I'M HIRED!!!!

I got the job!!! I just found out this morning; I'm pretty excited if you couldn't tell! I'm a real librarian now. ;-) I am not sure of the starting details yet but I will post as I find out. The position is at the MSU Business Library and is a temporary 9-month appointment. I'll be training to compete for the permanent position which interviews in the spring. The best thing is that the library guaranteed me a full-time clerical spot back here at the main branch if I don't get the permanent job, so the uncertainty about unemployment is taken care of. Thank the Lord for answering prayers!

fall camping

I know that most people think we're crazy to go camping this time of year, but it's the best time by far. You have the whole campground to yourselves, it's cold at night but just cold enough to be toasty under a load of blankets and layers, and the fire is nice and warm instead of making you sweat. Granted we're probably not going to go for a night swim, but the crisp cool air makes up for that.

That said, we're taking the youth group camping tonight. We're staying tonight but plan to be back before noon tomorrow for the annual Michigan-Michigan State football game. We're not going ANYWHERE near campus thank goodness... this is one of the times I'm thankful for TV. :-)

shining

Why is it that we as Christians find such subtle ways for it to be "all about us" and not about Jesus? Even when we're supposedly focusing on Him it becomes about OUR opinons, OUR "spirituality," OUR "style of ministry," OUR "authenticity." Are we truly a mirror of God's glory or are we warping it, even slightly, to fit our own ideas? Are we superimposing the outline of our face on Christ's reflection?

When Moses was talking to God on Mt. Sinai in Exodus 33, he begged God for His presence to be with him and the Israelites.

Then Moses said to him, "If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?" And the LORD said to Moses, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name." Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory." (Exodus 33:15-18)

The thing that was to "set apart" the people of God from all others was the presence of God. Not their "lifestyle," not their "belief systems," not their "authenticity." These things resulted from having God's presence with them, but it was His presence that people noticed, His presence that set them apart. God's presence shows God's glory.

How often do we take the time to put down our own fronts, our own faces, and just let God's presence be our face? This kind of surrender is hard... It's so much easier to create our own "filters" for His light than to just let it blaze. But tampering with God's glory is attempting to weaken the very thing that sets us apart - the very thing that the world will notice.

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Our personalities, styles, outlooks, and uniqueness all have a place- and that place is submitted to God's shining glory. Our "selves" should not filter God's light, they should instead be illuminated in its unveiled glory.

survivor nacogdoches

I heard from Stephen today and it sounds like things are crazy down in Texas. He and Stacey and her family are OK, but with no power still. He is back in Alabama and hopefully Stacey will be back online soon. Please continue to keep them in prayer! Here is an excerpt from his e-mail:

Even though the hurricane came through and it cooled things off, the temps have soared back into the low 100's and the heat index has been 105-110 in the area. Thus, people have been miserable, and cold showers have been welcome for once in our life. Not only have the temps been high, but the tempers have been raging in the area. What is not being told in the media is that the locals are having to compete with evacuees from Rita and Katrina for supplies. Moreover, far NE Texas has sent many of the evacuees back to the Nacogdoches area to re-stock and supply prior to returning home. Intermittent power outages in the city of Nacogdoches (and county) has turned driving into an adventure. Road rage and absence of reason has been the norm on the roads. Whenever ice, water or gas was present, it was grounds for all out choas. Both Stacey and I have had encounters with road rage where we almost were run over for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. We have spent two days watching Houston folks congest every road known to man trying to return and it has been amazing watching to gridlock and congestion forcing local traffic to be re-routed.

I never thought of how much I take these cool Michigan fall mornings for granted! I'm sure they would kill for 56 degrees right about now.

calamari anyone?

OK so I thought these photos of a giant squid were cool. This is the first time they have gotten a picture of one of these guys in action. Check out the tentacle... This dude could stock the calamari vat at Mongolian Barbecue for the next year. By the way, the photos (and story) are at cnn.com. You have to wonder what God was thinking when he made him (or her I suppose!)

How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number - living things both large and small. Psalm 104:24-25

morning glory

Here's the season's last morning glory that I passed on my way to work this morning. I also saw a heron in the river, but it was too far away to get a good shot with my camera phone. The river was misty this morning as the temp dipped down into the 40s.

now THIS is interesting...

I get teased a lot for being "obsessed" with BTK (the Wichita serial killer)... just to set the record straight, I'm not obsessed at all, just fascinated with his case- and here is a good example why. Here is a very interesting interview with BTK's Lutheran pastor. It's interesting to me that it took an incident like having BTK in his church to get him to realize that there is actually a personal embodiment of evil. I thought all you theologians (amateur and otherwise) would like this one.

better now I hope!

Ok, yes, that last template had pretty bad design. :-) I did like the picture though, and you know me - fashion over function. This one is much clearer and laid out better. This designer has some really nice ones. The next one will be my own when I brush up on my HTML skills.

My interview went really well on Friday. I should know something at some point next week. One really exciting thing if I get this job is that I would be able (and encouraged, imagine that!) to take web design classes and work on updating the library's web presence. That would be very fun for me to have a creative (and practical) outlet at work. It was nice talking to my interviewers about the nature of this job - the environment there is so positive and encouraging; sometimes I forget that work can be like that.

Let's see... Friday night we had a game night at church, and while I didn't do my usual cleanup at Uno I did discover that Matt and I are a force to be reckoned with at Taboo. Justin spent most of the night trash-talking Velma about Skip-Bo.

Saturday and Sunday were the normal hodgepodge of events and busy-ness. Kevin F. joined our church this week. Being ordained and a seminary grad, he will have lots to do! It was funny, one of our senior ladies was bragging on him during the evening service... "Did you know that a SOUTHERN BAPTIST MINISTER joined our church today?" It was so cute.

finally fall

This morning brought that familiar crispness in the air along with the late sunrise. It is finally starting to feel like fall. I was disappointed I didn't get to ride the bike in this morning but I have my interview this afternoon at 3:30 and I didn't feel like schlepping my makeup bag and a change of clothes along with me.

Stacey and Stephen are in for a wild weekend as he is driving INTO the path of Rita... from north Alabama to Nacogdoches, TX where Rita is expected to blow right over with tropical storm strength. He's headed for a job interview... should be a bit unlike any other! Please pray for them... mostly that he gets the job and is finally able to join Stacey again in TX.

We had some new contacts for the ministry this week. It's rush week, so all the frats and sororities are pretty busy as you can imagine. We're praying that God puts people where He can have the maximum impact and glory in their lives.

so...

What do y'all think of the new layout? I went a little nuts yesterday. :-) I found it at this blogskins site - i think i looked through all the thousands on there before I found one I liked. There were some cool ones but they all reminded me of stationery from China with the "inspirational" sayings on them.

The only things I don't like are that it's a little harder to read, and my pictures are too wide to be seen all at once. I can't fix that though.... the transparent area is built into the background photo. I am willing to sacrifice that for style however!

boundaries!

Yesterday I got a call for an interview for the Business Library job that I posted about on Friday. The upcoming interview is this Friday at 3:30. So... God's will be done here.

Last night we had a bit of a break at our women's Bible study. We had yummy homemade pizza and watched "Monster-in-Law" to provide a fun illustration for our Boundaries study that we're doing. As with most movies the issues were pretty exaggerated but it definitely highlighted some of the stuff we've been talking and reading about. We all got really cheesy and clapped when J.Lo says "boundaries" at the end. Wanda Sykes is hilarious in this film by the way, she definitely makes the movie.

tasty

Anyone have a good recipie for no-bake cookies? I tried one last night and they came out way too dry. They look kind of like little dried-up cow patties. Not too appetizing but Justin says they taste good. I should make Gretchen's famous Litterbox Cake to go with them.

sbc cribs

Sunday night we got to hear Matt preach again and watch a "Cribs" video that he and Tim made. I particularly enjoyed seeing their "rides..." Tim's medical supply delivery truck complete with "oxygen bar" and Matt's pimpin' 91 Jetta (formerly mine) with stock rims and eardrum-shattering subwoofer. Tim's rock climbing "bling" was especially hot as well. It was nice to see Kadee who braved the trip down from CMU (see photo) and also had a surprise visit from Julie who stopped by on her way to the exciting city of Flint.

gorgeous ladies of wrestling... uh, music....

This photo didn't come out as well as I hoped but the lighting was a little weird in the church. Anyhow I attended a lovely chamber music recital on Saturday night; it was great to hear Laura, Marie, and Gretchen play again as well as some new people. Please note Laura's gorgeous new top, proudly obtained that day from a church bag sale (fill-a-bag for $1.00).

Trying again

I applied for another job today. It's a temoprary librarian position (9 months) at the MSU Business Library, and the person who gets this job will have a chance to apply for the permanent spot in the spring. Some of you will remember I used to work at the Business Lib. (otherwise known as the Bid'ness Liberry) and I enjoyed it a lot. The only problem with this position would be the temporary thing... it's possible I could be unemployed at the end of 9 months. Scary, but if God wants it then He'll take care of us.

oaks of righteousness

Isaiah 61: 1-3
He has sent me... to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion- to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.

not dale earnhardt

I saw this article on Scott Hamilton today and forgot how much he looks like he could be Justin's "brother." We all know they are not related however because Justin's true brother was Dale Earnhardt, who unfortunately didn't leave him any money in his will. AND Justin is much better looking than his skating alter ego!

the scrap

Definetely the cutest "dude" in our house.

welcome to slobovia

Last night was fun. I love having any excuse to cook "yard" in large quantities (or in any at all for that matter!) It was funny how many people had a problem eating with their hands. My soup came out thicker than I had hoped and it was the consistency of mush, so that was particularly fun! If I was nicer I would have run out and gotten some flat bread to sop it up with, but it turned out to be really challenging for people. Tim and Jerri were great, they were very authentic hosts - constantly scooping more onto our plates and asking us questions about America.

Our speakers were from West Africa and really gave us some great insight into the culture that they are living and working in. They really showed that in other cultures we need to put aside our American attitudes of "if it's different, then it's wrong." Some of their stories were real eye-openers for many of us too!

mom online

Here is an article from my hometown's community paper that featured my mom. She 's always doing something new!

jillie

"Mommy, who is that freak taking my picture?"

i did it!

My new bike has a much lighter frame and is a LOT easier to pedal, so I rode the whole 8 miles to work today for the first time.... and NO popped tires!

We had a really packed weekend. Saturday afternoon we stopped at Heather's house for a BBQ... see cute picture of Jillian above. Saturday night we took the youth group to a rally in Tecumseh. We were under the impression that Tecumseh was right outside of Jackson and it would take us just over an hour to get there. Two hours later we showed up! We didn't miss too much though, just the "socializing" bit. Last night Lynn hosted the back-to-school party for said youth at her house. It was a blast... you did have to watch out for kids flying through the air however as they were getting dunked in the pool at the alarming rate of several per minute.

We're doing a missions emphasis this week at church, and we have events scheduled through Wednesday. We had missionaries speak at both services on Sunday; one from Malaysia and one from Alabama. Tonight we have one from West Africa, and I'm going home early this afternoon to try to whip up some Moroccan dishes for a dinner. We're going to put the people that show up through a mini Focus orientation dinner... they are going to have to eat whatever I put in front of them with their hands and try to witness to Tim and Jerri who will be posing as native "Slobovians." It's going to be really fun to see how the church folks react, many never having been overseas or eaten "weird" food.

this better work...

Tim and Jerri helped me pick out a new bike yesterday. Well, new-ER, we went to Dicker and Deal, my favorite secondhand shop. After two blown tires in a row and having to call Justin to come pick me up from the side of the road I was getting pretty frustrated with my old one. I'm going to take the new one for a spin today, it's much sturdier and easier to ride than my previous one. I am DETERMINED to ride to work!

michigan lost

Tim and Jerri watching that OTHER SCHOOL get beat...

Ya never know...

Another potential contact for the Greek ministry today... amazingly enough a guy that I have worked with for several months was wearing a fraternity hat today that I asked about. Turns out he is not only in a frat but his dad is a pastor and he is interested in Bible study. I had no idea he was remotely interested in either frats OR Bible study... you just never, ever know! He has a buddy that also works here too who is apparently also in a frat, which I never would have guessed either. It's funny, I have my own stereotypes... never thought this gregarious, friendly guy and his quiet marching band buddy were the frat type. That really opened my eyes a lot!

happy pcm day!

Today I got to go home for lunch after a doctor's appointment and Matt wished me a happy PCM day, which resulted in a blank look until he elaborated - "Pork Chop Moving Day." He and Scrappy are officially moving in this evening. A new era has begun... :-)

If you can, please pray for my mom's friend Gina who just returned home to Mississippi to find her house still standing but almost a total loss to flooding. Miraculously her pets survived. She and her husband Mark have three girls.

non-laborious labor day

Had a nice, lazy weekend. Took some donated items for the hurricane victims from the church over to a local collection center. Got some reading done. Sunday was nice, we didn't have evening church so I cooked all afternoon and we had a nice leisurely barbecue at night. It's such a treat to have time off with no plans... at least for a long weekend.

kiwi

...and here's sweet Kiwi!

spence

Hung out with Gretchen tonight and got some good shots of the kitties. Here's Spencer, looking slightly evil...

an uphill battle

Justin got a taste yesterday of jsut how difficult this Greek Life ministry is going to be. I guess never having been a part of that lifestyle we forget the kind of ostracism and insane pressure that these guys and girls face. Having naively bumped up against that in my younger years is what made me turn and ignore (or ridicule) these people for the rest of my life until now. Being a real Christian in a frat house is like tattooing a target on every visible part of your body. In Justin's meetings yesterday he heard and saw some of the very real struggles that people are facing. These folks need some SERIOUS equipping and a major support stucture!

The good news is that both the people that Justin met with yesterday are eager to see God work. We are going to try to work something out with the guy that is running the Campus Crusade study and Justin is going to start meeting one-on-one with Jordan, the guy from the Party at the Aud. Thank the Lord for this first step!

pathetically cute

Chelsea really has been outdoing herself lately to be cute. I think she ended up in this spot out of jealousy, though... Justin had his feet in my lap and she couldn't stand to see me "pet" someone else besides her! Solution: squeeze in and flop down right in the middle...

BTW I love that night/low light setting on my camera phone. I love the soft way these come out.

beauty

I guess I'm feeling "posty" today. No, not postal... no need to duck under the desk. ;-)

Kim lent me a wonderful book in which I'm finally getting to indulge. I mentioned it a little while ago, it's "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldredge. I am a big fan of John's books so I was eager to get my hands on this one, and I'm finding that I like Stasi's writing style even better. When I first read the "Sacred Romance," I had to put it down because I couldn't deal with the "sappiness" and I was suspicious of his theology. I wanted to believe what he was saying but could't bring myself to do so. With all his talk about the importance of listening to our heart, Jeremiah 17:9 always popped into my head - "The heart is more deceitful than all else /And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?" I couldn't reconcile these viewpoints, but eventually saw how they are both true as our heart is the wellspring of life yet tainted by the sickness of sin.

Anyhow, back to "Captivating." What a treat to hear someone, especially a Christian, say just how important beauty is... essential... and give a reason for it! Beauty is an extremely important part of who God is, of His character... just look at His creation. The book also talks about how we neglect beauty for the sake of efficiency. It reminds me of when we were in Boston, helping to clean a beautiful old church that the Baptists had just acquired. It was a historical building, a real architectural treasure, and had a gorgeous original Tiffany stained glass window in the sanctuary. Justin and I were admiring it to one of the associational directors, who said, "Do you know how much that thing is worth? We need to rip it out and sell it. We could build a whole church for that kind of money." The two of us just about yelled "Over my dead body!" in unison. Why is it that so many Christians see beauty as trivial, as nonessential? Can you imagine a God who was without beauty... just an efficient machine?

I am really looking forward to finishing this book!

meetings

Justin has two meetings today, one with the Campus Crusade guy who is leading a Greek Life study, and the other with the guy that we met at the Party at the Aud. I'm excited to see how these go. Starting from scratch like this is hard but it's cool too to see the opportunities that only God can provide.

In other news, Matt has called to let us know that he caught a 2-pound largemouth bass yesterday as he's spending the week up north with his mom at a fishing cabin. He threw it back in hopes of catching an even bigger one to mount! I know almost nothing about fishing; Matt has been having to explain the intricacies of fake raspberry-flavored worms to me. He is gearing up to move in this weekend. We'll have a pretty full house for the next few months with Matt, Tim, me and Justin, and Chelsea and Scrappy for the canine contingent. It's always a party at chez miller, or should I say chez miller-puralewski-kidd. :-) Tim and Jerri are planning to be married in December, but until then it's going to be a houseful. My dad has taken to calling me the Frat Mother, for good reason! I wouldn't have it any other way though, I love having the guys around. It's such a blessing and privilege to be involved in their lives on a day-to-day basis like this.

rejection

So I didn't get either job. While I'm thankful that God is in control and obviously didn't want me in either situation, I'm still feeling a little disappointed. Many of you know the struggles that I have in my current job, and they have intensified this week, so I was particularly looking forward to a possible end in sight! However, I am grateful for my employment and I know that there is still much to be learned from my current circumstances. If you guys have a second to pray for me that I would keep God's perspective at work and that I would persevere, I would be really thankful. I could use a good reminder at what God is doing in my office right now for some encouragement!

Some good news to come in a bit.. back to work for the time being.