Merry Christmas!

It's been a really fun Christmas with the Townsley clan this year. This is my favorite picture from the past 24hours... fun with the cousins. :) That's my sister's kids, Nathan and Shelby, being silly with Mackenzie and Anna. I hope everyone out there had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends!

And hey!... can you believe we actually had some snow flurries today? Wow!

What a nice Christmas gift! :)

Gross

So tonight hasn't really gone as I planned earlier in the week. I was supposed to be out on an anniversary date with my hubby having a nice dinner at Rosies.... BUT, I woke up with what I'm calling a "Christmas cold" -- you know, the headcold that attacks you when you've been doing too much, you're too stressed, and you finally just get taken over by the stuffy nose, sore thoat, hacking cough thing. :(

Anyways, so instead of being out on the town, I was calling Jack talking to him about what to pick up for dinner at Walmart on his way home. :) Oh, and by the way, while he was there I asked him to get some super duper, high powered Drano to pour down the girl's clogged bathroom sinks and tub upstairs. They'd been complaining about standing water.... well.... I had no idea what we were in for. Jack came home with this stuff called "Roto Rooter" and a neat little device called the Zip-It Drain Cleaning Tool.

Now, normally, I would just not incriminate myself by showing the extent to which things can get disgustingly dirty in my house, but I don't know, I just had to share this. You really have no idea what can be hiding in your drains! Jack used the Zip-It on Mackenzie's sink and the stuff that came out was pretty nasty... but it was nothing compared to what happened when he stuck that thing down the bathtub drain and started pulling stuff out. Oh my goodness....

As Jack said, it looks like we drug a dead, very long-haired, rat out of the drain! It's amazing to me that any water at all was draining through that. So there you go -- you can just call this 'confessions of a usually pretty clean person.' I'm embarassed to admit this was the state of the drains in my house, but at least it's all clean now!

So I'm sorry for grossing everyone out, but hey, this is a great product endorsement for the Zip-It -- seriously -- Jack got it for about $2.00 at Walmart and it works great! (We also used the Roto Rooter stuff, too - just for good measure!) So now, you too, can have clean drains for cheap! Just make sure you eat BEFORE you start cleaning out your drains - yuck!

Beautiful Ending

I’ve been thinking about this for a little while now, I guess ever since a couple of weeks ago when I was driving home from church after our last Wed. night class at church on Ezekiel. I got in the car and turned on the radio and this song by Barlow Girl came on:

Beautiful Ending

Oh, tragedy
Has taken so many
Love lost cause they all
Forgot who You were
And it scares me to think
That I would choose
My life over You
Oh, my selfish heart
Divides me from You
It tears us apart

So tell me
What is our ending?
Will it be beautiful
So beautiful?

Oh, why do I
Let myself let go
Of Hands that painted the stars
And hold tears that fall?
And the pride of my heart
Makes me forget
It's not me but You
Who makes the heart beat
I'm lost without You
And dying from me

So tell me
What is our ending?
Will it be beautiful
So beautiful?

Will my life
Find me by Your side?
Your love is beautiful
So beautiful

At the end of it all
I wanna be in Your arms
At the end of it all
I wanna be in Your arms
At the end of it all
I wanna be in Your arms
At the end of it all
I wanna be in Your arms

So tell me
What is our ending?
Will it be beautiful
So beautiful?
Will my life
Find me by Your side?
'Cause Your love is beautiful
So beautiful

The song resonated with me that night because I listened to if for the first time from the perspective of Ezekiel and Daniel. I’ve learned a lot studying both of these prophets over the past several weeks, looking at their lives and the times that they lived in. And the song starts out, “Oh tragedy, has taken so many… love lost cause they all forgot who You were.” I think both Ezekiel and Daniel could have penned those words of lament as they considered the people of their time and their circumstances. The Israelites were in exile under the Babylonians because of their utter unfaithfulness to God and the future held nothing but continuing conquests and further destruction. Ezekiel describes it this way:

"I will display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them. From that day forward the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God. And the nations will know that the people of Israel went into exile for their sin, because they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their offenses, and I hid my face from them. (Ezk 39)

This sort-of gives new meaning for me to the verse “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb. 10:31) Sorry, I really don’t mean to be all doom and gloom here, but it is sobering to consider the judgement of God – and it makes me all the more grateful for what I’m about to get to here.

As I’ve said before, I’ve also been involved in a 12-week Beth Moore study on the book of Daniel. This has been mind-blowing for me. If you’ve never done a study like this, I HIGHLY recommend taking whatever opportunity you might have to do it. For me, it was with a group of ladies that I’ve gotten to know from the middle school and it’s been such a good experience. :)

Anyways, back to Daniel. I wonder, if he had heard this song from Barlow Girl (ha) as he walked the streets of Babylon and considered the fate of the Jewish exiles there, if he would have wondered to himself, “What will our ending be? Will it be beautiful?” There was so much against Daniel, so much pressure to conform to the new culture of decadence all around him – lots of temptation to comfort, riches, power, pleasure. What helped him maintain his integrity and faith? I get a clue from this verse:

"Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them." (Dan 10:12)

His mind was set on the things of God and he was humble and surrendered to God’s will. That stands in contrast to this verse in the song:

“And the pride of my heart makes me forget
It's not me but You who makes the heart beat
I'm lost without You and dying from me”

I think Daniel probably watched, over the years, as the Jews in exile around him succumbed to the pride of their own hearts – certainly he prophesied to the pagan kings he served under and told of their demise due to this very sin. He truly saw so much tragedy…
I think at the end of the day, at the end of his life, he longed for a ‘beautiful ending.’ Here are some words of encouragement that I see at the end of Daniel:

"I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, "My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?" He replied, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand…. "As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance." (Dan 12:8-13)

What a blessing for Daniel to hear those words at the close of his life. He knew what his ending was going to be – and it was going to be beautiful.

I’ve been listening to this song for a while now and there are so many good questions in it. For someone like me who has too many times chosen my selfish heart over God, dividing us and tearing us apart; has let go of the hands that painted the starts and held (my) tears that have fallen; has allowed the pride of my heart to make me forget that it’s God, not me, that makes my heart beat, that I’m lost without Him… well, what can I say? It’s almost hard to ask the last question: “So tell me, what is our ending… Will it be beautiful?” Thankfully, and only because of the love and grace of God, I know that it can be. Boy do I wish at times that I could have an angel, like Daniel did, come and tell me that in the end I will rest and receive my allotted inheritance. But I do have the assurance of God’s word that says, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus… For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8)

“And at the end of it all, I want to be in your arms….” What a beautiful ending. :)

Unexpected!

Two things that I really didn't expect to happen today...

!! SNOW !!

And Alabama ran away with the SEC Championship against #1 Florida!! 32 - 13.

I thought we had a chance of beating them, but I just didn't expect it to go the way it did. But WHAT an exciting game!! I can't remember having that much fun watching a game since, probably, the New England Patriots won the Superbowl back in 2002 (I think that date is right!)

Anyways, it's been a fun day. Snow, the Christmas Parade downtown, football game with family and friends. Here was an 'intense' moment: :)

Now as I sit here watching Texas and Nebraska play, I'm wondering who our opponent will be for the National Championship game... any way it goes, I'm just excited Alabama gets to be in it!! Woohoo!! :)