100 Ways to Show Boldness.

(I love this.)

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For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it.

I hope you make the best of it.

And I hope you see things that startle you.

I hope you feel things you never felt before.

I hope you meet people with a different point of view.

I hope you live a life you're proud of.

If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

don miller is...

Too much of our time is spent trying to chart God on a grid, and too little is spent allowing our hearts to feel awe. By reducing Christian spirituality to formula, we deprive our hearts of wonder.

Amazing.

This is still one of the greatest songs I ever heard

I think its safe to say Drake is the sickest songwriter in the game now....

P4CM is a ministry in LA that I have really come to love in the past few months, the model of their church is so different, everyone is hella young and the teaching and worship is real and without compromise. Me, Josh, Drea, Shannon and their friend Braylon went to a poetry night thurr on Saturday, and everybody was outstanding, the love for God is REAL, and there is nothin more inspiring to me than seein young people praise the Lord so unashamedly. Anyway Jose Palos the guy up there did a piece that really shook me, Here is another one of his poems, it always Amazes me how God makes such wonderful people

More from P4CM...

I love this book! It changed my life! And now it is changing the lives of my friends, God is the Realest, I hope you let Him love you and change your life too, Happy Sunday! :*

Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.

David Denby of the New Yorker listed Up! as one of the 10 Best Movies of 2009! I agree I agree!
ps. Tay and I are really really excited to see the similarly named Up in the Air, especially after seeing it on this list.

:)

A yummy pizza crust recipe:

Honey Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough

From Country Living
This recipe has been tested by Country Living

Invite a few friends to sample just-baked pizzas. Plan ahead by mixing dough in the morning and letting it rise, refrigerated, all day long.

INGREDIENTS

conv. chart

U.S.

Metric

1 1/2 cup(s)	water, warmed to 110°F
2 1/4 teaspoon(s)	(1 packet) active dry yeast
1 teaspoon(s)	sugar
3 1/2 cup(s)	all-purpose flour
1/2 cup(s)	whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup(s)	cornmeal
2 teaspoon(s)	salt
1/4 cup(s)	honey
2 tablespoon(s)	whole milk

DIRECTIONS

1. Make the dough:
   Lightly coat a large bowl with olive oil and set aside. Combine the water, yeast, and sugar in a small bowl and set aside. Combine flours, cornmeal, and salt and sift together into a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture, honey, and milk and stir until dough begins to form -- it will be slightly sticky. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead until dough is smooth but still tacky -- about 10 minutes. Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to the prepared bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover with a clean, damp kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until the dough doubles in volume -- about 90 minutes. Punch the dough down, remove from the bowl, and let dough rest for 5 minutes. Divide the dough in half and turn one piece out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into desired shape and size. Lightly brush the dough's surface with olive oil, top, and bake at 500°F for about 10 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough.

And music to cook to!

Andrew Sullivan wrote a fantastic article on his decision to leave the Conservative Right in The Atlantic. Here is an excerpt:

•  I cannot support a movement that claims to believe in limited government but backed an unlimited domestic and foreign policy presidency that assumed illegal, extra-constitutional dictatorial powers until forced by the system to return to the rule of law.
  
• I cannot support a movement that exploded spending and borrowing and blames its successor for the debt.
• I cannot support a movement that so abandoned government's minimal and vital role to police markets and address natural disasters that it gave us Katrina and the financial meltdown of 2008.
  
• I cannot support a movement that holds torture as a core value.
  
• I cannot support a movement that holds that purely religious doctrine should govern civil political decisions and that uses the sacredness of religious faith for the pursuit of worldly power.
  
• I cannot support a movement that is deeply homophobic, cynically deploys fear of homosexuals to win votes, and gives off such a racist vibe that its share of the minority vote remains pitiful.
  
• I cannot support a movement which has no real respect for the institutions of government and is prepared to use any tactic and any means to fight political warfare rather than conduct a political conversation.
  
• I cannot support a movement that sees permanent war as compatible with liberal democratic norms and limited government.
  
• I cannot support a movement that criminalizes private behavior in the war on drugs.
  

Good thoughts...

This is one of the most wonderful ideas I have come across in a very long time. I am completely in love, as it has brought back Holiday Cheer I haven't had since I was a child. Please enjoy  and pass it on.

If you love a lot of people on limited funds, the ADRA has beautifully meaningful gifts for dirt-cheap. Some of my favorites: 

• For just $1, you can purchase a hot lunch for a child in Madagascar 
  
• For $2 you can give one internally displaced girl education for a month
  
• For $10 you can sponsor a childhood class on how to detect tuberculosis in Bolivia, and so on all the way up to
  
• Sponsoring a career workshop for a Colombian woman so that she may learn a trade to support her family for $600 
  
• Giving a full eight-week medical restoration treatment to a starving child for $800
  
• Creating a whole irrigation system in Africa for just above $2000. 
  

Accompanied with screen shots and a beautiful letter this can be the most lovely gift, and really a step outside the box. 

p.s. Rethinking Christmas also had some really creative ideas, and as always I am a huge fan of Worldvision International

Consumed with Grief while Reading the News.

Are Afghani children's souls any less authentic than American children's? Do Afghani families not grieve like American families? Do Americans feel more emotion than Afghanis? So when speaking of the war, why do we talk only of the American soldiers, many many whom have been slaughtered unjustly..... But not of the Afghani who have been slaughtered beyond count?

This morning there was a story in the New Yorker about a couple who plans to write a letter to every single person in the world. They have written one for each person in two communities (one in Ireland and one in Pittsburgh.) Each letter is personalized and also a work of art. They also have a Blog. The idea is so beautiful

Better to get hurt by the truth than comforted by a lie