Choose Wisely.

I don't think of myself as a picky person. I eat almost anything except lima beans and peas (I do however love love split pea soup). I don't really have a favorite color, movie, song, etc. I'm only really picky when it comes to my journals (even here I am getting a little more lax...take heart CCM boys! I am using the notebook from sisters' appreciation!) and pen point size (I have to say  0.5 is the best...anything less is too small). I don't have a favorite farm animal either. I just hate horses.

Lately dating and relationships have been hot topics (actually...when are they not???) but especially more so recently because of Mt. Hermon. Camp is infamous for being a big meat market (ok..camps is also known for other serious things...that I will blog about later...maybe). It has even accumulated different nicknames; Mt. Hormone, Meet-Her-Man, etc. There's "cabin time", "top three", "superficial top 3", and "blanket rules".

It's strange and hilarious watching little high school boys and girls chase after each other. Doing QTs in the same area, eating meals together, bombarding the craft table, sneaky creeper pictures, luring each other with stuffed animals...it is all very bizarre. More frightening than their weirdo game is how quickly the flirtatious behaviour begins. At the most they've met each other the year before and at the least they've known each other a few hours. It's nuts! How well do you really know that person? More than that are you even interested in them for the right reasons?

A month or so before camp I started listening to Rick Holland's "Biblical Femininity" series again. I always get owned in the face, man, I need to work on being a classy biblical lady. I think what stood out to me most this time around was the warning Rick Holland gave repeatedly throughout the first 2 messages. "Ladies, ladies! Choose wisely!"

Holland was preaching through 1 Peter 3 talking about submission and how women are called to submit to their "own husbands", meaning we get a choice in who we decide to submit to. So choose wisely!

The other day I ran into one of my sister's old kindergarten teachers at the mall. The last time I talked to this lady was in 4th grade. She was telling me about everything she'd been up to since then like teaching art classes at the school and getting a divorce. After over 15 years of marriage she ended things for various reasons that I wont disclose...but that guy was just not a nice man at all. After talking about what had happened and then sharing about how God had been gracious to her through it all, she looked at me and told me "choose wisely".

As girls, we like to think we have it the hardest. There's more effort that needs to be put in to looking presentable. We have to cram our feet into stilettos. We shave, pluck, wax and thread. We get a visit from "Aunt Flow" once a month. And when it comes to dating we are left powerless until some boy asks us to coffee. The waiting game is tough, but we aren't left completely powerless, if anything we have all the power in the world! (ok...maybe not the world) We have the power to graciously and kindly reject any invitations we receive.

 Who you submit to for the rest of your life is at stake, ladies. So be picky. Choose wisely. Don't be rustling your leaves at some guy just because he's attractive or even just because he's seemingly godly. Choose wisely. Don't rely just on emotions or feelings that can be false and fleeting. 

"In every date is a potential mate." 
Choose wisely.

Be a Lady Not a Tramp.

Back in high school when I would drive Allison around she'd always ask if we could go to Starbucks. When I would say yes she would say thanks. Thanks because I ended up paying for her drink! Every time. But now the tables have turned. She is the one working this summer (I miss the pool!!!). So today, I rode with her to get gas (driving with her is not as scary as driving with Kaity....) and I made her get me Starbucks. Woo hoo!!!

She also bought me this book a while back, lost it, and then finally gave it to me today. She told me it would help me dress better. I seriously thought she was going to give me this book:

Or this one:

Everyone says I dress like a mom...or that I look like one. My question is why are all of your mothers dressing like hot 21 year olds???

Really though, she got me this book:

 "Highlights include: How to dress sexy without looking like a skank; How to flirt without facing charges of cyber stalking; Which guy is good, which guy is bad, which guy is gay; The difference between dinner conversation and discussions you should only have with your gynecologist; How to navigate meals with plates that aren't paper and utensils that aren't plastic"

Apparently I need to say farewell to my trampy lifestyle and hello to the "CLASSY" life.

Juniors!

The Junior class is the best. Granted I might be a little biased...but I think it's true. I mean no one else can pull off "Z" like we can.

  April made her rounds to our class dropping off study food. What a nice girl! Sad she's leaving!!!! Why must you be smart and graduate a year early!? But man, look at the love in our class. So wonderful...and I am tired/cracked out enough to get a little teary...

Highway to Hell.

Motor vehicle accidents can be scary. Cars can overturn. Airbags deploy. Motorcycles skid across the pavement. Even when cars are going at a mere 30mph serious damage can be done.
I've been in accidents, seen accidents, and more recently I've been able to offer help. Kaity and I stopped to help this one couple when we were driving back from Irvine once. We learned that people do weird things when they are in shock. This week, I was on my way to volunteer at the hospital when I saw the cause for all the crazy traffic. This motorcycle was down in the far left lane. I didn't see any flashing lights-- no CHP, or fire department. Immediately, I flipped on my left blinker and made my way over while dialing 911. 
It's funny how quickly and easily I made the decision to go over and help. I wasn't worried that people might be looking at me crouching on the freeway. I didn't care that I looked all weird with my polo tucked into my kakis. It didn't matter what the person lying on the ground thought about me. It didn't matter who the person on the ground was. I didn't care that I might come off a little annoying saying, "Hi! I'm Tracy. I know first aid. Can I help you?" I knew I might not be prepared or capable of dealing with what might be wrong with motorcyclist, but I was still willing to go and try and help.
You know a life is on the line. So with heart pounding and hands a little shaky you go.

Why isn't my response to evangelism the same?


"...do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell." Matthew 10:28
...
The lady got taken away by ambulance. The fire fighters came and slapped a c collar on her while I held her head and when they backboarded her I got to count it out! Weee!

I love firemen.

365 Days of Foto Fail.

I am really bad at keeping up with this photo blog thing. Freak. Here are some old ones. So old I don't even remember why and when I took them. Fail.

 Here's a picture of the back of a truck. I have no idea why I took this. I think it's in V-town aka self-named "Awesometown"

 This was from like...last month or something. I went to study in the Science Library in the study rooms. Someone put their boogers on the wall. I was going to die. This is a picture of the bigger darker ones.

Some people say that I have germaphobia, but I really don't think it's true. Carrying Lysol in your bag is a normal thing. All those little specks on the wall are boogers.

On Saturday, I got to hang out with most of my aunts and uncles. No cousins. I was the only child. BUT I was not the one who did this. It was my aunt.

My Soul Finds Rest in God Alone.

My soul finds rest in God alone,
My Rock and my salvation,
A fortress strong against my foes,
And I will not be shaken.
Though lips may bless and hearts may curse,
And lies like arrows pierce me,
I’ll fix my heart on righteousness,
I’ll look to Him who hears me.

O praise Him, hallelujah,
My Delight and my Reward;
Everlasting, never failing,
My Redeemer, my God.

Find rest, my soul, in God alone
Amid the world’s temptations;
When evil seeks to take a hold
I’ll cling to my salvation.
Though riches come and riches go,
Don’t set your heart upon them;
The fields of hope in which I sow
Are harvested in heaven.

O praise Him, hallelujah,
My Delight and my Reward;
Everlasting, never failing,
My Redeemer, my God.

I’ll set my gaze on God alone,
And trust in Him completely;
With every day pour out my soul,
And He will prove His mercy.
Though life is but a fleeting breath,
A sigh too brief to measure,
My King has crushed the curse of death
And I am His forever.

O praise Him, hallelujah,
My Delight and my Reward;
Everlasting, never failing,
My Redeemer, my God.

Finish Well.

No unwelcome tasks become any the less unwelcome by putting them off till tomorrow. It is only when they are behind us and done, that we begin to find that there is a sweetness to be tasted afterwards, and that the remembrance of unwelcome duties unhesitatingly done is welcome and pleasant. Accomplished, they are full of blessing, and there is a smile on their faces as they leave us. Undone, they stand threatening and disturbing our tranquility, and hindering our communion with God. If there be lying before you any bit of work from which you shrink, go straight up to it, and do it at once. The only way to get rid of it is to do it.

-Alexander MacLaren (1826–1910), Scottish preacher

Sanctification.

"Glory be to God for the furnace, the hammer, and the file. Heaven shall be all the fuller of bliss because we have been filled with anguish here below, and earth shall be better tilled because of our training in the school of adversity."- CHS

I Went to a Funeral & Finally Watched Iron Man.

That is what I literally did last  Friday. Well, I also went to physics lab in the morning.

Funerals. I have been to many in my life. I even have a specific black dress that I keep on hand, the funeral dress, like a go bag it's ready when I need it even on a moments notice. I guess it is kind of morbid having a "funeral dress" (my sisters and I seriously call it that), But it comes in handy and considering the number of funerals I've been to it's nice just having one go to outfit. 

At this past funeral, my sister noted that she's almost been to more funerals than years she has been alive. At one of the funerals I was at a couple of years ago, my one friend said that it was the first one she'd ever been to in her entire life, I think that was the seventh one I'd been to that year. I've been to funerals for old people. Funerals for young people. To funerals for people I knew well and for people I didn't. I've been to funerals where the person's death was expected and to ones where death came suddenly. Christian funerals. Buddhist funerals. Funerals with no religious association. Funerals that were bittersweet because the person was a Christian and sad funerals where the person wasn't. One thing that all funerals have in common though is that they get me thinking about not only death and dying, but also life and living.

This past funeral I was at the man lived a long, long life. My cousins' grandpa lived to be 105 (or...maybe 106...no one is sure when his birthday was). He lived to see two world wars. Survived the Depression. He was alive to see the Wright bothers fly their plane and man land on the moon. He was alive when both the television and blue ray disc were invented.

I thought about all the things that I will have seen in my lifetime. I don't know if I will live to see 105/106 years worth of things, but already I've seen a lot. The iPod, hybrid cars, the birth control patch, the Euro, 9/11, H1N1, and Justin Beiber to name a few things. While these things are significant, I think more narcissistically maybe, I tend to ask not what crazy things have happened in the world during my lifetime, but how has my life been significant. Am I living a life that matters?

Maybe this is lame...No, it is lame, but watching Iron Man reinforced these questions. I finally watched Iron Man all the way through, paying full attention to the movie (YAY! Iron Man 2 this Thursday!). The whole movie is about getting the chance to live a life that matters, making an impact on the world.

There's that one scene toward the beginning of the movie when Tony Stark is in the first suit that he built and is escaping from the Ten Rings and his new friend, Yinsen, is dying and he tells Stark, "Don't waste it. Don't waste your life." Right after he said that immediately I started thinking Piper. "Don't waste your life."

Similarly to Iron Man, Christians get a "second chance". We've been redeemed to live lives that matter for God's glory. We are allowed to be part of the process of saving souls! How much greater is that than stopping some rebel terror group that is using the weapons you invented? 

I think, a lot of times I don't see it as that great. While I would spend energy cheering Iron Man on as he kills some bad guys, I often forget to spend my time and energy in prayer for the missionaries I know. And while I become anxious and excited as a fictitious superhero goes to confront the antagonist, I become scared and timid and I shy away from opportunities to share the Gospel. How is it that defeating the Ten Rings has become more relevant than fighting for people's souls???

Death is guaranteed. I don't know when it will come, but it will. I might live to be 105 too or maybe I will not even see tomorrow morning. When I am dead it wont matter how much money I made (if I died tonight it really would not matter) or what career I had, who I married, if I even got married. It's not going to matter if people thought highly of me or if I was significant according to the world's standards. At the end we go, "sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything." I will take nothing from this world with me to the next. What will matter is if I lived a life that was spent on the gospel. 

There is no fear in spending and being spent for Christ because we know that we are like Iron Man (sort of...) in that we cannot be defeated either. Like Whitfield said, "We are immortal until our work on earth is done."  

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." John 12: 24-26   

Without.

"Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."