Zoo Date

Hello, Gare here, with Liz watching over my shoulder. :) Today was a good day in Jacksonville. We woke up- actually, she came and knocked on my door to wake me up (sorry), we packed the cooler full of goodies, and headed for the Zoo. I haven't been since grade school, and neither has she, and we figured it would be fun to go without having any small children to shepherd.
The newly renovated zoo lived up to expectations. We saw a great horned owl (looked like my uncle), a 400 pound South American fish, giant otters, and a silverback gorilla (looked like Liz's grandpa). Also worth mentioning, a male lion was totally checking her out. Probably deciding if we were worth jumping the fence and eating. He was intense.
We saw a sloth, who was rather... slothful? African bullfrogs as big as my fist. Monstrous Rhinoceroses... actually, one rhino. He was docile.

All in all, it was well worth the thirteen dollar tickets. After a quick lunch consisting of sandwiches and nutty buddies, we decided to take a trip to the World Market in Orange Park. We found a bunch of neat stuff, along with really exotic food items. Like Italian pomegranate soda, and caviar. And a half-liter of water for four dollars. Yowza.

Looking back on the day, I'm glad we did new things. I count the zoo as a new thing. It's fun to explore, branch out and see things you might not see for another year. This was a nice cap on the summer. She might not say it, but I think Liz had a good time too :)

GL

The long day is over...

Today was, as my title says, long! I worked hard today, but I liked it. The knowledge of getting things done, and done well, really makes me feel good. But I'm home now, and I'm glad I can say I am at peace. For the past few months there were two sides of my life trying to pull me apart. The higher calling, and the easy way of life I've been living. That's not to say I was being a bad person, or I was back-slidden, but I cannot honestly say I was living as purposeful as I should have been. I was in a storm of partially my own creation and I was not happy or at peace. No, my life is not perfect now, nor will it ever be, but I can say now that I go to bed and wake up with a restored joy and peace. Yes, I still get frustrated, and yes I still strive to control certain things, but I'm learning and that was something I had set aside for a while, when the problems cropped up.
I guess what I'm saying is this. The best time in your life to live for God, is when he's testing you and your in the middle of a tempest. When you believe you are at your lowest, it's only to show your incredible need to look up. It's easy to love God when life is good, but it's hard to understand his plans when your hurting. I am grateful that he can put us in those trials, and even more grateful that he brings us out. I am learning patience, and mercy, and grace. I don't have to worry about what's going to happen, because even if I did, what could I do to change it? I'm not the one holding the steering wheel. :)

So...

I've had this blog a while now but considering I hadn't written since...November, I'd just delete all the old stuff and give this a face lift. Nothing has changed much except the background picture and that I'll mainly be updating on here rather then the both of us. He is just too forgetful to keep up with this!! But I'm sure he'll pop in from time to time to put in his updates and such. So! This is the beginning (again) of my blog and this time I will be remembering it.

I'd like to share :) An excerpt I read today in a book I'm studying, perhaps it will get you thinking....{"How dost Thou spare the wicked if Thou art just?" Is answered from the effect of Christ's Passion. That holy suffering there on the cross and that resurrection from the dead cancels our sins and abrogates our sentence. Where and how did we get that sentence? We got it by the application of justice to a moral situation. No matter how nice and refined and lovely you think you are, you are a moral situation---you have been, you still are, you will be. And when God confronted you, God's justice confronted a moral situation and found you unequal, found inequity, found iniquity.} When God found sin in us, he sentenced us to death. But Jesus Christ came to die, not to change God's stand on sin, but to change our moral situation and our sentence of eternal hell. What a reason to rejoice!