Rick Warren

My mom loves to send me forwarded-emails that she gets from her close friends at work-- don't get me wrong I love getting them and they are enjoyable to read. 

Some include cute pictures, some include a funny jokes, and others teaches a life lesson. Whatever the subject it always brightens my day and takes my mind off of school sometimes.

This morning I received an email from her that really made me think about life and what it is all about. Recently my family has been experiencing "bumps in the road of life," and this email could not have come at a better time. 

This is what it said....

(It is kind of long but truly worth it in the end)

You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales.  This is an absolutely incredible short  interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California .

 

In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: People ask me, What is the purpose of life ?  And I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity.  We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven.  One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body -- but not the end of me.  I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity.  This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal.  God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity.  

We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.  Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one.

The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life.  

The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness.

This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.  I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth.  I don't believe that anymore.  Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.. 

No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on.  And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for.  You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems: 

If  you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.  But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her - It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life.  Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder.  For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.  It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before.  I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.  So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence.  He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. 

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.  We made no major purchases. 

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back.  It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions?  Popularity?

Am I going to be driven by pressures?  Guilt?  Bitterness?  Materialism?  Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?  When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better.  God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list.  He's more interested in what I am than what I do.  That's why we're called human beings , not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.

Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.

Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD .

Painful moments, TRUST GOD.

Every moment, THANK GOD..

If you do not pass it on, nothing will happen.  But it will just be nice to pass it on to a friend....just like I have done.

God's Blessings

HE ARRIVED THIS MORNING, WE HAD PRAYER; SPENT SOME TIME JUST TALKING, AND HE HELD ME FOR AWHILE BECAUSE I WAS HAVING A BAD MORNING. THEN, HE WAS ON HIS WAY TO YOUR PLACE.

 

Mad About "Mad Men"

So I recently started watching the show "Mad Men" on AMC.... and I am hooked on it! 

I can't stop watching.

I highly recommend this to anyone BUT will warn you about how addicting each episode is.

For those of you who don't know the story behind what "Mad Men" is about, 

here are the main ideas....

Mad Men is a nick-name for the competitive men and women on New York's Madison Avenue working in advertising. It is set in the 1960s; 

A time when advertising was crucial and at its peak.

"Mad Men" follows the corporate and personal lives of the workers at the

Anderson Cooper advertising firm.

(I don't want to give too much away about the show- So go and check it out!)

I decided to start watching the show after hearing nothing but good things about the series. 

I was also attracted to it because it deals with working at an advertising firm... 

something I eventually want to pursue as a career.

  This gives me an idea of how hectic and competitive a job at an advertising firm can be.

So this Sunday when you are channel surfing around 9pm stop by the AMC channel and just watch a few minutes of it... I guarantee that you will be hooked.

Summer Internship/Job Fair

So every year around this time the University of Iowa holds an internship/job fair for students. This allows them to "get their feet wet" and meet potential summer employers. I decided this would be a great opportunity for me and maybe land an internship for this summer. 

I took Maddie with me for moral support and because she was interested in some of the companies that were there. The email that was sent to the student body told students to wear nice business clothing. After long hours of deciding what to wear and calling my mom on the phone, we thought that tan pants and a dressy shirt would suffice....well we thought wrong. As soon as we got there we saw students with dressy attire on. We both felt completely under-dressed! Now we know what to wear for next years fair! 

 

Other than not having the right attire on, there were so many companies there that it was truly overwhelming! 

Maddie and I did our best and got our resumes out to companies that would benefit our majors. 

I have already emailed some potential employers telling them that I am interested in their position...

Now its a waiting game.

Hopefully her and I will hear back soon!

It's Been Awhile

Sorry it has been so long since the last time I've blogged... a lot has been going on!

I have been busy with a lot of school work and studying a lot for tests. I am happy to say that I am done with exams until after spring break! I can now catch up on readings and blogging of course!

Here has whats been going on... 

My Valentines day was amazing! I went out to NIU to visit Billy the weekend before Valentines day. It was a lot of fun. We went to a party Friday night because it was someones birthday. It was a high school clique themed party. Since Billy told me about this party the night before I left I didn't have much time to think of a good outfit. I managed to pull a few things together with the help of my roommates. I went as a prep and Billy went as a nerd. I spent the rest of the weekend studying for an exam I had on Tuesday. Monday I was totally surprised when I was sent 2 boxes of roses from Billy. One box had 2 dozen roses and the other box had 1 dozen! I was so shocked... I put them in my room and they smelled lovely.

I wish I could get fresh flowers every week because they put me in a good mood regardless of everything bad that was going on. He also got me a Pillow pet which I LOVE!

My parents sent a Valentines card from them and Wrigley. Getting the card and some candy made my day. I love getting packages in the mail especially from my family. 

Little things like cards in the mail from my family make all the bad days and stress go away.

"The love of a family is life's greatest blessing"

I am looking forward to the arrival of spring....I am bored of all the cold weather and snow!

Only 17 more days until Spring Break...

AND 25 days until my golden birthday! 

Paintin' on a Snow Day

I am happy to report the University canceled all classes on Wednesday because of the snow! I was overjoyed when I got the text message from Hawk alert telling us we didn't have school. I was also wishing for a text this morning telling me I didn't have to go to class but it was no such luck :( 

So since we were stuck inside all day, I decided it would be a good day for all of us to clean our apartment. It needed a good cleaning to say the least! After we finished all of the cleaning we decided to rearrange of our living room. I love the new set up and it makes the living room more comfortable and cozier.  

Jessica and I were feeling artsy and decided to paint pictures to hang on the fridge and/or to give to friends. 

Overall painting went really well and it was fun to see the different pictures we created.

We got about 10 inches of snow and it felt like so much more when we had to dig our cars out last night. I am really sore today! 

It is going to be a very exciting weekend. The NIU hockey team is playing Iowa Friday and Saturday night and Dance Marathon is going on this weekend. Maddie and Jessica are both involved in it and will be dancing their hearts out for 24 hours for a good cause! 

Good Luck Maddie and Jessica and just keep dancing! 

Maddie and Jessica outside yesterday trying to find our cars!

Snow Day?

This is supposed to be a storm that will go down in history. The Midwest is getting ready for a snowstorm that will result in a lot of money for clean up. The University of Iowa has canceled classes starting after 4:30 pm tonight and classes before 10:00 am tomorrow morning. I only have one class (starting at 6:30pm tonight) that will be affected by the storm but it’s better than not having any of my classes canceled! 

KCRG (local Eastern Iowa news) is predicting a foot of snow by tomorrow morning and dangerous winds making it difficult to travel. This is a perfect time to stay in and relax with my roommates. We are making yummy potato soup for dinner and plan on watching TV and working on some homework for the rest of the night. We just have to wait and see how much snow we actually get...hopefully the University will cancel all classes tomorrow 

(fingers crossed)

Back home (suburbs outside of Chicago) is bracing for 2 feet of snow plus hazardous winds making it hard for people to commute. My dad is a schoolteacher in Arlington Heights and his school along with my sister’s high school called a snow day for tomorrow. I can’t wait to see pictures they send me of all the snow they get.  Wrigley (our dog) loves snow so I am sure she will have a fun time playing in the 2 plus feet of snow.   

Ps: 47 days until spring!

2011 NHL All-Stars

Congrats to Team Lidstrom for winning the 2011 NHL All-Star game today!

As some of you may not know but I have become a HUGE hockey fan (all thanks to my boyfriend for dragging me to his hockey games) and I enjoy watching talent from many teams play together.

But more importantly my future husband (I wish) Patrick Kane from the Chicago Blackhawks was the assistant captain on the winning team (a.k.a Team Lidstrom).

So Congrats on the 11 to 10 win today!

And I would also like to give a shout-out to the MVP of today's game Patrick Sharp who is also on the Chicago Blackhawks