They Call Me Blondie

In a book Im reading called "The Healing Path" by Dan Allender, he writes: Life is captivity littered with the disappointment and partially satisfied yearning: captivity to a body that does not work as we wish; captivity to a heart that longs for freedom to truly love, to worship from the depths of our being and does not; captivity to the particulars of our culture, race, socioeconomic history, and era, when we would rather be radical, world-conscious Christians...But in every arena of life, I LONG to burst free of the constraints of my flesh, soul, and world …"  He continues to write, knowing it is not us or ourselves individually who can actually burst free from the constraints of our flesh, soul, or world.  It actually takes an act of God and his power giving us the ability to break free from a life that so easily entangles, and with a hope of tomorrow, its by HIM that we are able to move forward - with HIS help. Each and every step of the way. " To ...

The kind of karma we don't have to work for I recently had the privilege to take a trip to a city I loved and been to a handful of times; yet this trip was slightly different because it was for something familiar (an event), although something I had never done before (new people, new company, new atmosphere). I love traveling, so there was no worry there.  I love cities, and the exploration is always fun.  I also love events and talking with people and chances to meet new people; a nd so, I was excited all around! This trip was coming at a time in life where it was gladly welcomed to break up some monotony; so my bags were packed a day early and on the plane I went excited for a weekend away full of possibilities!  " Who will I meet? " I wondered. " What stories will I hear? " " What adventures will I get into? " I boarded the plane with endless possibilities and my joy sky high.  Excited for the adventure ahead; I hailed my cab(aka ...

A year or so ago I read a Huffington Post titled "Don't Date a Girl Who Travels." As I read through it I found myself nodding and saying "yes" out loud to many of the statements: " Her soul craves for new experiences and adventures. She will be unimpressed with your new car and your expensive watch.  She won't party at Republiq because she knows that one weekend of clubbing is equivalent to one week somewhere far more exciting.  Chances are she cant hold a steady job. Or she's probably daydreaming about quitting. She doesn't want to keep working her ass off for someone else's dream. She's working towards her own. She's not sure when the next paycheck will come but she goes out and takes what life has to offer her.  She goes with the flow and follows her heart, she dances to the beat of her own drum.  When waves are calling, life stops and she will be oblivious to everything else for a moment. But she has learned that the most impor...

The Birth of Jesus Foretold  26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. Have you ever stopped to think about the birth of Jesus predicted?  I mean, how troubling that must have been for a teenage girl to hear from a so called "angel" that she was going to have a baby and he would save the world just because she had favor with God?  I'm pretty sure I would have been unsettled for days wondering if I was seeing things, hearing voices, or straight up crazy.  It says Mary was greatly troubled, so I wonder what thought...

As i listened to him speak, an all too familiar thought crossed my mind.   “This doesnt apply to you girl...He’s talking to people that  don’t have the struggles that you do.  You’ve already had your chance and you missed it, so somehow you have to learn to survive and carry on.  This is the lot you got in life”  Hmmm. thats odd. I knew I’ve heard that voice before, but for some reason this time it didn’t seem very convincing. I mean it did, but right in the middle of church?   I found myself wanting to believe what the guy on the platform was sharing.  And yet my own thought life was trying to disagree?   Could it be, my own thoughts are not really my own?  What if what I’ve heard is really true - That the enemy of our soul will do everything to convince us of what we’re not, so we are too embarrassed to come any closer to freedom? Ya know; things along lines of Not being good enough to ____ or Not strong enough to resist ____....

It was a week of unbelievable crazy ups and downs.   I heard the exciting news of something I once proposed to be a divinely inspired idea and the not so exciting announcement to me was that it was finally coming to fruition based off someone else's hand - and they took credit. Backhanded high five.  Awesome feeling. A car accident not based off my lack of attention, but it simply was black ice I could not get my car to stop.  A deductible later. Whats another $500 right? The announcement of their wedding. Its clear he moved on. But why would it be on the date of her birthday?   He still isnt allowed home to see his family and has had such a good long stride of behavior.  His wife is devastated.  How to be a good friend in the midst of other struggles, job issues, things I couldnt control, and not to mention sleep I hadn't gotten... I had no idea!  While the devil may have thought he was winning certain battles, and at times during this week ...

Were Harry and Sally wrong?  If you're over the age of 26 most of you have probably seen "When Harry Met Sally", a popular 80s movie about friends becoming lovers, then back to friends, then ultimately ending up together.  The funny part about the movie is the commentators and camera "confessionals" where Harry and Sally talk about how they can, or CANT, have friends of the opposite sex because sex always gets in the way. Well, in some subcultures, esp once married, its almost as if having opposite-sex friendships is taboo. This makes me sad.  Thankfully I have friends ok with going against the religious cultural 'norm', but then again, I have always been a rebel.  I'd like to think Jesus was a rebel too. Afterall, didn't he hang out with prostitutes? And his guy friends weren't exactly class president.  So while I may appear a bit "rebel-ish" I don't want you to mistake this for being ok with going against values and standa...