Life As I'm Learning It.

Have you ever heard someone say something along the lines of, “you are who you spend time with”? I know I have, and I believe it. Not only have I witnessed it in other people, but it’s true for me as well. The people who surround us are going to influence our behavior, our motives, and our outlook on life. That’s why it’s so important that we all find good people to spend a majority of our time with. I just finished a seriously great book entitled Beautiful Outlaw , written by Christian author and speaker John Eldredge. This guy has such a colorful way of looking at the world, and I love that. He’s able to think outside the box, and discard every preconceived notion about Jesus in order to have a genuine relationship with Him. Because of this, he’s got some insight on things that I’ve never even considered before. Now, it’s important to remember that books about Jesus always need to be prayed over and tested by Scripture, because people are just people, and a lot of them are just ...

Earlier today, I sent off a beautiful, Jesus-loving girl to go to another country. She got an awesome full-time job there – she’s a coach. She’s a missionary in Panama, and she’ll live there until God tells her to move on. She’s a brave fighter, a champion, a gospel-proclaimer, a leader, and a world changer. She’s Flo, and she’s my sister. As my “other mom” Mel and I got her all packed up and ready to go late last night, I began to feel a little sadappy. (That’s a word I’ve used for a long time to describe what I feel when I’m sad and happy at the same time.) It’s never going to be a fun or easy thing to do to say “see ya later” to the ones I hold close to my heart. It would be foolish for me to think anything otherwise. The Lord blesses us with all kinds of special people to be a part of our innermost circles, as well as a heart to love those people greatly. We all cherish the ones who love us in return, lift us up, and make us better people. When we have to separate from them, a...

I remember saying in my last post that I really like the use of symbolism, metaphors, and visualizations. I’m pretty sure it’s because my brain thinks in color. Any time my mind has ever been forced inside of some kind of box, it fights to get out as quickly as possible. That might be why I normally hate subjects that are considered to be “academic.” Math, science, language arts, history, reading, and many more subjects in life functioned as black and white boxes for my brain. I was good at some of them, and not so good at some of them. Regardless, my mind really doesn’t like having to play by anybody’s rules – it’s much too free for that. This colorful mind of mine is both a blessing and a curse. I can see, hear, and feel things that many others can’t. I can sympathize and understand situations that I have no business even trying to comprehend, but I’m audacious enough to try anyway. I’m insightful, creative, and I love all kinds of different people. I love those people’s stories...

My friend Aja and I were hanging out a few weeks ago. Aja and I are very different, but we're very similar in a lot of ways too. One of the things we both do is constantly make parallels and comparisons, taking ordinary, every day situations and giving them deeper meanings. Jesus did that. They're called parables. I guess that means Aja and I are just another step closer to being super Christians. So a few weeks ago, Aja invited me over for a cup of tea. I'm not British, or even a hipster, and the only tea I drink is highly Southern – dark brown, iced, and sweet. Therefore, the idea of "a cup of tea" was quite appealing, because sometimes I like to pretend I'm another kind of person who likes that sort of thing. There were several different flavor choices for me, and I decided to go with honey lemon. That sounds pretty good, right? Some of you may like it, but my problem is that for so many years, the cough drops at my school were... You guessed it. Honey...