Goings on

I don't know what it is called in other parts of the country, but around here things you need to know about and activities are called "goings on" (I think it is actually "goins on" but I don't want to upset anyone by deleting that last "g"). Shockingly enough, I don't have much to say tonight {gasp! the horror!}, but I figured I could share some goings on with you.

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Some of you might vaguely remember back in September when I participated in Tamara's What is a Girl Worth? project. (seems like a lifetime ago) It was powerful. It changed some lives. And now, it has turned into something else. Go check out Tamara's news. God is working in a mighty way through her. Go Tamara!

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Back at the beginning of September, two sweet sisters from Arkansas started a blog called Set Free From Me. Celeste and Monica are using this blog to chronicle their journey of giving out-of-control eating habits completely over to God. They have issued a challenge for us to make 3 goals for the month of November: 1 spiritual, 1 food-related, and 1 exercise goal. You can read about it here. Ever one to run from a challenge, for some reason I have decided to participate in this one. Having posted my goals in the comments of one of their posts, I figure that was public enough to where I could not back down. So, I'm committed to the hit now. Here is what I actually committed to:

Spiritual: get on my knees (literally) each day to pray. I used to do this years ago and assuming that posture during prayer really did change the experience and I focused more. This is a good time to start doing it again.

Food: Substitute water for at least one soda everyday. This is a small goal, but a very real need. My body will thank me for it.

Exercise: I will do stretches everyday. My atrophied muscles and my RLS will thank me for this.

I want to turn and run just looking at those goals. I don't think it is the goals themselves. It is probably the commitment. But I've put it out there, so I'm going to try it.

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Our Quote of the Whole Darn Week comes from a blog-commenter named Della:

"I’m not sure which bible version you use, but in my South Georgia Revised International Living version, we are not allowed the use of b.b. guns. They are deemed ‘unclean’. We ARE however, encouraged to hold our neighbor accountable for his actions by drugging his coon dogs and stealing the couch off of his front porch. Deuterviticus 4:11-17."

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And last, but not least, tonight is the Soli Deo Gloria linky party over at Jen's. Go on over and see who might have written something that you need to read.

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Now, if'n you know 'bout some other goings on that aren't covered here, please feel free to tell us about them in the comments!

Samplings

Here are a few things that might be of interest to you today.

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For the past nine weeks I've been writing my column called Second Chances Wednesdays as part of the Never Beyond project. Don't worry. We are not through with Never Beyond, but People of the Second Chance took a break this week to show off a new project called "Labels Lie". You can check out some information about it and even watch a video of Mike Foster's inaugural Labels Lie speech by clicking here.  Next week we will be back with another bright red poster and more questions about never being beyond the reach of grace.

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Some of you might remember that I recently took part in a Community Writing Project called Word Portraits. I wrote about my Granny. Today some of the stories that were submitted for the project are being featured over at The High Calling. You can check them out here. You can also find links to all thirty-two submissions here. I really did enjoy this project. It made me wish that we had recorded more of our family's stories before so many of our relatives were gone. It also showed me what rich histories we all have. I think anyone who thinks life is boring just needs to spend more time with family!

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The Community Writing Project has also inspired me to write down some of my stories - my memories - before I forget important and interesting details. With inspiration from Dan King, also known as the Bible Dude, I have decided to start with stories about the mission trip to Uruguay that I went on in 1998. I'm thinking I will start a Sunday series on that and see how far it goes. In the meantime, I would urge you to start reading Dan's e-book The Unlikely Missionary. Follow that link and go to the bottom of the page where you can buy the book in Kindle, Nook, or PDF versions for only $4.99. (In the interest of disclosure, Dan might give me a free copy if I write a whole post about the book, but I am pumping it up right now just because I feel it is worth the effort.) Maybe you will find that you are a missionary right in your hometown. I would love to hear what you think of it.

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In other news, there are two blog posts that came out today that I think you might benefit from or enjoy. Tamara posted over at A Deeper Story about going to the theater vs. going to a woman's conference. You can read that here. Sarah Markley post on her own blog about not being embarrassed of yourself. You can check that out here.

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Those are your samplings for today. I hope you enjoy them. And in the words of Bartles and Jaymes, "Thank you for your support!"