Side by Side...

"Eve was not taken out of Adam's head to top him,
neither out of his feet to be trampled on by him, but out of his side to
be equal with him, under his arm to be protected by him, and near his
heart to be loved by him." -Matthew Henry

Matthew has a great point.  Yet in the world today it seems like women are constantly looked down on by the men.  The women are looked at as below the men.  Even in the church you don't see many women taking on larger roles.  The larger roles are taken by men.  God created man in his own image.  In the image of God he created.  Male and female he created them.

 It wasn't just the man, it wasn't just the women.  As a team they fell.  As a team they were banished from Eden.  As a team God gave them hardships. As a team they disobeyed God.  As a team they had children.  That's one of those things that would be impossible without the team.

Eve came from Adam's side.  And children come from the shelter and protection of the women.  Its an endless cycle.

Children are guarded and protected by their parents.

Women are guarded by the man.

Men and all of the above are guarded and protected by God.

So to reitterate...

"Eve was not taken out of Adam's head to top him,
neither out of his feet to be trampled on by him,
but out of his side to be equal with him,
under his arm to be protected by him,
and near his heart to be loved by him." -Matthew Henry

Celebrities...

Dear Friends and People whom I love,

I've found myself awoken by Brad Paisley's song "Celebrity" and it got me thinking...

Why do we fawn over, fantasize about, dream about, hope about meeting, reading the gossip in the magazines, buying CD and movie one after the other, oh, and my personal favorite, start putting Celebrities above God?

Celebrities don't care that we have their best lines and greatest songs memorized.  They don't care if they're in the spotlight...oh, wait, I'm sure at some point they do, and I mean who can blame them?  I honestly wonder how many of their lives have been ravished because of us...their "fans."

"'Cause when you're a celebrity

It's adios reality

No matter what you do 

People think you're cool

Just 'cause you're on TV

I can fall in and out of love

Have marriages that barely last a month

When they go down the drain

I'll blame it on the fame

And say it's just so tough

Being a celebrity"

I can't believe how accurate that is.  It always makes me feel bad.  For example, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, from the first episode you're hoping the girl/guy that you like will win (I know from personal experience), but do we ever think about the women/men who truly fall for this person and have to suffer the heartbreak at not being chosen?  Only if our person didn't win, right?

Another example, Survivor/Dancing With The Stars, etcetera.  We pick someone from the beginning there too.  And all of those shows (and countless others) seem to take over our lives for an entire season, or the entire series. (Other examples, 'LOST' 'NCIS' 'King Of Queens' 'Everybody Loves Raymond' 'Two And A 1/2 Men' 'The Simpsons' 'True Blood' 'Law & Order' {any of them} 'Spongebob Squarepants' and on and on the list goes.)  We're willing to give up, an hour, two hours, heck, a whole marathon to watch these shows.  I wonder how many of us, myself included, spend more time watching and obsessing over these (and the internet and texting and friends, etcetera, etcetera.) than we do reading our Bibles and talking to God, oh, oh, oh, or reaching out to the lost.

In this society God has taken a backseat to all of life.  I see teenagers having sex (I was there 5 or less years ago and I'm pretty -sure, "everyone" wasn't doing it).  Christians are dating non-Christians and justifying everything or avoiding the people or God that will let them know.  Christians have also (not just teens) have started to accept that sex outside of marriage is okay, and clearly God didn't think it was, its referenced so many times in the Bible.  As Christians I think we've lost the hearts cry for the lost and I think I know why no one genuinely wants to change, (no one wants to be become a Christian) is because, hey, we're as much in the world as they are.

We KNOW beyond the shadow of a reasonable doubt that sinning is wrong, they don't know that (or just deny it), but how could they?  If we justify every bad things we do, why can't they, who have no accountability?  We've become hypocrites in a world inDESPERATELY in need of Christians who WALK the talk, and not just when we're at Church, but on a daily basis. "Be the change you wish to see in the world."  I'm almost positive that if we all, as Christians, started living, not just a life worthy of the calling, but a life that people can't help but want to be a part of it.

The Bible says to be in the world, but not OF the world and I think we've faded...I think we're on the very tip of the fence, one second of imbalance will put us of the world or simply in the world. Its time we got off the fence and stopped living this double life! (To my fellow Reborne Ranger, past and present, SEMPER-FI!!!)  By being on the fence or of the world we have put every thing this world has to offer (what I've already mentioned and much, much more) in God's place in our lives.

I said once in my status (Facebook)..."Sometimes we try so hard NOT to become someone, that one day we wake up, look in the mirror and we see we've already become what we swore we'd never be."  dc Talk puts it this way, "The single greatest cause of atheism in the world today, is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with they're lips, then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle.  This is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

If we were in the spotlight...

What would people see?

What does God already see?

And What do we need to change?

Let us be in the world and not of the world.

Christ came to die, once for all...don't we offer him every day, every moment, every breath of our entire lives?  I say yes.

"Some people never change. As Christians we should stand out, not back down, not fade away into the world. We're called to be in the world, but not of. We're called to live as Christ, that's what the word "Christian" means. Sometimes Christian friends fade away...when will we actually become what we promised God we'd be? Stand up, stand out, stand against the ways of the world and STAND up for Christ!!"  I may have said this...but its true.

SEMPER-FI!!!  DO OR DIE!!

So....its been ages....

So I really haven't updated this in awhile, despite my wish to not let so much time pass...but since my last post its been three months.  I honestly don't even know what to talk about, but I guess thats why I entitled my blog "Nicole's Ramblings..." 'cause then I can write about whatever I want.  Haha.  Just got an idea.  They're have been so many movies that have come out lately that I've seen, some good, some okay, some bad, and some horrible!

So...to start off...

Despicable Me:
This movie was very good in my opinion.  Gru is a "villan" who is constantly being beaten by another villan who keeps winning at thieving things.  Though a series of events he sees that through these three sisters he might be able to accomplish his ultimate goal of stealing the moon.  But I don't want to give too much of this away.  This is a great family movie about love and the love and importance of the family.  I HIGHLY recommend this movie.







Salt:
This movie was okay in my opinion, I found the plot confusing and predictable.  There are parts in the movie that I'm not entirely sure about, and others are very predictable...well to me anyways.  I'm not sure if this would be considered family friendly, but I'm sure lots of teens will be interested in this movie.









Knight and Day:
I was expecting much more from this movie.  The initial plot is great, keeps you on your feet as you move with the action and advance more into the movie, but there comes a point when the lines get cheesy and for me, from there it only went down hill.   The ending was really corny in my opinion.  Like I said before I expected much more from this movie.








Vampires Suck:
I cannot emphasize enough just how HORRIBLE this movie was.  This had no regard for anything.  So many innuendos and crude jokes and humor.  Lots of Swearing.  Becca (Bella from Twilight, since this was a parody) wears a male beater outfit (tight and leather, if you know what I mean).  If I was asked to rate this movie I'd give it a --5ish.  I DON'T recommend this to anyone at all...was a waste of time and a waste of money.

Killers:
Killers was INCREDIBLE!!  Slightly predictable, but it is very family oriented.  Some crude humor and little things.  But all in all I loved this movie!  I DO recommend this movie.  Great story, great plot.










Inception:
"Dreams seem real while we're in them, its only when we wake up that we realize something was strange."  The most famous quote from the movie.  This movie was very involved, I'm pretty sure that you'd stay awake through this movie even if you're tired (as I was).  It sure had my mind filled with hundreds of questions as I left.  Its a very good suspense movie.  I would recommend this.








Sorcerers Apprentice:
This movie had an exceptional plot and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time, it was layered with comedy and I liked it so much I saw it twice!! :)











How To Train Your Dragon:
I cannot stress enough how good of a movie this was.  I can't wait till it comes out so I can buy it.  VERY family friendly.  Lots of comedy and great plot.  LOVED LOVED LOVED this movie!!  I HIGHLY recommend it!! :)










Prince Of Persia:
This movie was very good and had a great plot.  Loved all of it but the brief snake parts.  Good movie to watch.  I do recommend this one as well.  Somewhat predictable but all in all, great movie.











Me & Orson Welles:
So glad I got this from Redbox and didn't see it in theaters, it would have been a great waste of money.  If you want to see a movie that is like this, but better than this one I suggest The Devil Wears Prada, same type of plot, but much better story line.  Don't waste your time or money seeing this movie.  I don't recommend this for how boring it was.
















Well there's my opinions on the most recent movies.  Enjoy!! :)

Until my next ramble....

Nicole

Sisters and Conversations about Boys...

I'm sitting here right now talking to my sister Angie.  She's talking about how vague and cryptic guys are.  She just said "guys think we're hard to understand."  Its true.  She also said that guys seem to always make us carry on the conversation and I totally agree with that.  Why do boys seem to complicate everything?  Right now she's going through all of the things that a guy needs to be wearing, open about or just some sort of way to help us figure some things out.  Haha, they probably think the same thing, and with good reason.  Haha, what woman hasn't offended or scared a guy in the past??  Girls are SO moody.  Cranky.  Bossy.  Demanding.  And the list goes on.


Currently she's going through what the colors of a mood ring would be.  Wouldn't that be nice if they all wore mood rings and they told us how they were feeling.  Relient K has a song called Mood Rings, but in this song its the guy looking at the girl.  But I think this goes both ways.  No one is perfect.  Miley Cyrus, despite all thats going on with her right now, she sings a song called "Nobody's Perfect."  HOW TRUE!


How come every time a guy gets hurt he can't just own to the fact that someone just hit something into something that HURTS? They get hit or kicked or any other variation of pain...and the one most sensitive place seems to be the only one that ever gets a reaction.  Most every other thing that hurts a guy just gets back up and says, "I'm fine."  Despite whether they feel that way or not.  BUT, you get a girl to have someone hit her and it hurts, either she cries or she lets you know that it hurts.  Venerability is not always a bad thing.  It seems almost impossible to get a guy to be venerable in a conversation.  They're all closed up...then we act like somethings wrong and then they want to know, regardless of the fact that the only reason you sound like you're not okay is because they sound like they're not okay.


Will the sexes ever understand each other?  Probably not, but thats what makes life interesting.  And I mean interesting.  My siblings did something at church for the older couples.  They had them fill out on  on a piece of paper what the answer to the question was.  And most of them got it wrong.  The women ended up coming out on the top.  But that just goes to show you, that even after you've lived with a person for 20+ years doesn't make you understand them anymore than those of us that are teenagers (doesn't include me, cause I'm 20) and single.  We will never fully understand each other.


The day after this dinner however, my brother took it upon himself to question Jonathan and I (my boyfriend) about the other.  We got most of them right.  I make it a point to remember the little details, cause thats just the kind of person that I am, but he knew a lot more than I ever gave him credit (sorry honey! :/ ).  We'd been dating, I believe, 9 months at the time.  But just because we know a lot doesn't mean we know everything.  No matter how close a couple is, I doubt they know everything that the other, thinks or feels, their likes or dislikes, their unspoken dreams, they're unfulfilled dreams and countless other things.


So its simple in its complexities...I've summed it up in three points...


1.  Guys will NEVER understand girls...


2.  Girls will NEVER understand guys...


3.  Like it or not...we'll never stop trying to understand each other.




Until my next ramble...hopefully not as long a wait as this one.


Nicole Louise

My Sister...

You've gotta just check out her blog...she's amazing...

Just Click on the title to this blog and you'll be directed right to her page.

If that doesn't work then copy and paste the link below:

http://completelyrandom-101.blogspot.com/

I love you Angie!! :)

Every Choice Comes With A Little Regret...But In The End...It's A Wonderful Life...

So today I decided that I was going to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" the old classic movie...the one that a bunch of people watch on Christmas Eve.  My parents used to watch "It's A Wonderful Life" when ever they wrapped Christmas Presents and I have just always enjoyed watching it.

The story of a man who is more important to his town than he thinks he is, although he always thought that he'd missed out on his life.  He regretted everything.  He wished that he'd never been born.  And that's where the story takes its turn.  George Baily begins to realize that things are a lot different since he wished he'd never been born.  The miser of the town has it named after him.  The bar that his friend used to own is no longer his.  His brother is an only child.  His wife is a old maid.   (She said in the movie that she would have been an old maid if not for George, and he gets to see just how much she meant that.)  And he gets to see first hand just how different things are without him.

Everything is different and NOTHING is the same.  He wished he wasn't born and that's just what happened.  He wasn't born.  I'm sure we all have times where we wish we hadn't been born or that we wish that our lives were different.  But the truth is that things happen for a reason.  There's a reason for everything and everyone.  Everyone has a purpose.  Clearance says something very interesting and very true when George is starting to realize that no one knows who he is.  He says: "Strange, isn't it?  Each man's life touches so many other lives.  When he isn't around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"

Each of our lives touches others.  Its how we react to things and how we grow that effects every other life of every other person that we know.  When we make a decision it doesn't just effect us, but every one else associated with us.  Another vital thing that Clearance says is: "You see, George?  You really had a wonderful life.  Don't you see what a mistake it would be...to throw it away?"  To think that our lives and the decisions that we make only effect us are completely wrong.  Everything that we do effects the lives of everyone else.

Though there are some things in my life that I don't like and wish had turned out differently...I can't say that I feel the same way I did about it before.  Watching "It's A Wonderful Life" not just for the sake of Christmas, but just because has opened my eyes to everything in my life that I've ever wished was different, everything that I wish hadn't happened.

I love my life and I can't imagine it being any other way...my life, though short as it is, is soooo much more important than I ever thought possible.  I love my life.  Because it truly is, a wonderful life...

Until my next ramble,
Nicole Louise

Another Year Older...

My birthday is on Tuesday and I'll be 20.   I can't believe I'll have lived through two decades...wow.  So many things have happened this year.  Mostly good...in fact I can't think of anything bad right now off the top of my head.   My life will be very different by my 21st birthday.

To name a few...

Two things are happening in March...first, my baby sister is turning 15 years old.  She's always been five years younger than me, but for some reason this year has a different feel to it entirely.   Not only does that make me feel old, but she's growing into quite a beautiful and smart young woman.  Whatever happened to my sister when she was five years old and innocent and nothing could hurt her... (except physical anyways) now she's fourteen and I see her hurt almost daily...and most of which is my fault.   I had hurting her...but sometimes its just soooo hard not to.  When I was her age Wesley died.  But she experienced that with me.  The anniversary of his death effects her just as much as it does me...I love my sister and it hurts me to see her hurting.  :\ (you can also read her blog by going to www.completelyrandom-101.blogspot.com she's a great writer!)

Another thing that is happening in March is one of my best friends is getting married.  Bess Doenier is going to marry Marcus Velzen.  Bess and I have been good friends for a long time.  She's one of those people that knows me not just pretty good, but very very good.  She's seen my struggles and my pains and has been there with me through them all.  First time I met Marcus, I actually can't remember, but as I've gotten to know him I've grown to consider him like my brother.  (Not to mention him and Jonathan get along so well...how could I not??)  I couldn't be happier for them!!  :)

Whats going to happen in April I'm not sure but in May my brother and sister will become high school seniors.  Ah...wow.  June brings another two weddings...

The first is one of my very best friends.  Amalia Hoekzema will marry Josh (William Joshua) Mulder.  Amalia is more like a sister than just a best friend.  She's seen me through every struggle in my life and every pain I've ever felt.  Growing up together we didn't really know each other too well...after all, her younger sister is my age and she's three years older than me.  When I was 12 (she was 15) we were working in the nursery at Highland Hills for the first time together (I usually worked with Bethany) and we got to talking.  There wasn't a single thing that we didn't agree completely on.  We're like twins.  Soo alike and soo different at the same time.  We've been friends for a long time and I don't know what I would have done without her in my life.  She's definitely a diamond in the rough.  One in a million.  The one person in my life that I PLAN to be friends with until I'm old and gray.  Amalia is my absolute best friend and I'm sooo glad to have her in my life.

The other wedding is of Melissa Bieber who is marrying Jonathon Lovegrove.  If you know them then you know the story.  Melissa is a good friend and Jon is very much like a brother to me.

July, nothings going on as far as I know.  And in August yet another wedding.  Jonathan's really good friends, Paige Pilarz and Alex Barson are getting married.  I haven't known them very long but they are a great pair.  I'm glad to have the opportunity to know them.  And I'm very glad that Jonathan has such good friends. :)

What happens after that, I'm not sure.  Jonathan will be twenty on the 28th of August.  Then maybe I won't feel as old.  I've got a lot to be thankful for this year...I'm not sure whats going to happen but I'll be sure to blog about it....this was another long one...haha, wonder why I'm writing six books???  'Cause I can never seem to stop typing...haha.

Well, until the next ramble...

Nicole Louise

p.s. a great book to read is...



If you haven't read it I highly recommend it.  Its a great love story (Christian).  Its one I'll always like. :)