Golden Girls...

It has been brought to my attention that I've been falling down on my blogging duties, so here are some updates:


I finally have pictures of Paulo. They aren't "candids," they're from a store "photo shoot"--if I can remember to get the camera out of my car, I will upload one or two.

I love the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss album "Raising Sand." I also love their set that I downloaded from this year's Bonnaroo. Just thought I'd let you know.

I also love this video, rest in peace Estelle Getty:



And on a serious note:

I was at church on Sunday night and our new associate pastor (she's young and she's African American...just what a church in downtown Atlanta that hopes to reach out to minorities of all kinds needs!) preached and she preached on the parable of the fig tree.

Luke 13:6-9 (New International Version)

6Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'

8" 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. 9If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' "

And she preached on how in our lives not doing anything is as much a sin as doing everything wrong...that when we don't bear fruit we are sucking out resources that are meant for good, yet not doing anything with them. And that's how I feel about my life right at this second. I'm here, but I need to be dug around. I need to be growing, I need to be growing fruit. There are some aspects of my life where things are going really well and I feel a closeness with the Lord. I love my church, I'm really enjoying being involved with Chrysalis again and the family that community is to me. I'm even enjoying furthering my friendships and relationships with those whom I do not live near. But the big inhibition to be bearing fruit: what am I really doing with my life? I work two jobs that aren't really furthering the kingdom. So that's where my prayer lies: that I can hear God's voice and really follow where He leads. I've been so busy just with "stuff" lately that I haven't taken any time to be still and KNOW.

And I know you guys have been wondering: I don't think I'm moving out of Atlanta any time soon. We sang "God of This City" at the end of worship Sunday and I started crying. For real crying because I just felt the tug on my heart to help those in this city...so for now, I'm staying put. Mainers, you're always in my dreams--but for right now, I just don't think it's right.

I'm also here for more prayers:
My lease is up September 15. My rent is going up considerably, and I'd prefer not to be in an apartment. I'm too young/inexperienced/single/not-enough-in-savings for a home loan. So I'm left with a lot of questions and not a whole lot of options. Oh, and did I mention my mom and I are a package deal. It's just a source for a lot of stress right now.

My job situation, of course.

The Chrysalis weekend. As of Saturday 7/26 at 8 pm we need 12 confirmed applicants for the weekend to be a "go." Right now, we have one confirmed application. And I'm mixed over how I feel--of course God can move mountains and he can get those applications in by the deadline. I'm just torn because I feel like a lot of stuff has been thrown together haphazardly because we haven't had adequate preparation time and I wouldn't mind the weekend being postponed so some more thorough planning can be done. Not my will Lord, but yours.

Oh, and on a happier note: Bowl-A-Rama 2008 is coming up on September 20 in Athens, GA!

Bowl-A-Rama is this thing Rebuilt Records does every year as a fundraiser. This will be my third year participating: I will bowl 100 frames and I need to raise $1000 to do it! Actually, this year I'm looking to top $1000 because I believe in Rebuilt and I believe in supporting independent musicians! Anyway, I will be writing much more on this later--but please pray for this function because most of Rebuilt's overhead costs are covered from this one event (Rebuilt needs to raise about $18K this year---last year we got $14K). If you're in the Atlanta metro area (or want to travel for the event!) please consider coming out to Athens that day and bowl with me! It's a team event this year and there are new rules and stuff--but I don't remember the specifics because I'm a moron and didn't listen that closely to Jason when we spoke on the phone. I do know that there are chances to win $250 gift cards to the Apple store. So that's fun. And if you can't join us and don't want to be your own bowler that raises his/her own $1000, then please consider contributing to my fund. I think I'm going to set up an online donation/give through PayPal kind of thing this year---it'll make it easier for the people that I don't see on a regular basis (AKA YOU guys!).

Ok, gotta actually get some work done this morning.