"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown"

"Your grace has broken every chain. My sins are gone, my debt's been paid. You gave, You gave Your life away, for me."

"Come Lord Jesus, come."

"Open the blind eyes. Unlock the deaf ears. Come to your people, as we draw near. Hear us from Heaven. Touch our generations. We are your people, crying out in desperation."

"But for all of us who journey through the dark abyss of loneliness
There comes a great announcement - we are never alone -
For the maker of each heart that breaks, the giver of each breath we take
Has come to earth and given hope it's birth.

And in one glorious moment, all eternity was shaken,
As God broke through the darkness that had kept us apart.
And with love that conquers loneliness, and hope that fills all emptiness
He came to earth to show our worth.

And our God is with us, Emmanuel.
He's come to save us, Emmanuel.
And we will never face life alone
Now that God has made Himself known,
As Father and Friend, with us through the end, Emmanuel."

"Not hard-ship, not hunger,
no pain or depth of sorrow,
not weakness nor failure,
no broken dream or promise.
Nothing can take me from your great love.
Forever this truth remains: I belong, I belong to You. I belong, I belong to You!"

"Yes I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on, and there will be an end to these troubles but until that day comes, still I will praise You, still I will praise You!"

"You'll never walk alone. And you'll never be in need. Though I may not calm the storms around you, you can hide in me."

"I have a Father, He calls me His own. He'll never leave me, no matter where I go. He knows my name. He knows my every thought. He sees each tear that falls and He hears me when I call."

"A miracle has happened, God has come and God has spoken
But the miracle has only just begun

And the God who spoke is speaking still
And the God who came still comes
And the miracle that happened still happens in the heart that will believe
And we see (receive) the miracle of Christmas

So come to Bethlehem again and see
The One who's come to rescue us, our Saviour and King
Bring your past, the joy, the sorrow, all your hope to find tomorrow
And hear the words again, fear not and know that God is near."

"Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel has come to thee, O Israel!"

These are quotes from some of the songs that the choir sang on Sunday, December 14th. These are the words of the songs that continued to speak to my heart as we practiced, as I sang them in the car, and as we lead the congregation in worship that Sunday. Do you see a theme to these quotes? Each one is a cry, in one way or another, for Emmanuel, for Hope, for Christ.

Since I was a little girl, one of my greatest fears has been, and still is, being left alone. I used to lie awake at night, not wanting to sleep for fear that if I did, something would happen to my parents. I hated staying with a baby sitter; I miserably and anxiously awaited the return of my parents. Still today, I can be overcome with fear if I allow myself to think about this for any length of time. But this Christmas season, I decided to meditate on "Emmanuel, God with Us," (Matt. 1:23) and what peace this has brought to my heart!

There is something so calming and peaceful in knowing that I belong to the Creator of the Universe and I will never face life alone, now that God has made Himself known. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel has come to us!

Isn't It Romantic?

My friend Rebecca often talks about how romantic God is. I've been thinking about that a lot lately.

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE....

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here’s how it works:

1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend your cool… and alot of the songs fit with the setting

Opening Credits:
"Point Shirley" - Rhett Miller

Waking Up:
"Never Cease to Amaze Me" - Aaron Keyes

First Day At School:
"Go Into the World" - Travis Cottrell

Falling In Love:
"Better Is One Day" - Rebecca St. James

Fight Song:
"For Good" - Wicked Soundtrack

Breaking Up:
"Bus Driver" - Caedmon's Call

Prom night:
"We Delight" - Caedmon's Call

Life:
"Searching for Jessica" - The Man from Snowy River soundtrack (not sure this one makes a whole lot of sense)

Mental Breakdown:
"Why Don't you and I" - Carlos Santana and Chad Kroeger

Driving:
"There's Only One (Holy One)" - Caedmon's Call

Flashback:
"Faithful" - Brooke Fraser (How appropriate!)

Getting back together:
HAHAHAHA "What Wondrous Love is This" - OMPC Choir

The following haven't exactly happened for me yet, but....

Wedding:
"He is Exalted" - Shane and Shane

Birth of Child:
"Child of God/Silent Night" - OMPC Choir

Final Battle:
"More Than a Feeling" - Boston

Funeral Song:
"Fallin In Love With You" - Josh Kelley

Final Credits:
"On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand" - Jars of Clay (I didn't cheat on this, I promise)

The Rabbit Room

I am a fan of Andrew Peterson. I just subscribed to his podcast, "The Rabbit Room," and listened to the first episode. He is reading a blog post that tells how "The Rabbit Room" came to be and why it is called such. As he was reading, the following stopped me as I was folding clothes and I had to go look up the actual post to read it for myself.

"History swept me up when I walked beneath the portcullis of the Tower of London, when I took communion in Westminster Abbey among the tombs of long-dead kings. The blood and body of Christ, shed for you, peasants and kings, pagans and priests. The feast at the table is good and gives life, and is your only hope for meaning and peace and rest from the baying of the hounds at your heels, because Death and Sin and Hatred pursue you and would swallow you up if not for the strong voice of Jesus saying “Peace. Be still.” And at his word the dogs snap back into the darkness with a yelp as if reaching the limit of their chains. History belittles us. Its story is one of conquest and murder and vast darkness, and the noblest of men ends up as dead as the thief. I realized as I walked through the hall of kings in the Abbey that my time here is brief and my earthly crowns are worthless as chaff; the words of my epitaph will ring hollow lest they point to the fullness of Christ."

We are just days away from the Advent season. I was reminded recently that as we celebrate, we aren't merely celebrating the birth of our Savior, but that He was born to die for us, and He promises to return to take His people home one day. I hope you are encouraged as you read this.

You can read the whole post by going here then clicking on "About the Rabbit Room." You can also listen to it on itunes.

I Was Tagged!

Looks like I'm it (thanks Shea). According to the official tagging rules, I'm supposed to post the forth photo from the fourth folder in my pictures file. Well, my fourth folder had many other folders in it so I took the fourth folder from that folder and the fourth photo from there. Did that make any sense? Anyway, here it is:

This is Anna and Abbi at Krispy Kreme, taken 1/29/05. That would make Anna 5 and Abbi 3? Wow! Abbi looks so different now.

Now I think I'm supposed to tag four new people so here goes:

1. Whitney
2. Shannon
3. Katy
4. Jason (you decide which one I'm talking about)

Now be a good sport and do as you were tagged to do!

Surprise!

Remember when you were a kid and you would beg your mom to buy you that box of cereal with the cool prize inside? Did you patiently eat cereal for days until you came to the toy in the box or did you pour all the cereal out at once to get to it? I wasn't allowed to pour it all out but I could shuffle the cereal around in the box and shake it until the prize worked it's way to the top.

I opened a box of Cheerios tonight and there, lying on top of the unopened plastic bag, was a toy slider thingy from the movie Madagascar 2. Despite the fact that I didn't have to dig for the toy, it instantly made me smile and brought back fun memories.

By the way, I didn't buy the cereal just for the toy.

Writer's Block

This was my post on gmail earlier this afternoon: "Julie wants to blog but is having a hard time getting started." Upon reading that, a few of my friends sent me some blogging suggestions. A couple of them thought I should blog about my love for them and how they have impacted my life. One person suggested that I discuss how the sky is blue or how monkey's swing on trees or how Josie is like a ninja. Still another friend said that I should blog about how excited I am to go to the beach this weekend. Thanks for the suggestions and the laughs.

BTW, I am SO excited about the beach this weekend!