My Car has 9 Lives

I'll start on Friday.

The first part of it was pretty low key- I got up in the morning and got some stuff done, went to work until 3, and went back to my apartment to get my stuff together to head back to Morton. My cousin, Kelly, was visiting, so I waited around to talk to her for a little bit. She brought us all cookies in little ziploc baggies with our names on them, and she even gave me two cookies that had MORE chocolate chips than the others. What a cousin!

So, Tammy and I were leaving at the exact same time. I let her back out first, since I was changing my CD. I half-hazardly start to back out, going pretty slow, yet not looking... but not even to the point where I can look around the parked cars to even SEE if there are any cars coming.

Then, the back right part of my car gets struck and all I hear is a bunch of glass breaking.

I look back and see that a car has successfully run into mine, and I start to drive forward to get my poor car out of the way of the other. I get out, and of course, there are these two guys driving one huge BOAT of a car, probably made out of STEEL. The driver gets out and communicates his cluelessness to me as this is his, "first accident." Well, it was mine, too, but I knew enough to exchange information. About this time, Tammy has made her way back, and suggests that we call the police. I go to get my phone, and he got back in his car to get his.

Wait, no he didn't. He's driving off! No!

So I have no information on him. I'm pretty sure they live around me, though, and the fact that he ran at the message, "call the police," it made me think they were shady characters. Besides, the accident did NOTHING to his car, but check out the pictures below of the beloved Prism. It was crushed.





I'm pretty sure that it will be proclaimed, "my fault," because anyone driving in a street or parking lot has the right of way. I should have been looking. Considering I wasn't even to the point where I COULD look, anyway, and was already HIT... ok, those guys were driving pretty stinking fast to not have enough time to brake or swerve. But sitll. I take blame for this.

Anyway, the rest of my Friday was better. We had our "girls' night out" for my sister's (Tonya) birthday. My mom, 2 sisters and sister-in-law as well as my mom's first cousin and Erica Stoller, went to One World and then came back to our house and watched "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." That movie seriously makes me bawl every time I watch it. I don't know what it is, but it gets to me!

So... the rest of this weekend was the Morton Invite. Thanks to call who came! It was an aweomse turnout, and we got a lot done for the service projects! The turnout got even bigger in the evening, and we all got to hear a phenmonel message by Fred Witzig. Boy, is he on fire for Christ! I LOVE contagious enthusiasm.

I kept Elise Kaupp and Nicole Weigand- such sweet girls! We had fun... it's always fun keeping company.

Tonight is my nephew's (Domniq) 5th birthday party. I can't believe he is 5. I remember MY 5th birthday party- I got a bike. And I'm pretty sure I wanted a chocolate cake (surprise surprise). How time flies.

Dom is on the far right.



Wow, another semi-lame weekend report! Except the car part, and except for these next pictures that I am going to post. On Saturday morning, I was outside with my camera and I just went crazy. I can't help it- I see colorful flowers and I think they belong on my camera's memory card.






Another major highlight of my weekend was seeing my long-lost friend, Kristi, at church. Since she insists that I am no longer her friend and do not care about her, I'm going to prove that I do by posting a picture of her.



Remember that, Kristi? It's our SKIT GROUP! We should have gone to Hollywood with that preformance in Mexico.

I love you all!

T

Nahum

I read Nahum this morning. I'll point out a few things that struck me.

"The Lord 's Anger Against Nineveh

2 The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;
the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The LORD takes vengeance on his foes
and maintains his wrath against his enemies.
3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power;
the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
and clouds are the dust of his feet."

Reading that kind of stresses me out. Yet we read...

9 "Whatever they plot against the LORD
he will bring to an end;
trouble will not come a second time.

11 From you, O Nineveh, has one come forth
who plots evil against the LORD
and counsels wickedness."

Do I plot against the Lord? Do I counsel wickedness? Do any of you? I doubt it. The Lord had a good reason to be angry with Ninevah. The introductory page in my Bible stated that Jonah had been prophesying in Ninevah almost 100 years earlier, yet it is interesting to note the evil and wickedness that had overtaken the place since then. How quickly this can happen.

SInce I have been in the Old Testament a lot this year, I have sensed a certain pattern. It seems as though it is a vicious cycle: people hearing prophets speak the word of God, people listening and believing, people eventually returning to their evil nature/ways, wickedness and idolatry consuming a nation, God becoming angry and placing His judgment and desctruction upon them, and then we are often brought back to the beginning. It resembles human nature, really. We are naturally sinful creatures, prone to wander, complain, and turn from the narrow road. But what are we called to do?

7 "The LORD is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,

8 but with an overwhelming flood
he will make an end of Nineveh ;
he will pursue his foes into darkness."

"He cares for those who trust in him." Do you trust Him....with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength? He deserves us in our entirety. He doesn't want 99.9%, He wants ALL of us. I know I've used this verse before, but I find it such a comfort... 1 Peter 5:7, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." Let Him know how you feel. Sometimes, I'm like, "Ok, obviously God KNOWS how I feel," but to completey surrender to Him requires a pouring out of self. The Lord wants our hearts.

This book reminded me over the bible study I heard last night at ISU- 40 years crammed into 40 minutes about the children of Israel. We got to see another one of those cycles I'm talking about... and the punishment/consequences of wandering in the desert for 40 years as a result. There is a spiritual parallel to learn from, there: Trust in God. Obey God. Do not turn from God. Be faithful to Him, and He will be faithful to you.

Completely reject that advice and you can experience God's wrath and punishment.

Alright... time to step off my soap box...

I like to share this prophecy, though, because I find it fascinating. We don't often read out of Nahum or Habbakuk or Micah or any of those books at church... we rather get caught up in the Psalms and Jeremiah and Isaiah, etc. which are wonderful... but so is Nahum. :-)

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend... and, I love you all.

T

Tracy Part II

This is the continuation, or, PART II, of my previous post entitled "Tracy."

She thinks that she looks like a sheperd boy.

She also enjoys the word, "mother board."

She believes that she resembles a turtle.

She has a long neck.

She is morphing into an animal...oh no!

Her favorite food is "everything."

Her secret dream is to run away and become a professional surfer, "even though I've only done it once," she says.

And to top it all off, she has a killer serve in volley ball.

Comment if you love Tracy.

I love you all, and Tracy too.

T

Scaredy Cat

So I was cleaning in my basement tonight and I was just finishing with the sweeping. I look over to make sure the carpet looks immaculate and what do I see? A ginormous spider sitting in the center of the room. You probably would have laughed if you had seen my reaction. I made a face and backed away, grabbing the sweeper and running the opposite direction. Thank goodness there are 2 ways to get upstairs from our basement.

I delivered the sweeper to the front hallway, and ran around to the other basement entrance where I found my dad heading downstairs.

"Dad!" I exclaim.

"What?"

"Is that a spider?" I ask icredulously, pointing wildly at the black creature that is still motionless in the middle of the room.

My dad walks up to the massive insect, inspects it a little closer, and says, "Yeah," as he stomps on it with his shoe.

"Argh! Dad, HOW do you do that?" I ask, running up the stairs and cringing inside, still feeling queazy.

Then, I thought about my dad's reaction, and I started laughing. He is so funny some days.

Anyway, I don't know WHAT it is about spiders, but I DON'T like them. I just can't deal with them. Seriously. I don't know if it's their little crawly legs, or their evil connotation, or their quick movements, but when there's a spider, there's a scream (from me). They freak me out.

So, I was inpsired to write a "What Scares Me" list.

1. Spiders

2. Chocolate shortage (not likely, but what if there really was?)

3. Really HOT stuff (I used to be scared to get things out of the oven. That fear has subsided and I can now successfully take brownies and cookies out of hte oven without cringing, but I'm still careful. Also- if you are extremely good-looking, take note of this #3 fear :-) Only kidding...

4. Haunted houses (ok, so I've never been in a REAL one, but I'm pretty sure they'd scare me)

5. Speed (and the lack of control that comes with speed. I don't like going really fast on anything- cars, amusement park rides, whatever. I know it is invigorating to some, but it just plain scares me, especially when I have NO control.)

6. High places (although I can ride the ferris wheel. But get me up really high and tell me to look down, and I doubt I'll be too thrilled about it. Hey Heather- remember when we tried to climb that mountain in AZ? I felt like if I went up any higher, I would fall down the mountain and die.)

7. Hell (thankfully, it doesn't scare me personally anymore, but it did enough at one time to make note of it as a major fear. If it is a fear in your heart- there is a way to change that! Repent and take advantage of the shed blood of Christ!)

8. Rejection (Who doesn't want to be accepted and embraced? A big fear to overcome is insecurity itself. Once we have our security where it should be- Christ- this fear should vanish. I had to make note of it, though, because I know it's one we probably all struggle with.)

9. Bees (When I was little, I got stung direclty under my eye. Ever since, bees scare me... I will usually make a point to escape the area they are around.)

10. Evil (Essentially, our corrupt world. I look around and I am, quite frankly, disgusted with the world and it's ways. I suppose my fear doesn't lie in evil itself, but in what will come of evil people and their lives. It's a scary thought. What am I doing to shine a different lifestyle and counteract those wicked ways?)

What scares you?

Psalm 34:4-I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

I love you all!

T

Typical Weekend Report

As usual, I should be curled up in my warm, soft, fluffy, purple sheets right now. But instead, I'm sitting here writing as if I have 0% to do tomorrow. Nothing could be further from the truth, yet I blog on.

Anyway, I was very blessed to be able to go to college weekend. And I bet I am going to be among the FIRST to post about it! I won't say too much, because I'd like to hear what others thought, too, without stealing all of the topics to write about. So I'm just going to say this general comment: Anyone present at college weekend was blessed to hear some phenomenal deliverers of the Word on the topic of relationships... regarding Christ, one another, our family, the opposite sex, and the unsaved.

I bowed out early and came home on Saturday night after the program. You know, there is something about sleeping in your own bed. My bed at home beats all. It is seriously the most comfortable bed you could ever sleep in. I sleep smack dab in the center of it with pillows surrounding me on all sides, directly under my fluffy comforter for warmth, with my fan spirring above me and my music in the background. Can you tell I'm tired?

Anyway, it was good to be in Morton today. It was kind of empty, but it was good, nonetheless. I had an eventful afternoon with my brother, trying to figure out how to make a carbon copy image of my hard drive onto his external hard drive. My apple mac's speakers stopped working a few weeks ago, and no longer can I plug anything into my head phones jack. I presume those two problems are related, and upon having an apple technician look at it in Bloomington, he said it appeared to be something internal so I have to send it into Apple to get it reparied. Thus- the hard drive being backed up. If they find anything wrong with my hard drive, they replace it. I hope that the problem is something completely not my fault so that they will fix it free of charge, due to my Apple Care Protection Plan... becasue otherwise, I will be a very sad girl with a mac that has no audio. Yet, when I get out the puzzle box of my life, I see that this small problem=a very small portion of my life on the puzzle box picture, so I'm going to try to avoid worrying about it too much. :-)

I had fun with my brother, even though we ran into some difficulty along the way. We eventually figured out the problem, though, and got everything to work. My brother and I always have to get past this initial state of annoyance/friction, and then we can have fun. That's when he starts finding it hilarious to hit me, call me names, and verbally express how dumb I am... yet, for some reason, it is in those times that we bond the most. The only reason I am at level 9 in martial arts is because of Tate. It is him you can thank when I fight off all the gangsters with my hands tied behind my back (because boy can I KICK, it MUST be a Morton thing!).

After that, Tate and Melissa took my parents and I to this pizza place in Pekin called Mickey's. It was REALLY good! I then went to Laura's house for Brooke's not-birthday-party (since she didn't want it to be officially for that), and hung out with a random but fun group of people there. I left there exhausted, and forced myself to practice the piano for an hour. Usually I'm too tired to care at night, but some nights, I am absolutely inspired to play. Tonight, thankfully, was one of those nights where I was focused. I am in private piano lessons this semester and suppossedly, I should be practicing 1 hour a day. I think I usually average about 1 hour a week, if I'm lucky. ;-) Somehow, I have fallen into the habit of doing what I used to do when I took piano lessons all those years: I would practice about 1/4 of the time I was suppossed to, and whether beacuse of luck or actual talent, my teacher doesn't know the difference unless I REALLY practice the amount of time I'm required, and then it's obvious that I am not putting in as much time as I could be. It hasn't happened yet for me to put in 7 hours a week, but I'm still learning a LOT and my professor is so inspiring and a great teacher!

Enough on piano... it's time for bed. Just thought I'd say "hi" to everyone and give one of those semi-boring weekend reviews sprinkled with lots of details and nothing overly exciting in particular. I would feel bad, but you guys all do it, too, every once in awhile. And if you're still reading, obviously you found some of it interesting. So THERE.

Night, I love you all!

T

p.s. Kristi U.- I thought of you when I added the colors. :-)

A Matthew Miracle!

The most amazing thing happened to me just now. It reminds me of God's awesome amazingness.

I was sitting here, thinking of a realization I had tonight. Often times, I feel like I do things that look good because... they "look good." As a Christian, I want to appear a certain way to certain people, so I do the actions while my heart is somewhere COMPLETELY different. I was disgusted with myself tonight and thought, "Taryn, you are so FAKE sometimes!" I want to be REAL... I want to be who I am in Christ and with that comes glorfying HIM through all that I do and say. And Him and ONLY Him. Not Him AND me. Just Him.

So, anyway, I was sitting here, thinking, "Yeah, it'd be cool to write about that, but I probably won't because I have absolutely NO idea where that even is in the Bible (and I was too lazy to look it up). I was at biblegateway.com, a place I visit every day to read devotions, and I did something that I have only done one other time. I typed in a random bible reference to see what verse it came up with. The last time I did it, Psalms 37:4 came up, and I have found that chapter an AWESOME comfort to me since, and it was exactly what I needed to hear at the time. Well, TONIGHT, what verse do I type in? Matthew 6:6. Without knowing what in the world that verse even was, I was amazed to read,

"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

Now, I know that isn't EXACTLY what I was just talking about, but upon looking up chapter 6 in Matthew, here are the verses up until verse 6:

1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

That is EXACTLY what I was looking for! God just showed me. I love it when that happens!

Often, even after I've said something wonderfully spiritual or have sung a song of praise to God, I realize that my motives were completely off. Why? Because after I said my clip of wisdom, I became proud and puffed up and inwardly patted myself on the back for being so wise. Or, after singing that song, I realized the whole time I was singing it, I was in a different world while trying to LOOK like I was a wonderful Christian who was praising Him the whole time I was singing it.

It forces me to try to figure out how to avoid this. One way is to pray BEFORE I even go to a bible study, to church, to college weekend, or wherever. It is good to pray for ministers, speakers, and coordinators. It is also good and vital to pray for an open heart, and teachable heart, and a heart with the right motives. If we prepare our mind and attitude before we go, motives can be kept in check.

Letting God use us through words of wisdom and Truth, songs of praise to Him for his glory, and acts of servanthood are amazing! It is always the challenge to keep a humble heart and in-focus motives. Upon reading the beginning of Matthew 6, it is a great reminder to remember that God is the One and only receiving the glory in our acts of service, not us.

Today, say a prayer of thanks to God, our Father, and ask Him to help you to get the focus off of yourself and onto Him and His glory.

He is amazing and will work through His word to help you and teach you!

I love you all!

T

Merry Christmas

Here is the Christmas card for 2 Peas in a Palette. Feel honored that you are among the first group of individuals to see this! An early "Merry Christmas" to you all! Also- take this as a partial advertisement- if you know of anyone who needs a Christmas card designer- pass the word along! Thanks!

Moving on to non-holiday items...

I forget if I mentioned this in a recent previous post or not... but even if I have, I'm going to say it again.

I recently came across a quote that said, "Our emotions are only servants of our will..." and the advice to that is, "Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

I had to sit and think about that one for awhile, but once it forumlated in my mind, it became the most powerful quote linked with advice that I have received in a long time.

It is SO true. As a girl :-) I have learned that my emotions and feelings are very inaccurate. That is why my trust most always be in Christ. Because often, even when it is, my feelings can become so overpowering and intense that I allow myself to believe my emotions. Some people are amazing at separating out feelings from rationality, but I am not one of those people. I am just glad that I am to the point in my life where I realize that what I feel is not always what IS.

Why?

Because... going back to the quote... our emotions are only servants of our WILL. We allow emotions to be there by feeding them with deceptions, opinions, and thoughts... and once they have resided in our mind for awhile, they become a truth to us. Thus- intense emotions that are often false.

Our downfall is letting OUR will decide instead of giving it to God's will right off the bat. I have recently learned that. Things go a lot smoother when we say, "Ok, God- this upcoming situation looks like it has potential to envoke emotions that are SERVANTS OF MY WILL- so please, take it. Take it all RIGHT NOW before I have a chance to THINK about it any more."

That way- we have surrendered OUR WILL over to God before we have a chance to form servants out of our emotions!

I do believe that sometimes, God allows us to "feel" a certain way for a reason. If we have surrendered our way to Him, we should be able to recognize when the Lord's power is at work.

Does that make sense? What are your feelings and emotions on that? *wink wink*

Anyway... I am forced to end this post. I am SO hungry right now and a bowl of cereal is in order.

I love you all!

T

Weekend

Wow! This weekend was busy.

Friday night, I went to Jr. High girl's/boy's camp at Lake Bloomington. I was a counselor! It was my first camp being a counselor, and I loved it! I had a REALLY great cabin of girls. They were all so fun... I had Brooke Monfre's little sister, Kaitlyn, who I loved already, and a few girls from Morton that I knew, and a couple of other great girls. Lindsey Yackley was my co-counselor. It was fun!

We had 2 great speakers this weekend. Matt Kaufmann talked about "Purity" on Friday night. Most girls that I talked to said they were sitting there with their mouths open and eyes glued to him the whole throughout his talk. He did GREAT! He even brought tears to my eyes at one point. He made a good point regarding girls and how they dress... encouraging us not to "give our bodies away." So true! He also spoke about how when he got married, he received a locket from his father-in-law that his wife had given her dad. The locket symbolized her heart, and she told her dad to keep it and to make sure it was guarded and not given away to anyone else until the day she got married. Touching! He witnessed about how that was so special and amazing to know that he was getting her WHOLE heart. He encouraged us to treat anyone from the opposite sex as if they were someone else's future mate... which they are.

On Saturday, Chad Hermann talked about seeking God. He illustrated this wth some great visual examples and props with 3 steps: Seek God... Know God.....Do it. Find Him, establish that relationship, and live it. His talk was very interactive and encouraging.

Overall, camp was very fun and an awesome experience... so if it was for me, a counselor, I'm sure the campers had an amazing time! It seemed that way.

After camp, I traveled to Taylor to hear the testimonies of Wes and Shane on Saturday night.

You know, I hate to admit this, but I'm going to. I always seem to have a bad attitude about testimonies. I think it is because once I'm there and I listen to the miraculous story about how a soul has come to know Jesus and has given Him their whole life, and how they have finally attained that AMAZING peace... I sit and wonder why I wasn't more excited to come! Once I'm there, I'm captivated. It's just keeping that attitude in check before I actually get there. I think it's so important to pray for those giving testimonies... it is the most important story one could share with a group of believers, and it is a time to let that soul be completely humble before God and let the Spirit talk. And when that happens, it is truly phenomenal.

I got to hear TWO TRULY PHENOMENAL stories Saturday night. After each one, when the congregation would arise in standing support, elder Bro. Kent Heimer would request to the boy sitting in the front, "Stand up, and turn around. He will come. He will. Satan will tempt you. But when he does, you just remind him of this night when all of these people stood for you."

If that doesn't bring tears to your eyes, I don't know what will. For those of us who have been through testimonies in our church, we know how special that standing of support is. It causes me to think of something so much greater- which is the support that I have from Jesus Christ himself... are we standing up for Jesus?

Testimonies are so encouraging. Baptisms are, too. The public testimony of a soul's changed life is... it's unexplainable. Do you know why? It is because it is a symbol of THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISION ANYONE CAN MAKE. One thing Chad Hermann said in his talk that I failed to mention earlier is that we were created for a purpose. If we are not living up to that purpose, why are we here? We were created to seek and glorify God. That is why we are here. PERIOD. Chad voiced with compassion, "It is NEVER to early to give your life to Jesus." You ask anyone you know who is a believer, and I hopefully doubt they will not regret how early they come to know Christ.

What an amazing weekend! Busy, but fun. And well-worth the busy-ness.

I saw a bunch of old "ICC" people in Taylor, and it was so good to have a miniature "reunion." I still say the ol' ICC group needs to have a real reunion. A lot of times in life, we don't realize how good we had something until it's not there anymore. I'd like to say that about our ICC YG. It was a huge blessing- the group we had. What a beautiful group of people.

Alright. I need to keep moving. I've had one of those super-productive evenings. Ever have those? I don't know what causes them, but it is like a mode I get into. Since I got home this evening, I have unpacked, showered, cleaned my bathroom and bedroom, started some loads of wash, eaten pizza with Trish and Tammy, talked to my mom on the phone, finished up Kristi and I's business Christmas card, talked to my sister about it, and am now posting about it. Figures.

I plan on posting our Christmas card once it is finalized. Be looking for it in the next couple of days... I want it there as an advertisement so if you know of anyone who wants/needs a Christmas card designed, direct them towards this site or give them our e-mail! Thanks!

T aka Pea #1

Pumpkins, MK, and Jonah

Well, Kristi beat me to my post idea. Check out her blog today for an in-depth description of what we did last night.

After ISU Bible Study, we went and carved pumpkins at Ashley Keiffer and Natalie Stoller's place. It was so much fun! I wasn't quite sure I'd enjoy it very much because usually I don't do well with fine motor skills- I'm just not a details person when it comes to being intricate. Besides the fact, knives are not my favorite device to work with. However, it ended up being REALLY fun! I love the feeling of popping the circle off the top of the pumpkin and reaching into the goopy, pulpy seeds and digging it all out.





I bought a shirt from Jon Ringger last night. He designs his owns shirts. He has his own website, check it out. It was good to talk with another designer and get insight about how he does his business, and since Kristi and I were both there, he got to meet both "peas." :-) He was staying at 116 with the boys, so Kristi and I stayed over there for awhile and played Mario Kart with him and Jordan.

It was really fun to play Mario Kart last night, again. I hadn't played in forever, and Jordan is about the only other person other than my brother Tate and brother-in-laws (who have grown past the need to play nintendo) who is actually at my level of skill in that game. Well, I guess the other exception there would be Kelly, my cousin. She's pretty good.

I have memories of sitting in the basement with my brother-in-laws and Tate and completely smoking them all, and they would get SO mad. Wow... those were the days. Those boys have been through so many obsessions- first it was Mario Kart, then speed Uno, then bocce ball, then basketball, and now, cards. They are pathetic.

Onto other things...
Tonight and tomorrow, I am going to be a counselor at the Jr. High boys'girls' camp. I am so excited! Yesterday, my co-counselor and I came up with our devotions for our cabin. The theme this year is, "Dare to be Different" and all the cabins are named after games (I don't know the correlation there, but it's still fun.) Our cabin theme is "trouble," so we centered our devotions around that. I am also in charge of being a part of the skits, so I am really excited about that, too.

The weather...
It is getting colder. Usually I welcome the crisp air and the cooler days, but not this year. I am not even sick of our warm weather, yet. I think it because I am responsible for walking to my classes a very long distance from my car every day, and freezing to death is not my favorite. Although, this cold weather gives me a reason to break out my vests, which I LOVE to wear. I don't care if they make me look "like a giant marshmallow," in Heather's loving terms... vests are the epitome of ultimacy in my winter time wardrobe.

Alright. Hmmm... you know, I read Jonah this morning, and after doing that devotional yesterday on "trouble," I couldn't help but make a parallel.

Jonah's story is very simple:
God told him to do something
Jonah didn't listen to God
...rather....
He ran from God
God punished Jonah
Jonah learned his lesson
Jonah listened to God
Jonah obeyed God
God showed compassion on the people Jonah talked to

And then this is where we lose Jonah... Jonah gets upset with God for showing compassion on the people and is so angry that he "wants to die."

Aside from that last line, we can really learn a lesson from Jonah. How many times in life do we ignore what God is trying to tell us? Even though he may not speak to us directly, we still need to obey what He commands and what His word says, and there ARE time when He DOES give us a conviction to do/not do something.

Obedience is vital. If we are not obeying God, we may have to suffer the consequences later on. I went through a very hard situation last Spring that was completely like Jonah's story- I disobeyed what I knew God wanted me to do/not do, and I was, in essence, "punished" because of the consequences. Now, I find myself faced with similar circumstances and it is amazing how that shaped me right up- I WANT to listen to God and obey Him this time because I know what will happen if I don't!

Isn't God's refinement amazing? I love how He brings us through certain seasons of life in order to mold us into the shape He wants us to be in. He is the potter, we are the clay. Are we being moldable?

I love you all!

T

Do not be Deceived

The girls in the ISU Young Group are doing a bible study this semester entitled, "Lies Women Believe." While it is directed towards women, I certainly think that the concept of the study could be applicable to anyone.

The scary part about being deceived is that often times, to be deceived is to be "tricked." That means that we don't necessarily realize that we are believing a falsehood until it's too late. However, there are times when we have that hunch that something isn't right... but because we are evil beings, we continue on in our own ways becasue it is easier and more pleasing to ourselves.

There are 4 main steps pointed out to becoming deceived and believing a lie, paralleled to Adam and Eve's sin in the garden:
1. Listen to the lie- Eve listened to Satan
2. Think/Dwell upon the lie- Eve thought about what Satan said
3. Believe the lie- Eve eventually figured that eating the fruit would be perfectly fine, and wanted to reap its "award"
4. Act on the lie- Eve ate the fruit and in the process, casued Adam to sin, as well

This chapter in the work book talked about how we are often held bondage by sin. Sometimes, there is sin in our life that we are a slave to. This shouldn't be... but the reason we got there is because of the 4 steps listed above. Think about your life and an area that needs work- an area that you may be deceived. Can you apply these steps to the process you went through before falling bondage to that sin?

I found it fascinating... it's such a simple process, yet often it can happen VERY quickly and almost without notice. It is so classicaly true, too. How often do we allow ourselves to listen to something contrary to God's Word or unedifying in nature, even if it isn't necessarily a "sinful thought," and think about it... just a little bit? Pretty soon, our thoughts become our beliefs, and after we believe something, the devil has us. All we have to do then is act the sin that is engrained in our minds as truth, and we are in bondage.

It's kind of depressing, I know. Yet, it is IMPORTANT to recognize this process so that we can stop it while it's taking place or before it does rather than after it is too late! How can we be sure that we don't fall bondage to sin? We search out the Truth. We KNOW that with all our hearts! That way, we will know without a doubt whether something is potentially harmful to us... because of it's not compatible with God's Word, then we need to be VERY careful.

That should make us want to have a passion for the Word! How to recognize the wrong, the evil, the deceitful: by knowing the Truth!

Ephesians 5:6
Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

2 Timothy 3:13
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Revelation 20:10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Let God be your guide, and...

Matthew 16:23
Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

tell Satan to get lost.

Love you all!

T

New & Improved... or just, new?

Well, guys... I was sitting on my couch last night, trying to figure out what I could post about that was spiritually edifying (since my posts have been on the "fun" side lately)... and Kristi started IMing me. She had many questions about blog templates, adding color to fonts, and changing the look of the entire deal. She insisted that it was so difficult and challenging, and I told her that it really wasn't too bad...

About 15 minutes later, she told me she was messing in the templates section and that her whole blog was getting changed. I told her I was happy for her and disregarded her excitement. I had just come from about 2 hours' worth of work in the computer lab at school, coding text tracts and captions into a Quick Time movie with chapter lists. While that is all fun and great, I had my fill of "coding" and reading jibberish language for the evening.

Well... evidently, I hadn't. Curiosity got the better of me, and I began a 2 hour rampage of switching templates, messing with colors, fonts, sizes, etc., and clicking "Preview" many-a-time to get a somewhat new blog style going on. Now, before my design critics make a comment, I realize that my colors don't all necessarily match perfectly, but they work for the purpose, right? There are only so many web colors to choose from. I found a very helpful color coding website that allows you to create your own colors, and it tells you the according color code. Very useful.

Ok... so, for some reason, none of my links carried over, which is really buggy. I'll get those Edit-Me's fixed ASAP and tidy the place up, and it will be a happenin' blog in no-time.

Alright, I love ya'll and I'll be back real soon.

p.s. I owe my new blog style to this girl who went color-happy tonight, and also is going for a new look.

T

Pretty Bird II

Today I got a phone call.

I picked up the telephone. "Hello?"

"Taryn," a very somber voice said. Silence.

"Yeah?" I asked, trying to add some excitement to my voice to counteract the voice on the other end.

"I have some bad news for you," the voice on the other end told me.

My heart started racing. What happened?

"Pretty Bird died today."

I then recognized the voice as Kathy Kaufman's.

"NOOOO.... that is SO sad!"

"Taryn, my heart is broken," Kathy said, her voice very heavy and sad. It made me want to cry.

Ok, guys. Now. Let me just tell you a little story so you know why this is so sad.

Growing up, we always had a bird. Our first bird- Pretty Bird, was the neatest bird in the whole world. We taught it how to talk, how to do the wolf whistle, and he was like part of the family. Well, he died, and it was very sad... especially for a young girl like me. We tried to get a new bird, but that didn't work out because the new bird was really dumb. So we ended up trading him in for another...


Pretty Bird II. I was in third grade by this time, and each year at school, we have a program called "Young Authors" that I participated in. In first grade, I won the illustration award for my book, "My Trip to Arizona." In second grade, I won another illustration award for my book, "Why does my Brother Bug Me?" Now, in third grade, the idea for my book was easy to figure out... I would write about my bird. Thus, the book, "Pretty Bird II."

Below is the book... I was going to put up pictures of each page of the book, but it proved to be too much work so here is the cover with the words...



On my brother's tenth birthday, we went to the mall. He was going to buy a bird at the pet shop with his birthday money. There were hundreds of birds there.

I pointed to a big yellow bird... but my brother picked a blue one with a blue tummy and black, white, and blue striped wings and a white head. There were purple spots below his beak.

We took him home and named him Pretty Bird. We wanted to teach Pretty Bird how to whistle and say his name. Every day we would say "Pretty Bird" over and over to him and do the wolf whistle.

We also tried to teach him to kiss. One day he started to make kissing sounds back to us and he would try to kiss us with his beak. We were so excited!

And after awhile, he could say "Pretty Bird" in a high voice and a low voice, and all kidns of funny ways. When we did the dishes, he would squawk real loud at the water noise.

One morning, my brother and I were eating cold cereal and Pretty Bird was on my brother's shoulder. Pretty Bird thought our bowls of cereal were a bird bath. He flew into my brother's bowl of cereal and flapped his wings to clean himself. We laughed and laughed.

Pretty Bird rode on our shoulders all the time. One day, my brother took Pretty Bird to his room and left for school. Pretty Bird was missing. I looked all over the house for him. I whistled and he whistled back, but I still couldn't find him. My friend came over to help me. We heard him whistle in my brother's room. "There he is!" my friend shouted. "He's in the closet!" Pretty Bird was smashed between the hangers and the ceiling and looked really scared.

I would take Pretty Bird on rides, pulling him in a basket around the house. My brother said "Here, let me try," and he took him around in circles. I cried, "Stop! Stop!" Poor Pretty Bird... he was so dizzy, he was turning his head in circles.

Pretty Bird liked to sit in my mom's big plant. He thought he was pretty neat, like other birds. My mom didn't like it, though, becasue he ate holes in all the leaves.

One day, Pretty Bird stopped making noise. The house was so quiet. He jsut sat in his cage and wouldn't eat or sing. We took him to the vet, but there wasn't anything to do to make him better.

The next morning, I made my sister look to see if Pretty Bird was alright while I made my bed. When she came back upstairs, she looked sad. She said Pretty Bird died. I cried and cried.

We wrapped him in a white blanket and took him outside and dug a hole. We covered him with dirt and I put a stone on top and some of mom's flowers. I was so sad.

I made a poster about Pretty Bird so I would always remember him.

A few days later, my family and I went to the pet store to get a new bird. We missed Pretty Bird so much. This time, we got one that was bright green, and he sure didn't act like Pretty Bird.

This bird would get into his water dish and get all wet. He'd crawl into the food dish too, and get stuck. My mom took off the lid, but then he would sit in his food and spread it all over. My mom said, "This bird is a ditz, let's take it back!"

We went to a new pet store and looked at all their baby birds. Some were yellow, some all white, and some blue like Old Pretty Bird. We finally decided on one that looked like clouds in Heaven.

We had to teach him how to get on our finger and how to let us hold him. He still can't say his name or do a wolf whistle, but he loves to be petted around his neck, and he loves to make big swings with his sing.

Even though he's not our old Pretty Bird, we sure to love him.

He's our Pretty Bird II.

Shortly after that book was written, I won the general author award for it, but then I was asked to read the book aloud at a huge Young Author's Assembly at my school in front of all the other winners and their families.

I was SO nervous. I remember my mom helping me practice reading it, because I used to talk really fast (ok, STILL DO), and she wanted me to be understandable.

The night of the assembly came, and I just remember going up on stage with my book and reading it very loudly and clearly, and everyone laughed at some of the parts, which made me feel good.

After reading the book, the Disctrict Winners were announced. Guess what?! I won the district award for my book!

I was so excited!

Having that book about our "Pretty Birds" helped make them more special, and especially our most recent. Pretty Bird II definitely learned a lot while he was with us. We taught him how to say many things, how to whistle, and he had this one hot pink swing that he LOVED. He would sit on top of it for hours and talk into the little bell hanging off of it. I think he was in love with it.

There came a time, however, that we didn't really want him anymore. I know that sounds horrible, but no one paid as much attention to him, and although we loved him, we knew someone else would have more fun owning him. We gave him to our friend, Kathy, who at the time was a teacher at Lincoln School in Morton.

Pretty Bird lived at her house most of the year but during the school year, Kathy took Pretty Bird to school and he lived in the library there where she was the librarian. The kids at Lincoln School LOVED him and always talked to him and laughed when he talked. He was a hit, and I was so glad he was somewhere getting love from many different people!

I would go help Kathy in her classroom sometimes before the start of school and August, and it was always fun visitng Pretty Bird. Kathy would get mad at me because I knew exactly what to do to wind him up and make him wild, and she'd say, "Taryn! Stop it!" It made me laugh.

I have so many fond memoreis of Pretty Bird. Kathy wouuld always tell me funny stories at church of him and what he would do. Sometimes, I'd say, "Kathy, one of these days, you're going to call me and tell me that he died."

Well... that day was today.

Pretty Bird lived a happy 11 years. Although I am sad he is gone, I am also very glad that he got so much love from some many different people.

I know all dogs go to Heaven, and when my cat died, I wanted to believe that all cats did, too. I bet the same applies for birds. :-)

Love you all!

T

Tracy

The left shows my favorite picture of Tracy and I.

I am devoting this post to Tracy.

Her name is pronounced TRAY-CEE, not to be confused with TRACK-EE. Her middle name is Jean. Her last name is Zimmerman. She lives at (insert address here) and her birthday is March 15 if you would like to stalk her. Her elder is Bro. Ted Witzig.

Only kidding...

Tracy can dance like no other. In a few days, I will post a quick time of her dancing on castpost. Stay tuned in.

She enjoys snowboarding in Colorado, pigging out on food some nights, and long jogs on the Constitution Trail.

She could be yours today, all for the cost of your VERY heart! Just call 1-800-I LOVE TRACY, or log on to www.ilovetracy.com and sign your name on the list.

Don't let another day go by without this girl. You are missing out.

Test of Friendship

Well, since my previous e-mail rubbish was so popular, let me introduce another e-mail rubbish item I found. I made a quiz last year sometime, and I'm sure all of you have either taken one or have made one. But still. It's fun.

Go here... and take my quiz! and then Check out the Scoreboard!

See how well you know me.

If you score bad... I may have to remove you from my list of friends. No pressure.

This is the REAL test to see who really deserves to be my friend....

Love you all (even if you score poorly, I guess),

T

E-mail rubbish

I was looking through my e-mail folders today... It's amazing. I still have e-mails from 2 or 3 years ago! Many of them needed to be deleted. I came across a few interesting forwards, though. Some of you may have seen this, but if you have time, try it out. It's kind of interesting!


..."Dr. Phil gave this test on Oprah she got a 38. Some folks pay a lot of money to find this stuff out. Read on, this is very interesting!"

Basically, just take this as a quiz. Have a piece of paper and pencil handy to mark down your answer and total the score at the end.

1. When do you feel your best?
a. in the morning
b. during the afternoon & early evening
c. late at night

2. You usually walk...
a. fairly fast, with long steps
b. fairly fast, with little steps
c. less fast, head up, looking the world in the face
d. less fast, head down
e. very slowly

3. When talking to people, you...
a. stand with your arms folded
b. have your hands clasped
c. have one or both of your hands on your hips
d. touch or push the person to whom you are talking
e. play with you ear, touch your chin, or smooth your hair

4. When relaxing, you sit with...
a. your knees bent with your legs neatly side by side
b. your legs crossed
c. your legs stretched out or straight
d. one leg curled under you

5. When something really amuses you, you react with...
a. a big, appreciative laugh
b. a laugh, but not a loud one
c. a quiet chuckle
d. a sheepish smile

6. When you go to a party of social gathering, you...
a. make a loud entrance so everyone notices you
b. make a quiet entrance, looking around for someone you know
c. make the quitest entrace, trying to stay unnoticed

7. You're working very hard, concentrating hard, and you're interrupted. You...
a. welcome the break
b. feel extremely irritated
c. vary between both extremes

8. Which of the following colors do you like most?
a. red or orange
b. black
c. yellow or light blue
d. green
e. dark blue or purple
f. white
g. brown or gray

9. When you are in bed at night, in those last few moments before going to sleep, you lie...
a. stretched out on your back
b. stretched out face down on your stomach
c. on your side, silghtly curled
d. with your head on one arm
e. with your head under the covers

10. You often dream that you are...
a. falling
b. fighting or struggling
c. searching for something or someone
d. flying or floating
e. you usually have dreamless sleep
f. your dreams are always pleasant

POINTS
1. a-2, b-4, c-6
2. a-6, b-4, c-7, d-2, e-1
3. a-4, b-2, c-5, d-7, e-6
4. a-4, b-6, c-2, d-1
5. a-6, b-4, c-3, d-5, e-2
6. a-6, b-4, c-2,
7. a-6, b-4, c-2
8. a-6, b-7, c-5, d-4, e-3, f-2, g-1
9. a-7, b-6, c-4, d-2, e-1
10. a-4, b-2, c-3, d-5, e-6, f-1

Add 'em up.

OVER 60 POINTS: Others see you as someone they should "handle with
care". You're seen as vain, self-centered, and who is extremely
dominant. Others may admire you, wishing they could be more like
you, but don't always trust you, hesitating to become too deeply
involved with you.

51 TO 60 POINTS: Others see you as an exciting, highly volatile,
rather impulsive personality; a natural leader, who's quick to make
decisions, though not always the right ones. They see you as bold
and adventuresome, someone who will try anything once; someone who
takes chances and enjoys an adventure. They enjoy being in your
company because of the excitement you radiate.

41 TO 50 POINTS: Others see you as fresh, lively, charming,
amusing, practical, and always interesting; someone who's
constantly in the center of attention, but sufficiently
well-balanced not to let it go to their head. They also see you as
kind, considerate, and understanding; someone who'll always cheer
them up and help them out.

31 TO 40 POINTS: Others see you as sensible, cautious, careful &
practical. They see you as clever, gifted, or talented, but modest.
Not a person who makes friends too quickly or easily, but someone
who's extremely loyal to friends you do make and who expect the
same loyalty in return. Those who really get to know you realize it
takes a lot to shake your trust in your friends, but equally that
it takes you a long time to get over it if that trust is ever
broken.

21 TO 30 POINTS: Your friends see you as painstaking and fussy.
They see you as very cautious, extremely careful, a slow and steady
plodder. It would really surprise them if you ever did something
impulsively or on the spur of the moment, expecting you to examine
everything carefully from every angle and then, usually decide
against it. They think this reaction is caused partly by your
careful nature.

UNDER 21 POINTS: People think you are shy, nervous, and indecisive,
someone who needs looking after, who always wants someone else to
make the decisions & who doesn't want to get involved with anyone
or anything. They see you as a worrier who always sees problems
that don't exist. Some people think you're boring. Only those who
know you well know that you aren't.

I believe the last time I took this test, I was in the 41-50 range, but this time, I had 53 points. Leave a comment and let me know which one you are...

:-)

Come on, admit it. It's FUN!

I love you all for who you are.

T

Oh, to be Wise

This morning I was thinking about wisdom, and how I needed some.

I read in 2 Chronicles about Solomon's wisdom, and I asked myself the question, "How did he get so much wisdom?"

I'm memorizing James 1 right now and the verse that was reverberating in my mind earlier when I was having thoughts about wisdom was, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, which giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given Him."

We may not ever get handed the wisdom of Solomon, but God will give us the wisdom we need if we ask! If we are on our knees down here below and pray, "Lord, please give me wisdom for this situation," God isn't going to be like, "Hmm...NO." He wants to hear us ask for it! However, often times the first and most hardest step to asking is recognizing that we NEED it.

One thing to watch out for is the verses directly after... "But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that waverth is like a wave in the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of hte Lord."

If we're going to ask for wisdom from God, we have to have faith that He's going to give it to us. We have to have faith IN HIM and stop thinking that our own philosophy/theory/idea/option/desire is going to solve what we're dealing with. We have to place our ALL, our EVERYTHING, our whole LIFE in His hands and say, "Lord, I need wisdom in this situation" and mean it.

God knows our hearts.

Let's all try to remember that we need godly wisdom in our lives and be faithful enough to ask for it... and realize that we do.

Love you all!

T

Guide

The most amazing thing happened this weekend.

I rode out to Taylor with the most fun people EVER to go on a road trip with: Heather Knobloch, Tricia Plattner, Tracy Zimmerman, and Jordan Schroeder. We laughed a lot. Actually, some of us laughed almost TOO much, because as Heather (probably correctly) assesed near the end of our journey yesterday, this comment being directed towards Trish, Tracy, and I, "You 3 laugh at so many things that AREN'T funny."

Yeah that's probably true, but laughing is my favorite, and it's a sign that I'm having a good time. I tend to laugh at everything. However, we need people like Heather and Jordan who only laugh at the things that are REALLY funny to stay level-headed and logical, and balance us out. So we were a good traveling team together, and managed to make some good memories.

That's not the point of my story, though. That's just me getting side-tracked.

So, we are in Taylor, about 5 minutes from our destination point, and my phone rings. I answer it, and it is my good friend Matt Knobloch.

He asked me what I was up to, then said, "Guess what I did last night?"

"What?!" I asked.

"I became a Christian," he replied.

Ok. Is that not the BEST news anyone could ever tell you? I was ecstatic!

He is repenting!

It made my whole weekend. I mean, being at Taylor was enough in itself, but this made it great before it even started!

For me, this was a huge answer to prayer! I LOVE it when God does that. It's so encouraging when God answers prayer like that... It is one of the best feelings when He does, especially when it means another soul has been touched and will live for Jesus! Yet, the praying doesn't stop here. Often times, one answered prayer leads to another opportunity to pray for someone in a different way!

God is so amazing in His ways, His timing, and His work. I love looking back over the past and seeing how God is so sovereign in everything that He does. So often, situations occur in my life where I am so caught up in the moment that I forget there is a time and purpose for everything that doesn't necessarily allign with the way I think it ought to be. Yet how comforting to know He sees the puzzle box picture, and He knows exactly how everything is going to piece together.

This weekend, we were given an acrynom G-U-I-D-E.
Go to God
Understand His Principles
Ivestigate your options
Discuss with others
Exercise your freedom

One thing the speaker really hit on was, "Live every day with God (as your guide)."

Amen!

The weekend in Taylor was a blessing, and I was happy to see so many people! What an awesome turnout there was!

I love you all,
T

p.s. I was looking around today, in need of some encouragement, and I found this. It seemed to flow with letting God by your guide... by letting the Holy Spirit live through you! Check it out!

Picturesque

I was told that my posts increase in interest when pictures are included. So this is going to be a post with some pictures.

Here is what the fun T House did on Friday night...

Proudly displaying our Starbucks orders


Tracy, posing for a Starbucks ad


All 4 of us


Mmm...


Standing in amazement


Melts in your mouth...


Watching in amazement


The result of too much coffee + too much sugar


Come on, just admit it. You wish you had been there.

Love you all!

T

Random Fun, Priceless Moments

Ohhh, tonight was fun.

Guess what? For the first time in... um, EVER, we finally got a picture of all 4 T's!

After ISU Bible Study, we all (ok, basically I did) decided that we needed to do something wild and crazy. We never really accomplished that task, but we tried to. Tracy and I sang all the way home from BS in the front seat with the windows down. Then, a bunch of us girls ate about 3/4 a pan of banana cake... mmm... compliments of Stephanie Barth!...in the living room. Then, Trish and I went out to the open field by the interstate and ran around for awhile. Then, we watched some quick time movies and projects on my mac. Then, Trish, Tracy and I did a "Face Photo Shoot" where we each took turns describing an event, made a face to corresspondingly match that event, and took 25 shots that will be constructed onto a sheet with captions. Then, we added more quotes to our post-it wall (we make post-its of all the clever quotes we T's or guests come up with). Somewhere along the line, we also pushed the couch in front of the stairs, just to be random.

Random nights full of random actions = fun. Why? I have learned that the most random times are the most fun...they speak of memories that are unique and original. It brings forth the future ability to be like, "Remember that ONE time when we did THAT?" It is those priceless moments of genuine laughter that get locked in your heart forever.

Wow, that was really cheesy. I haven't had a cheesy, heart-felt, warm-fuzzy post in awhile, though, so it was called for. Right?

Onto other things...

I had this huge presentation on Tuesday that I spent ALL last weekend working on. It was an "artist story" which contained video clips from part of a video interview I did, digital images, and audio clips extracted from the interview and some Norah Jones song clips included. I was happy with how it turned out and my presentation went well, but it was one of those projects that stressed me out hugely and took a lot of time and thought. My artist was Vicki Taufer. I love her photography work, and if you go here you can check out her photography.

I was happy to be able to attend the Pumpkin Festival last weekend. I went Friday night with some friends, and then Saturday night, a group that dressed and acts EXACTLY like the Beetles preformed in the food tent. They were AMAZING, they sounded just like the Beetles. Saturday morning, of course, was the parade. My grandma lives on Jefferson Street so we have always gone there and everyone brings food and we sit and watch the parade from her curb. It's fun to see all the little kids enjoy it. I remember when I was 5 years old, and I was the one sitting on the curb with my little bag, running out into the street to pick up candy and being overwhelmed by all the big, loud bands that marched by. Now, all my nephews and nieces are experiencing it. I feel so old.

Last night, I went home for church because I had a meeting after church in Morton. Then, my mom, sisters and I went to Ruby Tuesday's and got 2 of those giant chocolate tallcakes. Mmmm. It was good being home for a night and spending some time with my mom and sisters... it's so fun to get together with them and talk, uninterrupted by kids and the buzz of everyday life.

Tomorrow, I work from 12-3, and then beings my first official Friday night spent at my apartment. I usually always go home on Fridays, but since I leave for Taylor Saturday afternoon, it doesn't make sense to go home. I'm excited! I'm not quite sure what the plan is, but regardless, I'm sure we'll have fun...

I hope to see some of you in Taylor this weekend!

Love you all!

T

p.s. Tracy- we WILL have our late-night Krispe Kreme run. As soon as that banana cake is gone...

Don't Worry!

I have been slightly stressed out lately, and that is uncharacteristic of myself.

I don't know if "stressed out" is the correct term. I'm not pulling my hair out or running around like a mad woman, but I feel like I have been on edge lately. Maybe a better phrase would be "a lot of stacked up unecessary worrying."

Matthew 6:27
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

That verse really causes a light bulb to go off over my head. It brings to life how pointless worrying really is. Worrying about something isn't going to change it. And surprisingly enough, by worrying, my life won't get longer, either. It'll only get shorter with a history of wasted time.

Worry is a disease, I tell you. Even when you tell yourself not to... a lot of times, you still do. Recently, I have been really thinking about what it takes to completely surrender my all to Christ. It is kind of like one of those pass-fail tests. You either get a 0 or a 100%. The same with your surrender to Christ- you're either giving Him it all or you're giving Him nothing. You can give Him 99% but that 1% that you insist upon controlling will ruin it all.

I was just talking to Heather last night about this. What does it require to give your ALL to Him? For the longest time, I thought that by being a "good Christian," (i.e. reading, praying, going to church), I was doing enough. Yet, to completely surrender your life to Christ is more than actions. It's a choice. It's a lifestyle. It's an attitude... and all 3 of those things turn into actions that reflect your life as a surrendered Christian.

It's different for everyone, I think, but for me it means saying, "Lord, it's yours! All of it!" It's a statement and a prayer. And do you know what that does? It eliminates my worrying. If I have given it to God, the Perfect One, then logically speaking, there is no reason to worry.

Now, does that mean that I still won't worry? Not at all. It's not necessary to, but that doesn't mean I won't because I am human. That is when this verse comes in handy...

1 Peter 5:7- Casting all your care upon Him, for he careth for you.

What comfort. Jesus wants to hear all about it, and when we decide to share with the Almighty, it's amazing how much better we come out feeling!

Oh my, the Lion King Hakuna Matata song is going through my head right now, "It means no worries, for the rest of your days...It's our problem-free...philosophy, Hakuna Matata...."

Look what I've done.

Too bad my post for today can't end with an audio clip of that song playing... although, I think the written out words is enough to get that song stuck in anybody's head. Good luck getting rid of that one... :-)

Luke was nice enough to provide this Hukana Matata clip for me to go along with the theme of my post. Just click on that link below for a phrase to keep in mind whenever you feel the urge to worry...Enjoy.

Listen to me!>


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Love you all,
T

True Humility

On the way out to the Purdue Sing, Katelyn and I put all of Paul's 13 letters in chronological order. I'm certainly open to correction, but here is what we came up with:

1. Galatians
2. 1 Thessalonians
3. 2 Thessalonians
4. 1 Corinthians
5. 2 Corinthinas
6. Romans
7. Ephesians
8. Colossians
9. Philemon
10. Philippians
11. Titus
12. 1 Timothy
13. 2 Timothy

Katelyn said it was mentioned at a recent bible study that as Paul progressed through his letters, he became more and more humble in what he considered himself. I believe first he started off as calling himself, "Paul, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ," developed into a "servant of Christ," and then ended up by calling himself the "chiefest of all sinners."

Isn't it interesting how Paul's view of himself changes as he matures... and his self-image seems to get lower? Yet, it's not his self-worth that is faltering... it's his humility that is increasing.

In 1 Corinthians 15: 9-11 (NIV),
"For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed."

My Life Application says,
"As a zealous Pharisee, Paul had been an enemy of the Christian church--even to the point of capturing and persecuting believers. Thus he felt unworthy to be called an apostle of Christ. Though undoubtedly the most influential of the apostels, Paul was deeply humble. He knew that he had worked hard and accomplished much, but only because God had poured kindness and grace upon him."

Paul calls himself the least of the apostles, undeserving of even being called one. We see why if we look in Acts 9:1-6,
"Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord's disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners in Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?"
'Who are you, Lord?' Saul asked.
'I am Jesus, whom you are persectuing,' he replied. 'Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.'"

Paul went from persecuting God to becoming an amazing instrument of His. Without Paul, 13 precious books of the Bible would be missing. If we would know someone like Saul today, we would probably shake our heads and wave him off, thinking, "this man's salvation is hopeless." Yet just LOOK at what God did with Saul! He can do the same for anyone you know today... and I doubt most unbelievers you know today were to the extremity that Paul was. So take heart! God can and will change hearts!

Going back to humility, here are the sentences that wrapped up my Life Application statement from 1 Corinthians:
"True humility is not convincing yourself that you are worthless, but recognizing God's work in you. It is having God's perspective on who you are and acknowledging his grace in developing your abilities."

You can love yourself without being in love with yourself. At ISU Bible Study the other night, one phrase that I took with me is, "You don't have to impress anyone when your security is in Christ." This all comes with being humble. It's all in a little package. If our self worth is placed in Christ and Christ alone, and we lean fully on Him to develop our character through His grace and mercy, we will be focused enough to realize that HE is the only One we want to please and glorify... and with that kind of attitude, we are being HUMBLE!

That works out nicely.

True humility is hard to attain, and for some of us, it may be a life-long journey. It's a good thing God gave us Paul... a man who developed true humility where it is clearly evident throughout the letters he wrote.

Sometimes, when I feel like I need to be humbled, I just think of the Cross. I think of Jesus. I think of God... I think of those characters in the Bible who fell face down in the presence of God.

I have a childhood dream of Jesus. I was in Sunday School at church, and Jesus was there. I met Him. I just remember seeing him and being SO relieved, and running over to embrace Him.

Thinking of Jesus and His Cross is humbling, yet isn't it great to know He is always there, waiting to give you a hug?

I love you all,
T

3.14

The Power of Color

Look! I can write in colors, now! I LOVE colors. So much. Guess what I'm doing right now? Eating out of a Cookies 'n Cream ice cream carton. I poured Hershey's chocolate syrup all over the last 5-6 bites and am eating it. Hey, that's the joy of living on my own. My mom can't come in and say, "Taryn, that's so gross, why wouldn't you put that in a bowl?" No... now my room mates are responsible for keeping me in line.

But none of them are around right now, so I'm not too worried about it. :-) The way I see it... I'm going to polish this ice cream off, and then throw the carton away... without having to worry about washing the bowl I put it in! So. Really, I'M the one thinking here. I'M the clever one. I'm saving myself the trouble of rinsing a bowl out and putting it in the dishwasher.

Pink is my favorite color. Today, I wore a pink Gateway Woods shirt and a pink watch, and I have a funny story about that. So, I went to my piano lessons today and my piano teacher sat back to listen to me play, and right after I started he put a hand up to stop me. In all seriousness, he confessed, "I have to apologize. If I had known," he said, gesturing to my outfit, "I would have bought a pink piano for you to play on."

Wouldn't it be nice if I color-coded all of my topics within my posts? Then, if you got bored of one of my topics, you could jsut skip it and know exactly where the new topic picked up!

Yeah, but I'm not going to do that because then you will all get lazy and never read my posts thoroughly. Not that most of you do, anyway. I've heard it said more than once, "Taryn, I just read the first sentence and then the last sentence of all your posts." Well, thanks guys. Thanks a lot. We'll see how long it takes me to recognize all you non-readers when I become a famous author some day and accidently forget to dedicate the book to you...

Anyway, onto more important things, tonight was an amazing sermon in Bloomington. I feel like every minister feels obligated to preach about New Orleans, which he DID bring it up, but with a new twist. He said that we all sit and say, "Yeah, those poor people," and maybe even do what we can by praying and sending some supplies. "BUT," Bro. Ron said, "I believe there is something spiritual that we can benefit from this." He took us to Ezekial 47 and then talked about the levee built in NO and how it wasn't sufficient for the huge storm that came through. Yet, so many times, that is completely like our spiritual life if we aren't careful. If we don't build it high enough, sin and evil will flood in with it's overpowering force. Are we strong enough spiritually? He talked about Adam and Eve in the Garden, and asked, "Who let Satan in? Who let him into the Garden?" God allowed him to be there. And Adam and Eve would have been fine had they not focused so much on details... Ron said that some of us are details people. We focus on the here and the now and the nitty gritty details and get caught up in them so much so that we forget about the big picture. But stepping back from the numerous surrounding puzzle pieces and looking at the picture on the box gives us a whole new perspective... and it causes us to realize that we need faith. Faith in God! That's what it is ALL about! Adam and Eve lacked that... if they hadn't gotten so caught up in those details and had just had faith in God, oh how things would be different. They let the walls of the levee break and in came the flood of sin.

Ron left us with a beautiful illustration. He asked us if we had seen the Target sign (for the store). Well, yeah. And what is it composed of? A bull's eye in the center, with ONE concentric circle outside of it. He said, "Imagine the bull's eye as Heaven (and God), and the surrounding concentric circle as faith."

Target is one of my favorite stores, and now it really is. I will never shop there again and not think of that! If we are to press on to Heaven, we have to surround ourselves by FAITH!

Something I often think about is the fact that I hear great sermons ALL of the time, but how often do I really apply their teachings to my life? No, really. It's a real challenge. Spiritual application is often one of the hardest things to do. It's easy to sit in church on Sunday and nod my head and agree inwardly to great points that the minister is making... but what am I doing about it? I find that the things that convict me the most are the hardest things to apply. Yet with God's overflowing amount of grace, I can.

Another thing Ron said tonight that stuck out to me was, "Christians shouldn't have any reason to frown (and granted, he said, we're going to go through hardships and that's understandable). That made me smile because some days I kind of have a scowl on my face, sometimes even for no reason and an instant smile comes because I think, "I'm a Christian, I need to smile to show others I have joy!" I pass tons of college students every day on campus and around here, and if they can't look at me and see that I'm happy... that's too bad, really. I want to spread the Jesus-Others-Yourself JOY!

May God bless you all today! Show your love for Jesus on your face! Others will notice...

I love you all!

T

Don't worry, it gets better after the first 3 paragraphs

Last night was the first night where I could not sleep due to a storm in a LONG time.

Usually, I sleep like a rock. Give me five minutes and if I'm tired enough, I'm out like a light for the rest of the night. The other night, I went to sleep holding a pillow and woke up in the same position holding the same pillow. Now THAT is rare. I've been told that I roll over, trample, smash, hit, kick, steal (covers), and talk in my sleep. I can be a dangerous person while unconscious...

Anyway, after about 10 minutes of laying there, I knew something was wrong. Like I said, usually I'm out. I kept seeing flashing and then came the storm. Grrr. The storm probably wasn't even the reason I couldn't sleep. It was probably because I had been so active at volley ball about an hour earlier. NOT. I was actually pretty lifeless at volley ball, but it was fun and good to see the "volley ball people" again.

It WAS nice to have rain, though, and it cooled things off around here. I woke up this morning VERY tired. I think I had myself fooled that 6 hours a night is all I needed of sleep, and now that I'm getting 8, my body is getting kind of greedy. Hmph.

I just took up 3 paragraphs talking about my sleeping experience last night. This is a sign that I have no topic for today.

Two exciting things, though....

1. Someone is working for me on Friday, which means that after ISU BS on Thursday I get to go home and go to the P. Fest and be home for the rest of the weekend!

2. I'm a counselor at the Jr. High girls/boys camp. The only disappoinment I have at this point is that I think they have done away with the shaving cream fight. Ok. That is only the BEST part of the whole camp! I guess I'll live without it, though. And as a counselor, I suppose that means I'M the one who has to be mature this time :-)

I have this teacher who always picks on me. I have him every single day because he teaches 2 of my classes. Yesterday in Sound Design, he was talking and out of the blue goes, "Right, Taryn?" because he thinks I never listen to anything he says because I look around the room a lot. Well, that's just me. He's like, "You think everything else other than the front of room where I am talking is interesting at this point."

So he proceeds to say, "Now I'm going to talk about something that I should just take out of the currciculum, but I leave it since someone always inevitably ends up getting something out of it." So he talks for about 5 minutes, then says, "Ok, so did anyone get anything out of that?"

Being my kind self, I raised my hand to signal that yes, I did get something out of it. He goes, "ALRIGHT! That's it! Taryn gets an A+ for the day, and everyone else fails." THEN, he turns around, and writes my name on the board with an A+ next to it and "Everyone else- F-." What a funny guy.

What else? The T House is great. I feel really bad because all my room mates study. Now, before you think that I DON'T, let me clarify. I do when I have to (kinda), but my major field of study is one that is very project-oriented. So, instead of burying my head in a book or notebook, I spend my time making presentations, giving them, researching, taking video, editing audio, and manipulating images. In my opinion, A LOT more fun then studying :-)

My favorite times are the random times where we sit around and talk in the kitchen while eating or in passing. It's spontaneous, humorous, and with most of us... you never know what's going to happen next. Everyone comes home with stories for the day, which are usually pretty funny. I think Tricia has had the best stories so far.

Yesterday, Tracy made my day with something that made her day. She showed me something really cool. We both have itunes on our macs, and there is this feature called podcasts. Neither of us knew what it meant, but evidently you can subscribe to radio station's programs that air certain shows for FREE. One of those programs is Walk in the Word with Dr. James MacDonald! YEAH!!!! So ever day, one of his talks downloads on my mac for absolutely FREE! How sweet is that? I listened to him talk about prayer yesterday. He talked about how God CALLS us to pray... He doesn't ask or request, he CALLS. Also, if we pray and ask for anything according to God's will, He hears us! What's a way to pray in God's will? Pray the Word! Then we KNOW we are in His will! We know if we say, "God, please help to get me through this trial," He's going to be like, "OK!"

Because, sometimes we pray for things we don't need. James said that as mature Christians, though, we get to the point where we stop praying for stuff we don't need and start praying for stuff that we desire to glorify Him that is alligned with the Word and His will.

He also told us how the Bible says God can't lie. It's not, "He WON'T lie or he SHOULDN'T lie," it is He CAN'T. James used the analogy that guys can't have babies :-) Or, (this is for Luke), like Kristi CAN'T spike the ball :-) Well, neither can God lie. God stands firm on His promises to us, and we need to rest assured that He can't lie to us about anything (not that we think he should), but then why do we doubt? If we think our way is better than God's, we are essentially doubting that God won't bring us through. As long as we do not forsake Him, He won't forsake us.

I'm looking forward to some more of James' talks!

Something I'm tackling in these next couple of weeks is memorizing James 1. I was talking to Katelyn Thames on the way out to the Purdue sing and she asked me if I was memorizing anything. I'm like, "Uh, the monthly memory verse for my church," but that sounded kind of lame. I used to memorize chapters of the Bible for Sunday School... why can't I, now?

So, I was flipping through my old KJV that I used awhile ago and decided that the first New Testament chapter I came to with highlighting in it (I highlight stuff that sticks out to me, so I knew it would be good :-) I would memorize. It was nothing other than my FAVORITE BOOK in the bible! James. I LOVE James! This may be overstepping it, but I made it a goal to memorize the whole book.

I have James 1:1-10 down pretty good, so I need to keep going. I'm thankful for Katelyn and her challenge, because otherwise I would not have thought I could do this! It's really not as hard as it sounds... Katelyn just got done memorizing James 1, as well, so it's kind of ironic that it's the chapter I opened up to, but as I sat and listened to her say it, I was amazed. Yet, all it takes is sitting down and going over it. Katelyn told me that whatever chapter I decide to memorize will become my favorite. I think she's right :-) There's something about really learning EVERY SINGLE word and having it in your heart that makes it special.

I challenge everyone to try memorizing a chapter in the Bible! If that sounds a little big, just work on some meaningful verses. It's so nice to have the Word of God accessible without it having to be there in physical form. And you never know when you're going to be able to use it for His glory or even for your own good to fight off Satan.

I love you all!

T

"But the greatest of these is..."

I am going to provide a character profile of a trait, and I want you to tell me what it is.

It is...
*Patient
*Kind
*Protective
*Trusting
*Hoping
*Persevering
*Unfailing

It is NOT...
*envious
*boastful
*proud
*rude
*self-seeking
*easily angered
*delighted in evil

What is it?

If that all sounded familiar, it is because you have probably heard it described many times in 1 Corinthians 13. The trait I was describing is love. Yet, I hate to just stop there. It isn't only someTHING that I am describing, it's someOne.

This passage was preached about in church yesterday, and as I was sitting there looking over it, an obvious truth came to my mind that made this chapter so much more real to me. I thought of 1 John 4:8, "God is love."

If God is love, then 1 Corinthians 13 describes God's personality.

"Love" is a word today that has come to mean a lot of different things. The love of God is not the "I love pizza" love or the "I love my new car" love or even the "I love that Bible verse" love. It's GODLY love. It is love so high and deep and wide that we could not ever physically contain it. And look at it's characteristics!

When I look over those characteristics, it convicts me to strive for that GODLY love by keeping all of it's traits in check. By being a "loving" person, look how many other traits you posses with it! It's truly amazing. If we would all just fine-tune our ability to be loving...

Love can be a complicated thing. So often, we search for love in all the wrong places. What we end up with is a kind of love that is empty and broken, and a lot of times false. Where do we find real love? God. The love that comes from God is so deep and pure and real, and it is ultimately all we need. Christ is our all. His love endures forever!

Another beautiful thing about God and His love is that He loves everyone... not just the ones who love him back, but even the ones who don't. How good of a job are we doing at loving everyone, as Christ does? One piece of advice that I received on this matter was from Bro. Joe Braker many years ago, and I will never forget it. He said, "If you are having trouble loving somebody, pray for him." Trust me, it works!

What do we need to work on in our own lives to have this 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love?

1 John 4:8-12 (NIV)
8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 Corinthians 13:13
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

I love you all.

T

T is where it's at

Here is the post everyone has been waiting for.... a review of the inhabitants at the T House.

I have now lived here (getting calendar out), let's see, about 3 weeks now. For those of you who are COMPLETELY out of the loop, my room mates are Tammy Sauder, Tricia Plattner, and Tracy Zimmerman. Although I may seem slightly biased, this next comment is 100% fact: I have the best room mates EVER.

Now... before I officially begin, let me just say this: Tracy, I know you are reading this post right now and that one day, you, too, will have a blog. Even though you think it's a waste of time now, you will change your mind. Just wait. (To everyone else: Please be on the look out for Tracy Zimmerman's future blog... the premier of this is TBA.)

If we were all characterized as family members in this apartment, I'd elect Tammy as the "mom," because she's so caring and thoughtful, and... domesticated. Tracy would be the "dad," because she's logical, real, and even knows a little about plumbing... and when things seems to fall apart, she's like "Guys, it's going to be ok." Trish and I are the kids. We're the care-free, easygoing girls who just go with the flow.

It is truly amazing how I feel like I can connect with each and every one of my room mates on a different level.


Tammy... her and I get along really well. At our best, we have had some REALLY awesome, powerful conversations! I love sharing with her what's going on in my life, and we always seem to have great, spiritually focused talks! Her love for the Lord is SO evident every day, and I love her for that. She always has a smile for you and is the first to ask how your day was. Tammy brightens our place up, that's for sure! She's my source of enthusiasm.


Tricia... her and I have already stayed up until 2 a.m. talking many-a-night. She is one of the best listeners I know. For someone like me... that can be both a good and bad thing, because sometimes I feel like I talk her ear off, but at the same time, the questions and words she has to offer are so perceptive and we agree on almost everything. Trish is very easygoing, like I said earlier, and her and I click there, too. It's refreshing to live with someone else like that. Her and I also have one of those problems where when we start laughing about something, it's kind of difficult to stop, even if what we were laughing at isn't even that funny.


Speaking of laughing... Tracy.... is really funny. I've always known Tracy because we've grown up in church together, but tonight we noted that only in the past year have we become close friends. She is the life of the party over at our place, always making us all laugh with her wit and endless stories. She offers a very rational perspective a lot of times, which I really appreciate about her. She's not afraid to speak up about what she thinks in boldness, which is amazing! You can tell she lives her life in accordance to the Word, and I respect her for that.

Every night around 11, Tammy will retire, but before she does she says, "Ok guys, you're not allowed to have any more fun." It's very sad because she has 8 a.m. classes every day, so she misses out on all the laughter between 11 p.m.-2 a.m. (depending on when Trish and I go to bed.)

Also, on Thursday nights, we've already made it tradition to have people over for supper. It's really fun! It's also fun on the nights when the T's eat together or just have time together and chat for an hour or so. Wow! God really has blessed me. Amazingly.

Alright! Well, now I'm in a good mood! You know, there really is a unique bond that is formed when you are room mates with someone. May that bond of Christian friendship and sisterhood endure long after we are all room mates...

I love you all! And I love my T's.

T

Run the Race... but First, Unload

Could you run a mile?

If asked to do this, most of us could probably whip out a mile. Even those of us who are out of shape... running a mile isn't THAT big of a feat.

What about running a mile with a book bag full of bricks on your back? Suddenly, the task seems difficult. Our backs would be weighed down and after about half of one lap, we'd already be tired. We would become weak VERY fast and the heaviness of the bricks would not only slow us down but almost make the task impossible to accomplish. There's no doubt that we'd be sore the next day.

What am I talking about? In Hebrews 12 (NIV), we can read:

"1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

The book bag of bricks represents burdens we carry in our lives. Hebrews says to "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and LET US RUN WITH PERSEVERENCE THE RACE MARKED OUT FOR US." If every brick is a burden, think of how weighed down we allow ourselves to be by carrying them. It makes it tough! Why carry around more bricks than we have to, if any at all? All it does is slow us down and makes us tired. After awhile, these burdens can make us "sore" if we don't get rid of them. Just like carrying a brick load of weight on your back would make you physically sore, carrying a burden load of trouble in your life will make you spiritually sore.

What is a burden? Dictionary.com says:

"Something that is carried.
Something that is emotionally difficult to bear.
A source of great worry or stress; weight.

tr.v. bur·dened, bur·den·ing, bur·dens
To weigh down; oppress.
To load or overload.

Synonyms: burden, affliction, cross, trial, tribulation"

Instead of carrying all your burdens around and letting it hinder your ability to run the race, give them to God! During my online search, I found this article that captures this concept.

Are you carrying burdens today? Take the book bag off and hand it to God. He'll take care of it... and your life will seem so much lighter!

Hebrews goes on to tell us that we should "Endure hardship as discipline..." None of us liked getting spankings or sitting in time-out when we were children. But why did our parents do those AWFUL things to us? Cuz they love us :-) and they knew if they didn't, we'd never learn. Same goes for our Loving Lord. Hebrews says, "But God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness."

Wow!

Let us continue to unload our burdens and give them to God so that we can better run the race that He has set for us to run!

Love ya'll.

T