a texas thanksgivin'
11.26.04 (10:59 am) [edit]hope everyone had a marvelous turkey day! i had a terrific one myself. i saw all those weird relatives you never see unless there's food, marriage, or death involved. i love those guys...or at least i think i do, except for maybe that one-just kiddin'....don't know 'em well enough to know if they are pleasent people. we played board games from 3 til 7ish last night-can't ever get enough of all those old people and their game of dominos, yee-haw. those who did not play games all pilled on the available beds, or couchs, or even the floors for some after-thanksgivin'-nappin '. i ate brisket with my uncle's speciality bar-b-que sauce fresh off the smoker until i felt about as round as a hot air ballon. all was topped off by watching the cowboys win their first game in fOrEvEr-woo-hoo, go cowboys! now, that my friends, is a real texas thanksgivin'!
final junk mail count & :D
11.24.04 (8:04 am) [edit]it has happened, friends! the final day of my junk mail experiment has come and gone. the last proclamation on bulk mail is as follows:
620 pieces of trash have seeped into my e-mail box from october 23 til november 23. *shakes fist* darn you, spammers! althought the titles do often grace me with a giggle now and then...such as bits offering an amazing bust enhancement concoction, or 500 ties for free, or my daily newsletter from the java club which doesn't, and never has belonged to me. and so concludes my junk mail, and it's fun.
on another note, I'VE GOT A SCHOLARSHIP!!! :D $3,000 a year for hardin-simmons. now, if only some kind soul would go, "sure, bria, i will pay your complete tuition fee." that would be a miracle. hmm... that reminds me, i need 2 more hours of community service this semester for talisam, so i'm still eligible for that scholarship.... anyone out there that wishes to donate to the bria's college fund? pweeeez?!
ah, anyway, i'm out. God bless ya.
Christian Rock: Blessing or Blasphemy?
11.22.04 (9:09 pm) [edit]http://www.av1611.org/crock.html" title="http://www.av1611.org/crock.html" target="_blank"http://www.av1611.org/crock.h... -Christian Rock: Blessing or Blasphemy?
The topic addressed in "Christian Rock: Blessing or Blasphemy?" is a hot, and controversial one amongst many churches, including my own. The younger people support the rock, while the older people refuse to accept the rock genre as God centered. I beg to differ with the tract presented. Many Christian rock bands are not so "Christian" as they label themselves. Groups such as POD, Creed, and the singer Stacie Orrico have made me tearful, and somewhat angry when they've crossed the line into secular music. They have left me feeling abandoned, although not alone. Many Christian rock artists work for the One true God, and aren't afraid to show it; most act in a way that shows Christ in their life. I believe the preference of rock, or punk, or pop, or gospel, or country is just that- a preference. God can, does, and has worked through off beat, and often secular means to reach certain groups. God used King Nebuchadnezzar- a secular ruler- to do His work that the Israelites would not do, because they remained in their ignorant sin. ("[God is] using foreigners [those that are not of God's people] to do it."-Ezekiel 30:12-the end of the verse, NLT) When God can't find a person amongst His own to serve the purpose He needs, He'll go elsewhere, and use His "other" resources. After all, the unbelievers belong to God too, although they don't understand that. God saw a need amongst the youth for Christian influence in their music- a mode of influence which Satan had almost completely taken over, except in His church. Behold, the birth of Christian rock. God is in the habit of using the most obscure people, the ones that have no influence, no power, and in some case not even a voice-like Moses- for His use. God has His ways!
comments
11.22.04 (9:02 pm) [edit]
imperfection i see
11.20.04 (8:59 pm) [edit]have you ever tried to read ezekiel 40-42? it almost drove me up the wall the other night. all it is is measurements for the temple. i mean, yes, the temple is important, but reading about its deminsions is not very fascinating for a person who is incapable of guesstimating measurements in her head, and whose head shuts down on the mention of numbers. so i endured for my Bible reading i think it was either monday or tuesday the worst kind of Bibical text my mind could imagine. as i was reading through the muck, i began to wonder what i could learn from all this mess, that made no sense to me. i determined that if it matters that the temple courtyard be precisely by His dementions, then how much more it must matter to Him that i be by His exact measurements. i may see flaws each morning when i look in the mirror, but God sees a perfect bria. i may see flaws in my character, but God sees those bumps as perfect ways to use me to His glory. i don't know if that hits a chord with anyone, but it sure did with me. see, i'm an ultra perfectionist, so it bugs the heck out of me that i'm not perfect... i've seriously almost gone crazy over imperfection in myself before. it's nice to know there is One out there that loves me even when i fail my test, or don't wear make-up, or don't keep my room clean, or when i'm not there with a shoulder to cry on at the exact moment a shoulder is needed. thanks, God, for loving me despite my bumps, bruises, and faults. thanks for overlooking them all, and just seeing me in my future perfection under Your grace. thank you.
junk mail count
11.17.04 (8:36 pm) [edit]for those that are following my junk mail pile up with interest, the current status of my junk mail as of 10:39 pm cst 11/17 i have 572 bulk/junk e-mail messages as of 10/23. these mailings are from people such as "usa special"-ya, i bet they're reallllll special- "your fun-sexually explicit"-hmm...ya how'd they get my address, and figure i'm interested?-"ebay success kit"- for all of your ebay needs ;-)-the wine lovers club-ya, since i go out for a drink alllll the time.
i have no time to really blog, so good bye. God bless!
honks and tendonitis
11.12.04 (7:11 pm) [edit]wowzerz! i was looking at my stats again, and someone recently spent over 5 hours on my site! i know i'm awesome, but shesh! i don't even spend 5 hours on my site, and it's all my favorite stuff! i'm flattered, but get a life. speaking of, i was selling krispy kream's today out in the windy 45 degree overcast weather (BRR!!) for the sake of the mission trip to nyc and guys kept on honking, and waving at me. i'm flattered, but if ya want more than a smile, you gotta buy a box of doughnuts. :wink: but seriously, don't stare! buy a box of doughnuts! or two if ya really love me lol. besides, staring's not nice. :P
i am not looking forward to the weather this weekend... windy, cold, and possibly frozen percipitation and i get to play tennis in it. joy *sarcasm* that's not the worst i've played in though... i've played in everything from 15 degrees to 115 degrees, snow, sleet, mud storm, dust storm, dust devils, and 35 mile an hour winds with gusts around 45...and that's all literal there, folks, no hyperbole! that's one of the wild cards for tennis...the weather...makes the game that much more fun. which is why i'm a little in the dumps today. i think my tendonitis in my rotator cuff is coming back. (was out for 6 months with the same condition when i was 14.) if it is the tendoitis, and i can't get it under control-it has been getting worse for about 2 weeks- my tennis career will be over. :( i know the end has to come sometime, but i'd rather not go out broken. i beat the odds last time, i can do it again! my last case was quite severe, if you might had guessed. there towards the end, we were starting to consider surgery (although i have no idea how surgery can help and inflammed tendon), but it finally started to get better after intensive physical therapy, and deep tissue massage, but then i still encontered more obstacles. once i was able to get back on the tennis court, everyone counted me down and out, and that i'd never be good again. HA! proved them wrong! *nanner-nanner* so, as you can see, i have a bit of a fight in me, which is why i do not wish to leave the sport beaten by my own bodily limitations, and everyone elses' "bottle half empty" view point. so anyway, if you're the praying sort, be praying for my shoulder. i would greatly appreciate it. :D
well, looks like i've bored you enough...oh wait, no one has read to this point...oh well, you're loss. :) later God bless
king neb just did it
11.10.04 (8:48 pm) [edit]guess what! i've learned something that's kinda scary/neat-o in my Bible reading as of late. i've been reading through those little read books after proverbs in the old testament, for those that haven't been around long. i'm in ezekiel right now and have been reading about king nebechanezzer's army. God sent king neb ( :-) ) to destroy all the nations God was having problems with. God sent king neb- a pagan lord- to do His work because king neb listened more to what God had to say than the israelites did. that took me by the shoulders and shook me. if i don't do what God needs me to do, He'll just find someone else to do the job, cause God's gotta, and will, get the job done whether i take part in His plan or not. He'll even go so far as to pick an unbeliever over my stubborn self! don't let God pass you by; like nike's old slogan, "just do it".
class of 05 and a comment
11.08.04 (5:11 pm) [edit]i have determined that the class of 05 (at my school anyway) have big dreams, but don't always go for them. since before i can remember we've all been talking about how we'd go to timbucktu for college if we could, but now that we're all actually getting down to it, most everyone you talk to-including myself- is going to one of the 4 colleges we have here in town. how lame are we?! i mean, not to dog on the 4 here, but we all had dreams, and now we're giving them up. i wonder why? i know why i'm staying in town: because the school which has the best physical therapy school in the south just happens to be in my home town. bummer. i wonder what everone else's reason for staying local is? those that aren't going local aren't going too far away either, like baylor, or tech. tech is really just my town's population of college kids relocated generally anyway. *shrugs* i'm going to start asking why when i find out where one of my classmates is going next. anyway, the moral of the story is: shoot for your dreams, unless there's a really good excuse stopping you.
update on spam recieved since 10/23: 396. amazing isn't it? :-p
Hey I tried to leave a comment in your blog but I couldn't...Im not sure why. It wouldn't let me. But anyway I just wanted to say thanks for the comment you left in my blog. Believe it or not it really helped. So thanks for taking time out to write me and share what you though. it means a lot. =) - shocktart55
:-D glad to be of service to a fellow human.
eXcItInG :-D
11.05.04 (4:35 pm) [edit]you know what? i'm really blessed. people, for some strange reason, seem to search my name alot and end up here, or on my home page. :-) yea for silly searches!
ok, here's the part where i cry, grovel, and become really pathetic... pLeAsE vote me as featured blog! i've been around this place for about a year and a half now, and have tried once before (on my birthday, no less) to become featured, and i was denied...ON MY BIRTHDAY! sad isn't? now you feel bad and want to go vote for me right? right. ok, now we've got that straight... ;-) to something exciting.
eXcItInG...hmmm...what in my life at this very moment is exciting to me, but would also be exciting to about as close to a complete stranger as you can get. hehe, how bout a funny moment in bria's creative writing class. today was our teacher's last day, and so we just had some fun. one of my classmates had brought the teacher a section of the ballon arch from the peprally this morning which were still floating above our heads on the ceiling. someone decieded it would be fun for all of us to drink up the helium, and sing happy birthday to the teacher because yesterday was her birthday. it was hilarious! the guys with the really deep voices sounded like the munchkins on the wizard of oz. eventually, the guys all sang, "follow the yellow brick road" and evan commented "don't do drugs, kids, do helium instead!" i just about died laughing. hope that gave you a giggle too.
exciting, exciting, hmm... got my cap and gown order form yesterday. the company is trying to sell us on all sorts of junk we don't need too such as a graduation teddy bear, a "tankard" which is just a fancy word for a mug, class pants, class keyrings, souvenier tassels, software for your computer to print up party invitations, even Christma ornaments for pete sake. not even Christmas can escape the "you need it ALLL" scam these days. shesh. and i thought the prices for the rings were overboard.
o ya! how could i forget! i'm going to new york on mission over spring break! i'm really excited, because this time i won't be going to see the sights like last time; i'll be going for a purpose-to teach some recent immigrants english, some manual labor consisting so far of painting-my specialty when it comes to "rough" house work, and of course sharing my personal story of salvation, and the Word. :D i'm soooo excited! and i get to go with people i enjoy being with too. i pray i get to room with this one girl, courtney, because i'd really like to get to know her better than i do. i know, i know, you're going, "that's great, but i don't care." well, i do. :-p
well, i gotta go get ready for the distict championship football game! yee-haw! ;-) later ya'll, and God bless ya too!
postive prayer starts day off right
11.02.04 (5:52 pm) [edit]have you ever felt like you could possibly be sick, but maybe you're just hungry? i'm having that feeling right now. i also am ticked at my keyboard, because the space bar doesn't work. i cracked my cell phone screen yesterday...i'm just full of depressment, aren't i? sorry. happiness is on the way.
anyway, to something that matters to you. what do you think about when you first wake up? what you have to do that day? what's for breakfast? "why am i up this early?!" i generally fall into question a: what i have to do, sometimes what day it is too, when i wake up confussed. 0:-) all the thoughts i've listed are negative. why do humans do that... gravitate toward negative thoughts? i find that encredibly annoying in my life, what about you? i am going to challenge, you-along with myself- to start your day off with a positive, thanks giving prayer before you go off thinking of other things. you know,a "hey, thanks God for today, and not letting me die in my sleep last night. and thanks for my opportunity today to go to school/work." the little things that aren't so little we often forget to be thankful for like ability to think, walk, speak, our intelligence, breath, friends, family, food, shelter...blablabla. you get the idea. but anyway, try that thanks prayer in the morning for a week, and see what happens. do get out of bed first, before you pray. i'll fall back asleep, i'm sure of it if i don't get out of my warm, comfy bed before i close my eyes for a little God time.
update on the spam i've received since 10/23: 309. yea for spam! ;-)
