Computer Casualty

How many of you have ever spilled water on your laptop? Well I am hear to tell you that I don't recommend it at all, ever! Ugh...the day before yesterday I set my computer and my water bottle down on my bed; however, the lid on the water bottle was not fully closed. The next thing I know water is everywhere. I didn't realize at first that the water had reached the inside of my computer, but what made me realize that it had was when I picked the computer up to use it and water came trickling out of the back vents. Needless to say, I cried...hahaha. Thank God I have a Mac with the Apple Care Protection plan. I will be sending it in to have the damage assessed. Please pray that no real damage was done because if there is damage, since it was my own fault, I will have to pay for the repairs. I will pay if I have to, but I am not exactly sure how I will. It will depend on the cost. I think this is one of those character building times that Paul talks about in Romans 5. :)
So I may not be writing much, or able to respond for a bit. Please stay tuned for future updates on "computer casualty".

Post-Christmas Blues

Christmas is now over. It seems to me that every year after the Christmas presents are opened I feel a big let down. I do not really understand why that is. I have pondered a few ideas, then this morning I read the "Peanuts" comic and it asks the same question: http://comics.com/peanuts/. It does not provide an answers, however, it is nice to see I am not the only one feeling this way. What I find myself asking is, am I going about celebrating Christmas in the wrong way? Are there families all over the world, or at least in the United States, going about it the wrong way? I believe it is important to ask these questions, then seek to find answers based on what the Bible teaches. This is never easy, but I believe it is a question I have to find the answer to.

One thing I do find myself being convicted about, which means I have to move to make a decision, is the issue of Santa Claus. The question I have been wrestling with is how do I address the issue of Santa Claus because he is not a real person who comes down the chimney and brings presents to children. In light of that fact, am I to tell children that Santa is real? Is this "lie" something that I have been willing to justify because it is a fun way to pretend with children? This year I have decided that it is not. So now that leaves me with the question of how I will celebrate Christmas from this point forward? One possibility I will be looking into is advent. This year I had a very small introduction to it, but I still don't understand much about it. I plan to do some research and decide if that seems like a route I want to take. I am looking for ideas and suggestions if anyone has any. How do you deal with Santa, what do you know about advent, or any other thoughts and ideas you might have.

Christmas Break

This year for Christmas I was invited by one of my Explore teammates to come to Georgia. It has been so much fun to spend Christmas with a new family and in a new place. Plus this is my first time in the South and I really love it. I was blown away by the number of deciduous trees; what a huge difference from all those Idaho/Montana pine trees. The one thing I will not get to experience while I am here is the wonderful Georgia humidity. They say it is bad and I will have to keep believing them until I can visit in the summer; however, on a backpacking trip in the Blue Ridge Mountains I did experience a bit of humidity and all I could think was how sticky I felt. Then I remembered that was how everyone explains it, and now I kind of understand. But the backpacking trip was a blast.

Christmas is in two days. I am excited to see how the Boon family celebrates. There will be many people over for Christmas day, so I am looking forward to a house full of strangers...lol. I am learning to be more flexible and to adapt to all situations, right? HaHa, that is what I keep telling myself.

I wish you all a Christmas filled with the presence of Christ!

Welcome to Samantha Purcell's blog!

Welcome to my first blog. I decided to start this because I would like to keep my friends more up-to-date with my life and updating this monthly or more will accomplish that goal better than a letter once or twice a year.

I invite you to participate in my life as I journey with Christ with hope of living in such a way that will bring glory, honor and praise to my creator.

To start off with here are some quotes which will provide context for understanding where I am at on this journey.

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

the Maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:

Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;

He descended into hell.

The third day He arose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.

Amen.

Romans 5:1-8

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.(italics added)

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; who does actually try to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

Franklin Delano Roosevelt