my latest addiction...

Is BBC's show "The Vicar of Dibley". It's had me sitting in front of the computer all afternoon!

What's your favorite show? Any recommendations?

that I have conformed...

and got a DailyBooth account! See a daily snapshot of me and whatever I'm up to at Brookie's DailyBooth!.

I made Puppy Chow today for the first time. It turned out well- yay! The sweet chocolately, peanut buttery, powdered sugary goodness! With a little crunch. This snack is something that instantly makes me think "Christmas!" because I only have it at Christmastime. YUM!

So much fun

was had tonight! I went to a party at my Sunday School teacher's house where we ate and played Catchphrase. We girls DOMINATED! No matter what strategy the boys used, the girls won 85% of the time! I guessed at that statistic. It was well over 25-5, and that's not an exaggeration!

I love Catchphrase. Want to instantly get the party going? Divide it up boys and girls and play this game. At least at my church, we're wildly competitive when it's in good, clean fun. You'd think that the winner would have won a million dollars! Nope! We didn't even know that there were prizes! LOL

This was really just a quick post to let you all know that I'm having a wonderful break. Now to wrap presents!

Grace and peace,
Brookie

Making changes

around the blog, adding some new codes and widgets and such. this is a test post, but if you want to make me happy, you'll leave me a comment so I know that everything's working!

-Brookie

Brookie goes to college

and learns a lot more about the Bible and formulating a sermon and theological viewpoint than she ever thought possible in such a short time.
That being said, it has probably ruined my "listen to the sermon and agree with everything he says and think that he's making really good points and that there aren't any holes in his logic and his hermeneutics aren't totally off" days.

Good thing? Bad thing?

One final thought: it has definitely set a standard for me. I just can't go to a church where the preaching is sub-par. I have been spoiled!

Brookie passed Greek!

That's right, folks! I did more than pass, and that's totally a God thing! Thank you, Jesus, and thank you, Dr. Bryant.

One thing about school that has been troubling this semester has been how "liberal" the theology is that I've been learning. For instance, I learned in my Old Testament class that there were two authors to the book of Isaiah. Um, what? I spoke with the father of a dear friend, whose father is a biblical scholar, about this issue. His answer? "The whole point of Isaiah is that this has not happened yet. It's that God is saying 'This won't happen for another 500 years, but I'm God and I'm telling you what will happen.'"
Isaiah's prophesy shows us that God knows the future. It reveals to us more of God's character. It also gives us hope. Some would say that the prophesies refer to Hezekiah's son, but Christian thought for centuries attributed these prophesies to Christ and his birth.

So where does this leave me? Well, I'll probably be looking for a conservative seminary to attend. Other than that, I'll eat the fish and leave the bones when it comes to my required religion classes. I'll keep some knowledgeable, trusted biblical scholars and leaders on my speed dial and talk to them about things that I am having trouble with. Above all, I'm going to continue to trust Jesus and rely on Him, and remember that all He asks of me is to love him.

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah 6:8 NRSV

In Christ alone,
Brookie

I know that I said...

that I wouldn't talk about or think about theology, BUT
it REALLY, REALLY bugs me when people start making theological assumptions and use those assumptions to judge that someone is sinning IF THAT PERSON has no formal study in the original Biblical languages or in Christian Doctrines in general.

Seriously.

This is a "Brookie is very upset that people are judging other people and putting words in Jesus' mouth and calling it blasphemy if you don't subscribe to their views" post. I don't really blog angry often, but here we go. A first for everything.


Please, people. Before you get your panties in a wad over a "revelation" that you had, please just do some research. And don't you dare call me a sinner if I get married and work outside the home.

Where is my joy?

I used to have such joy. Then I came to college.
I think that my problem is that in high school, I was comfortable where I was and with what few friends I had for the most part. Now that I'm here, I think I'm preoccupied with making new friends and fitting in.
I was not born to fit in, people. I have never fit in. In high school I was The Conservative One. I've loosened up in college, at least as far as how I relax, but I wonder if I've lost some of myself in doing so. Have I compromised my inner Brooklynn by not being the "prude" that I once was? Am I losing myself? Has that taken away my joy?

Am I ashamed of Jesus? Am I ashamed of the radical way that the Lord has changed my life and saved me? Is my fear of getting "in your face" keeping me from celebrating the new life that I have in Christ? In order to make new friends and be "user-friendly", am I forsaking the joy that I found in Jesus?


Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's not worth it. Whatever it is that I'm doing, I'm definitely doing it wrong. I love Jesus, I'm forever grateful for His work in my life, and because of His death and resurrection, His love, I am saved.

I can not be silent.

-Brookie

Journaling

is probably the best way for me to think these days. I mean, I love to just think in my head, or blog (which is different for me than journaling), and I love talking to my friends. But something about writing words down, forcing myself to think slower so that I can write everything down in a coherent sentence works for me. It calms me down, gets those crazy rushing thoughts out of my head. Do this! Do That! Process this! Learn that!
It's all so much easier when I actually write it down.
Needless to say, this is NOT the end of my blogging career. I have blogged since 8th grade. And I blogged through my freshman year of high school and managed to keep a paper journal, too. Something about those paper journals just help me to make transitions, I guess. I'm not going to analyze myself, though. I am trying to simply, and that includes not analyzing myself, my actions, anyone or their actions for a while (which is sometimes just judgment in disguise when you think about it!).

So if you see me around campus or in my room, writing away in a spiral notebook like my life depends on it (and it does!) have no fear. It's not a plot to take over the world, it's just the girl who thinks, thinking it all out. Feel free to stop me and ask me what I'm writing about. It's a better conversation starter than "how are you?" and I can promise you that if you ask me what I journaled about last night I'll be more honest than my standard "good, you?"

With a note of finality, I say to you- my dear, sweet, precious few followers (and possibly those who I don't know who are following me! Hello!),
God's peace be always with you.
-Brookie

P.S. I never read over and edit my posts. Here's to hoping that when I press "publish", it's something worth publishing! Anyone else just type and submit?

That Theology...

is a little to much for me right now.
Don't misunderstand me. I love God. I love talking about God. I love trying to find out the ins and outs of what's Biblically sound, what's sound doctrine and what isn't, but I have reached a point where I can't think about all of those differences anymore. I feel like I've found out that there are so many different points at which doctrine splits entirely, and indeed form two different faith systems. I don't know which is right. All I can rely on is God, that He will guide me along what is true and what isn't.
But now I've gotten so busy with school and friends (shock!) that I have neglected my relationship with God. Typical- neglect the One who delivered me safely thus far, who loves me unconditionally, and who made the ultimate sacrifice for me. The One whose heart hurts for me when I fall away from Him, who is hurt by my sin, whose heart aches for me when I ache.
That wasn't very loving me of, was it? And that's all that God requires of me.
Consider this my official notice of sabbatical. I am taking a break from any outside influence on my relationship between me and God. I am going to start rebuilding my relationship with my Abba, one step at a time. First step? Saying sorry.
Next step? Love.

I'll keep y'all updated. I know you're hanging on my every word (not!)

-Brookie

That Thanksgiving...

this year was full of good things. Such as:
-screaming children
-happy children
-LITTLE COUSINS!
-baby nieces (and by baby I mean toddler. I feel so old!)
-family. Notice the theme? ^
-rest and relaxation. Although I got little this weekend. But that's okay, I don't have much school left until Christmas break and I can recover from my mental exhaustion then. I will have a HUGE "End-of-Greek" party. You are ALL invited.
-NO MORE PINK EYE! THANK YOU LORD JESUS ON HIGH! Those eye drops nicked it in the bud on the first day but it's nice to be able to wear contacts AND those eye drops would make a really bad taste in my mouth (something about them somehow leaking into my sinus cavity and draining? Nasty to experience and explain.)
-FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD! HOT SAUSAGE AND MUSTARD! (NAME THAT MUSICAL FOR BONUS POINTS!) haha. The food was great. As usual, mom griped about how much cooking she did because she wouldn't let me do most of it. I did make the fruit salad, all three of the pies (from scratch! No pre-made pie crusts for MY apple pie!), cut the veggies for the dressing, de-boned the chicken for similar purposes, and... that's it?
-FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT! Okay, so it has nothing to do with Thanksgiving. But it's still the FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, FOOLS!

And, as always, Thanksgiving brought a brief respite from school. Now the cramming begins!

I wanted to close this out with a funny youtube video, but nothing came to mind. I'll think of one my family loves and post it later.

-Brookie

Orchestra

is difficult. Not necessarily the music, but actually being there. For chicks like me with "a problem that I'm not going to name but will refer you for another doctor for", it's a painful experience. (Speaking of painful experiences, my chin has healed up. Yay!)

FIRST
Physically speaking, playing the violin can be a painful experience. We all know that when Brookie gets into a painful situation, she gets frustrated and annoyed. Not good!


SECOND
I feel like the director and I don't communicate well. Scratch that, I think that he doesn't communicate well with us. "Shh!" can only carry so many meanings, and when I'm sitting in a chair, trying to focus on playing Haydn, I can't also try to READ YOUR MIND. "Use your words like a big boy clone!" (NAME THAT MOVIE!)


THIRD
Rehearsals are long. I'm used to long rehearsals for theatre events, but not orchestra (at least, I'm used to sitting there that long rehearsing, but not twice a week).
It's a large chunk of time, and for someone with the previous problems that I listed, it's exhausting. And I could get a job and make more money than the music scholarship given men to sit there. I don't even LIKE orchestra that much, do I? Or am I so blinded my my annoyance with this situation that I am projecting it onto orchestra in general?

AND SO
I spoke to my piano teacher yesterday during our lesson and told her pretty much what I just said up there. I was nearly reduced to tears because she listened. Definitely not used to adults listening to me, even if I'm an adult also. She recommended that I speak to the director of the music program here and that we can try to work something out. She said that even though it's not documented yet (WHICH IS THE BANE OF MY EXISTENCE, PEOPLE! Please just give me a diagnosis so I can say I have "this" instead of "A lot of things that sound like random complaints") we can probably work something out that doesn't include orchestra. Also, she recommended that I speak to the orchestra director and tell him what's going on and see if we can't work out something like letting me get up and move from time to time during the rehearsal and see if that doesn't help.


More than anything, this is just a bunch of angst. I have gotten so frustrated with this whole situation, I'm just ready to see if crash and burn. If not for the fact that I probably couldn't get or afford the private lessons that I want to take at school without the music scholarship that I have, I would quit altogether. And for those of you who know me, that's a big deal... because Brookie doesn't just give up. I plug at it until the job is done, but in this case I'm about near a breaking point. So please, pray for me! And if I fall apart, please help me pull myself together.

God's Peace,
Brookie

EMERGENCY POST, will be deleted later on.

Emergency post no longer necessary, everything has been worked out. Thank you for your prayers!

I have a problem

climbing up stairs. Really. I can't do it without tripping, it seems, and my problem has landed me at the doctor's office (PUN!).

What broke my fall, you might ask? Well, dear reader, nothing other than my chin. Click on "my chin" for the picture of the incredible bruise that I got. That battle wound story is almost lamer than the time I dislocated my knee (sitting in a chair. Yes. I know. get the laughter out now.)

Wish me luck in my future stair climbing endeavors! Also, wish me luck in writing a blog post about something other than seriously injuring myself. (You can laugh there. I certainly am!)

God's peace,
Brookie

The Greek Language

and I don't get along well. I am just not understanding it quickly enough and my frustration has resulted in a repugnance for the class, thus a lack of studying/studying at the last minute which leads to a lack of understanding. It's a terrible circle.

In other news, college is going well in every other class. I hate orchestra but what can I do? I'm stuck with it for a year and I'll see what I can do with my scholarship package to do something else. Right now I'm a music minor but we'll have to see if I can still do that without orchestra. It remains to be seen whether I can quit. However, I am LOVING my private piano lesson so there you go.

I haven't really gotten anywhere with getting my chronic pain problems resolved, I think that at this point a heating pad and less time at the keyboard are going to help me out. I know that when my feet or hands get cold they really hurt, so as long as I keep them warm there's not much of a problem. My gimp knee has been really loose lately; a sign that I need to hit the gym.

I've found myself a home at the local Episcopal church. If you had told me this 6 months ago, I would have laughed in your face. But now I can't imagine anywhere I'd rather be.


Signing out for now to eventually study Greek,
Brookie.