Praise God!! Megan has a job!!

Okay, if you're really bored and will settle for some cheap entertainment, this is like the online version of the greatest packing material in the world! Have fun!

I watched some movie on tv yesterday that made me start thinking about the topic of "living with no regrets." As I pondered the subject, I concluded that most people usually look at that statement from one of two extremes. There are those that say, "I'm going to be very cautious about what I do so that I never have to say, 'I wish I HADN'T done that.'" And then there are those that say, "I'm going to jump on every opportunity that comes my way so that I never have to say, 'I wish I HAD done that.'" I feel like truely living with no regrets falls somewhere in the middle, along the lines of making wise decisions by THINKING first and weighing the consequences of your actions. I do feel that there is still room in life for some harmless spontaniety (take, for instance, riding home at 1:00 a.m. from St.Aug with friends for the heck of it!). And I also believe that you can dwell on a decision for too long. But overall, I think it's fair to say, "think before you act." Going back to the two extremes, the one who doesn't want to say, "I wish I HADN'T," will, in turn, eventually say, "I wish I HAD." The inverse also is true. The one who doesn't want to say, "I wish I HAD," will eventually say, "I wish I HADN'T." Concluding thought: "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5). Make wise choices!

I came across a blog by a 15 year old girl named Danielle a few minutes ago. For a high school freshman-going-on-sophmore, she writes really well. (No offense to high school freshmen-going-on-sophmores in general, or anything!) Anyway, she had this really great post where she was talking about 1 Peter 5:7. One thing she said was, "there is no problem so large you cannot trust it to God, and none so small you can trust it to yourself." That really hit me. So did the rest of her comments on the passage, but I could do no justice to the overall effect they have, so if you'd like, you can read them yourself... (just click on the link... it should take you right to that post).

Not much excitement in the Life and Times of Megan Lee lately. Just that my car's acting weird, which it's been doing since before I came home from school a month ago! So now that I've hopefully got a somewhat inflexible schedule starting next week (i.e. hopefully I got the job I want, for which I'm STILL waiting to hear the final word) NOW the parents decide we can have the car checked out. So that means if I get the job and we have to do something half-way major to the car, I either have to take time out of my newly busy schedule to have it fixed, or I get to drive the TANK... (those of you who have seen my mom's car know what I'm talkin' about!). It's all good, though. Life goes on! That's about all for now. Oh, except I should mention how much I LOVE Panera Bread! Mmm, mmm, good! Later!

"Behind every good man there is a woman rolling her eyes."

-quote curtesy of Rob

shanebarnard.com

"Beauty for Ashes" by Shane Barnard and Shane Everett

Beauty for ashes
A garment of praise for my heaviness
Beauty for ashes
Take this heart of stone and make it Yours

I delight myself in the Richest of Fare
Trading all that I have for all that is better
A garment of praise for my heaviness
You are the greatest taste,
You're the Richest of Fare

Okay, you know you're having a good week when God reiterates His message to you through a movie! Went to see "Bruce Almighty" tonight, and I was surprisingly pleased. First of all, absolutely hilarious. And, more importantly, not nearly as "blasphemous" as the previews might have sounded, which I had heard from a freind, otherwise I probably wouldn't have watched it anyway. The last ten or fifteen minutes of it were the best. I won't ruin it for anyone, but there was one part that really stood out to me. "Bruce," who had been able to do anything, including answer prayers, says to "God" that he just gave everybody what they wanted cause he thougth it would make them happy. And "God" says, "since when does anybody have a clue what they want?" If you've been reading my posts, you know that's something I've been talking about lately. It was like this great revelation in the movie theater, which was pretty weird since that's not usually where those sorts of things happen! Anyway, overall I will say that I was quite pleased with the way prayer was presented in this movie, as well as God, to a certain degree. Kinda weird watching Hollywood stars pray seemingly sincere prayers on the big screen! Okay, so it's not something to form your own theology out of, but I would recomend the movie.

(Lori, get back to work! Your break time's up!)

Later!

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket -- safe, dark, motionless, airless -- it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell."

"We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it."

-"The Four Loves" by C.S.Lewis

Not much to post about currently. Had fun last night at Joe's Crab Shack ("Adams party of 16, ruba-dub-dub, it's time for some grub!"), followed by wandering around the streets of Jax Beach out of sheer boredom, then putt-putt at Adventure Landing, followed by cruisin' the streets of Jax beach out of sheer boredom, and finally Steak-n-Shake in Regency. Good times. That's about all. Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to post about tomorrow after church. Later.

To those of you who know me, and maybe I don't speak to you as often as you think I should, I apologize! If I come off as rude, I also apologize! (TR, if you're reading this, you know I'm talking to you!) Sorry, but being social is not something I've ever been really good at!! Communicating, sure. Being social, no. My mom and one of my brothers got extra doses of that gene... I think I got the short end of the stick, as they say, which I have never thought was a really great phrase. How is one end of a stick shorter than the other??? Anyway, just wanted to make my apology open-ended in case I have offended anyone else along the course of life. Please remember that listening is often just as important, if not more, than talking. Later.

"Song 4 Tricia (princes and frogs)" by, of course, superchick (an important note is that this one is sung by the guys of the group! yes, there are guys in superchick!)

You hate them, that's what you say, and I understand how you feel that way. all girls dream of fairy tale, but what you've got's like a used car salesman, trying to conceal what's wrong behind the smile and the song, and I'm not saying that boys are not like that. but I think you should know that some of us will grow because...

all princes start as frogs and all gentlemen as dogs. just wait till it's plain to see what we're growing up to be. some frogs will still be frogs, and some dogs'll still be dogs. some boys will become men, just don't kiss us till then!


(that's it. really. that's the whole song. no repeats or anything.)

(if a post shows up twice on here, sorry about that. had some tech. difficulty)

Wow. You can be in the midst of throwing yourself a pity-party, but as soon as you cry out to God for help instead of just feeling sorry for yourself, He intervens. Honestly, I was having a really bad day today, but I poured it all out to God, and before I was even done, the phone rang. Just a friend calling to ask me to hang out, but it's exactly what I needed. God always knows what I need. Sometimes I think I know, but I'm usually wrong! God never gets it wrong, though. Pretty stinkin' amazing. Here's a note from my Bible that I thought was pretty cool. It's talking about 1Kings 17:10.

"In a nation that was required by law to care for its prophets, it is ironic that God turned to ravens (unclean birds) and a widow (a foreigner from Jezebel's home territory) to care for Elijah. God has help where we least expect it. He provides for us in ways that go beyond our narrow definitions or expectations. No matter how bitter our trials or how seemingly hopeless our situation, we should look for God's hand of care. We may find his providence in some strange places!"

Cool. It's good to know that God is not limited by my "narrow defititions" of Him. I'm glad He always goes above and beyond what I expect or could ever hope for.

Random thought of the day: I love how you can change your clothes and hair and you're practically a different person! Okay, not a different person, but at least a different image. Like today, strangers would swear I'm a punk-rocker! Yesterday, I was a simple, plain "church girl," for lack of a better description. Lots of fun! Later.

Ya ever feel all alone in a room full of people? I feel like that's the story of my life! I know it's just one of those things that satan uses to get me down, and I also know it's one of those things I need to get over. It's pretty tough to get over at times, though. All I can say is that I have no idea how non-Christians ever cope in life! Christ is my only source of strenght. He is all that get's me through. Here's the lyrics to "One and Lonely" (of course, by superchick!). I think only parts of it apply to me, but it's a great song anyway.

It's not like they meant to hurt me, watchin' tv, checking Britney, televised, my guy's checking out her thighs, and I roll my eyes and sigh. It's not like I even need to be competing with unreality, tv fantesy, not for a smart girl like me.

some days it's hard to be a one girl revolution. sometimes I have good days, and it's good to be me. sometimes I get the best of insecurity. and it's quite alright to be the one and only, but today I feel like the one and lonely.

It's not that I don't know beauty is only skin deep, just the skin I'm in, not the girl within, but one imperfection takes away my grin. it's not that I think I'm ugly, but acne throws me for a backslide, I won't go outside, think I can't hide how I feel inside.

some days it's hard to be a one girl revolution. sometimes I have good days, and it's good to be me. sometimes I get the best of insecurity. and it's quite alright to be the one and only, but today I feel like the one and lonely.

we all have bad hair days, those nothing-good-about-me days, we just keep moving on cause they'll be gone and we'll still be here going on. we have our yesterdays, no-lunch-cause-our-jeans-don't-fit days, we just keep moving on cause they'll be gone and we'll still be here going on.

sometimes I have bad days and it's hard to be me. sometimes I get brought down by security. and I have my days where I'm the one and lonely, but today I choose to be the one and only.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR....

you just might get it! That's something I've been learning from the Children of Israel in the book of Numbers. First, as I posted about before, they "wished" for meat to eat instead of manna. Actually, they complained and begged for it. So, God gave them meat till they were sick of it. Later on, they say to God, "we would rather die in this wilderness than travel any further." So, God once again grants their wish. He tells them that they will stay in the wilderness for 40 years and will die there.

In the midst of our complaining, we often ask for things without thinking about what it is that we're really asking for, or the consequences of having those things. I've been reminded this week to stop my complaining and be thankful for what God is doing in my life. And when I keep asking for something, it better be what I really want! I've decided it's often better just to ask for God's will to be done, rather than asking for specifics. He has a much better idea of what we need than we do! For that matter, He has a much better idea of what we WANT than we do! We think we know what we want... until we have it; then it turns out not to be what we wanted after all. Let Him have control. And, be careful what you wish for!

Okay, yes, as a matter of fact, yesterday was a total Superchick day! "Karaoke Superstar" was my car CD of choice. And then last night I dl'ed a couple of the songs from their new CD, "Last One Picked"... they're AWESOME! Personal fav's: "Song 4 Tricia (Princes & Frogs)" and "Highschool." I'm sure I'll get around to posting some lyrics soon! I also liked "Hero," "One and Lonely," and "I Belong to You." Okay, so I like all Superchick songs! They're just so REAL! I mean, they're about real issues that real people deal with. None of that my-life's-so-great nonsense! Later!

If anybody's interested in getting me a super-early birthday gift, here's my wish list! I'm dying for some new CDs: new superchick one, new relient k one, new(er) ginny owens one, and about a hundred various worship CDs are on my list, too. I'm totally kidding... I don't want anybody to buy me stuff! (as if you really would have!) But I've got some serious CD shopping to do this summer! Gimme the heads-up if anybody has a super great sale or anything! Later.

"Help Me Out, God" by Superchic[k]

help me out, God, I need a little something, turn the brights on, I can't see where I'm going, cause I don't know when things'll work out just fine, or if this road we're on leads us up or is leading me on down to my wishing well, where I might drown, oh I might drown, cause I CAN'T SWIM WITHOUT YOU, GOD, help me out, God, I need a little something, hold my hand, so I know that I'm not falling down or spinning round, or am I really just fine, is this vertigo I feel just simply fear or maybe real, it's a long way down, and I might fall, and I might fall, cause I CAN'T STAND WITHOUT YOU, GOD, help me out, God, I need a little something, just enough so I don't lose hope before morning comes cause in the sun things'll work out just fine, but this night's been extra long, I fear I won't make it to the dawn, cause the night is dark and I might doubt, and I might doubt, cause I CAN'T HOPE WITHOUT YOU, GOD, just enough for today, get me through till tomorrow