Seeing Heaven

It was Friday and I had an event to attend. I work in the non-profit world and this was one that I didn't want to miss particularly because I need to be personally involved with something bigger than myself.

I show up. It's outdoors. There is a sign-in. I grab a sharpie, write my name with great intention and stamp myself with a name tag. My head is aching and it's only 10 am. Need coffee. Of course, this event is catered. For breakfast. Outdoors. Impressive. Coffee, tea, OJ, coffee cake, baked goods galore. Yum. The organizer announces that we are about to begin and to gather 'round for when the subjects of the hour enter with fanfare and joy!

Standing there with my coffee, informational pamphlet and great anticipation, I hear the music. It's drums and singing and dancing and everyone stops. Coming down the street and around the bend. We're all standing there waiting until the rhythm gets closer. We are about to be enveloped in a celebration. Didn't know what was coming.

I finally get a peek of what is happening when the drumming enters the lot. Men, black, white, all beating the junk out of their drum; women, black, white, old, young, dancing. Dancing in white. To an Afro-Caribbean beat. It was wonderful. The real celebration was what is to follow. Women dancing, with raised hands, shouting, laughing, smiling and singing follow and all us bystanders are in the midst of something that was more than any of us bargained for.

This was the homecoming of women who were homeless. No longer are they so because there is a place called Downtown Women's Center that is out to end homelessness for women in Los Angeles. These women were overjoyed because they coming home to a new facility that would their community. A 71-unit building was finally theirs, fully renovated and furnished for them to call their own. We were there to welcome them and witness.

I cannot tell you what really happened. All I know is that what I was watching was beyond us. The dancing and the mix of all people from all backgrounds and walks of life and ages and races were all together celebrating. A battle had been won and these women were being welcomed home.

I was in tears.

It was so moving. I thought, "This is how I imagine heaven."

The only drawback was that there was no one there to share this with me! I was surrounded by total strangers and here I am crying, for Pete's sake.

I turned around there happened to be a woman that worked there (she had a clipboard and headset; takes a real genius) and she was wearing yellow which is why I think I was drawn to her. Plus, it helped that she was crying, too. I walked up and touched her shoulder and said, "I don't know why I'm crying; this is my first time here!" She looked at me and said, "I know! I planned this event and didn't even know it would be like this! It's just so moving!" Then, I added, "I just need to tell someone this: This is how I imagine heaven to be!"

She lost it. Tears free flowing. She thanked me for saying that and said oh my gosh a few times and then thanked me again.

Let me tell you, I did not expect this to happen at all. I mean, I had expectations. I thought it would have been good. I thought this interaction between DWC and I would start a steady yet not-so-often volunteer relationship. Who'da thunk it?

It was really one of things that you commit to because it sounds really great and then when it comes down to you getting ready, getting dressed, putting on make-up and figuring out what to wear and getting in the car to go, you want to talk yourself out of it because it's not mandatory. No one will notice if you aren't there. Take my advice: get up and go anyway. Changed my life.

Downtown Women's Center is an amazing nonprofit that I cannot say enough about. Here is an article in the LA Times where they were featured.

Wedding-ness

Hi-ya pumpkin.

I cannot even count how many wedding blogs, websites, reviews, photos, resources and referrals I have studied in the past 7.5 months. And I'm just talking online. No matter how many I have read in hand. Woo boy.

So, I was thinking: other than having an awesome wedding, what will this get me? How will this seemingly useless knowledge really help anyone? Oh, yes! I have a blog that maybe a handful of people read! And so, here are my brief website referrals for those who are on the path to marriage.

These are the ones I look at daily: (Yes, I know my life will be empty after the wedding - haha!)
oncewed.com
ruffledblog.com
stylemepretty.com
marthastewartweddings.com
onewed.com

Others that I don't look at everyday but are arguably just as essential:
theknot.com
thebrokeassbride.com
etsy.com
greenweddingshoes.com

There's a ton more. Believe me!

I'm telling you - if you need advice, help, recommendation, in Texas or Southern California, I have probably seen a picture of it or read a review on it. Wasn't it Jesus who said, ask and you shall receive? Mm hmm.

I would love to help! I seriously enjoy this wayyy too much!

Ask her out

Why hello,

Long time, no talk, I know.

I wanted to rant about one thing:

GUYS: YOU NEED TO ASK HER OUT.

It's simple. I'm talking specifically about LA here, people. Texas has no trouble asking each other out (and of course by that I mean, proposing and getting married).

You men out here need to freakin' stop foolin around and ask a girl out. Let me tell you that I know several eligible, lovely, smart, fun and extraordinary women who would love to be dating but don't want to be the one pursuing the man!

And what is wrong with all of these women, anyway? Why haven't you asked her out yet? Rather, what is wrong with you!? It's just plain ridiculous.

It's a date not a serious commitment. Geez louise.

So, get over yourself. And if you have been eyeing her from afar (for probably way too long) what is stopping you? Are you dilly-dallying for the right reasons or the wrong ones?

And if you're so into sports then why don't you just do it.?

xo,

Julie

Engagement = Hurry up and wait! ;-)

Being engaged is wonderful and weird. You finally get to talk about all the things that maybe you couldn't or didn't before but you are still not married. You are in a prolonged state of preparation. You are engaging your mind, heart and soul in what it will be like to get married but you don't actually do it. It's a prep period.

Our love gets to marinate in all the yummy ingredients our friends, families and even strangers give us to add some spice, kick, tenderizer and juiciness to the marinade ensuring that we don't get tough to chew or our love and relationship doesn't lack in saltiness.

It's so exciting and maddening all at the same time. Of course you want to be married to this person already or you wouldn't be engaged!

But that's the point.

I'm human and slow. And I need help. So we need these transitions, these times of God readying us. I know God is just being gentle with me by providing us with an engagement period. Lord knows I'm so darn independent and stubborn. I need 11 months of practice dying to myself so that it won't be a shock when I need to do that for my other half in the bed with me.

Joy

Hello World,

I just want you to know that I recently got engaged to the most wonderful man in the world. I know that's a cliche but I'm serious about it. He is better than the man I dreamed about since I was a little girl. Plus, I started my new job about a month ago and that is going beyond well. I am so thankful for these things. I want you to know that.

What's more is that I have a beautiful family and wonderful friends that are such strong pillars in my life. Where would we be without these people that encourage us, support us, pray for and with us and believe in us?

I am so thankful, world. I just wanted to send that out in there in the universe. I mostly want you and GOD to know that right now - I feel pure joy. It stems from gratitude, this I know full well. Counting our blessings is under-rated.

Plus, I live in an amazing city that is so complex and full of .. everything! It's awesomely overwhelming at times. There is much to do and much to give. I am grateful that I get to live my life with this wonderful man, with this wonderful tribe called Mosaic in this beautiful and mixed-up city while walking with and for my beautiful God.

Loads of Love,
Jewlzie

'Boyfriend'

So I work at this retail store and everything nowadays had the word 'boyfriend' in it. Are you interested in trying on our 'boyfriend jean'? They are super comfortable and a relaxed fit. Or what about a 'boyfriend shirt'? No? Okay, we also have a 'boyfriend T' that you could try if you are looking for something more casual.

I don't get it.

If something is comfortable, worn-in, baggy, and hardly flattering on ANY body type it is labeled boyfriend. Then that usually causes some to say, "Maybe if I get these then hopefully the boyfriend will follow!"

Bleh.

What's all the commotion about anyway? Don't women have enough on their plate that the media shoves down their throat about how to look, how to dress and NOW that we should not only HAVE a boyfriend, but be wearing clothes that look like HIS?? Are you with me?

And it's not like there's a new line of denim called the 'husband jean'. Are you catching my drift? Why are women who are in their forties, married and have kids even compelled to TRY ON these jeans?? I cannot help that my temporary establishment of employment condones this product. However, they do as much for humans and the environment as one retailer can do, I suppose.

There's my rant. I feel better.

Life List

So my close friend here in L.A. has a life list & recently crossed something off of it. Seeing the excitement and fulfillment in her face I knew that I wanted my very own life list. Here it is. (note that this is not complete - i'm not gonna spill it ALL on the internet people!)

1. Meet Bono, The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr.
2. Spend at least 5 days in every Latin American country.
3. Sing a solo in front of at least 100 people.
4. Take a Flamenco class in Spain
5. Personally know a Nobel Peace Prize winner
6. Be a guest on Oprah
7. Start my own non-profit with at least 15 people on staff
8. Wash a homeless person's feet
9. Grow all my own vegetables for at least 1 year
10. Ride in a hot air balloon
11. Learn at least 2 other languages fluently
12. Live outside the U.S. for at least 5 years
13. Write a book/ memoir
14. Swim with dolphins in Australia
15. Prepare & eat dinner with real guacho family in Argentina
16. See Angel & Niagara Falls
17. See all 7 wonders of the world
18. Create clothing (hand-made) for women who have none
19. Climb one of the top 10 highest mountains in the world
20. Be in the credits of a feature film
21. Teach at least 10 children to read
22. Create my own line of sexy flat shoes!
23. Speak to over 1,000 people about God
24. Be considered an "expert" in something
25. Milk a cow
26. Participate in an all-day protest
27. Fly a plane
28. Write a poem about someone and read it to them
29. Help deliver a baby
30. Not own my own car for at least 1 year
31. Raise my own chickens and eat them and their eggs!
32. Run a marathon
33. Live on a beach for at least 1 year
34. Help someone's dreams come true

Tid bits and Pieces

Some thoughts I want to share from this great speaker I heard a week ago.

"The art of disruption"
Suffering has within it all of these new possibilities. What we have planned and imagined for ourselves no longer exists.

Spectrum of Suffering:

Oppression <<------------------------->> No suffering
Severe pain <<------------------------->> No struggle
Overwhelmed <<------------------------->> Comfortably Numb

Three ways to encounter the "disruption"
* Your own disruption
* Seeking a disruption++
* Or stumbling upon someone else's disruption

++Example
A boy that lives in the suburbs drives his mother's SUV down the road. Windows rolled down and he's blasting a song that represents a life full of struggle, pain, and how someone went from the bottom to the top. It's about struggle to survive and making something out of nothing. Maybe the reason he listens, even when his parents have worked so hard to keep him out of a dangerous situation and neighborhoods like Compton, is because he is seeking someone else's disruption.

"The art of disruption has within it all sorts of seeds filled with creativity and imagination."

"Pain has a way of making us honest."
In the midst of suffering we discover this subterranean place of honesty. We say what we really want to say.++

++Example
Acquaintance: "How are you?"
You: "Crappy."
Acquaintance: "Oh, okay..."

My own aside: [They don't really want to know how you are! They just ask because it's the polite thing to do! Don't worry - I am just as guilty as the next person. BUT, suffering has a way of making you honest!]

"None get to God but through trouble."


"The art of elimination"
There is endless line, color, texture, form, etc. it is just knowing what to take away. Just like sculpture. You start with a block of stone and carve away at it to obtain the art. When you suffer, all that is trivial drifts out of focus and that which is truly important becomes clear.


"The art of solidarity"
I lovethe example used here.
Show me two mothers from two ends of town that visit their sons in jail and I will show you two women who have more in common than that which separates them.

"It all makes the difference to know there's someone else screaming alongside you."

"What every artist must learn is that even the failed pieces are essential."

"Nothing is wasted in the divine economy."

"The God Who Wastes Nothing"

Native American rug-making is such that the stray cloth at the corner needs to remain, we in Western culture, would want to trim the stray ends off, because they believe the Spirit enters through the blemish.

"This, too, will shape me." The only question is how?

Bitter or better.

Spoken by a sculptor character, Harriet March, in novel by Susan Howatch:

“That’s creation . . . you can’t create without waste and mess and sheer undiluted slog. You can’t create without pain. It’s all part of the process. It’s in the nature of things . . . So in the end every major disaster, every tiny error, every wrong turning, every fragment of discarded clay, all the blood, sweat, and tears – everything has meaning. I give it meaning. I reuse, reshape, recast all that goes wrong so that in the end nothing is wasted and nothing is without significance and nothing ceases to be precious to me.”

The speaker was Rob Bell. He is amazing.

Write, write, write...right?

Here is a sample of my writing that I submitted for a job - I got an interview & that went so well that they want me to come in and give a presentation for the directors of the organization! ::don't stop 'til you get enough!::

It's about why I moved to L.A. & why I want to work in the non-profit sector.

Would love to know what you think about it - any feedback is greatly appreciated!

______________________

Have you ever done something that made you come alive? Have you had that moment when you discover what you were made to do and doing that ‘something’ gives you rejuvenating life? I love helping what some would call “the least of these”; the broken, the lost, the less fortunate and the abandoned. I moved to L.A., the city of dreamers, to pursue a dream myself. I wanted to make a difference by changing the social and economic climate through helping homeless people, women, children and families become prosperous. I come alive when hanging out with runaway teens at Covenant House in Hollywood and feeding, talking with and doing laundry for the homeless in Skid Row. I moved here because L.A. is a city full of opportunity and need. I know that I will never be fully alive if I am not working in the non-profit sector, where people are partnering together to create real change and open doors of hope for those who have none.
In college, I studied Latin America – its language, culture and history. I fell in love with one country in particular, Colombia. For one of my classes I researched current events, political scene, education system, etc. about one Spanish-speaking country. I chose Colombia. In my search, I read about all of these cases of women being denied rights because of the drug cartels and their husbands getting tied up in them. Children could not live normal lives because they had to be under high security for risk of being kidnapped and taken for ransom. Ironically, this opened my eyes to dangers and injustices going on in my own backyard. I started to take notice of the domestic violence and crime going on in my own neighborhood. Shortly after, I started volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center just a mile away from my campus where nearly all of the clients are Spanish-speaking only. This urgency that I felt for Colombia was suddenly relevant to my own community. The Fort Worth Pregnancy Center (FWPC) helped me to practice tangible ways in which I could meet these women’s physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual needs. For me that meant spending time with certain clients outside of the center and helping them watch their children at the park, treating them like a friend and less like a patient at a clinic, shared my own experiences of love, worry and anticipation and I read the Bible with them in their own language.
Throughout college I was involved with a Christian sorority on campus called Eta Iota Sigma or HIS for short. HIS is the place that I found true friendship, the best friends I will ever have, those women that will be in my wedding, and where I saw God’s face in the most beautiful way. As a sorority, we did so much with the community of TCU, Fort Worth, churches and non-profits. For an entire calendar year I served as Growth Coordinator for over 200 women in HIS. That year was one of the most trying and rewarding times in my life. Part of my responsibility was to plan and lead the spiritual events and elements of our sorority, which included but was not limited to prayer, weekend retreats, Bible studies, discipleship and mentorship programs, church attendance and any involvement with our local churches. Being the liaison between local churches and our sisterhood of passionate women and volunteers was something I treasured and maintained. I discovered that I have a gift for coordinating people and groups to come together for a cause. My excitement and passion cultivated fuel for our women to volunteer and devote themselves to a worthy event. It was rewarding to be an example of leadership for these women and to make a significant impact on the community. I saw what it meant to the women at FWPC when my sisters came to volunteer and donate clothes or when we invited them to our retreats. Not only was there a cultural gap but an economic and social separation as well. We were not just sacrificing our time up; we were bridging the gap from a well-to-do, predominantly Caucasian university to the ghetto of south Fort Worth. It was a beautiful thing and I knew that this was something I had to continue to do in order to fulfill my purpose on this earth.
Graduation day was amazing. I turned 22 a day after and it was an entire week’s worth of celebrating my life and my accomplishment. In June after graduation I moved. L.A. was calling my name, so I left everything I knew and took a huge risk. I had no job lined up, only knew a few people (my boyfriend included), and was planning on living with a total stranger. After couple of months in and I found a job as a teacher’s assistant at a charter high school in MacArthur Park. This was no run-of-the-mill charter school; this was a girl’s academy. I did not remember full well how mean and nasty high school girls can be. Nor did I have any inkling of what it might be like to dwell amongst high school girls from downtown Los Angeles. The first month was wretched. The girls would test me, tease me, question my authority, curse and yell at me, get in fights with each other and ignore me when I asked them to do anything. I wanted to just walk away so many times, but it got better, slowly but surely. There were few redemptive moments amongst the chaos and madness. I know that you are not supposed to have favorites when working with kids, but there was a girl that I will never forget: Wendy. I was helping her to write a persuasive essay. It was an open prompt and she chose to write about how the cops should take children away from their parents if it is dangerous. She shared with me that her mother was addicted to crack-cocaine and that she had 3 younger siblings that she had to take care of as a result. Her story made me want to carry her away and take care of her myself. Trying to stay on topic, I asked her what could be her main arguments for this topic and she said, “Well, when you are an addict you don’t care about anything but getting another fix.” She said that her mother is no longer a mother because she just cares about herself; there is no food, no nothing for her kids because all of the money goes to drugs. Wendy said that it makes her angry to know that the cops know where all the crack houses are and they just keep driving by, meanwhile there are children that are victims with no way out because these cops don’t enforce the law. Then, as if that weren’t enough, she leans in and says, “Julie, there’s something that I’ve wanted to ask you for a while now…Do you see the world different ‘cause your eyes are blue?” I laughed a little and while I had to shush other girls who were teasing her for her silly question, I said, “Well, no I don’t think so…” Then, I thought about it for a second and I said, “You know what? Maybe you’re right! I don’t know really know what you see or what anyone else sees. Maybe I do see things differently. Maybe you do, too!” She just smiled and nodded her head. That sixteen year old girl had never encountered a White person before. I was the first. That sixteen year old girl has never even seen the Pacific Ocean before. There is no way that I could turn my back on young girls like her whose world is so small and they are stuck in a cycle of poverty and destruction. Working there opened my eyes to a part of L.A. some people who have lived here their whole lives never see.
Living in L.A. you cannot help but notice that there is homelessness around every corner. Mosaic, the spiritual community I belong to downtown, has a heart for the homeless in our city and I have joined them in reaching out to this demographic. I have learned one thing in particular: the homeless need to feel normal. Yes, feeding, clothing and giving money is necessary but not the end to what needs to be done. Through a project called Laundry Love, I hope to address the issues of homelessness that are sometimes ignored. My plan is to restore dignity and teach hygiene and cleanliness by providing opportunities to practice good health. I got a few friends together from Mosaic to do laundry in Skid Row as well as hand out burritos and toiletry bags of toothbrushes, toothpaste and deodorant. The hope is that we can develop trust and friendships by having great conversations as we do laundry. At the same time we will be preventing disease and maintaining the importance of cleanliness. If you look good, you feel good. Thus, having clean clothes and better hygiene will create more opportunities for networking with our team and increase the possibility of finding jobs, housing and healthcare. We want to continue this service at least twice a month because we know the importance of dependability and consistency with people that are used to being given food and never seeing those volunteers again.
All of these experiences have built a strong sense in me to turn my career into helping those that need it most. There are teen girls that are on the street, doing hard drugs and having children and I know that they are the most important people group that I should be investing in. I have seen first-hand that young girls that are making detrimental mistakes are the ones without mentors and people that believe and invest in their future. My experiences have shown me the prevalence and devastation of homelessness in L.A. and helping those people will strengthen and empower our city. For these reasons and more I know that the non-profit sector is where I belong.

Got drenched

I was baptized on Sunday. Oh yeah, it is January and it has been raining all week long = freezing cold Pacific Ocean! Oh yeah, that's right. I got baptized in the Pacific Ocean! It was amazing!

I remember every specific experience in that one hour. Dear friends gathered around at the beach and surrounded us five to be baptized.

We (those to be baptized) shared our stories of how we got to this point. Souls were bared with humility and grace. Beauty. Inside and out. What a perfect and celestial setting to share such righteous words from our hearts.

We all prayed. Tears were welling up in people's eyes, hands placed on shoulders and backs, comforting, encouraging words of light and truth were lifted up. It was truly heavenly.

Then, one by one we went out to the water waist-deep and were dunked.

Now, this was an interesting moment for me. Let me try to walk with you through it by just you reading this now.

I'm walking out with my dear friend, mentor and brother to the ocean. It was so cold that it awakened me. I cannot remember being so aware of the earth than I was when I stepped into that frigid and overwhelming ocean.

Once we got knee-deep, a terrible thing happened. The waves swelled and crashed. I have never felt so cold in my life. It was like my body was about to go into shock. Yet it was so spiritual for me. I mean this is life, isn't it? It is refreshing and scary and freezing and moving sometimes... all at the same time.

We made it. I was dunked. I remember being completely submerged. I didn't notice the salt or how cold it was in that moment. I just remembered being washed clean. As soon as I came up out the water the first thing I heard was cheering coming from the shore. My brother and I embraced and I couldn't help but just weep in pure joy.

I got back to the sand and was embraced all the more by my friends, my family really, and was wrapped in dry towels (thank God!).

Forever I will remember these words, "You are the warmest thing in this ocean right now and the ocean thanks you for it. And now when you walk into a room, you will be the warmest person in it."

Thank God for the Refresh Button.

Expect More

Tonight was wonderful. The Mayan(is the place where I meet with my spiritual community and hear from our full-of-faith leader, Erwin McManus) and going to a friend's house after for burgers and conversation. It was excellent. Thank you God for real people who are in touch with their souls and serve "the least of these".

Main thought for the night (inspired by Erwin): The faith I had last year will not cut it for my life this year.

I need to be pressing forward and evolving in ways that I cannot foresee because it has to be inspired and set in motion by God. This has really put pep in my step because I am realizing that I need to step up my game. I should be living my life for others! This requires me to be completely dependent on God because I cannot give my life away without his strength. Period.

I recall a quote that I read in "Eat, Pray, Love": "Search for God like a man with his head on fire searches for water."

May we not lose our desperation for an Almighty, Powerful and Merciful God that loves fiercely.

Unfaithful

Have you ever been cheated on?

I was thinking about it today and it is so funny. The human soul knows how to feel about cheating. Why do you think Montel, Maury and Jerry Springer are still in business? I have never cheated but I have been cheated on. I remember in high school I trashed an ex-boyfriend's truck because he cheated and lied. (I was sixteen and hormonal, cut me a break - ha ha!)

In an article in GQ, it showed several statistics that men who cheat are going to keep cheating because of the conditions of their life. It justified their adultery. I read the whole article. I wanted to understand this mentality because we know that cheating is wrong, painful and goes against the rules of love! Do you not agree?

What brought this up? Well, I was reading the book of Hosea and it is about a man (Hosea) that is told by God to find himself an adulterous wife. Interesting, right? Well, he does and she bears children by Hosea but she does not stick around. She runs away to go back to her old life. Hosea, of course, gets angry (and so does God) but Hosea (inspired by God) goes back and gets her, forgives her and brings her home. This is the language he uses:

"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt."

What love, right?! I am astonished. If you checked yes to my first question, would you have taken your lover back who betrayed your trust and broke your heart? No way! Even though we as humans instinctively know that cheating is just wrong, we feel this innate pull to be with one person. Is that not interesting? Any outsider can understand the taxing and numbing lifestyle to be had by people who jump from one lover to the next.

It's not like we need more than one person! I mean, people can hardly make it in a marriage to just one person. You already know divorce is just as popular as weddings are, not marriage. Yes, this is an ad for marriage. More than that, the truth is that the only way one can make it through a relationship of any sort is forgiveness.
Yes, cheating is absolutely wrong. Yes, there is no excuse. But, have you not done something wrong to someone and needed a second, third, fifteenth chance? Perhaps there was no excuse for your behavior then and you can never know how much what you do affects someone. Yet, marriage in its truest form must be all about forgiveness because it is meant to last a lifetime - that is a lifetime of forgiveness!! God gives us a perfect example of this, not just in this beautiful story of Hosea but in our everyday lives! Nothing can separate us from the love of God because He will always forgive our every sin, big or little. Maybe America should take notes. Families, couples, churches, schools and children would be greatly affected by one person's choice to forgive.

When I asked my dad, who has been happily married for 30 years, what has made he and my mom make it this far and he said, "Julie, if I could wrap it up in one word it would be forgiveness." He then commenced to tell me that he has done many stupid things and my mom has forgiven him when he did not deserve it. I am not suggesting that he cheated on my mother, but I am suggesting that 30 years with someone definitely means they have brought you great joy and great pain, period.

Ultimately, I think deep down in our heart of hearts, we want one wonderful and complex, sometimes stupid, beautiful human to spend our lives with and if we behave otherwise it is an attempt seek that out without knowing that is what we really really want and need. Just like people will wander the earth and do all kinds of research to find God and ultimate truth, people will join eHarmony, go out to bars, lose weight, join clubs, churches and organizations to find "the one"! The key is forgiveness. The reality of the situation is that not matter how in love we are, or how much we adore our significant other, without forgiveness we can forget longevity of anything.

There is hope! A few verses down in Hosea, God tells this to his people,

"I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord."

Amen.

The New You in the New Year

It's December 31. 10 o'clock in the eve and you are at a party, a club, bar-hopping with friends and perhaps you have been drinking. If you haven't prior to ten, then you are by now and by the time the ball drops you are feelin' a lot more of the alcohol. Meaningful conversation is not exactly the greatest commodity at the moment and you might be kissing someone... someone you dearly love or someone you hardly know. You party on into the new year and for the first few hours of a new era in your life you are intoxicated, sweaty from all the dancing, and perhaps made some choices you won't remember and your friends are glad you won't.

Ok, so maybe this scenario does not describe what your new year's eve was like but it does fit the bill for millions across the country. In part, (in small part - like the dancing, sweating and being with friends part) including me. I was with great friends in a fun city, lots to do, plenty of bars, lots of people.

Why is it that on brink of a New Era, a new decade, a fresh start we are dull, distracted, delayed, loud, emotional, or however you are when you're drunk. It's not like we do not deem this time in our lives as important and valuable. We use our vacation time, sick day(s), money we don't have to visit loved ones and get some R&R. So, why do we as Americans think this is the best way to start out the year 2010?

What if we started a New Year revolution? One person at a time. What if we planned a party where we drank whatever we chose yet our focus was on the conversation, the people, how their lives have changed in the past year and how together we can better the year to come for each other and our communities? We could give bars and party venues a run for their money! Is that not what you really want anyway?

Be the change you wish to see in the world

Right? How can we expect out of others what we cannot and will not do on our own? Are we enabling the world to head in the wrong direction by staying inactive in our own neighborhood?

So here is to a New Year and a New You!! Cheers, my friend.