Originally Unoriginal

I'm in Denver, CO for 2 weeks. I'm visiting one of my best friends in the world. The church here is having their yearly "Mile High Conference." So I'm sure I'll be blogging lots of things I'll be hearing in the sermons. More to come later...

The Singer/Songwriter/Reverend (and all around good guy) Timothy Spell told a story the other night. It went kinda like this... A while back there was a boy in Florida who was attacked by an alligator. His mother stepped in and saved him by pulling the alligator off of the boy. The boy almost died, but thankfully survived. He was going back to the doctor for a check-up, and the doctor asked him to show him his scars. The little boy innocently asked, "Which ones? The good ones or the bad ones?" The doctor said, "What do you mean the good ones or the bad ones?" The little boy replied, "The ones that the alligator gave me are the bad ones, but the ones my mom gave me trying to save me are the good ones." Sometimes we get ourselves caught in huge messes, and it's impossible to come out without scars. Sometimes those scars are caused when God has to step in and rescue us. Those scars are good scars though, reminding us of God's love and devotion. Rememb

I'm at home (Greenville) tonight. I'm here for the weekend, packing, and heading to Denver, CO for 2 weeks. I'm so excited. Yet, it's all bitter-sweet because it means that my summer is quickly coming to an end, which means that I'll be bidding farewell to Hot Springs in the near future. I was saying goodbye to all my kiddies today, telling them to be good while I'm gone for a few weeks. They all started coming up and hugging me, and one precious little boy even cried. It was all I could do not to bust out crying with him. I thought to myself, what am I going to do when I leave Hot Springs for good. I have plenty to blog about...experiences and lessons learned over the course of 2 months, but I'll save that for later. Tonight, all I have is this song to wrap up my emotions... when pain turns to years it goes away a memory far gone so bitter sweet and sweet it is to taste recover the loss of my friend and why haunts this hunger to love her my ship set its sai

A co-worker shared this analogy with me, and I had to blog about it... A college professor suspects that a student is breaking into his office and stealing money and messing with test grades. He sets a camera up in the office and catches a student in the act. The student readily confesses of both stealing money and changing all of his grades and is ready to receive his just punishment. The student goes on and on about how wrong he has been and how he deserves to be reprimanded. The professor looks at the student and says, "Here's $1000; spend it as needed. I'm also going to keep your grades changed to A's. I'm glad you apologized, and I forgive you. If you ever need anything else, I'm here for you. Just never let this happen again." You are sitting there saying, "Yeah Right! That would never happen." Physically speaking, it wouldn't happen because we are human. However, spiritually speaking, it's exactly what God does for us everyday. We

Sometimes it doesn't matter how hard you try, life just kicks ya in the butt. You try to do what's right, you make mistakes, you apologize, you move on, then you kicked down so hard you think...what's the sense in even getting back up. It's really hard to be that good person all the time to everyone, especially at times like this. It'd be super easy to walk up to someone and tell them how unworthy they are of you and your friendship. How their actions and lack of respect for your feelings speaks so much louder than any words they ever spoke to you. I don't know who I'm more angry with, the person for being so rude and inconsiderate, or myself for allowing myself to trust them. I guess what really makes me sad is that I have no one to blame but myself really. I'm an intelligent person, I should have known better. I should have changed the situation months ago, but for some dumb reason I let it linger. Now I'm aggravated beyond belief. Oh yeah, and my

I was reading through old emails and I ran across one I had written to some friends almost 2 years ago. It's been doing some raining here, both physically and emotionally, so I thought this would be a perfect blog entry. Enjoy.... It had been storming all day. I had youth choir practice at church, and while I was there, it started raining again. After choir it was still raining, and I was standing at the door trying to figure out the best way to get to my car without getting too wet. I came to the conclusion that there was really no way that I could get there without getting somewhat wet...So I might as well just enjoy it. I walked very slowly to my car in the pouring down rain. Then a friend and I started jumping up and down in a small puddle. Then another friend and I began running, jumping and splashing in the rain. We both got completely soaked! So afterwards, I got some "motherish" chiding of how I was going to get myself sick, but I just replied..."Oh it was wo

Have you ever had a moment where you said something, and later wished you would have kept your big, stupid mouth shut. So goes my day. I have a big problem with sometimes spitting off junk to friends before really thinking about what I'm saying. I've been raised around a bunch of bashers...It's how we show we love each other...We are mean. I know it sounds weird and like a bad excuse. I guess it doesn't go over well to people that don't really know me in that manner. Really though, I have no excuse. I said something that really hurt my friend's feelings, and now I wish I wouldn't have said it. What I said wasn't true at all, I just said it in a joking manner. However, now that I look back on it, it was really mean considering the circumstances, and I understand why that person took it the wrong way. That friend seems to think that I was right, even though what I said hurt that person's feelings. So now we are going back and forth like this... Me: I

For all of those who care, Yes, I did have a date this weekend with a co-worker. We had a good time; He's a really great guy. That's all I wish to disclose at this time. :-) Also this weekend, I got a little correction and a blessing from God. First I must start off by saying that I love my church here in Hot Springs. However, it's not my home church, and therefore I'm not as comfortable at times. Because of the difference in the atmosphere, I often find myself not giving 100% while at church. My parents came to visit this weekend, and I rode to church with them. We were all ready to head to church, but my dad said we didn't have to leave so early. I said, "If you were at home you would leave this early." Dad replied, "It's not my church though." I quickly retorted, "It's the same God though." Dad agreed that I was right, and we left for church. The service began and from the very first words spoken, things were going really gre

My friend, Sunshine, and I were conversing about nothing in particular, and we hit upon a huge issue with us. This issue is the little things. We were talking about how it's not the big, grandiose things but the little things that people do that means the most. The Bible says that it's the little things that spoil the vines, but I believe the little good things can fertilize that vine! I'm a big fan of the little things, and I'm more apt to remember them. For example, It's all great and good if that special guy kisses you, but it means more to me if that special guy says, "let's just sit here, and you tell me about your day." It's when someone actually takes the time to notice the sometimes unnoticable. For example, When someone says, "wow, you're eyes are 2 different colors; that's amazing" or "You have red in your hair." Recently, my cousin did a sweet little thing. There is a candy in my family that all of us cousins