On Purpose

When a cowboy applied for an insurance policy, the agent asked, "Have you ever had any accidents?" After a moment's reflection, the applicant responded, "Nope, but a bronc did kick in two of my ribs last summer, and a couple of years ago a rattlesnake bit me on the ankle."

"Wouldn't you call those accidents?" replied the puzzled agent. "Naw," the cowboy said, "they did it on purpose!"

That story reminds me of the biblical truth that there are no accidents in the lives of God's children. In today's Scripture (Gen. 50: 15-21), we read how Joseph interpreted a difficult experience that had seemed like a great calamity. He had been thrown into a pit and then sold as a slave. This was a great test of his faith, and from the human standpoint it appeared to be a tragic case of injustice, not a providential means of blessing. But Joseph later learned that "God meant it for good" (Gen. 50:20).

Are you passing through the deep waters of a trial and disappointment? Does everything seem to be going against you? These apparent misfortunes are not accidents. The Lord allows such things for a blessed purpose. So patiently trust Him. If you know the Lord, someday you will praise Him for it all!

-Richard DeHann

* from Our Daily Bread

Psalm 25

To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;
2 in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.
4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths;
5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.
7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.
8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.
10 All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.
11 For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.
12 Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD ? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.
13 He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.
14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.
15 My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
17 The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish.
18 Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins.
19 See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate me!
20 Guard my life and rescue me; let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.
22 Redeem Israel, O God, from all their troubles!

i have never felt more stupid in all my life.


i don't know how to fix it...

i am the biggest dork.

so it's after midnight, and i'm trying to go to sleep cause i have a class at 8 tomorrow morning. but i can't sleep. why you ask? cause i can't stop thinking about the silly bloomsburg fair. i'm so stinking excited to go home this weekend and eat all the wonderful fair food. mmmmmm...

there's just something about the fair. granted, it's exactly the same from year to year, but somehow it never gets old. maybe that's what makes it special... it's just like bloomsburg... always the same... there aren't too many things in this world that are unchanging, but the bloomsburg fair (as well as bloomsburg in general) comes pretty close. i have such great memories of the fair from the time i was really little to even last year. i remember my parents taking me to see all the animals when i was really young, and i remember my grandmother coming with us one year, and of course there are all the times i went in high school. i can't believe we used to go every day. oh man, we were such nerds. hopefully i'll create equally wonderful memories this year...

g'night kids... much love...

I HATE THIS BLASTED APARTMENT!!!!!!!

i cannot wait to move out... only 8 more months...





(i don't have the energy to explain... if you're that curious, read katie's blog)

hehe... sorry boys... it was just too funny not to share.

i feel that i must share with you some pictures from this weekend, cause, well... they're just too darn cute not to share!

the prize for the quotation of the day goes to mark :

mark: I'm telling you, you're a drug


thanks... i think...

how funny is this picture!?! it's from when we went to hershey for halloween 2 years ago. i have no idea what i was looking at that made me look so horrified. haha... good times, good times.

well, my first day of classes went pretty well. i think i'm really going to like the two i had today. i really cannot understand why i thought i wanted to be an editor. i LOVE sociology classes. it makes so much more sense for me to go into social work than to become an editor. sometimes i think someone else should make decisions for me.

speaking of decisions, i was just on the phone talking to my mother about graduate schools. last fall i started looking at the university of maryland and marywood. for a while i was thinking about applying to temple, boston college, and boston university as well, but i've ruled them out on the basis of not wanting to take GRE's or living eight hours (or something) away from bloomsburg. so it looks like i'll just be applying to marywood and maryland. i hate decisions though. i can see myself getting really stressed out about this one. there's just so much to consider, and so little information to go on at this point. i'm so impatient... and i just hate not knowing what i'm doing next. i like to have a plan. i know it will all work out eventually, and i'll wonder why i was so stressed out about it, but right now i'm a little worried. maybe i'll just try eeny meeny miney moe. sound good?

on a rather different note... the kateness is coming home with me this weekend!!!!! i'm so excited. hopefully i'll be able to get some of my buds together on saturday night to take her out to all the happenin' places in bloomsburg. hehe i'm sure it will be like nothing she's ever experienced before.

and now i must go to bed, cause i'm way tired. g'night, kids... much love...

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


(for various reasons... you'd just have to be in my head)

oh... i just LOVE it when i can't fall asleep.


stupid brain...

mark has this song on his xanga... and well, i felt the need to steal this part of it and post it here. it's just been that kind of week...


and i can't understand, all that you allow
i just can't see the reason
but my life is in your hands and though i cannot see you
i choose to trust you


*hugs* for mark... and others who may have had a rough week...

i've decided that this living alone stuff has got to end. i'm about to lose my mind!!!


luckily, i only have a few more days...

i miss my bloomsburg buddies like whoa!

this weekend was another great one... saturday ma and i made a big dinner for all my buds (well... not all... some weren't able to come... and they were missed ) it was spectacular. my mother can COOK! it was seriously the best eggplant parmesan i have ever eaten. it's really too bad that i didn't inherit any of the cooking genes. anyway, i had a great time with everybody. i know i say it a lot, but i really love those guys. the greatest thing about the time we spend together is that we don't do anything. haha... we just sit around being goofy and having a blast.

then yesterday the parents and i went to eagle's mere to the arts and crafts festival. we walked up to the booth where you pay to get in and as my father was paying the woman, she asked, "is she 16?" um... yeah... i'm 21. i LOVE that she thought i was under 16. i suppose that will be a good thing in about 30 years, but right now it's kinda frustrating. eh well... we had a good laugh.

we came home, ate, and i did a little homework and then started to get my stuff together in order to leave. as i was doing this, my mother was watching the PGA tournament to see if she could spot jay in the crowd (she was convinced that she'd be able to see him amongst the throngs of people), and as she was watching, a severe weather alert came across the screen. the weather service was calling for severe thunderstorms all across the state, so long story short, i stayed in bloomsburg last night and got up at 6:30 this morning to drive back here to go to class at 10:15. i am beat. i laid around all afternoon and slept for over and hour or so, and i'm still tired. it was nice to get to stay an extra night though. we all (including the mags) sat on the porch for a while... then daddy went to bed cause he has to get up at an hour that doesn't even exist to me... so then ma and i sat out there and chatted about life. i'm so blessed to have the parents i have. not many people can say that their parents are their best friends. i'm glad i can.

speaking of best friends... sarah's family moved to new jersey today. that is so very weird to me. it's hard to believe she won't be living in that house anymore. i'm sure it's weird to her as well. but i hope she knows she is always welcomed to crash at my house if she's feeling homesick or just wants a homecooked meal. my parents would absolutely love it. change is hard... but as miss joan always says, it's the only thing that's constant.

and now i'm off to work on statistics. this is my last week (i hope)... my final is on thursday, so if you need me before then, i'll probably be in the livingroom studying til my eyes begin to bleed. (sorry katie)

love to all...

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."
-Jeremiah 29:13

what a great weekend...

last night i got to hang out with my best buds in bloomsburg. it was absolutely wonderful. i forgot how much i love being with all of them. first shell, brandon, jay and i hung out at brandon's grandmother's pool for a little while. then cj, greg and lindsay met us back at my house, and we just sat around talking all night. shell, brandon, and jay stayed til about 2 in the morning. it has been a really long time since shell has hung out that late. i was trying to remember the last time... i think it was 3 years ago, right after her birthday, when the four of us sat on my front porch talkin' til 2am. i have some great memories with those guys. i'm so thankful that they're all a part of my life. it was just so reviving to be with them last night. i really needed that. and it really meant a lot to me for shell to stay out so late, cause she doesn't often do that. i feel special.

i have this quote in my profile that says, "when i find myself fading, i close my eyes and realize my friends are my energy". that couldn't be more true for me. those guys really are my energy. i miss them so much when i'm not home. i'm just able to be more of myself when i'm with them, and that's such a great feeling.

so thank you guys for an incredible night... you mean the world to me... love ya bunches...

It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society. It would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid. When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion - its message becomes meaningless.
-Abraham Joshua Heschel




(side note: mark sent this to me, just so everyone knows and he doesn't start whining again)

happy birthday, sar!!!

I DON'T WANNA BE IN COLLEGE ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!