Currently Reading Gap Creek: The Story of a Marriage By Robert Morgan see related

oh man...it has been awhile since ive been on here. actually its funny that i think its been so long, because it has just been like 2 weeks, but it seems like longer.  the girls and i are back from our florida adventure, and that was soooo great...just really good to get to be with them after we've all been doing different things this semester, growing in new ways apart from one another, yet still just as close as ever...like no time has passed at all. i guess thats the mark of true friendship. you can see them after months on end and still its just as it would have been if youd seen them the day before. so, i feel like this past week has been so busy. not so much busy on the outside, but alot going on within jake and myself in terms of sitting down, trying to realistically and faithfully figure out the next step for our future. we have been praying about where God would have us after we graduate in may, and knew we had a few options to consider, and just this week it was like we realized this whole graduation thing is coming upon us soon...its wierd...a good wierd...its almost a little scary but so exciting at the same time. i mean, up to this point, jake and i have been in school, you know...just working "little" jobs, like grounds crew...but now it's like we're going to be getting "real" jobs. i dont really know how to prepare for that, but at the same time i cant wait. for us to begin to put into practice what we've been saying we really wanna do with our lives. having jobs that we are passionate about, doing work that we care about because we feel God cares about and can use us in some way for good. along with us praying about where God might have for us next, some questions have been lingering in my mind about the whole idea of God having just the place for us to go next or not. on one end i think, wherever we go in life as Christians, we will be serving God there, loving Him, sharing His truth and love with others, and we can honor God wherever we are by being who we are...so there is really no wrong place for us to decide to live...be it here, or back down in bloomington, or somewhere like puerto rico or romania. then on the other end i think, but He is in our every day lives, i know he is. and cares about the smallest details of our day, and does have a specific plan for us, that He knows we are ready for at this point, and will be just the place He will grow us in certain ways and use us in certain people's lives. so, its comforting either way i guess...because i know as we seek out His heart, He will make the path lit...by opening and closing doors and giving us peace... but still i just wonder about all of that. now i dont want to jump ahead of myself at all, but it just seems like these past 3 or 4 days jake and i have both felt really right and excited about maybe going to bloomington. its wierd because its not the place either of us really expected to move to at all a few months ago. i guess we tend to dream about places far away or exciting or whatever, but then when it comes right down to it, the most important thing (to me anyway) in life, is people...people that i love, and id rather be closer to them  than have any big fancy job but be lonely somewhere that is foreign to us. i think it would just be really cool if bloomington does work out for the time being, because we both really love that town, theres something about it that just feels right to us, like we'd feel at home there....and its also between both of our families...and i dont know, just seems like a fit maybe. but time will tell. it inevitably always does. well, i can now see that im just rambling...as you can see...we're just trying to sort stuff out, but i believe God is perfect in faithfulness and utterly good. i dont always get that, but i know it is truth. 

Currently Watching The Bourne Supremacy (Widescreen Edition) see related

haley i put this music on here for you to hear...so turn your speakers on for a minute. since you're a sucker for some piano music, i thought you might like this...maybe...i love it, its one of my favorite piano artists. david lanz. if you really like it, there are some other songs that are really beautiful. my fav. albums are return to the heart, or cristofori's dream.

Currently Reading Velvet Elvis : Repainting the Christian Faith By Rob Bell see related

tonite ive been thinking about God...and about life, and about how all of life fits into God. all of it. and ive been reading this book, and it got me thinking too...and so i was just thinking of people in my life who i love and adore so much, and who i really don't think i would be the same had God not brought us together in this life...and it got me thinking about so many moments i have had with different people, or just alone with the Lord, where i am just overwhelmed with life and the beauty of it. moments where you just think underneath it all, life is just so good. its true and real and of God, and its beautiful that i get to live this life and experience these moments and i realize these go right along with God because they are a part of His beauty and love. and i dont just say that because im thinking of the good, happy high points....but because even in the mundane times, or the difficult times, it is just clear that it is all about something bigger than just myself. yet here we are, part of it. just getting to be in awe of God, seeing Him in life...in any of the moments...seeing the moments as expressions of Him and His world.

so i thought of jacob, and of one night when we sat in the warehouse at lcc and talked about anything we could think of untill 4 am, then went to bloomington and got chai tea, and i burned my tongue on it, and we watched the sun rise, and God was there with us...(then i fell asleep on the drive back to school and he had let me borrow his jacket cause it was fall and i got cold, and i drooled on it and felt like an idiot...but i think jake actually thought it was cute)

and i thought of krista, a woman who i'm sitting here trying to figure out how to describe with words, but i just can't...shes just amazingly genuine in her love for God...and of the day i learned of my parents' divorce...i drove to the church and krista was there and so was shannon, and i didnt say anything, and they didnt need to either, but i just felt like life was still full of hope and truth and good... and i know God was there.

and i thought of ashley...and my mom... and so many other moments i could write about for way too long. but the reason i decided to post this is so you guys can think of moments you've had, could be anything where you just were reminded that life is so good, something bigger is going on in this life than what we may always remember, and you just felt good and safe and ignited. and God was there, as He always is.

Currently Listening Caught by the Window By Pilate alright see related

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope.

my soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen wait for the morning.

Put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love

and with Him is full redemption."

psalm 130

i just wanted to share this on here tonite. its a passage that has been a real source of encouragement to me in times where i just know i don't know whats to come, and all i can do is know that God does...and thats more than enough. sometimes in life it can be difficult to just wait...without worrying, or planning on our own, or getting all spun up...just to wait on the Lord to show you the next step He has for you... but from this passage i am reminded that people have been calling on God from the beginning of time... & there is never a time i can remember from scripture, (or lives of people i know) that God hasn't answered them. it is comforting that our future, where God has us to go, or what to do...or whatever it may be...it is not a stress for God, its not too big for Him...and He can use those times when we are uncertain to bring us into a new place with Him, of deep trust and dependence and peace. i believe that more than anything else in life, God wants us to enjoy how much He loves us, and enjoy life he created for us through knowing that love. and that is so good...and it something we can have always...even when we are in the middle of transition or questions. man, maybe im talking more to myself than anything, but im gonna post this anyway, cause maybe this passage can be helpful right now for others too.