Isaiah 53:3-4

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.




I can't ever say He doesn't know what it feels like.

Amazing God

So we sang this song in church this morning:

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind, but now I see

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace

The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures

[2x]
My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, Who called me here below
Will be forever mine
Will be forever mine
You are forever mine

"But Jessica," you say, "that's 'Amazing Grace!'"

No. No, it's not.

I know, because I sang 'Amazing Grace' for 23 years before that thing up there came out. And it's not like there is anything inherently wrong with that thing up there. (I suppose.) But I really liked the original. You know...

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

'Twas Grace that taught
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far,
and Grace will lead us home.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be
as long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
and mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
a life of joy and peace.

When we've been here ten thousand years,
bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise,
than when we've first begun.

Now, this is not my favorite hymn. (That is, and will forever be, 'It Is Well' by Horatio Spafford.) It's in my top five, though, both for the story behind it and for what the lyrics actually say.

The first one seems to display the disturbing trend I've seen in worship songs lately. Nowadays, it all seems to be about me. What can Jesus do for me? What can I do for Jesus?

I suppose that's fine. But what happened to praise? Look at the hymn again. When we've been here ten thousand years, there will still be as much time for praise as when we started. And yes, we can praise God for what He's done for us.

But nothing we have ever done will compare with who God IS.

I think I'm going to start singing the book of Job.

I don't know. Is it just me?

Blooo Halloooooo!

SIXTY-SEVEN


Seriously, how cute is this guy?

SIXTY-EIGHT


I really thought I'd be taking pictures of snow in March. Not fully-formed flowers. But still. Pretty.

SIXTY-NINE


I have an awesome fridge. A while back, I found magnets of Shakespearian insults. I don't know if you can see any, but I'm determined to get them back into common parlance.

SEVENTY


I found a really simple recipe for guac. And it was brilliant!

SEVENTY-ONE



SEVENTY-TWO


Cars offer some really interesting angles.

SEVENTY-THREE


I call this "Self Portrait in the Loaner Car."

SEVENTY-FOUR



SEVENTY-FIVE



SEVENTY-SIX


Best. Pizza. Ever.

SEVENTY-SEVEN


I'd like to take some proper pics of this place. It's a beautiful building - if poorly situated.

SEVENTY-EIGHT


Instead, you get this (admittedly interesting) shot from the car.

55-66

FIFTY-FIVE


Honestly, what's the point of having a ceiling if it's going to be boring?

FIFTY-SIX


Just a fun little light fixture. I wish I was clever enough to think of these things.

FIFTY-SEVEN


Sometimes I wish I drank coffee so I could flavor it with interesting things.

FIFTY-EIGHT


Truly awesome lights at an Appelbee's in PA.

FIFTY-NINE


Adorableness! That's my nephew with my second cousin, who is an absolute riot!

SIXTY


Believe it or not, there is a small Statue of Liberty in the middle of that river. Couldn't get a clear pic of it.

SIXTY-ONE


You really do find cool pics in the most random of places. This one comes from my uncle's front walk.

SIXTY-TWO


Need to find more stained glass.

SIXTY-THREE


PA is always good for photos.

SIXTY-FOUR


This is what greeted me when I left work one day.

SIXTY-FIVE


Awesome night shot. Reminds me of the opening to heaven. Or hell.

SIXTY-SIX


Morning out my kitchen window.

Vox Ris

I have a few random thoughts for you today. Life has been all over the place in the last few months, and it's getting to the point where I'm not even surprised when something out of the ordinary happens.

First, I was going to post on Sunday, but realized I didn't have the pics I needed. I wanted to do a proper remembrance post for Japan, but I had family staying and just couldn't get the right mindset. OMS started in Japan in 1901, so we have a great deal of history. Thankfully, our churches and people were okay, but there were a lot of people who weren't. Things like this don't really hit me until I see evidence of it, and that came a few months after the earthquake and tsunami in the form of a prayer letter from a missionary family serving in Japan. They shared the following photos:


Yoshinobu Ryokawa took this photo from the roof of his three-story building just after the earthquake on March 11, 2011. 30 minutes later, the tsunami hit, and Mr. Ryokawa continued taking photos.


I'm not sure how you properly respond to something like that with anything less than horror. It's similar to what I felt as I watched the news after the tornadoes flattened two towns in southern Indiana, not more than an hour from here. It's what I feel every time someone or several someones lose their lives so tragically. And it's happening more often, or maybe I'm just more aware of it, but I can feel Satan's fingers all over the world. And that should definitely terrify you.



Well, my little Bullet is about to be no more. After much deliberation and (I'm ashamed to admit) a few tears, I've decided to scrap my semi-faithful mode of transportation and look for something else. If you know of anything available, I would appreciate the help.


As I mentioned, I had family staying with me this weekend. My cousin and his wife came up from Kentucky for much frivolity and fun (as you can see). We had a grand time window shopping and buying incandescent lightbulbs and eating massive amounts of food. It was really nice to see them and to get out of the house for a bit.


As you can see, work has been incredibly busy lately. Fortunately, I had a little helper!

Seriously, though, work has been a bit crazy with articles and prayer letters and receipts and editing. It's going really well, though, so I can't complain.

Funding for Turkey is slow-going, but I am making progress, which is good.

I have no way to end this, so I think I will just-

It's Nathan Fillion, Not Nick Fallion, Elida!

Okay, I have quite a few days to catch up on. Let's get started, shall we?

FORTY-FOUR


Who knew pipes could be so interesting? There's all these cool shapes and things!

FORTY-FIVE


I'ma be honest - I started playing around with my photo editor. You'll notice it more and more, but really, I just want photos that look cool. I'll try to keep the editing to a minimum - and I won't be photoshopping unicorns or anything.

FORTY-SIX


I have a LOT of neat jewelry. Be warned.

FORTY-SEVEN


FORTY-EIGHT


Any guesses what this is?

FORTY-NINE


I was hoping for some really great photos of snow. This is about as much as we've had this year. :(

FIFTY


Always a beautiful way to start your day!

FIFTY-ONE


And now we're getting into iPhone photos. I do so love my new toy! Also, my car is really dusty.

FIFTY-TWO


This little guy was hanging out at our cabin in PA. I wasn't brave enough to ask if it was real.

FIFTY-THREE


I think this is the only Instagram photo you'll see on here, at least for a while. It feels too much like cheating.

FIFTY-FOUR


I admit - I was being terribly unsafe when I took this picture. But I like the lines.

I'll probably do one more to catch up to this week. I still have to download my pictures from my SLR.

Turning Tribulation Into Triumph

So today has been a lesson in focusing on the positive.

I've become more aware lately of just how negatively I view everything, and I'm making an effort to try to see the good side of things before I start complaining about my problems.

Today was difficult.

But there were a lot of good things.

1. I made it to the north side to pick up my computer.
2. My computer was actually fixed, and it didn't cost me any money.
3. I made it back to the south side and off of 465.
4. There wasn't a lot of traffic to deal with when my car died.
5. Three really great people I've never met and will probably never see again helped me push my car to a nearby parking lot.
6. The cops who couldn't get across the road when I very obviously needed assistance made a quick turn around and came to make sure I was okay and had help coming.
7. My dad answered the phone when I called and told me what to do.
8. I had my AAA card with me.
9. The AAA lady was really nice and called for a tow service.
10. I had my phone to entertain me for the two hours I waited for the tow truck.
11. Hanson, my tow truck driver, was really, really nice. He told me what leeches taste like. He also told me to never go to Saudi Arabia. (He also told me I look 15. Do I really?)
12. Rick Gillam was at the garage when we finally pulled in.
13. Lori and Cris McFall had a spare car I can use in the meantime.

All in all, not how I envisioned my day going when I woke up this morning. But God knew all about it, and everyone was exactly where they needed to be when they needed to be there.

A smile, however, tremulous, feels better than a frown.

(BTW, Arika thinks my car got so jealous of the joy I showed when I got my computer back that it decided to break so we could have an equally tearful reunion. However, my car is clearly unaware of the fact that my computer was under warranty while he - my car's name is Bullet - is very much not. He's in for a rude awakening.)

Gee willikers!

Yikes. This widget over ---> is starting to depress me. I had the bright idea of putting some money on there myself, only to discover that you can't use Paypal to put money into your own Paypal account. Who knew?

The good news is that I am actually moving forward in raising funds for Turkey. Granted, it's slow going, but I've already sent in my first two payments, so I guess I have to go, now! If you're not afraid of Paypal and don't care about tax deductions, go ahead and click that widget over there. If the internet terrifies you - a) thanks for conquering your fear to visit my craziness and b) you can send checks to

Global Ministries
302 Lake St.
Huntington, IN 46750

and put my name in the memo line along with the word Turkey, a picture of a turkey, maybe a nice drawing of a minaret...whatever.

So...

My computer is apparently fixed, but I haven't been able to pick it up, yet. The north side of Indianapolis is just so far away! The worst part about not having my computer is that my music is trapped in it. It's fine when I'm home - I have my stereo, CDs and my iPod to keep me entertained. At work, however, it's a little more difficult. I keep forgetting to bring music with me in the mornings. It's just too quiet! (And I never thought I'd say that about my department.)

What have I been doing lately? Work occupies most of my time, but I took last week off to spend time with family and travel to Pennsylvania.


My dad spent a week in Jamaica, so my mom, my sister, my nephew and I welcomed him home with a fabulous sign at the airport! (It was really hard to pin the kid down to take this picture - he seemed to be embarrassed for some reason. Weird.)


How awesome is that view in the morning? Yeah, pretty awesome.

(BTW, I reserve the right to use some of these again as awesome photos. I still don't have my folder, so I can't update them, yet. I'm working on it.)


Talk about having terrifying things in your backseat! If I looked forward, I could ignore their presence - at least until I heard the kid's Nintendo or my sister's snoring!


And of course, no trip to PA is complete without a visit to my favorite place. It was really fun to be able to share stories of The War with the kid. He was a very attentive student - especially when it came to the medical section. (Seriously? You're gonna show a 12-year-old boy how to cut off someone's leg?)

All in all, it was a grand old time. Saw some family I hadn't seen in a while, read some books, played with my new phone...

And then I came back to work. Ah, well.

March Radio

Have you ever seen "The Apprentice" with the Donald? Me, neither. But we did a fun riff of it for this month's radio spot!



I really, really like this one! It's fun and different from what we've done before.

Plus, we had a really great photo for it.



(Fun fact: Only two of the people in the ad are pictured here. But you'd never know if I hadn't told you.)