Ramblings and Photos

Can you believe it's February? I mean, I guess it was February last week, but it just now hit me. Other things that have hit me...a massive headache. I'm pretty sure it'll be gone by the time this post launches, but I thought I'd mention it just in case you wanted to feel sorry for me (ha ha - just kidding). Anyways, if you've participated in the Scavenger Hunt in the past, I hope this week's items inspired you. If you're new to the Scavenger Hunt...WELCOME! Next week's items are sponsored by Jenny Rain and Honey Mommy.

<center><a
 class="ashleysisk.com/search/label/Scavenger%20Hunt"><img 
border="0" 
src="/img/spacer.gif"> </center><b>   </b>  The rules are simple: <br />
<ol>
<li>Anyone can participate. </li>
<li>You're encouraged to take five new photos this week for the challenge. Creativity is also encouraged!</li>
<li>If you get stumped, you may use one photo from your archive 
(although I'm not too strict about it - I do my best to take fresh 
shots). </li>
<li> Link up here on Sunday (or Tuesday at the latest) - you can use the button above. </li>
<li>Leave comments for at least five entries around yours (we have so 
many new participants each week, this is the only way I know to be 
inclusive). </li>
<li>Have fun! </li>
</ol>
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Without further discussion...here are
 my interpretations this week:</div></br>
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<span style="large;"><b>1. Facial Feature</b></span></div>
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I took a similar shot around this time last year. I really didn't plan on taking another photo of Kitty Paw (alright - who am I kidding...of course I was), but she's so darn cute that I couldn't help myself. </div>
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<b><span style="large;">2. Shadow</span></b></div>
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This is the only archived photo I used this week, but I just processed it. As it turns out, the sun rarely came out this week. Well it did yesterday (Saturday), but I had a huge headache so I wasn't much in the mood to get outside. Anyways, this was taken on the London Eye during my vacation in September. </div>
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<b><span style="large;">3. Spicy</span></b></div>
<img alt="spacer"  src="/img/spacer.gif"> 
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I had a few ideas for spicy, but spicy presented itself to me over dinner last night when my husband ordered schezwan chicken. I stay away from anything that spicy - there's no reason for unnecessary heartburn. </div>
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<b><span style="large;">4. Gold</span></b></div>
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I always knew that I wanted to frame our wedding invitation, so I kept the invitation itself rather simple. My mom had one of her artist friends paint the flowers and then framed it in this gold frame. I love it. </div>
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<b><span style="large;">5. Fabric</span></b></div>
<img alt="spacer"  src="/img/spacer.gif"> 
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Finally, I love this fabric. My mom found it for me when we were decorating my townhouse (before I met my husband). If it wasn't so expensive, we probably would have done more than a couple of pillows and a seat cushion. Either way, my mom has great taste...so I'll definitely be using her expertise as we decorate the nursery.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">

So, what were your interpretations of the items this week? I
 can't wait to 
check them out. Be sure to load your pictures on your blog (or your 
Flickr photostream) and link up at the bottom of this post. Feel free to
 grab a button to display on your blog along with your scavenger hunt 
items. The linky will be open until Tuesday night at midnight (EST). If 
you didn't participate this week, but want to participate next week, 
here are your items (these can also be found at the bottom of my blog 
each week):</div>
<ol style="text-align: left;">
<li><b>Love (Jenny Rain's suggestion)</b></li>
<li><b>Duplicated </b><b>(Jenny Rain's suggestion)</b></li>
<li><b>Trend or Trending </b><b>(Jenny Rain's suggestion: you might go to Twitter to identify topics that are trending and take a photo that symbolizes that trend)</b></li>
<li><b>Paper </b><b>(Honey Mommy's suggestion)</b></li>
<li><b>Plastic </b><b>(Honey Mommy's suggestion)</b></li>
</ol>
<div style="text-align: justify;">

Again, thank you<b> </b>to <b>Jenny Rain </b>and<b> </b><b>Honey Mommy </b>for so many great scavenger hunt items. If you'd like to  
contribute  items to the list, just send me an email with your  
suggestions (I can  better keep track of them this way). Each week, I will select
  one reader's prompt  list, add those items to what is currently on tap
  and give the selected  reader a shout out on my blog during Scavenger 
 Hunt Sunday. Happy Shooting!</div>
</div>

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Posted by
<span class='fn'>Ashley Sisk</span>
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at
<abbr class='published' title='2012-02-12T00:00:00-05:00'>12:00 AM</abbr>
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<h2 class='date-header'><span>Thursday, February 9, 2012</span></h2>

<h3 class='post-title entry-title'>
Can I get a WitHness?
</h3>
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We're in between series at my church right now (or at least we were last weekend), but the message was...as always...timely (click <b>here</b> to see or hear the original message: witHness). If you're new to my blog, you know that I use this space to reflect on the message each week - subsequently, I pray that it reaches your heart the way it did mine. </div>
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Last weekend was a big weekend for 111.3 million people...that is, if you were watching the Superbowl. My husband decided to watch the game with his family, so my family decided to hang out with me for the day. My family has never been into watching football...not regularly at least, so at about 7 pm, my sister said something like "isn't the Superbowl on?" I think we were more excited about watching a few commercials, but it basically became background noise as we talked about everything from baby to baby (okay, so it was a lot of baby talk). </div>
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According to the message this past weekend, nearly the same amount of people attend churches around the country/world every "Sunday" (or weekend since we attend on Saturday)...and yet, that message is rarely discussed around the water cooler. Taken a step further, it's estimated that within a year, only 1 in 10 Christ followers will share their faith with one other person. Granted, even if you did share...it's not always likely that the person you're sharing with will give you the time of day, but still.</div>
<img alt="spacer"  src="/img/spacer.gif"> Regardless of who accepts the message, according to Acts, Jesus has deemed us his witnesses to the ends of the earth. So, what is a witness?<b> A witness is one who can and does share what he or she has seen or heard or knows. </b><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Therefore, we're all witnesses. It's really just a matter of what type of witness we are. As it relates to our faith, we're not expected to know it all, only <u>share</u> what we <u>do know.</u> I think that's where we get tripped up. We get intimidated by those who have been in the faith longer who may have memorized more scripture or "been around the block" so to speak, but we're never expected to share more than we know in our heart. However, we're still likely to be faced with non-believers or antagonists who will question our knowledge in an effort to break our faith (you've probably seen or heard many a story of the atheist professor and the Christian student...if not, Google it). Thus, we must stand firm in what we do know...even if all we know is that <b>"for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son."</b><br />
<br />
With that said, how do we go about witnessing our faith to others...how do we go about sharing what we've personally seen or heard or know as it relates to our relationship with God?<br />
<ol>
<li><b>Be WITH God</b>. Be a believer...have a relationship with God and actively practice your faith (even if that is in the privacy of your own home). </li>
<li><b>Be WITH someone who has yet to accept Christ or to develop a relationship with God</b>. Our minister this past weekend called it "breaking the holy huddle," and actually hang out with non-Christians. I don't know that I personally find myself in the Christian bubble (aka only hanging out with other Christ followers), but we'll have very few opportunities to witness if we only talk to people who already believe. In fact, outside of the fact that Jesus was not a "Christian," he hung out with what most pharisees (aka goody goodies) believed were some pretty dirty folks (aka sinners). Example - Luke 15:1-2 'Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”'</li>
<li><b>Share what you've seen and heard</b>. It doesn't have to be a sermon (or a sermon replay like I do) or a long speech...just talk about what you've seen or heard. Furthermore, if you live as though you're "under the influence" of Christ...other people will get curious and open the door for you to talk. However, when this opportunity presents itself, you only have about 10-15 seconds to share (more if you're lucky) so don't turn into a sleazy car salesman. Try this..."if you had seen me ten years ago, you would have seen a very different person, but God has entered my life." If they're still interested, you can go from there. At the same time, be prepared for some people to reject what you've just said - hang in there.   </li>
</ol>
<b>Witness = </b><b>WitHness</b>...ya know, since we have to be WITH God and WITH someone who has yet to develop a relationship with God. The bottom line is that Jesus said <b>YOU</b> will be my witnesses. It's only a matter of what kind of witness will you be? <b>So...are you willing to be a witHness?</b><br />
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at
<abbr class='published' title='2012-02-09T00:00:00-05:00'>12:00 AM</abbr>
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Sunday, February 12, 2012

Scavenger Hunt Sunday