Spines, Dr., & Country Music

Well, my spine is all good. No bad disks, no pinched nerve, just some pulled ligaments and muscles. And to heal-up it requires bed-rest - 2 weeks worth! Ugh. But at least it's not surgery.

But I just had to post a couple of thoughts I had this morning.

1. 1. My x-ray was really cool! I have a healthy spine, which is really good news. The funny part was you could see the buttons and zipper from my pants as well as the metal hooks in my bra. I almost asked out loud "what are those loopy things up there?" Duh...
2. The doctor's office was very basic in the classic dull gray color. The nurses were all nice, and country music filled the air. I guess to make up for the gray color. Bill was about to die from both. So then I get called back to see the Dr. He's Indian - from India - no real surprise there. However, what I found so funny? Let me just say.....Indian Doctor & Country Music......

Let us Pray

Today is National Day of Prayer. The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman (Source: National Day of Prayer website).



Yesterday on the radio I heard that our President was not going to actually honor this day like the President before him. However, like some previous Presidents, he will be signing a proclamation. Say what you will about George W. Bush (who was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination), I'm inclined to believe history will brand him as one of our most moral God-fearing Presidents. Time will tell.


But what about you? Do you pray? When do you pray? Every hour? Every morning or night? Once a week at church? Or at meals? Or a family holiday meals like Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter? Or is this the one day a year you pray because someone reminded you or pulled you to a prayer meeting?


This annual day of national prayer is important and I encourage everyone to join together and add the 2009 Prayer to your daily prayers today. Add the military to your prayers. Add national, state, and local leaders to your prayers. Add your church leaders and family to your prayers. But more important than all that - pray just to recognize the God of the Universe for who He is....LORD.


I was reminded this morning of another, shockingly relevant prayer:

"O, Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our fathers, and to all thepeople of the land. Lord, you are righteous, but this day we are covered with shame..."


This is the beginning of Daniel's prayer in Daniel Chapter 9. To read the rest of his prayer - go here. We should all be like Daniel and recognize our shame as a nation. And it's all our fault. Ours. But with submission to God through Jesus - transformation and TRUE change for the BEST can happen.


None of us are perfect. My prayer life is not at all what I want it to be - but it's up to me to change it. When I DO take the time to just be with God - it's incredible and I thirst for that.


Prayer is personal, prayer is powerful, prayer is necessary to a relationship with God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Spend time with the LORD GOD now.

What I didn't miss out on....

Little Tommy Peake got baptized!!!!

It was such a bittersweet day. Exciting for Tomas William Peake to-be-sure. But for his dad, Bill, it was rough.

You see, as a dad, it is a high honor to be able to baptize your son. Unfortunately, the mom is not very understanding to this...not at all. Turns out, Tom got baptized by the preacher at Jill's church. Great! Tom's baptized. And we all hope that at 7 he understands and "gets it." And I have no doubt that he loves Jesus. But I also have a feeling he'll want to have a re-do later on.

But to watch Bill watch his son be baptized was heartbreaking. He's already missed so many everyday moments with Tom that it breaks his heart. And I can tell you from personal experience, not many dads are like Bill. But to look and watch Tom - he is an exact duplicate of his dad. And that makes me proud! And every time I say that outloud you should see Bill's chest puff out. He LOVES his son greatly. And who doesn't love this face!

Although, I have certainly learned my lesson on racing him in flip-flops!

What I've been missing lately...

My mind mostly! Come on - if you didn't laugh a little, or relate a lot, you are still in search of your own.



Since I've been "down" in my back lately, which is such a weird way to look at it since I can't actually bend down, I've realized I've been missing out on a lot. Here's some of what I've been missing:

• Satellite TV - used to have it at mom's....oh the joys of adulthood billing budget
• Being outside - with the rain and my back, not much work is getting done on opening the pool
• Old friends - just when I finally have time, I literally don't feel like going anywhere to see people. Thank God for facebook!
• Friends in general - being single, living alone out in "God's Country," I don't get visitors. And since I'm not really the "popular girl" I don't get calls or emails much either...oh well....
• Motivation - pain meds and muscle relaxers have a way of really making you feel lethargic
• Passion - same as above plus some uknown confusion in my life
• Self-confidence - that was low enough, but when you can't get off the couch without rolling off it, makes me feel like a sea cow in sludge
• Dreams of youth - everything I thought I would be doing, I failed at in life. I realize God's got a much better plan for me, but I am still reconciling that with my own lost dreams
• Ice cream - I'm REALLY trying to be good with what I'm eating, especially since I can't get exercise in, but I am seriously craving my favorite: Haagan Das' Bailey's Irish Cream Ice Cream, mmmmmmm
• And yes, I miss Bill - he's been working nights the past couple of weeks, AND he's been feeling sickly too, so we don't get to see each other every day.
• Church - I'm in limbo lately with church. With all that has transpired the past couple of years, I think I'm just burned-out with GCC, maybe with "church" in general. Don't get me wrong, I love the people - and miss all of them terribly. But I certainly DON'T MISS the political-ness of it. I DO miss serving and working in the church. But it's not worth the struggles if you don't work well with people. Guess I'm just not what some people want to be around, or considered to be "holy" enough to work, or they feel I'm not "called" to a certain work? Who knows. Who cares. Just miss it.

And there you have it. But anytime I feel like I'm missing something, I go to the one who fills the hole...Jesus. Only He can fill it, only He can complete me, only He can save me, only He can really love me the way I am. And He can fill your holes too.

Seriously Ouching!

Ok - learned my lesson - no more running / racing in flip-flops!

Sunday, Tom and I "raced" in the backyard a few times all while I was wearing my pretty little flip-floppy sandals. Not smart. Didn't think much about it until Monday when I got ready to do some yardwork and I was hurting a little. I chalked it up to sleeping wrong at first. So I, being me, thought to myself, 'it'll work itself out as I work out in the yard.' Dumb. I did all kinds of stuff - mowing, lifting, digging, etc. - and the pain was still there. So I took some ibuprofen. But when I woke up Tuesday morning to go to work the pain in my lower back was excruciating. I left work early to go home to take some leftover pain medicine I had gotten in the Philippines last fall (stuff knocked me out good). But when I woke up 5 hours later I found that I couldn't sit-up without feeling like I was going to throw up. What was I thinking when I did all that stuff?

So today I am sitting as still as possible here at my desk at work typing this posting. Potholes are murder. I can't look down. Heaven forbid I need to get up from this seat or reach for something....like now when the FedEx is coming in...why do I have to sign for this? Needless to say, I'm going to do the necessaries and probably go to the doctor.

But all my waking day yesterday I kept thinking about the words of Paul and Casting Crowns - we are the body of Christ. Each of us makes up a part of the body. Different parts serving one purpose. If one part hurts - we all hurt. If one part gets victory - we all get victory. We should not think of someone in our church family as a tool to be used, but a part of the body that is irreplaceable and needed at all times. I never realized how my lower back affects everything else...it's putting me out of commission. If my finger bleeds, I can put a bandaid on it, but not type very well. When I had stitches in my leg - I could barely walk or drive without pain. When I get a migraine - forget functioning for a few hours. There is no non-necessary part of the body. We as the body of Christ are all needed.

It's Done!

So many months of work on this project, granted, not everyday, but it's officially done.

This was a huge project: 10 video tapes transferred to video, then converted to digital, then edited down to less than 2 hours of highlights, produced with music/transitions/titles/menus, "grabbed" the still images as photos, rendered (burned) to disc everything: full video-highlight film-music-pictures, and three copies of everything...plus packaging. I know I have over 100 hours into this project. But all-in-all, looks like it should be on the Travel Channel.

And Italy - pretty amazing. Definitely put it on my list of places to visit. And ths video-stuff...might make it a part-time business. If anyone's interested, just let me know! I'll have very reasonable rates - and would even consider bartering.

Holy Humor

I JUST heard about this on the radio...Holy humor Sunday.

For centuries in Eastern Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant countries, the week following Easter Sunday, including "Bright Sunday" (the Sunday after Easter), was observed by the faithful as "days of joy and laughter" with parties and picnics to celebrate Jesus' resurrection.

Churchgoers and pastors played practical jokes on each other, drenched each other with water, told jokes, sang, and danced.

The custom was rooted in the musings of early church theologians (like Augustine, Gregory of Nyssa, and John Chrysostom) that God played a practical joke on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead. "Risus paschalis - the Easter laugh," the early theologians called it.

In 1988 the Fellowship of Merry Christians began encouraging churches and prayer groups to resurrect Bright Sunday celebrations and call it "Holy Humor Sunday," with the theme: "Jesus is the LIFE of the party."

Many churches from different traditions responded enthusiastically. Holy Humor Sunday services are bringing back large crowds to churches on a Sunday when church attendance typically drops dramatically. If you Google “Holy Humor Sunday” on the Internet, you’ll be amazed at how widespread Holy Humor Sunday celebrations on the Sunday after Easter have become among churches of all traditions. It’s clearly a movement of the Holy Spirit to shore up belief in the resurrection of Jesus.

Pretty cool, huh?

Get Your Grill On!

Ok, ok...shameless promotion, I know! But it's really good stuff!

KFC has started their new very delicious product -- GRILLED chicken. You've GOT to try it out! This is a perfect weekend for it too with Thunder and all!

TEA Party!

OK - I admit - I'm not the best keeper-upper with politics and economy and such, but when a co-worker asked if I wanted to go to the TEA Party Protest downtown - I said 'sure, why not.'

It was incredible to see all the people crammed into the 1/2 block park across from City Hall downtown. Speeches, signs, support for LESS government intervention, LESS taxes, LESS bailouts, etc. All conservatives, most all republicans, and all Christians - or at least in support of the concept that our nation was founded on Christian beliefs. Speakers and organizers and supporters are calling for a revolution - find out more about the TEA Party - check it out at Tax Day Tea Party.

Regardless of your political stance, it's hard not to see our country is not what it once was - even in my lifetime. Be observant people! See the signs. Keep informed. Use your voice. And Pray hard for the leaders of this nation to have thier hearts turned, make wise & Godly decisions, and that God will again bless this nation. Or pray for the rapture to take place soon! Or both!

Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is when an Old Testament event mirrors the life of Jesus. For example, Abraham willing to sacrifice Isaac on the mountain is a foreshadowing of God's sacrificing his own son for our sins. Well, this morning I learned a new one for me.

In Genesis you can read about Joseph - which is one of my favorites. Towards the end of the story, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and says, "You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you." (read the story here). They thought they were seeing a ghost after what they had done to him years ago! Fast-forward to Jesus' ressurection.

In Luke (24:36-49) it is recorded that after Jesus appeared to the two walking to Emmaus, He appeared to the disciples - out of nowhere! And he tells them, "Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have." They thought they were seeing a ghost!

Do you see it? Joseph reveals himself to his group of brothers - Jesus reveals himself to his group of disciple brothers. This was one of the coolest foreshadowings I've seen in awhile! It still amazes me how intertwined the Bible is!