Expected and Unexpected

So the topic for this year's Next conference was Jesus Christ (are you thinking, well, duh Melissa, it's a bunch of Christians getting together, shouldn't it be about Jesus Christ?), I agree "should" being the operative word. How often do we go through our day and never once think of the Cross...of what Christ did for us? I was very excited for this conference because I was more than ready to have my world rocked by learning truth, rediscovering truth I already knew, but it was covered with the cobwebs of everyday life, and being convicted of areas where I need to focus on Him more. All of that happened...but what also happened is that He assured me and affirmed certain choices and decisions I have had to make in the recent past- tough choices, that shouldn't have been tough, since it was choosing between Him and the world, but they were...tough (I'll stick with that word, since other adjectives may lead you to believe that I am being melodramatic...although I assure you, I would not be!). So that was an unexpected sweetness to the conference. The messages are all available for free download here. I highly recommend you listen to them.

Rather than describe each message that was given, I will just list some key phrases that the speakers said that really made me think.

Josh Harris' message was based around Luke 6:46-49 (Jesus speaking to the people)-

"Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord', and not do what I tell you. Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like, he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation, when the stream broke against it, immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great."

I never realized that this passage was being spoken to believers. I always thought that the people who built their house on the rock were believers and the ones who didn't were unbelievers, but Jesus is addressing believers in this entire passage- that means some of us are building our foundations on rock (ie Him) and some of us aren't. (ooh, conviction, or as Dustin would say, "the Sovereign slap" :)).

Josh said (paraphrased) "When was the last time that Jesus, that something you read in Scripture, changed the path you were on."- oh yeah, I had an answer for that one. Thanks for the affirmation Lord.

DA Carson- "God's love for the world is not awesome because the world is so big, but because the world is so bad".

DA Carson- "You must see more of the glory of God to become stabilized in your Christian life"

Kevin DeYoung- Speaking about feeling condemnation for something you have done: "saying 'I can't forgive myself' is just more sin. Of course you can't forgive yourself, only God can".

Kevin DeYoung- "You will never be a Christian until you stop believing in yourself". (ie only God can sustain you, if we try to sustain ourselves we will fail, maybe not immediately, but we will eventually fail).

So that ends my Next blog. The conference was...expected and unexpected.

Tejas Tri 2009

Another tri bites the dust :). Today Lisa and I did the Tejas Tri - 600yd (0.34 mile) swim, 11 mile bike, 3 mile run. I did it in 1 hour and 30 minutes. My swim was a bit longer than I would have liked, but I swam almost the whole distance freestyle (only used the breaststroke once or twice to catch my breath or to sight better)- which was really my main goal, so overall, I am very happy with my results. The run was challenging because it had warmed up pretty good and its was pretty miserable out there. I am glad Lisa finishes before me...she's there to cheer me on at the finish line (and today I needed it!)...hmm, maybe I need to train harder so I can reciprocate...or maybe some of you should come cheer both of us on (hint hint, nudge, nudge).

Post race

My bike performed awesome, I really enjoy riding it- my fear of riding is slowly fading to a more manageable level...although it wasn't helped by the poor gal I rode past who was being administered to by the paramedics...look likes she took a head/face dive off the bike and was strapped to a body board and was "red"- I stopped looking at that point...crashes are going to happen...::shudder::

Lisa and her gear

Besides the new bike, I also broke in what's called a trisuit. It's a once piece shorts/tank top combo. I got the Orca 226 and I LOVE it...my shirt was always riding up and I don't like showing my stomach...I didn't have to worry about that with the trisuit..plus it allows for great range of motion, it wicks water and sweat like there's no tomorrow...great investment.

Me and my gear

I will say that one of the things I did not like at this tri was the lack of the wet, icy towel they usually hand you at the end of the race to wipe your face with and put on the back of your neck. I never realized how amazing that towel is until I had to do without...ah..icy cold towels...

Funny

Lisa and I went to Bike Barn today with our bikes to get a tutorial on how to change a bike flat- neither of us knew how and its an uncomfortable feeling racing knowing that you could get bit by that lack of knowledge at any moment.

My favorite moment from the "lesson" (the lesson that was interspersed with abundant stories from Bike Barn Clint about bike crashes and wipeouts by the way- yeah, those were edifying ::eye roll:: ).

BBC- "So you guys do tris?"
M&L- "Yep."
BBC- "Wow you are retarded."

Okay, not the most PC comment, but entirely unexpected which made it all the more humorous to me...really, I could have giggled about that for about 5 minutes, but I had to have flat-tire-fix focus brain instead...

:D

Work language

So one of my roommates, Pam, came home today and told me she had a new word for me...it might just be the second best word ever...are you ready for it?

Fasgrolia- the FASt GROwing Language of Initialisms and Acronyms

Ha...this is what we speak every day at work. Love it.

(By the way, the look on Claire's face as I expressed my genuine delight (I think I may have jumped up and down...) at this new found word was priceless- she didn't think someone could get that excited over a word. Ah Claire, welcome to another facet of Melissa :))

So the next time someone says something to you that is high-tech and full of acronyms, just tell them to stop speaking fasgrolia. hahaha...ha.

:D

Tea Party Invitations

Here are the invitations I came up with for our upcoming Girls Group Mother/Daughter Tea Party...it's been awhile since I've done invitations- I had fun with them even though it was a simple design...very girly- I like it!

front


inside-minus the details of course :)


invitations...

Words

So I am reading this really phenomenal book called "The Meaning of Everything- the Story of the Oxford English Dictionary" by Simon Winchester. As most of you know, I really like words and I thought, well, what better to read than a history of the OED (yes, I realize the nerdiness in this statement...oh well). I am enjoying two things about this book 1) it reads more like fiction than non-fiction and 2) Mr. Winchester employs many new words I have never heard of and/or words that I recognize but could not define. He's also pretty masterful with these footnotes that contain the more humorous aspects of history or nuggets of trivia.

My two favorite trivia nuggets so far:

1. If you were to write "what!?" the combination of the '!' and the '?' is called an interrobang.
2. The word "paperclip" was first used in 1875

I'm also finding it pretty funny (probably as only I would) that I am using a Merriam-Webster dictionary to look up the words I don't know...(and yep, I am TOTALLY writing the definitions in the book as I go :) ). That's probably why I couldn't find the definition of "machicolated".

Some of my new favorite words:

1. bellicose- war-mongering, belligerent
2. erudite- scholarly
3. malapropism- humorous misuse of a word

...looking forward to the second half of this book....

Still processing...

I've had several people ask "so where's your Next blog?" Next as in the conference I went to this past weekend. It's coming folks...I'm still processing the amazing messages I heard. So until then, here are a couple of pics to tide you over. We took 13 people to this conference (more than double from last year!) and it was a great group. Dustin and Megan are our singles group leaders and Dustin was a trooper, having to hang out with 12 women for 4 days...I'm sure it was really rough... ;-)

Our group

Me and some of my girlies