New blog, ya'll.
From now on, please find us here: http://www.chasefireflies.com/
Would love if you came to stop by. Paul has designed one fancy site and organized me. (Sweetheart.)
And many thanks for keeping in touch with us in the past. Really, thank you.
Much, Much Love-
Kristin
(See below post for tech-y stuff about the change.)
12/19/09
Random Technicalities that I Know Nothing About
This is Paul's post for any of you who can understand. I have zero idea about what he is talking about. If you can comprehend this, you are the smartest person ever.
1. Comments on the new blog will be handled differently. We have it set up to require approval for the first time you comment (it will show up once we approve it). After that you should be good. Let us know if you have trouble commenting.
2. One cool new feature will be threaded comments. This will enable you to reply to someone else's comment. (It will appear directly below it.)
3. Do you randomly type in a blog address whenever you think about it or bookmark several blogs? It's much easier to subscribe. (That way you're not checking stuff at random. When someone posts something new, you'll know about it. If they don't post for a month, you haven't wasted time checking.) Here are some options:
a. Subscribe by email (click here) and have post updates go to your inbox.
b. You can also use an RSS reader like bloglines or google reader (our preference). All of your favorite blogs can be consolidated in one place. Once you get setup, add this feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/chasefireflies
4. If you subscribe to this blog (the expressions one), in order to view the new blog (chase fireflies) in a reader, you will need to re-subscribe using this RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/chasefireflies
1. Comments on the new blog will be handled differently. We have it set up to require approval for the first time you comment (it will show up once we approve it). After that you should be good. Let us know if you have trouble commenting.
2. One cool new feature will be threaded comments. This will enable you to reply to someone else's comment. (It will appear directly below it.)
3. Do you randomly type in a blog address whenever you think about it or bookmark several blogs? It's much easier to subscribe. (That way you're not checking stuff at random. When someone posts something new, you'll know about it. If they don't post for a month, you haven't wasted time checking.) Here are some options:
a. Subscribe by email (click here) and have post updates go to your inbox.
b. You can also use an RSS reader like bloglines or google reader (our preference). All of your favorite blogs can be consolidated in one place. Once you get setup, add this feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/chasefireflies
4. If you subscribe to this blog (the expressions one), in order to view the new blog (chase fireflies) in a reader, you will need to re-subscribe using this RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/chasefireflies
12/13/09
12 Kids and Pennies
a need: A typhoon hit the community where Rodean lives (our youth group's sponsored child.)a lesson: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was the real deal for the Israelites, except with Manna. Today, God provides for us so that we may provide for others. (Our Children's Church lesson 1st-6th grade)
a response: 12 children + 6 weeks + pennies = $73.64 + $73.64 (our church board matched their total- yay for them rewarding a child's faith!) = $147.28
*the best is that these kiddos gave what they had and for some it was just a quarter they found at McDonald's and nickels from school*
Yeah! The students almost tripled their goal with their Compassion Cups! I wish you could've heard their cheers (and little happy dances!)
The total was sent electronically last week, so it may be in his family's hands now.
Looking forward to hearing how God continues to supply Rodean's family's needs...
Thanks to all the kids, their parents, Pastor Charles, and the board for allowing us to do this.
12/12/09
Autistic/Artistic Creations
Meet Lipid the Lover.
We bought Lipid from Nate, an amazing young guy with one proud dad. And proud he should be.
Nate creates little creatures, much like Lipid. Each one comes with its own story. Here is his:
Lipid used to be bored with life. Every day seemed the same.
But all that changed the day Lipid's pet caterpillar ran away, for it was then that Lipid realized that everything he had could be lost.
And this is how Lipid learned what love is and the secret to experiencing everyone, and everything, as new.
Now Lipid's favorite quote is: "The way to love anything is to realize that it may be lost."Gilbert Chesterton
You can buy more of Nate's creations here. Enjoy!
12/9/09
72 Wrens and She
She was beautiful in crimson. I was transfixed for a good ten, till I realized that this was strikingly odd behavior.
I was watching a bird.
You should have seen her though. Against the bleak winter deadwood, framed against white crisply fallen snow, she cascaded around with such elegance.
A bird.
Of course, there were other birds. Wrens, I think. Maybe 72 of them, swooping from the tree branches to the bird feeder. They made enough trips to the feeder that I wondered what was in those seeds. It's a seed for crying out loud, but they didn't seem to care. And they were noisy.
But my eyes weren't on the wrens. Just on the cardinal.
Where ever she flew, my eyes tracked her. Amidst the barren trees and bushes, you could find her anywhere, dressed in scarlet. She was beautiful. Quiet, graceful, seemingly purposed. Not making a million trips back to the seed, not talking over the others.
Is this what God intended for his followers?
Including myself, I'm not so sure that we're holding up our end of the bargain.
The world has been dodging us for quite sometime now, rolling their eyes, fuming over our hypocrisies. We're in our own little world of bashing and propagating and belittling grace, with raised eyebrows and low whispers. We're consumed with all that is not of Christ and it shows.
Sometimes the world takes up a cause better than we do. Sometimes people who could care less about Christ sure care more for others.
Take my dad, for instance. Best guy you'll ever meet. Kind, thoughtful, hard-working, considerate, generous.
He'll look homeless people in the eyes and listen. He'll buy the office donuts and coffee. He treats cats like they're queens. And he has never, ever, ever in the history of being my dad - said one harsh word to me.
Yet he does not claim to have a relationship with God.
Do you want to hear about some Christians I know? They'll make you sick, but you know them too. On any given day, I am one of them. We're 72 wrens. Everyone looking like the other, consumed with seed and noisy chatter. Forgetting that we're covered in Another's blood.
Forgetting that we were created to bring beauty to the deadwood.
This winter, I say here's to all the cardinals. Let's make random strangers look out their windows and stare at Christ. Not the gargantuan plastic baby you'll see in someone's yard, but the Christ that caused droves to follow Him. The Christ that caused grown men to climb trees, tear apart a roof, and risk their identity for a cause greater than themselves.
He's God with us and in us. And He's painting the world in scarlet, even still.
I was watching a bird.
You should have seen her though. Against the bleak winter deadwood, framed against white crisply fallen snow, she cascaded around with such elegance.
A bird.
Of course, there were other birds. Wrens, I think. Maybe 72 of them, swooping from the tree branches to the bird feeder. They made enough trips to the feeder that I wondered what was in those seeds. It's a seed for crying out loud, but they didn't seem to care. And they were noisy.
But my eyes weren't on the wrens. Just on the cardinal.
Where ever she flew, my eyes tracked her. Amidst the barren trees and bushes, you could find her anywhere, dressed in scarlet. She was beautiful. Quiet, graceful, seemingly purposed. Not making a million trips back to the seed, not talking over the others.
Is this what God intended for his followers?
Including myself, I'm not so sure that we're holding up our end of the bargain.
The world has been dodging us for quite sometime now, rolling their eyes, fuming over our hypocrisies. We're in our own little world of bashing and propagating and belittling grace, with raised eyebrows and low whispers. We're consumed with all that is not of Christ and it shows.
Sometimes the world takes up a cause better than we do. Sometimes people who could care less about Christ sure care more for others.
Take my dad, for instance. Best guy you'll ever meet. Kind, thoughtful, hard-working, considerate, generous.
He'll look homeless people in the eyes and listen. He'll buy the office donuts and coffee. He treats cats like they're queens. And he has never, ever, ever in the history of being my dad - said one harsh word to me.
Yet he does not claim to have a relationship with God.
Do you want to hear about some Christians I know? They'll make you sick, but you know them too. On any given day, I am one of them. We're 72 wrens. Everyone looking like the other, consumed with seed and noisy chatter. Forgetting that we're covered in Another's blood.
Forgetting that we were created to bring beauty to the deadwood.
This winter, I say here's to all the cardinals. Let's make random strangers look out their windows and stare at Christ. Not the gargantuan plastic baby you'll see in someone's yard, but the Christ that caused droves to follow Him. The Christ that caused grown men to climb trees, tear apart a roof, and risk their identity for a cause greater than themselves.
He's God with us and in us. And He's painting the world in scarlet, even still.
12/8/09
12/6/09
We Come Like a Hurricane
We arrived in RI last night - by packed out minivan - to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with the Violets.
And this is what ensued:
First snow of the season.
Selah ripped off half of her nail in a filing cabinet.
Paul flooded my parents' toilet.
Adden threw up all night long. (First time ever, I might add:)
Is this for real?
I am laughing now. (After the cleanup, a nap, a shower, and the impression that Adden just might be okay after all.)
Too funny. Here's hoping for less drama the rest of the week:)
And this is what ensued:
First snow of the season.
Selah ripped off half of her nail in a filing cabinet.
Paul flooded my parents' toilet.
Adden threw up all night long. (First time ever, I might add:)
Is this for real?
I am laughing now. (After the cleanup, a nap, a shower, and the impression that Adden just might be okay after all.)
Too funny. Here's hoping for less drama the rest of the week:)
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