Casting Your Worries on God

Recently, I've been reading a wonderful blog entitled "Stuff Christians Like" by Jon Acuff. I'm not entirely sure how I happened upon it, but I suspect it had something to do with Acuff's connection to Dave Ramsey. I suppose that's not important though.

Each time I see this particular blog show up in my rss reader, I know I'm in for a treat! Acuff writes well, with enough humor to make reading enjoyable, and enough scripture to make it profitable. Today's topic was on casting your worries on God. The post is entitled "The Wrong Type of Fishing." I'll let you go read it there. (Go ahead... I'll wait.)

Back? Good.

So this post made me think a bit, and I think I respectfully disagree with Acuff's choice in fishing metaphors. Though I do like bits of it, I think that:

1. If the "cast"ing described in 1 Peter 5:7 is in fact referring to fishing, I think it would probably the common method of fishing in Biblical times, that is, net casting. Peter, after all, would have been most familiar with this method as that was how he made his living prior to meeting Jesus.
2. I don't think God expects us to continue to take back our worries. As hard as it is for us to manage, I think God wants the casting to be more permanent than that. 

So I got thinking about the net casting analogy. And I posted my initial thoughts as a comment on SCL. Here is that comment:

I have to agree with the net-casting imagery.

Have you ever seen someone cast a net? You have to gather it in first. Gather up all the anxiety, the stress, the pain, whatever. The net, all bunched up looks tense. It looks like a big pile of interwoven, tangled mess.

Then you take this tangled-up, bunched-up, messy net and you throw it away! You “cast” it as far from you as you can, and you have to LET GO of the net. As you throw it, it becomes bigger, takes form, you start to see what is really there. It wasn’t really tangled or messy, it just looked that way when you had it in your hands. But as you let go, you can see it more clearly and it’s not nearly as bad as you thought it was.

And then, once it’s out of your hands, you let it sink in to the water. You let the water (God if you’re following my analogy) take it until it’s completely out of sight and out of reach.

That’s the way I think of it at any rate.

But of course, even after clicking "submit comment" my brain continued to work on the thought.

The gathering up the net, that comes pretty naturally, right? That's what we do as we lie awake at 2 AM, staring at the bedroom ceiling and wondering how we're going to fix the mess we've made of things or avoid the problems we know are lurking just around the corner. That's the easy part.

But the letting go, well, that's another story.

Letting go has to be done intentionally. And really letting go, like properly casting a fishing net, takes practice. We have to grow in our faith and learn to really trust God with these things. It's not something most new believers are capable of doing. Sure, we try, but our fingers get tangled in the net and when we think we're casting it away from us we just wind up dropping it at our own feet.

But with time, patience, practice, and a whole lot of prayer, we can eventually manage to get it into the water and out of our hands.

Then, after the net has been cast, and we've allowed it to sink out of sight, that's not the end of it is it? Of course not! If that were all of it, fishermen would starve and the Sea of Galilee would be full of sunken nets! No, after we've cast our net, given it up to the water and let it sink out of site, we eventually have to draw it back in.

But when we receive it back, it's not the same, is it? No longer a tangled up mess, if we've managed to cast properly and allowed God the time to do His part in this, the net should now be full of fish!

Our worries and cares, those difficult things we've been going through, all the pain and hurt and uncertainty and struggle, we give to God. We allow Him to do as He pleases rather than trying to control the situation. And from this tangled and empty net He brings forth blessing! He turns all the awful, tangled things we were allowing to eat us alive into joy!

I think that's what is meant when it says in Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." He can take all the bad things that we go through, all the things that keep us up at night, and make something good out of them.

That’s the way I think of it at any rate.

Who Do I Write Like?

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I write like
H. P. Lovecraft

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Thanks to Jan for the link!

Background image

I promised I'd share how I accomplished my redesign, and I've been thinking about how to go about it. The best way I could come up with is to just go step by step and show you each item and how it was done.

For me, design is so often all about color. More often than not I start with a color palette and work my way from there. I shared ColourLovers with you earlier this month, and that's where I started this project.

Oddly enough, the palette I began with was not intended for use in this, or really any other, project. I just made it because I was messing around with the colors on the site. One of the interesting features of color lovers is that if you're the first to use a specific shade you get to name it. This turns out an amazing variety of color names. While playing around on the site, I decided to make a palette using just the names of the colors, rather than working with the colors themselves. At the time, "In the Valley of the Dying Sun" by House of Heroes was playing in the background, and I figured that was a fun title to play with. So I came up with this palette. Oddly enough, the colors really work well together, so when I was trying to decide on colors for the blog, that's where I started.

So next step was the background. That's the most obvious expression of the color palette, so it seemed a good place to start. There are a plethora of great background making sites and tools out there, and I've even been known to make my own from scratch now and then, but this time I went with PatternCooler. I chose the "Tri Seed Curl" pattern and played around with my colors until I was happy with the results. What you see on the blog now is the result. Of course, the palette changed a little in the process. I dropped the reddish color and added a really pale violet and a darker shade of the color called "house." I also tweaked the colors just a little, so that none of them are actually the exact colors from the ItVotDS palette. My finished palette can be seen here.

So that's how the palette and background came about. Nothing too technical so far, in fact I think almost any blogger would be able to use the two tools I've discussed here with little difficulty. Next up we'll get into the slightly more technical aspects... Stay tuned!

Hmm... been awhile.

So, I've been away for a bit. Again. What's new, right?

Well, I'll tell you.

That's what this whole blog thing is supposed to be about, right?

I've been doing a lot of design-type stuff at work. Ok, my version of design stuff is severely elementary, but I really enjoy it and I'm learning as I go. Baby steps. Apparently my boss likes that I enjoy it, because the company is paying for me to take some classes and acquire some mad skillz. Or something.

So anyway, I come across a lot of interesting things as I'm working. Hopefully, assuming I follow through (and let's face it, my track record is not exactly stellar here), I plan to share quite a bit of the best stuff over the coming weeks.

So what's my favorite design-related site of the moment? It's called COLOURlovers, with the British spelling that is really kinda charming. I ADORE playing around with colors, and this site really lets me do that. You can create palettes, patterns, or even discover and name brand new colors. If you'd like to see some of what I've been playing with, you can check out my profile here.

So anyway, look for some more design-related posts soon, and probably a redesign of the blog, cause hey -- it's time.

Water for Christmas

Did you know that disease related to unclean drinking water is the second biggest killer of children worldwide? In fact it kills about 1.8 million kids every year. That's 5,000 a day. That's too many.

Providing clean drinking water to the world is a daunting task. No one would claim it is not. It would cost about $10 billion to make clean water available to everyone. I don't know about you, but I don't have $10 billion sitting around waiting for a cause to donate to.

So I've gotta look at this a different way.

Here in America, we spend about $450 billion every year on Christmas. That's $450,000,000,000 spent on cards, ornaments, lights, presents, gift wrap, and other stuff that will mean little or nothing a month later. That's a lot of junk.

And it really doesn't make us any happier.

How many people have you heard complaining about all the stuff to do this time of year? About parking spaces at the mall, over-full schedules, too little money, too much stress? How many times have you yourself complained about it? And with the convenience of credit cards, we've even found a way to extend that stress-filled misery well into the new year!

In this country of spoiled children (and I'm not just talking about those under 18), we spend our time and our money searching for material value. No time of the year is this better reflected than Christmas. In order to celebrate the birth of God's Son who humbled Himself to be born as one of us, a helpless baby sleeping in the barn because there was no room in the inn, we spend billions ($450 billion!!!) on material junk. Am I the only one who sees the disconnect here?

Nowhere in the Gospel will you see Jesus trimming a tree, wrapping presents or mailing cards. This is not how He chose to celebrate His life. What you do see is Jesus every day reaching out to the poor, the lonely, the outcasts, the dregs of society. If He were walking this earth today, I don't think He'd be doing any different.

So do you think we, as spoiled Americans, could maybe solve this enormous $10 billion problem by allocating just a little (2% -- that's not much!) of our $450 billion spent on Christmas to instead helping those who need it?

There's a group who is urging people to do just that. Living Water International uses donations to build wells in communities where clean water is not available. They also educate the people there about hygiene and all of those little things that we take for granted every day. But more than that they use the connections these wells give them to spread the Gospel to people who have never heard it. More than just clean drinking water, they provide Living Water to a lost and hurting world.

Now, I'm a pretty skeptical person when it comes to charities. I mean how many charities out there spend the vast majority of their donations on overhead costs, leaving little to go to actually solving the problems they seek to solve? If you've never thought about this before, I would encourage you to look into your favorite charities and see how they stack up. If they don't make such financial information easily available to the public, that seems like a big red flag to me.

So what about Living Water International? If you go to their website and navigate to About LWI>Financials, you'll see that they're quite transparent about their funds. Another thing to note is the little ECFA logo at the bottom of the page. Any charity who is a member of the ECFA has had to go through an extensive auditing process to determine that they are doing what they say they will with the money they take in.

I should probably have posted this a month ago, but I didn't know all the details then. I know most of us have already spent our portion of the $450 billion. I also know that there are a lot of people who are still planning to spend more. If you're one of them, won't you consider giving to LWI? There must be someone on your list who would be glad to receive a note saying that you donated in their name rather than another meaningless gift to be thrown to the back of the closet come January.

Photos courtesy of Living Water International.

Sometimes they just get it wrong.

Two posts in one week??? What is this world coming to???

Usually, I love the Onion. They're hilarious.

Unfortunately, all too often, they've had a sample of the liberal kool-aid, as in the example at the left.

Because obviously Kirk Cameron is the best spokesperson for the Intelligent Design movement.

Clearly we don't have any top scientists who would dare to believe in something as out-dated as God or Creationism.

And how dare an actor like Cameron contradict a great mind like Richard Dawkins (the guy pictured below him)?

What is this world coming to? Next thing we know those looney Christians will try to disprove man-made global warming! Oh wait...

---

Further Reading:
Probably the best book (though not by far the only one!) I've found for those who want the entire argument laid out for them is The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel.

Ralph Lauren vs. Blogosphere

I'm a big fan of a little website called Photoshop Disasters.  (If you're not familiar, go have a peek -- but be forewarned, it may make whatever beverage you're drinking come out of your nose.)

Last month sometime they featured this ad from Ralph Lauren.  Clearly a disaster if ever there was one.  Does anyone actually believe that's really what the model looks like?!?

Boing Boing picked up on the criticism and also posted the ad, laughing and mocking all the way.

Ralph Lauren is now claiming copyright infringement. 

Clearly, they're unaware of the fair use clause that says reproduction is acceptable for purposes such as the one this was used for. 

Clearly, they're also unaware of the Streisand effect.

The concept that such a high dollar company couldn't afford to put together a better ad than this just doesn't fly.  Apparently they thought this was acceptable.  Never mind that supermodels are already too ridiculously thin and the societal pressures of trying to look like whoever is on the cover of the magazines this week have caused uncounted young girls and women to starve themselves, resulting in an epidemic of eating disorders.  Let's make her even thinner!  Then, when we're (legitimately) criticized for such idiocy, we'll simply sue!  Cause we have the money and the lawyers.  And they're just bloggers after all.  What can they do about it?

Shame on you Ralph Lauren.  You should know better!

You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up

 
Apparently, a cross in the Mojave Desert built to honor fallen soldiers of WWI is at the center of the ACLU's latest attack on common sense.  They want it removed.  Because it "has been judged to be an unconstitutional display of government favoritism of one religion over another."  I had to check the URL to make sure I hadn't stumbled onto an Onion post unawares...  nope.  This is from the Washington Post. 

For now, the 6.5 ft tall cross stands encased in a wooden box.

Now that's freedom and tolerance for ya.

My Day Without Cats

Normally, for an event like this I'd do a bit more. I have house guests this week. So, I'm just going to post my dogs' yearbook photos. From obedience school of course! (Ok, maybe they're just from this website... lol)

 

Masha, class of 1950

 

Jared, Class of  1968

 

Donovan, Class of  1972

 

Vali, Class of  1962

A Day Without Cats

I Has a Hotdog is sponsoring "A Day Without Cats" on 9/9/09. While everyday around here is a day without cats, I thought I might pass on this info for all the other dog lovers out there who would like to give their canine companions a day in the spotlight. Enjoy!

Caliente!

So I've posted about shirt sites a couple of times now and I figured it's about time I gave it a go... Here's my first design.










Constructive criticism is always welcome. Please let me know what you think!

Teextile

I love goofy and/or artistic tees. I love browsing through the million and ten tee shirt sites out there. One problem though, they're usually just a bit on the expensive side. I mean, I donno about anyone else, but it'd have to be a pretty special shirt for me to shell out $25 plus shipping.

Today, I found teextile.

They have five shirts a week, designed by the teextile community. You can vote on shirts to determine which will make the cut. Shirts are listed for a week. Today's shirt is $12. The other four are $15. $2 shipping. If you voted for the shirt, you get free shipping. If you designed it (anyone can) you get $4 per shirt sold.

I think I have a new fave shirt site.

Here are a few that caught my eye:

2 Tone Tree


BY Aliera

Fly away ...........


BY starryeyez

rise from the ashes


BY famousafterdeath

The best part of blogging

The best part of blogging, for me at least, is when it points me toward other folks who share my point of view. Had a comment yesterday from "Brad" of MyBibleDevotional.com. His latest post today is on the topic of grace and the simplicity of the true gospel message. Go take a peek!

C28

Over to the right, in the "Support BunGirl: Shop at these sites!" section,there's a new banner today. It's for a great online Christian clothing and accessories shop called C28. I've long been a fan of the clothes they sell, so I figured it would be fun to join their street team! Here's a sampling of some of the great items you can buy there:

Glow ball fun!

The Poodle (and Dog) Blog is one of my favorite reads. A while back, Jan wrote that she was hosting a contest by Two Knobby Tires to give away some incredibly cool glow-in-the-dark dog toys. A little while later, she announced that I was the winner! (and there was much rejoicing among the fur-kids!) Here's what Vali spent the evening doing:









Apologies for the low quality, I was filming on my camera phone in the dark... lol

Baby Faith

Imagine being a 23-year-old, single woman, pregnant, and being told that your baby had no brain and no chance to live once she was no longer in your womb. Imagine doctors telling you should end the pregnancy now. Many women would do as the doctors suggested. Thankfully, this woman didn't. The baby she was told would only live a few moments once born is now a month old and doing quite well. She's not in an incubator or connected to a bunch of machines to keep her going. She's not sickly or withering. She's very blessed to have a mother who chose to protect her life.

Anyone who believes that abortions are ever a good idea should read this story.

BunGirl's Creations

I'm always looking for ways to make a quick buck or two on the internet, and I've long been a fan of Etsy.com, so I suppose it's only natural that I would eventually open a shop there. For Christmas I got a gift card to Michaels which I used to buy some jewelry supplies. Years back I did a lot of beading and had a ton of stuff for it, but that's long since been lost. So I'm starting fresh. Here's my first piece for sale:

You can click the photo to be taken to my store. Feedback is always appreciated!

A blog for those who think all PitBulls should be banned.

Found this blog through a link on a friend's blog.  BAD RAP Blog is the blog home of "Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls".  These guys have a lot to say about the breed that so many Americans hate and fear.  The blog contains news on rescue operations, adorable pictures and videos of well-cared-for pits and their friends and families, and all kinds of info for those who just don't know much about this breed.  But most importantly they hold to the belief that you can't blame a dog for having bad/cruel/evil owners.  Kudos guys!

I <3 WebComics

Ok, so as I started to say yesterday, now and then the internet is a good place. Or at least directs me to a good link.

Many of you may have noticed the Project Wonderful ad display over there on the right. Sometimes the folks who apply for ads here have really crappy blogs or sites and I don't even give them a second look. I do approve most of them though. Other times something pops up that is simply GREATNESS.

Yesterday morning fell into that second category.

I've always loved webcomics. Unfortunately more often than not the views expressed in them (and the language/violence/sexuality/whatever) are not something I'd be comfortable linking here. There are a ton of great comics I read on a regular basis but I don't promote. But now and then one comes to my notice that doesn't offend any of my sensabilities. The one that submitted an ad for my PW widget yesterday went a step further.

This guy actually drew a comic I COMPLETELY AGREE with. It starts out as him explaining his own faith. Pretty much everything written in that section is something that I could have personally spoken. Several are things that I HAVE personally spoken. That's right -- a webcomic that promotes faith in Christ, rather than laughs at it, dismisses it, or is openly hostile toward it. And then, as if that weren't enough to make me pass on the link to everyone I know, he begins a superhero story based on a Christian character. WOW. I simply don't have the words. So, to RHJunior, THANK YOU for The Fellowship of Heroes. I hope it's ongoing. I'm afraid that it might not be. Can't really tell for sure, but I can't wait to read the next page. Also, for what it's worth, you've earned a permanent link here on my blog. Any comic that correctly uses the term Hineni has earned my utmost respect.

Expelled

If you have any interest whatsoever in the debate between Creation and Evolution, or if you have any interest in intellectual honesty being allowed in scientific circles, this is the movie for you.



Check out this link for more information.