Jack.

I can't explain it, but I just love being outside, especially in the late afternoon/early evening. Everything is better when it happens outside. I'd spend all day outside if I could... well actually these days I really do (reason #322 why I love to teach PE).

Wednesday night the homies and I went to the Jack's Mannequin/Fray Concert. It was amazing. Thanks to the littlest baxter and miss Leanne we had a nice little lawn spot to call our own.

Jack's Mannequin stole the show (at least I think so) they are one of my faves, not only because every song makes me wanna cry and dance at the same time, but because they are amazing. (nuff said)

And on top of it all it was outside, I was surrounded not only by some of the best ladies and thousands of orange county's finest in the overly crowded lawn section, but also nuzzled safely in between giant trees and mountains all while getting to sing a long to some fantastic music on a beautiful summer night. It was great... grass, blankets, friends and Jack.

(of course the presence of my temporally absent husband would have been great too, but that's just being greedy).

More pics and video to come soon. (or when Chris gets home and shows me how to do it)

Risky.

My husband, the finder of any ridiculous thing ever to be posted on the Internet, usually sends me an assortment of links and sites that he thinks I would like to look at on a semi daily basis. They are for the most part all over the place, majority of them worth the few minutes that it takes for me to look at them, it usually involves some sort of top ten list (luxury bath tubs, manliest drinks, random facts about Tacobell) on occasion a link to a ridiculously unnecessary- but really funny gadget, and then sometimes he manages to find things that I really need to hear (read) at just the right time.

Today is one of those days; and if like me, you are facing change, transition, or uncertainty, maybe this will help you too.

Taken from Scott Hodge's blog:

Three Questions to Ask When Making RISKY Decisions:

Really been enjoying Jim Collin's book How The Mighty Fall. In one of his chapters, Collins gives three important questions to ask when "making risky bets and decisions in the face of ambiguous or conflicting data."

Here they are:
What's the upside, if events turn out well?
What's the downside, if events go very badly?
Can you live with the downside? Truly?


So here's to you Mr. FinderOfAllThingsRidiculousOnTheInternet.

Oh.

My.Word.

(insert a million and one thoughts here)

Gift of the Desert Road.

I'm sure everyone already knows the greatness that is the StuffChristiansLike blog, but in case you don't, you should do yourself a favor and check it out... now. I haven't read a blog of his that I haven't enjoyed but today's blog was like a perfectly timed gift.

It offers a new and empowering perspective on why we might be traveling on the "desert road." We're not there because God is mad at us, or because we have done something wrong, or because we're still not good enough, but because God loves us so much he is protecting us from a war (a situation) we're not quite ready for.

"...In the midst of those questions, in the midst of being wildly impatient and selfish and arrogant and a million other words that mean "whack," I feel like God reminded me of a simple question,"Why do you keep refusing the gift of the desert road?"

That's kind of a weird question, but it comes out of some verses I've written about before. In Exodus 13: 17-18, as the Israelites are leaving Egypt, the Bible says:When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, "If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt."

So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt armed for battle.I love the simplicity of that. God knew that if the Israelites took the short way, if they took what probably seemed like the logical route, they'd face a war they weren't ready for and would probably willingly return to slavery. So out of love, out a deep, big love for His people, he took them on the desert road.

As an Israelite, having spent decades doing hardcore physical labor and leading the kind of manual labor lifestyle that puts the P90X exercise program to shame, you'd have to be thinking, "What? I'm armed for battle! The desert road? Seriously? Look at this sword, I've got skillz! Let's take the short way and give the Philistines two tickets to the gun show.

I promise that they probably felt a little confused at why they were on the desert road and maybe at some point in your own life, you've felt that way too. Maybe you've felt ready for something and for some reason instead found yourself taking the long way around.I don't know what your "thing" is.

Maybe you want to fall in love and get married.
Maybe you're at a job that doesn't use your God-given talents and you feel desperate to get out.
Maybe you want to start a ministry.
Maybe you don't know what your thing is, but you know it's not what you're doing right now.
Maybe you want to have kids.Maybe you want to head out to the mission field overseas.

Your thing, your dream or goal or vision could be a million different things, and when it doesn't happen, when it takes longer than we want, it's so easy to get frustrated. To get disappointed, to think that the time delay is because maybe you're not doing something right. Maybe God is mad at you. Maybe if you were a better Christian things would be happening faster and you wouldn't be on a desert road.But what if that's not right?

What if God loves you too much to send you to war? What if He loves you too much to throw you into situations you're not ready for?What if that desert road is a gift?I still struggle with the desert road concept. I'm not "done" with that idea.

But my hope for you and my hope for me is that the next time I find myself on one I'll pause long enough to ask God this simple question:"I'm on a desert road, what war are you protecting me from right now because you love me so much?”

The Giving Tree.

I was reminded of this story today as I finished reading Furious Longing of God.

"Once there was a tree... and she loved a little boy." And so begins the story of a tree being happy because she is able to make the boy happy. At first the boy desires nothing but to climb on her branches, eat her apples, and lie in her shade.

But as the boy grows, so do his desires. But because of the tree's love, she gives her apples for him to sell for money to have real fun; her branches that he might build a house for a wife and family; and her trunk so he could build a boat and sail away from the boredom of life.

And then one day, the prodigal son returns to the tree that loves him. By now, she has given him everything; all that remains of her is an old stump. The boy, now an old man, needs only a quiet place to sit and rest. And the Giving Tree gives once more."

The Giving Tree empited herself and gave everything.

"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35