oh how i love tcc :)

don't you just love my glow..earrings.

before.


after.

that's his exhilarated face.

thank you everyone :)

We may think God exists to bless America.  But according to scripture, America exists to bless God. 

Remember, who manages the hearts of rulers? Who prompts the decisions of kings? God does.  With an arch of an eyebrow He can open the coffers of Egypt, alter the policies of Babylonia, bring down a wall of communism.  God can change a nation. 

For that reason, we must pray--pray with all our hearts--that America would turn back to God.

Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for you name's sake. Psalm 79:9

In 1888, a noted chess matster named Paul Morphy attended a dinner party in Richamond, Virginia.  During the course of dinner, the master's attention was drawn to a painting on the wall of his host's home.  The scene portrayed a young man locked in an intense chess match with the devil himself.  As the artist conceived the painting, the devil's next move would claim victory -- apparently entitling the evil one to the young man's soul.  For this reason, the devil wore a triumphant expression, while his young opponent seemed at his wit's end. 

After dinner, the famous chess champion walked over to the painting, studying the board and the pieces portrayed by the artist.  After several minutes, Morphy turned to his host and declared, "I think I can take the young man's game and win!"

"Why, that's impossible!" his host replied.  "Not even you, Mr. Morphy, can retrieve that game."

"Yet I think I can," the chess master answered. "Suppose we place the men and try."

As the dinner party formed a circle around the table, the host set up the chess pieces precisely like the ones in the painting.  After studying the board further, Morphy turned to the young man in the painting and smiled as if to say, "Young man, I have good news for you.  He hasn't won yet.  After the devil makes his move, you will get the final move."

To the suprise of everyone, Morphy bested the smug opponent in the painting.  Victory was snatched fom the devil and the young man was saved.

We sometimes feel like that young man in the painting.  We see Satan poised to claim victory.  We feel something near despair as we watch our nation make wrong turn after wrong turn, wrong move after wrong move. But in the darkest moment God whispers, "I have good news for you.  He hasn't wont yet."

God gets the final move.  And we can urge Him to take it.

We can pray.

"We must envision ourselves on a rather vicious, cosmic battlefield.  Our lives are not about ourselves.  This life, the "three score and ten" we live here on earth, is not about our desires and dreams, our personal fulfillment, or our happiness.  Our lives are part of a much larger reality --- victory over darkness both in and around us.  Your life is about nothing less than the glory of God" - Stu Weber

---Max Lucado, Turn.

on a much less serious note.

my favorite. i think it's eric wu's dog. i dont even know how i got this picture. but it makes me laugh every time i see it :)