womanhood

http://morethanservingtea.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/the-unseen-privileges/

http://solofemininity.blogs.com/posts/2009/10/drunk-the-new-female-tenderness.html

on grace

mark galli of christianity to day says this well:

The doctrine of grace is so radical and so contrary to our assumptions about what religion is about, that once we express it in a clear fashion, it will appall people. Because we’re all so anxious—even people like me who preach grace—to justify our lives. We want our lives to be meaningful, purposeful, useful. So we hook our futures to God and think, “Now I can really make my life purposeful and useful and I can do something for God in the world. And if I work with God, he’s going to change me.” We’re not so interested in God a lot of times, we’re tired of who we are and we’re more interested in wanting to be a different kind of person so we can feel better about ourselves. So much of our religious language and religious motive is about ourselves: justifying ourselves or improving ourselves, with God as a means to that end. Well, the fact of the matter is it’s not about you. But that’s shocking and appalling to most people because we’re so used to thinking that religion is about us, even though we’ve learned to use religious language to suggest otherwise. But in fact, it really ends up being all about us.

http://mockingbirdnyc.blogspot.com/2009/11/exclusive-interview-mark-galli-of.html

wow... um... writer's field day?

oh, come on, at least have a problem.

maybe.

you dont have the right to have a problem.

//
i gotta go. i gotta go meet don at the who cares what pelpe thin cafe

where if someone sees something that they want, they just have it. AND it's the best thing they've ever had. because that meal's been practicing yoga for seven years. in case you missed it, that meal meant me. i'm bad at metaphors but great at sex.


better off ted, s01e02


"i like your skin. i wish there was a way we could peel it off your face and attach it to mine. oh, and you would regrow new skin that you'd like just as much."



s01e03

As Victoria put it, "The company's position is that it's actually the opposite of racist, because it's not targeting black people. It's just ignoring them. They insist the worst people can call it is 'indifferent.'"

But at least it could see Hispanics, Asians, Pacific Islanders and Jews!


s01e04

you dont think that's... wrong?

wrong? how should i know what's wrong? what am i, some greek philosopher


s01e09

how you doing? i'm brody. i was assigned to this office - with this beautiful, exotic lady.

i'm not exotic. i'm asian. there are more of us than there are of you, so statistically, you're the exotic one. HAHAA

what? wait... what?

you heard the statistically average lady.

succinct, beautiful.

Dan – I think a very simple place to start is by recognizing that *every person* has a cultural perspective – that includes Asian American and white people, along with everyone else.

Much of James 4 centers around humility and understanding. In this particular conversation, if you’re willing to listen to the stories of others, you might hear that many Asian Americans grew up hearing messages (even from the church) such as: you don’t belong, your ethnicity means nothing, why can’t you just try and fit in, etc. I think empathy and understanding can begin if you can grasp how hurtful that is — and recognize that many Asian Americans cannot “return” to an Asian culture that was never fully theirs either.

So, when Scripture tells us that we are all made in the image of God (including our ethnic backgrounds), perhaps you can see how redemptive that is.

I think I hear what you’re saying above: “I was raised to love everyone. I was raised to get to know people” — This is a wonderful perspective. However, this does not mean that you should ignore or obliterate a person’s ethnic background. While it’s not *everything*, neither is our ethnic heritage *nothing* — inevitably, our culture shapes who we are and is vital to understanding people, if you really want to get to know them.

I’m not saying that this is what you mean, but I grew up among mostly white friends who, with good intentions, would say things like, “I don’t even think of you as being Korean.” While they meant it as a compliment, it’s actually quite insulting (for all the reasons listed above).

text & context - q&a with piper and chandler on ethnic diversity

i feel like what white churches - and won't it be a beautiful day if that term ever dies - that we talk a lot about racial diversity but we're still going to do things our way. and so we want different ethnic groups to join us as long as they like to worship to coldplay! and i dont think the black church has it figured out that much better - where they'll say they want diversity but at the same way it's our way! so all i know to do is to preach well, and to preach passionately, and then try to engage.

i struggle with the idea of hiring the token black guy - i know a lot of people have decided to go that way: 'well, if we could just hire a black guy an asian guy an american indian and on and on down the list then we'll get some diversity." i think there are some ways to that but what i wanna do is just preach and proclaim the death of an ethnocentric idea - i think if we're ever gonna make headway, though, tehre has to be some reform in how we view the songs we sing, how we view the music we use, how we - if there's ever gonna be - i think that's something the charismatics do better than us...

///

piper: live in the city. (moses married a black woman! :D)

original

gonna try to sleep early tonight so i can get some writing done in the morning. i was just thinking, and if i need to put a label on it (and what is writing if not labeling?) i consistently surround myself with people who take (their faith and culture/ things) seriously, but not themselves.

but even that's a fine line (taking anything seriously) that we have trouble with.

how next shall we grow?

young julian, "love me if you dare"

friends are like eyeglasses. they make you look smart, but get scratched and then bore you. luckily, sometimes, you get super cool glasses. me... i've got sophie!

house s06e06

i love wilson, but he just said: ("we've moved on to a new phase where i tell cuddy i've always been interested in her and she walks out of the room") "well, either she just wasn't ready for that, or maybe she was just surprised and didn't know how to react." wha

outsourced (2006)

(1:12)

people might talk, you know?

so what if they talk?

i should be more careful. i can't be seen with you, speaking like this.

like how?

intensely.

(exasperated) oh why not? you're a free woman. why can't you speak intensely, if you want to? why do you worry so much about what people think?

because i am engaged to be married.

engaged?

yes.

how long have you been engaged?

since i was four years old. our families have known each other for generations. his name is ashok. he has a very good job, he's very polite. we will be married in july.

but do you love him?

not yet.

i can't believe this. i just can't believe that someone as strong and as smart and opinionated as you, would settle for an arranged marriage.

i will learn to love him.

but what about your right to choose for yourself?

my parents met each other on their wedding day. they love each other

to me that's crazy.

some people would say that america's 50% divorce rate is crazy.

and will you tell ashok about us?

no, of course not. no one must know.

so what do you call this? what you and i are doing

holiday in goa.

what?

it's something my friends and i say. a friend of mine, priyanka, she fell in love with a boy one month before she had to get married. he was a boy from the school. so she told her family she was under a lot of stress and she had to go and take a holiday in goa. alone. so she and the boy went to the beach, they had three weeks together, and then she came back and got married.

oh. so... i am just your 'holiday in goa.'

not just! (tears) my only 'holiday in goa.'

(1:14:35)

under the umbrella tree!

Do you ever wonder What could happen under, Under an umbrella tree? Sunny days or thunder, Your friends are waiting under, Under the Umbrella Tree! So come on, everybody See you up at Holly's 'Cause there's no better place to be! In your imagination, You'll find an invitation Under the Umbrella Tree

today i am given what i have so i may take my grip off the world and cling to him

“The great people of the earth today are the people who pray! I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor those who explain prayer; but I mean those who actually take the time to pray. They have not time. It must be taken from something else. That something else is important, very important and pressing, but still, less important and pressing than prayer. There are people who put prayer first, and group the other items in life's schedule around and after prayer. These are the people today who are doing the most for God in winning souls, in solving problems, in awakening churches, in supplying both men and money for mission posts, in keeping fresh and strong their lives far off in sacrificial service on the foreign field, where the thickest fighting is going on, and in keeping the old earth sweet a little while longer.” S.D. Gordon

whoa

11:58

when you die, and you go to heaven, after you hear "well done, good and faithful servant," what's the next thing that you want to hear God say to you?

yep.

Everyone has faith. Even if you don't
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Monday, September 21, 2009 at 7:16pm
Everyone has faith. Eh? How so? It depends on how you define faith, of course. What if faith is merely those things that we believe and trust in? Defined that way, then we all have faith to some degree. For instance, we all trust chairs to some degree. We trust that they won't break when we sit in them. We trust our senses (unless you think we are all living in the Matrix) everyday. We trust that our senses are actually telling us the truth, and not giving us the wrong data. Can we prove our senses are always right? No. In fact, science shows us that our senses are often wrong. Can we prove a chair will hold us up every time we sit down in it? No. But we trust it.

So if we trust basic things day in and day out like our senses and our perceptions, is it not possible that we are also trusting in deeper more life-orientating things as well--like our smarts, our careers, or a special relationship to give us purpose? Sure, most of you will say. So what's the problem? Well the problem is, if we all have these various faiths, which one (or ones) will not fail us, will not let us down, will not abandon us in our time of need? In other words, which faith is the best one to really put our trust in? How can we tell?



Still don't buy the fact that everyone believes in something? Below is a clip from a NY Times article quoting a Professor of Anthropology:

NY Times Article
"Call it God; call it superstition; call it, as [Scott] Atran does, “belief in hope beyond reason” — whatever you call it, there seems an inherent human drive to believe in something transcendent, unfathomable and otherworldly, something beyond the reach or understanding of science. “Why do we cross our fingers during turbulence, even the most atheistic among us?” asked Atran when we spoke at his Upper West Side pied-à-terre in January. Atran, who is 55, is an anthropologist at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, with joint appointments at the University of Michigan and the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York… [S]ometimes he presents students with a wooden box that he pretends is an African relic. “If you have negative sentiments toward religion,” he tells them, “the box will destroy whatever you put inside it.” Many of his students say they doubt the existence of God, but in this demonstration they act as if they believe in something. Put your pencil into the magic box, he tells them, and the nonbelievers do so blithely. Put in your driver’s license, he says, and most do, but only after significant hesitation. And when he tells them to put in their hands, few will.

If they don’t believe in God, what exactly are they afraid of?"

amen

The enjoyment of [God] is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied…. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends are but shadows, but enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams, but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean. (Jonathan Edwards)

wow.

“…is there any view on dryness in prayer in your church traditions?”

Martha, I didn’t know and was totally unprepared when it happened to me. When I first came to Christ, I experienced months of genuine closeness, comfort and joy. When I took walks the presence of God’s Spirit was so strong that I sometimes glanced sideways because I was not walking alone.

Then it was suddenly gone. At first I was absolutely terrified. What had I done wrong? Was this closeness gone forever? Had I messed up somehow?

My sister encouraged me to read Teresa of Avila. Reading Interior Castle helped me to understand. Then reading Oswald Chambers gave me encouragement to continue on no matter what I felt or didn’t feel in prayer. He says not to live longing to relive what we have already experienced.

A parent with a new baby holds him close. Then as he grows you let him run and explore. If he gets into trouble or needs comfort, then you hold him. But the child won’t grow normally if the parent continually holds him. It would be unhealthy for the child if, instead of playing and exploring he sat thinking, why won’t my parent hold me? It felt so safe and secure?

I went through this time of feeling abandoned and then one day I was preparing for something very unpleasant. Beforehand I sat on my bed praying and I felt enveloped in peace. After that, it wasn’t as thought I went back to feeling things as I did during those first months, but I knew that God was with me. I know it more deeply because I know it without feeling held. Perhaps this is necessary so that faith can grow.

good to read again: The least developed area for the ENTP is the Sensing-Feeling arena. If the Sensing areas are neglected, the ENTP may tend to not take care of details in their life. If the Feeling part of themself is neglected, the ENTP may not value other people's input enough, or may become overly harsh and aggressive.

Under stress, the ENTP may lose their ability to generate possibilities, and become obsessed with minor details. These details may seem to be extremely important to the ENTP, but in reality are usually not important to the big picture.





In general, ENTPs are upbeat visionaries. They highly value knowledge, and spend much of their lives seeking a higher understanding. They live in the world of possibilities, and become excited about concepts, challenges and difficulties. When presented with a problem, they're good at improvising and quickly come up with a creative solution. Creative, clever, curious, and theoretical, ENTPs have a broad range of possibilities in their lives.

yes'm.

"When a member of the majority meets a member of the minority who does not fit into their stereotype of that minority, they oftentimes do not change their minds about the stereotype, but rather classify the minority as an exception to the rule."



will we be different when we are the majority?

(matt wertz)

I will not take my love away
When praises cease and seasons change
while the whole world turns the other way
I will not take my love away

I will not leave you all alone
When striving leads you far from home
And there's no yield for what you've sown
I will not leave you all alone

I will give you what you need
In plenty or in poverty
Forever, always, look to me
And I will give you what you need
I will not take my love away


lord, help my unbelief.

early edition s01e07

i'd like a date.

define "date."

a date is when you rush home from work, take a shower, redo your hair and makeup, put on something black that costs an arm-and-a-leg but actually has very little material, and i show up with an armani suit and flowers and take you to my favorite restaurant on... taylor street. and then i walk you home and go into your apartment and kiss you good night. on the cheek. and then i leave.

:)

early edition s01e06, "hoops"

nobody lives forever.

but try telling that to the very young, when the future's a road that leads straight up and hope is in your pocket. and tomorrow's a promise you can't wait to keep.

:)

i love little old ladies.

miss pettigrew lives for a day

oh, see? he's not such a hothead. he takes love so seriously

is that a problem?

/ / /

listen to me. once i had ambitions. not your grand ambitions, simple ambitions. marriage, children and a house of our own. he died. in the mud in france. a good, solid man. you would call him dull, no doubt, but he smiled whenever he saw me, and we could've built a life on that. your heart knows the truth, delysia. trust it. for life is short.