As you may remember, we’ve been serving once a month at church in their coffee ministry! It’s always a fun time. We get to chat with our fellow church members. See the big “Oh my gosh, thank you for coffee!” smiles. AND now, they offer these really nice looking travel mugs! I can’t wait to get one!
Today I got to hang out at K&B Bridals for a few hours! Bridget invited me up since they had a full day of bridal appointments! I always have so much fun at the shop. Meeting brides, hanging out with the wonderful staff and watching them work. The whole process is fascinating to me. A bride comes in with one expectation and most of the time, by the end it’s completely different. I love how the stylists can see the whole picture, when the bride can’t. Sometimes they’ll suggest adding a belt and it COMPLETELY changes the look of the dress and the bride. They can pick up on cues in the brides….even little ones like how the bride acts in one dress versus another. Every time I see this process, I WISH they had been around when I got married!
Here’s some detail of one of their BEAUTIFUL dresses!
Tonight I had the chance to hear about Gaston Lacombe’s adventures in Antarctica. He spent some time there taking photographs and even published a book! He spoke about the challenges of photographing in that environment. He shared images that were simply stunning. There were even some of pink snow/ice! Now there are two reasons for pink snow/ice. The first is penguins and what they eat…lol, we’ll just leave that at that! The second occurs because the temperature is SO cold, the snow and ice don’t melt long enough for organisms to grow. And sometimes those organisms are pink!
I didn’t get a picture of Gaston…or his beautiful work…..or the other photographers….or Kat’s studio….but I did get a picture of Kat’s dog. 🙂
I’ve been slowly making my way through a little book, The Grace and Truth Paradox by Randy Alcorn. It is a nice little book. I wanted to share a few things that stuck out to me…
“God’s grace didn’t get us going and then leave us to get by on our works. Grace didn’t just justify us in the past; it sustains us in the present and will deliver us in the future. Spurgeon said:
‘Our Lord Jesus is ever giving, and does not for a solitary instant withdraw his hand…the rain of His grace is always dropping, the river of His bounty is ever-flowing, and the wellspring of His love is constantly overflowing. As the King can never die, so His grace can never fail.’
Many hear God say, ‘Do more’ and ‘Do better.” But not, “I’ve done it for you – rest.” Yet this is what Jesus meant when He said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden…Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me…For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30, NASB).
The Greek word teleo was commonly written across certificates of debt when they were canceled. It meant ‘paid in full.’ Just before Christ died, He cried out, “Teleo” – it is finished (John 19:30). Christ died so that the certificate of debt, listing all our sins, could once and for all be marked ‘paid in full.'” The Grace and Truth Paradox, pages 46-47
I read these pages through tears in the very early morning hours (that cup of coffee from last night kept me up until 5. I LOVE working at night!) It was such a good reminder. It. Is. Finished. All my sins, all my imperfections, all the times I don’t feel good enough. Done, taken care of. It’s SO freeing.
I hope this encourages you in some small way. Put down the load you carry. His yoke is MUCH easier.
One thing that I may or may not have shared yet is my deep love for black coffee. A lot of people will get this look in their eye when I tell them this… the “WHAT? How can you stand that???” look…you probably have it right now. 😉
I wasn’t always this way. I used to be a coffee with my sugar and cream kind of girl. I’m talking at least 4-6 packs of sugar. Whew, I shudder just thinking about it! Every once in a while a fancy creamer will catch my eye (peppermint mocha is the biggest draw). But since 2004, I have only had black coffee. It’s all because of Jay. He used to run Jay’s Shave Ice in Timonium. Oh man, do I have some GREAT memories there! He used to have a stand in the parking lot across the street from the fairgrounds. Then he moved down the street across from the Double T Diner. He served shaved ice (not snow balls folks, there’s a big difference) AND coffee! I was in my last semester of school at the time and I spent a lot of time at Jay’s. Some days I’d get a shaved ice but mostly I’d get coffees. One day, I was behind the counter chatting with Jay (did I mention that Jay is awesome?) pouring myself a cup of coffee (seriously miss this place!) Jay looks at me and asks, “Jen, do you drink your coffee black?” At this point I think I was down to about 2-3 packs of sugar. I took a sip of my black coffee, thought a minute and said, “why yes, yes I do.”
8+ years later, I’m still drinking my coffee black. I just realized how long it’s actually been…what’s funny is this is exactly how long I’ve been photographing weddings. So Jay, you might have just changed my life that day. 🙂
Cheers to you!
Oh, by the way, Jay closed up this shop not too long after. He finally found a home for his coffee down in Hampden, on the Avenue. If you get a chance, check out his shop. Amazing coffee.
I still drink it black Jay. 🙂
365daysofmarriage 