warfare
there's a war raging all around us, all the time. we forget that all the time, i think. at least i do. i always forget ... that every day and every moment is a battle. today was a forceful reminder of the truth.

"This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels."
Ephesians 6:12 (MSG)

our enemy may be defeated... but for now he's still on the prowl... just waiting for any opportunity to use his powerful arsenal on those who would seek God. and our enemy knows what he's doing, too. he's got ages of experience. he knows our weaknesses... even our greatest, deepest, secret ones. i felt like, tonight, there were some ambushes. it makes me angry, sad, and hurt... all at the same time. but i'm reminded. there's going to be ambushes and battles... even some lost ones. some terrible ones. but, in the end, we have hope that the war is already won. Jesus won the war already. now... we just have to trust God to help us win these daily battles too. from skirmishes to massacres. for, as strong and crafty as our enemy is, GOD OWNS. thank goodness for an omnipotent God. we are in good hands...

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:38-39

nothing physical (not even death), nothing spiritual (not even the blackest evil), not time, not any earthly power, not space, nor anything else in the universe can compete with God's authority.... with God's love. so pray. and pray hard. Xtreme prayer everyday for this Xtreme warfare we call life.

so... after reading back over my last post... i realized i wasn't very clear on my most important point... doh. so here's a little clarification. THE COOLEST...He's the best friend anyone could ever have... aka... God. =) that's all.

Yesterday ...
I missed church service because I didn't have a ride. After waking up again much later in the day, I spent the majority of what was left of the day running around frantically and calling people repeatedly...(sorry =p) in an attempt to finally enact this vague idea/plan I'd come up with a while ago and never was able to carry out. As some of you know, I'm really not very organized at all... neither am I any good with planning. So... my somewhat impulsive decision to actually do what I'd been thinking of doing left me to run around campus trying to make it all work. In the end... it didn't turn out quite the way I'd wanted it to, i was an hour late, and i was pacing around b/c of all the adrenaline in my system...but it was all ok and absolutely worth all the running around and temporary stress. The only reason I've posted this up is... to relate...this:

I've learned...
that I really need to work on my planning/thinking ahead skills, like making lists, starting earlier (which probably means being less ... impulsive)
that as my friend said, "We plan, God laughs." (thank you God, for that pan. don't know what i would've done without it...maybe make... a big, flat brownie... or mini brownie cupcakes???)
that as another friend said, "It's all about the connections." I have THE COOLEST friend, whom some of you might know. I couldn't have done it without him... thanks for the idea, the motivation, an almost ideal time slot where almost everyone could make it, again... the pan, and most of all... my friends who showed up... who are all really cool too =)

You will truly never know how much it means to me simply that you showed up, busy as you are, without knowing what it was for and what was in store for you. You make me =)