Perfect

10. Everybody gets to play

It goes back to the idea that yes we will love people in-spite of who they are or after they accept all of our rules. But there is no application process with God he accepts us and walks with us through of journey. We are apart of ensuring everyone get to taste and see...

john 3:16-17 This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.


Every time I think of this passage I think of Pinks song "perfect"

Made a wrong turn, Once or twiceDug my way out, Blood and fireBad decisions, That's alrightWelcome to my silly life

Mistreated, misplaced, misunderstoodMiss "no way, it's all good", It didn't slow me downMistaken, Always second guessing

 Under estimated, Look, I'm still around

Pretty, pretty pleaseDon't you ever, ever feelLike your less than Fuckin' perfect.Pretty, pretty pleaseIf you ever, ever feelLike your nothingYou're fuckin' perfect to me.
You're so mean,When you talk, About yourself, You are wrong.Change the voices, In your headMake them like you Instead.
So complicated,Look happy, You'll make it!Filled with so much hatredSuch a tired game.It's enough, I've done all I can think ofChased down all my demons, I've seen you do the same.
Oh, Pretty, pretty pleaseDon't you ever, ever feelLike your less than fuckin' perfect.Pretty, pretty pleaseIf you ever, ever feelLike your nothingYou're fuckin' perfect to me.

The whole world stares so I swallow the fear,The only thing I should be drinking is an ice cold beer.So cool in line and we try, try, try,But we try too hard, it's a waste of my time.Done looking for the critics, cause they're everywhereThey don't like my jeans, they don't get my hairWe change ourselves and we do it all the time

3D glasses

Continue on what Ive learned in the past 25 years

9.Its ok to ask the questions that we may not have the answers to.

Why does the God in the Old testament  seem so unlike the Jesus that we see in the New Testament? 

Why are people crazy?

Where are the signs that say "your sins are forgiven" instead of "repent the time is now" ?

Does it matter what process God used to create the world?

How does living in moderation positively and negatively effect those around us?

How can one be truly all things to all people?

In order to push forward in a community of faith how do we incorporate tradition without it having the elements of rules, oppression, and basic religion creep in and over take the message of love?

As I have asked these questions and continue to ask these questions I must bring up the element of perspective.  It goes back to when you're driving everyone else driving slow is an idiot and everyone driving faster than you is a maniac. 

You only have that one perspective, the one that you are in. As we begin to start the conversation and dialog of how do we bring the light and love of Christ into our community to all people I am beginning to see things in 3D. It may be uncomfortable but if you can look at things in a 3D mindset you will begin to see not only how the idea is relating to you but to others around you. 

But this is only the 1st step. The 2nd is being able to effectively communicate this to others around you. Its not just being able to relate to convert or understand to condemn, but rather to embrace to find truth together. Truth in terms of not just what we think is right, but  where do we all fit into this idea that God loves us...but He also loves them. 

We have somehow over the course of history set up a "spiritual quarantine" ( a term I found in my lastest adventures with a McLaren book) . It seems that we have this idea that once you are in the club you are in and you've been upgraded. How can we now break this quarantine and not be placed into religious circles and see how we all fit? God sent his story of love, hope, and freedom to ALL!

Gods story is not only beautiful but it is spacious. It has room for everyone from drug addicts, to pew warmers, Buddhist, Christians, old, young, rich, poor, and yes even you and me.

So grab your 3D glasses  as we continue to ask the questions that we don't have the answers to. 

Death

Im starting to see death more and more as I grow older.

My first experience was when I was 7. It was a boy named Tommy. See Tommy was special, he was born deformed and could barely walk, speak, and really interact with others. Tommy kept getting cancer. It just wouldn't stop. It would go away for awhile and just comeback again. One day cancer finally took Tommy and when it was my turn to go see him at his casket I just stared at him. I didnt know what to do or really say I was just a kid ya know? Should I laugh or should I cry?

After time I figured out people just kept dying. From car accidents, old age, and illness.

Then the major death of a well known student in highschool over took our community and it was the same emotion, I didnt know what to do or say

Next my sister, a coworker, a friends mother.....it just kept happening and then on the night where a close friends father passed it hit me. Death sucks....but its apart of life.....its the cycle.....I may not understand it...but for strange reason I will celebrate it...... it reminded me how special life really is and how I owe it to that person to celebrate them and myself.....here is what I posted on facebook that summons up how I felt......

Oh life how you confuse me. As we celebrate friendship, shed tears,dance and grieve the night away may we embrace the love that is here and now. I will dance and drink this last one is for you

marrwage

8.Being married is awesome ...hard sometimes 

but awesome 

So this is a tough one. I can remember when kris and I started talking to me and day three he told me he was going to marry me and my response was "good for you".  Kris is my best friend. I could never ask for a better life partner. He makes me laugh, happy, cry, and want to be a better person

the times where we watch tv, go to the bar, and hang out with friends and go on vacation are amazing. i enjoy his company. there are also times where we disagree, we do stupid things, and frankly are assholes to each others. Life happens ,jobs change, people die, lies over take the relationship. 

even after the bad ......the good means so much more. I look forward to growing old together, paying off our house, living life with family friends and others. 

he is my best friend, nerd in crime, and beer buddy. being married is hard, but awesome all in one.

A toast

This year I got the amazing chance to be apart of my best friends wedding. They have been together for more than 10 years. My best friend has taught me a lot. She's taught me to stick with it even when it's hard, laugh at yourself, and its ok to be werid.

Here is my speech I shared at their wedding:
Speech

I'm Nanette the moh how bout that ride in?

Cassie and I have known each other almost 15 years now (crazy right) how would we ever know that mrs menyards gym class would be the start of a beautiful friendship. 

Now most speeches would move to the how they met ,followed by a funny story about how the two were destined to be or ...threaten Brandon to take care of my bbf or else and end on a marriage or love quote from a song lyric or the bible. But not this speech. I see today not as the end of one chapter to start another but rather as a continuation of an amazing story 

 Over the years Cassie and I  have laughed, cried, set things on fire, fought, made up, stayed up all night,slapped each other,had near death experiences, made mix tapes, looked forward to growing up, lost loved ones, changed hair styles, bought puppies and found love. So now as we continue on our journey in this story,I will say this about your marriage.....may it be blessed. It will be hard, but worth it. There is no perfect formula to a marriage. It's what works for the both of you. It's listening to pointless stories about each others day, extra hugs and kisses, enjoying each others company and embracing each others  hurts habits and hang ups. Brandon and Cassie may the love you have for each other grow stronger everyday day, and be the one thing you always come back to when times get tough,  and be infectious to others around you. To Cassie and Brandon let the good times roll 

:)

fix you

The way to fix loneliness is to reach out to others 

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. I've learned that people are not mind readers and we must communicate what we need. Most of the time we get upset because our expectations were violated and we do not assume positive intent. The first thing we must do and this is in all aspects of life really is:

1. Be honest and i mean really honest

no one is a mind reader. you have to be specific and to the point. you cant say one thing and mean another.  If someone hurts your feelings say it. If you don't get it say it. This first step becomes so easy if we do number 2

2. assume positive intent 

you have to see the good in people. you say "you know what that person did not wake up this morning and plot on how to piss me off today." They just didn't plain and simple. If you are at work, church, or at home you have to understand that maybe you are not on the same page . Then get there by talking to one another! What ever you are doing in life you have to know that you are working toward a common goal. You both want to get to this goal you just have different ways of getting there.

3. forgive

we all screw up from time to time and the last thing we need is to feel cut down even more. The best thing to do is move past the issues and more forward in love. 

To fix loneliness is about communication. Reach out, going to guarantee  there are folks out there that are just as lonely as you.  You have to take the first step

  

The light in the cave

Light in darkness
I John 1:5-7

⁵ This, in essence, is the message we heard
from Christ and are passing on to you:
God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him.

^6-7 If we claim that we
experience a shared life with him and continue to stumble around in the dark,
we’re obviously lying through our teeth—we’re not living what we claim.
But if we walk in the light, God himself being the light, we also experience a shared life with one another, as the sacrificed blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purges all our sin.

My brain works like this when I'm reading.
 Light and think light in darkness 
I've seen that light is cool. Light shows. 
There's an Emmy award for that. 
So weird that there's an award for that. 
Light creates shadows. shadow puppets. 
How does that work? Google "how stuff works.com" 
to figure out how light works. 

Light is strange. It's something that is 
obvious and yet mysterious.
We see glimmers of its affects in rainbows, 
as its beams filter thru the curtains, 
when the sunrise reflects all over the pavement. 
 As we enjoy the light and 
start studying it there are only more questions. 
It would be easy to assume 
scientist have it all figured out 
but it's funny you should say that 

Example We've always taken for granted that light 
travels faster than anything 
in the universe. Then, in 1999, 
researchers at Harvard University were able to 
slow a beam of light down to 38 miles an hour 
(61 kilometers per hour) by 
passing it through a state of matter known 
as a Bose-Einstein condensate. That's 
almost 18 million times slower than normal!
 No one would have thought such a 
feat possible just a few years ago,
 yet this is the capricious way of light. 
Just when you think you have it figured out, 
it defies your efforts and seems to 
change its nature. But it hasn't light is consistent 
but our understanding changes. (howstuffworks.com)

John does this amazing thing where
 he compares being with god to light.  
Making the efforts to show us that just as
 light burst through darkness so does god and 
makes it possible to be with him in light
 to see what Christ has done for us. we 
can see better in the light.  
when i was younger we went to the canyon and we got 
to go into caves and its pitch black
...im sure youve done this too. 
i mean really dark where you cant see your own 
hand in front of your face no matter how hard
 you try but as you trip over rocks, 
hear bats, and grab ahold of your dads hand  
you continue to take steps out of 
the cave and one stream of light beams through
 a pinhole above you and helps you to 
see a fuzzy image of what you know is your hand. 

 Its like when we are with Christ
 when we walk in the light as he is in the light 
we see things clearer. 
We begin to recognize his light in us,  we begin to see 
that the love he poured out to us 
is to be poured out on others, we begin to see 
the kingdom beginning to come to earth. 
so the story continues 


As we discover God  in the light and it exposes
 what is there may we grab onto 
his hand and trip over rocks as we move towards the light. 
May we share his love 
that he has poured onto us as we continue
 to see the kingdom here and now in those moments.  
may we be apart of the story as it continues