schMORGANsborg

I just killed a piece of that peanut butter cake.  It was SOOO good…thanks Rebecca!  I’m officially a fat-a.  I guess I’ll be bustin’ it on the t-mill tonight before LOST melts my face off:) 

do any of yall watch that show?  I do and I am STOKED about the premiere tonight!  I saw this story about billboards for Oceanic Airlines popping up (Oceanic is the airline on the show…the flight that crashed…and not a real airline)  Well the billboard has "graffiti" on it that says find815.com…go there!  This is probably old news to yall, but this the first I’ve seen of this!  It’s like a whole other story….but connected of course:)  These writers are insane!  and the show tonight is going to be off the chain!  I can’t wait!

for some reason last night as I was trying to fall asleep I started thinking about Mr. Wilson’s store that used to be in downtown Lawrenceville.  Do yall remember him?  That place was the awesome!  My best friend, Tanaya, and I would go there at the end of every summer to get our supplies for the upcoming school year.  We were always so excited to go in there.  It was an old as dirt store and I think Mr. Wilson was even older, but there was stuff EVERYWHERE!  And for some reason that was thrilling to me.  We would buy all kinds of things and most of them were like 10 cents a piece.  Checking out was the best part though.  No matter how much or how little we spent Mr. Wilson would always slip a few extra things for us in the bag.  A cool pencil or a cute little notepad.  I’m sure he did this for everyone, but it always made us feel so special.  It was like the prize in a happy meal…except way better.  We would sprint to the car so we could look inside the bag and closely examine our free prize. 

Mr. Wilson died a while ago and the store closed not too long after that.  I wish it was still around.  There was a whole other side to the store that had all kinds of antiques and stuff in it.  Of course as a child I could have cared less about going into that part of the store…and I’m sure Darlene made sure I didn’t go over there either since I wasn’t the most graceful kid in the world.  But I would love that part of the store now.  My mom knows a lady who owns another shop on the square and she actually has a few things from Mr. Wilson’s that she was able to get before it closed.  My mom bought me some of it and I love it!  It’s cute stuff, but mostly I think I just love that it reminds me of my childhood and fun times with my bff.  I am so blessed to have a best friend that I’ve known literally since the day I was born.  Those kinds of friends are the best…you know the ones that have known you longer than you can remember.  Cause they just get you.  They understand who you are and why you are that way.  And they understand why Mr. Wilson’s was so cool without you having to say a word:) 

Rebecca tagged me…so here we go…stuff I’m pretty sure we won’t find in heaven.

rodents of any kind.  I mean I guess they might have a room full of rodents if you’re into that or something. 

traffic.  And Rebecca I’m going to take yours one step further.  Not just people going 35 in a 55…people going slower than I want to go in front of me…no matter how fast they are already going. 

running…make that exercise of any kind.  again…I guess if you’re a body builder you can have your own weight room or something like that. 

myspace, facebook, blogs, etc.  Don’t get me wrong I love ‘em…but they’re like crack…and I’m pretty sure that won’t be in heaven either.  plus in heaven I think I’ll have an alarm in my head that let’s me know whenever your kid does something cute so you won’t even have to blog about it:)

paper cuts. 

Q100…who the heck do they think they are taking over 99X!!! 

and much to my chagrin we will not have the three dots thing in heaven…that…what’s that called?  I use the heck outta those things.

ok, that’s all I can think of.  Let’s just be real I could care less about what’s not in heaven.  All I care about is that Jesus will be there.  You can put me on a t-mill with rodents crawling all over me and I’ll be cool as long as He’s there.  bam!  I just gave you a theology smack down!  you all have permission to punch me in the face next time you see me for using the word smack down.       

So there have been some videos circulating around the web of me…thank you Rebecca…and my family has felt the need to critique my acting abilities.  According to my mom and my brother I need to be more "expressive".  Oh and my mom also said that I need to wear more blush.  Listen up fam!  I wasn’t going for a flippin’ Oscar…back-off!  We’re a loving family:) 

this is what I get to drive all week since my car is in the shop getting fixed.

I just aged 30 years.

has joined the ranks!  finally:) 

http://www.themastersonfamily.blogspot.com/

God is not glorified when we keep for ourselves (no matter how thankfully) what we ought to be using to alleviate the misery of unevangelized, uneducated, unmedicated and unfed millions.  -John Piper, The Dangerous Duty of Delight

That one hurt…hurt bad.

that I’m upset about Heath Ledger dying?  I mean I didn’t even know the guy…but it just makes me so sad. 

Kristy told me to hurry up and post a new blog so here you go KQ. 

Friday night me and one of the two other single people I know went to go see 27 dresses.  You know the movie about the girl who has been a bridesmaid 27 times?  Needless to say that’s pretty much been the story of both of our lives:)  The movie was so good.  Very funny and very cute.  My favorite part was when one of the brides told her that the great part about her bridesmaid dress was that she could cut it off and wear it again.  Quality!  I’ve been in about 8 weddings…I think…I can’t really remember…and I’ve heard a version of that line each and every time.  I love every one of you girls with all my heart….but seriously…I’m never wearing those dresses again.  My fav version of that line was spoken by a bride that will go unnamed…you know who you are:)  She tried to convince all of us that we could wear the top part of our two piece dress with jeans and a blazer.  I don’t know who told her that but in the words of a famous Mikeism "you can peddle them lollypops somewhere else…cause I aint buyin’".  I don’t wear blazers.    

All of the people that I work with are sick as dogs.  Most of them have been out at some point this week.  When they are here they’re hacking up a lung.  So my mommy bought me my very own bottle of vitamin c and I’m dosing up.  Quick Mikeism in reference to the afore mentioned c…"when you start having diarrhea you’ve taken too much".  Thanks dad you’re so wise:)

Actually ol’ Mike won’t even get that message because he won’t read my blog anymore.  He said he doesn’t want me to censor myself because I’m afraid my daddy will read it.  Mike…did you see what I just wrote above…does it look like I censor myself:)   

sorry if I just grossed everyone out…I have the sense of humor of a 13 year old boy sometimes.

People always tell me that I give eat crap looks.  I’ve heard this for as long as I can remember.  But the honest truth is that I never mean to give anyone a mean look…well maybe sometimes I mean it, but the vast majority of the time I don’t even know I’m giving any kind of look at all.  My mom always tells me that I can’t hide how I feel cause it shows on my face.  So I guess if I’m ever thinking, "that guy is a weirdo" then it’s going to be really obvious…that’s a special talent that I’m sure will come in handy:)

I found this picture last night and apparently I’ve been giving "the look" since the get go.  I can just imagine how this situation unfolded.  Sweet Darlene says "Mike and Morgan smile for the camera!"  we both look up….at least I get it honest:)

cause the one I’m on now isn’t working.  So I need some suggestions…how do yall stay skinny?  Anyone interested in being my personal trainer:)  Maybe I should break down and actually hire one of those. 

before I die.  I just read someone’s blog and they had a list of stuff they wanted to do before they died…isn’t there a movie about that?  Anyway, I think I need to come up with a list…so that’s what I’m going to do.  any suggestions?

it has been an interesting week to say the least.  Monday was such a good day with the Lord.  Tuesday I got my butt kicked…example one: ticket for not making a "complete stop" (which ps is the first ticket I’ve gotten in years Katie:)!).  Wednesday I was dealing with major depression.  Thursday I was fighting for my life trying to find some kind of joy or hope in the Lord and mercifully had some really good time with Him and in the Word.  Friday…cue attack…some guy just backed into me at a stop light and smashed the front of my car.  Really?  Good night! 

Don’t get me wrong I don’t think the devil made that guy back into me or made me get a ticket…obviously the ticket was my own stupid fault.  But I do know that depression is a very real problem for me a lot of the time and I do know that it is a direct cause of spiritual attack.  I also know that my Enemy knows me well enough to know that silly things like tickets or wrecks can set me off.

You see the funny thing about depression is that it takes away your reason.  I like to consider myself a pretty rational person.  I’m generally a think with my head not with my heart kinda girl.  I think I’m a pretty level-headed individual.  That’s one reason I love the Word so much.  It’s concrete.  I can see the promises of God and know what they are and that he always keeps them.  But when the depression comes all my level-headedness and reason flies out the window.  All of a sudden I can’t see the light anymore.  I can’t reason or think my way out of it.  It’s like I’m in a dark pit and I can’t see the way out even though I know it’s there.  When it comes it’s like I’ve just had the crap beat out of me and I’m helpless to fight back.  All I can do is lay there and take the beating.  I can’t see the hope.  I can’t remember the promises.  I can’t remember who He is. 

But praise God He is faithful to come and get me every time!  He comes down into the miry pit and lifts me out.  He sets me on solid ground and patiently tells me again what He’s told me so many times before…that He loves me…that He is more powerful than my Enemy…and that He will take care of me. 

Last night was one of those times for me.  It’s like He spit in my eyes and all of a sudden I could see.  I could see how ridiculous it is to doubt whether or not He loves me.  How absurd it is to wonder whether or not He would take care of me.  I could see…and I could breath again. 

I guess this is just how it plays out for me.  I’m sure it’s not like that for everyone.  Maybe it’s not like that for anyone…but this is a continuing cycle in my life.  Rebecca sent me a link to Perry Noble’s blog and he says it this way…  

"It was a back and forth deal…just like it is with many of us.  Some days it seems like we are on top of a mountain when it comes to our spiritual lives…and then there are others when it feels as if the mountain is on top of us!!!

Some days it seems like God is right next to us…and then sometimes we doubt our own salvation.

Some days it seems like we open the Bible and the Word is SO ALIVE…and then sometimes we open it and might as well be reading a cook book because we would get about the same out of it.

Some days we go to church get so much out of it…and then sometimes we feel like our times was wasted.

Folks–warfare is real…always has been and always will be…"

Half of this week has felt like I’m on top of a mountain and the other half has felt like the mountain is on top of me.  I don’t know the reason for this I just know this is how it’s gone. 

And just so the Enemy doesn’t think he got the last word here’s what my True Love said to me last night to remind me of who He is…."for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; who God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith this was to demonstrate his righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

Lord I praise you that in your infinite mercy you are just and the Justifier!  I praise you Jesus that you publicly bore the wrath that was meant for me.  And I praise you that you are patient and loving enough to remind me of that day after day.   

Do you ever think you’ve got things figured out…finally…and then all of a sudden something happens that knocks you on your butt? 

I thought I had finally figured out where I was supposed to be serving and then I ran into a major road block….bummer!  I guess it’s back to the drawing board. 

The more I learn; the more I figure out how much I don’t know….pretty sure there’s a mikeism somewhere in there. 

wasn’t he the one that always had a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other?  That’s what I feel like this morning.  Darn you doughnuts!  Why must you taste so good?! 

Don’t be jealous of my mad photoshop skills…SIKE!

don’t write a blog about having joy in the Lord.  The enemy was like "oh really…how ya like this?!"  I have been getting beat down since yesterday afternoon.

One of the jewls came this morning…a ticket…because I didn’t come to a "complete" stop at the stop sign.  I think complete is a very subjective term, but whatever.

do you ever have one of those days that you just enjoy the heck outta Jesus?  Today is one of those days for me.  I can’t even explain it, but I just love him! 

ok, that’s all I got.

I got some DVDs by Ray VanderLann for Christmas.  I ask for them every time anyone asks me what I want for something…birthday…christmas…whatever.  I LOVE them!  He is all about teaching the cultural background of the biblical text…which opens up a whole new world.  You should check them out!

Anyway, I was watching one of the lessons about the church at Sardis.  John writes a letter to this church in Revelation that is pretty revealing.  He says "I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.  Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God."

Sardis, like most other Roman cities, had several temples devoted to the gods of that time.  The people of that city would go to these temples and do some pretty messed up stuff in order to worship the god.  But the interesting thing about Sardis is that the most ancient ruins in that city are a huge temple that was originally for the worship of Cybele.  After the Greeks took over they turned it into a temple for Artemis and it was one of the seven largest Greek temples in the world.  Now here’s the twist.  In the back corner of that temple there’s a church!  Why would Christians build a church inside a temple for a false god.  By the time the church was built the Artemis temple was probably nearly abandoned.  However, Ray VanderLaan poses the question:  Were they seeking to reclaim the temple and be relevant to their surrounding culture or had they become so comfortable in that pagan world that they had no problem worshiping God in a place where others worshiped a much different god.

I guess there’s no way to really know, but when you look at the strongly worded letter from John to the church in that city it makes you wonder.  

Sometimes I wonder the same thing about myself.  I hear a lot about being relevant these days and I think there is a lot of value in that.  I guess I just wonder if sometimes I conform to a "pagan" society in the name of relevancy.  I wonder what kind of letter John would write to me.  I wonder if he might urge me to strengthen the things which remain.  I don’t know…just a thought.