<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400</id><updated>2011-09-17T00:04:17.445-07:00</updated><category term='Promises'/><category term='Unstoppable'/><category term='Faithful'/><category term='Yum'/><category term='Our God'/><category term='Eating'/><category term='Passion 2012'/><category term='Cause'/><category term='Simple Pleasures'/><category term='Hope'/><category term='Forgiveness'/><category term='Perfect Love'/><category term='Captivated'/><category term='Calling'/><category term='Not giving up'/><category term='Believe'/><category term='Gracious'/><category term='Set Apart'/><category term='Generation'/><category term='Shine'/><category term='Profit Margin'/><category term='Livelink'/><category term='Fear'/><category term='Elf'/><category term='Greater things'/><category term='Coca-Cola'/><category term='Hope is rising'/><category term='Story'/><category term='Questions'/><category term='Live'/><category term='Epic'/><category term='Passion 2011'/><category term='Inspiring'/><category term='Food'/><category term='Inspired'/><category term='Fame'/><category term='Risk'/><category term='Blaze'/><category term='Social Justice'/><category term='Grace'/><category term='Trusting'/><category term='Door Holder'/><category term='Holidays'/><category term='Foodie'/><category term='Worship'/><category term='Quotes'/><category term='Hello Hurricane'/><category term='Alive'/><category term='Visualization'/><category term='Glory of God'/><category term='Revolution'/><category term='Music'/><category term='Christmas'/><category term='Inspire'/><category term='Believing'/><category term='Passion 2010'/><category term='Greater'/><category term='Enjoy'/><category term='Wide Awake'/><category term='Gadgets'/><category term='Vizualization'/><category term='Passion'/><category term='Infographic'/><category term='Happiness'/><category term='Financial Indicators'/><category term='Storms'/><category term='College Students'/><category term='Prayer'/><category term='Purpose'/><category term='Leave a trail'/><category term='Unshakeable'/><category term='Awakening'/><category term='500 Days of Summer'/><category term='Plan'/><category term='Attempt'/><category term='Spirt-filled life'/><category term='Love'/><category term='Moments'/><category term='My Life'/><category term='Holiness'/><category term='And If Our God Is For Us'/><category term='Budgeting'/><category term='Dreams'/><category term='Discount'/><title type='text'>Hope is rising.</title><subtitle type='html'></subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>37</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-1190842893724212066</id><published>2011-08-23T23:19:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2011-08-23T23:22:20.580-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Quotes'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Inspiring'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Happiness'/><title type='text'>Happiness</title><content type='html'>Loved this happiness quote ... taken from &lt;a href="http://imgspark.com/image/view/all/1681674/"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CsU0LJ-hTXU/TbifjWDnaoI/AAAAAAAAAOU/LOwYxwh26iA/s1600/10583899_uraWGOBh_c.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 628px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CsU0LJ-hTXU/TbifjWDnaoI/AAAAAAAAAOU/LOwYxwh26iA/s1600/10583899_uraWGOBh_c.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For more inspiring quotes/photos, check out this &lt;a href="http://inspirationfeed.com/inspiration/typography-inspiration/55-inspiring-quotations-that-will-change-the-way-you-think/"&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Inspiring stuff!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-1190842893724212066?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/1190842893724212066/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/08/happiness.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/1190842893724212066'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/1190842893724212066'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/08/happiness.html' title='Happiness'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CsU0LJ-hTXU/TbifjWDnaoI/AAAAAAAAAOU/LOwYxwh26iA/s72-c/10583899_uraWGOBh_c.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-1790382286486697954</id><published>2011-07-22T10:52:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2011-07-22T10:53:58.643-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Glory of God'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Fear'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Shine'/><title type='text'>Our Deepest Fear</title><content type='html'>"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." &lt;br /&gt;- Marianne Williamson&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-1790382286486697954?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/1790382286486697954/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/07/our-deepest-fear.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/1790382286486697954'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/1790382286486697954'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/07/our-deepest-fear.html' title='Our Deepest Fear'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-4259181523988804187</id><published>2011-06-03T20:47:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2011-06-03T20:58:12.207-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Visualization'/><title type='text'>World Data Bank - Private Sector</title><content type='html'>Here's another attempt at data visualization using &lt;a href="http://www.tableausoftware.com/"&gt;Tableau&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This is looking at the time required for businesses in the private sector (using data from World Bank). Specifically, I'm only looking at the 31 countries which comprise the High Income (OECD) group.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For a better view of my visualization, &lt;a href="http://public.tableausoftware.com/views/WorldDataBusinessPrivateSector/Dashboard?:embed=yes&amp;amp;:toolbar=yes&amp;amp;:tabs=no"&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;* You can filter on the list of countries to compare country by country.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;script type="text/javascript" src="http://public.tableausoftware.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;div id="tableau_hide_this"style="width:675px; height:519px;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;object class="tableauViz" width="675" height="519" style="display:none;"&gt;&lt;param name="host_url" value="http%3A%2F%2Fpublic.tableausoftware.com%2F" /&gt;&lt;param name="name" value="WorldDataBusinessPrivateSector&amp;#47;Dashboard" /&gt;&lt;param name="tabs" value="no" /&gt;&lt;param name="toolbar" value="no" /&gt;&lt;param name="animate_transition" value="yes" /&gt;&lt;param name="display_static_image" value="yes" /&gt;&lt;param name="display_spinner" value="yes" /&gt;&lt;param name="display_overlay" value="yes" /&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;noscript&gt;World Data Bank - Private Sector Time Required for High Income (OECD) Countries in 2010 &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;&lt;img alt="World Data Bank - Private Sector Time Required for High Income (OECD) Countries in 2010 " src="http:&amp;#47;&amp;#47;public.tableausoftware.com&amp;#47;static&amp;#47;images&amp;#47;Wo&amp;#47;WorldDataBusinessPrivateSector&amp;#47;Dashboard&amp;#47;1_rss.png" height="100%" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/noscript&gt;&lt;div style="width:675px;height:22px;padding:0px 10px 0px 0px;color:black;font:normal 8pt verdana,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;div style="float:right; padding-right:8px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.tableausoftware.com/public?ref=http://public.tableausoftware.com/views/WorldDataBusinessPrivateSector/Dashboard" target="_blank"&gt;Powered by Tableau&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-4259181523988804187?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/4259181523988804187/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/06/world-data-bank-private-sector.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/4259181523988804187'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/4259181523988804187'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/06/world-data-bank-private-sector.html' title='World Data Bank - Private Sector'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-3310087948763228541</id><published>2011-06-01T16:18:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2011-06-03T01:08:42.367-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Vizualization'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Financial Indicators'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Profit Margin'/><title type='text'>The Fab Five Viz</title><content type='html'>Here's &lt;a href="http://public.tableausoftware.com/views/Comparison/Dashboard1?:embed=yes&amp;amp;:toolbar=yes&amp;amp;:tabs=no"&gt;my visualization&lt;/a&gt; comparing five companies against each other:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. Apple (AAPL)&lt;br /&gt;2. Google (GOOG)&lt;br /&gt;3. Microsoft (MSFT)&lt;br /&gt;4. Oracle (ORCL)&lt;br /&gt;5. SAP (SAP)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Which company looks best to you? What's the most important measure?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;* Most of the numbers are in millions and span from 2001 - 2010.&lt;br /&gt;* Data is taken from &lt;a href="http://investing.money.msn.com"&gt;MSN Money Financials 10-YR SUMMARY&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;script type="text/javascript" src="http://public.tableausoftware.com/javascripts/api/viz_v1.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;&lt;div id="tableau_hide_this"style="width:399px; height:869px;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;object class="tableauViz" width="399" height="869" style="display:none;"&gt;&lt;param name="host_url" value="http%3A%2F%2Fpublic.tableausoftware.com%2F" /&gt;&lt;param name="name" value="Comparison&amp;#47;Dashboard1" /&gt;&lt;param name="tabs" value="no" /&gt;&lt;param name="toolbar" value="yes" /&gt;&lt;param name="animate_transition" value="yes" /&gt;&lt;param name="display_static_image" value="yes" /&gt;&lt;param name="display_spinner" value="yes" /&gt;&lt;param name="display_overlay" value="yes" /&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;noscript&gt;The Fab Five Comparison Viz &lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="#"&gt;&lt;img alt="The Fab Five Comparison Viz " src="http:&amp;#47;&amp;#47;public.tableausoftware.com&amp;#47;static&amp;#47;images&amp;#47;Co&amp;#47;Comparison&amp;#47;Dashboard1&amp;#47;1_rss.png" height="100%" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/noscript&gt;&lt;div style="width:399px;height:22px;padding:0px 10px 0px 0px;color:black;font:normal 8pt verdana,helvetica,arial,sans-serif;"&gt;&lt;div style="float:right; padding-right:8px;"&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.tableausoftware.com/public?ref=http://public.tableausoftware.com/views/Comparison/Dashboard1" target="_blank"&gt;Powered by Tableau&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-3310087948763228541?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/3310087948763228541/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-viz.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/3310087948763228541'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/3310087948763228541'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-viz.html' title='The Fab Five Viz'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-3394528829232189900</id><published>2011-06-01T12:39:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2011-06-01T12:41:15.838-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Passion 2012'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Awakening'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='College Students'/><title type='text'>Passion 2012</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://268generation.com/passion2012"&gt;&lt;img alt="" src="http://268generation.com/passion2012/am-site/themes/Passion2012/images/p2012_banner_250x100.gif" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Still believing.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-3394528829232189900?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/3394528829232189900/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/06/passion-2012.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/3394528829232189900'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/3394528829232189900'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/06/passion-2012.html' title='Passion 2012'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-6547963560685705935</id><published>2011-03-07T11:34:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2011-03-07T11:38:57.506-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Story'/><title type='text'>What's Your Story?</title><content type='html'>All of us have a story to tell. The question isn't whether or not we have a story ... the question is &lt;strong&gt;do we have a story that is worth telling&lt;/strong&gt;? Life can often seem mundane and meaningless, but we were meant for so much more.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We were meant to be a part of a grand &lt;strong&gt;Epic&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This &lt;a href="http://www.amazon.com/Million-Miles-Thousand-Years-Learned/dp/1400202981/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;qid=1276717752&amp;amp;sr=1-1"&gt;book&lt;/a&gt; really challenged me to think about the bigger Story. I definitely recommend it! Check it out ... you won't be disappointed ... in fact, you'll probably be inspired to live a better story.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I know I was ... and still am striving to live a story that is worth telling.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe height="225" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/20593341" frameborder="0" width="400"&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://vimeo.com/20593341"&gt;What story are you telling?&lt;/a&gt; from &lt;a href="http://vimeo.com/rhetorikcreative"&gt;Rhetorik Creative&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;a href="http://vimeo.com/"&gt;Vimeo&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-6547963560685705935?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/6547963560685705935/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/03/whats-your-story.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/6547963560685705935'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/6547963560685705935'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/03/whats-your-story.html' title='What&apos;s Your Story?'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-9171647542244043414</id><published>2011-02-09T21:36:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2011-02-09T21:38:53.693-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Discount'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Gadgets'/><title type='text'>11 Gadgets That Will Cost Less in 2011</title><content type='html'>Thought this was pretty neat ... looks like some gadgets are going to be super cheap in 2011 ... prices are dropping! &lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/2011-prices-mint.jpg"&gt;&lt;img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-12783" title="2011-prices-mint.jpg " src="http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/2011-prices-mint.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="2363" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;Provided by &lt;a href="http://www.mint.com/"&gt;Mint.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-9171647542244043414?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/9171647542244043414/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/02/11-gadgets-that-will-cost-less-in-2011.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/9171647542244043414'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/9171647542244043414'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2011/02/11-gadgets-that-will-cost-less-in-2011.html' title='11 Gadgets That Will Cost Less in 2011'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-955848952542077336</id><published>2010-11-11T15:41:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2010-11-11T16:04:12.159-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Faithful'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='And If Our God Is For Us'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Promises'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Believe'/><title type='text'>And If Our God Is For Us ...</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://images.nitrosell.com/product_images/3/613/store_aiogifu.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="http://images.nitrosell.com/product_images/3/613/store_aiogifu.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm really excited that one of my favorite &lt;a href="http://www.christomlin.com/"&gt;artists&lt;/a&gt; is releasing a new &lt;a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/preorder/and-if-our-god-is-for-us-deluxe/id400237050"&gt;CD&lt;/a&gt; next Tuesday (11/16).  I think what makes me even more excited about a new CD is just the potential of what a collection of songs can do.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Having traveled recently, I have seen that there is a huge need for &lt;u&gt;&lt;b&gt;HOPE&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/u&gt;. People need something to believe in ... and the reason for a Savior couldn't be stronger. All around us there are people who are struggling, who are discouraged and who feel hopeless. There is only ONE who can rescue and redeem us and ... put our feet on solid ground and give us a HOPE and a future that is worth living for.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Just reading about the heart behind this new &lt;a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/preorder/and-if-our-god-is-for-us-deluxe/id400237050"&gt;album&lt;/a&gt;, it gave me chills and honestly, even reminded me ... that no matter what happens ... whether good or bad ... &lt;b&gt;our God is for us&lt;/b&gt;!&lt;b&gt; He believes in us&lt;/b&gt;. And I've realized even I need to be reminded that God believes in me. 'Cause honestly I forget and sometimes feel like He doesn't. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Check out an excerpt about this &lt;a href="http://268store.com/store/product/735/And-If-Our-God-Is-For-Us.../"&gt;new album&lt;/a&gt; ... may it inspire you and remind you of His promises for YOU ...&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" &gt;As many will realize, the title comes from Tomlin's #1 song from the PASSION: AWAKENING live CD, "Our God," as Tomlin explains, the title is one that wasn't his first choice, but kept coming back to him.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" &gt;"For the longest time I had a different title for the album, but at the end of the day, I really came back to 'And if Our God is for Us.' I just love that statement. It's just so strong. Every night in concert when we get to the part of the song where we sing 'if our God is for us,' it's amazing to see what happens, to see so many people rise up in that statement. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" &gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" &gt;If you really believe in God, you know that everything is possible&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span" &gt;. Anything can happen. Miracles can happen. All things are available to you no matter what you're going through, no matter what you're facing, no matter what is coming against you. &lt;b&gt;Life comes against all of us, but you know God is for you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That's straight from the Scripture. It's not just my thought. It's not just my idea or opinion. The Scripture tells us 'if God is for you then who can be against you.' I love the hope that is in that statement. I think when people see that in the stores and they pick it up or they see it online, hopefully it just instantly takes them to that idea--'God is for me today!'&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Amen. &lt;i&gt;And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us? And if our God is with us, then what can stand against?&lt;/i&gt; Nothing.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-955848952542077336?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/955848952542077336/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/11/and-if-our-god-is-for-us.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/955848952542077336'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/955848952542077336'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/11/and-if-our-god-is-for-us.html' title='And If Our God Is For Us ...'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-5094280554444883820</id><published>2010-07-28T14:51:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-07-28T15:06:03.162-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Fear'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Perfect Love'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Promises'/><title type='text'>Fear</title><content type='html'>So I was perusing some books at Borders yesterday and I came across this book called, "&lt;a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Little-Instruction-Book-Class/dp/1434700623/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;qid=1280354589&amp;amp;sr=8-1"&gt;God's Little Instruction Book for the Class of 2010&lt;/a&gt;".  I was going through it and a few pages stood out a bit more than others.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;One of them that made me just stop said this ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"&gt;Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.&lt;br /&gt;~ Ralph Waldo Emerson&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And then on the bottom of the page it said ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);"&gt;Perfect love drives out fear. ~ 1 John 4:18&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And I loved that moment because it reminded me of how incredibly amazing God's love is.  His love for us is unstoppable.  And His love is big and deep enough to cover us ... our fears, our insecurities, our worries, our uncertain future, _____________ ... God's perfect love drives out fear and frees us to live fully for Him.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;What a Beautiful Savior.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"&gt;For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.&lt;/span&gt; Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(0, 102, 0);"&gt;Ephesians 3:14-21&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-5094280554444883820?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/5094280554444883820/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/07/fear.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/5094280554444883820'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/5094280554444883820'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/07/fear.html' title='Fear'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-5592846631856184839</id><published>2010-07-21T12:04:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2010-07-21T12:10:11.132-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Budgeting'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Infographic'/><title type='text'>Save $$$</title><content type='html'>Found this really sweet infographic off &lt;a href="http://quicken.intuit.com/personal-finance-tips/budgeting-basics/Budgeting-How-Small-Cutbacks-Lead-to-Great-Savings.html"&gt;Quicken's&lt;/a&gt; website. Such a great way to save some extra dollars. Enjoy!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://quicken.intuit.com/personal-finance-tips/budgeting-basics/Budgeting-How-Small-Cutbacks-Lead-to-Great-Savings.html"&gt;&lt;img src="http://quicken.intuit.com/qkn/cms/images/Budgeting-How-Small-Cutbacks-Lead-to-Great-Savings-Intuit560px.png" alt="Budgeting-How Small Cutbacks Lead to Great Savings" width="430" height="1408" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;a href="http://quicken.intuit.com/"&gt;Personal Finances&lt;/a&gt; from Quicken&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-5592846631856184839?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/5592846631856184839/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/07/save.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/5592846631856184839'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/5592846631856184839'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/07/save.html' title='Save $$$'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-7364990742492232799</id><published>2010-07-14T12:25:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-07-14T12:28:18.112-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Epic'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Story'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Passion 2011'/><title type='text'>Trading in small dreams ...</title><content type='html'>A different promo video this time around, but still pretty sweet!:D It's time to trade in small dreams for a place in the beautiful and epic Story that never ends.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You know you wanna be a part of &lt;a href="http://www.passion2011.com"&gt;this&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="298"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.268generation.com/passion2011/player/0/"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.268generation.com/passion2011/player/0/" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="298"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-7364990742492232799?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/7364990742492232799/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/07/trading-in-small-dreams.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/7364990742492232799'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/7364990742492232799'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/07/trading-in-small-dreams.html' title='Trading in small dreams ...'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-1208612345496711480</id><published>2010-07-07T10:31:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-07-07T10:47:17.943-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Music'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Captivated'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Inspiring'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Alive'/><title type='text'>For Love of You</title><content type='html'>Music is so inspiring.  It's always neat to find different artists or new songs that move you.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I just heard about Audrey and her new song, &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;"For Love of You."&lt;/span&gt;  Such a beautiful song ... may it inspire you to be captivated by Him again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Because of You ... I come alive.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object style="background-image:url(http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/afb4A8SppmQ/hqdefault.jpg)"  width="480" height="295"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/afb4A8SppmQ&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;fs=1"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/afb4A8SppmQ&amp;amp;hl=en_US&amp;amp;fs=1" width="480" height="295" allowScriptAccess="never" allowFullScreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-1208612345496711480?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/1208612345496711480/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/07/for-love-of-you.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/1208612345496711480'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/1208612345496711480'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/07/for-love-of-you.html' title='For Love of You'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-2669318640104452431</id><published>2010-06-30T11:26:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-06-30T11:30:14.850-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Hope'/><title type='text'>My Hope</title><content type='html'>Really loved the scripture reading I came across today ... what a beautiful way to start the day. This is where my &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Hope&lt;/span&gt; comes from ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;Find rest, O my  soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="vertical-align: top; font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;6&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;He   alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="vertical-align: top; font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;7&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;My   salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="vertical-align: top; font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;8&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;Trust   in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah&lt;/span&gt; &lt;p   style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-top: 30px; text-align: right;font-family:'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:20px;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;Psalm 62:5-8&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-2669318640104452431?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/2669318640104452431/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-hope.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/2669318640104452431'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/2669318640104452431'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/06/my-hope.html' title='My Hope'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-6052378646565248301</id><published>2010-06-28T09:48:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-06-28T09:55:39.119-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Forgiveness'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Grace'/><title type='text'>Grace is unfair.</title><content type='html'>The new series I've been helping to facilitate on &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Grace&lt;/span&gt; has been crazy challenging so far.  It was really neat to see how the sermon yesterday tied together so well with everything we've been talking about in the class.  Grace is the one thing that has the power to change the world.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Grace is truly the last best word (in reference to "&lt;a href="http://www.amazon.com/Whats-So-Amazing-About-Grace/dp/0310245656/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;qid=1277743886&amp;amp;sr=1-1"&gt;What's So Amazing About Grace?&lt;/a&gt;" by Philip Yancey).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;At its core, grace just seems too good to be true or so good that it must be true&lt;/span&gt;.  Grace is unfair, but that's the beauty of grace ... it is &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;never&lt;/span&gt; about fairness. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Yesterday, we talked about forgiveness which is super tough, especially, when you don't feel like you've done anything wrong.  But grace challenges us to love ... to act differently than what most people would do.  And in many ways, forgiveness puts our &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;message&lt;/span&gt; to the test ... do we just believe a great theology or does it actually change the way that we love others?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;"To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has  forgiven the inexcusable in you." ~ C.S. Lewis&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-6052378646565248301?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/6052378646565248301/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/06/grace-is-unfair.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/6052378646565248301'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/6052378646565248301'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/06/grace-is-unfair.html' title='Grace is unfair.'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-3253248041858391541</id><published>2010-03-09T16:03:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2010-03-09T16:08:21.277-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Door Holder'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Generation'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Passion 2010'/><title type='text'>You should watch this ...</title><content type='html'>Having attended Passion 2010 ... people always come up to me and ask, "How was it?"  And of course, that's an incredibly difficult question to answer.  There's so much to share!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This video sums it up really well ... you should watch this ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="400" height="225"&gt;&lt;param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9714822&amp;amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;amp;show_title=1&amp;amp;show_byline=1&amp;amp;show_portrait=0&amp;amp;color=00ADEF&amp;amp;fullscreen=1"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9714822&amp;amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;amp;show_title=1&amp;amp;show_byline=1&amp;amp;show_portrait=0&amp;amp;color=00ADEF&amp;amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;All I know is I want to be a door holder for a generation to run after the glory of God!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-3253248041858391541?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/3253248041858391541/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/03/you-should-watch-this.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/3253248041858391541'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/3253248041858391541'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/03/you-should-watch-this.html' title='You should watch this ...'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-3410761392949912326</id><published>2010-02-24T23:24:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2010-02-24T23:37:21.048-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Food'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Foodie'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Yum'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Eating'/><title type='text'>Yum!</title><content type='html'>I think it's time to start a &lt;strong&gt;food blog&lt;/strong&gt; ... mainly because I love to take pictures of food! :D&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wouldn't you agree that food often looks so good in photos?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S4YmmPH86ZI/AAAAAAAAFLY/b6dGD9zSAGk/s1600-h/IMG_2242.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442079638060591506" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S4YmmPH86ZI/AAAAAAAAFLY/b6dGD9zSAGk/s320/IMG_2242.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S4Ym79g-1eI/AAAAAAAAFLg/u_X08ahm24s/s1600-h/IMG_2243.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442080011290858978" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S4Ym79g-1eI/AAAAAAAAFLg/u_X08ahm24s/s320/IMG_2243.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S4YnJjsyAsI/AAAAAAAAFLo/hjbxbmtTZFU/s1600-h/IMG_2245.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442080244879196866" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S4YnJjsyAsI/AAAAAAAAFLo/hjbxbmtTZFU/s320/IMG_2245.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S4Yn5fQC0YI/AAAAAAAAFL4/F95ajnB3POQ/s1600-h/IMG_2251.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442081068318642562" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S4Yn5fQC0YI/AAAAAAAAFL4/F95ajnB3POQ/s320/IMG_2251.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S4YnankuwaI/AAAAAAAAFLw/FmeSqfPtFvo/s1600-h/IMG_2249.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 240px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5442080537976947106" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S4YnankuwaI/AAAAAAAAFLw/FmeSqfPtFvo/s320/IMG_2249.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm getting hungry and thirsty just looking at these photos!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-3410761392949912326?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/3410761392949912326/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/02/joy-of-food.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/3410761392949912326'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/3410761392949912326'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/02/joy-of-food.html' title='Yum!'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S4YmmPH86ZI/AAAAAAAAFLY/b6dGD9zSAGk/s72-c/IMG_2242.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-7486156396206629939</id><published>2010-01-29T00:40:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2010-01-29T00:50:10.665-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Greater'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Unstoppable'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Our God'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Unshakeable'/><title type='text'>Our God is Greater</title><content type='html'>Watching this video clip from Passion 2010 gives me chills.  It reminded me of the moments when people were waking up to what this life is all about.  Exciting stuff.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FPntdeqaUHI&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FPntdeqaUHI&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I love the bridge which says ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;And if our God is for us&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Then who could ever stop us&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;And if our God is with us&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Then what could stand against&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's so true.  I was reminded of it again tonight as we were talking about having great &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;expectations&lt;/span&gt;.  Our faith is grounded in who Jesus is.  And that is what gives us incredible conviction ... faith in God is what causes &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;hope&lt;/span&gt; to spring up in us.  Hope pulls us into everything that God has planned and dreamed for us. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We are part of an unstoppable Kingdom.  One that will never fade and that will never be shaken.  When we run after God's purposes, we will not be thwarted.  Our God will not be moved.  &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Our God is greater.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-7486156396206629939?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/7486156396206629939/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/01/our-god-is-greater.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/7486156396206629939'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/7486156396206629939'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/01/our-god-is-greater.html' title='Our God is Greater'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-6911489840115925819</id><published>2010-01-07T17:16:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2010-01-08T11:00:25.216-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Passion 2010'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Awakening'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Fame'/><title type='text'>Awakening</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S0aKa9PcIlI/AAAAAAAAFLI/QljV63w_axE/s1600-h/main.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 172px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S0aKa9PcIlI/AAAAAAAAFLI/QljV63w_axE/s320/main.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5424174996934894162" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:85%;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Photo taken from &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.268blog.com/"&gt;268blog&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" &gt;AWAKENING&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;.  That was the major theme of &lt;a href="http://www.268generation.com/passion2010"&gt;Passion 2010&lt;/a&gt; and what an awakening it was.  It was incredibly moving and powerful seeing so many students and young people &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;awakening&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt; to what this life is all about.  It was all of us trading the little things of this life for the huge thing ... the big Story of God.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And when you catch a glimpse of the grandeur and glory of God, you realize you don't need anything else.  He is more than enough for all that we need.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;You weren’t made to be somebody but to know Somebody. Self-forgetfulnes&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" &gt;s in the presence of greatness is the capstone of joy. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;~ John Piper&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Even for me, it was a huge awakening ... life isn't about me.  It's all for God ... I want to be a part of His Story.  I want to spread His Fame over all the earth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Definitely much more to process ... but I loved the moments of worshiping with 22,000 other people ... &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" &gt;WOW&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="font-size:100%;"&gt;.  There were moments where it felt like something was going to explode ... the energy, the passion, the zeal ... and in many ways, there were explosions everywhere you turned ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hearts being turned back to God.  Hearts awakening to Jesus for the very first time.  Long-timers believing once again that He is the One who offers rescue, hope and life forever.  People coming alive and getting a taste of true life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Beautiful, just beautiful ... and of course, the challenge now is to live it out ... to work it out.  Only thru Him ... may He be everything in us that we cannot be.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And you know what?  He is &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;everything&lt;/span&gt;!  Praise God.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-6911489840115925819?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/6911489840115925819/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/01/awakening.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/6911489840115925819'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/6911489840115925819'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2010/01/awakening.html' title='Awakening'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/S0aKa9PcIlI/AAAAAAAAFLI/QljV63w_axE/s72-c/main.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-4324231686563937334</id><published>2009-12-09T14:28:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2009-12-09T14:30:36.692-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Prayer'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Dreams'/><title type='text'>A Prayer</title><content type='html'>What a great prayer ... it's time to find a dream worth giving our lives to ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;A Prayer&lt;/span&gt; by Erwin McManus&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Lord, I need a dream worth giving my life to.&lt;br /&gt;I need a life worth waking up to each morning.&lt;br /&gt;I need a mission bigger than me.&lt;br /&gt;I want to believe for not only me, but also for this world.&lt;br /&gt;Amen."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Don't be afraid that your life will end. Be afraid that it will never begin.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-4324231686563937334?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/4324231686563937334/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/12/prayer.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/4324231686563937334'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/4324231686563937334'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/12/prayer.html' title='A Prayer'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-841262571636959764</id><published>2009-12-01T09:54:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2009-12-01T10:05:16.934-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Christmas'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Holidays'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Elf'/><title type='text'>Elf</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SxVaku1VMXI/AAAAAAAAFKk/vUZtfCbSMwA/s1600/elf.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor: pointer; width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SxVaku1VMXI/AAAAAAAAFKk/vUZtfCbSMwA/s200/elf.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410330114449027442" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hard to believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone already.  2009 is just flying by!  But the &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;best&lt;/span&gt; time of the year is upon us.  And you know what that means ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Time to watch all the classic movies!  On Thanksgiving Day,&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt; Home Alone &lt;/span&gt;was on in HD.  That is definitely one classic movie.  I remember watching that so many times when I was younger on VHS.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And did you know?  I even watched that movie before my Sr. Prom haha ... before I got ready and put on that tux.  I was rockin' the tie and vest just like Freddie Prinze Jr. in &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;She's All That&lt;/span&gt;. :)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But this post isn't about Home Alone.  It's about one of the best movies for Christmas ... yes ... that is &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;ELF&lt;/span&gt;.  It's so silly, yet heartwarming at the same time.  If you haven't seen it yet, well ... you need to watch it!  And I think this was the movie that really pushed Zooey Deschanel into the spotlight. I really like her singing. Speaking of which ... I wanna see&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt; 500 Days of Summer&lt;/span&gt; again.  Another lovely movie.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As for other great movies for this time of year ... &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Serendipity&lt;/span&gt; is another good one.  I'll write about that one another time haha :P&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So ... go and watch ELF!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-841262571636959764?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/841262571636959764/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/12/elf.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/841262571636959764'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/841262571636959764'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/12/elf.html' title='Elf'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SxVaku1VMXI/AAAAAAAAFKk/vUZtfCbSMwA/s72-c/elf.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-7101882862140360675</id><published>2009-11-24T00:37:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2009-11-24T00:57:30.536-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Gracious'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Trusting'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Questions'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Spirt-filled life'/><title type='text'>Questions to ponder ...</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/Swucrsx6Q-I/AAAAAAAAFKc/ybaEbyvL74U/s1600/page.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 200px; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5407588052157219810" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/Swucrsx6Q-I/AAAAAAAAFKc/ybaEbyvL74U/s200/page.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This past Sunday's sermon was definitely challenging stuff. I was just thinking that I've probably listened to hundreds and probably even thousands of sermons over the years.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And it was kinda sad to realize that I've forgotten most of them. I wonder how many of them I've actually put into practice. So many seem to go in one ear and out the other.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Hopefully the messages will become something more. The challenge is putting into practice what we've heard. True conviction &lt;em&gt;should&lt;/em&gt; lead to a response.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.cbcsj.org/resources/sermons/ENG091122.MP3"&gt;Pastor Harrison&lt;/a&gt; gave us 4 questions to ask ourselves to determine whether we are trusting in our ourselves or if we are &lt;em&gt;trusting&lt;/em&gt; in God. Simple questions ... but yet so difficult to do.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#000099;"&gt;1) Which is growing more: my accomplishments or my relationships?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;2) Are the needs of others causing me to neglect the care of my soul?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;3) Am I growing more and more dissatisfied with my life?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;4) Am I growing more and more impatient with others?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The downside with getting older is that we tend to become less patient, more dissatisfied and unfortunately, too easily satisfied with so many things other than God.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Then again, age doesn't really matter ... it affects all of us ... young and old.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;God, may you be my complete satisfaction. May your grace and your amazing love cause me to be more gracious to others as the years go by.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-7101882862140360675?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/7101882862140360675/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/11/questions-to-ponder.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/7101882862140360675'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/7101882862140360675'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/11/questions-to-ponder.html' title='Questions to ponder ...'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/Swucrsx6Q-I/AAAAAAAAFKc/ybaEbyvL74U/s72-c/page.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-398162725784023641</id><published>2009-11-06T00:05:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2009-11-06T00:16:35.700-08:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Hope'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Hello Hurricane'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Storms'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Love'/><title type='text'>Hello Hurricane</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://static.bandfarm.com/images/content/bandfarm/116.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 100px;" src="http://static.bandfarm.com/images/content/bandfarm/116.jpg" border="0" alt="" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You know how sometimes you read something and it just connects?  Some people just have this gift with words.  The power of oratory.  The way they write or talk speaks volumes.  So intricate and deep ... it's quite beautiful really.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I was reading this excerpt from Jon Foreman of &lt;a href="http://www.switchfoot.com"&gt;Switchfoot&lt;/a&gt; fame on his band's new record titled, "Hello Hurricane".  It releases next Tuesday, 11/10.  Reading about the album and the songs really makes me want to get this album now.  Maybe because I know the story behind the whole project ... the struggles, the longings, the hope through it all.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Check this out ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;The storms of this life shatter our plans. They tear through our world and destroy our hopes and dreams. They ruin sunny days, flatten the structures we depend on, and shock our world views. Hello Hurricane is an attempt to sing into the storm. Hello Hurricane is a declaration: you can’t silence my love. My plans will fail, the storms of this life will come, and chaos will disrupt even my best intentions, but my love will not be destroyed. Beneath the sound and the fury there is a deeper order still- deeper than life itself. An order that cannot be shaken by the storms of this life. There is a love stronger than the chaos, running underneath us- beckoning us to go below the skin-deep externals, beyond the wind, even into the eye of the storm. Hello Hurricane, you’re not enough- you can’t silence my love.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Wow.  Mmm hmm ... that's so true.  &lt;strong&gt;Love.&lt;/strong&gt;  Whoa.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm sure you want to read &lt;a href="http://www.yourmusiczone.com/go/ymz/news_more/switchfoot_hello_hurricane_song_stories_part_i"&gt;more&lt;/a&gt;.  I read the whole thing already.  There's a &lt;a href="http://www.yourmusiczone.com/go/ymz/news_more/switchfoot_hello_hurricane_song_stories_part_ii"&gt;part two&lt;/a&gt; and a &lt;a href="http://www.yourmusiczone.com/go/ymz/news_more/switchfoot_hello_hurricane_song_stories_part_iii"&gt;part three&lt;/a&gt; too.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;You can't silence my love.&lt;/strong&gt;  I'm feeling that.  Believing it.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-398162725784023641?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/398162725784023641/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/11/hello-hurricane.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/398162725784023641'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/398162725784023641'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/11/hello-hurricane.html' title='Hello Hurricane'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-1364760802753912692</id><published>2009-10-27T14:25:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-10-27T14:31:38.286-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Worship'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Revolution'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Social Justice'/><title type='text'>We're All In This Together</title><content type='html'>Looking forward to checking this out on 11/4.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For one night across the United States ... everyone will be tuned in at the same time to see how we can be a part of the solution.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;Filmed over a period of 2 years, The I Heart Revolution: We’re all in this Together follows the worship band, Hillsong United, as they travel across 6 continents 42 nations and 93 cities in a cross-cultural journey of music, animation, interviews and live action documentary as they realise every story of hope, love, loss and sacrifice ultimately points to the one story.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;We're all in this together&lt;/span&gt;.  Let's do this!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://widgets.clearspring.com/o/4aa536cca0147313/4ae76506f62adf57/4aa59f85f11cc9cb/6575bc86" id="W4aa536cca01473134ae76506f62adf57" width="364" height="314"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://widgets.clearspring.com/o/4aa536cca0147313/4ae76506f62adf57/4aa59f85f11cc9cb/6575bc86"&gt;&lt;param name="wmode" value="transparent"&gt;&lt;param name="allowNetworking" value="all"&gt;&lt;param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-1364760802753912692?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/1364760802753912692/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/10/were-all-in-this-together.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/1364760802753912692'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/1364760802753912692'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/10/were-all-in-this-together.html' title='We&apos;re All In This Together'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-199795868993211442</id><published>2009-10-18T00:57:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-10-18T01:16:36.274-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Shine'/><title type='text'>Shine!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/StrO2A1PMYI/AAAAAAAAFKU/LQsf2FpxmKA/s1600-h/shine.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 150px; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5393850931061141890" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/StrO2A1PMYI/AAAAAAAAFKU/LQsf2FpxmKA/s200/shine.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;I was just thinking about why people love movies so much. Maybe it's because in a story, you are able to find yourself in it. You can relate. You've been there before. Or possibly, you're in that exact situation while you are watching that moment unfold in the movie. And you are secretly hoping for resolution in your own life too.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's quite thrilling when you see that conflict being overcome. That scene when hope starts rising again in the movie and in &lt;em&gt;you. &lt;/em&gt;That "aha" moment when everything just clicks.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I was watching &lt;em&gt;Coach Carter&lt;/em&gt; and I love that scene where a student recites these lines about shining. So powerful. I was looking up its origins and wow, it's even better in its original form. And I was thinking that's all I want to do with my life. I want to &lt;strong&gt;shine&lt;/strong&gt;. I want to enable others to shine too. I really want to be a &lt;em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2:15&amp;amp;version=NIV"&gt;shining star&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#000099;"&gt;“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others&lt;/span&gt;.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;-from A Return to Love, by &lt;a href="http://www.marianne.com/"&gt;Marianne Williamson&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;It's time to SHINE!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-199795868993211442?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/199795868993211442/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/10/shine.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/199795868993211442'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/199795868993211442'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/10/shine.html' title='Shine!'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/StrO2A1PMYI/AAAAAAAAFKU/LQsf2FpxmKA/s72-c/shine.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-6744422120064505253</id><published>2009-10-15T00:27:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-10-15T00:32:11.933-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Leave a trail'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Blaze'/><title type='text'>Leave a trail</title><content type='html'>Do not go where the path may lead; go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm ready to blaze a trail.  Are you?&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-6744422120064505253?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/6744422120064505253/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/10/leave-trail.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/6744422120064505253'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/6744422120064505253'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/10/leave-trail.html' title='Leave a trail'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-5801370846133773280</id><published>2009-10-12T23:07:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-10-12T23:15:02.448-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Attempt'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Risk'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Inspired'/><title type='text'>Risk</title><content type='html'>Haven't updated this thing in awhile, but life is good. :D  Lately, I'm starting to find the things that really inspire me.  I love when that happens.  Don't you? &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Whether it's an inspiring quote, a thought-provoking book, a deep conversation, a convicting sermon, a beautiful song lyric, or just the glorious moments of this life ... these are just some of the things that &lt;em&gt;breathe &lt;/em&gt;life into my soul.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Attempt something so great for God that it's doomed to failure unless God be in it." - D.L. Moody&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As I recently read ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Take big risks. Chance failure. Experience life.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Sounds good to me!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-5801370846133773280?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/5801370846133773280/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/10/risk.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/5801370846133773280'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/5801370846133773280'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/10/risk.html' title='Risk'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-5799067224108227556</id><published>2009-09-18T09:44:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-09-18T09:49:26.469-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Purpose'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Plan'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='My Life'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Calling'/><title type='text'>My Life</title><content type='html'>I was watching this video last nite and wow ... I definitely connected with it. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I found it to be so true of what I've felt in my own life. Have you ever felt this way?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="480" height="295"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qsDyAgKWA34&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qsDyAgKWA34&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The beauty of it is that there is a solution.  We were meant to live for so much more.  Your life matters.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And when you believe that, it really does change everything.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-5799067224108227556?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/5799067224108227556/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-life.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/5799067224108227556'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/5799067224108227556'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/09/my-life.html' title='My Life'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-2778587945427734992</id><published>2009-09-17T11:45:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-09-17T12:02:24.963-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Dreams'/><title type='text'>What are you dreaming about?</title><content type='html'>&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Humans are most fully alive when they dream.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Do you believe that?  Somewhere along the way, we decided that as we get older, our dreams can no longer become reality.  Why?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Dreams make life exciting!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="400" height="220"&gt;&lt;param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5717314&amp;amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;amp;show_title=1&amp;amp;show_byline=1&amp;amp;show_portrait=0&amp;amp;color=&amp;amp;fullscreen=1"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5717314&amp;amp;server=vimeo.com&amp;amp;show_title=1&amp;amp;show_byline=1&amp;amp;show_portrait=0&amp;amp;color=&amp;amp;fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="220"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="http://vimeo.com/5717314"&gt;DreamLab - Host Invite&lt;/a&gt; from &lt;a href="http://vimeo.com/user2065877"&gt;Awaken&lt;/a&gt; on &lt;a href="http://vimeo.com/"&gt;Vimeo&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;I'm ready to &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;imagine&lt;/span&gt; again.  I want to pursue a dream that makes this world a better place.  Do you?&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-2778587945427734992?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/2778587945427734992/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-are-you-dreaming-about.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/2778587945427734992'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/2778587945427734992'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/09/what-are-you-dreaming-about.html' title='What are you dreaming about?'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-3743618014050461129</id><published>2009-09-12T11:05:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-09-12T11:07:22.718-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Generation'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Passion 2010'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Live'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Fame'/><title type='text'>There's a place for you.</title><content type='html'>Wow, it's finally here. Check it out ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="298"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.268generation.com/passion2010/player/0/"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.268generation.com/passion2010/player/0/" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="298"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There's a place for &lt;a href="http://www.268generation.com/passion2010"&gt;you&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;a href="http://www.268generation.com/passion2010"&gt;Passion 2010&lt;/a&gt;. Can't wait!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-3743618014050461129?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/3743618014050461129/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/09/passion-2010-promo-video.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/3743618014050461129'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/3743618014050461129'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/09/passion-2010-promo-video.html' title='There&apos;s a place for you.'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-7006569250800547705</id><published>2009-09-10T10:35:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-09-10T10:48:48.919-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Livelink'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Generation'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Live'/><title type='text'>Passion 2010 Livelink</title><content type='html'>&lt;strong&gt;Every generation lives for something. What are you living for?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;For those of you that have followed my blog for awhile via the old site, you'll know that I'm very big on this ministry called &lt;a href="http://www.268generation.com/"&gt;Passion&lt;/a&gt;. God has used it to breathe hope in me when I felt so hopeless and fearful. And it has challenged me to live for something ultimate. If it were up to me, I would want every college student to be able to attend this conference. &lt;em&gt;It is so worth it.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This &lt;strong&gt;Monday, 9/14&lt;/strong&gt;, there will be a &lt;a href="http://www.268generation.com/passion2010/"&gt;livelink&lt;/a&gt; (a nite of worship and prayer streaming live via the web) that we can all join. A few of us are meeting up at &lt;a href="http://www.cbcsj.org/"&gt;CBCSJ&lt;/a&gt; to participate. I'm trusting and believing that it'll be a great nite because our God will be there.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;More details about the livelink can be found &lt;/em&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.268generation.com/passion2010/livelink/rsvp/"&gt;&lt;em&gt;here&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;em&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="560" height="340"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hGvSPc7JiuY&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hGvSPc7JiuY&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Even though I'm no longer in college, I still believe so much in this generation. I know what it's like to wonder if I'm living for what truly matters. I long to see a generation rise up ... &lt;em&gt;unleashed&lt;/em&gt; to do everything that God has dreamed for them. And to alter history in Jesus' Name.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, come on out ... participate in the livelink and be challenged to live for the One who matters.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-7006569250800547705?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/7006569250800547705/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/09/passion-2010-livelink.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/7006569250800547705'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/7006569250800547705'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/09/passion-2010-livelink.html' title='Passion 2010 Livelink'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-5054006031415357244</id><published>2009-09-01T11:46:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-09-02T16:26:22.021-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Believing'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Cause'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Not giving up'/><title type='text'>Press on</title><content type='html'>&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);"&gt;"The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(51, 204, 0);"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;~ Abraham Lincoln&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Really connected with this quote from Abe as I often feel like quitting.  It's so hard to rally people together for something you truly believe &lt;a href="http://www.268generation.com/passion2010"&gt;in&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You pour out your heart and you share about it constantly, but yet ... people don't really care.  However, if the cause is right and if you believe in it with everything you've got ... you must press on.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Why is it so hard to inspire people?  Why is it that people are unwilling to try?  Who knows, but regardless of the response, I will continue.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Because if one person is willing to go for it ... it will be worth it.  Still believing that greater things are yet to come and greater things are still to be done ... &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;in this &lt;a href="http://www.268generation.com/"&gt;generation&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-5054006031415357244?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/5054006031415357244/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/09/press-on.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/5054006031415357244'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/5054006031415357244'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/09/press-on.html' title='Press on'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-5495036656234059362</id><published>2009-08-28T00:25:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-28T00:43:34.540-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='500 Days of Summer'/><title type='text'>500 Days of Summer</title><content type='html'>&lt;div align="left"&gt;Finally was able to see, "&lt;strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.foxsearchlight.com/500daysofsummer/"&gt;500 Days of Summer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;" and I really liked it. Definitely not your typical movie. It's neat how they move backwards and forward with the &lt;em&gt;500 &lt;/em&gt;days ... very creative.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I've been a fan of Zooey Deschanel ever since her breakthrough performance in &lt;em&gt;Elf. &lt;/em&gt;She was in &lt;em&gt;Yes Man&lt;/em&gt; too which was a crazy, yet inspiring movie nonetheless. I actually heard about 500 Days of Summer awhile ago while reading this &lt;a href="http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/film/features/17696-for-the-love-of-zooey"&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; in &lt;a href="http://www.relevantmagazine.com/"&gt;Relevant Magazine&lt;/a&gt;. Made me really want to check it out.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Listening to stories in general reminds you of what makes the world come alive. ~ Zooey Deschanel&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="560" height="340"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PsD0NpFSADM&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PsD0NpFSADM&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, if you haven't seen it yet ... definitely check this movie out. I think you'll find it to be &lt;em&gt;hopeful&lt;/em&gt; in a way you might not expect.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And for those of you who have seen it ... what did you think? All I know is it made me want to be a &lt;strong&gt;greeting card writer&lt;/strong&gt;. That would be a fun job!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-5495036656234059362?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/5495036656234059362/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/08/500-days-of-summer.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/5495036656234059362'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/5495036656234059362'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/08/500-days-of-summer.html' title='500 Days of Summer'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-8603847397745289671</id><published>2009-08-24T22:19:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-24T22:35:19.801-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Dreams'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Wide Awake'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Inspire'/><title type='text'>Wide Awake</title><content type='html'>Got a chance to share this video with the class I've been helping to lead this summer. I don't know about you, but I find it really &lt;em&gt;inspiring.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;There's a reason we have aspirations, ambitions, and dreams. I wonder what it would look like if everyone pursued their dreams. Don't you think the world would be a better place?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/V8tOimmb3Cc&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/V8tOimmb3Cc&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#000066;"&gt;Human history is dramatically affected by the dreams that we try to live out. The dream of one person can create a different future for so many people. It’s amazing how a dream can have the power to change an entire planet. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#000066;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#000066;"&gt;What would happen if ... all of us began to discover our God-given dreams? What would happen if all of us began to live wide awake and began to live our lives in such a way that everything we did ... every choice, every act, if all of it was used to fulfill those dreams and make the world a different place?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;span style="color:#000066;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color:#000066;"&gt;&lt;em&gt;If all of us began to live wide-awake, if all of us began to live out the dreams that God created us to live, the world would never be the same again.&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh, and the book by the same &lt;a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wide-Awake-Future-Waiting-Within/dp/B0023RSZTQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;qid=1251178287&amp;amp;sr=8-1"&gt;title&lt;/a&gt;, is pretty good too (only $8 on &lt;a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wide-Awake-Future-Waiting-Within/dp/B0023RSZTQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;qid=1251178287&amp;amp;sr=8-1"&gt;Amazon&lt;/a&gt; ... sweet!). Definitely challenging if you've ever wanted to stop living a mundane life.&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-8603847397745289671?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/8603847397745289671/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/08/wide-awake.html#comment-form' title='1 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/8603847397745289671'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/8603847397745289671'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/08/wide-awake.html' title='Wide Awake'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>1</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-4384935479886507036</id><published>2009-08-18T23:59:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-20T00:20:53.072-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Coca-Cola'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Simple Pleasures'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Enjoy'/><title type='text'>Simple Pleasures</title><content type='html'>&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Coca-cola with ice&lt;/strong&gt; on a hot day = pure bliss. Refreshing. &lt;em&gt;It's the simple things that bring a smile to our faces.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SoujJS6VDFI/AAAAAAAAFHk/QuiDk2lwH6I/s1600-h/coke.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 300px; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371566360660085842" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SoujJS6VDFI/AAAAAAAAFHk/QuiDk2lwH6I/s400/coke.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;Here are more of my &lt;em&gt;simple pleasures in life.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Beautiful flowers&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SozzO_UKd0I/AAAAAAAAFH0/MsaVmXTaLHo/s1600-h/flower.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371935894385882946" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SozzO_UKd0I/AAAAAAAAFH0/MsaVmXTaLHo/s400/flower.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Blue skies&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/Sozz_bDMpDI/AAAAAAAAFH8/g7iqUUrgEs0/s1600-h/sky.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371936726464635954" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/Sozz_bDMpDI/AAAAAAAAFH8/g7iqUUrgEs0/s400/sky.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Crème brûlée&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/Soz1Jic3EII/AAAAAAAAFIE/ZmEB0CL2XbA/s1600-h/creme+brulee.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371937999761641602" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/Soz1Jic3EII/AAAAAAAAFIE/ZmEB0CL2XbA/s400/creme+brulee.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spectacular views&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/Soz1K4lIzlI/AAAAAAAAFIU/Upkt__8oJTo/s1600-h/view.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371938022881807954" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/Soz1K4lIzlI/AAAAAAAAFIU/Upkt__8oJTo/s400/view.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Candy&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/Soz3TdQKjmI/AAAAAAAAFIc/W-PaL_5YMYQ/s1600-h/candy.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371940369188163170" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/Soz3TdQKjmI/AAAAAAAAFIc/W-PaL_5YMYQ/s400/candy.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What are your simple pleasures?&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;What is it that causes you to smile? What do you enjoy?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-4384935479886507036?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/4384935479886507036/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/08/simple-pleasures.html#comment-form' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/4384935479886507036'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/4384935479886507036'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/08/simple-pleasures.html' title='Simple Pleasures'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SoujJS6VDFI/AAAAAAAAFHk/QuiDk2lwH6I/s72-c/coke.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-7314558821696610313</id><published>2009-08-14T01:27:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-14T02:09:41.320-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Dreams'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Passion'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Inspire'/><title type='text'>Live Inspired!</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SoUgm4DAuBI/AAAAAAAAFHc/6XGqFJ-g8ek/s1600-h/post_it_notes.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="WIDTH: 400px; HEIGHT: 300px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5369733982961317906" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SoUgm4DAuBI/AAAAAAAAFHc/6XGqFJ-g8ek/s400/post_it_notes.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;This blog update is coming a little late, but last Sunday, I got a chance to lead on one of my &lt;em&gt;favorite&lt;/em&gt; topics ever. I've been helping to co-lead a college/young adult class and while the material has been really good, there are some lessons that you love just a little bit more. Mainly because it connects with you so much. This was definitely one of those times.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I had an opportunity to ask the question, &lt;strong&gt;"If you could do anything with your life, assuming time and money were no object, what would you do?"&lt;/strong&gt; It's always fun to read the responses to this question because you get serious answers and some&lt;em&gt; not&lt;/em&gt; so serious answers. Here's a sampling of what people wrote down on post-it-notes ...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Create a cure for cancer&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Eat every kind of meat on earth (except humans)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Work with youth in ministry&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Go to a culinary school &amp;amp; work at a restaurant or open up a patisserie/shop&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Inspire young &amp;amp; old to do hard things to restore &amp;amp; repair the world&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Become a concert pianist&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Go to outer space&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Work for Dunder Mifflin&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Discover &amp;amp; eat the world's best chocolate chip cookie &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Eat at every expensive restaurant in the world!&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Travel around the world &amp;amp; serve God along the way&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don't you love it when people share their dreams? There's a reason we have dreams and passions in life. I truly believe we have these desires not by accident, but for a greater purpose. And when we pursue our passions and do them for something bigger than ourselves, that's when life truly starts to get exciting.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="center"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness&lt;br /&gt;and the world’s deep hunger meet.&lt;br /&gt;~ Frederick Buechner&lt;/em&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;It was really beautiful to try to inspire these students to go for their passions with a greater purpose: to glorify God. Like the quote from Frederick Buechner says ... &lt;em&gt;The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;I just know I want to be a &lt;strong&gt;champion&lt;/strong&gt; of that. We, as the church, should be the ones who are unleashing others to pursue their God-given passions, gifts, and abilities for a higher calling. It was never meant to be for ourselves. Life is truly found when we give ourselves away. And the beauty of it is that we'll find it was God's will for us all along.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p align="left"&gt;How about you? &lt;em&gt;If you could do anything with your life, assuming time and money were no object, what would you do?&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-7314558821696610313?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/7314558821696610313/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/08/live-inspired.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/7314558821696610313'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/7314558821696610313'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/08/live-inspired.html' title='Live Inspired!'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SoUgm4DAuBI/AAAAAAAAFHc/6XGqFJ-g8ek/s72-c/post_it_notes.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-8096682886102729790</id><published>2009-08-05T12:36:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-05T12:51:08.829-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Hope'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Moments'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Greater things'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Hope is rising'/><title type='text'>Where did that come from?</title><content type='html'>In my effort to get this new blog up and running, I realized I didn't even take the time to explain the title.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Life is an interesting thing ... filled with moments that take your breath away ... moments of joy ... moments of despair ... struggle ... change ... yet I find it's in the power of one moment that seemingly can alter our lives forever.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I remember having one of these moments.  I was listening to the cd, "Ending is Beginning" by Downhere and there was just something about the track called, &lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;"Hope is rising."&lt;/span&gt;  I know what it feels like to stop believing ... whether it be for a moment or for a season of life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And yet, there is something so incredibly beautiful when hope rises up again.  It's this sense that no matter what comes our way, the future will be better.  There is optimism ... a belief in greater things to come.  And most of all, it is grounded in this huge confidence in everything that God can do.  I love moments when hope becomes real ... when it rises up in you and you feel ready to rise up.  You begin to live the way God has always intended.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So, if you're tired of reading ... check out the song and may you live filled with hope.  Because really ... there is no other way to live.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;object width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XTVLvffNe4A&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;rel=0"&gt;&lt;param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"&gt;&lt;param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"&gt;&lt;embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XTVLvffNe4A&amp;amp;hl=en&amp;amp;fs=1&amp;amp;rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;I've lost all my earthly optimism,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;That it's all going to be alright,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;That the good will win this fight.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Somewhere between youth and disappointments,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;The dream became despair, the love became a lie.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Just now, I've reached the end of my line,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Just now, I'm too tired to keep on trying&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Chorus:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Hope is rising, it's a sunrise, for the end&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Hope is rising, and it's breathing for me again,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Hope is rising again.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Soon beneath the roses I will lie,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;All the memories of my days, gathered to the sky,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Soon all my work will find it's worth,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;And all my strength returned, to the water and the earth&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Just when I reach the end of my life,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;Just when my eyes dim out the last light. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-8096682886102729790?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/8096682886102729790/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/08/where-did-that-come-from.html#comment-form' title='2 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/8096682886102729790'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/8096682886102729790'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/08/where-did-that-come-from.html' title='Where did that come from?'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><thr:total>2</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6909452296137803400.post-7019734688162131221</id><published>2009-07-31T19:02:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2009-08-01T00:27:17.239-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Holiness'/><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='Set Apart'/><title type='text'>Set Apart</title><content type='html'>&lt;a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnPuJkZOXUI/AAAAAAAAFGk/txCfIHjOqMw/s1600-h/EMAIL_BANNER3.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 80px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5364893429284101442" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnPuJkZOXUI/AAAAAAAAFGk/txCfIHjOqMw/s320/EMAIL_BANNER3.JPG" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Reviewing the lesson for Sunday and I really connected with this quote:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); FONT-WEIGHT: bold"&gt;"Christian holiness is not (as people often imagine) a matter of denying something good. It is about growing up and grasping something even better." &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,0)"&gt;~ N.T. Wright&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;How do you respond to that statement? Do you find it to be true?&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6909452296137803400-7019734688162131221?l=hopeisrising.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/feeds/7019734688162131221/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/07/set-apart.html#comment-form' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/7019734688162131221'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/6909452296137803400/posts/default/7019734688162131221'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://hopeisrising.blogspot.com/2009/07/set-apart.html' title='Set Apart'/><author><name>Matt</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='21' height='32' src='http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnsPbLu7Y1I/AAAAAAAAFG0/UGbgwUbso_k/S220/pic.jpg'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_2t1xBOw886s/SnPuJkZOXUI/AAAAAAAAFGk/txCfIHjOqMw/s72-c/EMAIL_BANNER3.JPG' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
