Funny Pictures For A Hectic Week

Hello! Welcome to the Smith family funny picture collage. It might be funny, interesting or just disturbing to a non-Smith (i.e. someone not capable of understanding our highly intelligent humor), but nonetheless hopefully you'll come back to this blog no matter what you see.  

Look! I already have one individual who loves this post!

 The integrity of her vote might be compromised due to her feline roots, but a vote is a vote no matter who you are (note: don't hold me to this when it comes to election day). Although she might not be the best supporter of this post...

She has been known to terrorize other voters who do not agree with her views, as is seen in the picture above. The dog was embarrassed by this post...

Although it isn't surprising that the said canine was not a fan of the post...she is not the brightest bulb in the shop and has the reputation of only knowing about one subject... herself. She  has been spotted more that once staring, for hours, at herself in the car door (she feels her best features are her ears).

 This girl could care less about this post right now... she thought it would be a wonderful idea to get a look inside of an alligator's mouth; she's striving to be a dentist after all, although such a decision may not be an issue in the future...

Here is the first  random picture.... I learned from a reliable source that this poor animal was just happy to find a job, although her mother told me that she has a significant amount of back pain and is striving to file for workers comp.

The cousin to the cow above, was just tired of all the tourists trying to a take a picture with her. So, the poor woman in the barn coat (i.e. tourist from North Carolina) had to rip off her scarf in order to save herself. I guess underneath all that anger, thought, the cow does have loving hearts and a little muffin in the oven... 

Sweet Water for Parched Lips

      One night I woke suddenly in my sleep to find that I was quite thirsty. My mouth was so dry that all I could think about was grabbing a cool glass of water. After finding my glass in the kitchen, I took a long drink and came to find, as I have many times before, that water seems to always taste significantly sweeter when one is extremely thirsty. In fact it tastes so sweet it makes one want to wish that water was always that sweet. This incidence reminded me of such a time in China….
      About five years ago I went on a mission trip to China. After arriving in the country, my team and I found that summer weather in China is not so pleasant. Before we had to embark on our thirty-two hour journey to China we were forced to empty our canteens. Therefore when we arrived in the country, none of us had any purified water on hand. Two hours into our bus trip to our location, we all stopped at a rest stop and bought some green tea (little did I know at the time that green tea, although nice to drink, somewhat dehydrates its imbiber). After arriving at the compound we were to live at and unpacking, we all went to bed but were asked to leave our drinks outside of the building, as there were no drinks to be allowed in that location. That night I remember feeling very thirsty and seriously considered finishing my green tea, but as I hadn’t mark mine with my name and I was extremely tired, I forgot about it and fell asleep. The next morning the whole team and I were extremely thirsty. The purified water had not come and the 101 degree heat at 7:00 in the morning was not helping any of us with our thirst. That morning none of us did much of anything, even eat, due to dehydration. At 11:00 in the morning, when the temperature was 110 degrees, the filtered water finally came. I remember even now how sweet those first sips of water were. Although I didn’t feel like drinking much of it at the time, due to dehydration, I realized then the importance of water. 
     It is rather interesting that many of us take for granted H20. We use it without thinking about it because for many of us we generally have it available to us whenever we need it. Although this is a wonderful thing,  we can tend to take water for granted and not appreciate it until we realize how much we need it to survive. I found that the water principles above can be applied to Christian life.
      As Christians we can sometimes view God, at times, how we view water. We know that He will always will be there for us so we take advantage of that fact and do not always realize how important He is in our lives. Many of us are constantly "bombarded" with the Word (i.e. in church, Bible studies, in talking to friends, prayer groups, etc.) so it seems we, as Christians, can feel we always are close to Him or are always learning about Him. Due to the above Christians can become "lazy" in getting to know Him on our own. Only when something significant happens in our lives, sometimes, do we realize how much we really need Him. (For example, witnessing the death of a loved one, traumatic situations, a test in school, a time in which He feels "far away", etc. )During those times it seems that one can realize, once again, how important He is in one's life --He is "sweeter tasting" than He had been before. Although this is wonderful, unlike water, it seems that we, as Christians, need to be more like the psalmist David, continually thirsting after God.

 As Psalm 42: 1-2 says (verse 3 is added for context):

As a deer pants for flowing streams,

so pants my soul for you, O God.

My soul thirsts for God,

for the living God.

When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,

while they say to me all the day long,

“Where is your God?”

Also Psalm 63:1:

You, God, are my God,

earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,

my whole being longs for you,

in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary

and beheld your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than life,

my lips will glorify you.

I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 

This next verse is more about salvation and faith in God 

 but I thought it pertained to the topic above (both for non-Christians and Christians)   

Hebrews 11:6-7 :And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. 

So it seems that water can be a useful tool, as well as being able to quench our thirst. It can be used to think about our Christian life and relationship with God. It seems that, as one thirsts for water, one's souls should be panting for Him.  Possibly as one thirsts after Him one's thirst for Him will grow in magnitude as well. Just as we crave sweet water, perhaps in panting after Him, our relationship with Him will become all the sweeter. 

Beach Life - Part 1

It had been a rainy week but one morning I woke up and the sun was just starting to come out again. So, I drove down to the beach with my dog and was able to take the below shots. Sorry these were so long in coming. Hope you enjoy!

 

Beach Life - Part 2

Looks like Morgans praying. : )

  

 

Here are two pics to get us started on the beach kick. Yes, I do realize it is in the middle of winter but when one lives near the beach there are always days where it is warm enough to visit it. So, hopefully this will help ya'll look forward to the upcoming summer!! More pictures are on their way but I was soooo busy this week that I could only put up a couple today. 

The Beach

For the up and coming beach pictures here is a short poem I wrote.  It doesn't do justice to the great poem writters of ages past, but it's a start.

The Beach Is A Place

The beach is a place where we all like to go

To play on the sand and the shore

The beach is a place where we can rest our head

From the weariness of love and of war

The beach is a place that reminds of might and of power

As we listen to the waves on the shore

The beach is a place of solice and cosolation

For those who are weary of their oar

The beach is a place where we can stare at the clear crystal water

To see the suns reflection once more

The beach is a place to discover God's creation

His beauty, His peace, and His roar

Into The Amazon

http://www.intotheamazon.org/
Speaking about boyhood and adventure...I figure I should mention some special video and audio broadcasts that are taking place. If any of you are familiar with Vision Forum Ministries then you have probably heard about this already. Right now 30 men have been and are continuing to travel into the amazon to explore answers to mysteries. (All these mysteries are eventually related back to Biblical passages.) These mysteries include: 

1. The Mystery of the Meaning of the Amazon
2. The Mystery of the Legacy of Adventure and Dominion
3. The Mystery of the Lost Tribes
4. The Mystery of the Plants of the Amazon
5. The Mystery of the Strange Creatures of the Amazon
6. The Mystery of the Mighty Inca Empire
7. The Mystery of the Inca Stones and the Great Peruvian Desert 

So far it is a very interesting and looks like it will continue to be. If you have an interest in the Amazon, and even if you don't, I would definitely recommend looking into this.  Not only do they travel into the Amazon but they also visit a tribe in the Amazon, visit Manchu Picchu , and go to the Great Peruvian Desert.
There is a fee to receive the live videos and audio ($48) but after the series is over one receives a DVD. Also, there is a study guide that comes with the video that relates it all to Him and looks deeper into worldviews surrounding the Amazon. The link above will take you to the online site where there is a video that explains "Into the Amazon" to a fuller extent. 

Here is a short description from their blog:
"This year marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Inca stronghold Machu Picchu by famed explorer Hiram Bingham. It is also nearly the 100th anniversary of the historic father-and-son expedition into the Amazon down the River of Doubt by Teddy Roosevelt and his son Kermit. Now, as the world welcomes a new year, Doug Phillips leads a thrill-packed expedition of thirty fathers and sons into the heart of the Amazon and then high into the Andes Mountains. For the better part of a week, our team will be living on a boat and in the Rainforest in the heart of Amazonia. They will sometimes catch their own food, debate, dialogue, explore, and investigate. They will build relationships like men and emphasize the importance of fathers and sons working together for the glory of God. Now you can join these thirty men as they travel into a lost world, and seek to share these great experiences and hope to shed light on seven mysteries of importance to Christians in the 21st century: "

Also for the women out there, there is also a trip that Doug Philips wife and daughters went on. They went to the city of Chincherro and learned to how to weave from the locals. What they learn to do is quite beautiful and intricate. Links to her blog, videos, pictures and audio about the technique, and their trip, are all included in the fee for "Into the Amazon."  

By the way, "Into the Amazon" has already begun so if you are interested I would look into it as soon as possible in order to start watching the live videos, listen to the live question and answer time, and viewing the pictures! Hope you enjoy.

Friendship, Boyhood, and Courage

 As Christine, my sister, and I were beginning a new babysitting adventure we sat down to play some Wii with two young boys. Although they were not allowed to play much they enjoyed the game heavily and it was quite enjoyable, though at times intense, to watch them. As they slung the controllers onto their wrists it seemed as if they where strapping on guns, preparing to battle mushrooms, attacking turtles and poisonous flowers in Mario Brothers. The game especially became intense as they came to a particularly difficult section of the game. They had to defeat a creepy castle in which there was lava instead of water, black turtles and turning knobs similar to those in a clock. The boys had to make sure that they both didn't die at the same time or the game would soon be over. During a particularly intense moment the below was said:

Brother A said to his brother: "You have to wait for me!!"

Brother B: "Of course I'll wait for you, even if I have to die I'll wait for you because you’re my brother. We are going to make it through this together."

And as lava was boiling about him he did wait for his brother and although they didn't beat the level it seemed as if they bonded. Brother B said his sentences with such passion that it struck me. At that moment I could picture them on a field of battle apart from the game due to the passion of the boy’s statements. I suppose it shouldn't have struck me so much, men wanting to wait for each other and fight a battle to the end, but in this world, in which men are so feminized and brothers are not often taught to stick up for each other, it is amazing to see any two boys have such passion over something so minimal as a game. It seems in the world of the men and boys such a game isn't minimal, though, because to those boys that castle was the same as any battlefield and they were just showing their true allegiance to each other. Boy B could have been selfish and try to finish the game by himself but their father, it seems, had taught them that they needed to stick by each other no matter the consequences.

It sort of reminded me of Psalm 133, especially verse 1 (I included verse 2 for context):

Behold, how good and pleasant it is

when brothers dwell in unity!

It is like the precious oil on the head,

running down on the beard,

on the beard of Aaron,
running down on the collar of his robes!
 

And in a very small way it also seemed to be a picture of John 15:3-

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
  

I just thought the above was a wonderful picture of friendship, boyhood, and ultimately manliness in a generation that doesn't always think about or cultivate such qualities.