Dusty old hymnals...

Are my good friends. (by the way, my photo is grainy because of the photo compressor I use...Blogger doesn't like how many MB my photos are...so yeah)


Yesterday I was listening to this:


and I thought to myself "Why do people try to write praise songs when they could just sing glorious poetry like that!?"

Moral of the story: People will forevermore be singing Amazing Grace and Holy Holy Holy. My mom barely remembers the silly praise songs from her youth...I mean, goodness, I hardly remember the ones that I hear every so often on the radio.
There's a reason for this. So yeah. If you find a hymnal, open it. Read. Enjoy the God-inspired verses. Turn down the radio and just meditate on the words in the old bound book.

Just a thought.
Mary Em

Two musicings.

Concerning Lions singing my favorite Derek Webb songs...and easily one of my favorite songs. win.



Folksy Christian music?! Andrew Peterson. Win.

So what do these two wonderful things have in common?
They're playing at a church smack dab in front of my neighborhood. I'm so excited. $15 for a ticket or $10 for a student. I'm so going. Are you?
Mary Em

Awake My Soul

Two things I haven't done in a LONG time:
My Projects
Blogging.

The first thing I will have to reluctantly say so long to. I cannot keep up with it. My 365 has been hard enough for me to handle.
The second I want to do more often. I just haven't been home.
I want to make this brief and effective...or affective. Sheesh I can never remember which one it is.

First let me tell you about my wonderful Texas trip.

On the way to Texas, I read a little pamphlet by Francis Schaeffer entitled "Art and the Bible". It was small, so I expected it to be just sort of good.
Oh man. Was I wrong.
If you are an artist or like art or if you hate art but breathe and live...READ IT.
It has so many spot on observations that any Christian can benefit from. I loved it. No I adored it. Also on the way up, we listened to a Mars Hill Radio thing about Beauty in art and how it seems to be declining. A philosophical discussion between my mom and I followed. It was great. Little did I know that God would drive this point the whole trip.
When we got to our old friends house we were staying at, I began talking with their son. About everything. And the theme that came up was how our lives could be a witness and a work of art. Which is something Mr. Francis talks about.
Later that weekend, I had a discussion with two other guys about art and the bible. No joke. God was making it completely evident that this was a lesson that I needed to learn and share.
So I came back from Texas ready to attack the school year with a new zeal for him...or so I thought.

Now I'm going to TRY to put my experience at Macon into words....TRY
Macon Mississippi is in the absolute middle of nowhere. It's hot. and it's spiritually dead. So I thought to myself, God's going to do so much through me bla bla bla. Little did I know that this would be the most humbling week of my life. I began the week a confident person who was able to speak in front of kids I didn't know. I ended the week a person who was trying to hold it all together and had red eyes from crying. All because I flippantly prayed to be "humbled". In hindsight, I realized that I just wanted to appear to be humbled so that people would say "wow, God humbled you" not so I would say "God help me. I need you." Granted, the camp itself was not as challenging as I had expected. But God made sure that the most stretching things would happen to me. I can easily say that I experienced the most drama I've EVER been involved in last week...and all of it I was kind of trapped in...and not exactly participating in. God made sure that I emptied myself day after day to the kids at the camp and to my own counselor without any positive results. He made sure that I was shut down a couple times when I tried to speak, that I was so confused that only tears would come, and that (this is the worst one of all) I was so frustrated I had to swallow my pride (oh horrors!). During all of this, the speaker was speaking on topics that applied to my life in that moment. I was told by Mr. Reif that God could do more than I was expecting and that He could truly use me and use me up.

Needless to say, I have been on a spiritual high for the last couple of days. But I pray it's not just another "mountain top experience". I pray it will last for the next week...or the next year.

What I learned can be summed up in these few points:
1. God is relevant and powerful and can do all things with all people. (Mr. Reif said "God doesn't need ability, He needs availability")
2. God's love is absolutely the single best thing that one could ever acquire. So why not share it without fear?
3. "Your biggest mission field is between your two feet" I can't remember who said that. But man, have I overlooked that or what. There are SO many things that I (or We as in the case of our youth or friends or etc.) can do IN Chattanooga. Chattanooga is great, but it has people who are struggling. People who need God.
4. This is the last thing...I am so thankful for my youth group. The people in it continue to surprise me and the leaders are loving and the best friends anyone can ask for. We spent the whole van ride home planning out the year. With our new theme "Wake up and get real!"...but that's a whole different blog post.

Thanks for reading if you read this far.
Goodnight. I pray that God shows how real He is to you someday soon.
Mary Em.

Leap Year...

I'm waiting for the World Cup game to start.

Okay, last night I watched Leap Year...so I thought I'd share some thoughts about it.
It was another predictable Chick Flick. The premise and the way the story played out was, of course, adorable. The only thing was, I hated Amy Adams. Not her, just her character. The Heroine was selfish and snooty and annoying....to the very last moment of the movie!
All this to say, I would still recommend it to watch if you like fluffy little movies that fill your time and make you feel sunshiny. (who doesn't like those every so often?!)
Two things saved this movie.
1) the breathtaking landscape of Ireland.
and
2) the breathtaking Matthew Goode.
Haha Really though, he and his character were great. His character was someone who you could relate to and had pity for. He was someone I personally would hang out with...and Amy's character was someone I would avoid. (Not to mention he is awfully good looking)
So yeah Leap Year...not a total fail, but yeah, not an epic film. Worth renting from the redbox for $1 though!
Mary Em

Look at me, blogging twice in one week...

So proud.
LOTS of things to talk about, so this might be super long.

First, this week was music camp at my church.
My great friend, Bethany, and I were teachers of the 1st graders.
All 29 of them.
It was such a great experience. Granted, I was secretly terrified the first day I was there. Bethany was gone and I only had one adult helper in my class. It turned out fantastic. I love all of the kids I got to spend time with. I definitely hope that I can teach again next year.
Second thing, I have been keeping up with my projects, believe it or not. This week's project was a headband thing. I'll post a picture someday.
Third, and finally, Here's some silly thoughts on mankind
Okay, have you noticed that our generation is becoming more and more "Hipster"?
In the beginning (of...time itself...not really), there was a select group of people who wanted to go against the flow and such. They were labeled "hippies".
Then the whole generation became "hippie". Thus the 60's and 70's.
Then the 80's came. And everyone wanted to rebel. So the new "hippies" were actually "punks".
Then the 90's. I don't know what happened there. Normalcy I guess.
Throughout the early 2000's, while the majority of the world was confused, a small group of people (we'll call them "hipsters") were themselves. They went against the system by listening to retro music or creating music themselves, instead of tuning into the radio. Now our generation is becoming "hipster". Suddenly, it is cool to knit your own hats or patch your own jeans. Clothes are now made to look like they're vintage or from a thrift store. Musicians who have always been "Pop" are making they're music more "indie" sounding. As a whole, this generation is becoming more individualistic...or so they think.
By sticking it to the man and being "hipster", we're actually being sucked into the mainstream. CRAZY HUH?
All this to say, the people who are truly "hipster" or "indie" or "folksy" (or whatever floats your boat) are the people who are genuinely themselves. People who are the way they are because that's who they are. Not because that's who they're trying to be.
Andywho,
I'm going to go watch a movie now.
Thanks for reading this far. If you did...
Mary Em
p.s. If you haven't, check out the Broken Bells. They're pretty rad.

Hello, friends.

It seems the more I get involved with flickr and just photography in general, the less time I blog. I'm truly sorry. I'm sure you miss me =P
But you see, my thoughts are being expressed through photographs lately, not words. I will try to blog a little more often than once a week if I can.

Photos are from the Hunter today.
Mary Em

Musings of a silly girl on a Glorious Thursday.

Hi,
I love today. I'm having a fantabuloso summer. What about you guys? So my project for this week was the above picture. I sent it to Jen, who is now at camp. The top says "Hi, I'm Rod and I like to party."
Painting has been going well...although I definitely am struggling. Oils look a lot easier to use than they are. We are copying a Georgia O'Keefe though, and I love her style. A lot. So the thing that's on my mind today is honesty. Is it better to be a "nice" person or a "good friend" or to be honest? Something to think about.
ALSO
If you like She & Him

which you should,
then you should go to a concert with me! They're coming to Atl, and doing an outdoor concert in the botanical gardens downtown...awesome. I want to go very badly.

Okay. I must go now. Stay Sweet.
Mary Em