Practicing what I preach

Yesterday Darrell and I decided we need to be healthier. It's so easy to tell other people they need to exercise which is what I do daily at work. "You need to do some type of exercise..it can just be walking..for 30 min 4/week." I am always telling my patients this. I'm good at the weights and the sit ups...I stink at the cardiovascular..walking. I'll do good for awhile then slack off. Part of it has to do with the fact that I am on my feet for 6/8 hrs at work but that's not a good excuse :)
So yesterday we walked to Dorothy Lane Market. It's 2.7 miles one way. The first part wasn't too bad....it was the coming back....ugh! I was ready to call Kristen to come and get me :) but I'm not going to give up. The challenge will be when I go back to work tomorrow and then come home and walk. We'll see. My goal isn't necessarily alot of weight loss but just feeling healthier and getting in shape for 2 5K walks I'm doing in Sept. One is for JDRF (juvenile diabetes) on Sept 29. The other is for the Artemis House with my Thurs. house church on Sept 30.....so I have 2 months!

Expressing worship

I heard a great message this morning on taking risks.
It made me think about areas I need to work on in my life.
Adam used Peter as his example of a risk taker. He showed that sometimes when we take a risk it's rewarding but we can also fail. It doesn't make it a negative though. You can always grow from failure and mistakes.
Adam gave 3 main reasons we don't risk:

We are afraid
Someone steals our dreams
We choose safety and comfort over faith and adventure.

I have realized that I have fallen into all 3 of these reasons at some time.
The one that God really convicted me with today was worship. Where is my heart? Am I afraid to show my emotions? Why do I go to worship?
I actually had someone say to me "How many worship services do you need?" I didn't answer them but it was very clear to me when I went to Element tonight...I am someone who needs more than one and I honestly don't think it's something I need to justify..I think in heaven it will be constant worship and I hope it's like my experience tonight.

"You Gotta Keep Dancin'

I had never heard of the name Tim Hansel but I saw it listed as one of my friend,Adam's heroes so I asked him who he is. Tim Hansel has written books based on his experience with continual pain for twenty plus year as the result of a climbing accident. The book deals with how to overcome pain physical,emotional,spiritual with the attitude of joy. I am only 1/2 through the book but I can tell you this book has helped me alot this week. I think what I like about it is that he tells his life story and struggles and it's as though you're in his brain hearing him talk through all of this. I found this book on Amazon for 50 cents( I love bargains :) and I don't think it was any accident that it showed up in my mailbox on Monday.
It's so easy to allow circumstances to make us stay in a dark place. You have to remember where your strength comes from.

"Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength,
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to go on the heights

Habakkuk 3:17-19

"I began to realize that it wasn't my imposed limitations that held me back as much as my perception of those limitations. It wasn't the pain that was thwarting me as much as it was my attitude toward the pain. I realized that though the difficulties were undeniably real, and would remain so for the rest of my life, I had the opportunity to choose a new freedom and joy if I wanted to."

Tim Hansel "You Gotta Keep Dancin'"

Only Hope

Adam sang this song yesterday and it's stuck in my head

Andy

Yesterday was a difficult day. I lost my stepfather after 30 years.
Words can't begin to describe the sadness/loss that we all feel.
Andy was one of the sweetest men you could know. He loved people..if you met him, he would somehow find a connection to talk to you. He LOVED Ohio State..he grew up in Columbus and adored Woody Hayes. He loved to tease my son who is a HUGE Michigan fan.
He was always there if you needed him and was a wonderful grandfather to my kids.
He loved to play golf up until the time he became sick 2 yrs ago.
I am blessed to have had him as part of my life but as my mom said "It was too soon."

God's timing

I've been struggling lately with my purpose. What is it I'm supposed to be doing ?
Circumstances and friendships have caused me to look at things, reevaluate and question what and where I'm supposed to serve. I'm not very good at waiting for God's timing and I think that right now...that's what he's telling me...wait and look at where you are right now. There are always people who have needs...you have to take the focus off self though to see that sometimes.

At 3rd Place last night we watched a video through Mosaic,Erwin McManus's church, about a guy who was very self-focused and how through a set of circumstances his heart was touched by a little girl. If he had stayed self focused he would never have seen the opportunity that God had given him to interact with a small girl who needed a friend during a tough time.

My coworkers

As I was writing a thank you note(overdue)to my coworkers for my birthday celebration, I realized how blessed I am to work where I do and with the people I do.
I've worked at the same hospital for 25 years. I did bedside nursing for 20 of those years and I've worked in Diabetes Education for the last 7 years..(I overlapped my floor and diabetes for 2 years which is why it doesn't equal 25 :)
Although I have loved most of the people I worked with on the floor..it's not like the coworkers I work with now. They are genuine...they are positive..they care. I don't think it's something you find very often and I don't ever want to take that for granted.
So for my coworkers....I love you guys !!!!

I-pods ..more than music is electrifying :)

I use my ipod to walk ...hmmm I might need to look at the sky first...sounds a little dangerous.




Lightning strikes reported by iPod users

By LINDA A. JOHNSON, Associated Press WriterWed Jul 11, 11:11 PM ET

Listen to an iPod during a storm and you may get more than electrifying tunes. A Canadian jogger suffered wishbone-shaped chest and neck burns, ruptured eardrums and a broken jaw when lightning traveled through his music player's wires.

Last summer, a Colorado teen ended up with similar injuries when lightning struck nearby as he was listening to his iPod while mowing the lawn.

Emergency physicians report treating other patients with burns from freak accidents while using personal electronic devices such as beepers, Walkman players and laptop computers outdoors during storms.

Michael Utley, a former stockbroker from West Yarmouth, Mass., who survived being struck by lightning while golfing, has tracked 13 cases since 2004 of people hit while talking on cell phones. They are described on his Web site, http://www.struckbylightning.org.

Contrary to some urban legends and media reports, electronic devices don't attract lightning the way a tall tree or a lightning rod does.

"It's going to hit where it's going to hit, but once it contacts metal, the metal conducts the electricity," said Dr. Mary Ann Cooper of the American College of Emergency Physicians and an ER doctor at University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago.

When lightning jumps from a nearby object to a person, it often flashes over the skin. But metal in electronic devices — or metal jewelry or coins in a pocket — can cause contact burns and exacerbate the damage.

A spokeswoman for Apple Inc., the maker of iPods, declined to comment. Packaging for iPods and some other music players do include warnings against using them in the rain.

Lightning strikes can occur even if a storm is many miles away, so lightning safety experts have been pushing the slogan "When thunder roars, go indoors," said Cooper.

Jason Bunch, 18, says it wasn't even raining last July, but there was a storm off in the distance. Lightning struck a nearby tree, shot off and hit him.

Bunch, who was listening to Metallica while mowing the grass at his home in Castle Rock, Colo., still has mild hearing damage in both ears, despite two reconstructive surgeries to repair ruptured eardrums. He had burns from the earphone wires on the sides of his face, a nasty burn on his hip where the iPod had been in a pocket and "a bad line up the side of my body," even though the iPod cord was outside his shirt.

"It was a real miracle" he survived, said his mother, Kelly Risheill.

The Canadian jogger suffered worse injuries, according to a report in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

The man, a 39-year-old dentist from the Vancouver area, was listening to an iPod while jogging in a thunderstorm when, according to witnesses, lightning hit a tree a couple of feet away and jumped to his body. The strike threw the man about eight feet and caused second-degree burns on his chest and left leg.

The electric current left red burn lines running from where the iPod had been strapped to his chest up the sides of his neck. It ruptured both ear drums, dislocated tiny ear bones that transmit sound waves, and broke the man's jaw in four places, said Dr. Eric Heffernan, an imaging specialist at Vancouver General Hospital.

The injury happened two summers ago and despite treatment, the man still has less than 50 percent of normal hearing on each side, must wear hearing aids and can't hear high-pitched sounds.

"He's a part-time musician, so that's kind of messed up his hobby as well," Heffernan said.

Like the Colorado teen, the Canadian patient, who declined to be interviewed or identified, has no memory of the lightning strike.

In another case a few years ago, electric current from a lightning strike ran through a man's pager, burning both him and his girlfriend who was leaning against him, said Dr. Vince Mosesso, an emergency doctor at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Eardrum ruptures are considered the most common ear injury in lightning-strike victims, occurring in 5 percent to 50 percent of patients, according to various estimates — whether or not an electronic device is involved. A broken jaw is rare, doctors say.

Nehemiah 4

I heard a good sermon and these are my notes on Nehemiah 4. It always amazes me how Old Testament can give us messages,advice,guidance that applies to today



Two looming problems when building a kingdom

1 Growing threats from outside the kingdom

2 Growing discouragement from inside the kingdom

Discouragement comes easy

...when we are tired

...when we lose our focus (we forget God's faithfulness, grace, etc.

...when we are getting hit with friendly fire (discouragement from within)


What to do when your inside starts looking as bleak as the war on the outside

1 Pray and follow it up with action

2 Cover your vulnerability with strong community..(Accountability,friends who really "know"you

3 Get your focus on the goal and not just on the journey to get there. The journey won't always be pretty.

4 Moving in confidence of God's protection of you

5 Pursue the maturity of being a builder and a warrior

7/7/07 A lucky day?

There has been alot of talk about today being a lucky day because of the alignment of the number 7. I think it's a great day because it's my sister's birthday Happy Birthday Sissy !!! I'm sure that brides who live in Dayton,Ohio feel lucky 'cause it's a beautiful day here..hot but beautiful :)

I found this article which gives a "biblical" explanation.

DURHAM, N.H. – Brides across the United States are targeting one particular day in 2007 for their wedding day – July 7 – believing that the 777 combination will give them an extra dose of marital luck.

Brides point to the Bible when discussing why they want to get married July 7, 2007. According to David Frankfurter, professor of religious studies and history at the University of New Hampshire, the number seven plays a significant role in the Bible, while other significant numbers play a special role in how we think about luck and fate today.

Frankfurter is available to discuss why the number seven is significant biblically as well as other “perfect” numbers considered important in the Bible. He can be reached at davidtf@cisunix.unh.edu and 603-862-3015.

“In our modern American society we have a tendency to look for magical ways to control the world or fate, so numerology is especially important for us,” Frankfurter says.

“In the Bible, numerology provided a very simple and clear way to indicate perfection. The seven-ness of the angels, trumpets and bowls in Revelation expresses the heavenly perfection behind all the fire and brimstone occurring on earth, as much as the seven days of creation indicate the perfection of the world around us. In the time of the finalization of the Jewish Bible, the seven vowels of the Greek alphabet became also linked to these Jewish concepts of perfection. So the ‘superstitions’ around seven are all good ones,” he says.

“There are other ‘perfect’ numbers in the Bible: 12 and four. In fact, the perfection of four, symbolized in the image of God's throne-chariot in the first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel, contributed historically to the choice of four gospels for the New Testament canon -- that is, out of all the gospels that were written back then, we have four instead of two, three, or five,” Frankfurter says.

Hot dogs,apple pie,and Chevrolet

It's just not July 4 without this contest :)

NEW YORK—In a gut-busting showdown that combined drama, daring and indigestion, Joey Chestnut emerged Wednesday as the world's hot dog eating champion, knocking off six-time titlist Takeru Kobayashi in a rousing triumph.

Chestnut, the great red, white and blue hope in the annual Fourth of July competition, broke his own world record by inhaling 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes—a staggering one every 10.9 seconds before a screaming crowd in Coney Island.

"If I needed to eat another one right now, I could," the 23-year-old Californian said after receiving the mustard yellow belt emblematic of hot dog eating supremacy.

Peppermint -filled Pinatas

I have been listening to a series of sermons by Eric Bryant based on a book he wrote called "Peppermint-filled Pinatas". There's a story behind the title if you listen to the podcasts. The one from this week deals with the untouchables. Who in your life do you avoid? Sometimes you can find friends in the most unlikely of places and can have an impact on someone or they on you. I am not an extrovert but in the job that I do I have contact with alot of those people that would be considered untouchable. Most of the time they are searching for the same thing we all are...a friend who will listen.
If you have an extra 30 to 45 min I would recommend listening to one of these podcasts.
You can find it through the Mosaic website www.mosaic.org or through iTunes podcast.

An Icon..Princess Diana

Whether she wanted to be or not, Princess Diana was under a big magnifying glass for most of her adult life. I can remember getting up at 5 am just to watch her wedding in 1981. Sometimes what seems so glamorous can be a curse. I think her actions definitely show where her heart was. She was the People's Princess. Today would have been her 46th birthday and her sons had a musical tribute to celebrate her life. I don't think she will ever comepletly die..what she stood for had a life impact on many people.