LA INTERCHANGES

More of my Google Earth obsession. ;) After traveling under a maze of freeway construction, I did some checking out the state of local roads near me, and then decided to check out some other amazing roads. Above is the crazy spaghetti freeway near the LAX Airport- the GPS Neverlost is REQUIRED anytime I traverse those roads.

I'm just fascinated that you can see all these runways, and this gives you an idea how close you are to the Pacific Ocean when you take off. It always makes for spectacular take-off's over the water when Leaving LA.

The airport is a monster! Check out all those terminals, with all those planes. Try not to think about all the angry passengers or you may upset yourself. Terminal 6 is my favorite; it's home of Continental and never has a crowd.

Check out the newest thing I've seen on Google Earth. It's called Panoramio and it's showing you the restaurant at LAX, which was under construction when I was there. If you are doing some earth-surfing and notice a little camera icon, you can click on it and get a ground view. Individual users can submit, through geo tagging, their own photos. Pretty cool stuff!

My latest favorite blog post from Google Sightseeing: Check out this Sightseeing Safari of live animals in Africa they caught on the satellite. Freaking amazing!!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: We're going to do Christmas for a very needy family this afternoon and I can't wait to share some JOY!

DAY 23 WITH THE SON

I'm taking the 40 days leading up the Christmas to focus on the life of Jesus and do a mini-reflection and devotion. I'm following along with Liza on her special blog called 40 Days with the Son, based on the Max Lucado book 3:16.

Here is how to join us in reflection of the spirit of this upcoming holiday season.

JESUS vs. DEATH: "Then Jesus said, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?' " John 11:40

Verse 26 of this exchange between Martha and Jesus is the central question in the whole Bible. DO YOU BELIEVE? There is no more important question that exists in the entire Bible than a reader's faith in Jesus. There you go- salvation wrapped up in a little bundle and simply handed to anybody that read the Good News. It's not handed to the scholars or scribes or Bible bangers or do-gooders of the world. It's not handed to those who do good things or are good people. Eternal life is given to believers, and only to believers.

Martha had the right answer in her response to Jesus "I believe that you are the Christ [the savior], the Son of God, who has come into this world." She didn't respond that he was a good teacher or a good prophet or the good judge of earthly actions. She expressed her belief in Jesus as the ultimate born on this Earth, from a heavenly father, Savior of the world. Nothing less is the correct title, and nothing more is necessary obtain salvation.

Unfortunately, I've gotten into some fairly large disagreements with many self-identified Christians about the message of this passage. They still declare some additional element for salvation- be it baptism or good works or a good soul. It pains me to no end that Jesus offered them salvation, with no strings attached, yet many people try to attach their own strings and requirements entrance into heaven. Perhaps, like when Jesus sighed, he wept again in verse 35- for those that don't get this crystal clear message of free salvation for all.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I believe, with all my heart, that Jesus died for my sins and I am forgiven.

TEACHER OF THE YEAR

CONGRATS to my best friend in the whole world Stephanie!!!

She won teacher of the year at her school in Sarasota, FL. She's been teaching for just a few years now, and she's doing some incredible things. Her school is a special program for students who are having academic and emotional problems. They have basically been taken out of regular school and given to her so that she can hopefully catch them up. She teaches them great things in science, has written several grants for special program funding and has put her heart and soul into this job.

I'm soooo proud of her! I love you steph!

Thought I'd throw in an extra flashback photos to keep the orange blog theme going today. Although we met in college in Macon, GA, Stephanie came out to Austin to visit me at UT in the fall of 2001 for Labor Day. Let me just say- I don't think that town will be the same since we got rowdy there 6 years ago!

Miss you and can't wait to see you again!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: She's been to Texas many times, even this past summer on her great road trip, so H and I will be headed out to Florida to see her next year.

DAY 22 WITH THE SON

I'm taking the 40 days leading up the Christmas to focus on the life of Jesus and do a mini-reflection and devotion. I'm following along with Liza on her special blog called 40 Days with the Son, based on the Max Lucado book 3:16.

Here is how to join us in reflection of the spirit of this upcoming holiday season.

NOT GUILTY: "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12

Oh how my Christmas wish could be that every Christian has to come face-to-face with this passage, study it, understand it and LIVE it! I think so much of the damage that we as Christians do to Christianity is because we are so judgemental, even hateful towards others. I'd venture a guess that if Jesus came back today (that's a fun thought!), that he would point to most Christians and just call them modern-day Pharisees and scribes (not such a fun though).

The story of the adulteress woman is followed by the message from Jesus about being the light of the world. When I look at so many Christians today, who personify judgement and criticism and condemnation of others, I see they are in darkness. They obviously are not getting the "light of life" from Jesus. There is no way a believer can understand Christ's forgiveness of our own sins and then go out to pass judgement on others. They are missing Jesus, and I think it's clear to say they are not his "followers".

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Off to have dinner with my hubby, who has to work late tonight.

WESTIN PEACHTREE PLAZA

The one thing I insisted we do on our afternoon in Atlanta, was to visit the Westin Peachtree Plaza tower. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate- but I still wanted to go. I've stayed here at the hotel twice on business trips and I love going to the top Sundial restaurant for the view. It's the best view in Atlanta and the elevator ride to the top is one to make your heart race.

This is my poor husband, who is deathly scared of heights, trying not to totally freak out on our ride to the top of 73 stories. According to Wiki, this is the 2nd tallest all-hotel skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere (behind a taller one in Detroit). That's a lot of hotel rooms, and they are super swank too. Luxury beds, floor to ceiling windows with killer views of downtown Atlanta and fancy decor.

I love ascending up to the revolving restaurant (and revolving bar) at the top on a clear day. There are these gigantic poles every 15 degrees or so around the tower that tell you what lies out in the distance (assuming you can see). Macon is probably at least 70 miles, so I'm not sure you could actually even see it on the clearest day. It's fun to know what you are looking at though as you revolve around (once every hour in the restaurant or every half hour in the bar).

The uber-expensive restaurant wasn't open, so we annihilated a cheese and cracker tray, along with a bottle of wine as we enjoyed our view....

Well, as we enjoyed the white windows and were just as happy not to be out doing tourist things in the rain on a Sunday afternoon. Next time we're in Atlanta, I want to go visit the World of Coke Museum, CNN headquarters and Olympic Centennial Park. My mom came out to visit me when I was in school in Macon, GA one Spring break, and we did the tourist thing in Atlanta.

Opps! I just found a picture of us that I took with my other camera that I hadn't downloaded yet.

This was our ride down the elevator. The first half was totally white, puffy clouds, but when we go to about the 40th story we could start to see buildings. Normally sitting at the top of the tower, you have an incredible view of some extraordinarily beautiful sky-scrapers in downtown Atlanta. Not so much for us on Sunday.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Totally done with all the Atlanta and Alabama pictures now!

DAY 21 WITH THE SON

I'm taking the 40 days leading up the Christmas to focus on the life of Jesus and do a mini-reflection and devotion. I'm following along with Liza on her special blog called 40 Days with the Son, based on the Max Lucado book 3:16.

Here is how to join us in reflection of the spirit of this upcoming holiday season.

WHEN GOD SIGHS: "He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means 'Be opened!')" Mark 7:34

Who knew Jesus sighed? I certainly didn't, but my knowledge is pretty limited in general. I wonder what the Bible is trying to teach us when it describes how Jesus healed the man. Why didn't he just wave his arms around and say "Be healed!"? What was the significance of touching the man's tongue and his ears? The man couldn't see or hear, so I think Jesus wanted to engage him in the way the man experienced the world- through touch. Perhaps it's symbolic of how close Jesus desires to be to us- both spiritually and physically. How He wants us to feel him moving on our sins and sense his nearby presence.

I find it interesting that Jesus goes on in the 36th verse to tell the healed man, who can now finally talk, not to tell others of the miracle. I decided to do some research on this passage. I really like using Blue Letter Bible as a reference. I can search for verses or look up different translations. Today, I found some commentary (audio sermons available too) on this passage. The general consensus is that the sigh is a sign of Jesus compassion towards man's sinful state and his sorrow for the fallen world. Interesting enough, this passage is also another example of fulfillment of prophesy from Isiah.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Woohoo! More than half-way through. I'm enjoying this, but it's a lot of work ;)

ATLANTA TOWERS

We had trekked to Alabama because I had a work seminar in Atlanta the Monday-Wednesday after Thanksgiving. I had spent 2 years in Macon (an hour south of Atlanta) during my college years & have visited Atlanta quite a few times. It reminds me of Houston in a lot of ways, and I generally enjoy the city (minus the traffic!)

The town is growing like crazy (just like Houston), but they are putting up tall, tall towers everywhere. These high density commercial and residential towers are both fun and inter sting to look at and photograph. In particular, there was a pair of towers nicknamed King & Queen, because of their art-deco on the roof resembled a king and queen crown.

I couldn't resist taking a few photos one chilly morning before my class.

This was the view out the window of my hotel room-more high-rise condos!

The early morning sunshine cast a warm yellow glow on the buildings, with the moon rising in the blue sky and a plane flying high overhead.

Just cause I'm totally addicted to Google Earth now, I had to see what King & Queen looked like from the above. Looks like a gym- tennis courts and a pool, maybe a jogging track.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: No high-rise home for me- I love my little home.