win win winner!

First things first, thank you ALL for entering my first ever giveaway! The odds were definitely in your favor. I sincerely appreciate all of your wonderful comments and for taking the time to check out my blog.

And the winner is....lucky #3 Nicole. Congrats! Email your address to cupcake4moose@gmail.com to receive your super fantastic Sara Groves cd. Did you see her when she was at Huntington? I hope you love her as much as I do! If you don't, you will. Trust me.

Please, stay tuned. I will be having more giveaways as funds and time permit. I am thinking of having a photo or jewelry giveaway. I would love to sell on etsy. I thought it would be fun to give away some items before jumping into the etsy market place as a seller instead of just a buyer.


Since we are on a music kick, the new David Crowder Band cd came out yesterday, Church Music. Oh dang, this is not your grammy's church music. I love hymns and even Elvis' gospel tunes (reminds me of listening to my grandma's records when I was little), but this is polar opposite. I'm pretty much thrilled about this album. Originally, I wanted it for the song, How He Loves. It's one of the most beautiful love songs I have ever heard.

David Crowder Band, How He Loves excerpt:

We are His portion and He is our prize
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes
If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking
Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets
When I think about, the way…
He loves us,
Oh, how He loves us

This song was written by John Mark McMillan in 2005. I am sure the "original" is fantastic. This, however, is the first version I have heard. I don't know music terms. I just don't. You would have to ask Mr. Schalk for all things musically technical. But I know what sounds good. And David Crowder Band sounds good, especially on this song. The guitar, the build up, the evident heart tugging Spirit fed sincerity of his voice. Blows me away. My heart is open and thrilled to serve a risen Lord, a living Jesus, a sweet powerful amazing Father.

Of all the things swirling through my head today, I am feeling a bit reflective. I have been thinking a lot about a conversation our small group had last night. It was after we watched a Rob Bell, Nooma dvd called Tomato. The topic: life and death. The premise: Living things die so others can continue to live. Did you know that food is the most nutritious right after it's been harvested? Tomatoes right when they are picked are the best for you. Right when they die. It's odd to realize that fruit and vegetables were living at one point. We harvest them for our nutrition. They die for our life. The things that are the most nutritious for us are those that were living at one point. His example, was that a twinkie does not offer much on the nutrition scale because it was never alive.

This all comes around to the verse found in Luke 9:23-25. Jesus says to his disciples,

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?"

We must deny ourselves to find our true freedom in Christ. How much is what I say to impress others? Or at the very least, to appear special or intelligent or funny or better. Christ is working on me. He needed me to hear this, to reflect to be changed. In fact, I saw this dvd twice in one week. Not by choice, but by purpose. God's purpose.

What does it mean to be vulnerable? To be exactly who God made me? Nothing more (boasting) and nothing less (denying my purpose)? It cannot be answered in one evening's post, but it can be thought about.

A purpose of this blog is for me to keep a journal. I don't expect others to find all of this interesting, but readers are just an added bonus.