I'm an AUNT!!!!!!!!!!

It's so exciting. Ya'll have no idea how much trouble my Bro and Sil have gone through the past two weeks. I mean, it has been insane. Susanne was in the hospital for a week for the preclampsia.. and that means my bro was there with her. If you don't know my brother gets worried very easily. So, granted Susanne was having the baby, but my brother was an emotional rollercoaster. But that's over.. back to being an aunt.. I'm AN AUNT!!!!>.. SO i don't know what to do other than look at the aunts I have had in my life. I have to say I have been blessed with 4 amazing roll models in my life to demonstrate what being an aunt is all about. One is ANUT.. one I am just like, another is a leader, and the last one is an aunt who isn't afraid to speak her mind. I honestly believe every one of these individuals have had an impact on my life and making me who I am today. What kind of aunt will I be? I don't know.. but if I'm anything close to the aunt's I have.. I will be amazing! SO... the journey begins!

If you haven't go to www.elevationchurch.org and watch this week's sermon.

Finally

Does anybody remember in college when the professor handed out the syllabus at the beginning of the semester?  Was I the only person who looked at the projects, reading, and papers needing to be completed and start to panic?  Especially during the 18 hour semesters where everything in every class was due the same week?  The thought of having to take that exam or write the 20 page paper seemed horrible, but once the paper was written and the semester was over, looking back it didn't seem all that difficult.  The work wasn't to bad, but the thought of the work at the beginning was overwhelming.  Sometimes I think I often times fear a day that may possibly come in the future and the thought of that day upsets me, but once that day comes, it's not that bad at all.  

I had one of those days yesterday.  A day I knew was coming at some point in time.  A day I thought would really upset me.  But honestly, I wasn't upset at all.  I thought, I pondered, why is this not bothering me?  I have no reason.  I actually feel free.  Free that the day has come and has gone.  Free like in college when you take the last exam.  You knew the day would come and now that its over, there is some kind of freedom.  humm

just WAIT!

in brief... God is working (he always does.. but you'll see).. and when every thing gets a little clearer and certain.. i will for sure put a blog about it.. just know it's coming... oh so pumped!

Resurrection Injection

Go to this blog.. and find the opening video from church on sunday.. i still love it!

http://weswatsonblog.com/

it's the first video on the blog.  The second is of one of the worship songs..  

Hands

If you know me for any length of time you will know that I have a thing for hands.  Not my hands, they look and feel horrible, but man hands are the things I am attracted to.  Yes, a boy may have a really cute face, be really nice, but if his hands are wimpy.. i am suddenly not attracted to this person at all.  I like big, strong, calloused, scar covered hands.  You can tell a lot about a person by their hands.  I think this all comes from years at looking at my daddy's, paw paw's, and grand paw's hands.  They all have big, tough hands.  They are brown from the sun, calloused and scar covered from years of farm and carpentry work.  Rarely is there a nail that doesn't have a blue spot or a crease they doesn't have some form of grease.  As tough as these hands are, they are also gentle.  They are the hands that have the gentle touch of a hug.  The hands that caught me when I was little.  The hands that clap at any achievement and the hands that have created things for my enjoyment.  

It took me a long time to see myself as God's little girl.  And when I think about his hands I am again at aw.  His hands have scars from the cross for me, his hands have life, his hands are strong, his hands hold the world, and his hands are the ones that hold me when no one else can.  

So, I have a thing for hands.  It's probably the first thing I notice about a boy.  The hands.  I like hands.   

Cooper River Bridge

This weekend was the big race weekend. I forgot how much I missed running with a lot of people. So here is the low down of the race. I was placed in the Red group.. which is 3 groups back from the crazy, insane Kenyan group. So needless to say i was kind of in the front, but there were still maybe 2000 people ahead of me, and 30,000 behind me. The gun fires and I'm off. I felt so stinking good, and due to the constant weaving in and out of people traffic, my first mile was finished and I hadn't the slightest idea until I saw the bridge. I knew when you reached the top of the bridge you would have completed 3 miles of the race, one of the miles actually climbing the bridge. The bridge is the cooper river bridge. So I start up the bridge and I am thinking I'm not tired at all, I'm not out of breath, my body feels great, my mind is great, this is great, wow look at the view, oh my gosh there is the air craft carrier my daddy wants to tour, oh gosh is that girl in front of me really having to stop and walk already, and OH i hope this fireman gives me a high five when I run by (which he did), were all thoughts fast forwarding through my mind. Before I knew it, I was at the top of the bridge, the supposedly hardest part of the entire race was over.
The down the bridge decent, well let me say was the hardest part of the race. You start down the bridge, a gradual decline of course, but for me it was mentally difficult. It was white, no longer could you get a good view of the water, Charleston, or other God views, but just the white concrete on the bridge. So, I was running the "mid-mile... mile3 to mile 4" and for a moment I was hit, hit with this craziness of... i kind of wish my running buddy was here to run this race with me... he'd like it.. and this is the point where he would pick up the pace because it would be a slight downhill, and of course I wouldn't want him to beat me so I would pick it up too... but that was just a thought.. a thought of remembrance, and just randomness... As quickly as the thought entered, it fled, because I refocused on the run/race at hand.
Finnally get off the bridge, and the time clock says 29.56.. and i'm thinking okay.. it took me a min to get to the start line, so i'm around 28.56.. dude 7.15 miles... not to shabby.. but Heather you can go faster... Once off the bridge is the part through downtown Charleston.. I had to keep reminding myself to not get so caught up in the race that I miss the run... so I noticed the run.. I noticed the shops.. I noticed the black man on the side of the road ringing his bell. (which in my mind would have been my momma ringing her cowbell if she was there). I noticed the colors, the dips in the road, and how people are already sitting at the bars. I round the last corner, to see my 6 mile time of 41.30.. and I"m pumped 2/10ths left.. So, I kind of spread out my stride, and try to pick it up.. well looking back i know I could have went a little fast the last half-mile, but what's run in ran.. so I can't fix that.. but I finished.. and I finished well. 42.46??>. I think.. but here are the results overall...
16th out of I don't know how many.. but I was the top 5 percent in my age bracket (20-24) and 611/32000 overall!!!!!!!!.. top 2 percent!! OH.. I'm pumped.. my original goal was top 10 percent... so Mission Accomplished.

I want to remind you this run was not of my own strength. I am definitely not in the best running shape I have ever been in. I'm not running as many miles each week, but I am in the best spiritual shape I have ever been. So the entire wait for the gun to go off I was asking God for fresh legs, clear lungs, and a fun run. God is so good, he gave me everything I asked for!

Some "Christians"

Today I told a kid, "you have some holes in your britches.."

He responds, "yeah Miss Lasley, they are my church pants"

I say, "oh that's nice. some of my favorite pants have holes in them and I wear them to church too."

He comes back, "Miss Lasley... they are holy... get it??.. holy..." then runs off laughing...

But this always gets me thinking about churches. I get so frustrated with some churches and the "rules" they try to enforce. It's simple, love God, and from loving God you love others. That is all He wants from us. I get upset at churches saying you have to wear one thing, or not wear another thing because we have standards, and we don't want to be like the world. I'm sorry to tell you the way you look now is not the same as the way Jesus looked back in the day. And I'm pretty sure when Jesus was teaching people he didn't require or expect folks to look a certain way. So... I can hear it now.. what about the world, it says do not be conformed to this world. Well, I know all about that verse in Romans, and John addresses the "world" in 1st John 2: 15. John makes a point to clarify the world as it's attitudes and values. Do not be like the world in what you value, or be like the world in the attitudes you have about life and other people. So when a church says you need to appear a certain way at church, that sounds to me like an attitude the world would have. You have to look a certain way to be welcomed into this restaurant, or come to our club meeting, or be apart of the cool kids at school. Or when the church says a certain instrument of music is "worldly."  No where does it say something with a lot of beat is "worldly" in the Bible.  It says "praise the Lord"... read psalm 150.  So for me to get excited and jump and  clap and shout something other than "amen" is not a standard in church.. but is okay at a ball game or a race track.  I have to say, some churches are so rigid and so stiff, and so rule oriented, you can't get excited.  Who would want that?  Who would want to be like that?  What person?  One last thing. The world judges you. As a church how are you to judge what is and isn't acceptable. I place my life and standards in being guided by the holy spirit. Truly guided.. not this mess of doing what somebody says to do because that is what "tradition is" or "we can't look like the world." When you say that... you do...

Sometimes "Christians" are the worst. I personally get judged more by most "Christians" than non-Christians.