Amanda's Adventures and New Product Reviews

Religion is not a four-letter word.   (N.B: I do not use this phrase literally. I can count. I mean four-letter word in the sense of a verboten word.) Many people are quick to dismiss the word religion. Not 20 minutes ago, I was jamming away to the Jason Gray song, "More Like Falling In Love."  Give me words   I'll misuse them   Obligations   I'll misplace them   'Cause all religion ever made of me   Was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet   It never set me free   It's gotta be   It's like I'm falling in love, love, love   Deeper and deeper   It was love that made   Me a believer   In more than a name, a faith, a creed   Falling in love with Jesus brought the change in me While his sentiment is right on, I word that the world "religion" is getting an unfair knock here. Gray is absolutely right. Love is more important than rote action. There needs to be more than obligations. After all, we have a God that desires me

Talk about vintage...here' s my proud pappa and me in early 1977.

I'm trying to write more as a regular habit. There's a lot that goes on in this brain and heart and mind, but sometimes, I keep it too bottled up inside. The last week has brought out a lot of emotions in me with the finale of Lost. Of course, it's just a TV show, and I know that. But it's also the end of an era for the community. We will still talk about the show for years to come and will still will be friends, but we've lost the thread that keeps us together. I'm so thankful for these online friends (and some that have transformed into real-world ones thanks to last weekend). I'm a little worried that we'll lose our tenuous grip on our friendship. But maybe I just need to have faith that we found each other in the first place, so things will continue. I feel a bit like I did at graduation. You're excited that everything is ending and a new chapter is here, but it's terrifying too. It's been harder in a weird way to watch other finales.

In the old days, the answer to this question was easy. Your community was made up on your neighbors. What you had in common was location. Other people in other hamlets may have the same interests as you, but you'd never have the chance to meet them. You lived your whole life in obscurity, without knowing the world around you. Everything has changed. Thanks to readily available transportation, mass communication, and the Internet, it's so much easier to find those who share the same interests as you. And what a blessing! It's so wonderful to live in the 21st century where you can find people who share a common interest, no matter where they live!

It's been five days since the Lost finale, and I'm still thinking about it. Is that crazy? Why yes, but the best stories grab a hold of your heart, mind, and soul, and won't let you go. The more I think about it, the more I think about C.S. Lewis. He was very aware of the truth that life on this mortal sphere is just the beginning. There is more. So much more. He ends the Narnia series with this fantastic sentiment: “...for them, it was only the beginning of the true story, which goes on forever, and in which every chapter is better than the one before." It is so delightful to me that Lost ended with a new beginning. There is so much more to the story. We're not privy to it, but we can imagine what life will be like for this ragtag bunch of lost souls. They're together in the afterlife, where their past does matter. They've been redeemed. And what a redemption Jack had. that was quite a conversation he had with Christian. His death as a martyr will go

What a delight to have a news story to remember this amazing weekend. I have much more to say, but this is a start.

Are you kidding me? I'm a writer. I love to write. Just not writing blogs.

Well, I have nothing to say, but I want to start updating the blog again. So here we go.