Purified by Reverse Osmosis

I was reading on my bottled water today... (and yes, I do drink bottled water... and yes, I do realize I am killing the oceans or something like that... but I have recently started recycling the bottles... so I think I get a couple of green points)... anyway... all that to say: it said "purified by reverse osmosis". Of course, being the very curious person that I am, I had to set out to find out what reverse osmosis meant. Well, as all of you no doubt remember from your definitions in your science classes: osmosis is the filtration of water through a semi-permeable membrane from highest concentration to lowest (and I'm just kidding, I know you all didn't remember that! hehe). In reverse osmosis however, there is an external application of pressure which actually makes the water go from a higher concentration to a lower concentration through the semi-permeable membrane. I thought this was interesting, because sometimes I think that God uses the hard things as pressure in our lives pressing us towards purity.
Funny how God would apply the exact right amount of pressure in our lives to drive us against the natural bent towards becoming more impure. When we are born we are already in sin, but the longer we go through life the worse it gets. We learn new ways to sin and violate God's laws. In some ways we are going through that semi-permeable membrane called life and getting our lives filled with a higher and higher concentration of bad habits, ugly character traits, bitterness from experiences, and generally getting yuckier with the passing days. Then when Christ enters our lives, He turns everything around. The flow goes backwards. And not by anything that we can do on our own. It only the divine power that He brings that is able to apply the needed pressure to reverse the whole flow. Death and sin start working backwards (as Aslan says). Instead of getting more filled with filth, we start being purified by the washing of the water of the Word, and God begins His sanctification (or just general cleaning out) of our lives. The purity that we so desperately need starts to slowly take action in our lives. A beautiful, beautiful work. I think its also very interesting that sometimes the purity of peoples lives seem to be directly in proportion to the amount of suffering (pressure anyone?) that they go through. God has a very special process it seems by which when we go through really hard times He really delights in making us more beautiful.

The Weekend

This was a good weekend! Like a really good weekend!
To start off with my work on Friday went smoothly and I was able to get off work on time and get some extra paperwork done, which was really awesome! Then after work I drove to KC to spend time with my ex-roomie who had recently moved back to Kansas (and I am super-stoked about this!) (I think we might be in a 'relationship' now though, cause she gave me a key to her apartment! Hehe!) I should interject here that any time I get to drive somewhere I am usually happy. I love the freedom of being alone in the car zooming down the open road, windows down, and stereo blaring my crazy mix of music that I can belt to the top of my lungs along with! When I'm driving by myself I've also found is a great time to pray. Something about my ADD doesn't do well if I'm not doing at least 2 different things at once and its hard to find things that go well with prayer, but I've found driving does. Any weekend plans that include a healthy amount of travel are likely to be generally approved by myself. We had a great time looking for Mexican restaurants in Kc (why don't they have a Carlos?), talking, and laughing that night. Then the next morning we went to "Courageous" which is an excellent movie btw! On the way out of the theater I managed to step off a curb wrong and sprain my ankle. I've never sprained my ankle this badly, not even the one time I got trip-wired by a tow rope and dragged for a couple yards. I just lay there on the ground for a while in the middle of the parking lot cause it hurt so badly! I really think my parents need to give me a new middle name cause this whole "Grace" thing doesn't seem very fitting! I am forever doing things of this general nature! One time I was playing with the kids in the dark at my parent's house (I think we were playing "Crow in the Cornfield") and ran off the end of a rock retaining wall I didn't know they had put in! Ended up getting cellulitis in my arm from the injury I sustained in that fall! It was just like a cartoon of Wiley Coyotee... One minute I was running on ground then suddenly I was running on mid-air for a minute before plummeting to the ground! Same thing this time... I was walking along on one of those curb things they have in a parking lot and then when I went to step off my foot hit the sewer drain below it, rolled my ankle sideways and with a flailing of arms down I went! Jenna couldn't help laughing about it!
But the simply best thing about this weekend is that I became an Auntie for the first time! I can't tell you how excited I am about that! I feel really sorry for my sister-in-law as the labor process encountered several complications and she is sooo worn out! She is a trooper though and I am so proud of her! Its so cute to see her with my nephew! She just looks the perfect picture of a little Momma! My brother is no less perfect in his sweetly trying to guard and help her while being so gentle and comfortable with the baby. He was doing these crazy lunge things the other night to help quite the baby down and help him get rid of some gas! It was mildly humorous and quite endearing at the same time! They really are going to be/are great parents!
My nephew is a perfect combination of the two of them. When I fist saw him I could immediately see both of their faces reflected in his miniature countenance. Of course once you look at him long enough, you don't see it anymore, but at first it was really evident. He's not the cutest baby that I've ever seen (and before you crucify me for being a bad auntie) let me just say... That I think he's almost more handsome! He looks like a little man! It'll be interesting to see if he keeps the same appearance as he gets older. I, for one, don't think I look much like my little girl or baby pictures as all, but you know how some people look the same all the way growing up? Yeah, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Anyway, I'm excited! Although I think in some regards its almost like I've been an Aunt before because my youngest sibling is 15 years younger than me... But then again its not really the same. Its a lot of responsibility to have a little tyke looking up to you.(Though it'll be a while before that happens for real). But still, one can never be too good of an example for the younger generation in one's life! Did I mention that I love the little guy? Yeah, I do! I even almost told my boyfriend he had competition for my heart. I can sit and just look at his picture for the longest time! I can't wait until I can really get to know him and learn to love him more!
Well, I gotta go check on my laundry now... Yet Auntie Jo had to be responsible and do stupid stuff like laundry... Lol!

Untitled

The intensity of Your love scares me
And the veracity with which you ask me to love You in return
The amount of trust You demand of me
As if it were the most natural, casual thing in the world
And Lord, its not that easy
For this poor scared soul
To just give up all her worry
And years of planning she's prided in
"No more" You say
With a calm firmness that I know is resolute
And I know that though I may falter in the 'morrow
I will have no choice in the end but trust
For You are the only One worthy
Though her weak soul faints away
At the very thought of being so dependent
Yet knows deep in her heart its the only way
And how can I not love to feel so loved?
That my Lord would regard His lowly handmaiden
As possibly worthy of a quest so noble
And a future so daring
A handmaiden would have to be
A risky bet at the very least
Yet maybe He chooses the weak things
To shame the strong of this world.