(Don't) Keep Your Hands to Yourself

This entire post might (and probably will) make me sound crazy. But you know how I do. I'm going to just go out on a limb and say that I firmly believe holding hands is a testament to not only a God, but a divine creator.

One of my best friends calls it interdigitating. When you lace your fingers through someone else's fingers. How powerful is that? Not only is it the one form of PDA that I will really tolerate, but I think it's a miracle in itself.

Hold up your hand in front of you, fingers together. (I will excuse you of this task if you are in a public setting.) There are your four fingers, all sitting tightly together, no space in between, like planks of a fence. And then there is your thumb, hanging out below the other digits, but still tightly snuggled into the side of your hand, a part of the group.

Now take your two hands and lace your fingers together. They fit together perfectly! Your fingers can spread out just enough to allow room for your other hand's phalanges. If that weren't enough, think of the concept. It seems like slipping your fingers into someone else's would not be that comfortable. It is after all bony parts all matched up. But God has given us just enough layers of skin and fat to make the spaces between our fingers the perfect home for someone else's fingers.

... maybe I am crazy, but I'm just saying... God is good. So go hold hands with someone, it's a God-given gift to humans.

Lead Me To The Cross

I have so many thoughts tumbling around in my brain right now that I barely even know what to do with them. They will soon turn into a few blogs, but I don't currently have the time to sort them all out into coherent thoughts for you all as I am to be at the airport in a matter of hours and I have yet to pack. So I will leave you with lyrics, and also, the Internet situation could be shifty these next few days but I will do my best to post. If not, I will definitely write down my thoughts and have them prepared for my return.

Savior I come Quiet my soul remember

Redemption's hill

Where Your blood was spilled

For my ransom

Everything I once held dear I count it all as lost

Lead me to the cross

Where Your love poured out

Bring me to my knees Lord I lay me down

Rid me of myself I belong to You

Lead me, lead me to the cross

You were as I Tempted and tried You are

The word became flesh

Bore my sin and death

Now you're risen

To your heart

To your heart

Lead me to your heart

Lead me to your heart

... I challenge you to let him Lead you to the Cross in your quiet time. Lay down yourself and everything you've held on to, give it all up to Him. I imagine you will feel much more centered and grounded and joyful these next few days.

Only Hope

Meet my favorite song. Ever.

There's a song that's inside of my soul
It's the one that I've tried to write
over and over again
I'm awake and in the infinite cold
But You sing to me over and over and
over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
And pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I know now You're my only hope

Sing to me of the song of the stars
Of Your galaxy dancing and laughing
and laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that You have
for me over again

I give You my apathy
I'm giving You all of me
I want Your symphony
Singing in all that I am
At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back

...He is our only hope.

Too Much to Ask

All who call on God in true faith, earnestly and from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked for. —Martin Luther

Decisions, Decisions

Excellent decision making is not my best attribute. I'm actually kind of awful at it. It's just so much pressure!

I recently had a pretty important decision to make that definitely will be affecting the rest of my summer and has the potential to affect the rest of my chosen career. Yes, that big. It's one of the hardest things to do, but something, as I am learning more and more every day, that is imperative to the decision making process. You have to let go and let God take over.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." —Proverbs 3:5-6

Beautiful

This song always, ALWAYS, makes me feel one-thousand times better when I am feeling down on myself. Lack of self-confidence and self-esteem is something that everyone struggles with at some point or another and if you're there, read these lyrics. You are BEAUTIFUL and God loves you way more than you can ever imagine.

I was so unique
Now I feel skin deep
I count on the make-up to cover it all
Crying myself to sleep cause I cannot keep their attention
I thought I could be strong
But it's killing me

Does someone hear my cry?
I'm dying for new life

[Chorus]
I want to be beautiful
Make you stand in awe
Look inside my heart,
and be amazed
I want to hear you say
Who I am is quite enough
Just want to be worthy of love
And beautiful

Sometimes I wish I was someone other than me
Fighting to make the mirror happy
Trying to find whatever is missing
Won't you help me back to glory

[Chorus]

You make me beautiful
You make me stand in awe
You step inside my heart, and I am amazed
I love to hear You say
Who I am is quite enough
You make me worthy of love and beautiful

Jumpin' Jumpin'

I jumped off a cliff. Really! My brother says that makes it sound way more intense than it was, but I jumped off of a 40 (ish) foot rock that jutted out above the water. Cliff? I think yes.

What possessed me to do that, you might wonder. It seemed like an excellent idea at the time. It still does. However, you know how they say the third time is a charm? You should probably pay way more attention to that than you currently are.

The first time was terrifying. Looking up at Chimney Rock (that's what it's called) I was pumped. Whilst scaling treacherous (and very slippery) rock facade using only a rope and my brute strength, my excitement level decreased as my altitude increased. By the time I made it to the top and peeked over the edge, I was beginning to doubt not only my decision but also my sanity. But I was still extremely excited. It was not until I took the leap off of the rock that my brain kicked in and told my heart what a freaking idiot it was. The resulting facial expression was one million percent priceless. Sheer terror mixed with the realization that I had just flung myself off of a cliff and gravity was all kinds of on my one hundred (and something) pound side.

The funny thing? I hit the water and decided that I should probably climb right back up and do it again. I'm sorry, what? Yes, I jumped again. And that was it...

for a few days. Then I went back. And jumped again. Every time I tried to concentrate on having a more peaceful expression and every time I failed (though I think I was getting somewhere with my third jump), though no face in the history of ever can measure up to that first countenance. (I'll say it again... it was REDONKULOUS.) Then came the fun part. My fourth jump. I had it figured out. Instead of creeping up to the very edge of the rock (where I had a view of the drop) and jumping, I was going to step and leap so I never fully saw the drop. It was the perfect plan. I was all but guaranteed to have an expression other than that of horror—anything else would do.

So there I was, atop Chimney Rock, three steps back from the edge, preparing myself for what was sure to be my best jump yet. Before I had time to let my brain realize I was doing it again, I step, step... SLIPPED off the edge. Yes, you heard me. My third and final prep step in the perfect jump, the one that would catapult me (nonchalant face in place) into the big blue water below, and my foot slipped. You may be wondering what a foot slip from such a height would cause. Obviously, as evidenced by this post, I did not crash headlong into the side of the cliff. Nope, that was not the case. Something equally terrible did happen though. Two words. BELLY. FLOP.

Which brings me back to my original point. Listen to the people. Third time is a charm. I pushed my luck and went for four. Bad idea. My body parts still aren't fully cooperating with me.

God requires a similar kind of jump from us. A leap of faith. We can't see Him, but we have to trust in Him enough to know that He is here and He is all we will ever need.

Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.” —Matthew 21:21-22

... I just hope when I take my leaps of faith for God I have a much more peaceful countenance than I did upon leaping from Chimney Rock.

Jump

These lyrics are a preface to my post for tomorrow night. If you haven't heard this song by christian rapper Lecrae you should really YouTube this song, Jump.

Its the assurance of things hoped for. Noah built a boat for
Jesus took a beating and his whole body was broke for.
Spoke for. Through it we know who the Word was wrote for.
Abraham had it, matter fact that's what he's known for.
Faith, y'all, through it we were saved by grace
If you got it, we can see it by the way you run the races
That means we can see it on your face
If the faith don't act, then it really ain't faith
And that really ain't the case cuz faith ain't fake
It'll have you try'na act out the Word everyday
Every Christian has faith, its a gift; we should use it
Some distort the view of it and others just abuse it
It can be irrational and make you give your life up
This is for the cause of Christ and not to get a nice truck
Righteous, when you know you gotta trust God
When it seems hard, man, faith is a must have.

Chorus:
You gotta leap y'all (Leap wit it!)
You gotta leap y'all (Leap wit it!)
Take a leap of faith
You gotta leap y'all (Leap wit it!)
Come on jump for now
Jump for me now
Jump jump
Jump for me now
Jump for me now
(2X)
Jump (on 2nd)

Verse 2:
Before you heard "Breath In", "Represent! Get Krunk!"
I was tested in my faith, and I didn't know if I could jump
I was at my 9-to-5 try'na make a couple dimes,
But somethin in my soul was sayin that I had to rhyme.
I was rappin every saturday, teachin on Sunday.
8 A.M. again I'm back to work another Monday.
Man I was hatin it, I wasnt even fakin it,
And then came opportunity, but me, I wasn't takin it.
Show after show came; a couple folks came,
But leavin work to rap was risky like the dope game.
And mama mad at me, she say that it was bad for me
To spend my time in school just to rap, what a tragedy.
A lot of free shows, but I had to pay bills.
Lord, you know I wanna go, but can you show me what you will.
I wasn't chasin rap dreams, wasn't try'na stack green.
God had my back against a wall like a flat screen.
Urgin me to trust, Lord I wanna, but I'm scared to.
Lord, I'm prepared to be broke, just to share you.
So I followed Abraham. I told the Lord to take my hand.
I took a leap of faith, and I ain't never been the same again.

Give It All Away

As Jim Carrey would say (man, I'm just full of Jim Carrey quotes)... I'M BAAAAAACK. So sorry for the lack of posts. I thought I would be able to hack someone's Internet while vacationing on Lake Martin, but alas, that was not the case. So we will pretend like the last week(ish) did not happen and pick right back up with my 21 days.

Though no blogging occurred, I gained plenty of inspiration from my time on the lake. I learned an incredible lesson in selflessness. Exhibit A: the man my family has lovingly come to know as Mr. Million. Okay, I'll explain. There we were, day one on the lake, laying out on the pier when along comes a man on his fishing boat. So of course my dad strikes up a conversation about how the fish were and in T-10 minutes they were best friends. Come to find out, his father-in-law had won the lottery back in February. $11.7 million. As my mother said "like, really really?"

Yes, he really, really won the lottery. As if that weren't cool enough, wait until you hear how he spent it. He anonymously gave half of it to his church. AMAZING. I think that's somewhere in the 5.75 million dollar range, though I don't pride myself on my math skills. After that, you would think he could call it a day and keep the rest for himself. False. He payed off the houses of everyone in his immediate family and bought them all new cars. Then, he paid of the houses of two of his long-time friends who were struggling with the economy and bought them new cars. Then, rather than hoarding the rest of the money, he had a pow-wow with his family and they all got to decided how to spend the rest of the money. The solution? A house on Lake Martin, complete with 2 bass fishing boats, 3 jet skis and a pontoon boat (it was a Bentley).

What an amazing testimony of selflessness. I'm going to keep him in mind as I return to reality and try to give as much as I can. Granted, I don't have 11.7 million dollars, but I'm sure I can find a few things I can do without. How about you?

"Remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth." —Deuteronomy 8:18