The Darkest England And The Way Back In

What can I say about my May book? It is awesome! Gary Bishop, the author of this book works in ministry in Openshaw Manchester England on the Eden project with some of England's poorest! This book includes many stories he has encountered with the poor in this areathat I can not begin to summerise because they are simply too powerful. He tells what life is like for many of the poor in the western world (not just in England, but it can be applied to other countries like America as well). He discussed issues like limmited transportation, captive debt, illiteracy, drop outs from school, drug and alcohol addictions being a strong part of these people's lives, & the best way to minister to these people is to physically relocate ourselves to their world. We may not understand addictions or whatnot but we need to best understand these people's lives to help them & not live on outerlying districts & simply commute in. I found this book very relatable to many people I work with and daily encounter in my community in the midwest USA, & see the truth to the points and vivid stories. This is a book for all, but if you do not live in England, you may only find it through an inter-library loan from huge libraries, or to have it imported from the UK via amazon.co.uk or ebay.co.uk for a copy in the Americas. This book has not been published in countries outside the United Kingdom, however it is well worth the effort to locate a copy to read, and will not be a disappointment! My rating: An excellent full 5 stars :)

RAYE

Sex God

I am very behind on my book blogs so I am not going to write a really long blog on my April book "Sex God" by Rob Bell. I am also going to say less because I do not want to review too much. I want to say enough that you read the book, and you should. This was probably my least favourite Rob Bell book though. I did not think it was bad, and I agrees with most of his points, it was just- weird! Some key points Rob Bell makes is "This is always about that." He says we can only talk about God or sex for so long before we talk about the other because they are connected. The book explored many connections between sex and God, and speaks of God being sexual. It was nice reading a Christian book on sex that was not about sexual abstinence. The book discusses sex as a connection and how meaningless hookups can be less sexual that a person connecting to another person through relationship without sex, because sex was designed for connection. The book also discusses Love. The book tells of how we can choose to love others or accept or reject anothers love. The book talks of love and ache and how they are universal because God feels the same emotions in relation to us- Sex and God and Love- all connected. The book says the love of God is more than rules; it compels us to love others. And when we don't feel loved we don't need to give ourselves away to feel love. We already carry the agape love of God with us always. Rob Bell also says men who sleep with many women give themselves the idea of being a man without having to be one. The book also discussed sex in the ancient world as being marriage and if you had sex you were considdered married. It even told how raped women would have to marry their raper, or he would pay a virgin price for her anyway. The book concluded that a couple who does too much too soon rarely endures the test of time and we must persue intamacy. Being naked. Seeing all of a person for who they are and taking it in. Do as God does when he looks at us, cos sex is the closest a human to human relationship can be in the right context. The closest intamacy to God & human... Cos sex and God are connected. This is about that. My rating: 4 Stars!

RAYE

LIVING FREE by Beth Moore

Okay I FINALLY finished my Bible study on Living Free by Beth Moore today, so I am going to blog on it (and hopefully Sex God and Darkest England by the end of the month... I am trying REALLY hard to catch up... It almost feels like I'm doing coursework from school because I am SO FAR behind!!) This book... Well I can easily tell you I do NOT reccommend it... It was supposed to take me about 5 weeks (5 lessons a week for 6 weeks). I Started it on Valentines day and finished it, well... TODAY!!! And I only finished it this soon cos I sat down and forced my way through several lessons in a row because it was just boring as ever. This is a good study for a new believer perhaps... Or for someone who has a hard time praying to God... I personally had to PUSH myself to relate to it right now & if anything it distanced me from Godd in that I just did not want to study the Bible AT ALL with it. As the study progressed it got worse... I'm telling you... This was like a really BAD and BORING book for me and I am SO glad its over. I was starting to wonder if I would EVER Finish it!! ... ANYWAYYYY I Wrote down some points that stuck out to me most in each of the six weeks I will post on here... But even still the MOST significant point on here was not even as significant to me as the LEAST significant one in Stepping Up!! So if you are looking for a study, I reccommend my last one instead...

These are my notes:

Week One:

• Take every Thought Captive to break strongholds


• Do this by focusing on Christ & Using God's word to rebuke Satan

Week Two:

• There are five spiritual retinas: 1) Believe him 2) Glorify Him 3) Find Satisfaction in Him 4) Expirence his peace 5) Enjoy his presence.


• We can believe IN God but still not believe him


• Getting in the Word provides spiritual nourishment

Week Three:

• We can have low self-esteem but still loads of Pride


• Encountering God's Glory in any real way brings humility


• Pride is a destroyer of ministries, marriges, friendships, jobs, and charecter


• Humility is not something we have until humbiling ourselves is something we do


• A life that glorifies Christ is a process that comes with maturity, but none of us do it perfectly all the time.

Week Four:

• Why persue something that can't satisfy us?


• Without spiritual food and drink, we will be hungry & yearning for something


• Dissatisfaction is only terrible if we don't let it lead us to Christ.


• We must correct our perception of God to free from strongholds.

Week Five:

• Searching for unfailing love in anyone but God is fruitless, dissappointing, & destructive


• Avoiding prayer is perscription for anxiety


• Prayerful lives are powerful lives

Week Six:

• Its not that we have nothing to fear, but his presence is the basis of our courage


• Concentrating on sin can cheat a Christian out of fully enjoying the presence of God.

Well... Thats all I got on it for ya... and after ALL that waiting!! Honnestly it was not very good!! I hope the next one I choose (I have 3 books on my bookshelf to choose from) will be a LOT better :) Keep on a lookout for my April & May Book Blogs...

RAYE

The American Dream!!

I know that people do not even really READ this blog much since few exciting things ever happen to me. So I just decided to write this for fun... Just a few thoughts I have.

I have often said the American Dream does not exist, which for the most part, it doesn't! People never reach their dreams. But maybe its nothing more than a dream because people are too afraid if they persue it, the dream will die if they fail... But what is life to constantly yearn... GO FOR IT!!!

I came up with my own "American Dream" to share if I decide to stay in the USA! I want to go to dental school to study to be a dentist/orthodontist. I want to get a house in the mountains (I really like Estes Park, CO... the town I have spent most of my time in Colorado at- also the town pictured- in a photo I took when I was there in 2005). I want a large home (but not too large cos I don't want to spend ALL my money on a house...) I wpould hope to commute to Boulder or Denver to work (long commute, but for the wages I can expect, Its WORTH IT!!! And not uncommon to travel that far to work... :) I would like to have a family and send my kids to really good private Catholic schools in the city. I want to take regualar holidays with my kids and family as well to Europe & on cruises etc... At my house I want a hot tub and tanning bed (not as expensive as some thing) and other "expensive" toys... and by expensive I don't mean TOO expensive... maybe a billiards table?! haha. If I'm with Chad he'd like that! I even want a nice auto (mostly for looks haha) maybe a Corvette or something... those are dropping drastically in price. My dream car is actually a Mercedes Benz SL600 but I REFUSE to spend 127K on an automobile no matter WHAT I make haha. I also think a beach house in Malibu or something would be nice... or in Florida... that I can go to a few times a year & the rest of the time rent out to tourists :). I would like to write books and publish them for fun (which I hope to start on as soon as I get a new computer)... and sell music I write as just hobbies :) But I also want to donate to charities... like Compassion International, Cancer Research/St. Judes Hospital, Animal Enviornmental programmes etc... & missions projects with a church... I still think regardless of ANYTHING we have we need to give back to others regardless of how much we have. My lifelong goal is to be an orthodontist and do general dental work. :) Life is an adventure That I hope to live out fully & this is just a picture of my bigger dream... Eh, I can dream can't I?!

RAYE

Cheeseburger!!

I really want an IN AND OUT BURGER!! Unfortunatly the closest one to where I live is just under 8 hours away!! I actually thought about driving there though as insane as that sounds, but realised if I left right after I got off work, it would be 11PM by the time I got there, And they close at what 10:30 PM?! LAMESAUCE!! I can hardly wait to move further west!! And when Chad and I take our road trip out west I already warned him we will need to stop A LOT at IN & OUT!!Mimi even said when I come to California (God knows when I'll do that) We will go too!! Yay! Til thin, I went to Sonic... Its the closest thing to IN & OUT where I live... & its just not the same!! :(

Oh Well...

RAYE

Shit Hits The Fan

Things appear to be going well, but then as always, the shit hits the fan! I seam to have forgotten to calculate import taxes on items now & I owe a LOT of money I need to pay- Thus, unless I get a new job soon, I can not buy my new computer, iPod, OR go on holiday--- POOP! I got transfered to a different Taco Shop too where my hpours were cut by ten a week!! They are supposed to go up though soon!! I really hope I can pay bills this month, but I think my tax return will help a lot! I have a few leads on jobs that pay a LOT more than what I get now, so hoping and praying for one. In other news I finished my May book so I gotta try to blog on it AND Sex God (my book from April) coming up SOON!! At least I have the extra time from lack of work... :/

I have been spending that time off work working out like crazy though because the weather has been SO LUSH! The picture on this blog is from after a workout like 10 days ago or something... I Started to tan some and people are actually noticing my workout efforts: Walk a few miles a day, 150 crunches, protien shakes, I feel GREAT! I will hopefully update soon on my books & hopefully the sun stays so my tan does not die!! :)

Keep it Real, =P

RAYE

Apartment

This is just a short blog mostly to show the picture of the bedroom of my apartment after cleaning it. I cleaned most of my apartment, but the living room is still a disaster! I need to clean it and go to the recycle centre and may have more pictures to follow... Thats all...

RAYE

My Dental School Choices

I know its like a kabillion years away that I would actually apply to dental schools but I already know the fourteen schools I want to apply to and in what order are my prefrences... I chose 14 cos its INSANELY hard to get in. For example the school on the top of my list gets 1,500 to 1,600 applicants each year but last year only accepted 52!! Also 14 in my lucky number and has always brought me good things... so maybe a little lucky?! *crosses fingers*

These are my choices in order:

1) University of Colorado School of Dentistry- Denver, CO

2) University of Southern California School of Dentistry- Los Angeles, CA

3) University of California Los Angeles School of Dentistry- Los Angeles, CA

4) Nova Southeastern University College of Dental Medicine- Fort Lauderdale, FL

5) University of Florida College of Dentistry- Gainesville, FL

6) University of California San Francisco School of Dentistry- San Francisco, CA

7) University of The Pacific School of Dentistry- San Francisco, CA

8) Boston University School of Dental Medicine- Boston, MA

9) New York University College of Dentistry- New York, NY

10) University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Dental Medicine- Las Vegas, NV

11) Louisiana State University School of Dentistry- New Orleans, LA

12) Tufts University School of Dental Medicine- Boston, MA

13) University of Mississippi School of Dentistry- Jackson, MS

14) The University of Conneticut School of Dental Medicine- Farmington, CT

Hopefully I survive undergrad and SOMEBODY decides it is worth giving me a shot... I want this more than ANYTHING!!!!!! Hoping and praying for the future :)

RAYE

Tornado- DEUXXXX

Just Got back from the dentist! I seriously can't even say how much I want to be a dentist someday... I reallllyyyyy want to! I think I would be good at it!

Yesterday there was another tornado right outside my work! We were not allowed to take shelter though cos the maneger would fire us! I did not see the funnel, but I heard it pass! It got very dark and rained insanely hard, golf ball sized hail fell, and the wind was going so fast the door to the building was almost torn off! It rained so much that we nearly had a flood! I tried taking pictures of what the tornado did since I couldn't go to a shelter, and one of the pix is in this blog! Its the one of the door almost being torn off. The picture does not really depict the expirence though!

I am going to try to catch up this month on my blogs and get the April AND May book blogs posted on time AND my Living Free study if I can finally finish it! I am off work today, so hopefully I can accomplish some things... And cleaning... UGG... SO MUCH TO DO!! Ready to just finish it all so I can move on to June!! Seriously!!

RAYE

Tornado Season... Lovely

The weirdest thing happened yesterday! My county had two tornadoes! One began and passed my work right after I left like 15 to 20 minutes later. The other (small one) I drove past on my way home from work. It was storming so bad and the sky was so black it was hard to see the road! And all the lanes of traffic were packed. I had to lay on my horn when some idiots decided to try and cut me off to avoid wrecks. No pictures of it... Was too focused getting home without an auto crash!

The Picture is of my mother's day gift! I am not a mum, but I got it from some kids at FPC! It made me happy! It was my first mothers day gift ever!

I have been working to decourate home and have my bed built now! I just need to clean the awful mess off the floor... and sofa... and table... I have been working on reading my May book: "The Darkest England and the Way back In" by Gary Bishop, and also hope to finish the Living Free Bible study book before 1 June! My birthday is in JUST A MONTH!!! I really hope I can get myself a new ipod and MacBook Pro :). I am also looking for a new job! Preferibly a desk job for data entry where I don't have to deal with PEOPLE!! I love people, but the idiots I work with are another story... So I'm fine without people for a while! I'm getting SICK of my job! I hope for a new job soon! I also hope to meet girls my own age to hang out with! I need mates my own age here... It seams like I'm either usually alone or with Chad...

Doctors appointment Wednesday, Dentist Thursday, Optomatrist Friday! And keep looking out for my blog on "Sex God" by Rob Bell (my April book). I hope to catch up on those blogs by the end of this month too!! I gotta run... Peaceee =P

RAYE

RESPECT your Body!!

Something I have been thinking about for a few weeks now:

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have recieved from God?You are not your own, you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies" -1 Corinthians 6: 19-20

MOST Christians believe it is bad to do drugs, get drunk, smoke, have casual sex, etc because it is not treating the body like a temple of God... but for most, it stops there! I am coming to see respecting the body as a temple of God to mean far more than that. To trully respect the body, we need 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night, regular exersise, and a healthy diet. Many Christians I know, and myself sometimes included, fall very short in this- It is not "fun" or whatever excuse we make for eating that particular item of junk food or whatever it may be... Or it may feel like too much work to respect our bodies. But these excuses offer us no benefit! We are harming the temple of God and hindering ourselves when we do these things are we not? Does not obesity, bad eating, lack of sleep and exersise, among other things seriously harm our bodies in other ways (aside from how drugs etc could harm our bodies?!). I've thought a lot on this and do feel quite guilty! Perhaps we all need to respect our bodiesmore in these ways if we are to trully believe our bodies are a temple of God... and if we choose not to, we can not be near as critical as those on rugs, smoking, having casual sex, drinking excessive alcohol etc... Because in the end the outcome is quite the same... We are all causing EQUAL harm to our bodies... Maybe we should all just take better care of ourselves, not because we should or HAVE to, but because we want to bring glory to God by honouring him with our bodies! :)

RAYE

I eat as weird stuff as the weird things I do =P

Hahahaha... By an "american" standard, I eat really weird things according to Chad. This past week I have had insane addictions to Indian food. I discovered this store not too far away that sells imported foods (mostly from India) but also from the UK and Iran :) The place is called India Emporium. I quite love it. Between that store and Amazon.com I am sure I can get plenty of my Imported British goods as well as Indian foods. I got a Crapload of British Chololate Bars that I loveeee as well as Horlicks, Marmite, Vegemite (from Australia), and of course I have the hugest tea cupboard!! :)

I am starting to recieve things I bought for my apartment, I just really need to get the patience to clean it... and I really don't have that sort of patience. Chad fixed the internet (go figure... CHAD fixed it... he knows NOTHING about computers haha) but now I am just FAR more interested in my computer than cleaning. Chad is currently in St Louis for a Pearl Jam concert. He saw them last night in Kansas City, MO as well but he wanted to see two concerts so he got tickets to both. I am staying at his apartment these two days and taking care of his cat.

The two of us have been discussing the idea of taking a holiday together this summer in late August to really early September to go camping in New Mexico (White Sands National Monument), Arizona (Grand Canyon), Utah (Salt Lake), and the four corners... It should be pretty cheap since the majority of all we are looking at doing is camping and hiking, the most expensive thing would be the cost of petrol!! I still really want to go to Africa as well, but even after fund raising I will probably have to find a better job in order to go all the way to Uganda!!

I am thinking of getting a new iPod and a MacBook Pro tho as a birthday gift to myself since I can get such a great financing plan on it... So I hope to do that in a little over a month when my Birthday comes :) Until then I want to download wayyyy more of the music to THIS computer so I can more easily transfer it later... Once I have a new computer I can finally start working on my writing too...

Well I think thats all I have to say for now... I still have to post the April book blog, & still waiting to recieve a book in the post to read as my May book... so I will keep you all posted :)

RAYE