Storyteller

My husband told me yesterday that I was a great Storyteller. That I can make something sound way more interesting than it actually is. I could agree with him, but then he said something crazy. He said I should try and write!! Uhhh... What?! Brittany Chenoweth, me myself and I, hate reading.. how could we write?! So obviously, as any good wife does I am considering it. Mildly considering trying. I mean I believe wholeheartedly that GOD works in mysterious ways, and if this is indeed something I can do that would be oh so mysterious... But what would I even say?! And if you're thinking "You write on a blog occasionally..." Then you're right, I do... But no one reads this anyways so it doesn't count! I will try. I'm not promising this will be any good, but I will try. I just had a thought... I will attempt to write children's books about some of the crazy decisions i've made... This should be funny! And informative! How hard could a children's book be right?! Reports to come.... Pray for me! Lord knows I will need it.

One Life

Our church is in the middle of a series called "One Life" It's one of those series that is relatable to EVERYONE, no matter where you are in faith or lack thereof. Because we all have one thing in common, One life to live. No matter what your belief on what happens after death, the fact remains that in the body in which you currently reside only has one life to live. You don't get two. Unless of course GOD wills it, then I suppose you'll have as many lives in your body as he commands. But for most of us "Average Joes" we only get one. While going through this series my small group is going through a book of equal "epicness" if you will, called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It is inspiring in more ways than one, and I am kicking myself for never picking it up before now! It is life changing. I can say with all honesty that going through the book and this sermon series has my spirit going through an array of emotions, from "you stupid selfish no good sinner" to "I don't even know how to comprehend this grace, love, peace, joy and motivation" I guess I am working on getting back to the "glory days" of my faith. You know, 18-19 years old, never done anything bad, innocent beyond belief, unscathed by the evil in this world... Oh how quickly that all changed! It's mind boggling to me how easy it is to fall behind. To let go. It's easy to forget and live a selfish life. A life lived like I will be here forever, like it will never end. And oh how things are constantly missed and pushed away in laziness and contentedness. It's such a blase life. Now my spirit is at war with myself, shouting and pushing me to be better, do better, live in the reality of my circumstances. I AM DYING! My days are numbered, we've heard it all before. The morbid proclamation, we are all going to die, and none of us know when! SO LIVE, and do it well! Don't ask me why I am crazy encouraged by that. Its as if my life that I can complain about having no meaning at all is starting to shine a little brighter, like if i get off my couch, I just might be able to make a difference. I mean, i could die after writing this... or I could LIVE after writing this. Live a life of service to those in need. Life a life free of distractions from all the noise and with purpose. I could choose GOD and choose to be strong and follow his endless adventures. When has doing something you're not comfortable with been anything other than a crazy rewarding adventure. Anyways, enough rambling. I just feel like my eyes have been opened for the first time since the "glory days" and a hope for something more than I feel right now is on the horizon. Anyone who has a life to live deserves to know that truth! There is more for you! Your present circumstances or blandness in life can have flavor and meaning! What you're doing does not have to be IT! It doesn't have to be miserable! If you want more information, or if you want to be encouraged... Buy Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Its not long and its amazing, Or if you hate reading like I do, go to http://subsplash.com/rccc/s/b710939/ and listen to the audio! It could change your life, either way... What do you have to lose?

2015

2015 has been real. Brandon and I basically had no life while we saved so we could spend nearly a month abroad and backpack Europe, Which has been a dream of mine since I first stepped foot in Ireland! It was in that moment at 15 I knew I NEEDED to travel and see this huge world and embrace the many different cultures and traditions it has to offer. Oh. My. Gosh. It was BEYOND amazing. Not only was it challenging to save for a year and a half, but it was a roller coaster of emotion. We experienced more in that month than we could have dreamed. Have beautiful days and terrible ones, felt physical turmoil and refreshed all at the same time, Walked our legs to capacity, ate a plethora of genres, met cool people, saw a bunch of naked people (Which we did not expect or really want to see i might add), laughed, cried, blah blah blah!

Needless to say we had a great time, would definitely encourage anyone with a beating heart and desire to travel to do the same. And dont pull the "Well i have responsibilities" card, we tried too as well... and yea, your responsibilities will still be there when you get back! Live a little!

On top of that our Nephew and Niece both turned/are turning 1 this year. We had a healthy baby boy and a Premature baby girl! Seeing them both grow into the adorable humans they are today has been humbling and making me very baby cray cray. Brandon wont budge. *sigh* But i'm off the pill, so take that Brandon! (He knows, and if he didnt he does now!)

My sister is 15 and just got a car... Excuse me while a few people resuscitate me from a heart attack because I must be getting old! We moved to Texas when she was 4. When asked about her very first bus driver ever she described him as "Brownish" because she didn't know the technical term and was to young to notice personality traits... Now shes driving.

In other news, Bruce our son. Dog. SonDog. is in training. He is an awesome Boston Terrier and super excited and loveable 99.9% of the time. If you have ever been around bostons you know they pass toxic gas as well... 99.8% of the time. He's awesome, and the closest thing I have to quench my baby cray desires. He doesnt mind that I change his clothes every day, bought him a carseat and push him in the cart at the grocery store.... Im not that crazy, and i dont do any of those things... really... i dont.

We moved from Austin back to SA area to be closer to our family. We are now living in a house as opposed to an apartment and are out in the middle of nowhere as opposed to the city. And no im not exaggerating, drive to my house, see for yourself! I do love it though, other than that Raccoons that are hunting our outdoor cats. I love it. I hate the raccoons.

Oh, and we have an indoor cat! And we HAD 5 outdoor cats until the raccoons went wild and killed them off. We do have 1 survivor. Aria Stark, which is appropriate since the actual Aria is a lone wolf too. I loved my cats, and miss them all... In my head I picture them getting fed by someone else, still alive and well. Which since we didnt find any bodies, could be true. So i will continue to dream.

As for the holidays and the rest of this year, we will continue to cherish the amount of time we get to spend with our families and friends. We are grateful, I am grateful to have been able to move back home, go back to a church we both love and get connected with a great community group.

Life is good, 2015 has been Great.
The End.

Another look at the "Dear Church" Article

Today I was grateful to finally get a chance to read the "Dear Church, Why people are actually leaving you" Article. In my personal opinion I found it to be absolutely insightful and very true. But after reading some things that avid church goers were saying along with their posts of the article itself, i found myself discouraged and in all honesty hurt. I wanted to take a moment and share my take of the article. First let me say, I am blessed to have been able to experience BOTH sides, and as such i feel obligated to speak out as a believer and fellow church goer. 

CHURCH PEOPLE..... This is NOT the time to defend the church.... This IS a time to defend JESUS! The Bible says in Proverbs 12:15 "The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice." The article was written to raise awareness to Church goers everywhere. Not raise your arms in defense of how you've never seen it go wrong, which is in all honesty, irrelevant. The writer... or should i say... the Hurting... are not saying "We've said our piece about you... Now is your chance at a rebuttal" The hurting are SCREAMING "LOVE ME, ACCEPT ME, I NEED YOU!" The church being run by imperfect people is a given, Sometimes its going to go wrong and people will get hurt. But don't be the one on the "Never been hurt by the church side" being the first to speak out about how this article does not portray churches appropriately. Because that is exactly what it is doing. This article is calling out the sinners for being sinners. Don't get me wrong, its also not saying there is an expectation for the church to be perfect. That will never happen if we are involved. So please for the LOVE of GOD think before you come back at this article so fast for misrepresenting the church. Every church in the world has in some way or another let at least 1 person down. So please Church people, stop thinking that just because you haven't been let down personally, that it hasn't happened. I know both sides, i was for a LONG time the church girl... I rarely did things without my Church friends. My church people were the only ones i knew and to be honest the only relationships i truly invested myself in. When i got hurt by the church i lost all those friends. I moved and i was an inconvenience to get to, so very few came to see me... let alone shoot me a text every now and again to say they hadn't forgotten about me. The truth is that once you get involved deeply in a community like that it is very hard to remember the ones NOT included in that community. I never would have seen that, had i not been removed from that situation. I said in the beginning that i was blessed to be on BOTH sides because i am. I was so blessed to have been able to experience community like i did. It was beautiful, its what introduced me to Christ. But losing that turned my world around. I then became the opposite of what i had ever intended to be. I was no longer a church girl. I was so broken and mistrusting that it took me nearly 2.5 years to even consider getting that involved in a church again. Not to be confused with me losing my faith... GOD is my life, and was during that hard time. What is beautiful about being on the other side is that your eyes are opened. My eyes were opened to see the sin in my own life, and it didn't happen when i was in the church. It happened when i left it. I saw that as involved in the community of my Church friends as i was, i was more judgmental than i ever wanted to be. When you only hang out with healthy people, you lose compassion for the sick. Sick being Sin. You lose compassion for sin that you don't understand. You lose compassion for those who had an abortion for no other reason than just because. You lose compassion for the couple having premarital sex. You lose compassion for the liar. The homosexual. The one cheating on their boyfriend/girlfriend. The one who stole food to live. The Atheist. The believer who doesn't practice their faith. You lose compassion for being themselves. When we should accept people AS THEMSELVES. Not accept them as GOD wants them or how you want them, but accept them as they are in this moment, space and time. Jesus didn't love the broken because he wanted them to change. He just loved them. The church is beautiful, if you're accepted. The Church is life changing, if someone is willing to invest their own time in you... Not just church time. The church is a place where Jesus dwells, if it happens outside ALONG WITH within 4 walls with cool lights and talking points. Jesus even said Healthy people don't need a doctor. Sick people do!Church, Before you speak out against this article. Open your eyes. Defend Jesus and his good work. Don't let this be a stumbling block, let it be a consuming fire! Listen to what it says and LEARN. Invest in people that take you out of your comfort zone. Because even if they don't believe, they will teach you something you wouldn't have learned elsewhere. Make time for people that are outside your clique. And yes, its a clique if it has had the same people involved for more than 6 months. Let other people in.... Being an outsider, coming from an outsider, sucks. Jesus hung out with the unpopular, lost, hated, broken, unsaved, sick, sinners.Church, Do you?