Shut Cho Mouf!

(That is ghetto for "shut your mouth")

Before we get to my really classy title, on to more important things.

Like the google picture this morning!!! I cannot express to you my utter joy and excitement when I saw this. For those of you who know me, you know my obsession with The Wizard of Oz and more recently, Wicked the musical. If you share my love for the Emerald City, you'll most certainly love the Google picture as well. Enjoy!

In other news, my stupid tummo is not feeling well...at all. I was interrupted by a really spectacular dream last night to this awful stomey ache. You wanna know what my dream was? Of course you do! I had a dream that I was popular!!! I dreamed that I was the cool kid, the star of the show, the girl everyone wanted to hang out with, the trend setter, the funny girl, the best dancer and singer in the show, the girl every guy wanted to date, the girl who could pull off skinny jeans and feathered head bands....oh yeah. And then my dumb tummy woke me back up to reality. How unfortunate! And then I thought to myself, this isn't fair! I'm waking up from a really spectacular dream because I feel throw-up-ish?! Whatever. I loved college and all, but it was tough. Really tough. I loved my dream so much because that wasn't how college was for me. I was kinda quiet and very safe. I didn't drink. I didn't sleep around. I didn't really date. I didn't go to the bars. I wasn't the flirt whom all the guys were fighting for...even though I bet they secretly wanted to!! Okay...not really. But anyway, I was set apart from what people call "popular" and I'm really okay with that, even though I wasn't okay with it in college. To be perfectly honest, sometimes I think back and wonder if I'd do things differently. I bet if I dated more and drank like a fish and was a little more flirty and outgoing, college would have been a lot more fun! Here me now. I am not judging those who chose to drink and date a lot and act flirty. That was just not my thing. And there's nothing wrong with those things. All of this jibber jabbering to say...I like who I am. God protected my heart in my dating experiences. I've had 2 real boyfriends and I grew so much from both relationships with zero regrets and I am thankful for that. I chose not to drink, because I didn't like the taste, and I'd quite honestly rather eat my calories than drink them. Plus, I was highly involved in my church and other Christian settings and didn't want to falter in my witness to my friends. Anyhoo. My dream was stellar and very fun! That's why we dream. To live out of our reality :)

SHUT CHO MOUF!

I bet when you are talking about other people, you claim to just be networking as well, right? Funny picture, huh? Last weekend in Sunday School, my dad touched a little bit on slander. The definition of slander is: a malicious, false, and defamatory statement or report. In other words, slander is gossip, and we're all guilty of it! I just wanted to tell you a few notes that I wrote down from his talk, because we all need to be reminded to shut our mouths every once in a while. So here are a few notes from his talk that really stuck out to me:

*Be slow to speak

*Our speech reveals our hearts

*Our speech can defile us

*You can't slander and be humble at the same time

*Satan's job is to slander. Let's not do his work for him. When you are slandering someone, you are fulfilling the role of Satan.

*There's only 1 righteous judge who is our Heavenly Father...judgment is not our job and it never will be. "Do not judge so that you will not be judged." --Matthew 7:1

*When you slander someone you are bringing condemnation upon yourself.

*Think of risk and reward: There's no risk or reward in slander. God is glorified in obedience to Him. You may lose a friend, but you must go straight to the sinner if you witness sin in their life. The risk is losing a friend. The reward is glorifying God.

*"Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there an engage in business and make a profit.' Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor what appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.' But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin." James 4:10-17

Of course he spoke about more than just gossip and slander, but that part of his talk just really stuck out in my mind. How many of you gossip? (All hands are raised.) How many of you have been on the other end of gossip? (Most hands are raised.) It stinks, doesn't it? It's not fun to be talked about and ridiculed behind your back. But do you realize how tough it is to stop the gossip and to not talk about other people? Right after my dad's talk, I had remembered I wanted to tell my family something that I had heard through the great vine (or is it the grape vine?). And it took a true act of God not to talk about that one thing! Let's be honest. We're all human, and we all make mistakes. But we're better off sitting there silently or only discussing the weather and carpet color with our friends and family rather than slander our brother and sister in Christ. Just remember whose job it is to slander. Satan's. Also remember who is the one, true, righteous judge. Jesus Christ.

My last year at kamp, our counselors taught us about Code 429. If you were in Equipo 20, you'll remember this! Code 429 is from Ephesians 4:29 that says, "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the movement, so that it will give grace to those who hear." So before you are about to gossip, say to yourself CODE 429!!!! Memorize that verse and keep it in your heart forever. You'll be a better and nicer person. But more importantly, you'll bring glory to God. Which means more to you? It's worth thinking about.

I hope your Thursday is treating you terrifically! I like to think of Thirsday Thursday, so go get something that you thirst for :) Treat yourself to a Sonic beverage or a $10 coffee from Starbucks or a bubble tea or even a fancy bottled water! I love you dearly and pray you have a fantabulous day!!