Skylar Ogren

This was a really pretty sunset that I happened to catch in time from our second story window!

These are pictures from my recent trip to Hawaii.  I have more posted on my Facebook Profile.

These are some Irises that are growing in the front of our house.  I took some pictures this morning after it rained a little bit. 

Tonight I went over to a going away party for some good friends of my church and my family.  Desmond and Andrea Glenn are moving from lovely Winona to St Cloud… and this week is their last here in Winona.  Desmond has been an awesome youth leader at CBC this past year and has really been a lot of fun.  He is an amazing man of God.  I’m going to miss both of them!  So here are some pictures I took while there

Ever since I was a kid I have had this fear of dying from suffocation.   The thought of not being able to breath gives me the chills!  Breathing feels so good and obviously without it our body is in agony to get a breath.  I used to have breath holding contests with my brothers when I was little.  I remember holding it for a long time and feeling the burning of my lungs and how good that first breath after felt!   My body immediately relaxed and that inner agony for the much needed oxygen departed. 

Today I was thinking about how when we live our lives without God we are suffocating spiritually.   Much like our lungs hunger for breath, our heart also hungers for something that will satisfy the deep agony within it.  Our hearts needs Jesus!  They need the life that He breathes into them and our souls need the purpose and meaning He brings.  Living with out Jesus suffocates our heart.  Even when we are living as Christians we can suffer from suffocation.  When we pollute our heart and mind with things that destroy… like swearing, anger, and selfishness, our hearts get clogged.  When that happens we too suffocate.  When that hunger for the life that Jesus brings to our heart is ignored, it slowly dies and we are left weakened by the lack of life.

Suffocating throughout life is not good; we need every breath we can get!  In Hebrews life is described as a race that we are running.  Every runner knows that if they can’t breathe, they can’t run or if their breathing is constricted it slows them done or causes them pain.   When we find ourselves thirsting for that breath of life, we need to take a look at our hearts, our minds, what we are letting ourselves be apart of and figure out what it is that is suffocating us.  It’s no joke!  This isn’t something we should play with. Don’t think that as long as you get a breath once in a while you’ll be good.  Our hearts need this continuous breath of life that Jesus alone brings!  And in the end if we aren’t filled with that breath, that saving grace that He brings, then we will spend eternity with out him.  Don’t take the risk in thinking you can get away with “holding your breath” because you don’t know when you’ll need it.

“And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.” - Romans 8:11

What is holding us back from completely breathing in the life of God’s Holy Spirit?  What is it that distracts us or pulls us away?  I want to challenge you as well as myself too look at the way we live,  how we talk,  how we control your emotions,  how we show kindness to others.  We really need to make sure that there is nothing that is holding us back from that breath.  When we feel good at the moment, that agony is still building up. We can’t put that aside for long, so don’t be fooled into thinking that you’re fine.  Take a good look around you and make sure you are getting rid of everything, not just the little things.  Take that breath!  God longs for us to breath in the fresh and eternal life that HE brings to us.  He loves us!  We need to be strong and courageous and get rid of what ever it is that is hindering us from that breath and over come that agony of suffocating!

“I am the way, the truth AND the life.  No one comes to the father except through Me!” - John 14:6 

Here are some more Crete pictures and some from Santorini!

Yey for a very good trip to Crete and a safe airplane ride back to Germany!  I had a really good time and definitely want to go back someday! I’ll be posting more pictures when I can, but this is it until I get home tomorrow!

Here are some of the pictures I took in Crete.  The trip was an amazing adevnture that included not having a working battery charger I made it 6 days on one battery and took over 600 pictures…. talk about a miracle!!  So here are some of the ones I got and I will post more as soon as I can

Here are the rest… well I have more, but I’ll post more when I get home! Enjoy!