do re me fa so la ti do

Most of you know I haven't worked in over a week. SUCK FEST. Although I have thorough distaste for my job, rather my job conditions, and I would prefer not to go back there. So please pray that I find a new position asap. In the meantime I have been singing. and singing. and singing.

This past weekend I sang for Spin 10, The Village's version of D-Now for Jr. High & High School students. It was so much fun. I haven't been around that age of kids for quite some time & I truly forgot how high energy they are. Granted, when I was that age, I wasn't that high energy. not even close. Thursday through Saturday night I spent at the Highland Village campus rehearsing and laughing with a bunch of doofus staff guys. It was awesome. Sunday I sang in Denton all four services then proceeded to yesterday when I lead with James Cole & Andy Zapata for Crew Quarterly, which all of you Denton losers missed. It was really good. the Dallas campus is beautiful and I understand now why they're having to figure out where they're going to put an additional service; the sanctuary is not that big.

I wrote a new song yesterday after reading through some Psalms. I wrote a chorus quite some time ago that was BEAUTIFUL. The problem was that I couldn't get past just the chorus. I had a pre-chorus that was okay, but I couldn't get any verses. So I took the general idea, the basic chord progression, and turned it into something better. It's so great, and once I completely finish it, record it, and send it to the worship staff, I'm sure you'll hear it somewhere. Maybe it will even be on The Village worship album.

On a different note, regarding the job junk. Last week I was reading Ecclesiastes 3. A time for this, a time for that. I thought, 'Ok God, I get that this is the time for me to escape my job.' I think we all have read Ecclesiastes 3 or at least heard of it. But how far into the chapter did you make it? I didn't know it past verse 8.

Ecclesiastes 3:9-13
9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live, 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil- this is God's gift to man.

God is faithful. He'll take care of it. And whatever purpose he has for me in this in-between, I trust that he's got my back. He'll take care of the financial stuff, the future stuff, the what-if stuff. I'm ok. Better than that. I've got the creator of the heavens & earth on my side. What do I have to worry about?

on a completely unrelated to anything note- yesterday I went to google something Jeff & I were talking about- I don't remember what it was but it started with 'why are'. The auto-predict on the google search bar in safari is hilarious. rather, the stuff people google is hilarious. I'm going to give you the top 5 predicted google searches that start with 'why are...'

WHY ARE....
1. black people so loud?
2. people posting colors on facebook?
3. yawns contagious?
4. the kardashians famous?
5. michael jackson's kids white?

and for a bonus,
6. why are there school?

yes you're reading it right. why are there school?

happy tuesday!

p.s. Denise, I'll post V-day pictures this afternoon... when I find my camera. LOVE YOU.

"journey's end at lover's meeting"

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.

 Because this is what love is. 

Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. 

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we 

found that we were one tree and not two." 

-St. Augustine

If music be the food of love, then play on. - William Shakespeare

Though our feelings come and go, God's love for us does not. - CS Lewis

A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.- Ingrid Bergman

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I just thought I would share some of my favorite quotes on love, since it's the week of Valentine's. I am quite the romantic, despite my natural tendency toward realism (some of you might call it pessimism). Romanticism and realism (cough, cough, pessimism) rarely go hand in hand, but somehow I function just fine. :) 

I could watch Pride & Prejudice over and over all day, surround myself with stacks of Keats poetry, Shakespeare's sonnets (although Shakespeare was kind of a downer), and Jane Austen novels, weep all of my tears because Fannie Price just isn't as charming or beautiful as Mary Crawford and just can't seem to win ... and then gag at people around me smooching in public or men who are clearly whipped by their overdressed, under-clothed girlfriends.

I think men sometimes over-think romance and put too much pressure on themselves. Romance means something different to everyone. Putting romance in the "flowers, candy, candlelight" box is just unfair. The best part about romance is creativity. Am I wrong?

               ro-mance n.

1.  
1. A love affair.
2. Ardent emotional attachment between people; love
2.  
1. love, esp romantic love idealized for its purity or beauty
2. a spirit of or inclination for adventure, excitement or mystery

Jeff and I have been together for almost 6 years. We know A LOT about each other. In fact, he says I'm predictable. Psh....

Despite how well we know each other, there is still an element of mystery and adventure in our relationship. I am so glad that God designed all of us to be so complex to keep life exciting. After 6 years, the butterflies in my stomach aren't there anymore, but that's not romance or love. It's the little things. Knowing that he'll be there when I get home, or that he will always love me despite my tendency to curse when I hurt myself, and that he will ALWAYS, without fail, make me laugh when I absolutely do not want to- that's what makes me excited. He still surprises me with random facts, stories I'd never heard, and with his ability to silently appear out of nowhere (I swear, the man is like a cat). Romance goes much deeper than superficial, temporary things. It's a feeling that is stirred; an emotion triggered. 

Ultimately, though, it is selfless. The Bible says a lot about love. But in Ephesians 5, it talks first about submitting to Christ. Without Christ, there is not true love. Have you noticed that the more consistent you are in the Word, the closer you feel to your husband/wife? I have. That's because marriage is meant to be a reflection of the love God has for his children. In submitting to Christ, you are setting yourself aside- allowing Christ to be prominent. It goes on to say that husbands are to love their wives as they love their own bodies. We are selfish people. To put someone else's well-being as high/higher up than our concern for our own is a big sacrifice. We're called to love each other as Christ loves the church. And as we all know, Christ died on a cross, undeservingly, for an undeserving people. 

There is such weight, and at the same time, freedom, in that. 

I actually didn't intend to write about all this. I was going to tell you to pray for Jeff's mom. Pray for Jeff's mom, and all our family. The Lord is sovereign and faithful, but pray his favor over her body. 

I love you. L O V E you. all of you. Happy Valentine's. Go eat some sugary-sweet-bad-for-you treats. Just not these nasty conversation hearts. blegh...