Camping and Seeking

i slept in my tent in january, and it was amazing! never before had i slept in a tent in the middle of winter. because i grew up in SD, winters are not "camping friendly". today's high in the town where my parents live was 9 degrees. camping at 9 degrees sounds like suffering to me. i'm a warm weather camper. last night's low here was 48 degrees. this is how it went down: after a fun night with the middle schoolers from church, shottie decided to spend the night. we got to talking and somehow the next thing we knew we were putting the tent up at midnight. it was beautful!

made a little roadtrip to trader joe's this afternoon with denise and shottie. stocked up on trailmix, lemonade and peanut-butter filled pretzels. oh and an organic chocolate truffle bar. then had the pleasure of feeding our faces at sonic. gotta love their grape creamslush. mmmmm - so good. next stop was to get a copy of 'irresistible revolution' by shane claiborne. seems to be the talk of the town. i'll let you know what i think of it later.

e-filed my taxes this afternoon - always a lovely day for me. getting some money back which will certainly go towards this beautiful adventure.

i'm still working on that list of needs. that's my goal for this evening. so after i complete this post, that is what i'll be embarking upon. look for it!

i admire Hezekiah - you konw the king in the old testament who accomplished some great feats. tonight i was reading about when he sent letters to the surrounding countries, inviting them to come and worship at the temple for Passover. it's in 2 chronicles 30. well, the letters drew some people because it mentions 'a very large crowd of people' gathered to celebrate. so all these people are celebrating at the temple, having a merry time. then it occurs to Hezekiah, 'oh man, these people haven't consecrated themselves to the Lord and they are eating the Passover Lamb! what i am going to do?' being a man of God, he cries out to God, 'May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God—the Lord, the God of his fathers—even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary.' (2 chron. 30.18-19.) and God answered his prayer and healed the people. so let's break this down: Hezekiah recognizes the people are sinning, so he goes to God and asks for Him to be merciful. and isn't it amazing how that prayer came to life in the man, Jesus Christ? isn't that what Jesus accomplished - pardoning those who set their heart on seeking Him? all i can say is,' thanks, hezekiah, for praying for me' and 'thanks, Jesus, for responding.'.

that led me to think of people who need my prayers, which reminded me of how important my prayers for others are. this is how i'm responding: i'm setting a goal - to get up 30 minutes early to have some moments with Jesus before i get ready for work. that means my alarm will be resounding a joyful tune around 6.10.

ok, now i really need to make that list...