Uncommon

Good morning, Sunshines!!!

It's a lovely Saturday morning and I've got a lot of stuff on my plate today :)

Let's start off with this little love of my life. No, not Jamie. This little lady:

I love it when she comes sprinting towards me when I go outside! She loves her frolics in our big o' backyard.

Here's what I look like bright and early in the AM. Eat your heart out, boys and girls:
Yeesh-a-meesh! Jamie is a good man to stick around with me after seeing that I look like this in the morning. Naw. He's an AMAZING man! Love my James. He's at a golf tourney with one of his customers that he really likes. He woke up early and got all dressed up and cute and "golfy". I'm gonna miss him today, but I've got a lot to do. So it's all good!

Let's back up.

I went outside this morning to hang out with the pooch before it gets above 90* today. I brought out her new treats outside to take pics of them because I've learned along the years that using natural light for pictures works best :) That's about all I learned from my photographer parents.

Here's Leia checking out her goods:
Treat #1: Sweet potato and fish treats. Yummers!
She ate one of those last night and patted it around for a little bit. Licked it. Sniffed it. Nosed it around. And then finally ate it. I think she sensed that it was a healthy snack. She's just like her daddy. Healthy? No, thank you.

Treat #2: Weight control organic pea treats. They're heart-shaped too!
She liked these a lot! Our vet says she needs to lose about 2 pounds. So we're gettin' this little lady in shape!

Treat #3: Mint flavored raw hides.
She LOVES raw hides! She LOVES bones! She has since she was a baby! And I'm glad she likes them because when she's being a stinkin' pest, we give her one of these, and she's busy for a while :) Heh heh heh! Plus, these bad boys are mint flavored, which will hopefully tame her dog breath. Yuck. Can't be any worse than my morning breath right now. Double-Yuck!

Dying to get into one of those treats!!!

Uncommon

Jamie's parents got him this book for Christmas...or his Birthday...or something. I don't remember. But they got it for him.
Uncommon by Tony Dungy. It's a book about finding your significance in life and being uncommon in a common world. I'm pretty sure it's targeted more towards men, but I've read a couple chapters and it's a truly wonderful book that is applicable to men or women. Mr. Dungy was the head coach for the Indianapolis Colts and lead them to a Super Bowl victory in 2007. (I had to look all that up by the way because I don't particularly care about sports...)

Anyhoo, this book is great! Let me tell you the last few words he writes in the introduction:

• "My football coach at the University of Minnesota, Cal Stoll, often told us, 'Success is uncommon, therefore not to be enjoyed the by common man. I'm looking for uncommon people.' That should be true for the rest of us as well. Over the next few pages, I hope we can figure out what it means to be a man. A true man, one who is uncommon."

He goes into greater detail throughout the pages that I've read that an uncommon man is one who follows Christ and not the crowd. An uncommon man doesn't follow wealth, fame, women and other stuff. An uncommon man follows a narrow path to significance--"a path characterized by attitudes, ambitions and allegiances that are all too rare but uncommonly rewarding."

I love this book already, because it's is so applicable for all Christians to follow this way of thinking. My dad told me a few weeks ago, after the soldiers found and killed Osama bin Laden, that it's a good thing that I felt uneasy and uncomfortable that America was celebrating in the streets after his death. It didn't settle well with me. Yes, Osama bin Laden was a horrible horrible man (to put it in light terms), but we should NEVER rejoice in someone's death. Especially when that person will spend eternity in hell! He has always told me that if we are thinking differently than the world, then we're probably on the right page with the Lord. As Christians we need to have a different mindset than the rest of the world. We need to be uncommon and set apart.

This book has reminded me of a Lecrae song. Most of you know by now my obsession with Christian rap, particularly Lecrae. I love his passion to share his story, and his powerful lyrics and his love of Christ! 2 albums ago, he came out with Rebel. It's a great album with some awesome songs (and great beats as well). His title song, Rebel, talks about being a Rebel in the world. Everyone thinks that a rebel is one who is sexually immoral. One of smokes and drinks and cheats on their spouse. A rebel, according to society is one who swears and gossips. But in the Christian world, a rebel should be one who rises above the worldly standards! Christians should rebel against the world! Get in the Word! Feed your heart and your mind with Scripture and learn how to rebel against this crazy world we live in. I'm preaching to myself here. I desperately need to get in the Word and feed my heart and mind more seriously!

Friends. Christians. My dear sisters and brothers. We NEED to be uncommon in a common world. We NEED to rebel against society. Let's band together as believers and rebel against the common actions of this world. Can we do it? I know we can!

I love ya'll and pray that you have a fantastic Saturday!

Enjoy the Lecrae song, Rebel: