RIP WCO David Grove, LODD 11/11/10

Recently a young, thriving Wildlife Conservation Officer was killed in the line of duty, just doing his job, all because someone was breaking the law, again, and didn't want to pay the consequences. Well Officer Grove, I hope justice is served for your death and I sincerely hope that peace will come to you friends, family, and all of those affected by this. I unfortunately did not have the honor of meeting you, but I have not heard anything negative about you.

here are just a few links with some details about the incident fro any of you who are interested:
http://www.publicopiniononline.com/localnews/ci_16704513
http://outdoornews.com/pennsylvania/news/article_7d67f462-ee7b-11df-aaed-001cc4c03286.html
http://www.gettysburgtimes.com/news/article_471a3988-ee71-11df-ae2c-001cc4c03286.html

IKDG Chapter 1 review

Ok, So like I mentioned earlier I plan on writing some thoughts about I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris as I read it. I finished the first chapter along with the study guide this week.

The first chapter teaches about "smart love". It refers to Phillipians 1:9-10 which states "God not only wants me to act differently, He wants me to think differently- to view love, purity, and singleness from His perspective, to have a new lifestyle and attitude." In smart love we must use our heads as well as our hearts.  Mr Harris says "By avoiding romance before God tells me I'm ready for it, I can better serve girls as a friend, and I can remain free to keep my focus on the Lord. [...] God wants us to seek guidance from scriptural truth, not feeling. Smart love looks beyond personal desires and the gratification of the moment. It looks at the big picture: serving others and glorifying God." Mr. Harris also uses two other scriptures in this chapter: Matthew 10:29 and Luke 12:2.

I am using the study guide designed by Joshua Harris as I read this book, reading and answering the questions in a notebook as I go. I am not going to write and answer the questions on here as they get lengthy and somewhat personal, but I will however include bits and pieces. As I mentioned in a previous post the first time I read this book as a 15 year old freshman in high school, I was very innocent and naive at that time. I think that reading this book 11 years later will most definitely give me a different perspective.  Ten years ago I had difficulty just getting past the title, who would want to kiss dating goodbye? Certainly not me, I hadn't even begun dating yet! Today is a little different, I have had relationships, some serious, some not so serious, some that last for several years, others only hours long. I currently am not dating, but sometimes I feel as if I am missing out on something, so I am re-reading this book in hopes of renewing my faith and personal relationship with Christ, making it better than it was in high school. In the last several years my focus has not been in the right place. My focus has been on myself, my roommate, work, family, everything but God. I have forgotten who it is I should be trying to please, not myself, not others, but God and only God and in return I will be blessed by Him.  This chapter, and the Philippians verse (1:9-10) challenges.encourages me to learn what and how to "love appropriately" so that I can love intelligently, love much, and love well, to avoid "sentimental gush".

Joshua states on last statement in the study guide that I feel pertinent to remember "Obedience to God looks boring- pursuing the world and its pleasures appears tantalizing." We have to remember while it may appear tantalizing now, the effects of being obedient to God will have much bigger and better results in the end.

Thanks for reading, and if anyone would like to discuss this book, I'd love to, feel free to contact me!

IKDG #1

I have decided to re-read a book I read in high school with a group of girls called I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris. It is a book that gives a very interesting look at Dating, or not dating and courting instead, all based in a Christian setting. I remember bits and pieces of this book, but it has been 10 years since I have read it and have a lot of life changing experiences since last reading it. I plan on blogging about the book, my opinions and anything I may learn as I read. I already know that I may not agree with everything Mr Harris may have to say but I am interested in how different my opinions are now opposed to when I was 15 years old and reading this book for the first time. Thanks for stopping by!

The next music star in my family...

This is a video of me niece, shot by my sister-in-law

Ben, Laura, Ted & Sophie: take me home, country roads: "Sophie has learned a new song. Again, not out of us directly teaching her. Just out of pure exposure. The other day at Giant Eagle, Country ..."

You can't treat what you don't see

I have noticed recently a disturbing trend with the BLS crews I that I work with regularly, they aren't doing full assessments. They aren't getting the full story. They are too worried with response times, on scene times, and turn around times, or they just seem like they don't care. This can make my job as an ALS provider difficult, especially if they are rendezvousing with me between the scene and the hospital, there's no family to tell me the story and the patient is unable to or is a poor historian, which in turn makes me look like the imbecile upon arriving at the hospital and telling the nurse nothing more than a generic chief complaint with no pt history, meds, or even allergies sometimes, just what I found in my assessment and what I did to treat my patient.
This doesn't apply only to medical patients, I have had run ins on trauma calls as well. (These are not every call events, but I am hoping its not a new trend either) Crews not getting a full story and by time I meet the BLS crew the helicopter is already 5-10 min out, I know my pt has some sort of traumatic injury, and the pt is still dressed.  I have 5-10 min to assess the injuries (including exposing the patient so I can properly assess injuries), try to gather a story if any family is present, or hopefully peek at the vehicle (if I meet crew on scene), and start treatment.
I am sure I am not the only person to struggle with this. I am not trying to whine or complain here, just want to  figure out a way I can reach out to these folks and express the importance of a full, proper assessment, no matter how minor the "emergency" may seem, no matter how close to the hospital you are, or how hard the adrenaline has your heart pumping. Our care needs to be more patient focused and less focused on turn around times or the fact that a patient is a frequent flyer.
Each patient deserves our very best, each and every time.

spiritual growth

I have recently decided to renew my relationship with God. I used to be very close to Him and over the last 8 years I have strayed away and even defied Him in so many ways. While trying to figure out how to this I have encountered several websites, blogs, and have even had the opportunity to meet new people and have have very insightful conversations with old friends. One blog in particular that I have found is a blog by a woman named Erin Taylor. I found her blog through http://www.sheseeks.org/.
In one of her blog entries Erin states "If I were to lean into my Prince would He not guide me in the waltz we call life? Would it not be the most beautiful dance ever choreographed?" Those two sentences hit me like a ton of bricks. It is so true.  Erin also says "Today I rest in that I am valuable simply because I am His. He chose me. He loves me and I am whole. When life spirals I white knuckle those truths and step one foot in front of the other in the race He has called me, just me, to run." This reminds me that I need to let go so much more. Most days I feel like I am letting God run the show when in reality I am trying to do all the directing. I have been holding on to MY life and living it MY way, to benefit ME and to do things on MY time. It took Erin's blog entry and a recent conversation with a new friend for me to recognize this.  I should be spending more time listening to God and living a life for Him than for myself. My thoughts before my actions shouldn't be "how will this affect me?" or "what do I want out of this"  but instead just leaving the "how", "what" and most importantly "why" up to God. 

RIP PFC Cody Board

Its a sad day in our country when a soldier who died for our country can't even make it to his final resting place in peace! 

a friend and a prayer

It amazes me how you can find a friend in someone you never thought you would. Tonight I was chatting with a friend who works as an emt at a local fd that I run mutual aid with as a medic and we had what was a very emotional conversation for me and I don’t think they even knew it. We got on the topic of how I have wanted to lose weight for some time now but I feel like it doesn’t matter what I do it either doesn’t work or only for a little bit. I was not expecting to get nearly as emotional as I did. I found myself not just shedding a tear or two at how kind he was being and how encouraging he was trying to be but I found myself sobbing, sitting in the medic office at work crying like a damn blubbering fool.  This is a person who until tonight I considered only an acquaintance of work. It was great joy to learn they could be a source of encouragement and motivation.  I have had so much going on in my personal life that I feel like I am losing control, slowly but surely. I feel like I was spun in circles and let loose in a dark room with a lot of random objects to run into and stumble over. I have tried deep breathing, I have tried reading, I tried throwing myself into my Bible, but I feel like either its not working or Im not doing it right. This is the second time I have ended up crying today…earlier was in public while at the doctor office and I have no idea what provoked it.  

God,

Please help me! Guide me closer to you, if I can give all my burdens to you and live for you then everything else won’t matter! I need to shed myself of the things that are standing between you and me, the things that I have let into my life and run it instead of listening to your plan.

Amen

I am looking at having to board my dog for the first time. I am almost in tears, this is ridiculous! There is a schedule problem with my roommate and I. I will basically be working a 24 and she gets off at 6am but has plans to go visit her sick grandmother, but shes not 100% sure. So I would rather play it safe and have him boarded than her not be here and me not be here, thats just cruel! I called my boss from work for a recommendation and the place he recommended is an animal hospital, but they are full, so I asked them for a recommendation and am checking them out now....i just want the best for my little guy....

filling a void

So recently I have been doing a lot of self research. By self research I mean trying to figure out what I want in life, where I wanna see myself in the future, what I can get out of my life. The more research I did the more I realized there was something missing, and that maybe I was searching in the wrong direction for the wrong things. When I was in high school I had what felt like a tight-knit relationship with Christ. I was very involved in various church activities and also with a Christian organization known as Young Life. When I went off to college my relationship with Christ slowly dissipated, I didnt have strong support of friends and family I had and I apparently was not strong enough in my faith to stay close to God. I did my own thing and experienced the world. It has only been in the last year or so, even more in the last few months that I realized I want that relationship back, I want to renew my faith. So I have recently begun the task of "church shopping" trying to find I church where I feel welcomed and comfortable, one that can help me grow in a relationship with Christ, one where I dont feel like just another face, one that has a good young adult ministry to help me, because I honestly feel like I  have been spun around until I am dizzy and then let loose in a pitch black cave to find my way out.

I have attended the United Methodist church here in town a few times, I was raised Methodist so I knew the service would be familiar, and it was....I even got invited to the young adult ministry group, which consisted of 3 others. A new group without a real plan for the class. And they were as nice as can be, they made me feel welcome, and included me on the planning for the next year of possibilities for the group, but the church in whole I dont feel is what I am really interested in, they didnt have the strong base for a young adult group like I am interested in, and only offer one contemporary service a month.

Today I tried a new church, one that sounded great online, it was supposed to be a community church, non-denominational. Well I found the building, double checked the address, but the name of the church was not the same as I had seen online, but decided to go anyways. I sat through an hour of the service and was completely taken aback by some of the things I heard. While they had the contemporary music, the rest of the leadership lacked a lot, there was no real theme for the service, they quoted multiple scriptures on tithe and offerings before asking the congregation to walk up and place offerings and then just continued to quote random scripture and have random people come up and give testimonials, anyone who felt like talking they gave a mic to....and then started talking about things in heaven I had never heard before. I didnt want to get up and leave and be rude, but I also was very uncomfortable staying. When an hour into the service they had a stand up and greet people time, I quietly slipped out the back and left.

I will do some more searching this week, and hopefully try a new one next week, meanwhile I am going to try and do more reading in my Bible and pray for direction and then Im going to sit and listen, and hope I hear what God has to say.....