from sam ericsson's advocates international:

When Things Go Wrong: Five Questions to Ask:

True or False?

1. Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

True or False?

2. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

True or False?

3. Matthew 6:33
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

True or False?

4. 1 John 4:4
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

True or False?

5 Philippians 4:13
I can do everything through him who gives me strength.


True or False?
Indeed.

posted by testimonies 10:29 AM

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so then what implications does that hold for my future? if i can't be a detective what can i be? a blogger? hm. i haven't blogged consistently- or at all- in past past several months. a do-gooder? i don't know. a god-glorifyer? now that might work; because then at least it will be god working and not me!!
god is good and works for the good of those who love him.

posted by testimonies 10:47 AM

. . .

so it is official: i would be a terrible detective. if i were in a cartoon i would be like dr. gadget or something-one of those endearing (;P) detectives who solves the cases thanks to the team of helpfuls around him. or like the yodelling veterinarian of the alps who needs his nurse to help diagnose the cats. you get the idea.
recently i've been trying to get one of those glare screens for my monitor that doesn't allow anyone to see what is on your screen unless you're at a certain angle. i really need one of those. mostly because i'm lacking the 6th sense and usually don't realize people are behind me until they snort or say my name or something. anyway yes. in dire need of one of those i am.
so i called the facilities department to request one. i guess they only have lame-o glare screens that resemble those gucci aviator sunglasses where you can still see the eyes of the beholder. or jason's front seat tints where people can still see you even though you think they can't. anyway, i was sitting here all morning kinda wondering when they would drop my lame-o glare screen by. then as i peeled my orange i noticed a cord running from my monitor...the heck?! the lame-o screen was already on my monitor!! for how long, i have no idear!! maybe when i went on a hot water break..? either way, it was kinda creepy. that's how lame it is sigh. that even though it is on my monitor i can't tell. gah. i guess i'll have to further develop that 6th sense of mine. without watching the movie of course.

posted by testimonies 10:34 AM

. . .

can i just say, rich mullins was an incredible man. in the past two days that i've been researching him i have been challenged, inspired, and redirected.

BB: Speaking of your music, one of my favorite songs is "Damascus Road," and I do understand that that came out of a painful time in your life. Give us an idea of that time as you wrote that song.
RM: Yeah, I wrote that right after my ex-fiance called off our engagement, and I just sort of did it as an act of obedience. Because I was going, you know you're supposed to.. The hebrew people were required to say, "The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord" when a tragedy happened. So I thought, well, you know I need to do something along those lines. So I decided to just thank God. It was sort of a writing exercise. But by the time I was over, what I realized was once again so often we think how our life is gonna go and what the Lord owes us and how it's supposed to be. And sometimes God has better things in mind or something different in mind for us than what we have in mind for ourselves.
And the job of the Christian, which is why writing is so much like praying, and why praying is so vital to a real Christian spiritual life. The job of a Christian is to keep themselves open to God and always recognize that God is greater than we are. And that nothing happens outside of His will. Some things He causes, some things He permits, and there's a whole lot of theology behind that that people love to argue about. I kinda go, the long and short of all of it is that if I believe that God is good, then I need to accept whatever happens to me in life as being a gift. And allow Him to take some of the things that hurt, allow Him to take some of the things that sting, some of the things that I think are going to kill me - allow Him to take those things and make of me the person He wants me to be. It may not be the person I want to be, but it'll be the person He would want me to be.
And I think when we realize who we are in Christ - when we mature in our identity as being His creature that we find that we're much more at home with ourselves in Him than we are in that false idea of who we thought we were.

(where RM is Rich Mullins)

posted by testimonies 4:49 PM

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