Monday, November 30, 2009

25 Days till Christmas - The Calendar

Sitting at my desk with a candle lit. I look out of my window and see a grey sky, rain and think to myself that this is the perfect weather to stay in bed and read all day while sipping hot tea.
Yet, we all (or most of us) have to go to work, school or other things each day. We don't get to lie in bed all day but as they say it's the moments that count.
Therefore I decided to give you a virtual Advent Calendar meaning that I will post a little something every day until Christmas. This may be songs, poems, verses, videos or thoughts of the day. Take a moment each day and zoom out of everything, take a moment and just be not do.
You are welcome to post your comments, thoughts, prayer request or anything. Together we will count down the days till Christmas and have a special moment together each day.

The journey begins tomorrow.

Until then

xoxo
Ramona

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Heaven Breaks

Again I am intrigued by the lyrics of a song. The Sleeping at Last lyrics are so poetic and profound, whenever you take a closer look they give you an insight into another world almost.
Today I am posting their Heaven Breaks lyrics.

It always starts like this,
A harmless an simple thing to fix.
Contagious and spreading quick...
Like cracks in ice,
Wholly claiming our lives
While we sleep.

We'll pray for Heaven's floor to break,
Pour the brightest white on blackest space,
Come bleeding gloriously through
The clouds and the blue.
Forcing one place from two,
Killing formulaic views,
Only love proves to be the truth.

When heaven meets the earth,
We will have no use for numbers
To measure who we are and what we're worth.

When Heaven meets the earth,
We will have no need for mirrors
To tell us who to be
And where we fit into this awkward point of view.

When angels meet the earth, may our bodies be light.
When angels meet the earth, may our heavy hearts untie.
When angels meet the earth, may our bodies be light.
May our bodies be light for you.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Why regional Products

Good Morning everyone,

apparently I have been reading a lot about food and nutrition in the newspaper lately and most of you know that I am completely pro buying regional products. It is a very urgent topic and important if we want the next generation to be able to enjoy the same things we do, live and enjoy nice landscape and have quality of life that does not have to suffer due to failure of the last generation. Sustainability is what this is about!

Just to let you know up front I do know that we cannot buy everything regionally because not everything grows here and yes I agree we live in globalized times.

That having said I want to give you a scenario of a person who buys milk from a regional producer. With that I will give you the value added chain which we often times do not see but which should have us decide when we reach for products in the supermarket.

Person X goes to the nearby supermarket. He wants to buy milk. The milk aisle gives him a huge variety of milk brands ranging from milks produced in large fillings which is extremely cheap to well known brands produced somewhere else in the country he lives (this milk is the most expensive) to milk produced in a nearby production company. The price is usually a little higher, but not as high as the expensive brands. Naturally he would reach for the cheapest product to safe money. But what if he chose the regional milk? What effects would this have?

He buys the regional milk. It is produced in a company in his region. By buying this milk he makes a choice and adds money to the company helping them to further exist and even grow. When that factory still exists and grows people who work there keep their jobs and new people can be hired. By buying regional milk Person X secures employment in his region and helps people make up for their living and helps them keeping their standards of living.
When the people still work there and the factory still exists they will need farmers who supply the mik. Therefore Person X makes a choice and adds money to the milk farmers. This helps them to further exists. When they still exist their cows which produce the milk will continue to exist. They are out grazing on the hills and pastures in the region. So Person X makes a choice and secures space in the region where no houses and streets are built because the farmers own it and the flock is out. This adds value to the life quality of the region because it looks beautiful, the air is clean and fresh and people have a higher quality of living. Plus it attracts other people to this region who bring their money to invest into the region. Person X therefore helps sustain the region for the generations to come.

Ultimately Person X does not just spend a little bit more of money for his milk but actually makes a huge difference in sustaining his environment, something we all should be concerened about.

Of course this is one example but it can be transferred to any other product you buy, like for example jam, meat, butter, water, etc.

To you it might look like 50 cents more but to a whole region, to another generation, to milk farmers, to jobs this is an amount so little yet so effective.

I want to encourage you today to really think about what you buy. Why buy apples from Spain or somewhere else in Germany when you can get them in the next village from a farmer you can see, from trees you can actually see. Like I said, not everything can be bought from the region but get yourself informed about what is there in the region. You can make a difference by a few simple and small choices.

xoxo
Ramona

Thursday, November 12, 2009

The Solution

Yesterday during praise and worship at you(th) I was so intrigued again by these lyrics that I'm going to post in a minute. Jesus is The Solution. Politics can't help us, money can't help us. All we need is Jesus in every circumstance.
It makes me so mad and sad at the same time that there are people out there, not only in the Least Developed countries, but here around us, who don't have anything, who are desperate, who are alone, who hunger, who thirst. And yet we just sit around and do nothing or when we do something it is talk. I understand that not everybody can go to places but everybody can do a little bit. Pray, give some money, smile at the beggar at the corner of the street, show them they are not invisible. Changing the world doesn't start by you flying to Africa building fountains or giving food. Changing the world starts in your neighborhood, in your community, in your city, your country. And that will effect the nations and ultimately the world. So don't just sit around and be comfortable, get yourself uncomfortable. Jump out of the boat, get wet and change YOUR world.

Along with this I am posting the Hillsong United Solution lyrics:

"It is not a human right
To stare not fight
While broken nations dream
Open up our eyes, so blind
That we might find
The Mercy for the need

Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey now
As we hold to our confession

It is not too far a cry
To much to try
To help the least of these
Politics will not decide
If we should rise
And be your hands and feet

Singing, Hey now
Fill our hearts with your compassion
Hey Now
As we hold to our confession

Woah-oh-oh,
God be the solution
Woah-oh-oh
We will be Your hands and be Your feet.
Yeah, yeah

Higher than a circumstance
Your promise stands
Your love for all to see
Higher than all protest lines and dollar signs
Your love is all we need

Only You can mend the broken heart
And cause the blind to see
Erase complete the sinners past
And set the captives free
Only You can take the widows cry
And cause her heart to sing
Be a Father to the fatherless
Our Savior and our King
We will be Your hands, we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place, we will be Your light
We will be Your light

We will run we will run
We will run with the solution

We will be Your hands we will be Your feet
We will run this race for the least of these
In the darkest place we will be Your light
We will be Your light
We sing"


xoxo

Ramona

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Our Worship will be

Yesterday at you(th) Layne Schranz preached about relationship vs religion and how our worship differs within the two.
So he gave us 4 points that will happen in our worship if we have a real relationship with Jesus:

1. If we have a real relationship our worship will happen anywhere
I think that is so awesome because our worship should really not only be in church or at youth. It should be everywhere we go, even in the dark places where nobody can see it. If it comes from our heart our worship will be everywhere because it is our lifestyle.

2. If we have a real relationship our worship will bring freedom to others
This amazes me because when we truly worship, others will see Jesus in our lives and by Him they will be set free! So lets live a life that is so full of worship that people will find freedom.

3. If we have a real relationship our worship will be physical
How can you just stand around and not move and be excited when your heart is full of a love for Christ! When we have this true intimate relationship with Jesus and when we just love him deeply it will be seen on the outside and cannot be hidden.

4. If we have a real relationship our worship will not care about what others think about youHey, it's not about what our friends think or if they like us. It is about our relationship with Jesus! And if this relationship is right and true and intimate and if we just love Jesus, then we won't care about what the others think or say becasue we know what Jesus thinks and says.

Just thought I'd share these 4 points with you. I think they are so encouraging yet challenging at the same time to really examine our worship and our relationship with Jesus. People, let's move to the next level, let's make a step forward in our worship.

Hope that you are not the same today than you were yersterday. Change is good.

Much love.
xoxo

Ramona

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