It was a lazy day. I slept in. Tonight I work, but only four hours. Everyone is gone today for the most part. Very quiet. A bunch of the guys went to their company Christmas party, and a few of the girl's went up north - I think a couple of the guys joined them. We have had three move out completely - only one of which was for good reasons, and another few who have gone home or on adventures for Christmas break. This is the quiet part... I am sitting in the cafe, listening to Evanescence and whoever else Pandora decides to play and waiting for it to be time for work. Just thinking. I kind of like nights like this, as long as they aren't too often.

I don't always feel social or friendly or active or whatever it is that everyone else seems to have an abundance of. Tonight, I am feeling the quiet and the music. I finished some more of my Christmas shopping today thanks to Gabe. He went with me to Manti to get a few things for some close ones in Texas. I helped him pick out a gift for Braegan while we were at WalMart.

This time next week, I will be in Texas. I wish it were now. I would love to be sitting with my best friend and reading and listening to Evanescence and just quiet. It won't be quiet though, this time next week. I hear we are attending another ballroom dance on Saturday night - so all of my Texans better plan to attend. I need to go because there is someone that I need to meet.

Pray for L.

I love Chip. I was talking to him today about something that needed his "expert" advice on how to handle a situation. He is incredibly unafraid of getting into the mud and muck and dealing with the issues that arise. He mentioned that if the situation were to come to us to handle then we would recieve threats, accusations, and see many broken people. But he wasn't afraid of this possibility, infact, he said perhaps that is what God needs to have happen in order to work on this one. The verses from Hebrews about the Word being sharper than a two-edged sword and then in the Gospels about Christ not coming to bring peace but to divide son and father, daughter and mother and families came to mind. Actually, they have been on my mind pretty consistently lately.

We cannot ever be afraid to present the Gospel, to present TRUTH, to present Hope, because it will divide. Truth is made to divide. It is made to break down. Only in brokenness can healing come. The song "Beauty from Pain" - He will bring beauty from my pain. Not only mine, but that of so so many who have turned against what they have been taught and turned instead to Truth. On the flip side, we can't present Truth without love - Ephesians. Love must be central to all things and family cannot be defined by blood.

No one promised it would be easy. Anyone who thinks that walking with Him will fix all of our problems is blind. The problems just begin. The difference is that we have the answer... and it isn't 42.

"Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and praise is becoming. The Lord builds up Jerusalem, He gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite. The Lord supports the afflicted; He brings down the wicked to the ground. Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praises to our God on the lyre, who covers the heavens with clouds, who provides rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the mountains. He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens which cry. He does not delight in the strenght of the horse; he does not take pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord favors in those who fear Him, those who await His lovingkindness. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! For He has strengthened the bars of your gates; He has blessed your sons within you. He makes peace in your borders; He satisfies you with the finest of the wheat. He sends forth His command to the earth; His word runs very swiftlyHe gives snow like wool; He scatters frost like ashes. He casts forth His ice as fragments; who can stand before His cold? He sends forth His word and melts them; He causes His wind to blow and the waters to flow. He declares His words to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel. he has not dealt thus with any nation; and as for His ordinances, they have not known them. Praise the Lord!" Psalm 147

My Father is so much bigger than I am. He is perfect. My Father is amazing. I know that is so simply stated, but it is truth and the simple truths often speak the loudest.