An inspiring and alluring post title is unavailable at this time.

I value your opinion. Seriously. More than you know..and more than what's healthy. It's not just me, though....it's a problem people have been dealing with like since the beginning of time: worrying about what others think and altering themselves to fit those opinions. Some deal with it more than others, but I think everyone does it a little bit. Why else do girls wear makeup, guys act tough, and all of us exaggerate?

But the problem is, everyone has a different way of thinking. Everyone has their own perceptions. Besides that, people change their ideas and perceptions all the time. So how can we possibly please everyone?

..We can't. There is only one person who never changes, and that's God. His perceptions, ideas of what's good, ideas of what is beautiful, ideas of what is right...those never change. He's the one we should want to please. And if people don't agree with His ideals, they're not worth it anyway.

I know you've heard it before, but God's opinion is truly the only one that matters. It's impossible to please all your peers...but it IS possible to please God. He's given us a handbook on living for Him, and besides that, He loves us way more than anyone else ever could.

I have some bad news.

My friend, you have cancer. And so do I. And so does your neighbor and the cashier at Wal-mart and your second cousin and the guy on American Idol. Pretty soon, you're going to die. But nobody knows when. So until then, make the most of your life.

...That sounds pretty awful, doesn't it? Yeah. But it's true. We may not exactly have the conventional kind of cancer, but we do have a cancer called Just Being Human. Being human means we are all going to die eventually. Most people think that they have at least a couple decades to go...but seriously, you could die tomorrow. Somebody in the world is going to die tomorrow. And when that Somebody is about to die, what are they going to think about their lives? Who did they live it for? What did they do with it? Did they appreciate all that they had?

I know it sounds cliche, but it's true. Because you don't know if it's the end, live each day as if you were a cancer patient. If you actually had cancer, what would you do? Probably make a point to tell people you love them, thank them for what they've done for you, maybe make one last effort to tell people about Jesus. So why should it be any different?

Cancer or not, you could die any second. So live like you're dying: treasure the people around you, live each day for God, and take joy in the little things. Jesus came and died to give us life abundant. So live each day to the fullest.

Your Giant Meatball

The title of this post has a point, I swear.

One of my favorite movies is Horton Hears A Who...like the 2009/2008 version. And I can quote large portions of it. One of the lines, for example, is when Horton is talking to the Mayor, and the Mayor is like "Horton, I have to go, apparently there's some problem with the Giant Meatball in the Edible Parade." and Horton says "You take care of that Giant Meatball, sir, and leave the freaking out to me."

I freak out about a lot of things. Especially recently, with all this debate craziness, plus other stuff on the side. And so, when I'm talking to God, my talking involves a lot of "what if"s. "But God, what if this happens? What if things don't go the way I want? What if I don't say the right thing?" So I was thinking about that today, and I remembered Horton's wise words:

"You take care of that Giant Meatball, sir, and leave the freaking out to me."

Let's break it down: I sort of see the "Giant Meatball" as the silly little thing that you think is really big (hence the "giant"), but really isn't. In the end, it doesn't matter too much, and it's just silly. So you can take care of that, and go do whatever needs to be done with it. But then what? Let's look at what God says...

"Leave the freaking out to me."

You can take care of your Giant Meatball, but that's all you can do. Don't freak out about it. It won't help, trust me. Leave it up to God. He has a lot more capacity for it, and He can handle the "stress" a lot better than you can.

So, in the end, no matter what your personal Giant Meatball is, remember that number one, it's only a giant meatball. Yes, it's giant, but it's a meatball. It's not the end of the world, and it's not going to determine your entire life. And second of all...you can take care of whatever needs to be done with your meatball, but ultimately, you can't control what happens to it. Leave that to God. don't worry or stress about it...just give it to God. So, I say again...

You take care of your Giant Meatball, friend, and leave the freaking out to God.

Outside of Ordinary

I don't think there's such a thing as an ordinary person.

Have you ever seen a snowflake? I haven't, not that I remember, because I think there's a curse over Houston that says it can never snow here.

...but that's a different story.

Anyways, it's said that no two snowflakes are the same. Yet, unless you look closely at one...you would think they're all the same. I think it's the same case with people. People generally look at least something like each other...but when you look at who they are, they're all different. And when you really stop to think about it, is there anyone exactly like you?

A quote I recently heard that I loved is from Dr. Seuss..."There's no one you-er than you." When you stop and think about it, it's so true. There's no one better at being you, than...you. If you're looking for something that you're better at everyone else in, here's something. You're the best at being you!

I think God loves variety. He didn't have to create hundreds of tree species or thousands of different galaxies, but He did. In the same way, He didn't HAVE to create billions of people, all unique, all with their own special sets of talents and personality traits...but He did.

In the end, you're extraordinary. I've always been confused about that word, because it's like, doesn't "extraordinary" just mean "more ordinary"?

Um..no.

"Extraordinary", in my opinion, literally means outside of the ordinary. It's like in debate, when you say a plan is extra-topical. You're saying that the plan is outside of the resolution. So, I think extraordinary is being "outside" of ordinary.

So today, just take joy in being you. Because there is no one you-er than you!

You just can't put me in a box!

You probably could, actually. But you've heard the expression...it's like, when someone surprises you by saying or doing something unlike them, they say, 'You just can't put me in a box!" Meaning, basically, you don't know everything about them and can't assume things about them, more or less.

You know where I'm going with this. We can't put God in a box. Obviously. But it's true. Lately God has been really surprising me with the stuff He's blessing me with and telling me...things I don't expect.

Duhh, of course I didn't expect it. That's not the way God works. Just because I think something is going to turn out a certain way, because of my extremely limited experience, doesn't mean it will. God isn't confined to my expectations.

So, just a quick note and reminder..you can't put God in a box. I think He loves to surprise us and He loves doing things just because. Basically, expect the unexpected!

You know what I mean.

...I say that a lot. And sometimes, a variation: "I know what I mean." Haha, it's true. Sometimes no one really can really figure out what I'm trying to say but me. Since sometimes I'm less-than-eloquent with my words, I tend to give up and say, "Oh, you know what I mean!" And sometimes even then, the person I'm talking to..does not know what I mean.

So, most of the time I know what I'm trying to say, but what about the things I do? Sometimes I do something and then I'm like.. "Uh, Katie, why did you just do that?" But you know what? God knows why I do things, and He knows what I mean.

Psalm 33:15 says, "He made their hearts, so He understands everything they do." Think about that for a sec. He gets it. He understands the temptation of sin, He understands your struggles, and He knows what you're trying to say better than you do. Sometimes we, or at least I, think that God is so high above everything that He can't really relate to us; He knows all, yes, but He doesn't understand it.

Haha..what?

Of course He understands it. He made our hearts. Nothing surprises Him. He gets it. And that's so encouraging. That's part of His mercy: He shows us mercy and cuts us slack because He understands that we're not perfect, and He knows how weak we are.

God is not sitting up in heaven with a stick ready to beat us when we do something wrong. Why? Because He made us. And He understands us.

You know what I mean?

Don't Be A Hippo.

No, I'm not going to dedicate an entire post to talking about hippos. Sorry.

"Hippo", however, is sometimes short for "hypocrite", and that's a much more interesting topic.

I was reading John Calvin's book, The Institutes of Christian Religion, and this caught my attention: (Which is rare because in general, I don't find this book extremely interesting..)

"...to speak of those who want to be called Christians, although they have nothing of Christ's but his name and sign. How dare they claim his sacred name?...They are guilty of falsely pretending a knowledge of Christ, despite the eloquence with which they talk of the Gospel. Doctrine is not a matter of talk but life."

I think sometimes we forget that being a Christian is more than praying everyday and going to church. If we do that, and talk about Christianity..but then live for ourselves the rest of the time, what kind of Christians are we? What kind of name are we giving Christ?...Not a good one.

You know "All talk and no game"? It's like...let's say there's a person who talks and talks about water-skiing. They talk about how much they love to water ski, they buy all the equipment for it, and they talk about how great they are at it. But when they go out and actually do it, they really stink. It's sort of like that for Christians. No matter how much I talk about Christ, or how many Bibles I buy, or whatever, if I'm not actually living a Christian life, then there's no impact.

I know it's hard, and everyone messes up, but I think it would be really cool if more Christians actually lived...Christian. Let's try not to contradict our talk and our claims of Christianity by living for ourselves, because that's hypocritical.

...Let's not be hippos.