San Diego Architecture

We spent a day or so in San Diego before driving down to Mexico this last July. We spent several hours just walking around. Our walk led us through some fantastic architectural sites! Even our 6 yr old son marveled at what he saw and encouraged me (like I needed any!) to take lots of pictures. I finally found some of them and thought I'd share. The captions on them are by no means set-in-stone titles, but I felt like I ought to call them something just to keep them straight. I'll add a few more photos from the last few months over the next week or two. Let me know what your favorites are!

A Random Metaphor...

Truth.

Truth is a lighted candle in a darkened room.

When handled properly, it provides illumination, enables clear vision, lights the way. It even offers warmth and comfort.

Try to hide the truth and one of two things will happen. Either the flame will erupt, burning the cover and everything nearby, or the flame will be extinguished entirely, leaving the room in utter darkness.

Truth is a powerful force, not to be toyed with.

Here's a random thought....

This is one of my most recent.

A scripture passage was brought up during the sermon on Sunday (Well done, Jeff!) which is actually one of my favorites. Ephesians chapter one has all kinds of interesting, thought provoking tidbits in it worthy of much "chewing". I went back and chewed a little after the sermon.

The words that usually stand out to me are (depending on translation) "lavished", "mystery", "riches", "kind intention"...you get the idea. Well, this time something else hit me.

Look at verse 4..."just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world..." It's that last phrase that really caught me- "before the foundation of the world".

So...God knew all about what was going to happen with the fall and the flood and Jesus' sacrifice....before He even created the world? He looked at all that would be and still thought we were worth the price He would have to pay in order for us to be in relationship with Him.

That blows me away! Although, with the flood, I kind of get the idea maybe He was having second thoughts, but...

I picture God standing back and looking at the timeline. He's outside of time, right? So He can see the beginning, middle and end-at the same time, I suppose. He knows the results of all that happens before it even happens at our end. I figure that's why He can orchestrate things to get the right book to the right person at just the right time, for example.

Now I know some of you out there in cyberspace are saying, "If He knows all that then why does He let X happen in the first place?" Well, for one thing, God is working with flawed material. You can only do so much with a lump of clay that has impurities mixed into it. God has given mankind freewill and to do so runs great risk of rejection & rebellion.

On the other hand, for just as awful as it is when people choose evil, it is even better when people choose good. It is the choosing of love that God is after, if I may be presumptuous. I think that, at least part of, God's whole purpose in stepping into our timeline, is so that we will desire to choose Him as much as He desires to choose us. There can be no greater relationship than when two choose to love each other in spite of hard times. That relationship which is forged in the fire is purified and made stronger for having gone through it all together.

Thinking about it this way, it makes sense to me why so many times the metaphor of marriage is used in scripture. It's the closest thing we have to this type of relationship. God was using our language to try to explain how He feels about us; how He wants us to feel about Him. The two become one. (Gen 2:24) He has given everything He possibly could for this relationship to work. How much effort have you put forth? I know I haven't done near enough. I'll never be able to match His love for me. But does that mean I shouldn't try? Of course not.

Well, I'll leave this thought for the moment. I have more "chewing" to do. I welcome your responses.

Well, it's now September...

...so I thought I ought to make an appearance. Things are going fairly well. We're just about ready for the new school year to start- good thing since classes begin tomorrow!

I came down with a cold the middle of last week and I'm still recouping from that. I'd love to have another week before everything gets going, but it ain't gonna happen.

Looking over our fall schedule has me feeling a little, "aack, what have I done to myself!" School starts tomorrow, as does AWANA and possibly LIFE group (bible study). Christmas musical rehearsals are about to go full swing. We'll be adding in Kumon to the school schedule and "doing the Puyallup" on Wednesday. Plus, I will be working in the school office this year...if I can ever get my paperwork all finished (fingerprints, videos, background checks, W-4 (or is it W-2? I can never remember). I also have band practice about every other week. And in the midst of all this I'm supposed to do laundry, wash dishes and write. I have a nice colorful daily schedule printed out and posted on my door in hopes that it will help me to establish a routine - for school anyway. If we get that solid then I can figure out how to add in everything else (including this blog).

After reading back over some of my previous posts, I realize I've left a couple of things unfinished. So, those one or two of you who frequent my page, what would you have me finish? Anything? Spain? Mexico? More pic's from CA? Or should I just go on from here? If you have a preference let me know, otherwise I'm not sure what you'll get on this page. Random thoughts from a random person.

Gotta go for now. I'll try to pop back in, in a couple days. Later!