A Slow Saturday

Homework aside for a little while, it's time for the today's challenge theme.

Day 3: The Cast of Your Favorite Show

I'm not a big TV watcher, but it's nice to have an hour or so each week to just get lost in somebody else's world for a while.

My mom and I used to watch Gilmore Girls [ Still a favorite!] and then call each other afterwards to talk about it and everything else. It was like our set date each week. After the show ended, it was a bummer not to have that special thing every week that made me feel linked to home a little.

Parenthood previews came out with Lauren Graham in them (she was in GG, too, and a tremendous actress), so we had to check it out. Turned out to be a fantastic show -- a mix of drama, comedy, and how family can drive us crazy just as well as they can hold us together. The family lives in one town and is always involved in one another's business, trying to solve problems and dealing with the fights that come with sharing blood.

First of all, how can you go wrong having a Bob Dylan song for a theme song? Aside from that, I love it because it has real struggles, from a single mom raising teenage kids who had to move back home after leaving her druggie/alcoholic husband to a family dealing with the process and aftermath of having a son diagnosed with Asperger's to parents who want what's best for their kids yet not being ready for them to grow up.

The Bravermans are just like my family: close-knit, always at each other's houses, trying to do what they can to help even when sometimes everyone would like to pretend they can do it alone, but always loving each other at the end of the day regardless of what comes their way. And the show makes me laugh and cry every single time. If my family were to star in a show, this would be it.

When I was in a poetry writing class in college, a wise professor said that when we write a love poem, the reader should fall in love with that person, too. I think of Lisa's words every time I see a movie or show or read something that truly draws me in and makes me feel what the characters are feeling. It takes a lot of talent to be able to bring feelings alive for the audience to experience with the characters. Well done, Parenthood.

Consider the video of the intro the quote for today:

Movie Monday

Saw this video a while ago and thought it was pretty cool. I think it's remarkable that they got so many people to do it. And a Jesus-praising techno song -- who'd-a thunk it?

A Great [Easter] Song

This song was part of the Easter service this morning at church. What a fantastic Easter song!

The music's great. The lyrics are phenomenal. The video's footage, effects, and text are all delightful. I really hope you'll take a few minutes to watch it.

The service was one of my favorites that I've been here for. They had so many people involved in so many different ways. This church is wonderful about giving people opportunities to use their many gifts, and there are so many very talented people here. They even had a lot of children involved in today's service, which of course is always something I love to see. I'm really going to miss this church!

After church we had a big lunch, a big nap, and one of the other pastors and his family over to swim for a while. Delo made Easter baskets for us and even hid some eggs for us to find -- it was super-sweet! It was a very, very relaxing Easter.

So, dear friends, I'd love to hear about your Easters as well. I hope it was an all-around fantastic day!

~"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." [John 3:16]~

"The Aftermath"

The lyrics are even more beautiful than the music...

"The Aftermath" by Hillsong United

The skies lay low where You are
On the earth You rest Your feet
Yet the hands that cradle the stars
Are the hands that bled for me

[Chorus 1:]
In a moment of glorious surrender
You were broken for all the world to see
Lifted out of the ashes
I am found in the aftermath

Freedom found in Your scars
In Your grace my life redeemed
For You chose to take the sinner's crown
As You placed Your crown on me

[Chorus 2:]
In that moment of glorious surrender
Was the moment You broke the chains in me
Lifted out of the ashes
I am found in the aftermath
And in that moment You opened up the heavens
To the broken the beggar and the thief
Lifted out of the wreckage
I find hope in the aftermath

And I know that You're with me
Yes I know that You're with me here
And I know Your love will light the way

[Chorus 3:]
Now all I have I count it all as loss
But to know You and to carry the cross
Knowing I'm found
In the light of the aftermath

"Wanna stay in your warm embrace..."

Thank God for songs stumbled upon just when you need them.

Big Band Bombardment

I have to admit that Ben's post prompted my music-engulfed evening tonight. I almost added "Blame Ben" in parenthesis to the title because the alliteration was there, in fact. :)

I was in the mood to mix it up from what I usually put on, so I put on "Beyond the Sea Radio" on Pandora -- my station for classics like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Nat King Cole, and all of the other crooners. I have a particular soft spot for that kinda music.

Some nights just demand big band/swing music.

I think that the Big Band Era would have been a really fun time to live in. The dancing, the live music, the fashion of the times...yeah, I wouldn't mind living then. I'm a terrible swing dancer (coordination in general escapes me), though, so I would've been out of place.

Here's one of my favorites (and I love it either by The Drifters or Michael Buble, but I admire the fact that Michael Buble can pull off that classic sound in the modern times):



~"Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." [-Berthold Auerbach]~

LoveLyrics

I love the lyrics to this song. They capture so much: optimism, a shared peace, determination to fix the problems and learn from them, enjoying time together...and that love is more than sappy songs make it out to be.

Love is the downs just as much as the ups. Love can be so, so difficult. Love is challenging

...whether it's a romantic kind, a friendship kind, or a family kind.


And love is necessary.

~"And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." [-1 Cor. 13:13]~

"Grace Like Rain"

I had the opportunity to sit in on a Bible study with the Salem staff yesterday, and they were discussing the concept of truly knowing grace before sharing grace.

And this song crept into my head. We sang it my very first weekend as a college student at CUC's New Student Camp (a trip to a camp about an hour or so away from campus), and I sang it many, many more times before leaving CUC. I haven't gotten too many opportunities to sing it since then so it always makes me nostalgic -- especially for those few nights around the campfire in the last of the summer heat singing along to the guitars with a bunch of other new students. We were all just as anxious and excited as we faced a seemingly endless journey through college.

It was beautiful.

Brain Result(ing) Humor

It's official: I have a brain.

Got the MRI results today. Turned out to be mostly normal except for two small spots. Doc's going to run it by the neurologist and see if it's something that I should get checked out or not and when (leaving for TX means that I would have to find somebody there or wait until I get back in May...which I would rather do so it's in a system I'm familiar with, less nerves, yadda yadda, but we'll see).

I'm not worried. (Although this may fall under the catagory of "things that qualify for legitimate worrying rather than the petty things I choose to worry about instead.")

I'm just relieved there's a brain there after all. Otherwise I'd have to change my name. Goodness knows I've already got the clumsy part down, anyway. ;)

~"I wish my name was Brian because maybe sometimes people would misspell my name and call me Brain. That's like a free compliment and you don't even gotta be smart to notice it." [-Mitch Hedberg]~

Leaving Day

This song's been stuck in my head since it popped onto Pandora last week...and it feels like it fits right now.

Thank goodness for music that is sympathetic and speaks the words we can't find for ourselves sometimes.

"Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" - Green Day

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road
Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go
So make the best of this test, and don't ask why
It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind
Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time
Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial
For what it's worth it was worth all the while

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

In the words of a very wise 4-year-old, "Go defeat something else."

[Onward -- to more "times of my life."]