2 Reason's Pat Robertson doesn't know what he is talking about

Pat Robertson is this guy that hosts The 700 club, and he gives commentary / answers viewers questions.  Well yesterday he gave us all this wonderful gem of wisdom, and honestly I really wish he would stop voicing his opinion to the public because he is just showing how hypocritical Christians can be.  And now for the two reasons he clearly doesn't know what he is talking about:

1. He obviously hasn't read the bible ever or if he has he is losing his mind.  The bible clearly talks about loving others and take care of those in need, i.e. your sick spouse!  Hello, does anyone remember "Love your neighbor as your self"?  Yes, a spouse technically isn't a neighbor, but if you are going to love a neighbor as yourself don't you think you should love your spouse more?  The Bible also states not to divorce your spouse, unless there was adultery.  So, if you have to go through a divorce then that means the person isn't dead!

2. Pat Robertson has clearly never seen the Notebook.  If he had he would know that love gets you through everything!  Please reference exhibits A & B(can't embed sorry) below:

A.

 B.                                                   http://youtu.be/cs22Zi-qwA4

And just for fun! Best. Scene. Ever.

Sitting in bathrooms praying for strength

This last year has been one of the toughest that I have had to live through, and I am still working through everything that happened.  The thing is though that this last year was one in which there were far more downs then ups, so many days where it felt dark and lonely.  Don't get me wrong there were happy days and days to celebrate, but on the whole it was one of those years that I am still not quite sure how I made it.  Days when getting out of bed took all my energy, and having to function was near impossible.  It was one where if I didn't have my Hope that I probably would have given up completely.  

These days it's better and that dark feeling is receding, but you see now I have to fight it where as before I didn't.  Every day is that battle for hope and peace and joy.  Some days are easier, and the joy comes without almost trying and I treasure those days.  I enjoy them and know that those are the days to look at when times are tough.  But see the thing is I don't know how to express this to people.  How do you tell them you are okay and you will be fine, but you just have to get through today.  It's like those days of PMS when you are crazy, but you know that in two days you will be normal again.

It's days like these that I have found odd comfort in the bathroom stall.  Where God literally meets me, wipes my tears and gives me strength to face the rest of that moments trial.  I finally get Paul and his whole when I am weak He is strong thing.  It sucks and I don't want to be weak, but in those precious moments with God in that stall I realize who He truly is.  I understand His heart, and I see that no matter how many times I pierce Him with that nail He is always waiting and ready to accept me when I finally turn to Him. 

We could never forget

Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of September 11th, and it was remembered with many moving tributes.  I have to been honest though and admit I am tired of people always saying "Never forget" or 'Always remember".  September 11, 2001 completely changed the fabric of the American life.  It is the reason we are in two wars, why we have to go through body scanners at the airports and frankly I will never be able to look at 911 the same.

Yes, it is true that the next generations will not remember it the same way I do, but they will still remember it.  Much the same way I remember Pearl Harbor or the Kennedy assassination.  Every generation has their tragedy, and they are all remembered respectfully.  We will always morn for those that were lost.  Always.  Instead I wish people would say "I'll/We'll never forget" or "I'll/We'll always remember" because we just can't forget.  I truly believe that day was one that changed history forever.

Clearly the reason we shouldn't be allowed to have children yet (or maybe just me)

In case you some how slept through the last 24 hours, and don't ever look at the Internet, own TV, buy into the idea of cable or live under a rock, you know that a ridiculous amount of people were without power in the south west.  That's right it was an "unprecedented" event that has never been seen before, and the way people were acting you would have thought it was the 2nd coming.  We were so out of power that street lights weren't even blinking causing people to believe they always had the right of way.  Treat it like a 4 way stop people, we learned that in driver's ed!:

Throughout this whole event I realized people should be thankful I don't have children yet because I clearly can't take care of myself or my husband in a crisis.  After taking 2 hours to get home I was starving, and those close to me know I turn into Medusa when I go too long without food.  We were definitely getting to that point and the only way I know how to cope is open the refrigerator and stare until something stands out.  Of course that was out because it will make the food good bad quickly, and it will earn me a scolding. 

At this point I needed help, so a friend is suggesting ideas for an hour and we don't have any of her suggestions.  (Did I mention we never went to the grocery store this week?  Yup, all we have left is the remnants of our grocery trip two from weeks ago.)  Then i realized we have a gas stove!  We can totally cook something that is dying of freezer burn and I'll turn back to normal.  So, Jerry proceeds to light the gas stove with normal matches, thank God it was him and not me because I would have either lit myself or the house on fire.

Later, I wanted to die because it felt like we were in Hell and I had a brilliant idea!  Go to Target to get ice cream, it'll give me an excuse to eat a ton before it melts and it will cool us down.  Yeah, except Target is smart and locks their freezers so you can't get the food you really want out!  So we risked our lives for nothing, and Target was a chaotic mess.  So, I asked the smarter of us what is going on and he replies: "The normal people are getting water, you know to survive!"  "Oh yeah we need that too because we don't have anything to drink!"

I did learn two things though.
1. Keeping the refrigerator closed is a crock because we had to through out all the good stuff anyways.  After 4 hours it goes bad anyways, so I COULD have stared into it to my hearts content.
2. People do live under rocks and the person stating this comment proves it:  "Yeah, so La Mesa was sooo dark last night."  Uh apparently you didn't hear that all of Southern CA, and parts of AZ and Mexico were sooo dark as well.  That is kind of what happens when you have a massive blackout.

Being healthy might kill you

I am attempting to be more healthy because my hips are continuously attaching those doughnuts I eat.  I know everyone says everything in moderation, but unless I eat a thousand pieces of fruit and veggies to one doughnut, moderation doesn't work for me.  I also can't ever seem to make time to work out and I get it's a choice, but the couch feels better than sore muscles!

Anyways, I decided that I am going to start adding Green Superfood (veggie powder) to my diet.  The idea behind it is simple, it is powdered veggies that you add to a drink and it is suppose to help you get your full serving of veggies that day.  I have tried this before in OJ and it wasn't too bad, and after one day I didn't feel anything but I have heard people talk about the benefits of it.  I drink a smoothie almost every morning, and I figured I can add it to that without it tasting too weird.

Anyways, yesterday I get home and see this and the following conversation takes place (poor guy):

Me: Uh, is this a new science experiment?
Jerry: No, it is that awful green stuff you bought.
Me (laughing): Yeah, you for sure don't add this to water and definitely not to 59 oz of water.  Seriously you are suppose to put it in juice or a smoothie, and only like 6 - 12 oz.
Jerry:  It said 6 or more oz and I didn't realize it would taste that bad.
Me:  Yeah, did you even smell it?  It smells like horse food and I wouldn't want that in 59 oz of water.
I love this man so much!

So, I think we have learned a new lesson today boys and girls...Green powder great in smoothies, bad in water.  Especially when water is more than a shot.

Is prayer our only necessary action?

Recently Jerry and I switched churches, and there are several different things pointing to me being right where I am suppose to be. I have had more spiritual growth in the past 6th months than the previous 2 years. The pastors a North Coast Chruch constantly are causing me to question where I am at, and whether or not I am taking the action God requests from me.

A couple of weeks ago our pastor was talking about when someone is telling us about things that are going on in their lives and our reaction is to say "I'll prayer for you". I immediately thought he was going to start telling us how we need to follow through on the promises and actually pray for people, but those were not the words that followed!

Instead, he continues on to say "How many times have you said how can I help you?" WOW! I don't think I have ever uterred those words after someone's story. What if I was suppose to be God's answer to their prayer and instead I just let that opportunity pass by? Now, instead of helping someone out in God's intended time I prevented them from relief.

So, of course this got me to thinking, (and I warn ahead of time that you may not agree with what I have to say. That is fine and I appreciate our difference on this topic!) what if the church* stepped it up more often and reached out to our brothers and sisters in Christ? Would there be less poverty? Would more children be fed each night? Would more marriages survive if we took the time to help someone out?

Our course this leads to more thoughts, would the world see more of Christ and less of our sinful nature if we were the rescue people were looking for instead of the government? What if the church* was the welfare and unemployment people were looking for?

Don't get me wrong, I know prayer is a very powerful tool and one that God calls us to use regularly! (Romans 12:12; Ephesians 6:18; Philippians 4:6; Colossians 4:2; James 5:13) But he also calls us to take care of the sick, poor, children and widowed (Romans 12:13;Matthew 25: 34-46; James 1:27). When was the last time you did that? I know for myself it has been a very long time. What if all it took was arranging people to bring meals over to someone's house? Or drive them to a doctor's appointment? What if it was watching someone's child so they could have that long awaited date night with their spouse? What if it was being a friend to someone who didn't have one?

When God calls us to take care of those around us, I don't think he is asking us to put our lives in jeporady or neglect our bills. Instead I think he asks us to make that small sacrifice to help your brother or sister. Currently, I hide behind the excuse that I don't have money to give, but I certainly can give my time. This whole topic has reminded me that some times the thing that saves a soul is not the words being preached, but the actions showing love.

Just think about what would the world be like if we put away our selfish desires aside once a week, on average, to help others.


* Church in this post referrs to the people of the church, not the building or establishment that is the church(more on this definition in another post ;-)).

Online PDA - You've been warned!

If you have spent any time with Jerry and I you have probably noticed how private we tend to be, especially when it comes to PDA. This was one of the biggest hurdles early on in our relationship. I thought any affection was private even down to holding hands! Jerry on the flip side was almost the exact opposite. If you have met him you know how he loves to give hugs, poke or just let you know he is around in some physical way. So through out our relationship he has slowly brought me closer to his side, even though I had real trouble getting use to the idea that I would have to kiss him in public on our wedding day. Eeek!! So after making him explain and demonstrate and talk about this petrifying moment over and over and over I was able to give him a kiss on our wedding day in front of 190 people.

Of course there is a new PDA world out there - online! Talk about a new struggle!! Jerry once again has no problem with this, whether it is just a sweet "Thanks for being awesome" or something funny like "I love your bear face!". I should be able to do this too, right? I mean it isn't that hard, its only one line.

So here is to one gigantic PDA to make up for all the many little ones I never wrote:

Jerry,

Thank you for being the person that I can always go to no matter how I am feeling! I appreciate when you joke with me to bring out of a bad mood or wipe tears away when I have enough. Thank you for your sarcastic comments that make me laugh hysterically and make me smile later on when I think about them. I know you put up with my crazy moods and you should get a medal for that!

I am so glad that I have been blessed with some one who appreciates ice cream and frozen yogurt as much as I most of the time. I know you use it to bribe me with, but I don't mind because normally what you are asking me to do isn't that bad. Thank you for knowing that when I have a bad day or I'm not feeling well that sometimes this sweet treat makes things better for a little while!

Thank you for putting up with our crazy adorable dog, even though you prefer cats, just because you know she makes me happy. I know she is winning you over slowly but surely especially when she does crazy things like trying to jump out the office window to play with the kids on the street. I know your yard is a mess because of her, but eventually it will be pretty again!

Thank you for watching TV shows you hate because I love them and you want to spend time with me. Thank you for working hard everyday because it helps pay the bills. Thank you for every time you have washed my car, or that I squirted you with water when "helping" and you haven't retaliated. :-) I know I have it coming some time. Thank you for always reminding me that we aren't in control, and for pointing me to the One who is.

Lastly, I just want you to know that I am sooo proud to be your wife and I truly appreciate having you in my life. I know that my life would not be the same if you were not in it!

Love you always!

Your wife, Kelly