my world

can you just say it?

Sorry for the prolific posting today. I am making up for my friends who don't post, like, ever.
This video is just too good to not share. Maybe you've already seen it. It's on two blogs that I frequent, Cindy Swanson and Athol Dickson.

friday's feast

Appetizer

If you were a dog, what breed would you be, and why?

I would be a Basset Hound. Because they are goofy, lazy and disobedient. But I suspect they are very caring and deep thinkers, too.

Soup

What does the color purple make you think of?

Purple Mountains Majesty -- they aren't really purple, though. I can see them from here.

Also for some reason Purple Rain by Prince

And the Red Hat Society

Salad

Approximately how long does it take you to get ready each morning?

Thirty minutes if I know exactly what I want to wear

Main Course

How many cousins do you have, and are you close to them?

I have fifteen first cousins who are living and three who are not still living. I am not really close to any of them. The one that I was close to died from ovarian cancer. My sister and I are the youngest in the group with the next being 6 months older and the oldest being about 20 or so years older. We do see some of them for Thanksgiving and an annual reunion, but that's about it.

Dessert

Take your initials (first, middle, last) and come up with something else those letters could stand for. (Example: SFO = Sweet Funny Otter)

Keeping Elephants Dancing

Rocktober in Colorado

How about those Rockies?

You can't go anywhere in this area without hearing that. I'm not really a sports fan. At all. But how can a person living in the Denver area not start to care a little bit about Rocktober?

In case you haven't heard --if you don't pay any more attention to sports than I do, then you haven't --the Colorado Rockies have made their way to the World Series for the first time. And from what I hear they did it with style and class and with a sweep, which is a big deal I guess.

So I may watch the World Series for the first time in my life!

Go Rockies!

what's your secret?

I wanted to post something fun, but I can't come up with anything. This other topic has been mulling around in my head for days. So here goes...

Lately, it seems I am hearing of people's hidden sins being found out, just one after another. Of course this is nothing new. Adam tried to hide his sin. So did Cain. And David. And on down through history. It seems to be the most interesting to our society when it involves preachers or politicians, but it happens everyday to ordinary people.

They are caught. Found out. Someone is shocked and hurt when they learn that the person they thought they really knew has been living a lie all along.

I lived in Colorado Springs during the Ted Haggard deal. And I guess there is a large church here in Denver that had a similar situation with their pastor. We find ourselves disturbed and perhaps even judgmental.

But the thing is this: we all have secret sin. The things I hide may not be headline material, but it is still sin. God hates it just as much as He does the startling, degenerate things we hear about.

And the other thing is that every one of those big, shocking sins started out small. Jim Baker had to steal one dollar before he stole millions. Ted Haggard had to let his eyes linger a bit too long somewhere they shouldn't, or intentionally click a website, years before he wound up where he did.

And so, we may rationalize that the things we hide are not too bad. They're just little sins. But little sins grow. The Bible compares sin to yeast. You can't put yeast in your dough and then confine it to only one section of your loaf. Like yeast, sin will spread to every area of your life, no matter how deeply you may think it's hidden. It will spread and grow. It will not be satisfied to stay small. It thrives in the darkness.

The antidote? Confession. Not only confession to God, but confession to another believer. I have shared in Bible studies and even here that fear is a sin in my life. I am not going to let it stay in the dark, fermenting and growing and taking over. There are other things that I am not going to post on my blog, but I will share with my husband or a trusted friend. There is power in confessing. The Bible tells us to do it. When the light shines in, the sin loses some of it's power.

And it is much easier to confess looking at porn than to confess hiring homosexual prostitutes. Much easier to confess shoplifting than to confess robbing a bank. Get it out of your lips, out of your heart while it is still small.

But if it's too late, if you are already bound up in sin so ugly you feel you could never voice it, you still must. You must! Go to a pastor, a priest, a counselor, any godly person you can trust and tell them. The world won't end. I promise. In fact, after the ripples settle, you will find life better than you knew before.

The Bible says that sins committed in secret will be shouted from the rooftops. It also says to be sure you will be found out. The choice is yours. Confess, turn from it, or let God shout it to the world.

Let's turn on the lights.

writing news

Yesterday at the local writers' group, that I am occasionally able to attend, we heard from the soon to be well known author Megan DiMaria. She talked about how to deal with writer's block and it was very encouraging.

She has a book coming out next year by Tyndale House, titled Searching For Spice. Her name is Megan, (pronounced Meegan) DiMaria, (pronounced Dee Maria) got it? Keep an eye out and I will remind you when her book is due out.

Here let me give you a bookmark...

dream

When I was a youngster there were two things I aspired to be when I grew up. A veterinarian and a cowgirl. Not just any cowgirl, either. I wanted to be Rodeo Queen!

One day our dog got worms and I decided right then and there that I didn't want to be a vet anymore.

But Rodeo Queen! That never quite went away. We never even had a horse. Just a stubborn ol' pony who wouldn't even run and I could probably count on one hand the number of rodeos I've been to. But still...

So, what was it you hoped to be doing by now? Are you doing it? Did you make it? What did you wanna be when you grew up?

(PS take the totally unrelated poll over there on the right!)