Couple of quotes

I was looking through my old blog and came across these quotes

"When Abram had gone to Egypt, he had chosen for himself and had gotten into
great difficulty. Now he was content to leave the choices with God and to trust
God for his future provision. He did not need to take care of "number
one." God would do that. Therefore, since he was sure God would
provide, he held the things of this world loosely. If God gave them, that
was alright. Abram would hold them in trust from God and use them for
God's glory. But if God took them away, that was fine too. For Abram
had God and, having Him, had the only thing that mattered." James Montgomery
Boice on Abram in Genesis 13:1-13

and

"The love of God is limitless; it embraces all mankind. No sacrifice
was too great to bring its unmeasured intensity home to men and women: the best
that God had to give, He gave - His only Son, His well-beloved. Nor was it
for one nation or group that He was given: He was given so that all,
without distinction or exception, who repose their faith on Him, might be
rescued from destruction and blessed with the life that is life indeed.
The gospel of salvation and life has its source in the love of God. The
essence of the saving message is made unmistakeably plain, in language which
people of all races, cultures and times can grasp, and so effectively is it set
forth in these words that many more, probably, have found the way of life
through them than through any other Biblical text." F.F. Bruce on John
3:16

Reason # 19 why I am excited to marry Laura:

She has a heart for theology and God's Word.

Thankful

I’ve made a resolve, I will no longer to think of Thanksgiving as a day to give thanks, but instead evaluate how I am doing in terms of giving thanks.

you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist
that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (James 4:14)

I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, therefore I everyday should be a day that I proclaim thankfulness for the blessings that God has given me. Specifically looking ahead to December 16th when I will make the vow to honor and cherish Laura as long as I shall live I should not presume upon the grace of tomorrow, but instead take advantage of the grace of today to show my gratefulness.

There are a lot of earthly blessings I can be thankful for, but I want the one that is perpetually evident is my thankfulness for Laura being a part of my world. Aside from my salvation God has given me no greater gift. She is the helper suitable for me and strong where I am weak. She is compassionate and eager to give of herself to help others. There are so many reasons that I am thankful for Laura that I know I don’t show it and say it enough.

My goal is to never grow famaliar and always find new ways to encourage her. She truly is fearfully and wonderfully amazed and I am amazed that God has given her to sinner like I to lead and serve for the rest of my days.

Reason #24 for why I am excited to marry Laura:
Relating to her, hearing about her day and knowing what excites her is a pleasure.

Wedding Poetry

Two planks of wood come together
Forming a cross where the God of all creation
Gives up His life for His bride
So that all may know life.

A man and a woman come together
At an altar before the God who died on the cross
There they give up their lives for each other
So that all may know Him.

I had this idea for a poem a few days ago. Thinking about the similarity of the cross and marriage. With the cross two pieces form one structure and in marriage two people become one. At both the cross and marriage there is a dying involved, but also in both life may be found. In the cross we are crucified with Christ so that we might have new life. Marriage shows two people dying to self that Christ may be all the more glorified.

In the past when I wrote poetry I would usually write lots in spurts. Who knows, this might be the first of many more to come.

Reason 29 why I am excited to marry Laura:

She is patient loves kids. By the way she interacts with her nieces and nephews I know she will make a great mom!

Couple of quick hits

-We are getting married soon. That is so hard to believe. I remember yesterday I was writing the date on a form and thought "in a month and a day I will be married to the love of my life." Then today I was filling out the date on a form and thought, "Exactly one month from today I will be married to my best friend."

-I couldn’t sleep last night and ended up coming into work early. It was neat because I looked over to the east and saw the sun not that high in the sky and was reminded of the morning when I came to work at sunrise and recorded the video that I used to propose to Laura.

-I read a great Piper quote the other day "God can accomplish more good for those who trust him while they sleep than they can accomplish with anxious labor while awake."

-Reason #30 why I am excited to marry Laura
She will bring order to my world known as "chaos"

Love Laura as Christ loved the Church

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

This passage came to mind earlier and in the margins of my Bible I have written, "Description of Christ and His love for the church." Several years back Allred led a Bible study series on the passage above and he stated how this passage is very common for being read at weddings, but the romantic kind of love was not Paul's original intent. Paul's intent in this passage was to show the Corinthians Christ and what they are to seek after in their interaction with one another. Basically, the word "love," is interchangeable with Christ.

I decided to make the connection between this passage and Ephesians 5. If I am to love Laura as Christ loved the church then essentially: I will be patient and kind with Laura. I will lead her humbly, never envying her gifts or boasting about mine over her. During conflict I will not let the sun go down on my anger. No score card of wrongs will ever be kept, but grace will define our daily living. By grace, I will rejoice in truth and seek to put to death all sin. As I am faithful to glorify God in my marriage I will protect and trust Laura. Through good times and bad, sickness and health, I will persevere in loving Laura. During the hard times I will maintain hope, not because of who Laura is, but because of our foundation in the cross.

Reason #40 why I am excited to marry Laura:
Despite the fact that I am a goober and in need of lots of help, she is eager to be my helper.

Woe to Disorder

Well this is my (Laura) little mini update...

So, Nursing school has been good, but soooo busy! I moved through 7 (very fast) weeks of Psychiatric nursing. I guess I can say I learned a few things from that course, but the main thing that I learned is that I don't want to be a Psychiatric Nurse . That course went fast ...and I just began the last 7 weeks of my semester with good old medical surgical nursing ;) I am doing my clinicals at Shady Grove Hospital and am loving it so far. It's crazy to think that I am in week 2 out of seven weeks, which means I am getting married in 6 weeks... too weird!

Today I learned about Arterial blood gasses, acid base balance in the blood, fluid electrolyte balance...and IV fluids/meds for each deficiency. I seriously spent 7.5 hours on campus going from workshop to workshop and lab to lab, mandatory of course ;} having to go through one case study after another.... I left feeling like my head was spinning... but hey if anybody wants to know about metabolic acidosis, the effects on the acid base balance from repeated vomiting, and/or the importance of the sodium potassium pump...see me ;) I was so excited about all the info that I had learned that I called Lew and gave him a mini lecture over the phone, just for fun (more for me than him!) I am a nerd... I know

Anyways on another note... I could use some help! Things have seriously gotten soooo busy that I feel like I am constantly behind in things like.... cleaning my room, laundry....well I would just say organization in general!! My room is pretty much a mess. In the midst of packing my stuff, and just being super busy I feel like there is never enough time! Truly I left my house at 6:30 this morning... was home for about 1 1/2 hours and then left for my night class. Then I just got home from my night class.... and it finally hit me.... my room is a disaster zone (my poor mother would sadly agree). I just made my bed (I know it's 9:00 pm) but I can't go to bed in an unmade bed....so I made it anyways. But as I was making my bed I felt sad that things like that are being neglected. So I am determined that tomorrow, somehow, even in the midst of my business I am going to take some tome to organize and clean... starting with my laundry!

I even have included some pictures for you all to enjoy.... Yes this in an act of humility... but I figure you all could get a few laughs out of my messy room! These pictures tell a story ;)

Yes, you can see my boxes for packing, my unmade bed and books...lots of books... scattered everywhere :{

This is my "disaster" corner... I have piled all of my laundry (that I intend on doing of course) in the "perfect" spot next to my closet...? Somehow it made sense at the time.

And finally...my biggest disaster area..my desk, or what I like to call the free for all. I have found this has become a place of piling (piling is one of my worst habits). You can see lots of piling right now, my special monkey from my little sister, my splenda from baking a few days ago, a bag of rice from a few nights ago, some random vitamins, and worst of all my chair has so many clothes piled on it that I can't sit in it. So pretty much I can't use my desk at all until I can get some organization going!

Well I guess it could be worse, but still if anyone has any good organization tips for someone in a super busy season please do share!!


I am getting married in 45 days.... wow ;)