direct connect

its funny. my dad has a nextel cell phone and i hate it. i mean, i absolutely hate it. its ugly, its annoying, its big, and its complicated. i try again and again to convince him that cingular is better, but he doesnt listen. but, i learned something from his phone today.
having the direct connect feature on his phone he can simply press a button and have a conversation with someone, almost like a walkie talkie. i cant do that with my phone. even though my phone is smaller, thinner, better looking, has more features, and is more expensive then his phone, i cant simply press a button and be directly connected to someone.
now lets imagine that my dad's nextel phone is a christian. and my cingular phone is someone who isnt a christian. and the "direct connect" feature... that's prayer. a direct line of communication between the christian and God. despite being a better looking phone with more features, no matter how hard it tries, the cingular phone cant "direct connect" to someone.
prayer is simple and yet complicated. in its simplest form, its communication between God and us. its amazing when you think about it, and for too many of us christians, it is something that we do not do enough.
so even though i hat my dad's phone, it reminded me of something that i should never take for granted. the power of prayer. the power of communication between me and my creator. how many times has God said to me, "can you hear me now?"

created

"If knowing answers to life's questions is absolutely necessary
to you, then forget the journey. You will never make it, for
this is a journey of unknowables,-- of unanswered questions,
enigmas, incomprehensibles, and most of all, things unfair."
- Madame Jeanne Guyon

there and back again

so... it has come and gone. im officially 21 years old!! exciting i guess. well, i need to go conquer the world now that im soooo old. it was a really good birthday and i got the best present ever which made my day super special!!!
*cheers*

wake up

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that, because the world needs people who have come alive." - Harold Whitman

candles & cake

i turn 21 tomorrow. not sure if i am ready...

doubt

"Without somehow destroying me in the process, how could God
reveal himself in a way that would leave no room for doubt? If
there were no room for doubt, there would be no room for me."
- John Irving

make a difference

The elderly grandfather was walking on the beach with his young grandson. As they walked, the grandson would periodically stop to pick up beached starfish and toss them back into the ocean. The grandfather leaned towards his grandchild and said, “My child, your gesture is touching but will make no difference. Do you know how wide the oceans are, how vast the number of beaches, and how numerous are the starfish that become trapped on the shore?” The child looked up as he prepared to toss yet another starfish back into the ocean and said, “Yes, grandfather, but it sure makes a difference to this one."

better than christmas

thats how i feel right now. my life is so amazing. its palm sunday and i remember now more then ever what jesus did for me. and theres so many reasons to smile... im thankful that i have someone to remind me of that. im thankful that i have so many blessings and so many things to be thankful for. i couldnt ask for more.

yes or no

yes or no? choose carefully, because even though you have no idea, what you say can change your life.
the funny thing is that we make so many little decisions in our life that have nothing to do with being little at all. but for some reason, our little minds convince us that a simple yes or no, here and there, is rather insignificant at best. but that is not true at all. every decision that we make has consequences, good or bad, big or little. and because we are selfish we think that our decisions only affect us. how untrue that is. every little movement, decision, answer, word, and gesture that we make is like a drop in a pond. it creates ripples in every direction that changes the rest of the water, if only for a brief second. so i guess we should be aware that the next time we make a decision, yes or no, it will impact more people then we ever could imagine.

what i want

"Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as ever you can." - John Wesley