1. I finally decided to stop trying to be good at long distance dating/relationships. One thing I have learned about myself is that I am a person who needs to be able to touch and be touched.  I need to see the person I am with, in the flesh or they don’t seem real to me.  My expectations become entirely too unrealistic when the person I care for is thousands of miles away.  If I have opportunities to see and touch the person  I care for with my own eyes and my own hands, my expectations are considerably less demanding, and I find that it is easier for me to trust that other person.

2. I finally learned that I am not good at dating. I expect far too much and am easily disappointed when my Mt. Everest-like expectations are not met.  I have jealousy issues that are entirely too overbearing, and it takes me at least a millennium to trust someone.  But you know what?  I am growing up.  I am growing out of that juvenile need for approval or the perception that someone MUST desire me.  Nobody must do anything… including myself.  Love is about a choice you make.  Love works best when you learn which battles are important to fight.  There is no room in this life for jealousy among people (romantic or otherwise).  I am no longer going to covet the traits others have when I have so much to offer to the world on my own.  I am going to trust that the people in my life who care for me feel that way because they like EVERY aspect of my body, my mind, and my soul.

3. I finally got the tattoo I have always wanted. It is of a sparrow on my right shoulder blade.  It is there to remind me that “His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.”  My Jesus loves me, and I am utterly undeserving and unlovable.  He takes care of me because I don’t care for myself (unless it is to fulfill my human, sinful desires).  He has faith in me, even when I don’t always have enough faith in Him.  My God is my Father, my Brother, my Friend, my Counselor, my Lion of Judah.  He is my Savior and the Lover of my soul.

Those are the biggest realizations I have had throughout the 2010 year.  May 2011 be filled with just as much joy and just as much sorrow.  I want to live, I want to rage.  I want to love and hate, laugh and cry.  I want to celebrate being a human and always attempt to rise above and please my Lord.

Every person in your life has a lesson to teach you.  Mostly, the lesson is taught and learned indirectly, but sometimes they flat out just give you advice.  Either way, they’re all teachers.  Rather than convincing yourself that an ex-boyfriend is a ruiner of lives with no morals and no soul, see him as someone who taught you to respect yourself more (that way you won’t settle for less next time around).

Another thing I have learned that has nothing to do with Eat, Pray, Love is that God’s timing is perfect.  He knows you better than you will EVER know yourself.  He knows exactly what you need, when you need it.  Don’t concern yourself with why the guy you’re talking to just told you things need to slow down.  Maybe God was using that situation to call you back to Himself.  Our God is a jealous God that wants to spend time with us.  He loves us more than we can ever fathom, and allowing ourselves to become distracted by earthly affections takes away from how much affection He can offer you.  Jesus only blesses us as much as we allow him to.  He holds all of this affection for us!  It is bubbling over and He can’t wait to shower you with it!  The attention and adoration you receive on Earth is temporary.  Even in marriage, that adoration ceases to be when death parts you.  As your soul stands before God and His Son, how much you were loved on Earth plays no part in how much God loves you.

So today, decide that God’s timing and God’s will is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Consider that the Christ offers you heavenly affection that will last for an eternity.  His love can save your life.  Nobody else’s love can do that.  Our God is an awesome God.

That’s what being a fallible human trying to live like Jesus is all about.  The Christian walk must be taken one day at a time.  Our success in Christ does not lie in whether or not the good days outnumber the bad.  Because most assuredly, the bad days will ALWAYS outnumber the good.  Success in Christ is found in His mercy, in His grace.  Only He can make you white as snow before the eyes of the Father.  Once you have achieved that ultimate success, you are called to love Him, others, and yes..even yourself (in that order).  You are called to wake up every day saying, “Today, I will bring honor and glory to my Father.”  In some ways, your day will be successful, but in other ways you will fail.  Then you are called to share your burden with the One who loves you most.  You are called to confess.  And He will forgive.  Then you fall asleep with the peace of mind that only Jesus can give.  And then you start again with a new day.

Never stop fighting, never give up.  “Fight the good fight,” for “weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning” (1 Timothy 6:12, Psalm 30:5).

“Courage doesn’t always roar.  Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” – anon.

Spend your life from the ages of 16 to 35 as if you’ll be 21 forever.  Drink like they’re gonna run out, screw as many blonde/tan/skinny whores as possible, and so-help-you-G0d NEVER get married.  Getting married and having children is a sign of failure.  When you take a girl on a date, demand that she either pay for your half too or you go “Dutch.”  Don’t open her car door… for that matter, don’t even pick her up.  Make her drive!  Relationships are outdated and so is chivalry.  As for the girls, why don’t you just go ahead and meet him at the theatre topless?  Ya know… save some time.  Heck, just skip the date all together and hook up.  That’s what you REALLY want to do anyway, right?

Sounds like every woman’s (and every man’s) dream, right?  And before you blame the boys for their own sexist, disgusting outlook on life, I am here to tell you that part of the problem is feminism.  I, a woman, have said it!  Feminism, while not the ONLY cause, is a pretty big one.  How can this possibly be in the name of all that is Rosie O’Donnell, you ask?  Simple.  When you decide that the best way to combat male chauvinism is to stoop to that level and hate men as much as they seemingly hate you, then of course somebody’s bound to go on the offensive.  What?  Did you think that men were just gonna sit back and take it in the butt like any good woman of the past?  No.  In fact, men found the perfect way to combat something that is equally as evil as male chauvinism.  Women called men stupid… women deemed them dillholes.  So, they proved us right.

“This woman here just told me she thinks she should be the bread winner.  So… Ima let her.  Meanwhile, I’ll play this awesome video game.”  Over time, this has developed into a society of males who play video games for 6+ hours, guys who spend their money on alcohol, porn… the New Ideal.  And every time a woman decides she deserves more than some dude who flirts shamelessly with other women (even when he INSISTS that he is oh so “attracted” to you), she brings it up.  She says, “Hey… I thought I was good enough for you.”  Then this man-boy rationalizes his ill-conceived, selfish actions by saying “Hey, I don’t believe in labels,” or “What?  I didn’t even realize I was doing it.”  What does the woman do?  She says, “Oh.. it’s cool.  Guess I’m just a crazy woman.”

YOU LET HIM CONTINUE HIS BOYISH BEHAVIOR.  Women everywhere are affirming the actions of the Man-Boy on a daily basis.  Women explain it away.  Women say, “Well.. they’re too stupid to know better.  I’m so superior.”  I am here to tell you that men are NOT stupid and they DO know better.  Women just affirm their actions by letting some high-and-mighty sense of idiotic superiority override their sense of logic.

Stop thinking he’s stupid.  Stop thinking you’re worthless.  Stop thinking you’re more intelligent than God.  Start giving guys some credit.  Give yourself some too, while you’re at it.  Realize that both women AND men are worthy.  Realize that God created men and women equally.  In the Bible, God tells wives to submit to their husbands.  Keep reading past that one verse, little miss feminist (or little mister chauvinist).  You will soon find out that God also instructs husbands to submit to their wives.  It is a mutual adoration, a mutual submission of your wills.  You will also discover that the ultimate submission comes when you BOTH submit to the Lord.

Today’s society tells us that marriage is outdated.  We are told that even relationships are slowly becoming old.  Not only are the boys taking this to heart, the girls are too.  Even today’s girls are never becoming women.  When did your mama EVER tell you it was acceptable to post pictures of your mostly-exposed body on Facebook?  HAVE SOME CLASS.  If you don’t want boys to see you as an object, then start by treating yourself as a human being with a brain.  You teach people how to treat you.  If you tell a boy that you’re just two boobs with legs and a vagina attached to them, then THAT IS HOW HE WILL SEE YOU.  It is nobody’s fault but your own.

So yes.  Today’s men are still boys.  But today’s women are still girls.  Who is fault?  YOU.

“It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.”

1. Get a tattoo of a sparrow on my right shoulder blade. Plans for this have already been made and a date set for July 31.

2. Go camping with my friends. Like, legit tent camping with no showers, lots of hiking, and half-cooked hot dogs.

3. Go to Disney World. Yes, that’s right, I’ve never been.  Laugh all you want.  But before I take the plunge into adult living, this will happen.

4. Travel to Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA for ghost hunting and foodie expeditions.

5. Go to a frathouse party. I know, I know, probably not my proudest moment, but I want to be able to say I did it.

6. Get a license to own a gun. And subsequently buy said gun.

7. Visit Boston to ascertain its livability and viability as a possible permanent relocation upon graduation.

8. Attend a Lady Gaga concert. Hopefully she will be touring in ATL, Nashville, or something within the next year.  I am willing to travel.  I’m a little monster.

9. Lose enough weight to get down to 150 lbs. I’ve been yo-yo-ing (?) between 160-225 lbs for most of my collegiate career.  This is embarassing and unhealthy.  For my last year of college, here’s to finally having the healthy life that I’ve always needed.

10. To create a new bucket list and continuously try new and exciting things. May I never stop living.  May I live simply and extravagantly all at once.  May I forever dwell in possibility and new beginnings.  May my past stay there, may my present be a gift, and may my future be incredible.

The kingdom of God is inside you.
When you love, when you cry,
When you care for others–
You open the gates to His kingdom
And welcome others in.

(Whether or not they enter in
Is their choice alone.)

God is not a priest or a monk.
He is the Creator, the Father–
He is the Son and the Holy Spirit.
God is not a building or an altar.
All these are only His tools.

Jesus did not die to pay
The sins of stone or brick–
He paid for OUR sins,
The sins of the world.
He does not love an altar–
He loves us.

Do not place your faith in
Symbols, candles, and cards.
Believe in the one true God,
Look to the Christ of our hearts–
The Savior of souls.
He will not pass away like earthly things.

God’s kingdom is in you
And all around you–
In wood and under stone.

By: Cheri E.

My plan is to work anywhere from 18-30 hours per week at my campus job, work on planning projects for my sorority (being the president isn’t as high-falootin’ and fancy as you might think, when all is said and done), go to the beach in June, and spend as much time as possible with my friends.  I am also doing a research project with my Educational Psychology professor.  It will be a written debate on letter grades vs. descriptive statements in the classroom (juicy gossip, to be certain).

This summer will be relaxing, but it will also be productive.  I am going into my second year as a senior and graduating with an education degree in Spring 2011.  The time for lazy days has passed, and the time for proactive living has begun.  My hope for adulthood is to find that balance between playing hard and working harder.

Here’s to success!

Yes, that is one of my favorites.  Sound strange to you?  Well, think of it this way:  for thousands of years, God has been trying to reach us – His masterpiece of the Creation.  First, he gave Adam and Eve heaven on Earth (literally) and actually WALKED with them every day.  His masterpiece rejected this first gift and was cast out into the desolate world.

So, the Lord figured, “Hey, well, I love them more than they will ever fathom, so I’m not going to give up so easily.”  The Old Testament speaks of laws, rituals, and rites (as we well know) that God created so that humans could have a fighting chance of being clean enough to be in the presence of a holy, righteous Lord.  He also continued to directly intervene in the lives of His people.  And yet again, His masterpiece rejected such gifts and attentions for the alluring spells and polytheism of other religions.  Humans chose to worship nonliving, wooden, stone, or golden objects that would never speak to them, never love them, and never provide for them.

Still, our Holy Father said, “They still didn’t get it.  My sons and daughters still do not see how much I love them.  And many of them don’t even love Me back, let alone believe that I exist.  But… I can’t bear to give them up to Satan and his worldly, sorrowful, ways.  I will send my Son whom I love most of all to live as they do.  He will experience the exact same temptations of lust, anger, greed, pride, and all other sins.  In so doing, He will EMPATHIZE with my other sons and daughters… He will know exactly how they feel.  BUT – He will not give in to these temptations.  He is another facet of Myself, holy and righteous.  My Son Jesus is perfect and clean in all ways – He will die for my Creation by hanging on a cross.  Once His physical body is dead, His spirit will spend THREE DAYS in Hell so that no one else will have to ever again.  Jesus will rise again on the third day and remain with My people in spirit.  Jesus will dwell on Earth, through the hearts of those who accept Him as their Savior and Lord.  Yes!  Jesus will save them.”

Jesus will save them.

Fast forward several thousand years.  The majority of the world’s current population does not believe in the one, true God – the Christian God.  The only God that is real and worthy of worship.  We still don’t get it.  And the Lord still tries every day to make us realize how much He loves us.  In the end of days, God will cause a great earthquake to shake the WHOLE EARTH.  Mountains will crumble, cities will sink into oceans.  That is God’s way of SCREAMING His love for us!  He will be shouting it from the rooftops of heaven!  God desires that His ENTIRE creation will dwell forever in His house.  There isn’t a single soul ever born that He wants to watch go to Hell.  God doesn’t send us to Hell.  We put ourselves there because of the CONSCIOUS choices we make in life.  So, after all that shaking and leveling of the planet… there will still be people who say “There is no God.  And even if there was one, I would choose the other dude anyway.”

I don’t know about you, but to have a real, living God that loves me so much that He would 1) sacrifice His only Son and 2) give me thousands of chances to realize how much He loves me and offer me the gift of salvation over and over and over, to have that in my life… it doesn’t get any better!  I am a disgusting, despicable, sinful, prideful, greedy, lazy person.  I gossip about a lot of people in my life, I don’t study God’s Word like I should, and I curse like a sailor.  I’m impatient and quick to anger.  I lie, I cheat, I envy others.  I do it all.  Why should ANYONE, let alone God, love me?  But He does.  And He blesses me with other people who love me, to go along with it.  If God can love me, He can love you too.

We are all sinners.  If anyone professing the Christian faith allows you to believe he or she is better than you in any way at all, then that person isn’t really a Christian.  True Christians recognize that they are the same as everyone else.  God leveled the playing field by saying that Jesus was the only one worthy of paying for any sins at all.  We are saved by grace, through faith, so that no one can boast.

Don’t wait for that earthquake.  Don’t let that be what convinces you of God’s love.  He is real, and His love is real.  With Him in your life, you will feel at peace in a way you’ve never felt before.  Life will still be really hard, but you’ll never be alone.

• ^“12I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, ¹³and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.”  Revelation 6:12-14 (NIV)
• ^“20Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found.”  Revelation 16:20 (NIV)
• ^“16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16 (NIV)

The entire yard is covered in Christmas lights.  There are Christmas light palm trees elegantly framing the driveway.  There is an alien saucer with a smiling alien head in the window, in the yard.  There is a giant dragon on the roof, and there is a robot-esquse tripod with smiling eyes next to the alien saucer.

This is not a test.  This house is real.

At night time, every Christmas light is turned on and from 6pm until 3am.  And one must ask oneself, “HOW EXPENSIVE IS THIS PERSON’S ELECTRIC BILL?!”  My guess is one of extremely. One also must inquire, “Is this person a serial killer?  A pedophile?  Jerry Garcia?”  My guess is serial killer or Jerry Garcia.  God, I hope it’s Jerry Garcia!

A picture will soon follow this post.