jesus is white, really white

This weekend I attended our annual "Women in Campus Ministry" Retreat. Basically it is just a really good excuse to get out of town and join other female campus ministers from the midwest and do nothing ALL WEEKEND. It is a fabulous time, and also a time where we experience very odd things. Two years ago, we attended a Scottish Games Festival where we saw grown men in skirts throw very heavy things. This year, we stayed in a lake house in Shell Knob, MO - deep in the Ozarks. On Saturday, we had wanted to go to Silver Dollar City in Branson to see a donkey dive into a pool, but didn't want to pay the money. Instead we went to Eureka Springs, AR to hang out. Eureka Springs is said to be the mini-Branson, but the community is very interesting. There are a lot of "alternative" lifestyles represented there... so I shouldn't have been surprised when I walked past a group of about 15 cross-dressers. To be honest I didn't really noticed at first because their make-up jobs were incredible - it was only when I heard them talking that I had to do a double take and ask Christy if what I just witnessed was real. Interesante. AND the coolest thing was visiting "Christ of the Ozarks" - this massive, very white statue of Jesus that kind of makes him look like a character in the Simpsons. Thus the two pictures above: the one on the top is me kissing Jesus, 'cause I love him. The one on the bottom is me picking Jesus' nose - because I figure you can pick your nose, and you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your friend's nose - but I bet Jesus would let you. So there.

mmm... pumpkin guts

check out my cool pumpkin I created tonight.

the pumpkin barf was added by my friend Nathaniel.

when will we learn from our mistakes?

I'm quite sad this morning and a little bit angry as well as frustrated by my own indifference.

This summer while I was in Washington DC, I visited the Holocaust Museum and was deeply impacted by what happened and our lack, as a country, of response. Here is a quote from my blog at livejournal about it:

"Another sobering bit was a hall that had the photographs of this one certain community where a photographer had taken photos of people from the 50 years prior to the war... all of the photos lined the wall for two floors - all over. Pictures of kids playing, of people at parties, of weddings... everyday normal pictures. And the majority of those people died in the holocaust. Another section had thousands and thousands of shoes piled... all taken from the concentration camps. The whole thing was so sobering, and frustrating when you saw what little action America took to help... I only hope that we will not let something like that happen again."

Well, I am very sad to say that we are allowing it to happen again - just like we let it happen in Rwanda. Genocide is in our midst - not here in America, but in the midst of our worldwide community. The Arabs in the Sudan are working hard to extinguish the African tribes in Darfur, Sudan. Mass killings, rape, and burnings are taking place every day - with estimations around 500 losing their lives EVERY SINGLE DAY. Genocide. Just like the Jews. And what are we doing about it? Nothing. What is our government doing about it? Nothing. I could blame it on the media and how they don't show us these things on the news and so we are uninformed - which might be partially true, but I really boil it down to indifference... apathy. I praise God that He did not stand by apathetically while His people were in bondage, or in exile... or that He looked the other way when I was dying in my sin. When will we look past our own comfortable lives and become followers of Christ and act on the injustices in this world? I don't want to meet Jesus at His throne and have Him say that I didn't give Him something to eat or give Him clothes to wear when He needed it.

So, after all of this ranting, what is it that we can do? Get informed, and use our voices to get our political leaders to sit up and take notice. Here are a few sites where you can do this:

www.savedarfur.org
www.darfurgenocide.org
www.africanaction.org
www.darfurfast.org
www.beawitness.org

provision

I love it how God constantly provides for me.

Remember the $ I was saving for a new washer and dryer?? Yeah, that all went to my computer... so I figured I'd spend the rest of my life sitting in laundromats every two weeks. Not so - I got a phone call from my dad today asking if I still needed a washer and dryer. Someone he works with decided to get a bigger washer and dryer, so she is going to sell the old-but-in-great-working-order washer and dryer for only $100! For both of them! How awesome is that? And my dad will bring them and hook them up for me since I haven't got a clue how to do it. Pretty stinking sweet!


Oh - two albums that are worth checking out:

In Your Honor - Foo Fighters
You Could Have It So Much Better - Franz Ferdinand

new computer!

My new Compaq Presario has finally arrived! Much faster than I expected. I was shocked at the speed of service - I wasn't expecting it for another week. Unfortunately, my old computer is still somewhere in limbo - I think on its way back from Michigan, but I'm unsure. You can definately see the difference between FedEx and UPS. FedEx may be more expensive, but dang they are faster. Seriously, my computer was built in Shanghai, China (ah, Shanghai - I was just there two and a half months ago!) - it shipped from Shanghai on Monday morning... and got here - NEBRASKA - this morning. Seriously! That is fast! So, I'm impressed with that.

So, everything turned out fine with the computer stuff. It turned out that the LCD for my computer is only available from Hong Kong or directly from Dell - too expensive to ship from Hong Kong, and waaay too expensive to buy from Dell (like $660!), so I decided that for a few hundred dollars more I could get a new computer with a better system than what I had. So, I bought a Compaq Presario V2000Z... so far so good, but I've only had it for about an hour. My thoughts right now - great wide screen... there is a cool button on the keyboard that turns off the mousepad so that when I type, I don't have troubles accidentally click on something I don't want to click on, there are controls for volume and CD on the keyboard which is nice, its about the same size, but a little bit heavier because I bought a bigger battery (my shoulder won't like that too much, but I'll stay connect for about 6 hours instead of 2). It has a DVD R/RW in it which is fun... faster hard drive... more space. So, good so far.

So, the mulah I would have spent on a new washer and dryer (when I went to buy them that one day, I felt uneasy about it, so I decided to wait - now I see why) went to buy a new and better computer. Now I just need my old computer to transfer all of my files!

romance is in the air (not my own, just generally)

It's Fall!!!!! I love the Fall. Sweaters and jeans and awesome scarves... crisp air that smells spicy (believe me - pine needles and pumpkin and cinnamon)... fabulous colors - orange, yellow, red... I love it!

Last night I went to Omaha with a few friends to celebrate my roomie's birthday. We went to the Old Market (the historic downtown area of Omaha) and it was so amazing. It's been at least 10 years since I've been down there. Beautiful buildings - lots of pretty lights... horse drawn carriages being pulled over the cobblestones. It was so romantic! The funny thing was that usually these senarios make me wistful and wishing I was in a relationship, but last night it just made me extremely happy (not that I don't want to be in a relationship, its just that the desire wasn't causing discontentment). It just made me smile and made me remember that God made me a very romantic person and I am very happy that He did. It was just pleasant walking along on the sidewalks, breathing in the crisp air, watching the people walk by. Plus we ate at a fabulous Italian restaurant - and there are few things I love more than Italian food. I felt so relaxed - it was a great evening. I should do things like that more often - get dressed up and go someplace special and have a really great meal. But I guess if I did that often, then it wouldn't feel so special, would it?