MY BLOG POSTS

Yesterday, my first period class showed me this video (yes, technology in the classroom is a wonderful thing).

It made me laugh.

I came home and showed my kids, and they tried it.

It’s even funnier live.

Too bad I didn’t tape it.

You’ve got to be pretty bored to think, “I wonder what would happen if I put a spoonful of cinnamon in my mouth and kept it there for ten seconds?”

And you have to be pretty bored to sit and watch someone who actually does it.

I’m sure there were much more constructive activities I could have done those three minutes and four seconds. But none would have made me laugh quite so hard.

We have the day off school today, and I am still feeling a little bored, so I am up for some more suggestions. What crazy videos have you seen recently??

Love books?

Love chocolate?

Then you’ll love teenreads.com’s Valentine’s Day Contest:

Teenreads.com Books to Fall in Love With 2012

The countdown to February 14th is on! And we’re spreading the love with our first-ever Valentine’s Day contest and feature. From now through February 9th, readers will have the chance to win one of our five Teenreads.com Valentine’s Day prize packages, which includes one copy of each of our featured books and a bag of Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares.

Our featured Valentine’s Day titles are:

• CINDER: Book One in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
• FALLEN IN LOVE: A Fallen Novel in Stories by Lauren Kate
• FIRST DATE by Krista McGee
• THE LUCKY ONE by Nicholas Sparks

Does it ever make you uncomfortable believing there’s just one way to know God? It makes me uncomfortable sometimes.  I’m a people pleaser. I want everyone to be happy. I really want everyone to like me. I hate knowing people are annoyed with me or think I am intolerant or narrow-minded.

I’ve had to wrestle through this several times in my  Christian life. I have gone back to the bible to make sure I didn’t miss something. Maybe God isn’t really saying Jesus is the only way. It does seem awfully rigid, doesn’t it? So I study again and, yep, there it is: Jesus is the only way to heaven.

So am I narrow-minded?

Only if what I believe is purely opinion. Like when I say “Costa Rican coffee is the best coffee in the world.” You can choose to believe something else. I know that’s my opinion. But I think I’m right. I mean, have you ever tried Costa Rican coffee? It makes Folgers taste like…well, Folgers.

But what if I were to say, “The Giants won the Superbowl last night?” Could you disagree? Sure you could. You could yell at me and tell me the Patriots won. You could really believe that. You could do your best to convince others that I am wrong and narrow-minded in my belief that the Giants won.

But that wouldn’t change the facts (sorry, Pats’ fans. I don’t mean to rub it in).

The fact is, Jesus is the only way to heaven. People can argue that’s not true. And many do. And those people are smart, they do good things; I know many non-Christians who are far nicer than many Christians I have known. This isn’t about who is the “best.” It’s about facts. True and false.

But don’t take my word for it.  Check it out for yourself. Pick up the Bible. The book of John is a great place to start. See what Jesus says about himself.

So I’m labeled narrow-minded. Big deal. I’ll add it to the list of names I’ve been called in my life. And I’ll ignore those names in light of what God calls me…

Beloved.

Somehow, everything else just pales in comparison.

13 wasn’t the best year for me. I was heavily into perms. Addicted to hairspray. Hungover on blue eyeshadow. I slathered on baby oil when I went to the beach, where I read the entire Sweet Valley High series in one sitting. My double-layered shirts always matched my double-layered socks, which slouched above my cool white Reebok hightops.

(This is me at a family reunion in 1988 — my hair is so big it blends into the background. That’s my sister, Alexis, next to me. I could have cropped her out, but I didn’t want to be alone in my back-in-the-day humiliation)

But I did do one great thing when I was 13: I started praying for my future husband. A Sunday school teacher suggested it, and I thought it was a great idea. I didn’t know who he was or where he was, but I determined to begin praying for him.

What I didn’t know is my future husband was 19 at that time. He had just started college. He had grown up as a pastor’s kid, so he knew the Lord. But he hadn’t really been living like he knew Him. But Dave says he remembers being 19 and standing on his college campus and thinking, “I need to make a choice. Either I’m going to serve Jesus or I’m not. I’m tired of sitting on the fence.”

Thankfully, he chose to serve Jesus.

Would he have made that choice had I not prayed for him? I don’t know. What I do know is that God impressed upon my teenage heart to pray for my future spouse, and I did.

We have been married now for almost 16 years. Dave is one of the godliest people I know. A great father and husband and friend.

I take all the credit for that.

Well, me and Jesus.

And big hair.