Friday, April 27, 2007

What I did today

It has been way too long since I have posted anything. The truth is, a lot has gone on that is blog-worthy... I am just still working it all out in my head. A lot has gone on in my own life, as well as in others lives that has stretched me, affected me, and made me think. But for today you are stuck with a mundane blog about my day.

Got up nice and early... that is something I have been doing a lot lately... having a puppy is like having a kid. I did three loads of laundry, put together a table from IKEA, and tidied up, and gave my stinky puppy a bath. Went and had lunch with 2 of my favourite children (was watching them for a friend)... then did crafts and has a mini spa day! My hair was getting a bit long, so I went tor a cut. Love it! Came home and actually made dinner. Not cereal or toast... dinner... chicken, rice and veggies! (Today is officially day one of counting my "points" again!) Now I am slowly moving stuff in to my old roomies room. It is going to be my craft room / sewing room / office. I am really excited about it. Chose my paint colours today. Hmmm.... maybe I will head out and buy the paint now!

So nothing too exciting... but that was my day!

Friday, April 06, 2007

For Me

Good Friday. One of the most significant of all Christian Holy Days. Today in church, the reality hit me once again.... the reality of what Christ endured for me. For me. Knowing that if I was the only one in the whole world who would need a Saviour, he still would have died that brutal death, For me. He did not have to die. He chose to die.

It brought me back to my high school years. We were on a retreat, having a communion service. One of the older girls in the group got up and read a medical account of what Christ went through. Now being in the medical field, that means so much more to me.

The stress he endured was so great, that he suffered from hematohidrosis... he sweat drops of blood. The mental anguish must have been unbearable. He suffered temptation. He suffered from sin - my sin! He suffered from rejection - His Father turned His face away!

He was beaten. He suffered hours of torture. His body was covered in lacerations - open, bloody wounds. Wounds that were so deep that His bones were exposed. The skin on His back was shredded. A crown of thorns was not placed, but rather pushed on to his head. The pain must have been excruciating! He was severely dehydrated... both from the blood loss and from the profuse sweating. He was likely in or near a state we call shock. That alone was enough to kill Him. That was before He was crucified! Then He had to carry His cross!

According to medical experts, the position of the nails in his hands and feet would have pierced the medial nerve...that would cause excruciating pain and burning to shoot though His spinal column. His hands would have become paralyzed.The weight of His body was held on the nails in His hands. He would have shifted His weight with His feet to relieve the pain in his hands and arms... it would only cause Him more pain in the wounds in His feet, as well as to his skinless back as it rubbed against the rough timber. Not to mention the muscle cramps from having His arms extended for so long. As His legs gave out, His shoulders would have become dislocated.

Experts also say that the way a body is positioned on a cross makes it incredibly difficult to breathe. When your weight is being carried by your arms, your pectoral and intercostal muscles become useless... making breathing very difficult. His breaths would have been short... gasping... as carbon dioxide began to build up in His system. His lungs would fill with fluid. His heart would give out.

What Christ experienced is too horrible to even think about. It is sobering. It is painful. It brings me to my knees, humbled. "One doctor has called it “a symphony of pain” produced by every movement, with every breath; even a slight breeze on his skin could bring screaming pain at this point."

For me. For me. He did this for me.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Freedom

The sermon at church this past Sunday was really good. It focused on an area that I had first hand experience with for the first time in my life just recently: Freedom from sin. I never paid much attention to being a slave to sin. I never really thought I was. I mean, I sinned, I asked for forgiveness, and it was done. Then I sinned again... It was only recently that I saw areas of my life that I had been enslaved to. Areas of sin. Choices I had made that trapped me. I was enslaved to the sinful decisions I had made, was clueless about it, and had no idea how to change the path I was on!

The question was posed: Have you ever said to God... "Lord, I would rather DIE than live like (or with) this!" Yes!!! The answer our Pastor gave was a truth that I have heard since I was a kid. But with the freedom I have experienced in the past few months, I get it in a different way. The thing is... I have already died! I have already been crucified with Him! I am no longer a slave to sin! I am free! I have already died. I have already died. Wow. So simple, yet so complex. I have already died. Sounds kinda negative. The amazing part is not that I have died to my sin, but that I have been raised up with Him! That is what makes me free!


Something else he said really hit me. Again, it came from a verse I had memorized and quoted many times over the years. But the way it was worded had an impact on me. Romans 6:13 ... Do not offer the parts of your body as instruments of sin.... Once we belong to Christ... once we hold on tightly to Him, Satan can't say "come with me... you are mine." We are not. What he can say is... "I have this slander to spread... can I borrow your mouth?" ... "I have this work to be done... can I borrow your hands?" Our response (This is the part I love!): Stop loaning your body to sin!

I love that all this has been brought to the forefront of my mind as we near Easter. I mean, this is the season we remember His death, and celebrate Him being raised from the dead. And in that, He gave us freedom! If the Son has set you free, then you are free indeed!

Romans 6: 6-14 Could it be any clearer? Our old way of life was nailed to the cross with Christ, a decisive end to that sin-miserable life—no longer at sin's every beck and call! What we believe is this: If we get included in Christ's sin-conquering death, we also get included in his life-saving resurrection. We know that when Jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. Never again will death have the last word. When Jesus died, he took sin down with him, but alive he brings God down to us. From now on, think of it this way: Sin speaks a dead language that means nothing to you; God speaks your mother tongue, and you hang on every word. You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did.

That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God.

Monday, April 02, 2007

Puppy Love

The adventures of Bronte continue. Things are going really well. I think I have finally accepted that if my little guy cries, he will be ok. I left him for a few hours yesterday barricaded in the kitchen. When I put him to bed, I did the same thing. He did not cry at all. And when I came down this morning (ok, so he was whimpering a bit then), he was in his bed which is in his crate! I also went out today for a few hours and crated him. He was fine! He whimpered a bit when I left, but was fine when I came home. Yay! I still think that to crate him when I am at work is too long. But I am thrilled to know that he is getting used to his crate. He even went in it a few times on his own today! I am way less stressed than I was on the weekend!

We also went to the vet today. Bronte really likes Dr Carl. He was very well behaved, and got a clean bill of health!

A few more pics of my baby...




Sunday, April 01, 2007

Bronte

My life has changed dramatically since my last post. I am a mommy. It looked as though the puppy I had lined up was not going to happen. It was not a sure thing, but my the breeder thought that if she was able to leave at all, it would be later than expected. As I mentioned in my last blog, I was devastated.

So I began the search for a different puppy, and came across a breeder selling Yorkie-Poos. He had 2 females, one that looked like a yorkie (the one I wanted), and one that looked more poodle. I waited all day Friday to hear from him. When our potential meeting time had come and gone, I figured it was Gods way of letting me know this was not the pup for me. Shortly after that (and 2 hours before I had to be at work), I got the call. So a friend and I went to see the little guys.


The female I wanted had already been sold. I looked at the other female - the one that looked l more poo than yorkie. She was cute, but didn't grab me. I looked at the boys, even though I wanted a girl, and had bought a whole bunch of pink clothing. There was one little guy who had one ear pointed straight up, and one flopped down. I fell in love. I took him home.

Well, I didn't really take him to my home... I took him to my wonderful friends home, who puppy sat for me because I had to go to work!

So I have a new addition, and it is going ok. I am frustrated with the whole crate training thing because he cries... no, screams! He slept in his doggy bed, blocked off in the kitchen last night. And that is where I left him to go to church this morning. He did really well. He goes potty on the paper consistently, even throughout the night. Pretty good for 10 weeks I think! I have a hard time leaving him to cry, and am not 100% sure what I will do when I go to work - crate him vs have the crate there for him, but block him off in the kitchen. Everyone has their opinion, which does not really make it any easier.

I know he will be a friend for life... I just need to get past these next few days until we establish a routine. And in the meantime, I have to try not to have a melt down every time my puppy wails... which is whenever I am not in sight!


Here he is!