion. Ultimately, my prayer is that Jesus continue His ever-present work in my heart, change me from the inside out, unearth and kill off those roots of sin, doubt and immorality so that I may better reflect Christ, so that I may better serve Him, so that I may better understand and live the life of love He’s called me to live via truth.

I’m so excited about this.

To Him be glory, greatness and power.

“I ask you that we all love each other. And love means living the way God commanded us to live. As you have heard from the beginning, God’s command is this: Live a life of love.”