something my professor said

"A religion that challenges the culture of a people is not a good religion."


This was said praising the Catholic church for conforming to Hinduism in India. In other words... our culture should dictate our religion.


Here is an example my professor even gave.
The garland of flowers most commonly used in
Hindu worship on the statue of a saint.



Oh. He has it so wrong.

A religion, Christianity, should challenge our culture.  If we aren't challenging those around us, even other Christians, then we are conforming too much. Our religion should not be dictated by society, by culture, but the other way around.

From my own experience in India Christians look way different. Indian culture is Hinduism and vise versa. Christians turn their backs on everything. What they eat, what flowers they wear, what holidays they participate in, names they name their children...and on and on. 

His statement was a challenge to me. Not in a bad way.

 It made me think. In my words I totally disagree with his statement but in my actions...? Where do I let the mainstream American do-it-myself I-don't-need-help materialistic etc. culture dictate how I walk with Christ?

So, Professor, if you were trying to make me back down on my faith. I am not sorry to say you have made me do the opposite.

Anyway, I don't mean to tear anyone down or raise myself up but it's been on my mind and I thought I'd share.

In Christ
~Michelle

How I do homework

1. procrastinate until the night before
2. check facebook
3. Check email
4. start researching 
5. repeat 2 and 3
6. start typing
7. research some more
8. repeat 2 and 3
9. check blogs
10. type some more
11. get a snack
12. make some tea
13. type a bit more
14. admire my accomplishment and reward self by:
15. repeating 2, 3, 9 and 11
16. check out a few cool videos on youtube
17. look at the time and get extremely frustrated
18. turn off my Internet connection
19. smile smugly at the Internet ..."aha! you can tempt me no longer!"
20. type with satisfaction
21. laugh at my stupidity and just turn the Internet back on
22. blog about it :)
23. repeat 9-17
24. stay up until 1:00 am to finish the paper

I wonder how much time I could save if I went somewhere where I couldn't get any Internet connection...
Eh. I don't want to try it. :)

college life.

In Christ
~Michelle

night with the girls

Last Friday night a group of us went out to eat at Biaggi's and then we went ice skating followed by hot tubbing. :)
It was much needed.

Kristin, Kendra, Wendi, me



Ice skating :)


So, since I was in figure skating at U of I, I had a lot of fun attempting to show them how to do some of the moves.  I don't think they learned much because a. I'm not a very good teacher and b. I spent most of my time flat on the ice.

 The evening was beautiful so Kristen took us out for a drive around town in her convertible. We are such rebels. :)

riding in the back seat

After our cruse around town, we got to sit and relax in a wonderfully warm hot tub. It was maybe a bit too hot for the warm weather but It was great anyway.

I don't know how much more we could have packed into one evening. :)

 In Christ

~Michelle

Katie and Reilly

Sunday, another one of my really good friends got married. 

Katie and Reilly

 It was beautiful wedding as usual. The bride and bridesmaids were adorable. I worked at the reception and practiced my wonderful coffee pouring skills as well as my ability to squeese around tables and chairs with out dumping coffee all over. It really is an art. :)

 All of us old high school friends were finally together in one place. It's sad that it takes a wedding to do that.

Even though I've gotten more used to friends getting married it's still really weird to think that any of us are old enough. Seriously, I feel like a kid and I probably act like one quite often. ;)

Down to five ...

Joy, Katy, Emily, Katie, Haley, me

So, I will be spending even more time gallivanting around visiting all of my married friends and probably going to a lot more weddings. Such is life, right? :)

In Christ
~Michelle

Pi Day

3.14...Today is Pi day! 

In observance of this holiday I made a pie.

Peach Cream Pie :) 

Any excuse to eat pie is a wonderful excuse.
I love Pi day.

In Christ
~Michelle

Dear Motivation,

Where have you gone?

Alas! I miss you. 
Why must you go when ever the sun is shining? and even when it is not? 
Three days. Tis all that is left.
Can't you hold out until then?
Just two more tests, one more paper, one interview, and a project and you'll be free to leave me for a week.

Sincerely,
 Your friend Michelle
       ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All the work that is before me and yet I am left to plod through the remains of this week alone.
Because, my motivation has left for spring break.


So, in the place of doing my homework work I have chosen to blog about my lost motivation and sigh in its absence.


In Christ
~Michelle

Ah, Spring

I love this weather.

I am back on the front stoop of the apartment doing home work and sipping lemonade. Yay :)

:)

Just this crazy week :P and then Spring Break!!!

In Christ
~Michelle

It seems so long ago

Seven years ago today I turned my life over to Christ.

I was 13.

So much has changed in my life. So much is new.
There have been really hard times and truly beautiful times. I think one of the things that I have learned over and over again is that when you are truly trusting in God the hardest times are the most beautiful.

Philippians 1:6
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."

I want to say thank you . To all of you who have supported me and gave me strength through your testimonies of faith. There is a reason for family, there is a reason for the church body, and there is a reason God gave me this family and that He gave me this church.

In Christ
~Michelle

Virus

So, my trusty laptop caught a virus yesterday. 

I had just gotten on to the computer and I was looking something up on google maps when suddenly....everything just shut down. I couldn't open any file and I couldn't open the internet.

 So after freaking out a lot and calling my dad almost in tears (because I had a ton of homework that I couldn't access any more). I decided to contact the University's computer help desk.

I used my roommates laptop and chatted with one of the computer guys. I have never felt so computer illiterate before. He asked me all sorts of questions that I had to answer with "...I think" or "what does that mean?"
Anyway,  he concluded that I had an anti-virus.  Don't ask me what that means, I still don't really know. And, he told me to go in and pick up a virus cleaner disc.

This morning I woke up early and drove to the Digital Computer Lab just in time for it to open. I had to call the help desk to figure out how to 'boot up' as the disk instead of Windows. I finally scanned my computer, which took a total of 3 hours, and it didn't find anything. So, I called the help desk. They told me I should down load two different virus scanners.

 So after I got back from class, called the help desk again, left for volunteering, called the help desk again, used my roommates laptop to download these scanners from her internet onto my flash drive which I transferred onto my computer, and then called the help desk again...I was kind of going crazy.

The poor help desk guys...I bet they were sitting around drawing straws to see who had to talk to me next. By the end of the whole thing I knew all of their names. There was J.D, Jake, Michael, Dan, and Josh. 
I bet its not everyday that they get a someone hyperventilating with excitement that "OH. Wait....those thingies on the side of my computer...they came back! Does that mean it's fixed?!...(a moment of holding my breath) eeee....My internet works!"

Anyway. Long story short, my computer is back in business. :)

In Christ
~Michelle