CONGRATS GRADS!!!!

To all Golers n friends who are graduating this semester, I just wanna say CONGRATS!!!

I still remember VIVIDLY the day I graduated high school (even though it was before some of you were born!). For me, I felt a huge sense of RELIEF from all the peer pressures, the drama, and: yes, the peer pressure! (can't you tell that my high school time was not one of those memorable ones??? LOL)

But I am sure for some of you who were Mr. or Ms. Populars, high school graduation presents us with an overwheling sadness, realizing that you will no longer have your BFFs, groupies, and all the perks that came with being Mr/Ms Populars.

For some, who were straight A students, took gold after gold in Math Olympics, belonged to the Society of Young Chemists, high school graduation is just a small stepping stone to bigger and better things. Next stop: the Ivy League (heck, some of you in this category probably got into the Ivy league by junior year of HS!). You had plans. You sticked with it, and it paid off!

Some of us who were just simply "moody" throughout high school would probably think that nothing great is gonna come out of graduating, so we choose to just 'go with the flow'

Some of us who are graduating from college in this day and age of ' the toughest economic recession since the depression era', you might have fears and uncertainty about the future, even if you were a valedictorian, or a cum laude graduate.


For all of you in any of the above category, this is what Jesus said about your future:
(Jeremiah 29:11)
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

To sum up the story in jeremiah 29: this is the time of HOPELESSNESS for Israelites because they were in babylon, living under law that absolutely noone can follow, and ridden by false prophets. It was a messy situation.

However, God lets them know on verse 11 that despite all the hopelessness, despite anything bad that happened in their lives, He has a GREAT plan for His people!

So, if you ever feel hopeless, indifference, uncertain, unmotivated, uninspired, or feel like your situation now seems to prevent you from having a great future, DON'T FRET! He wants you to know that He knows exactly what you are going through, your worries, your fears, and somehow, it all fits into His GRAND PLAN to give you the greatest future.

All you have to do is RECEIVE the great love that He has for you, know that He loves you that much, that He won't ever forsake you and your future in His hand can only be translated in one word: BRIGHT!!!!!!!

Congrats to all 2010 grads.

M'Goose
for GOL ATLANTA

Mama: "My (slightly) Overbearing, Ultimate Hero"

Top 10 Sayings of Biblical Mothers

10. Samson! Get your hand out of that lion. You don't know where it's been! (Judges 14:5-8)

9. David! I told you not to play in the house with that sling! Go practice your harp. We pay good money for those lessons!

8. Abraham! Stop wandering around the countryside and get home for supper!

7. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego! Leave those clothes outside, you smell like a dirty ol' furnace!

6. Cain! Get off your brother! You're going to kill him some day!

5. Noah! No, you can't keep them! I told you, don't bring home any more strays!

4. Gideon! Have you been hiding in that wine press again? Look at your clothes! (Judges 6:11)

3. James and John! No more burping contests at the dinner table, please. People are going to call you the sons of thunder! (Mark 3:17)

2. Judas! Have you been in my purse again?!

1. Jesus! What do you think, you were born in a barn?

As 'Mama Day' is fast approaching, I can't help but think of my beloved mom. I got the above Biblical Mama's jokes on the internet and was wondering if any of your mamas are like these biblical ones.... Cause mine is so similar with most of them - it's scary!

My mom is undoubtedly my "(slightly) overbearing, ultimate hero!". She has been the rock in our family; the glue that keeps it all together. We went through lots of hard times, but no matter how tough things got, she never stopped praying, hoping, believing, and praying, hoping, believing, and praying some more, hoping some more, believing some more.....and so on...and so forth...

Why I put 'slightly overbearing'? Not to ruin my mom's image, or to be contradictive with the "ultimate hero" statement....but to share with y'all that the overbearing trait of a mom is God-given! Without this character, they'd be weak, like dads (LOL - I am kidding...I think...)

If my mom was not slightly overbearing and persistence, our family would have fallen apart. Literally!

Let's take a look at Mary, the ultimate mom of all! I mean, for me, raising a regular kid is hard enough, but raising a PERFECT MAN? THE WORLD'S SAVIOR? I figured she must have had 'freaking out' moments....but throughout the bible, the depiction of hers were just calmness, full of wisdom, SUPER faithful, SUPER trusting in His will, necessarily overbearing at times....She is simply amazing. No wonder she is hand-picked by God to mother Jesus....

My number one favorite "(slightly)overbearing mama-(slightly) annoyed kid" moment of Mary and Jesus was the story of Jesus' first miracle performance at a Canaan wedding. Check this out:

John 2:3-9 (NIV)
3When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine."
4"Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come."
5His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he (Jesus) tells you." (btw:She is the first person in history to say this about Jesus)
6Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.[a]
7Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim.
8Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet."
They did so, 9and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew.

When I read the above passage, I respected Mary even more! If I had a 'God' as my child, I think I'd be so awkward in trying to teach him, or be annoying & overbearing even if it's for his own good...But she's like,"hey Son, there's no more wine..." (when she knows that Jesus knows there is no more wine, get it?) Then when Jesus was totally annoyed and basically told her to leave it alone, let him handle it, what did she do??

She left him alone alright, but she did a 'behind-the-scene' work to the servants...I imagine Jesus was rolling his eyes out thinking: well I guess now I really gotta turn those waters into wine!

But you see, Mary's overbearingness actually played a great role in Jesus performing his first miracle!

So, what do I learn from the story?

I learn that overbearingness is often what makes my mom my ULTIMATE HERO. During the times when I did not feel like praying, did not feel like trying, did not have the strength to go on, she would not give up in telling me to press on: to keep praying, to keep coming to church, to keep trying, hoping and believing. Because of her persistence, I am here today, strong as ever!

This Mother's Day, don't forget to thank your mom, and tell her how much she means to you! Most importantly, tell her never to stop being the 'Slightly Overbearing-Ultimate Hero' that she is!

M'Goose for GOLAtlanta

:: LOVE is here ::

For many reasons, the month of May can be quite a kRaZy and stressful time. It's the end of semester for those who are in school, the beginning of a long and humid Atlanta summer months for all of us and...well, for me, it happens to be the busiest & most important work month of the year.

I'm sure most of you guys are handling the "May Blues/Exhaustion/Pressures" pretty well..., while some probably are in the brink of a mental breakdown. As for me, unfortunately, I actually did reach that point the other day.

...in front of my boss.

And I'm usually not the crying-in-front-of-my-boss type of gal; but it was just inevitable. While he was very nice about it, I felt like the stupidest person on the planet to be crying over some ridiculously small thing in front of a very professional, very educated man.

Then I went home after the LONG workweek and, sure enough, this song was played on 104.7 The Fish:




Don't you just love it? It speaks to those of us who are Searching, Waiting, Laboring in vain, Bruised and Fallen, Captives, Bound and Brokenhearted... and lets us know that we can REST in His LOVE - in Jesus, the God who has ransomed us from all the kRaZiness of this world and gives us a light yoke to bear.

so I hope this song will also give you comfort and helps you chill a bit... and then maybe take a quick nap :)

- Avina for GOL Atlanta