All the Broken Pieces: March 2011

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Taking Care of the Ladies

I thought this was too cute not to share!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Depraved Indifference - Eric Ludy

To turn off the background music, scroll to the bottom and press pause on the music player.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Remember that video I put on about The Dangers of Algebra a while back, well, I made the statement that I kind of enjoyed Algebra... well, up until Algebra 2... where I'm learning about things like 'completing the square' and 'rhombus' and 'quadratic equations', and doing problems I'm not even sure how to accurately type out here... actually it's still fun in a very difficult and challenging way. Mom and I spent probably close to two hours yesterday puzzling over a lesson, trying to figure out the problems, but I guess it was fun. =) Today in my Science I'm reading a module about Ecology and I read about two different 'incredible mutualistic relationships' as Dr. Jay Wile (my textbook author) puts it. They are the Oriental Sweetlip and the Blue Streak Wrasse and the Blind Shrimp and the Goby.

Oriental Sweetlip with Blue Streak Wrasse

In the first case I mentioned, the Blue Streak Wrasse acts as the Oriental Sweetlip's toothbrush and the Sweetlip provides the Blue Streak Wrasse his meal. How it works is, the Sweetlip has teeth and in order to keep them from rotting, after he has eaten he finds a place where the Blue Streak Wrasse are and swims up to them with an open mouth, they then go inside the Sweetlips mouth and eat the plaque and stuff off the Sweetlips teeth, then when they are done, the Sweetlip lets them swim right of their mouth again without eating them.

Goby and Shrimp

The other one, the Blind Shrimp and the Goby are neat too. The Blind Shrimp is a shrimp who obviously can't see, and lives in a hole in the ocean floor, this is a safe place for him, other than that the ocean waters are continuously washing sand and debris into the shrimp's home, so the shrimp is in danger of being eaten by predators while he tries to re-dig his home, since he can't see. The Goby is a fish with very good eye site, but the Goby has no way to dig a home for himself to get away from predators, so the Goby and the Blind Shrimp work together, the Goby goes with the shrimp when he needs to re-dig his home, the shrimp uses a tentacle to touch the Goby with while digging out his home, then the Goby works as a lookout. If the Goby sees a predator, he signals to the shrimp by flicking his tail and they both dive into the hole, with lightning speed to reach safety.

The more I learn about God's creation the more I am amazed and awed by it. There is no other way to explain the complexity of our universe besides God creating it.

So I hope I didn't bore you too much with my learning, that you maybe already knew about :) I just thought it was too cool not to share!

Oriental Sweetlip and Blue Streak Wrasse
Photo of Shrimp and Goby

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

When upon life's billows
You are tempest tossed
When you are discouraged,
Thinking all is lost
Count your many blessings,
Name them one by one
And it will suprise you
What the Lord has done.

Are you ever burdened
With a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy
You are called to bear?
Count your many blessings,
Ev'ry doubt will fly
And you will be singing
As the days go by.

When you look at others
With their lands and gold
Think that Christ has promised
You His wealth untold
Count your many blessings,
Money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven,
Nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict,
Whether great or small
Do not be discouraged,
God is over all
Count your many blessings,
Angels will attend
Help and comfort give you
To your journey's end.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Live Like You're Dying

LIVE LIKE YOU'RE DYING
Tim McGraw

He said I was in my early forties, with a lot of life before me
And one moment came that stopped me on a dime
I spent most of the next days, looking at the x-rays
Talking bout' the options and talking bout' sweet times.
I asked him when it sank in, that this might really be the real end
How's it hit 'cha when you get that kind of news?
Man what did ya do?
He said
I went skydiving
I went rocky mountain
climbing
I went two point seven seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu
And I loved deeper
And I spoke sweeter
And I gave forgiveness I'd been denyin'
And he said some day I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dyin'

He said I was finally the husband, that most of the time I wasn't
And I became a friend, a friend would like to have
And all of a sudden goin' fishin, wasn't such an imposition
And I went three times that year I lost my dad
Well I finally read the good Book,
and I took a good long hard look
At what I'd do if I could do it all again
And then

Lived like I was dying
Like tomorrow was the end
And ya got eternity to
think about what to do with it
What should you do with it
What can I do
with it
What would I do with it.

What would life be like if we lived like we were dying? Lived like today was the last day to tell everyone that we loved that we loved them, like it was the last day to forgive all our grudges, to share God's love with one more person. What if today was the last day that we had to get right with God, to live our lives fully for him, would we still waste time. What if we just slowed down and lived life to the fullest, enjoying the people and things God gave to us, if we knew we'd die tomorrow? Would we love deeper, laugh louder, dance longer, watch our words more carefully,

smile oftener (after all a smile is one of the only free things left in this world, isn't it selfish not to give away more of them?), forgive quicker and serve God better?

I've been thinking about this lately, I don't know if tomorrow's my last day, what if I die tonight, will I live for 20-50 more years? I want to figure out now what God's plan is for me, I want to live like today's my last day and live life to the fullest! I don't want to look back on yesterday and have more regrets than satisfaction... I don't want to get to the end of my life and realize it's wasted! I wanna 'live like I'm dying'!