This is one of my favorite poems. I have it hanging over my bed. I've had it there for a while. The funny thing is, Jared does too. I was talking about this poem that I had hanging over my bed one day and he was like, "What?!? I have that poem hanging over my bed too!" It was weird. That was many years ago. I still have it hanging on the wall behind my bed. And soon it will be going back up to 9501 with me to start off the new school year.

God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain rocky and steep,
Never a river turbid and deep.

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.

One town

40 Kids

No adults

Looks interesting...

Here is a really interesting article by C.J. Mahaney.

Cravings and Conflicts

On the cross, the Son of God resolved the most serious conflict: the conflict between a holy God and wicked sinners. It has been settled, completely and forever, through the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The ultimate relational conflict has been totally resolved. Our sin is worse than we think, but God's grace is greater than our sin.

Because that infinitely serious conflict with God has been resolved, there is hope for resolving every human relational conflict. When we have humbled ourselves before God through repentance, we are then equipped by grace to seek interpersonal resolution. With our sins against God forgiven, we can begin to find reconciliation with others.

And here is the scriptures for you to read.

James 4:1-10
1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God.

3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?

6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

In case you all were wondering, today is:

Rollar Coaster Day

Tell a Joke Day

and

True Love Day.


I wonder who makes these things up?

Click here to see more days this year.
I'd be more excited if I had the day off work for all of them.
ha ha.

VICTORY!!!

A year later, after walking all over campus going to visit eight different people's offices, and emailing countless other people, after sending in course syllabis and arguements to why I should get credit for my Short Story class, after many tears and frustrations with the Maryland school system, I finally have credit for all four of my classes that they wouldn't give me credit for before. They transfered in three of them right before I left this semester, which was exciting, but this is one that I would have had to take over again, if I hadn't gotten it. So I have been fighting for it all summer. Finally, after all that, I have credit for it and can graduate happy (well, make that I CAN graduate...see that HL CORE he tagged on the end there...I need to have one of those clases to graduate...I now do)!! Hooray. This makes my day! I don't have to retake short story. Maybe to celebrate I will post a few of my favorite short stories on here and we can discuss them. Some of them really stick with you.

Have any of you read the Lottery? Paul's Case? Those are two of my favorites. I'll have to go home and look up the rest. Any comments about short stories? Looking back, I enjoyed reading most of them. Some of them were a little weird (like the Swimmer, or the story about the man with the wings). Yeah, I'll have to pull out that old book and flip through it.

Cheers.

Dear Transfer Credit Center:

Please update the following student's record, along with changing the current course equivalence, as noted below:

Faith H***** (********)
514040 - University of Delaware (0401) ENGL210, Introduction to the Short Story is equivalent to the following UMD course: ENGL278 and HL CORE

Thanks!

Kevin M. R*******

Oh and I have one more non major class to take before I graduate. It has to be a history of art or an art class or I just found the one I think I am taking... I a music class. It in an intro to theory class. I think it would be fascinating. I'll have to think about it, but I am pretty sure this is what I want to take. It is either this or intro to film. But who wants to sit around and watch movies and write papers about them? I mean, some movies might be interesting, but I would probably have to watch a lot of crap that I don't want to. I'd rather learn about music and how it is made.

MUSC140 Music Fundamentals I; (3 credits) Grade Method: REG/AUD. CORE History or Theory of Arts (HA) Course. USP Distributive Studies Area C: Literature and the Arts Course.
Limited to non-music majors. Introductory theory course.
Notation, scales, intervals, triads, rhythm, form and basic aural skills.

I took over this project for someone in my office. It was working on coordination plans for a rather large office building. Coordination plans are when you stick all the HVAC duct, equiptment, and registers on one drawing along with the lights and sprinkler pipes and whatever else might be in the ceiling (like smoke detectors, fire alarms, projectors...etc.). Then you look around the drawing to see what sort of mistakes you can find (like a sprinkler on a light or a register over a light or a sprinkler pipe running through a duct...). So you mark all of those down and circle them on the drawing (this might give you a picture of how messy these drawings are with everything on them, you can't see the circles normally because they blend in with everything else, you can get a little cross eyed sometimes staring at the drawing). Then after you have circled everything you see, you get to pull out the ceiling plan and roof plan and figure out how much space is actually in the ceiling and if you have too much stuff jammmed up them (example: a 12 inch duct running over a 6 inch light in only 12 inches of clearance... there is a problem there and it is my job to find it). It gets a little bit tricky when the roof is sloped and you have to figure out the pitches of the roof, but I really enjoyed it. I worked on this project for over 48 hours, two weeks ago. I found 107 errors in the drawing (or as we call them, possible conflicts).

So the guy I was doing them for, because he is so busy with other work, went down to take these drawings to the owner and builder in Tennessee. They were looking over the drawings and commented about how nice they looked and how impressed they were with all the different conflicts we found (because it is better to know that there are problems now before the building is built).

The guy I was doing them for says, "Well, I couldn't have done them without Faith."
Of course he knew he meant me and so did one of the other guys who works with me, but everyone else in the room got really quiet and just looked at him very oddly, like what do we say to that?
Then the other guy who went down there says, "That is our summer mechanical intern."

heh. My name is quite a amusing.

Mom,

I am making seven layer (or about that many layers) mexican dip for work my last day. So we need to get together and plan that some time when your businessness dies down a bit. haha. Anyhow, this is more a reminder to myself.

Also, I am getting off at three, going home, gathering up my stuff, meeting Sarah there, and we will head down to the Taylors to meet you all. Looking forward to good food and fellowship. :D I can't wait.

Faith

"Stop the press,
hold the news,
the secret's safe between me and you..."

Heh. I don't know why that song popped into my head. In today's new: My cat is in quarantine at the humane society. They are rethinking the case and will let us know by the end of next week. Really the easiest thing for me to do right now is pretend she is dead. That way if she does get released then I have a nice surprise, but if not then I am not devastated again. So basically my cat's life is in limbo right now. She is stuck in a room full of kittens. I bet she is hating it.

Oh, and Luke's cat is still alive as well. They are both waiting to see the vet this coming week. So both of our cats are waiting around in cages to either live or die. What a crazy week. We'll see what happens...

I thought my cat and I would get old together and I would come back home someday and she would be dead. But as of Monday I have to have my cat killed because my brothers cat killed a bat and when my Mom took it to get tested the tests were inconclusive. So my wonderful cat, which I have had since I was 8 (September of 1994), my beautiful calico, one of a kind, comes when you are crying and tries to cheer you up, has to die. How tragic is that? She has done nothing wrong. I think I will go cry again now. I really can't believe this.

Goodbye my best furry friend.

Pets sure are a blessing from God. They cheer you up when you are sad. Marble had this funny way of whenever people would be crying, she would go stick her face in their face and just start purring. And she would stay there until you stopped. She'd let you hug her or pet her or do anything when she knew you were sad. It was sort of strange because most people know her as a very stuck-up cat and she normally is. But there is something about crying people that she always went to comfort. At least I can still look back and remember how great she was. I feel really silly getting this upset over my cat. I mean, it is just an animal. But she's been such a part of my life for so long now. I don't know it is weird. I think it is the shock of it all that bothers me.

This passage is so rich!

First, it starts by telling us to rejoice and then reminds us again to rejoice. I wonder why that is? Maybe because it is so hard for us to rejoice. And if you notice it doesn't say, rejoice when you feel good or rejoice when things are going your way. Ouch. So we are supposed to rejoice in the Lord always! That means that our joy isn't to be found in anything else. I have really been missing this point lately. If my joy was only found in Christ, then I could rejoice even when things didn't seem to be going my way. I just wanted to remind you all to take time to rejoice today. What a great thing that we can rejoice in our Savior. He has purchased us with his blood and presents our souls spotless before God.

Second, do not be anxious about anything... not just the things you don't think you can handle, nothing!! Ha. I love this passage. This is one of those passages that we should be writing on our doorpost. :D It goes along with the rejoicing part. I mean, if our focus is right on God and his will, then we won't be anxious about anything.

Third, I love verse 8! It is beautiful. And I have to get back to work. Otherwise, I would talk about this passage more. I love the book of Phillipians.


Phillipians 4:4-8

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

5 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers,
whatever is true,
whatever is honorable,
whatever is just,
whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable,
if there is any excellence,
if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things.

Let's play a game...

Guess what kind of building this is...

I found this picture while looking at different light companies today. I was shocked when I read what it was used for. So take a guess. Clues to follow, if you don't get it.

edit: Two more photos.

In case you all were forgetting what I wanted as a graduation present, here is a quick reminder. :D

BMW - More remembered than seen.

These are pictures of the 2008 new 1 series and the 2007 Z4 M coupe. I think they are absolutely beautiful! The top one is my desktop at work and the bottom one will be my desktop on my laptop at home, since it is widescreen.

It is a very odd sensation to have the tips of your fingers feeling buised and sore. I didn't realize how sore they were until I started typing up a field report today at work. I never realized that playing the guitar would take so much bodily pain. haha. Other than that, I love my new hobby. It is just strange to me how odd it is to have the tips of your fingers be sore. My songs are actually starting to sound like songs and not just strummed chords(to me at least). I love playing the songs that I have heard for so long. It is fun to sing along with an instument. :D

Will I keep it up?
You can make your bets now.

Note to self: I still need to buy a real case so I can tote it around. Time is running out before I leave for school. I should work on that.

P.S. It is really cold at work today. I should have brought a jacket.

Psalm 73:22-26

22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.

23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.

24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

How easily we forget the law of God. It is no wonder that God said to talk about them all the time and impress them on your mind and write them on your doorframe. I figured I might as well write it on my blog as well. heh.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.

Impress them on your children.
Talk about them when you sit at home
and when you walk along the road,
when you lie down
and when you get up.
Tie them as symbols on your hands
and bind them on your foreheads.
Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

I apologize for acting like a fool for the past week.
I won't blog until I can control my tongue.
I'll save my rants for my own journal.

I'm white water rafting, on the New River, with Sarah, Anna, Luke and the Senior High, until Saturday.
Woohoo!

*This is a journal entry that I typed up the other day. I was going to trim it up and add to it, but I have run out of time before I leave. So read if you want. It is just some rough thoughts about life and God and being still. I would say that I will add to it later or expand upon certain parts, but I doubt I will find the time. So her is a raw journal entry.*

Some observations from sitting and being still. Tuesday, I went to the eye doctor. First of all I have to say that I love my eye doctor! She is the sweetest woman in the world. She remembers all of my family and pulls out all sorts of questions about them and what they are doing. It is amazing. She only works part time now because she has two children. Plus she is absolutely adorable! Anyhow, that aside. I was about to talk about something else.

So they take you back to the exam room and the nurse/aid person tests your eyes and puts in the numbing drops and then the ones that make your pupils really big. Then they leave you so that your eyes will open up. So here you are sitting in a dark room and they have taken your contacts and glasses; so you are completely blind and can't really read anything because your eyes feel all weird and numb. What else is there to do but start thinking. And since I am not in school, I don't have schoolwork to think about. And since I was doing electrical drawings at work and I don't know very much about electrical, I couldn't think about that too long.

Sometimes you have to be forced to stop living your busy little life for a while and sit and think about God and His great goodness in your life and how everything you see is so skewed by way you want and your desires. When you start to think about it, you are so small and God is so big. When you are quiet you give God a chance to speak instead of you speaking all the time. I mean even when we pray, WE pray. When we read the Bible, WE read the Bible and think about it. Sometimes we need to just be quiet and still before the Lord.

He has to take us out of the busiest of life and put us in a place where we can only focus on Him. It is an amazing place to be. It is awesome to experience the way that he strips away everything that clutters up our lives and brings our focus back to what it needs to be on. I'm not saying that it doesn't hurt to have all that we love and have held on to taken away from us (normally torn away because we won't let go). But taking the time to look back on it all, God does what is best. He gives us second and third and fourth chances. It is like we were too busy for him before because we were trying to do everything on our own. And he keeps reminding us what we are supposed to be doing, but we say, "later, we are busy now." So he keeps reminding us and when we don't listen he starts taking away our distractions until we have to focus on him.

He also puts us in places that we have to depend on him. I have never had to say that before. I have always been able to handle my life. I have always been in control and have been able to make everything look great and be great. Not to say that I didn't rely on God for things, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't do myself. So my ego kept getting bigger and bigger. I kept thinking more and more about myself and how great my life was the way I was running it and less and less about what God really wanted. I asked him, but then I did what I thought was right and asked for his blessing on my plans. Funny how he takes away everything that you depend on and leaves you in a place where you have to be on your face before him. You don't look so big anymore when your plans and life are lying shattered in pieces on the ground.

I wonder what it is about life that we don't grow as much when times are good. You think we could learn. But no, we learn through the trials, we learn through failures, and we learn by never being good enough. I just have to remind myself of that all the time. I will never be good enough! It is when we see that we have no strength of our own that we have to go to God to survive. It is then that we see how wicked and small we are. It is then that God has a chance to work with us. To refine us to be what he wants us to be.

It is a wonder that he loves us enough to keep coming after us. You think he'd give us after a while. How many times can a person stray away? But after these trials are finished and life is good again, won't we all go back to our ways of trusting in our own strength? It may not be as fast as last time or maybe not as much. But we will. Even while we keep our focus on God. There is just something glorious about having everything taken away from you. It is a wonderful thing to have a God that cares that much about his people.

I can see God's hand in my life. I can see that he is guiding me to be what he wants me to be. I can see that he is making me more like him. He is strengthening my trust in him. He is teaching me that I am nothing on my own; that I am not as good as I thought. That I am nothing. That he is everything. And that that will never change. So I praise him for the trials. I praise him for the hard times. I praise him for giving me chance after chance to be more like him.

If he had to take away everything that I loved too much, then so be it. It is for my good and his glory. If I am not willing to give up things for him, then that thing is an idol. Praise God for taking away the idols in my life. May I continue to learn to trust in and rely on him for everything that I have and will ever have. I am not good enough to do anything myself.

So while I was sitting in that dark quiet room, it was almost like God said, do you see now why this has happened? Do you see why I took so many things out of your life? You will never be perfect. You can't be perfect on your own. You can't run your life on your own. You can't even run a bit of it. You need me for everything that you have. It was a great reminder of how not wonderful I am and how great God is. It was an amazing trip to the eye doctor. She apologized for making me wait so long. I laughed and thanked her for the time to think.

This all said, my eyes haven't changed a bit in three years... Guess what that means? I am a perfect candidate for lasik surgery, not that I wasn't before, but now I am even more perfect! ha. Yes, I am thinking about treating myself to either a Christmas present or a graduation present next year. :) If I did my eyes at Christmas, then I could still buy that bmw for my graduation present. haha. Anyhow, we shall see about the eyes. I really want to have them fixed. How cool would it be to not be blind in the morning. I would save so much money on contacts and glasses, not to mention the time that it takes to clean them and put them in and out. Man, it would be awesome!

I heard this song on the radio today and I thought I would post it until I get around to finishing writing the post I have been meaning to write for a while. There just isn't enough time to do everything I want. I hadn't heard this song before, but I think it is incredible and it rather goes along with my coming post nicely. I hope this can be my prayer for my entire life.

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I've gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You

Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It's never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times

So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain

So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there'll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that's what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

Holy, holy, holy
Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Is the Lord God Almighty

-Mercy Me

Waiting Room
Shane and Shane

I will run when I cannot walk
I will sing when there is no song
I will pray when there is no prayer
I will listen when I cannot hear

sitting in the waiting room of silence
waiting for that still soft voice I know
offering my words up to the rooftop to Your heart
trusting that this closet's where You are

Lord I know if I change my mind
You will change my heart in time
Sovereign Lord this time's from You
so I sit in the waiting room of silence
cause its all about You

I will fight when I cannot feel
I will trust when You don't seem real
I will tell when I cannot speak
I will step when I cannot see