snipe hunting

so this was the fun of last night. we had a bon fire, and we took about 12 ladies snipe hunting. it was a blast. so for a proper explanation of snipe and snipe hunting, i consulted the great oracle (Wikipedia) and found these wonderful definitions. hope you enjoy!




snipe is any of nearly 20 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are characterised by a very long slender bill and cryptic plumage. The Gallinago snipes have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes Jack Snipe is restricted to Asia and Europe and the Coenocorypha snipes are found only in New Zealand. The three species of painted snipe are not closely related to the typical snipes, and are placed in their own family, the Rostratulidae.



A snipe hunt, a form of wild goose chase that is also known as a fool's errand, is one of a class of practical jokes that involves experienced people making fun of newcomers by giving them an impossible or imaginary task. The origin of the term is a practical joke where inexperienced campers are told about a bird or animal called the snipe as well as a usually ridiculous method of catching it, such as running around the woods carrying a bag or making strange noises. Incidentally, the snipe (a family of shorebirds) is difficult to catch for experienced hunters, so much so that the word "sniper" is derived from it to refer to anyone skilled enough to shoot one.[1]
A wild goose chase can also be more serious, either a deliberate attempt to thwart an opponent by sending him/her off on a quest based on misinformation, or a mistake on one's own part leading to a hopeless quest. [2]

Passion

the other day when i was very antsy, i decided that i needed to read a book. i picked up a C.S. Lewis book, but that wasn't doing the trick, i picked up another book that i had in my room and that wasn't working either. i needed something...comfortable, and familiar. you know, your favorite book, the one that you could read over and over and never get tired of, so i go to the house library, we have quiet a few books, and then i saw it, ahhh, like a your favorite blanket just coming out of the dryer... "The Reflective Life" by Ken Gire.

i could read this book over and over, and never get tired of it. i try to read it at least once a year. as i settled into the couch to read, i remembered why i like it so much. first of all, it is very well written. he writes about pop culture a lot, about art, music, movies, books, everything, and he puts a spiritual twist to it so it makes sense. you could read it for hours and never get tired of it. he uses real life examples, i believe by his writings he could inspire anyone to write a book or maybe just keep a journal, he is real and he acknowledges his own weaknesses and failures, he also writes with passion. i couldn't quiet figure it out why i like his writing so much, it's more than just this one book, he's written many, in fact I'm waiting on one to arrive in the mail any day now. but he keeps you captivated with so many things. new ideas, new words. he writes with passion in all of his books. so once i figured it out why i liked his books so much, i thought about the passion, how he inspired me to live with a passion.

i thought about a movie that he talks about in the book and it's the Dead Poets Society. It has Robin Williams in it, that move is very passionate too. My favorite part (and it's been a few years since I've seen it) is where they are in the hall and they are looking at all the alumni from the school and Robin Williams stands behind his class and whispers "Carpe Diem" (that's seize the day in Latin). and it gets louder and louder, and then he goes on to teach, don't waist the day... fill each day with passion, with what you are passionate about. then i thought about another movie with Robin Williams in it, "Patch Adams", once again in this movie, Robin Williams plays a very passionate role. Patch. Patch goes against all odds to help heal people, not to help heal disease, but people. he gets his medical degree. and all through out the movie you can feel the passion.

so I've realized that i like people that live with passion. whether it's in a movie, or a book, but most of all, people who i can see live out their personal lives with passion. Pastor Charlie is a great person to observe every day. in the Bible people are filled with passion. passion is all over the place. so i went to an online dictionary and found the meaning for passion it is " a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept". what is our passion about? what am i passionate about? i need to ask myself that question. this morning in Sunday School the teacher said "what you are passionate for is what you give your life to." i liked that.

now i want to go back to the book "the Reflective Life" by Ken Gire. he was talking about when he went to seminary the motto was "Preach the Word", pretty good motto for seminary huh? well, what about your life? is that a good motto for your life? He goes on to say that "i wonder what would happen if the motto for the school was the Shema which is "Hear, O Israel! the Lord is our God, the Lord is one! and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." (Deut 6:4-5) and in the New Testament Jesus answers someone telling them the greatest commandment in the Bible is the Shema, and then is followed by "Love your neighbor as yourself." and Ken Gire asks what would the seminary that he went to be like if that was the motto. if they spent 4 years teaching that instead of preaching. hummmm, good thought. what would my life be like if my motto were those 2 instead of well, what is my motto? give that some thought.

anyway, is my passion the same as Jesus??? about the church??? about seeing the lost saved??? and seeing that i reach out to those in need instead of judging them??? question of the week... what is my passion, make that yours too.

Laminin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e4zgJXPpI4

You have got to check this out. Yes, it is 9 min long, but it is totally worth it. God is so amazing. also, share this with your friends. just take some time out of your day to check it out.
happy watching.

Open House update

So, here is the end results for Open House. What a success! Pastor Charlie said it ran like a fine tuned machine! and it did. this is my 6Th Open House that I've been a part of, and i think my favorite. Yes, it was raining most of the day. Yes, it was cold. But the best part was it stopped raining and we had more people than what we knew to do with! we ended up serving 1,501 people for Open House. Everyone pulled together to make it work, set up extra tables in classrooms, and went to cut an extra 200 steaks. Made sure everyone was taken care of. it's really quiet incredible.
so many people gave us complements, like "I've never seen young people so polite" "i feel like royalty here, is this how it always is?" "everyone is so nice" "the homes are beautiful!" "I'm coming back next year." "What Charlie Sharpe said was right on." and on and on and on, i think i could fill up pages of it, but i won't. i only had people in my van for no more than 5 minutes at a time, but in that short period of time, i saw God's goodness in other people. i know that people saw a side of God that maybe they had never seen before. and it was amazing. I pray that lives and hearts were touched in such a way that they will never be the same again. it's so great to serve a living breathing caring God, who would want to serve any other?
Next year Open House is on the 4Th of July. we are calling it "Charlie's Holiday" we will have a flight show, a mule jump, tractor pulls, all the food you can eat, and fireworks. it's going to be absolutely amazing! can hardly wait!
Oh, yes, i saw my dad on the screen 2 times in his wonderful Army pictures, i did cry a little. just in gratitude for all of our service men and women who have fought and continue to fight for our freedom and the freedom of others.
i know this entry was kind of random, but oh well.
only 21 days until Oaxaca!

Romans 7:21-8:2 (The Message)
21-23It happens so regularly that it's predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God's commands, but it's pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.
24I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?
25The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.1-2With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death


Romans 8:26-39
26-28Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.
29-30God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.
31-39So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

in case you were wondering

Just in case you were wondering...
today i was driving to the lodge to take some ladies to work i heard the windshield wipers squeaking. i thought to myself out loud (here is where we get into trouble), if i can hear them on the inside, can people hear them on the outside. the ladies looked at me as if i were out of my mind. which i can't blame them, i think i would think that if someone asked me a random question like that. they told me they were not sure. so when we got to the lodge, i had them get out and i turned on the windshield wipers, and yup, sure enough, they do squeak. so i told one of my friends and she said "so they are just as annoying on the outside." thought that was a good response.
when you ask a random question that can be answered truthfully, you end up with a random fact for the day.

28 days to Oaxaca!

This is where Oaxaca is located. 29 days and counting!

fav. quotes

I hope this is legal. i have some quotes that i really like. Most of them are out of books, so I'll try to site them properly! Hope you enjoy them as much as i do!

I have one desire now-to live a life for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it. ~ Ed McCully (From the book "Through Gates of Splendor" by Elisabeth Elliot)

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot loose. ~Jim Elliot (From the book "Through Gates of Splendor" by Elisabeth Elliot)

Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation that you believe to be the will of God. ~Jim Elliot (From the book "Through Gates of Splendor" by Elisabeth Elliot)

People have talked to one another for so long, with so many words, that speech has lost its power. ~Gene Edwards (from the First Century Diaries by Gene Edwards- i cannot remember which book.)

When God answers our prayer, it is rarely on our terms- we get more, and better (but not always to our liking) than we bargained for. ~Eugene H. Peterson (from the book "Leap over a Wall" by Eugene H. Peterson.)

When Christians are not being persecuted in some way by society it means that they are reflecting rather than confronting that society. And when we please the world we can be sure to grieve the Lord. ~John McArthur (from the John McArthur commentary on Matthew 1-6)

Also, a side note, 30 days until my trip to Oaxaca Mexico! I'm so excited!

Open House

It's that time of year again around Heartland. The time where we lay new concrete, otherwise known as Open House. It seems for the last 3 or 4 years, about a week or two before Open House we lay concrete, almost always to allow for more room to park. If you don't know what Open House is, let me tell you. There was also one in the Bible. Solomon had one.
The story is in 2 Chronicles 9:1-8. i won't type it all out, but i will give you the jest of the story.
But first i want to tell you about Heartland's Open House. it's a great opportunity to show off all of our assets, and that is mostly our people. Starting at 1 p.m. we give guided tours around Heartland and that lasts until 5 i believe, then from 5:30-6:30 it is a free steak dinner. our special Heartland steak that has a special marinate on it with a baked potato, Ozark green beans, and a home made roll. and I'm pretty sure there is some sort of dessert, but i don't remember what it is. it's wonderful food, and the people of Heartland serve and serve and serve and serve. it's wonderful. as we say around here, it's our opportunity to serve our guts out. then from 7:00-7:30 (or something to that effect) there is alive entertainment provided by, once again, people of Heartland. it's such an amazing time of the year. then at the end, Pastor Charlie gets to speak. I guess we could say it's the start of the Heartland Holidays. it's wonderful! it's so full of excitement. At the women's home different ladies will go out to the buses and give their testimonies, and throughout the entertainment people will give their testimonies. this year, i get to drive people from point a to point b. i like it a lot. i hope to see some of you there!

okay, now for the Bible story. it's the story where Queen Sheba comes to visit Solomon because she doesn't really believe all that she's heard about him. but when she gets there, she makes the statement "i haven't even heard the half of it!" she is so amazed at how happy all of the servants are there, and she's just blown away because of Solomon's wisdom. i know so many people (like myself) feel the same way about Heartland. As we read it in church a couple of Wed. nights ago, i realized indeed, this was a story very much like Heartland.

i do invite you all to come and see what is going on at Heartland on the 17Th of October!

alive in this moment

thought i would share something with you all that I've been going through this year. i know it's nothing unusual, but i thought i would share it with you in case one of you are going through it, and you feel like you are alone. this year has been tough, real tough, most of it through my own demise though, i take full responsibility for it. I've talked with God with it a lot too. This has truly been the hardest spiritual year yet. it seems as if it's had more downs than ups. it seems that God has been so distant, so far away, so untouchable. I've prayed, and asked God to come and touch me, and to do a new work in me, and so forth. I've been asking God and asking God and asking God, but He wants me to quit asking and start doing. I've come clean about everything in my life that i knew wasn't right. I've started a fresh page, I'm on the right track now. But God's not going to bless you if you know that what you are doing is wrong. and i knew that i was wrong. but He has restored me as His child once again. i have this CD that i adore. it's Starfield. it's their first one, and the whole album is good. if you've never heard their music, i know they have stuff on myspace, and youtube. anyway, they are very anointed, and there is this song that is of such great comfort to me, to let me know that I'm not alone, and that God does hear me, and that we all make bad choices sometimes. it's like a breath of fresh air when i hear this song. it does something deep within my spirit, and it gives me hope. it's called Alive in this Moment. I'm going to write out the words b/c i think that you all should have the opportunity to see them, let them speak to you, cry out to God, He's there, just waiting for His child to come climb up on His lap and to talk to Him. He misses hearing from you just as much as we miss hearing from Him when it feels like it's been forever. Here are the words, please take a few min to read them.
Alive in this Moment
it's been so long since i have met You
here since i have said these words or cried these tears
and like a child would come i run into our secret place
and as the music fades, the tears are rolling down my face
i am alive in this moment in this moment
i am found
i am alive in this moment in this moment
it's belong it's been so long since i have met You here
since i have heard You speak
or let You near and like a wayward son I've come with nothing left to hide
here in this moment i have come to offer up my life
here only one fire burns,
it burns here only one melody is heard once again
for the very first time my eyes are opening.

hope you enjoyed it and it made sense.hope to hear from you soon,
Adrienne

first blog

well, this is my first blogg. i'm not real sure what to do, or what to expect. but i believe i'll have fun in the midst of it. the purpose of this blogg is to bring glory to God. He is the reason i live. i work in a home discipling women to teach them how to love God with their whole lives. i think this blogg will be about things that i have experinced, things that i've gone through, or just some ramblings that i think some people might find interesting. you'll just have to stay tuned in for more. happy reading.
adrienne