Just The Ramblings of a Girl

"Lord, help me to see the world through your eyes."  This has been my prayer as of late.  And do you know what I'm seeing?  I'm seeing a world that is breaking Jesus' heart.  And not just because of people who are refusing to surrender their lives to God.  What I'm noticing is that Christians, or supposed Christians, are also breaking Jesus' heart.

"Christians" who see someone on the street or run into someone they've never met before and immediately judge them.  "Do not judge so that you will not be judged.  For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you."  Matthew 7:1-2.  Why are we so concerned with the way someone dresses or their language or their addictions.    As a Christian, can't you see that the ONLY reason you are where you are in your life right now is because of Jesus.  Christians are no better than someone who is unsaved.  In fact, the only reason you are saved is because you accepted Jesus' free GIFT of salvation.  It was definitely not by any of your own deeds and it's not inherited from your parents.   Jesus laid down his own life to save yours.  He didn't have to love you.  He chose to love you!  And he doesn't love you or me any more than he loves the homeless man under a bridge, the hooker on the street corner or the terrorist who is about ready to kill innocent people for his "god". 

Can't you see he loves all of us the same?  Sin is sin.  It's humans that put different measure on sin.  A bad thought or a lie is the exact same in God's eyes as the guy who just killed his wife and kids because of the hatred in his heart.  Sin separates us from God.  That is why all sin is the same.  The fact that you just chose to separate yourself from God, not the sin you committed.  

So instead of thinking you're so much better than someone else, perhaps you should ask yourself why God placed that person in your life at this time and love them as he loves them.  Stop being so hypocritical. 

Can't you see that God doesn't want anyone to go to hell?  Next time you see someone who you immediately want to judge, show them love.  Look back at what God has done with your life and how he has blessed you.  That person needs God's love just like you do, share it with them.

Stop calling yourself a Christian if you're not going to "love their Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your mind" AND " love your neighbor as yourself."






I would like to clarify, I do not consider myself perfect and I am not exempting myself from this frustration, but it does need to be vocalized.  This post was just as much for me as for anyone else.

A late Merry Christmas and early Happy New Year to everyone!  It is has been a little bit of a crazy week, but it has definitely been good.  Zach's parents were here for Christmas.  They got in last Saturday and left Thursday afternoon to go see Aaron in Missouri.  Much happened while they were here.  I learned to make Perrogies.  Very yummy, but definitely a little hard to make (at least the pasta shell).  We didn't really do too much, we did watch a little of season 7 of Gilmore Girls, now Marty and Julie have been introduced to Lorelai and Rory!  Of course I had to work the three days after Christmas, which I must say seemed to drag by.  On Wednesday I went to the SLC office, there were like four people there.  A little slow.  Thursday and Friday I was at the base, but not too many people were there either.  I'll be at the base on Monday too, and then back to my regular schedule after New Years.  But while I was slaving away at work (ha! ok, actually I was busy) Zach was at home slaving too.  On Wednesday he went to Lowes with his parents to look at all the great things we could get with our gift cards.  So we went back to Lowes after I got home from work on Wednesday and bought a few things.  Of course now the gift cards are used up, but that's what they were for right?  Well, Zach painted the counter top!  Yay!!  No more pink kitchen counter.  I will post pics as soon as Zach gets them off of his camera.  Of course we had the kitchen window, bathroom window and back door opened to air out the house from the seal's smell.  It made it a little cold, since it was snowing, but ah, who cares!

And today we went back to Lowes and got everything we need to finish the study downstairs.  The trip home was...interesting.  The truck won't start since it is too cold.  So we took the Pacifica.  The 2x2's and 2x4's, as well as all of the little stuff, fit into Vala nicely, but the 4x8 pieces of insulation were a different story.  So, to make a long story short, we left Vala's back hatch open with the insulation hanging out.  I was holding on the insulation, making sure we didn't lose anything out the back while Zach drove.  I'm sure we irritated a couple people on Antelope Drive.    We weren't going very fast (35 in a 45).  But now we can get the study mostly finished (without drywall) and then start on the rest of the basement.  I helped Zach a little last night after work, but he has done quite a bit!

And Christmas decorations are down.  I did that today after our shopping trip.  We still don't have the kitchen table up, so the kitchen looks huge!  I can definitely get used to it.  And possible for good, we are thinking of converting the garage (right next to the kitchen) into a dinning room.  Marty suggested a kitchen, which I loved the idea, but Zach dreaded the plumbing.  So I think it will be a dinning room.  But that will be after we finish the basement.  We'll have to build a new garage then.  We are thinking a 3 or 4 car garage, depending on how much room we have in the back.  Right now we have a lot of parking in the driveway and we don't want to lose the RV parking we have, it is a big selling point here in UT, so we want a garage that will hold a RV.  Big plans.  But first the basement.

The one down side to last week was that we missed the Christmas Eve service at church.  We had tickets and everything.  (Yeah, Calvary Chapel SLC requires tickets - free tickets - but they have so many people they limit it with tickets.)  We had a little snow storm, started abotu 3:30 and ended at 5:30.  We needed to leave at 4:15 to get to the service.  And it was snowing hard, wind was blowing pretty good.  It didn't look good out.  Wasn't really good out either, since one of our neighbors lost their mailbox.  The cops had to come (shouldn't have been too hard since we live by 3).  So it was probably good that we didn't brave the weather, but I was bummed out a little.  Next year, we'll go next year.  It probably would have been fine if we lived closer to SLC or if we lived closer to the church we go to.

I think that about sums it up.

We decorated our gingerbread house tonight!  Finally!  We made the gingerbread on Saturday but it wasn't hard enough yet, so we thought we'd let it get a little stale.  Then I went to Cheyenne.  So we put it together tonight and decorated it.  It was a lot of fun.  I'm starting to feel a little better too.  I was feeling a little sick from all the candy.  But the house looks scrumptious if I do say so myself.  And I'll post pics once Zach takes them.

And we reserved our seats for National Treasure on Friday.  My company gave me a gift card to movie theaters and Wendy didn't want hers, so she gave it to me.  So Friday we are going out with Brian and his wife.  It is a really nice theater, we hadn't been there before and Brian suggested the theater.  Should be fun!  When we reserved the tickets they thought we meant the 10:35 am showing.  I was wondering why the tickets were so cheap.  Well, I'm a little busy at 10:35 am, working you know, so we exchanged the tickets, no big deal.  And then Marty and Julie fly in on Saturday.  I can't wait for the weekend! :D

Well  I made it safely back from Cheyenne today.  My last trip of the year!! Yay!  Hopefully.....  I do have one trip that I'm unsure of when it will be, but probably in the first part of January.  So much traveling.  I actually enjoy most of it.  Today I got into a pretty good discussion with one of my co-workers.  We were discussing our beliefs.  He has some very interesting  beliefs.  Actually, if you recall my last post, he believes very similar to what The Secret teaches.  Which is scarey, especially since he hasn't read the book before.  Needless to say, it was a very interesting conversation, but a good conversation.

Our meeting in Cheyenne was good and I was able to see my parents for about thirty minutes.  They were at the hotel when I got there last night.  Not a long visit, but it was our Christmas visit.  Since we won't be spending Christmas together this Christmas either.  And I got to bring back presents! :D

I've been working on base for a little over a month now, two days a week.  And almost every day I'm up there, they go out to eat.  It is a much different scenario than the SLC office.  Monday is a federal holiday and I usually go there on Monday's.  So I will either be taking vacation or working from home on Monday.

Julie and Marty are coming in to town on Saturday.  They will be here for Christmas.  Should be fun.  And I finished all Christmas shopping last Saturday.  And Zach last present showed up in the mail yesterday (figures since I was in Cheyenne).  But at least this one didn't have a company name on it, so he has no idea! :D  Finally, a surprise for him this Christmas!  Maybe...  Zach says it doesn't matter that it didn't have a company name on the box, he didn't look at the box.  He said that he was walking around like Stevie Wonder!  Ha, I don't believe him.

Now Zach wants to show me a video on YouTube, so I must go.

Well I made it back from Atlanta.  The training was really good and I was really happy to be able to go.  I'm still exhausted from the trip though.

And almost all of our Christmas shopping is finished.  Only three more family members and we'll have covered everyone.  I hope.

So, has anyone ever heard of The Secret by Rhonda Byrnes?  I wouldn't be too surprised, since it was/is a NY Times Best Seller.  At church on Sunday, James Walker from Watchmen Fellowship came and spoke about The Truth Behind the Secret, a book he co-wrote which argues against The Secret.  If you haven't heard about The Secret, it is dealing with the Law of Attraction, everything you think materializes.  It also states you are immortal, enlightened and, oh yeah, God.  I don't recommend reading The Secret (not that I've read it) but look into The Truth Behind the Secret (haven't read it either but would like to).  Mr. Walker had a great message disputing The Secret.  I find it hard to believe that anyone could believe what Rhonda Byrnes wrote about.  But at the same time I can see my aunt and grandma believing it.  Mainly because Oprah is promoting the book, I guess she claims many of the claims in the book are things she has applied to her life to get where she is.  I'm sorry, but me thinking I'm pregnant isn't going to make me pregnant, or me thinking I'm a millionaire isn't going to make me a millionaire.  Sorry Rhonda.  Of course she says famous people have also lived by The Secret, including Einstein, Lincoln, Edison.

Oh another thing the book claims is that quantum physics proves The Secret.  All I have to say is yeah right.  And all the "scientists" that supposedly agree that science proves The Secret aren't really scientists at all.  Only two are actual scientists and at least one of the others is a "philosopher".  Philosopher is in quotes because he doesn't have his philosophy degree at all.  He just thought he could call himself a philosopher because he thinks deeply.  One of the real scientists believes people can fly.  And I mean without a contraption.  You think you can fly, you fly, at least that what he thinks.  I think he's a bit crazy.  But that's just my opinion.

Ok, off The Secret.  Well, almost, my only request is don't believe it, please, please.  There are many other things that James Walker points out.  Check it out if you're interested.

I have one more trip before Christmas.  I'm heading to Cheyenne for a meeting and it's just a one night-er.  Which is always good.  And I'll get to see my parents, hopefully.

So Zach's present showed up today.  And of course he now knows what he's getting.  Since they print it on the box.  Silly company.  Just in case I can convince him that I didn't get him what I think he did, I won't say what I got him.  Monkeys, I got him monkeys.  Yep, that's it.

We have a load of candy in the house.  We are going to make a gingerbread house, but we have yet to do it.  So we bought all the candy last week.  Now we have a lot.  Yummy.  Chocolate...

I finished my training today.  I should have gotten a flight home tonight, but thought it would be too close to make a flight.  I was probably wrong.  So here I am, in my hotel room, eating a turkey and cheese sandwich, watching Monk.  The training was good.  But now I'm a little worried about getting home. since it is supposed to be snowing today and tomorrow.  I haven't seen much of Atlanta, but from my experience Wednesday night getting here, it isn't my all time favorite place.  I was a little lost in Atlanta at 10:30 at night.  But it turned out ok.  I met some great co-workers this week though.

Work is still going well.  I am working on different projects now and I am actually a project manager for one project.  Who would have guessed.  But I really impressed Tim, so that means my career will progress nicely (at least until I decide starting a family is what I want to do).

Zach keeps getting on me about not having a Christmas list.  It is really hard for me to come up with stuff that I want.  But I love the Christmas season!

Zach's parents decided to come visit us for Christmas! :D  My family was out for Thanksgiving, so now it's his parent's turn.  I'm excited that they'll be here.   Although I'm having some problems with Zach's present right now...  :P  Good thing I have nothing else to do tonight. :)  Although I really want to eat my cookies, and I can't until I figure this out. 

I guess I can't figure it out tonight.  :(

Well, I'm going to eat my cookies.

It continues to amaze me how much Americans use and how much they waste.  Ryan has a poster in his office showing how much electricity is used throughout the world.  Guess what, American's consume the most.  (I know, you're all shocked.)  And the East Coast Americans are the worst.  And the thing that really frustrates me is that all these environmental activists out there are destroying the country's chances of using the same and more amount of power.  You see, this country uses too much power to get all the power from renewable resources.  I am a huge fan of renewable energy, but to quote Ally, "American's are pigs!"  And I completely agree with her.  Why are American's using more than their share of the world's power?  The thing that really scares me is what is going to happen when we've used all the "nonrenewable" resources.  Obviously God put coal in the ground for a reason, how will the earth be changed when we mine all the coal that we can?  I'm sure that something will happen.  I just hope and pray that Jesus returns before that happens.  Personally power plants in general fascinate me.  Coal, natural gas, geothermal.  It amazes me.  I always think, "who thought of this, how did they come up with this?"  So please don't mistake this as a rant from someone who doesn't think coal should be used in power plants.

I'm sorry, this is very jumbled.  Basically my main points are:

-Americans are very selfish.  What gives us the right to think we deserve everything?    We whine and complain until we get exactly what we want.  And we dish out a huge amount of money to get what we want.  And we still are not satisfied!  Will we ever learn that things are not going to give us satisfaction?  I highly doubt it!

-People who think all of our problems will be solved if coal power plants stop producing power are STUPID!!

-We should really be thinking about other people than ourselves.





And to pass on the message the pastor said this morning, teach the children about Jesus.  Put effort into the children of this world.  I thought it was a great message.  Children have been on my heart lately (not our own!) and I just wanted to pass on the message.

Well, as Zach mentioned, I am off galavanting in some part of Utah (I know where I am, but no one else is supposed to).  I'm having fun, completely exhausted and ready to go home.  I have been told that I have a natural nack for the job I am doing, all by people who know what they are doing, so that's a good thing.

And I've never been so full in all of my life.  We are definitely eating well here.  I have been stuffed every night this week!  And poor Zach has been stuck eating tuna and hot dogs.  I suppose I should take him out to a nice dinner when I get back! ;)  Of course, I'm sick of eating out.  Maybe he should go out to eat and I should eat tuna!  Actually, now that I think about it, I'd much rather go out to eat with Zach.

Tomorrow we don't have to be at "the location" quite as early as the other days and we should be done by 11.  So I'll get home early! YAY!

Zach posted pictures of our kitchen (which I haven't even seen in person yet) and it looks really good.  Nice job hun!

Shawna's wedding is in a couple weeks, her bridal shower is this Sunday, but I am not going to that.  I wish I was, but I'm not.

Can't think of too much else to say.  I need some sleep.  But I might see if I the new CSI is on the CBS website yet.  I didn't get to see it yet.




Well, good night all.

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