Wordpress

I've been using www.dawnrosalie.com to point to my blog for a while now, since Kevin graciously set me up a domain with GoDaddy. But it's time to move on into my 27th year (my favorite number, by the way, since I was 7) with a new look and a new home on the web.

So please update your bookmarks. The domain www.dawnrosalie.com should now take you to my blog hosted at dawnrosalie.wordpress.com but in case you're not using dawnrosalie as your bookmark, you can click on these links to take you there.

Let me know what you think about the new layout. :)

Christology and Soteriology

I'm taking a 2-week intensive for Systematic Theology 2: Christology and Soteriology with Veli-Matti Karkainnen. If those terms are foreign to you, join the club. They were foreign to me too. Essentially, Christology is the study of Jesus' "Messiah-ness" and Soteriology is the study of how we are saved or atoned for by Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. If that still doesn't make sense, you can rest assured that scholars are coming out with the Global Dictionary of Theology soon.

This might sound dry, because we have to delve into the nuances of penal substitution, but it's a plethora of fascination I'm swimming in compared to Systematics 1: Theology and Anthropology wherein I kid you not, I read an entire book exegeting ONE word's appearance in the NT.

Post #299 holds in store for you 5 unrelated thoughts

1. Yup, I am on the downwardslide toward a miraculous 300 posts. I feel pretty impressive.

2. There are 15 days left until I get on a plane headed to Romania! I've got $775 left to raise by July 20th.

3. I'm going camping this weekend north of Ventura, south of Santa Barbara. They are forecasting a 30% chance of thunderstorms and I'm still bringing the fixings for s'mores. I'm excited!!

4. God is at work on my future in ways that leave me utterly grateful and utterly speechless.

5. I'm so impressed by the things that my college group is doing now. Still faithfully walking with God and serving in some amazing ways. We are talking doctors, lawyers, PhDs and such. I am not sure I'm living up to my promise yet, but I'm honored to be a part of such a stellar group.

I ain't settlin'

15 minutes left to throw me together
For mister right now, not mister forever
Don't know why I even try when I know how it ends
Lookin' like another maybe we could be friends
I've been leavin' it up to fate
It's my life so it's mine to make

I ain't settlin' just gettin' by
I've had enough so-so for the rest of my life
Tired of shootin' too low so raise the bar high.
So, I'm just not waiting up this time
I ain't settlin' for anything less than everything.

With some good red wine and my brand new shoes
Gonna dance a blue streak around my livin' room
Take a chance on love and try how it feels
With my heart wide open now you know I will
Find what it means to be the girl
Change her mind and change her world

I ain't settlin' just gettin' by
I've had enough so-so for the rest of my life
Tired of shootin' too low so raise the bar high.
So, I'm just not waiting up this time
I ain't settlin' for anything less than everything.

I ain't settlin' just gettin' by
I've had enough so-so for the rest of my life
Tired of shootin' too low so raise the bar high.
I'm just not waiting up this time

I ain't settlin' just gettin' by
I've had enough so-so for the rest of my life
Tired of shootin' too low so raise the bar high.
I ain't settlin' no, no, no, no, no, no….
So raise the bar high.

What Someone Wrote About the Dawning of a New Year

I will take whatever you give me
I will learn to be satisfied
I will fight for every table scrap
Heaven's table has to offer

I will look beyond my desires
I will crack the twisted code
I will see why I crave perversion
All in Your unknown timing

I will not know when it happens
Until it is before me
I will always be surprised
I will move beyond my control

I will be misled by non-believers
I will be misled by believers
I will be misled by myself
I will not be led by deception forever

My Spirit will leave breadcrumbs
Leading me back to the truth
Blessings will come when they may
Tragedy will strike when it may

Most importantly
I will see all of this as a test
I will strengthen my will
I will because You said so

You promised me everything and nothing
A lifelong relationship
To ease the soul and break the heart
A mystery right in front of my face

I will learn to enjoy crying for others
I will learn to hate laughing at others
I will rip open my heart
Bleeding with desperate sensitivity

I will quiver at the sight of You
I will run towards my fear of You
Your words will carry me through this life
My understanding will matter less and less

I will see Your gifts to me
I will learn how they are for others
I will fall in love with passion
I will break up with apathy

Safety will come in the form of divine risk
Fear will lead to heartfelt courage
Sex will be a privilege not an obsession
Pleasure will be guided by God's Word

My thoughts will be expressed to God
My thoughts will not have the last say
God's thoughts will slowly creep to me
I will feel weird when God talks to me

I will rarely say God talks to me
I will be careful not to confuse Him with me
I will move on instinct and pray for correction
I will put my trust into His words

Forgiveness will not be a mystery
My heart will look beyond the rage
He will strangle my childish ways
I will not always need lengthy explanations

I will see things I hate about others
I will learn to love them regardless
I will forgive for the sake of my soul
I will move beyond even these words

I will pray that everyone will do so as well

-Charles Bridgers

I'm taking ground

This past weekend I attended The Soul Restoration Project. I also volunteer-coordinated the Resource Table and led a small group. I was really encouraged by the turnout and that we took in enough funds to cover our expenses.

The best part of the conference for me was the final night. The session's topic was moving into the Father's house. This has always been an area where I have felt confusion and loss and God really moved in me, showing me some specific memories that needed to be healed and then showing me how what happened in those wounds was not what God, my true Father, intended. I got a beautiful picture of what God would have done in those situations if His perfect, tender love could have been present. It was powerful.

Since then, I have had just a much more satisfying lightness about me. I feel strong and able to move in the directions I want to move in. I feel confident in my abilities and confident that when I get to a place of desperation or anxiety, I know what to do to invite God into my stresses. It doesn't mean I won't ever feel lost again, but I am boldly stepping forward into dependency. Even though dependency on God is hard for me, I feel like it's the only way I will ever be able to move my heart's home into His house. And it feels like the right move.

I think it also set me up nicely for tonight's Experiment meeting where we are taking a pictorial timeline of our lives and looking at the good and the bad "critical incidents" that have shaped us so far. We are drawing symbols for the seasons of our lives and even though this can be gut-wrenching for me, I know that God will show me what to share how to look through His eyes at my story. I wouldn't say I'm exactly looking forward to it, but I'm confident that He will show up in the process.

The "Save as Draft" button

Well, it may seem like the blogging has slowed to a crawl, so if you're just dying to know what I've been thinking about, click on over to the Experiment blog and read that.

I actually have been blogging here on Blogspot, but I've been leaving a lot of posts as drafts. I'm not sure why, but nothing has felt as powerful or meaningful as I've wanted it to. Maybe I'm having a writing block, except it's a writing block that hasn't precluded me writing. It's just a writing block that has precluded my charisma or intelligence or coherence (or whatever) from coming out.

I hope the magic is still in there somewhere. Meanwhile, feel free to go elsewhere for informative, eye-opening and inspirational blogging. None will be available here.

It's not my fault.

That darn "Save as Draft" button is so tempting...

3 New Years Resolutions and 2 Quotes of the Day

Wow, that's quite a smorgasbord I've got for you tonight. Here goes...

"I'd better tell you where all my investment account passwords are, I've got one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel." -Mom

"She's not a liar, liars do it intentionally, she just has a pathological inability to face reality." -Dawn

New Years Resolutions
1. Run a marathon in 2007. (Half will suffice, but I'm shooting for a full one.)
2. Visit these 4 cities; Madrid, Venice, London and Paris.
3. Finish reading Ulysses.

Do you want God to restore your soul?

Join young adults seeking Jesus and His restoration of relationships and healing of the soul.

Experience creative worship, stories of transformed lives, teaching that inspires us go deeper, small group and prayer opportunities to help us process and connect with God.

Check it out at www.soulrestorationproject.org.

Contact Information:
Website: http://www.soulrestorationproject.org
Email address: mailto:info@soulrestorationproject.org

The Soul Restoration Project
PO Box 27451
Anaheim, CA 92809
Phone 714.991.2602

You've Got...Plants!

So, little known fact about me, I am an avid aquarist. Ever since seeing Chris' very stellar Nano-Cube when I started going to Life Group at his house, I wanted one. Nano's are amazing because the entire filtration system is in the back of the tank behind a built-in wall so you don't have any ugly filter sitting on top. Also, the lights are built into the hood which comes attached to the tank, so you don't have ugly light fixtures sticking out. And to top it off, all the cords from the filter, lights and ballast fit through holes in the hood and are hidden behind the stand. This makes the Nano a very sleek-looking operation and then you can store any miscellaneous meters or siphons or fish food in the cupboard door on the stand.

So after much lusting, in May Chris took me shopping and I finally got my very own 12 gallon Nano-Cube! It takes about 2-3 weeks after you set it up with sand, saltwater and rocks for the water and the organisms in the live sand to get "established". That means the nitrates and the salt levels are all kosher to support live fish. (I prefer my fish live, unless they're on my plate.)

And then I got Buddy. Buddy is a percula clownfish, and looks similar to Nemo from the movie. However, since Buddy lives with me in a spacious Nano-Cube condo, he does not require an anemone for symbiosis. I do notice however, that he mostly stays in one place in the tank, which is a characteristic of clownfish. When they are in a symbiotic relationship with a chosen anemone, some never go farther than 5 inches away from it for their entire lives. I made an addition a few months ago of some snails (I got 4, but one died).

Even more exciting is that today I got PLANTS! Chris gave me some pieces of his flora to start growing some plants in my tank. This should help keep my algae growth down. And this is significant because, while fish are the fun part of keeping an aquarium, you'll know truly dedicated aquarists by their excitement over rocks and plants. When I got my live rock, I was so excited I lost all interest in getting fish. Watching all the little organisms grow out of the rock was awesome. So I feel the same way about the plants. I can't wait for them to get hooked into the rocks and start growing away. They will keep the water cleaner (helpful for when I take trips away, like to New Orleans) and especially helpful with filtering all of Buddy's waste out of the tank. I am getting more diligent now in doing water changes, which also helps keep the water clearer. Overall, I do love saltwater for the lower maintenance. Basically, you're creating a mini-ocean that supports itself, as long as you keep screening enough fish wastewater out and putting enough fresh saltwater in.

I knew I was in love with my Nano the first time I turned off the TV because it was distracting me from watching Buddy swim around my tank.