Windy City!

Technically, Chicago is called the Windy City, I believe, but Corpus Christi is also known as the Windy City. Yesterday, she proved herself to be the Windy City!  All day long, wind was howling, and I could hear things blowing around all over the place.  

On my way home from work, several fences were blown over in the neighborhood where I work. 

Grass fires, home fires, and fires at refineries broke out! Power outages throughout all of south texas.  According to KRIS 6 News' Facebook page, almost 7,000 people lost power. 

Nueces: 3,095
Kleberg: 1,484
Refugio: 1,159
San Patricio: 584
Jim Wells: 540
Bee: 220
Brooks: 205
Duval: 143

Our power went out several times, but just for a minute or two at a time.  The power at the church, however, kept going off, so Stephen got to come home from work a couple hours early.  Lucky boy. :) 

My cousin, Megan, who lives in the building next to ours took this picture from the front yard... She said the wind was blowing the trampoline around like it was nothing!

So how fast was the wind blowing?  According to the National Weather Service: 

CORPUS CHRISTI INT'L 63 MPH

ALICE                            63 MPH

KINGSVILE NAS 56 MPH

ORANGE GROVE                     59 MPH
MCMULLEN CO TARGET FIELD         56 MPH

WALDRON FIELD 55 MPH

ROBSTOWN                         55 MPH
BEEVILLE                         55 MPH
COTULLA                          54 MPH

MCCAMPBELL-INGLESIDE 53 MPH

CORPUS CHRISTI NAS               54 MPH
GOLIAD                           54 MPH
GEORGE WEST                      53 MPH
PORT ARANSAS                     51 MPH


LAREDO                           49 MPH
VICTORIA                         49 MPH
ROCKPORT                         47 MPH


PORT LAVACA                      45 MPH

It was seriously some crazy windy weather!

Lent

Growing up, I was always startled by people with black smudges on their foreheads on a day called "Ash Wednesday." My mom would explain to me it was to signify the start of Lent, a season of 40 days before Easter. From what I understood, people who celebrated the Catholic religion would give something up during this time to reflect on what Jesus had done on the cross.  Honestly, I never really understood Lent or the opportunity that it gives us as Christians to focus on God.  

For the past few years, I have taken the season of Lent as a time to give something up, 40 days of no sodas, 40 days of no Facebook, and last year 40 days of only Christian Music (giving up secular music).  

A Pastor friend of mine, Mike, posted on Facebook last week, asking what we were giving up for Lent this year.  I had been praying about it for some time, because I really do like the time to refocus on Jesus and the real meaning of Easter.  This year, I've felt that God wants more of me; more of my time, my thoughts, my prayers. When thinking about what takes up the majority of my time, it is absolutely TV/Netflix. During E's naptime, I tend to prop open my laptop and watch 2-4 episodes of Dawson's Creek. That's 2-ish hours I could be spending praying, reading the Bible, and/or worshipping. I also watch several hours of TV at night with S. 

So giving up TV, what does that mean I'm going to do with those several hours? Watch a movie? Sleep? Ride my bike? Paint? Play games?  No. Not this time. I'm going to try to read the Bible-- the WHOLE Bible instead of watching TV. I found a Bible in 90 days (actually, 88--it gives two days of no reading) plan and divided it by two (44 days). I've already started reading (since now we are 42 days out), and it's challenging.  I'm enjoying learning new things and reading parts of Genesis that I'd skimmed over in the past.

So here's to 44 days of reading the Bible, of not watching TV, of worshipping, of praying, of intentionally pressing in and letting He who saved me, change me.

My friend Mike also sent me a link to this blog. It's a great read on Lent in the Protestant faith: http://blog.renovare.org/2013/01/30/why-lent/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=why-lent

Here is a quote from said article that really encouraged me to participate in Lent in a different way this year; to prepare myself to be changed. 

"Maybe we need to consider Lent as one of those seasons of intentionally pressing in. Culturally, we are distracted by many things. If we do not pay attention to our souls, our capacity to be open to God’s creative work in our lives is diminished. The season of Lent presents an opportunity to reflect on the state of our souls before God, the contour of our lives with others, and, above all, the prevailing promise of Jesus’ resurrected life as it breathes new life, new courage, new hope in us and through us, for the sake of the world."

Serious Ramblings

Serious: of, showing, or characterized by deep thought.


Ramblings: straying from one subject to another



So, basically, this blog will be deep, random thoughts of mine. 

I'm not promising to blog every day, every month, or even every year, but I will do my best to keep friends & family updated on life.