Just a quick reminder that I have changed my blog address to http://jesuisjoyeuse.tumblr.com/. I have decided to keep my thoughts between God and I for a while, so I'm not investing a lot of time on writing to publish a full post. Instead, I'm trying to start a collection of pictures and inspiring messages, as well as relevant articles I'd love to share with you. So visit the blog and leave some love. Many, many blessings.

In the search for a higher-better- pleasure

Loved this post by Jon Bloom. So many things to keep in mind (and in heart).


No one puts it as bluntly as Blaise Pascal in his Pensées:

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.

There you are. Warrior, pacifist, suicide, sluggard, workaholic; if you’re a human, you’re a hedonist. You can try to deny it, but you can’t change it.

If you want to try your hand at stoicism, forget the Bible. It has little for you. Scripture does not support the idea that our motives are more pure the less we are pursuing our own joy. Nope. In fact, according to the Bible, unless we are pursuing our happiness we cannot even come to God: “for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).

God blatantly entices us to seek happiness, joy, pleasure (whatever you want to call it) in him with verses like this: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4), and “in his presence is fullness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). We’re supposed to want pleasure.
Why does God want us to want pleasure? Because it is a crucial indicator. Pleasure is the meter in your heart that measures how valuable, how precious someone or something is to you. Pleasure is the measure of your treasure.

Your treasure is what you love. Your greatest treasure is what you love the most. “For where your treasure is, there your heart [your love] will be also” (Matthew 6:21). You glorify your treasure by the fact that it’s the object of your pleasure.

And that’s why God is not indifferent about your joy. It’s a big deal to him. Because, as John Piper says, “God is most glorified in you, when you are most satisfied in him. Your pleasure in God is the measure of how much of a treasure he is to you.

This makes pleasure also the whistleblower of your heart. If something sinful gives you pleasure, it’s not a pleasure problem. It’s a treasure problem. Your pleasure mechanism is likely functioning just fine. It’s what you love that’s out of whack. And pleasure is outing you. It’s revealing that, despite what your mouth says and the image you try to project to others, something evil is precious to you.

That’s what sin is at the root: treasuring evil. Which makes the fight of faith in the Christian life a fight for delight. It’s a fight to believe God’s promises of happiness over the false promises of happiness we hear from the world, our fallen flesh, and the devil. And yes, it often involves denying ourselves pleasure, but only denying ourselves a lesser, viler pleasure in order to have a much higher pleasure (Luke 9:23-25).

So be a full, unashamed, bold Christian Hedonist! Pursue your pleasure in God, the greatest Treasure, with all your heart (Matthew 22:37). “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21).

It feels like I'm falling... and this is the life for me! :)

As I sing along to this contagious melody, a bunch of affirmations roll in my mind:

"I'm letting go...the life I planned for me...I'm losing control! It feels like I'm falling but that's what it's like to believe..."

Is really faith about feeling like this? Falling, doubting,having your heart on the edge... it turns out it is. But it's also much, way more than that. It's also about embracing your deepest fears, hopes and plans, and then, letting them GO. That's right.

If you're like me, and like to plan everything ahead, knowing the details of what's next and you spend your time praying to God so everything turns out just the way you've planned it....let me tell you it's time to let go. It can be a fun step once you realize His plan is much more interesting and perfect than yours. It is likely to be scary at first, but then you come to realize it was your human-emotions-ego-ambition-based plan that was scary in the first place. This is the life we Christians are called to have - not having a clue of what's next! It sounds risky, but in the hands of God it is exciting.

And "like an acrobat, there's no turning back, giving into Your gravity, knowing You're holding me"






Artist: Francesca Battistelli

My heart beats, standing on the edge
But my feet have finally left the ledge

Like an acrobat
There’s no turning back

I’m letting go
Of the life I planned for me
And my dreams
I’m losing control
Of my destiny
It feels like I’m falling and that’s what it’s like to believe
So I’m letting go

This is a giant leap of faith
Trusting and trying to embrace

The fear of the unknown
Beyond my comfort zone


Giving in to your gravity
Knowing You are holding me
I’m not afraid


Feels like I’m falling and that’s what it’s like to believe
Feels like I’m falling and this is the life for me

My name is fear

How many times have we let fear take over our dreams, expectations, responsibilities and attitudes? Is fear drifting in your daily life because you assume is part of a normal perspective?

I myself have struggled with this weak but sneaky enemy. The only response to be free from fear (which we must acknowledge, is a constant battle) is to be filled with love instead of doubt. There are no short-cuts, no rational solution. Just love.

My Name is Fear from Spring of Life Youth on Vimeo.

The best song ever written

There is no description and no words to explain how much this song represents for me. Sometimes I think God Himself wrote it for me...in my worst times this poetry of love has been there for me to sing it from my heart...especially when I feel I can't take it anymore. At the end, He is our ONLY HOPE.





There's a song that's inside of my soul
It's the one that I've tried to write
over and over again
I'm awake and in the infinite cold
But You sing to me over and over and
over again

So I lay my head back down
And I lift my hands
And pray to be only Yours
I pray to be only Yours
I know now You're my only hope

Sing to me of the song of the stars
Of Your galaxy dancing and laughing
and laughing again
When it feels like my dreams are so far
Sing to me of the plans that You have
for me over again

I give You my apathy
I'm giving You all of me
I want Your symphony
Singing in all that I am
At the top of my lungs I'm giving it back

Take heart

Esta cancion representa mucho para mi espiritual y personalmente. Tener la valentia y el impetu de creer y vivir por nuestra fe no es facil. Vamos por la vida, tratando de entenderla a nuestra manera, de vivirla como mas logico nos parece, nos equivocamos, caemos, y tratamos de seguir...pero que reconfortante es saber que hay Alguien que desafia todas nuestras concepciones, miedos, dudas, limitaciones. Jesus, literalmente, llevo las cicatrices de nuestra libertad. Se trata entonces de dejar toda carga en El, y motivarnos a seguir hacia adelante. El resto esta en Sus manos (y sera, de seguro, un muy buen resto)



There is a light
It burns brighter than the sun
He steals the night
And casts no shadow
There is hope
Should oceans rise and mountains fall
He never fails


So take heart
Let His love lead us through the night
Hold on to hope
And take courage again


In death by love
The fallen world was overcome
He wears the scars of our freedom
In His Name
All our fears are swept away
He never fails


All our troubles
And all our tears
God our hope
He has overcome

All our failure
And all our fear
God our love
He has overcome
All our heartache
And all our pain
God our healer
He has overcome

All our burdens
And all our shame
God our freedom
He has overcome

All our troubles
And all our tears
God our hope
He has overcome

All our failures
And all our fear
God our love
He has overcome

God our justice
God our grace
God our freedom
He has overcome

God our refuge
God our strength
God is with us
He has overcome

Unwanted babies, unwanted gender

This is the awful reality of millions of girls and women in India.

It is inconceivable that these stupid (I'm sorry if I'm offending someone, but yes, they are stupid) traditions and practices that undermine women in society lead to horrific killings of baby girls and to patterns of violence against women.

Another scourge we Christians should take a stand against. And act on it.



India's unwanted girls


India's 2011 census shows a serious decline in the number of girls under the age of seven - activists fear eight million female foetuses may have been aborted in the past decade. The BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi explores what has led to this crisis.
Kulwant has three daughters aged 24, 23 and 20 and a son who is 16.
In the years between the birth of her third daughter and her son, Kulwant became pregnant three times.
Each time, she says, she was forced to abort the foetus by her family after ultrasound tests confirmed that they were girls.
"My mother-in-law taunted me for giving birth to girls. She said her son would divorce me if I didn't bear a son."
Kulwant still has vivid memories of the first abortion. "The baby was nearly five months old. She was beautiful. I miss her, and the others we killed," she says, breaking down, wiping away her tears.
Until her son was born, Kulwant's daily life consisted of beatings and abuse from her husband, mother-in-law and brother-in-law. Once, she says, they even attempted to set her on fire.
"They were angry. They didn't want girls in the family. They wanted boys so they could get fat dowries," she says.
India outlawed dowries in 1961, but the practice remains rampant and the value of dowries is constantly growing, affecting rich and poor alike.
Kulwant's husband died three years after the birth of their son. "It was the curse of the daughters we killed. That's why he died so young," she says.
Common attitude
Her neighbour Rekha is mother of a chubby three-year-old girl.
Last September, when she became pregnant again, her mother-in-law forced her to undergo an abortion after an ultrasound showed that she was pregnant with twin girls.
"I said there's no difference between girls and boys. But here they think differently. There's no happiness when a girl is born. They say the son will carry forward our lineage, but the daughter will get married and go off to another family."
Kulwant and Rekha live in Sagarpur, a lower middle-class area in south-west Delhi.
Here, narrow minds live in homes separated by narrow lanes.
The women's story is common and repeated in millions of homes across India, and it has been getting worse.
In 1961, for every 1,000 boys under the age of seven, there were 976 girls. Today, the figure has dropped to a dismal 914 girls.
Although the number of women overall is improving (due to factors such as life expectancy), India's ratio of young girls to boys is one of the worst in the world after China.
Many factors come into play to explain this: infanticide, abuse and neglect of girl children.
But campaigners say the decline is largely due to the increased availability of antenatal sex screening, and they talk of a genocide.
The government has been forced to admit that its strategy has failed to put an end to female foeticide.
'National shame'
"Whatever measures have been put in over the past 40 years have not had any impact on the child sex ratio," Home Secretary GK Pillai said when the census report was released.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described female foeticide and infanticide as a "national shame" and called for a "crusade" to save girl babies.
But Sabu George, India's best-known campaigner on the issue, says the government has so far shown little determination to stop the practices.
Until 30 years ago, he says, India's sex ratio was "reasonable". Then in 1974, Delhi's prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences came out with a study which said sex-determination tests were a boon for Indian women.
It said they no longer needed to produce endless children to have the right number of sons, and it encouraged the determination and elimination of female foetuses as an effective tool of population control.
"By late 80s, every newspaper in Delhi was advertising for ultrasound sex determination," said Mr George.
"Clinics from Punjab were boasting that they had 10 years' experience in eliminating girl children and inviting parents to come to them."
In 1994, the Pre-Natal Determination Test (PNDT) Act outlawed sex-selective abortion. In 2004, it was amended to include gender selection even at the pre-conception stage.
Abortion is generally legal up to 12 weeks' gestation. Sex can be determined by a scan from about 14 weeks.
"What is needed is a strict implementation of the law," says Varsha Joshi, director of census operations for Delhi. "I find there's absolutely no will on the part of the government to stop this."
Today, there are 40,000 registered ultrasound clinics in the country, and many more exist without any record.
'Really sad'
Ms Joshi, a former district commissioner of south-west Delhi, says there are dozens of ultrasound clinics in the area. It has the worst child sex ratio in the capital - 836 girls under seven for every 1,000 boys.
Delhi's overall ratio is not much better at 866 girls under seven for every 1,000 boys.
"It's really sad. We are the capital of the country and we have such a poor ratio," Ms Joshi says.
The south-west district shares its boundary with Punjab and Haryana, the two Indian states with the worst sex ratios.
Since the last census, Punjab and Haryana have shown a slight improvement. But Delhi has registered a decline.
"Something's really wrong here and something has to be done to put things right," Ms Joshi says.
Almost all the ultrasound clinics in the area have the mandatory board outside, proclaiming that they do not carry out illegal sex-determination tests.
But the women in Sagarpur say most people here know where to go when they need an ultrasound or an abortion.
They say anyone who wants to get a foetal ultrasound done, gets it done. In the five-star clinics of south Delhi it costs 10,000-plus rupees ($222; £135), In the remote peripheral areas of Delhi's border, it costs a few hundred rupees.
Similarly, the costs vary for those wanting an illegal abortion.
Delhi is not alone in its anti-girl bias. Sex ratios have declined in 17 states in the past decade, with the biggest falls registered in Jammu and Kashmir.
Ms Joshi says most offenders are members of the growing middle-class and affluent Indians - they are aware that the technology exists and have the means to pay to find out the sex of their baby and abort if they choose.
"We have to take effective steps to control the promotion of sex determination by the medical community. And file cases against doctors who do it," Mr George says.
"Otherwise by 2021, we are frightened to think what it will be like."

These last five months have been full of things that, for one reason of another, have kept me from writing. And the spell is not broken yet - I still have to get some exams done- and, actually, I have been drafting a new entry for some weeks now, but I want it to be good enough to draw my readers back-. However, I just wanted to share this very simple but very true blog entry from Bloom!.
There is nothing more encouraging than keeping our eyes up - on The One.

Several times, my facebook status has indicated that we shouldn't be afraid to trust an an unknown future to a known God. Well, maybe it's about time facebook statuses become real.

So, here it goes:









MONDAY, MAY 16, 2011


Where are Your Eyes?
I woke up this morning to a text from my friend Rachel. "Keep looking up, Meg!" she encouraged me.

Keep looking up. What does that mean?

It's our shorthand for talking about where the eyes of our hearts are. Are they fixed on Jesus, on the Cross (which puts everything back into perspective), on the glorious hope we have? Or are they focused on myself: my problems and victories and disappointments?

Do you remember the story of Peter walking on waves? The disciples are in a boat, and Jesus comes towards them, walking on the water. They're terrified, He tells them not to fear, that it's Him and not a ghost, and Peter responds with, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water."

Jesus says simply, "Come." And Peter does. He steps out of the boat. He looks at Jesus. He walks on water.

And then, he starts to sink. Why? He took his eyes off of Jesus, and started looking down at the waves (maybe marveling at himself for walking on them). But he sees how big they are, he starts to notice how strong the wind is, maybe he starts to be afraid of sinking. Jesus isn't even a part of his thought process anymore.

In the same way, when I focus so much on myself and my daily problems and struggles - I sink. I find that fixing my eyes on myself is a bit akin to a dog chasing its tail - I start circling around and around quite pointlessly, and soon I'm dizzy and I've fallen into a tailspin of worry and despair.

I've been going through a bit of a rough time lately. But that doesn't make any difference: my eyes need (for my own sanity!) to be on Jesus and the miracle of the Cross, not my circumstances. I don't need to remember this just in the little, daily, ordinary problems, but in the deeper valleys of life too.

I don't know whether Charlotte Bronte was talking about God in this quote at all, but she puts it rather nicely: "I try to avoid looking forward or backward, and try to keep looking upward."

Don't worry about the future - be that today, next week, or the next ten years. Don't fret about what's behind you. Look up!

Posted by Megan at 11:23 AM
Labels: megan dutill

You

Switchfoot is perhaps one of the best contemporary bands. Seriously. They are not only musically brilliant, but also have captured -in my opinion- the very essence of who God is, and found a very subtle but determined way to share it with the world.

(Click on the title of the post to listen to one of my favorite songs)

There's always something
In the way
There's always something
Getting through
But it's not me
it's You

Sometime's ignorance
Rings true
But hope is not in
What I know
Not in me
It's in You

It's all I know

And I find peace
When I'm confused
I find hope when
I'm let down
Not in me
But in You

I hope to lose myself
For good
I hope to find it in the end
Not in me
It's You
It's all I know

What Does Love Mean?

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds: "What does love mean?"

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think...

_____




"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."

Rebecca - age 8

_____

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."

Billy - age 4

_____

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."

Terri - age 4

_____

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."

Danny - age 7

_____

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss."

Emily - age 8

_____

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."

Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

_____

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate."

Nikka - age 6 (we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)

_____

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."

Noelle - age 7

_____

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."

Tommy - age 6

_____

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.

He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."

Cindy - age 8

_____

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."

Elaine - age 5

_____

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford."

Chris - age 7

_____

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."

Mary Ann - age 4

_____

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." (Now THIS is love!)

Lauren - age 4

_____

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image!)

Karen - age 7

_____

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross."

Mark - age 6

_____

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."

Jessica - age 8

Eric Ludy - Depraved Indifference

Are you suffering of depraved indifference too?

Don't let limitations limit your vision

Hey! I just wanted to share with you today's devotional. I've always been captured by Esther's story and by how God used a woman (which wasn't exactly common in the persian-hebrew culture at that time)to fulfill His purpose with the people of Israel. Esther's story is full of miracles, God-given grace and even political struggle. Today's devotional is focused on how Esther's limitations were used by God to free Israel. So, we should start considering that maybe our weaknesses are actually strenghts in God's hands. :)

Don't let limitations limit your vision.
By Rick Warren


"[Esther] won the king's favor and approval ... . So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen." Esther 2:17 (NIV)
"Sometimes what looks like a disaster in your life is part of a much bigger plan. But you will never fulfill your destiny if you are having a pity party. "

God will not only use your gifts to fulfill your destiny, he'll also use your limitations.

Let's look at Esther again. She had several big limitations that made her perfect for the role God wanted her to fulfill. She was an orphan adopted by Mordecai; she was a minority, a Jew living in a Persian country; and she was a single woman. A single woman in a male-dominated society had zero rights.

And God used all of these things, along with the gifts of her beauty, brains, and personality, to fulfill her destiny. Think about it ... if she had been a married man, she wouldn't have become queen. And if she hadn't been a minority, she wouldn't have cared about the Jews and what was going to happen to them.

So what am I saying? Sometimes what looks like a disaster in your life is part of a much bigger plan. But you will never fulfill your destiny if you are having a pity party.

Esther could have just said, "If only I hadn't been chosen, if only I wasn't Jewish, if only I was like someone else." A lot of people do that. They live their lives in resentment, always looking at people and saying, "Well it must be nice to be them."

If you have that attitude you will never fulfill your destiny. You have to realize that the unpleasant obstacles in your life are often God-ordained opportunities to make a difference.

It's hard to see that when you're in pain. Look at Job. He was the wealthiest man in the world and then God allowed everything to be taken from him - his family, his wealth, his health.

Then, when Job starting asking God why, he was silent. Job said, "I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I turn to the south, but I cannot find him. But he knows where I am going ... Hi mind concerning me remains unchanged ... Whatever he wants to do, he does. So he will do for me all he has planned. He controls my destiny" (Job 23:9-10, 13-14 NLT).

You might be in a situation right now where everything is going wrong and you can't figure it out. But God knows. Nothing in your life is accidental. The pleasures and pains, the opportunities and obstacles, God can use it all. There is nothing God cannot use for good in your life if you'll give it to him.

Love 146: Imagine

Solo imaginemos lo que podriamos hacer por cientos de miles de ninos vulnerables a este flagelo. Hay que rebelarnos en contra de nuestra propia indiferencia.

El mismo cielo

Aunque es el mismo cielo y es el mismo sol
son las mismas calles pero yo no soy,
no soy el mismo
Y como un turista puedo caminar
descubriendo cosas nuevas al andar
por que estas conmigo


Por que estas conmigo empiezo a descubrir
las cosas sencillas que antes no viví.

La voz del mar y las estrellas que hablan tanto de ti
la voz que grita en el silencio que me quieres aquí,
cerca de Ti.
El beso tuyo en cada gota que me moja al andar
la luz que fluye en el sonido de un pequeño al llorar.
Me haces vivir, me haces reir, y respirar.


Aunque estabas conmigo no pude entender
que estaba rodeado de tanto placer,
de tantos motivos
Y de mi rutina tuve que salir
para detenerme y verte sonreir
y sentir mi vida

London, baby!

Hoy cumplo exactamente 5 dias en Londres. Y 5 dias han sido suficientes para enamorarme por completo de esta impresionante ciudad.

Es mas que una bendicion poder estar aqui. En cada caminata diaria no hago mas que admirar la belleza de esta ciudad, la que es obvia y la no tan obvia. Aprecio muchisimo la multiculturalidad que se respira en las calles, eso es algo que me maravilla, porque al final, el mundo es asi.

Y siento a Dios a cada paso y en cada esquina. En cada gota de lluvia de un gris amanecer, en los colores de los cientos de autobuses que recorren la ciudad, en 3 amigos de razas y religiones distintas caminando de la mano, en la musica q escucho al caminar, en lo verde de los parques...Me emociona saber que tenemos un Dios que crea tanta belleza para que podamos disfrutarla y a la vez conocerlo mucho mas intimamente por medio de ella. WE DO HAVE AN AWESOME LORD!

En un tono un poco mas jocoso, les voy a compartir algunos Facts sobre Londres (y algunos sobre Londres y yo)

1) No importa cuantas veces los vea, nunca dejo de asustarme cada vez q veo el asiento donde para mi deberia estar el piloto de un carro, vacio. Luego mi mente se tarda unos 8 segundos en recordar que aqui manejan del otro lado.

2) Continuo tropezandome y cayendome continuamente. Esto desvirtua totalmente mi teoria de que la culpa era el mal mantenimiento de las calles de Caracas y Guasdualito. Soy torpe y ya.

3) Las magicas cabinas rojas de telefono son tremendo mito. Huelen a shit ( sorry) y de verdad no se pueden usar.

4) Es muuuy fino el hecho de que aqui cada quien anda en su rollo. Nadie esta pendiente de que andas haciendo o de como estas vestido ( al menos la mayoria de la gente no). Esto, nuevamente, da muchisima rienda suelta a la diversidad tan alucinante que hay aqui.

5) Es SUPER facil tener un numero de tlf, y absurdamente barato.

6) Mi corazon se rompio cuando me di cuenta que mi idolo de la ninez, Charlotte Church, es que si la slut de UK. Otra Britney, pues. :(

7) Es realmente beneficioso poder tomar agua del chorro sabiendo que no te vas a morir de una amibiasis :)

8) A diferencia de EEUU, aqui todo el mundo sabe donde queda Venezuela! Y son bastante antichavistas.

9) El otro dia vi a un grupito de la escuela con sus uniformes y me quise robar a todos y cada uno de los ninitos. Se veian super felices. Eso me recordo tambien la inmensa cantidad de ninos en mi pais y en el resto del mundo que no tienen acceso a sus derechos basicos y menos a este tipo de privilegios (identidad, educacion, salud, recreacion). Quiero aportar aunque sea medio granito de arena para que eso cambie algun dia.

10) Esto es una ciudad en la que, para instalar la modernidad, no destruyeron lo tradicional y lo clasico, sino que encontraron una forma de combinar ambas cosas.

11) Es MUY importante cargar un paraguas con uno. Sino, por experiencia propia, en cualquier momento pueden terminar como Bridget Jones en la 2da pelicula, mojada de pies a cabeza. Lo bueno es la gente no se extrana tanto. :)

12)Aqui TODO el mundo es super healthy y fit. Siempre trotando, caminando o haciendo algo de ejercicio. Sin embargo, super contrastantemente, demasiada gente fuma. Guacala.

13) Es bastante facil q te atropelle un carro. Pilas. ( Obvio, por experiencia propia tambien).

14) Muy a mi pesar no creo que me encuentre ni a William ni a Harry caminando por ahi :(

15)Tengo una importante diatriba entre mi acento adquirido de EEUU y el britanico. Uno se siente bien extrano cuando todos dicen " Watttte" y tu dices "Worer".

16) Creo que esta ciudad me va a hacer MUY feliz. :)

My favourite quotes

Life is what you make of it. (?)

"The will of God is never exactly what you expect it to be. It may seem to be much worse, but in the end it's going to be a lot better and a lot bigger". - Elisabeth Elliot

"A cynic is just someone with a broken heart" - Jon Foreman.
...
"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" - Jesus.

"The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict"
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Yo soy lo que soy ante Dios y nada más" San Francisco de Asís.

" Find out who you are, and do it on purpose".
Dolly Parton.

" I just want to know God's thoughts, the rest are details".
Albert Einstein.

" Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

" There are genuinely sufficient resources in the world to ensure that no one, nowhere, at no time, should go hungry" - Ed Asner

"Be less curious about people and more curious about ideas" - Marie Curie

Instead of a show

"I hate all your show and pretense
the hypocrisy of your praise
...the hypocrisy of your festivals
I hate all your show

Away with your noisy worship
Away with your noisy hymns
I stop up my ears when your
singing ‘em
I hate all your show

Instead let there be a flood
of justice
An endless procession of righteous
living, living
Instead let there be a flood
of justice
Instead of a show

your eyes are closed when you’re praying
you sing right along with the band
you shine up your shoes for services
but there’s blood on your hands

you turned your back on the homeless
and the ones that don’t fit in your plans
quit playing religion games
there’s blood on your hands

Ah! let’s argue this out
if your sins are blood red
let’s argue this out
you’ll be white as the clouds
let’s argue this out
quit fooling around

give love to the ones who can’t love at all
give hope to the ones who got no hope at all
stand up for the ones who can’t stand up at all
instead of a show
I hate all your show"

-Jon Foreman

Traveling Pants

Hay pocas cosas en la vida tan emocionantes y tan motivadoras como viajar.

Viajar abre la mente y el corazon, nos sensibiliza y nos saca de nuestro mundo personal, abriendo nuestros ojos a miles de fronteras que no pensabamos que existian.

Aqui hay una lista de los 20 sitios que mas quiero visitar a mediano plazo. Algunos lugares son mas populares que otros, pero creo que en todos se encuentra la misma belleza, solo que manifestada de maneras distintas.






1) Santorini, Grecia






2) Teheran, Iran







3) Colorado, USA.







4) Beijing, China.







5) Paris, Francia.







6) Monrovia, Liberia.







7) Londres, Inglaterra.







8) Venecia, Italia.






9) Amsterdam, Holanda.








10) Angra Dos Reis, Brasil.







11) Praga, Republica Checa.








12) Bangkok, Tailandia.








13) Jerusalen, Israel.







14) Port au Prince, Haiti.





15) Ciudad del Cabo, Sudafrica.





16) Gran Sabana, Venezuela.






17) Canterbury, Nueva Zelanda.






18) Marrakech, Marruecos.







19) Calcuta, India.






20) Hamburgo, Alemania.

He IS, indeed, your life

"When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory". Colossians 3:4.



For years and years I've been asking myself the same question: What is the purpose of life?
How can people be so different and at the same time come from the same Creator? (because we ARE all created by the same God).

Why does it really mean to be a Christian? Is it just a matter of being religious and conservative? Or it should radically change how I see God, how I see people, how I conduct myself, and the way I choose to live?

Today, after reading an article on www.setapartgirl.com , an online magazine I highly recommend, I took my Bible and started meditating on Colossians 3:4. The whole intention of the versicle is to remind us that when Jesus comes back, we will be with Him and we will take part in His amazing Glory.

But if you read carefully, you'll find that this versicle has also a key phrase: "When Christ, WHO IS YOUR LIFE..." Wait a minute. Here it says that Christ is not only part of my life, or that God is important to me... He IS, in fact, my life. Wow.
So, that implies a LOT to us. It gives us a purpose. It should destroy all of our fears. It should shape our lives to do what He created us for.

I want to keep making Christ, my whole life. Everything that is good and great comes along with that. :)

139

Of all the books and versicles in the Bible, there is one specific Psalm that's always captured my heart and spirit. It portraits how beautiful and deep is God's bond with each one of us, and how intimate and special He expects that relationship to grow. And yes, that goes for all 6,855,900,000 people on earth.

This Psalm talks about the magnanimosity of God. And yet how close He is to each one of us. I don't need to know anything else. :)

PSALM 139

1 O Lord, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O Lord.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,
I am still with you.
19 If only you would slay the wicked, O God!
Away from me, you bloodthirsty men!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and abhor those who rise up against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.

Haiti’s Hope

I wanted to share these pics with you... Haiti's cry still awaits for us to hear it. Just take a minute to listen to it through these images.

(Photos are courtesy of Given.Photography and Brittany in Haiti Blog)

No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted

Aqui les dejo un video corto de la Campanha de Dove: "The Real Beauty".

Siempre me he preguntado por que entendemos como "bellos" determinados patrones de apariencia, ya sea de contextura, raza o altura.
Aunque respeto y creo en el derecho de cada persona a someterse a una cirugia estetica, muchas veces me pregunto si esa misma persona, en un contexto social distinto, se someteria a una operacion cuyo costo bien podria pagar un postgrado y donde abren cualquier parte de tu cuerpo en dos.
Despues de todo, de quien depende que es hermoso y apropiado, y que no lo es? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder y punto.

Lo "divertido" es que la mayoria de las veces, aun esas mujeres y hombres que representan nuestras directrices de belleza, no son tan perfectos como se ven en la revista o en la pelicula. Nuestro enfoque deberia estar en ser personas sanas,y en cultivar una sana autoimagen, concentrandonos en lo interno mas que en lo externo. Por supuesto que hay que verse bien! Pero empezar por estar contentos con quienes somos y no forzarnos a ser un modelo que, en realidad, no existe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U&feature=player_embedded

Un largo camino a un lugar cercano: Refugiados en Venezuela

Hola!!! Con motivo de la conmemoracion del Dia Mundial del Refugiado este proximo 20 de junio, me permito escribir este post, que, a parte de tener un proposito informativo y de sensibilizacion, me conecta con un tema al cual me siento profundamente vinculada: Refugiados.
Hace 2 anhos, decidi emprender una 'aventura' que terminaria siendo, sin yo sospecharlo, una de las experiencias mas gratificantes y asombrosas de mi vida. Me mude a la ciudad de Guasdualito (muchos dicen que es un pueblo pero tiene 2 semaforos y las calles estan TODAS pavimentadas), en el Estado Apure, para trabajar como abogada en la oficina de campo del Servicio Jesuita a Refugiados (SJR).

El shock cultural (a pesar de que estaba en mi propio pais) fue bastante grande: Todo el tiempo hacia calor, habia pocos -muy pocos- lugares donde ir a comer, animales e insectos por TODOS lados (esto no es necesariamente malo, pero para mi que le tengo una fobia absoluta a toda la fauna, si fue impactante), y gente con una cultura llanero-colombiana bien particular. Pero al
final, me enamore de ese lugar. No fue solo por los atardeceres ni por la familiaridad de su gente, sino por el trabajo que tuve el privilegio y la bendicion de realizar: atencion a personas que lo perdieron todo y que llegaron a Venezuela buscanto una esperanza. (Quizas en otro capitulo les cuento mas detalladamente sobre mis vicisitudes con los perros, murcielagos, gusanos e iguanas).


No tengo palabras para describir como mi perspectiva de la vida cambio durante mi trabajo en Guasdualito. De verdad que aun le doy gracias a Dios pro haberme permitido vivir esa experiencia y le pido que me ayude a continuar teniendo muchas mas como esa. Lo mejor es que lo que realmente te cambia no son las estadisticas que lees en un informe, ni el estar lejos de tu casa y ni siquiera el vivir completamente solo. Lo que te cambia es el contacto con la gente. Gente que ha tenido que pasar por momentos inimaginables para muchos de nosotros. En muchos casos no tienen absolutamente nada, mas que a ellos mismos. Muchas de estas personas son realmente maravillosas y admirablemente luchadora. La mejor parte de mi dia siempre era cuando llegaba una familia con ninos o bebes. De verdad jamas conoci a ninos tan sonrientes, carinosos y puros como estos, y son ninos cuyas oportunidades son bastante limitadas ( y por supuesto NI hablar de la idea de tener Xbox o nintendo Wii, aqui los ninos juegan con las gallinas y demas animales).

Tratando de no engancharme en el relato de mi experiencia personal, quisiera referirme a algunos datos concretos sobre situacion del Derecho a pedir refugio en Venezuela: En Venezuela, existen aproximadamente 200.000 personas en situación de refugio que no se encuentran registradas, y oficialmente, hasta 2009, 12.575 que han solicitado refugio de manera formal. Mas alla de las cifras, la situacion de un solicitante de refugio cuando llega a Venezuela es bastante complicada debido a la hostilidad de los funcionarios publicos que reciben y tramitan su solicitud, ademas de la ignorancia casi absoluta de estos funcionarios sobre las obligaciones de respeto y garantia de DDHH. Parte del problema en la falta de cumplimiento es que Venezuela ha seguido el patrón de muchos países receptores donde los derechos reconocidos a los solicitantes de asilo han sido interpretados en formas cada vez más restrictivas, lo cual ha resultado en cambios en los modelos de huida de violencia y conflicto; cada vez hay más desplazados internos, flujos mixtos de refugiados, migrantes y sans papiers (los llamados 'indocumentados).

Hasta el año 2009, se registró un total de 12.575 personas solicitaron refugio ante las autoridades venezolanas, de las cuales sólo 1.211 han sido reconocidas como refugiados. Los 11. 364 solicitantes restantes se dividen entre 2.141 denegaciones y 9.923 personas que continúan sin un status legal concreto, a merced del maltrato de muchos cuerpos de seguridad y de vulneración de sus derechos a la salud, a la educación y al trabajo. Un factor resaltante en la dinámica de recepción de refugiados en Venezuela es la diferencia de trato con respecto a la protección y respeto de derechos que se hace entre los refugiados con status reconocido legalmente y los solicitantes de asilo. Para estos últimos existen muy pocas garantías, entre ellas inclusive la del propio derecho a solicitar asilo; en este sentido, muchos solicitantes de refugio son devueltos de manera forzada a su país de origen por efectivos de seguridad fronteriza o se les impide tener acceso a información suficiente sobre el procedimiento de solicitud de refugio establecido en la LORRAA, por lo cual entienden que su permanencia en Venezuela no es posible. Asimismo, aquellos solicitantes cuyo Derecho a solicitar refugio no es vulnerado al inicio de su llegada, suelen ser víctimas de un importante retardo procesal. La LORRAA establece que el Estado venezolano debe dar respuesta a las solicitudes en 90 días, pero la mayoría de las familias lleva de 2 a 4 años esperando.

Muchas de estas familias se trasladan a lugares donde no son facilmente ubicables por las autoridades y se invisibilizan. Otros regresan y vuelven de Colombia poniendo en riesgo su vida, para poder obtener el dinero y los servicios que aqui en Venezuela no obtienen. Lamentablemente muchos ( a veces los mas inocentes y vulnerables) son deportados (violando el principio de non-refoulment o no devolucion) por no portar documentos, aun y cuando tienen un documento provisional que los idenifica como solicitantes de refugio. El camino a un lugar que geograficamente puede parecer muy cercano, termina tornandose muy largo.

Sin embargo, muchos de ellos logran salir adelante y encontrarse con un destino mejor que el que les espero en Colombia. El Estado venezolano parece continuar sin recordar que su relacion con los refugiados es de deber y responsabilidad sobre sus derechos, y no de compasion y bondad discrecionales. Pedir refugio se trata de poder ejercer el derecho y disfrutarlo. De que los temores que alguna vez de acechaban sean parte del pasado. De que tus hijos puedan pensar en un camino diferente al que has tenido que recorrer. De que seas bienvenido en un nuevo pais como si hubieses nacido en el.

En todos los paises que reciben refugiados, las realidades son complejas y en ocasiones no muy alentadoras. Pero basta con la voluntad de un Estado responsable, de organizaciones diligentes y de una sociedad sensibilizada y solidaria para darle un nuevo futuro a estas personas.

De que manera hubiesen podido dejar su huella en el mundo Albert Einstein, Marlene Dietrich, Isabel Allende, Nadia Comaneci y hasta Wyclef Jean, sin alguien que les hubiese tendido la mano?

Es triste que el camino para tantas familias refugiadas en Venezuela sea tan largo. Pero a medida que se haga mas visible esta realidad, se abriran mas oportunidades para ellas.

"Un colchon para dormir!!! Y quiero estudiar Ingles. Y quizas comprar un carro pequeno, y convertirme en chofer. Ese es mi sueño" -Refugiado colombiano.