What we can learn from a list of names....

3 pages were filled up with notes from a truth that Ross preached to us Sunday about the disciples. A word he used a lot is subversive. Dictionary.com says that subvert means to overthrow. I wrote next to subversive- “build their own agenda”…. I think this means that the disciples were subversive in the fact that they overthrew their own agendas and the world’s agenda in order to follow Christ. Here are some more truths that made the disciples true followers of Christ and something that we should strive for:

·         The most amazing thing about you should have nothing to do with you. (Pointing to Christ)

·         Christ summons us by regenerating our heart.

·         Don’t go to Him for fine-tuning…… go to Him to discover your brokenness.

·         You’re welcome to be in the midst of His people as a screwed up mess- well people don’t need a doctor.

·         A disciple only makes Biblical sense when in the midst of other disciples…your physical heart couldn’t survive very long if it was outside the body.

·         He wants your heart before your hands. (love Him, then serve and work for Him….be a Mary not a Martha)

·         God is not in a hurry….so why are we?

·         Jesus is so much better than ministry!! Be with Jesus!

·         Don’t be busy being busy, be busy at the thrown of Christ.

·         Most of your time and energy should be used getting to know Christ.

·         THE PROBLEMS OF THIS WORLD CAN BE ANSWERED BY THE GOSPEL. This should be our first answer when faced with a problem.

·         Tell people about Jesus as an act of worship- without worrying about the results- that’s in God’s hands.

·         If you stopped following Jesus, would Satan notice? (Ouch!)

·         God is worthy- He is worthy enough to not get everything we ever wanted. He is worthy enough to suffer.

·         GIVE UP YOUR PREFERENCE- JESUS DOESN’T CALL US TO BE HAPPY- HE CALLS US TO LOVE AND SERVE HIM- TO LEAVE OUR SELFISH LIFE BEHIND!

Bigger Belief

At last week's Parish group (small group, life group...insert Bible belt reference here) with Christ Community Church, we discussed surface sins and heart idols. When it comes down to it, our "surface sins" often are acted out of an inner heart idol, or the worshipping of something other than Christ. An example we gave was gossiping. Talking about people behind their backs is a sin, but why do you gossip? For some people, it's their own insecurities... so therefore they aren't believing that they are Christ's beautiful creation and they care more about what they think than what Christ thinks about them... therefore in the deepest darkest part of their heart- they love themselves more than the Creator. Some other ways to trigger what your heart idols are to ask yourself what you fear the most...what you trust the most...what you love the most. For me, I fear the unknown- I fear the "what if something doesn't go as I planned"... "what if something bad happens"....therefore I'm not believing the Lord when He says, "I have a plan for you. A plan to prosper and not to harm you, a plan to give you a hope and a future." in Jeremiah. Therefore I trust myself, and my abilities more than I trust the Lord who knows every hair on my head. It just seems silly when we lay it out like that. But the logical, sinful, human side of our brain and our hearts- can't comprehend that. It doesn't matter how many sticky notes I put on my mirror with Bible verses on them.... I know what the Bible says... it has to go deeper. It has to go from knowledge to belief. And that is something that no sticky note can do. The Lord has to come in and expand our belief- and that will only happen if we ask Him for it. Even as I sit here typing this, my mind can't get around the idea of believing bigger. So this week- and for the rest of your life- pray for bigger belief. Pray against your human logic, pray against fixing things yourself, pray against forgetfulness... and pray for the only cure for our heart idols- bigger belief in the Almighty that rules over all.

A blog about nothing.

Growing up, my parent's favorite show was Seinfeld, the show famous for being "a show about nothing". Matt had never watched it, and I tried to explain what it's about.... and I couldn't. Seinfeld quotes are daily occurrences in the Morrison household...it's even creeped into my blogging thought process. Jerry, a comedian on the show, would start all his comedy sketches with everyday topics, "What's the deal with waiting rooms?" "What's the deal with airplane peanuts?" "What's the deal with accountants?" And now that I've began blogging, my subconscious is observing the world as a Seinfeld sketch. Running at the park, shopping at Walmart, sitting in traffic on 635.... the world is now up for grabs in the blogosphere.

As far as the titles of my blogs, most of the time it will be 3 random things relating to my blog...of course I want to grab people's attention so that they'll read it...but it's also a little humor from the Morrison house inspired from the express line at Walmart. Next time you're in the express line observe what people just ran in to get and then imagine what the rest of their day looks like- but the rule is that it has to come in 3's (hence, the 3 things in my titles). The infamous first example in which this "game" started from was a gentleman who ran into Walmart to purchase: a CD player.....Windex.....and a box of Ding Dongs. So this guy is going home to enjoy cleaning the windows, while listening to his new CD player, and puttin' down some Ding Dongs. End scene.

Happy observing!

What makes country, country?

What makes country music country? Matt and I argue about this all the time.... Is it how the singer looks? Is it the lyrics and what they sing about? Is it the sound and the instruments? And what if they only have a few of those qualities and not all of them? Does it cancel it?
Matt's consistent example is the Eli Young Band. Their style of clothes & hair: rocker/hipster-ish. Their lyrics: country. Their sound: unique... a hybrid. He claims that this qualifies as not country. So what is the deciding factor? If we look back to Merle Haggard, Conway Twitty, Tammy Wynnette, Johnny Cash..... their music and their style is totally different from what we qualify as country today. But is it simply the time? Is it simply the evolving of a product, the same as a dial-up Internet evolving into DSL... or the teal colored refrigerators being replaced by stainless steel ones with TVs on the front.... So is there room for the growth of a genre? Or is it consistent through time? With everything that changes, there's people who love it and people who hate it. Our grandparents may think having our cellphones glued to us is annoying...but we may see it as efficient. Facebook may seem as unnecessary by our parents... but our generation sees it as an effective way to communicate and connect. There can also be a mutual respect for the past as well as the changes of the future. There's nothing wrong with Hank Williams Jr. and there's nothing wrong with Tim McGraw.... it's just different. I think placing an artist into a genre will continue to be a relative, opinion-based decision.... but it's interesting to think about. Trends always seem to come in cycles too....so does that mean in the next 10 years we'll see the next Johnny Cash or next Tammy Wynette come back onto the scene? Stay tuned!

Phantom of the Opera, a measuring tape, and high heels

…that basically describes my second day on the job at the UNT Facilities Department. Today I got to experience my first day of site verification. Basically what it comes down to is that I have to make sure that the dimensions in the archived drawings are right and to check and see if the professor cut holes in his door and painted the ceiling lime green….just for fun.

But today, I wasn’t measuring an office, a lecture hall, or a reception desk…. Today me and a fellow Design Assistant were assigned to site check the mezzanine stage right in the auditorium. The renovation consists of updates…. As well as installing an organ and the organ pipes on the wings of the stage.  We gear up with a tape measure, camera, laser measurer, a variety of pens, 7 printed floor plans, and coffee…. But then we’re told, “And oh, bring a flashlight…and how do you feel about climbing ladders…” I look down and observe my dress and heels- in which I wore to impress people- but now it just comes across as unprepared- great!

We arrive at the auditorium to find it pitch black except for a light coming from a music stand and organ music filling the air…..something straight out of Phantom of the Opera. As we locate the wing we need to measure, we do everything we can from the ground floor, but eventually we had to relocate. A delicate black iron ladder ascended into the abyss, leaving the heels behind I went up first barefoot, flashlight in hand. As I got closer and closer to the top I was praying that it wasn’t going to look like the first scene of an NCIS episode where an obscure dead body was going to be waiting for me upstairs….of course a live body wouldn’t be good either. Instead I found…mostly darkness and dust….oh and a stack of organ pipes ready to be installed. Measuring this space was a challenge…especially barefoot. Stepping over the organ pipes, and hanging on to the rail, we snapped a ton of pictures, sketched and measured what we could…. Descended the ladder and called it a day. A little dirt under the fingernails never hurt anybody….but I will be stashing flats and jeans in my desk from now on.

Be a new wineskin.

Mondays posts will sometimes be a summary or key points from the sermon on Sunday...tied with a little of what the Lord is putting on my heart.

Mark 2:18-22.... the parable about new wine-skins vs. old wineskins.... a hard concept to grasp in today's world when we don't use wineskins. Basically, when wine was put into a new wineskin and sealed up, it would ferment and expand, stretching out the wineskin. If you tried to use the same old wineskin again, it would attempt to expand and eventually tear a hole in it. You could try and patch it, but it wouldn't be effective because the patch wouldn't expand with the wineskin.

• Christ can't be our "patch" on our old selves.... He wasn't created to be an attachment. God is there to reorient your life around Him...not just to be added on to your own agenda....He is the agenda.
• God has everything all sewed up through Christ.
• Our deepest needs of the soul....true comfort....can only be found when communing with the Father..... when Jesus needed comfort He went to be alone and prayed to the Father.
• We know He's there! (our brain, our logic, our knowledge) But we sometimes barely feel His presence (our emotional self)
• The Christian life is a windy road with mountains so high that we can conquer the world...and valleys so low that we don't even recognize ourselves..... but we'll be ok as long as we're still moving forward...towards the goal...towards Christ.
• God will never be satisfied being 2nd place in your life.
• We want to manage our lives....but we can't....we were created to trust in something bigger than ourselves.
• Everything in your life is on the chopping block before the Father.....He has the right to alter anything. But what remains real and consistent is His love.
• Be careful about self-righteousness....you're not worthy of anything and your self-pity and misery won't help you get there. Be a Godly-mourner when confronted with your sin.
• God hates your sin more than you do.

Playing the cardio game.

As far as fitness goes, we hear the word cardio a lot. Do more cardio... lose weight, do cardio... burn fat, do cardio.... dang it I really did eat all three of those donuts instead of just imagining it so I'll need to do lots of cardio today.... stuff like that. But what's really effective? What does it actually mean? Without using a bunch of anatomy jargon... it basically comes down to is- you need to feel like you're working hard, in order to be effective. Personal trainers use the Rate of Effort (RPE) from 1 to 10 to track this kind of thing, because it's different for everyone. A RPE of 10 means you can only sustain that effort for less than 30 seconds.....1 means you could go all day. Another way of measuring your effective cardio, is the talk test. Simply run or jump on the bike next to a friend and talk.... keep increasing the intensity until you can't form sentences without breaths between words. This is when your body switches gears on how it uses fuel because it needs more, faster.... in summary- helping you lose weight and burn calories. I cannot stress interval training enough! it's a way to be really effective, without working as hard. Simply work at a PRE of 4 or 5 for a couple minutes, then increase the intensity for 30 seconds to a minute to an RPE of 8 or 9....then repeat! It's basically a way to trick your body into thinking it's working harder than it is.

Happy running... ellipticalling?... biking.... swimming.... lacrossing.... zumba-ing.... whatever gets you moving!

Fascinating world of lighting...

A branch of interior design that has captured my attention is lighting design. Even broader...I enjoy designing ceilings.... There's a lot of small factors in lighting and ceiling design that can make a big difference in a space. I'm learning more and more about different kinds of lighting as well. The stand-bys....fluorescent & incandescent lamps (in industry "bulbs" are called "lamps").... and the next big thing in green design.... LEDs. Everyone's talking about LEDs.... Studies are showing that they are even more efficient than the high efficiency fluorescent we encounter almost everyday. There's a lot you can do with LEDs in design... for example these crazy awesome lights by Flos...called wall piercing.



Something so small, and so delicate....can make a huge impact on a room.

Also the "color" of lights effect people's minds. The blue-ish light of a fluorescent lamp is in the same spectrum as the sun's light....which tells your brain- it's daytime! Let's get to work! While, the soft, warm light of your everyday incandescent lamp, is more relaxing effect.

So FYI...if you want to go to sleep....don't read from your ipad that gives off blue light. There's actually an "app" for laptops that slowly transitions your screen from a blue tone to a yellow tone if you're working on stuff at night and want to hit the hay when you're done. Genius!

One topic you just can't talk enough about.....

There's an old Andy Griffith show episode where Barney and Andy are at church and Barney falls asleep during the service. Everyone always went up and shook the pastors hand after the service in those days.... but Barney fell asleep and didn't know what the sermon was about so when he shook his hand he said "That's one topic you just can't talk enough about.... sin" When in fact the sermon was titled "What's your hurry"....nothing about sin.

On Sunday, I heard a good sermon, about something that you just can't talk enough about.... sin... and Jesus. A couple of bullet points from the sermon include:

• If you don't sin, then you don't need Jesus.
• If you say you don't sin, then you just sinned by lying.
• Sin is rebellion against God....it isn't mistakes that you can correct by adjusting your behavior. It's something that requires you to be down on your face begging to be forgiven.
• Sin is a huge thing if it took God to come in human form and die on a cross in order for us to be forgiven of it.
• We have to find the balance between being so destroyed by our sin that it consumes us and paralyzes us (Jesus died so we don't have to be stuck in our sin)..... and where we find ourselves sinning and then thinking, it's ok because God forgives me. (God is a Father who disciplines His children)
• View God's discipline like a parent and a child.... if a kid is playing in the middle of the street, participating in something that seems fun but that could be harmful to them, a loving parent would tell them to stop....
• If we do well about recognizing our own faults and struggles....we'll be more forgiving of other's sins towards us.
• Act on your Christian liberty to say no to sin.... not to give in to it because of His grace.