A New Love

 

So I love this song. Just love it. I admit, it was the ipod commercial that hooked me in - but it's just such a great l'il song. It makes me happy inside.

Banner Issues

So I slaved all weekend on that spiffy new banner... it even has an image map! I learned something new. :)

The problem is that at home I have this ridiculously huge display, so it looked great there, but here on my normal work monitor it looks ridiculous and cut off.

I'm working. But I have a big problem right now and I'm not quite sure how to get around it. It's kind of a big deal. I am hoping that it resolves itself soon. Very soon.

Homemade

Everything tastes better when it's homemade.

Tortillas, for instance. Get them at the store and they can often be somewhat rubbery, very flat, and not enjoyable to eat by themselves.

Homemade tortillas, on the other hand, can be eaten plain as can be as long as they're warm. And they taste what I would imagine heaven to taste like.

So that's what I spent the majority of my evening on... we are having a pot luck for our growth group "fun night" and Aaron and I are contributing some tortillas made with love.

Tonight, I went to the grocery store, made dinner (sort of), and made tortillas. Somewhere in there I also got to enjoy a little bit of Dancing With The Stars (I know, I know), and I was able to sneak out a couple of tortillas for Aaron and I to enjoy one fresh off the griddle and a sopapilla, as well. And then I cleaned up the kitchen, since it looked like a flour hurricane had blown through it. I am feeling quite accomplished and satisfied.

Fighting the Air

This morning I got up and ate breakfast and went to the gym. I went to Advanced Step, which never leaves me burning less than 400 calories. At least, according to my Mio Shape Select. I go to two other classes during the week, one weight class and one kickboxing class. In those I usually burn somewhere between 300 and 375 calories.

But I haven't lost a pound.

I know it takes a 3500 calorie deficit to lose 1 pound, so if I've been doing this for 4 weeks wouldn't you think I would have dropped at least a pound, even if just one single solitary pound? And I have changed my eating habits, I'm taking in fewer calories - at least, I think I am. Maybe I need to kick start this weight loss by keeping track of my calories for a few weeks.

It just feels like I'm fighting and pushing and making no progress. I get defeated easily, and discouraged, and often I just want to give up and go dip some french fries in a vanilla milkshake. But I know that's what I'm "supposed" to do. There is someone who wants me to give up, to throw in the towel, to quit. And even if I am just fighting the air and going nowhere, I'm going to keep at it just to spite the one who wants to destroy me.

I may be tempted, I may be tested. I may fall, I may sink, I may stumble. I may gain weight, I may lose money, I may lose face. I might sleep too much, eat too much, think too much.

But there is one who will always come to my rescue. In his time, not mine. Eventually I will be in a place of security and safety, where comfort and blessing abound. If I'm lucky, I may experience that in this life. If I work hard, and discipline myself, maybe I can win the battle with my weight. One thing I know, that I am loved. That love never fails, and that love protects.

Daily Blogging Is Necessary To Sustain Life

Well, for me, anyway. If not blogging, at least scribbling something in a journal somewhere. But if I'm not doing that, I'm not writing. And I find that when I write I feel alive, I feel human, I feel blessed.

I had every intention of updating this blog yesterday, but I had very limited time on the computer at home because Aaron needed it for school preparations.

And I honestly don't like to spend too much time doing this at the office unless it's edifying and/or work-related.

Today I am starting to feel very organized. My two months of intentional goal setting have helped, and now I am using my planner much more effectively. That said, I have 2 more minutes to write this before I move on to designing some forms for Kevin.

I say good day.

What I do all day

So the place where I spend most of my working hours is called The Flipside. It's a church. People think it's an odd name for a church... I'm not quite sure why First Baptist Church of Rancho Cucamonga would be a "normal" name for a church. I mean, who decides these things?

As for the name of our church, it was decided by a vote back when we were first starting out as a college group. There was a tie between two names, Surge and The Flipside, and one couple's vote broke the tie. Kevin often reminds us as a staff that he is glad that's how it went down.

But why Flipside?

There is a verse in the book of Acts that says "These who have turned the world upside down have come here too" (NKJV). What we adhere to from that passage is that Paul and the other early Christians lived a life that went against the cultural grain. It was upside down. And we believe that we are called to the same lifestyle, one that goes against the societal norms, in a good way.

And as administrative assistant to the lead pastor here, I have been told that my job isn't just about the tasks, though there are a lot of them. My job is about people, about helping to cultivate disciples of influence. So maybe I go have coffee with someone and encourage them in their walk with Christ, challenge them to do something outside of their comfort zone, whether that's talking to a homeless person or joining a growth group.

I love that my job isn't just about pushing paperwork around, answering phones, and scheduling appointments. I love that it's not just about dreaming and scheming with the team about ownership and leadership development. It's about hanging out with people, hearing their struggles, finding out their passions, and helping them to unite all of those with their strengths and gifts in order to serve their unique purpose.

Is that rad or what?

Remember, Paul is always usually right

I had been having the hardest time printing the "Top Secret" mission cards. I could not, for the life of me, figure out what on earth was taking the printer so long to process this simple print job.

Apparently it was a matter of 100kb, and jpg vs png. Because once I right-clicked my Go! logo in publisher and saved it as a picture, to the cruddy and inferior Microsoft Office-saved PNG image, they printed like a charm.

A print job that had been driving me absolutely batty for two weeks completed itself in under an hour. I believe under 45 minutes. And I daresay it may have been less time still if I had been babysitting the printer to reload the stack bypass with cover stock.

Oy vey.

I am thankful that I have one less thing to stress over. I owe a great deal of that stress-free life to Paul, for being the brilliant one to suggest that there must be something that the printer didn't like about my file. I finally listened after striking out with this print job three times over the weekend. I guess I'm a little bit stubborn.

I still have one last set to print, so the learning hasn't been in vain.

Big Rocks

Every day when I come to work, I try to determine the most important thing I can do that day. I'm trying, actually, to do this a week in advance. So that means deciding those things at the beginning of the week, and distributing them "evenly" throughout the week.

This is definitely a learning process. Some days, I get it, some days, I don't.

I just wanted to take a second to blog through that process, but of course, things got too busy and now it's time to pack up and close up.