where I left off regular blogging - in February! really!
oh my goodness...
10.31.2012
10.29.2012
life of significance
Success adds value to yourself.
Significance adds value to others.
...words from the funeral of Matt Turner,
a 32 year old man lost his life in a car wreck.
This story has been on my mind, quite a bit.
The wife blogged here, (which I kept up with sometimes)
Their 10 month old baby girl will grow up without her daddy.
Reading a blog has an impact...you become emotionally involved at times.
I'm kind of bad for reading sad news over and over - checking for updates, etc.
Another series of stories from the upstate of SC tore up my emotions.
In less than two months, two brothers lost their lives -
within 6 months of their father dying from cancer too.
(on the way home from visiting his father's grave.)
I read this in September and it was sad.
The next story made it even worse.
(in front of the Anderson jockey lot, where I have been several times.)
3 family members in about 4 months.
I felt sick as I read the latest story.
I saw the third death, because I checked the upstate news about another death.
My daddy told me about the death of a 20 year old girl who lived near my uncle.
A Clemson senior who lost her life in a car wreck.
Several months ago also, one of my friends texted me about
a pastor's son who lost his life from a motorcycle wreck.
Maybe 22 years old, a first responder hero.
So much tragedy - people that I didn't really know personally.
Yet I grieved for them.
I well remember a 2007 January night when
my daddy called me about another wreck
Surreal.
The wreck claimed the lives of 3 people that I knew.
Two of them, precious girls from my church -
memories of spending time at each other's houses,
celebrations shared,
photos captured.
A heartbreaking double funeral.
I still think about it and it's HARD.
Because you see...
I wrecked a car my first semester at Clemson.
My name could have made the list of the statistics for traffic deaths.
God is merciful.
I walked away from the wreck, sure - but not without trauma.
Sometimes it is good to have God roll back the curtain of memories.
For him to show me where He's brought me from and where I could have been.
Remind me.
I need it - I need to remember the important things.
To let go of little things - even though
some little things are oh, so very painful.
Several months ago also, one of my friends texted me about
a pastor's son who lost his life from a motorcycle wreck.
Maybe 22 years old, a first responder hero.
So much tragedy - people that I didn't really know personally.
Yet I grieved for them.
I well remember a 2007 January night when
my daddy called me about another wreck
Surreal.
The wreck claimed the lives of 3 people that I knew.
Two of them, precious girls from my church -
memories of spending time at each other's houses,
celebrations shared,
photos captured.
A heartbreaking double funeral.
I still think about it and it's HARD.
Because you see...
I wrecked a car my first semester at Clemson.
My name could have made the list of the statistics for traffic deaths.
God is merciful.
I walked away from the wreck, sure - but not without trauma.
Sometimes it is good to have God roll back the curtain of memories.
For him to show me where He's brought me from and where I could have been.
Remind me.
I need it - I need to remember the important things.
To let go of little things - even though
some little things are oh, so very painful.
Life is sad.
And fleeting.
And fleeting.
And yes, I know this is a secular song,
but these events reminded me of this song:
....
'Cause I've lost loved ones in my life
'Cause I've lost loved ones in my life
Who never knew how much I loved them
Now I live with the regret
That my true feelings for them never were revealed
So I made a promise to myself
To say each day how much she means to me
And avoid that circumstance
Where there's no second chance to tell her how I feel
If tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her
Did I try in every way to show her every day
That she's my only one
And if my time on earth were through
And she must face this world without me
Is the love I gave her in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes
So tell that someone that you love
Just what you're thinking of
If tomorrow never comes
Now I live with the regret
That my true feelings for them never were revealed
So I made a promise to myself
To say each day how much she means to me
And avoid that circumstance
Where there's no second chance to tell her how I feel
If tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her
Did I try in every way to show her every day
That she's my only one
And if my time on earth were through
And she must face this world without me
Is the love I gave her in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes
So tell that someone that you love
Just what you're thinking of
If tomorrow never comes
The song is written from a man about a woman -
but what about all the people in your life - MY life?
If tomorrow never comes,
will they know how much I love them?
Having a giving heart results in a lot of heartache.
Learning to live a life of significance is not easy either.
But then, Jesus didn't really walk an easy road either.
He didn't promise easy.
He promised though, that He would hold our hands,
He would go with us, He would help us,
He would deliver from the many afflictions.
The hard places would not be too much,
BECAUSE:
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee;
He would deliver from the many afflictions.
The hard places would not be too much,
BECAUSE:
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee;
and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee:
when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned;
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
Isaiah 43:2
A few months ago, as I thought about one of the wrecks mentioned above,
the words to this song came to my mind.
Great is Thy Faithfulness
These words have become very dear.
Lamentations 3:21-25 are some of my favorite verses.
3:21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.3:22 It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not.
3:23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
3:24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
3:25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned;
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
Isaiah 43:2
A few months ago, as I thought about one of the wrecks mentioned above,
the words to this song came to my mind.
Great is Thy Faithfulness
These words have become very dear.
Lamentations 3:21-25 are some of my favorite verses.
3:21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.3:22 It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not.
3:23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
3:24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
3:25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
In the midst of every sad/bad situation, God is faithful.
He has shown me that over and over again!
My pastor preached from Lamentations 3 this past Sunday night.
Several statements stood out:
"There is an end to every bad situation - and God will bring you out!
You must go on! Every trial we go through has an end!
God's faithfulness is to us, our generation - He is true to us!
Great is His Faithfulness!!!!!!!"
- GV
So the whole reason behind this super, super long post...
I have debated the blogging issue for a while.
Should I blog or should I not?
Should I post my photos publicly on my website or should I password?
No, I don't want a stalker.
No, I don't want to talk about my life like I am somebody. (I'm not.)
Believe me, I look into the mirror and see myself well -
I am what I am only by the grace of God.
So, I decided that I would post about my photos again on my blog.
Someday I might go private.
Right now, unless the Lord leads otherwise, my blog is going to stay this way.
My website is staying public for now.
I love sorting out my feelings through writing,
without paying attention to grammar.
I really love taking photos
(even though the editing is time consuming.)
And I kind of like my blog -
if you read this far, thanks for hearing my heart.
I love you! =)
I challenge you -
keep on living that life of significance!
forgiveness
"To forgive is to set a prisoner free
and discover that the prisoner was you."
- Lewis B. Smedes
10.27.2012
10.20.2012
a lil design project
a friday night project
some photoshop design and creativity
hopefully adding some color to the space for the little ones at church.
can't wait for them to ship!
now I have to see about how to frame and hang...
up in the tree
The tree photo in my last post...
...had a person in it.
Zac climbed to the very top of the pine tree.
Ahhhh - I was almost as nervous as my mama.
That's quite a climb.
10.15.2012
photo overload
After coming home from a week vacation,
I have tons of photos to edit and I had most of September left too.
Another day of vacation is helping that list,
but I got distracted by blog reading
(when I really should have been working on cleaning, etc. whoops!)
Anyways, see if you can figure why I took this tree photo and several more...
now
living in the moment
or just taking time for other stuff
makes blogging a non-priority
however
i still want to document my memories
and blogging stimulated/organized (?) that process
maybe i will find time again...
so thankful for several things right now! :)
10.06.2012
10.02.2012
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