where is the love...

An interesting quote from a podcast I was listening to last week: "It just can't be a good thing when anytime you hear about Christians in the news they're boycotting or promoting some sort of negative activity. You know, Jesus said, 'They should know us by our love.'"

That phrase really struck me. I was pondering it...how often do you hear about Christians doing good? Now, I know that there's media bias (yadda yadda yadda)and I know that Christians do DO good... But so many live their Christian lives by the bumper sticker on their car or their cd in the cd player...but how often do they live their Christian lives so that people would know they were Christians by their love? Some talk so much about abstaining from things...parties, circles of people, companies that don't support "Merry Christmas"...because they're called to be "in the world but not of the world." But...I really think that we're called to be in the world and not of the world by our love that we show others. THAT'S the difference. It's a whole lot easier to show we're Christians by putting a fish on the back of our car than to get dirty in dealing with people's lives. Too bad Jesus didn't say, "They should know us by our bumper stickers or the parties we don't go to or the people we DON'T hang around."

Just an interesting thing to think about. Not that I'm saying we should just love and disregard all other Biblical teaching...and not that I didn't already know that we were supposed to be different by our love. It's just interesting to think from a "world" perspective...how do they "tell" Christians from non-Christians. Is it BY our love? Or is it solely by what we boycott/support?

Thoughts?

i am an arteeeest!

As many of you know...my job isn't really what I would call challenging or time consuming. I get my work done and then surf the internet. When I finish the internet, what most of you all don't know is that I dabble in painting. MS paint, that is. I've been meaning to post some of my work on here for quite some time, but I just keep forgetting. Here are some of my more recent works.



The title of this piece is:

Chances my parents will get back together: The story of a snowball in hell.



The inspiration behind this one comes from the season finale of Rock of Love. I missed it coming on at it's normal time and I ended up watching it at 12. I got to bed by 2am and had to get up at 5:30am for work. (I credit The [other] Bec[k] for that. Thank you. But at least he didn't pick Daisy...right!?]

I call that one: Brett's redeemed.



This is another self portrait I drew of me walking into work every morning. Clearly, the sun isn't out at 6:45 am...as no one else should be either. I pray every morning for strength to continue to put one foot in front of the other. ::sigh::

This one is titled: Dear God, It's me...Katie.

Lastly, this is the one I finished yesterday. The story behind this is that yesterday, I rid my life of a freaking HUGE pink elephant that had been annoying the crap out of me for months now. I was finally given permission to deal with it (another story for another time) and so I did. The comment I made in the email with the person giving me the permission said this:
What am I going to do now that the PINK ELEPHANT isn't taking up all my floor space?! I might by an ottoman to kick my heels up on. Or I might just rekindle my love for the game "Twister." I love the options this crusade for self purification gives me.

I title this one: The Finale.



(Left to right: Aunt Mabes, Auntie Em, Me, Pink Elephant.)

So yes...enjoy these pictures. Feel free to reproduce them as you wish. (Mother's Day IS just around the corner.)

...expect to see more soon!

epiphany.

I had a personal epiphany today. It's taken a load off my mind because I have trouble when I can't identify the root of my issue to figure out feelings within myself. Oh sweet [partial] relief.



[...I seriously love this band.]

we dream of ways to break these iron bars
we dream of black nights without moon or stars
we dream of tunnels and of sleeping guards
we dream of blackouts in the prison yard

heartbroken, we found
(a gleam of hope)
harken to the sound,
(a whistle blows)
heaven sent reply,
(however small)
evidence of life
(beyond these walls)
born and bred
(in this machine)
wardens dread
(to see us dream)
we hold tight
(to legends of)
real life,
(the way it was before)

we dream of jailers throwing down their arms
we dream of open gates and no alarms

we dream of ways to break these iron bars
we dream of black nights without moon or stars

heartbroken, we found
(a gleam of hope)
harken to the sound,
(a whistle blows)
heaven sent reply,
(however small)
evidence of life
(beyond these walls)
born and bred
(in this machine)
wardens dread
(to see us dream)
we hold tight
(to legends of)
real life,
(the way it was before)

look to the day the earth will shake
these weathered walls will fall away.

to continue the video theme...

a new favorite group.



Punch Brothers.

kobe, you daredevil you...

Kobe Bryant Jumps over Aston Martin! from Hypebeast on Vimeo.

i thought my sister worked at belk?

"i've had better days bon qui qui."


ahahahahhaha.

Increasingly glad I hitched my wagon to HIS train…

The Husband is plugging along on his coursework for a Master in Fine Arts in Graphic Design. He will finish in March of 2009 and right now he’s looking for an internship that will fulfill the school’s internship requirement. In the beginning, he was concerned that he was not going to be able to find one. He applied to like 12 different places last Tuesday. Since then, he’s been offered 3. It’s so funny to me…he gets so worked up and worried over things like this…worried that he won’t even be able to get ONE internship.

This past weekend he had an interview at the NC Zoo for a Graphic Design internship there. They don’t normally do internships, but after the interview, they were able to offer him a huge project that they would let him be in charge of because they are opening a huge new exhibit this year and are in need of the help. It’s quite a huge task…I think he was a tad overwhelmed by their offer. He said, “I mean…just let me do a brochure to start off with or..SOMEthing!” But I think the challenge is something that’s exciting to him.

The other main contender for this summer is an internship that he was offered yesterday with Fossil. Now, apparently, Fossil is in the business of making quality accessories and getting design awards. The way The Husband talks about it, I feel like angels should sing whenever the name Fossil is mentioned. ☺ He was on cloud 9 last night…really honored that they’d offer him a position.

So now here’s the dilemma. Which one does he pick? I think there’s a decent chance that whichever one he picks will offer him a full time job when it’s over…so that has to be considered. Either place would be great place to work. But one is in Richardson, TX and one is in Asheboro, NC. My entire family lives in Asheboro…which is both good and bad. hahaha. Of course, taking a job with Fossil this early in his game would be highly beneficial when looking for other work in the future. But then considering what my family is getting ready to go through with the possible divorce trial coming up in October…it would be difficult for me not to be able to go home if I needed to. Difficult, but not impossible. Overall, I have told him that knowing how much it SUCKS to be in a job that you hate going to every day, I really want him to go where he will be happy. And as cliché as it is, I’ll be happy if he is happy. I really cannot wait for the day that we’re both out of school. I can’t even imagine.

So anyway…such is life. Decisions decisions. I had to spill my thoughts here because Billy, so true to his nature, doesn’t want to discuss it until after his 45 hour review on Friday. Saturday I’m heading back to Rose Hill to HOPEFULLY finish whatever needs to be finished there. More on that Monday. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers on Sunday. But that means we won’t be able to have a conversation about it until Monday and anyone who knows me knows you might as well ask me to hold my breath until Monday. Nevertheless, I guess I’ll have to try.

So there’s your update, all who have been asking for one. ☺

Here's my earworm for the week:

[and they came BACK ta tha mic.]