here are some of my FAVORITE words: (in no particular order)

grace, refresh, accept, approved, queso, crunch, complimentary, root beer, joy, family, fun, belong, peace, caffeine, football, groove, chocolate.

here are some of my LEAST FAVORITE words:

compare, insufficient, appropriate, height requirement, wait, sweat, rash, audit, progress report, normal, fear, delayed, lima beans.

so...what are some of you favorite/least favorite words?

i know this girl who is looking for love...

 there is a long list of places  that she has looked and a longer list of lovers that she has left behind. she doesn't stay with any one man for too long because somehow the grass always looks a little greener on the other side of the fence. as part of her desperate search she has spent years trying to recapture her youth, maybe the answer is hidden in her past. besides when you are"40 something", with lots of baggage, your opportunities for real love seem pretty limited, so sometimes it's just easier to live in the past. and so she lives to party like it's 1983. she longs to go back to high school and try to recapture something that she has lost. ( as someone who barely survived the hell that is high school i don't know why ANYONE would want to go back and relive one of the most confusing and conflicting times of life.i think that for some people the ideal must outweigh the reality). i think that the girl wants to relive those days because that is when she felt the most alive. her responsibilities were few, she didn't have kids or a mortgage. she spent her days cruising around in the passenger seat of a camaro with a guy with a mullet. they would drive around listening to journey and drinking beer. for a brief moment she felt alive and free and loved. she has been desperately trying to recapture that moment  ever since. she has sacrificed everything to try to regain that feeling. she has sacrificed her family, her children, her self respect, her reputation and her dreams. she gives herself away  to men with liquor on their breath and violence in their hearts. she bears the stain of too many bad choices and too many broken promises (both made and recieved) but deep down in her heart, beyond the stain and the pain, there is still hope and a thirst for a love that is bigger than this life. the thirst is there because her creator planted it deep in her heart. the thirst is meant to drive the girl to her creator. only he has what she has been looking for. love and freedom are only found in one place, by living in relationship with the designer of life. the girl is used to being looked at with disdain or lust, but the creator looks at her with love...love in it's purest form he looks past the stain and see his child. he sees a little girl in a frilly dress full of wide innocence, laughing and running through fields of grace. her creator loves her with a love that is true and unyielding. he longs for her to live in his love. a love that gives and doesn't take, that heals and doesn't hurt. if only she would surrnder to his love he would give her what she has been looking for! he would be the champion of her heart. i pray that she would discover that love!

i know this girl who is looking for love....

luke

this morning i did something that i haven't done in quite a while...i ironed a shirt! i don't like ironing  and i can usually find a good excuse NOT to do it! for instance, excuses such as "it's not THAT bad!" or " i have a wrinkly body, why shouldn't my clothing match?" but this morning i HAD to iron the stupid shirt, it was too far gone. we have a new iron (actually we have had it for a couple of months, but it's brand new to me)  i fired it up and had been ironing for about 5 minutes when i noticed that it wasn't doing any good. it wasn't heating up!i grunted and told diana that there was obviously something wrong with HER new iron. she looked at it and looked down at the electrical plug.  then my loving and supportive wife laughed at me and told me that i had been ironing with an iron that  had come unplugged! i had somehow lost the connection! and so i had lost the heat! i felt a little stupid. but then it dawned on me that i do the same thing spiritually! i , because of my apathy/stupid choices/lack of discipline , try to operate "unplugged". i don't maintain my connection with the source of my power and so i'm living without heat! and i'm suprised when i don't leave a mark despite all my activity! i need to live in connection with my creator! i need to constantly check my connection !

"the gospel that changes a heart without moving your hands is not the gospel."     -Bono