Another Recommendation....

Seems like I'm always suggesting stuff for anyone out there reading this blog, but I finished a book today that is far too fantastic for you not too go grab and read right now. It's called Velvet Elvis and it's by Rob Bell. My youth pastor recommended it about a year ago and I finally got around to finding and reading it and I wish I wouldn't have waited so long! When I'm not too lazy to go upstairs and grab the book, I'll post some of my favorite quotes and passages from it up here. As I said, after you read this, go to your nearest Christian book store and grab this book and be ready for one of the most challenging and eye-opening books you may ever read.

Love and Peace,
Danielle.

Shattered.

I went back home today. It felt good, I needed it. It was one of the first times I'd gotten to hear the new pastor, Scott, preach, and it was amazing. He had an amazingly creative way of getting his point across that made the message for everyone, not just the adults. Tntantoday was all about our concept of God. Some of the descriptions on the board were:

*Pale, white man
*What my parents believe
*Jesus
*The big guy
*The Grandfather in the sky
*The cosmic cop
*Divine Accountant

Scott was talking about how "our God is too small". About how we all serve these different Gods, based on our concept of Him. He talked about God being Abba, which is the Arabic word for "Daddy" and about how God always has his arms open waiting for you to come into Him, and the message really hit me. He had giving everyone a small tile, like you would see in a bathroom. We wrote down our concept of God on it with a sharpie and then smashed it with a hammer, just leaving the pieces. On mine I wrote "The Ultimate Judge" and "The Big Guy". It's allowing me to see God more as someone who's always there with His arms wide open. I can't wait to hear more of Pastor Scott's messages and hope that every day, God continues to open my eyes and challenge me.

I'm going home, to the place where I belong.

Yesterday started out as a typical day. Wake up, turn off the alarm, get breakfast. While I was eating I was hanging out on Facebook and Myspace, still slightly disappointed that a few friends I was hoping to see weren't coming out tonight. I saw a friend from North County had posted a blog about how he hadn't seen a lot of our old group over break and I began to miss them all even more. I thought I'd adjusted out here. I guess I have. Homesickness is no fun though. Yesterday was one of the worst cases of it I've had in months. I got on the bus, listening to my iPod and all my songs kept bringing images of North County to me. I come to my house everyday, I hang out, I sleep here, I eat here, my friends come over....yet it still isn't quite "home". I don't know. Maybe when a place and it's people are so deeply rooted in your heart, you never quite get over being far away from them. It's 30 miles...and I really shouldn't complain. I've had friends move from Chicago, Iowa, and even one that moved to Tennessee and mine was just moving counties. Maybe I was just very attached to everyone and everything about my old county. It makes it even more amazing when I see them, but the downtime pretty much sucks. I feel better today, but I'm really hoping to go back home tomorrow for a visit......

Peace,
Danielle.

"..and i'm going home. to the place where i belong."