This is by far probably the most light-hearted post I've written since starting this blog, but everyone needs a little laughter. Last night I was recounting some funny moments since moving into my new apartment with one of my best friends. We sat there laughing at how blonde my brain is. No, my hair is not blonde, my brain is blonde... Here are four short funnies, plan to post a few more later:
The Walk of Shame
Last year I bought a car, the first car I have ever had thank you very much! I am so proud of Keisha. She is a great car. However, Keisha doesn't drive without a driver. One day I was rushing around doing somethings I needed to get done at work. Ran out of the office for lunch - I must add that I wasn't paying attention to anything around me and I was texting. I jumped in my car and buckled up, still texting. I looked up and realized, no one is going to drive me to lunch and I was in the passenger seat of my car (face ... palm). Yeah, well done Bailey. So I set all of my things in the floor board and pretended to be getting something out of my car as I slowly forced myself out of the passenger side. This was the walk of shame to the driver's side of the car.
Magical Push Pins
Like I said earlier, my best friend and I just moved into an apartment that was built in the 1950s. The walls are super thick and have a plaster coating. We were told if we want to hang anything on the walls we need to screw through the walls first and then put the nail in, to keep pieces of the wall from chipping off in huge chunks. So what do I do? I get the bright idea to put my wall map up and use push pins. One of the guys helping me move came to the back room where I was. I was standing on the vanity stool trying to push a push pin in the wall. There I was getting frustrated every push pin was bending. Why didn't I stop? Heavens knows... but not me. He walked over and I handed him the push pin, thinking he was going to magically put it in the wall. He set it on my dresser and walked away slightly laughing at me. I asked him what was so funny. He reminded me of what I was told about the walls. It still didn't click... Let's just say that I don't have anything hanging on my walls right now.
The Other Side of the Room
One of the cool things about this apartment is our basic cable is included, so we don't have to go through the hassle of calling, paying, etc. If we were left to it, we wouldn't have cable. But we do, so yay! My personal Yoda (she has been mentioned in a previous post- she disciples me) let me use one of their big TVs until I decide to buy a big one or move halfway around the world where I will not need one. We have two cable cords in our living room. So when the guys were helping me move in, a week before best friend moved in, they put my TV in the living room next to a cable cord. I was so excited that we had basic cable that I wanted to check it right away. It only picked up four channels. So I was thinking that it was super basic cable. Thought to myself, "No big deal, I don't really watch TV anyway." Well one of our neighbors is a good friend of mine. She told me we should be getting almost 100 channels. So a friend helped me move my TV from one side of the room to the other, thinking the cable cord I was using was old and the new cable cord was on the other side. So we were really excited and we turned it on. Still only picking up four channels, what the heck! So a few days later I started playing around with the menu on the TV. I realized there is a cable button on the menu, some sort of toggle setting. So I toggled it over. Lo-and-behold there were almost 100 channels. Our TV is still on that side of the room...
Rain Storm in La-La-Land
There are many things I really enjoy about our apartment, the fact it was built in the 50s is a huge deal to me. Just love that kind of stuff. The windows are also the fun kind! You know what I am talking about... The 1990s hand crank window that no one looks cool trying to roll down. Only in an apartment it is kind of cool. It gives it that cute retro look. Well, until it rains. Then it gives it that freshly rained on look. Because I love these windows so much I began leaving them open anytime I was home. Wide open, all the way cranked. It began looking stormy - side note, I love storms - and I was thinking things were fine because it wasn't actually raining yet. So when it did start raining I walked through to make sure rain wasn't getting in the apartment. We have screens on the windows, after all. Somehow in my head the screens seemed to repel water and keep it outside, I have no idea why. Then it was an all out torrential downpour with large gusts of wind in every which direction. I noticed the drapery in the living room was getting wet so I closed the window and ventured off to my room to get a towel. Walked in my room and realized my room was in the middle of Hurricane Albert. I had no idea what to do. I ran through the house closing all the windows and then tried to clean up the puddles in my room (we have wood floors all through the apartment... did I mention they are they are the original wood boards from the 1950s? No?). Water had been gushing in my room for at least 15 minutes while I was off in La-La-Land. One of my windows is directly above a wall socket where I have things plugged. So I am trying to avoid being electrocuted while turning off the surge protector and cleaning up the aftermath.
Mustard Cream
Although I am not super grouchy when I wake up, I am also not super awake either. When I wake up in the mornings everything is pretty foggy. Kind of like what is described by people coming off hardcore drugs, that is about what I experience in the morning. I have no idea what the heck the noise is that is so consistent and annoying or who I am or whose apartment I have ended up in or why I am so hungry. Maybe that is not the typical drug addicts crash but that is what seems to happen to me when I wake up, especially when it is 6:30 in the morning (I know, I know... so many people wake up earlier than that and are chipper and poop bunnies, whatever). It takes my poor little brain a while to wake up. One morning, recently, I rolled out of bed, showered, and blow dried my hair. Somewhere in between I turned on my hair straightener. I have no recollection of performing this task, but I usually can't remember if I have washed my hair when in the shower (or how many times I just washed my hair). So as I am grabbing my hair straightener to turn it on, from the ceramic side of course, I feel the heat from the straightener. What do I do? Why slam my hand on the straightener to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Mustard does help with burns, they should turn that into a cream. Mustard cream. I would buy that ... wait.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Friday, May 25, 2012
Scandalous
Occasionally a couple of my friends and myself will have controversial conversations about current events or "trending" topics. Today one of them started off with the following link (click here). To understand this post you must first read the link, if you just read this with out reading that... well you might be confused.
A Christian university that has an LGBT group, how does that translate according to biblical standards/principles? Here is my take on it, and a few quotes of theirs.
Biblically homosexuality is a sin, so is sex before marriage, taking God's name in vain, dishonoring one's parents, and the list keeps going. These things are "normal" and accepted in our world today. Scripture says we are born into sin (Psalm 51:5 "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."). We are not born Christians. We are born with a desire to be sinful. We want to rebel against our parents and other authority; we want to swear and drink and have premarital sex... Everything we aren't supposed to do is what we want to do. It literally takes an act of God to change us. People are tempted in different ways. Jesus, for example, fasted for 40 days. Satan tempted Him with turning a rock into bread to meet His physical needs (Matthew 4:1-11). Satan tempted Him in His weakest moment. When we are hungry or desperate for something we will do almost anything to get that thing, whatever "it" is. In 1991 a woman hired a hit man to kill her daughter's cheerleading rival to insure her own daughter would be on the cheerleading squad. Not all people's sin is that open, but when God comes in and truly changes someone's life, they are changed forever.
Think about it this way, if your co-worker/friend/spouse/etc runs in and says, "I'm so sorry I am late! I just got hit by a semi-truck and it took forever to get out of there." You would not believe him. Why is that? Because that person would look drastically different, and would possibly be dead. When someone is changed by God he will not appear the same. The physical appearance may not change but everything else about the person begins to change. If someone has homosexual tendencies and then comes to know the Lord that person will be changed. It may not be immediate, but change takes place in that person's life. The more this person spends time with the Lord the more the person sees that it is not spiritually natural to have that desire. Then the person will begin to seek God even more for Him to transform his heart. The person begins to want to desire what God desires. Christ's purpose was to spread the gospel and make His name known throughout the world. His second command to Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth. Why were they to do this? What was the point? It was to spread the name of the Lord. They knew what was good and evil. There were only two options, good and evil. It was not good and bad, rather good and evil.
Sin is evil. When we lie, that is evil. When we get drunk, that is evil. When we... do anything that goes against God's law, it is evil. God is perfectly forgiving. God is also perfectly just. Think about it this way, if a convicted murderer was called in by a judge and was told he was being set free. He was forgiven of his charges and was free to go. Everyone (and they mama) would be in an uproar. We would call that judge all sorts of crazy things. So why should we expect the same from God? God sent His Son to die for each of us so that we might have hope in Him. As a Christian/Follower of Christ we are to look different than the world. We are not to go out of our way to look different, but we are not to be of this world. We are just living in it temporarily until we are allowed to go "home". We are citizens of heaven, if we are followers of Christ. As a citizen of heaven our citizenship looks much different than those of the world. Homosexuality, sexual immorality, etc. fit into that category as well. Although we are not to participate in such, we are called to love them. There is a time to rebuke and a time to love. We can still love others while recognizing their actions are sinful. Many people believe that by thinking something is wrong we have to push our own agenda on others, even if we think that agenda is "the right one". Christ did not do that. He loved others and shared truth with them. He was the harshest on the religious people (read the New Testament to see more on this and what He said to the Pharisees).
I, like everyone else, am very sinful. Do people treat me like a leper or stand outside my house with signs and shouting things at me? No. Why should we be doing that to people who claim homosexuality? Shouldn't we show them love and respect? John 8:2-11 talks about the woman caught in adultery.
"Early in the morning He came again to the temple. All the people came to Him, and He sat down and tuaght them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to Him, 'Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do You say?' This they said to test Him, that they might have some charge to bring against Him. Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them, 'Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.' And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him. Jesus stood up and said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She Said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.'"
He did not condemn her, He loved her. In His love for her He let her go and told her to "sin no more". We do not have the authority to tell others "go and sin no more" but we have the ability to love and respect. I was not there so I cannot tell you the level of His compassion or the depth of His kindness. I can tell you that scripture shows that He loved her enough to protect her from the harm of others and the harm of herself. If we are called to be like Christ (Christian means little Christ), aren't we called to love like Christ? Aren't we called to respect? Aren't we called to tell others about Christ? Yes.
Recently there was an article published about a pastor in North Carolina. This particular pastor told his congregation if their children start showing signs of homosexuality they should "beat" them. This is not what God has called us to. Christ washed the feet of the man who would betray Him. He ate with tax collectors and prostitutes. When was the last time you spoke to someone who was highly hated in your community? When was the last time you offered to eat a meal with a prostitute or someone society looks down upon?
In the community group I attend we spoke about lepers. Not just leprous people but people we consider outcasts in society. Think about who you consider an outcast and pray for them. Not just pray for them but take actions that show Christ love to them. Our community group leader asked us what do those around us begin to believe about us when we start reaching out to the "lepers" of our society? After thinking about it I said, "we become the lepers". We really do, it is not common practice to treat others with love and respect when we do not like what they are doing or when they are not doing what society approves of.
I dare you, reach out to your local leper. We are sinful, we are born into sin. So why not love the other sinners and treat them the way Christ did?
A Christian university that has an LGBT group, how does that translate according to biblical standards/principles? Here is my take on it, and a few quotes of theirs.
Biblically homosexuality is a sin, so is sex before marriage, taking God's name in vain, dishonoring one's parents, and the list keeps going. These things are "normal" and accepted in our world today. Scripture says we are born into sin (Psalm 51:5 "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."). We are not born Christians. We are born with a desire to be sinful. We want to rebel against our parents and other authority; we want to swear and drink and have premarital sex... Everything we aren't supposed to do is what we want to do. It literally takes an act of God to change us. People are tempted in different ways. Jesus, for example, fasted for 40 days. Satan tempted Him with turning a rock into bread to meet His physical needs (Matthew 4:1-11). Satan tempted Him in His weakest moment. When we are hungry or desperate for something we will do almost anything to get that thing, whatever "it" is. In 1991 a woman hired a hit man to kill her daughter's cheerleading rival to insure her own daughter would be on the cheerleading squad. Not all people's sin is that open, but when God comes in and truly changes someone's life, they are changed forever.
Think about it this way, if your co-worker/friend/spouse/etc runs in and says, "I'm so sorry I am late! I just got hit by a semi-truck and it took forever to get out of there." You would not believe him. Why is that? Because that person would look drastically different, and would possibly be dead. When someone is changed by God he will not appear the same. The physical appearance may not change but everything else about the person begins to change. If someone has homosexual tendencies and then comes to know the Lord that person will be changed. It may not be immediate, but change takes place in that person's life. The more this person spends time with the Lord the more the person sees that it is not spiritually natural to have that desire. Then the person will begin to seek God even more for Him to transform his heart. The person begins to want to desire what God desires. Christ's purpose was to spread the gospel and make His name known throughout the world. His second command to Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the Earth. Why were they to do this? What was the point? It was to spread the name of the Lord. They knew what was good and evil. There were only two options, good and evil. It was not good and bad, rather good and evil.
Sin is evil. When we lie, that is evil. When we get drunk, that is evil. When we... do anything that goes against God's law, it is evil. God is perfectly forgiving. God is also perfectly just. Think about it this way, if a convicted murderer was called in by a judge and was told he was being set free. He was forgiven of his charges and was free to go. Everyone (and they mama) would be in an uproar. We would call that judge all sorts of crazy things. So why should we expect the same from God? God sent His Son to die for each of us so that we might have hope in Him. As a Christian/Follower of Christ we are to look different than the world. We are not to go out of our way to look different, but we are not to be of this world. We are just living in it temporarily until we are allowed to go "home". We are citizens of heaven, if we are followers of Christ. As a citizen of heaven our citizenship looks much different than those of the world. Homosexuality, sexual immorality, etc. fit into that category as well. Although we are not to participate in such, we are called to love them. There is a time to rebuke and a time to love. We can still love others while recognizing their actions are sinful. Many people believe that by thinking something is wrong we have to push our own agenda on others, even if we think that agenda is "the right one". Christ did not do that. He loved others and shared truth with them. He was the harshest on the religious people (read the New Testament to see more on this and what He said to the Pharisees).
I, like everyone else, am very sinful. Do people treat me like a leper or stand outside my house with signs and shouting things at me? No. Why should we be doing that to people who claim homosexuality? Shouldn't we show them love and respect? John 8:2-11 talks about the woman caught in adultery.
"Early in the morning He came again to the temple. All the people came to Him, and He sat down and tuaght them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to Him, 'Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do You say?' This they said to test Him, that they might have some charge to bring against Him. Jesus bent down and wrote with His finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask Him, He stood up and said to them, 'Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.' And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before Him. Jesus stood up and said to her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She Said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said, 'Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.'"
He did not condemn her, He loved her. In His love for her He let her go and told her to "sin no more". We do not have the authority to tell others "go and sin no more" but we have the ability to love and respect. I was not there so I cannot tell you the level of His compassion or the depth of His kindness. I can tell you that scripture shows that He loved her enough to protect her from the harm of others and the harm of herself. If we are called to be like Christ (Christian means little Christ), aren't we called to love like Christ? Aren't we called to respect? Aren't we called to tell others about Christ? Yes.
Recently there was an article published about a pastor in North Carolina. This particular pastor told his congregation if their children start showing signs of homosexuality they should "beat" them. This is not what God has called us to. Christ washed the feet of the man who would betray Him. He ate with tax collectors and prostitutes. When was the last time you spoke to someone who was highly hated in your community? When was the last time you offered to eat a meal with a prostitute or someone society looks down upon?
In the community group I attend we spoke about lepers. Not just leprous people but people we consider outcasts in society. Think about who you consider an outcast and pray for them. Not just pray for them but take actions that show Christ love to them. Our community group leader asked us what do those around us begin to believe about us when we start reaching out to the "lepers" of our society? After thinking about it I said, "we become the lepers". We really do, it is not common practice to treat others with love and respect when we do not like what they are doing or when they are not doing what society approves of.
I dare you, reach out to your local leper. We are sinful, we are born into sin. So why not love the other sinners and treat them the way Christ did?
Life is Often Far too Short
Some times life ends too soon; before we expect it to end. Some times it is sudden; some times it is expected. Life has a funny way of ending. By funny I mean not funny at all, but you know what I mean by that; I hope.
Recently it seems death has been very present among those I know. Thankfully I haven't had to experience this in quite some time but I know the feelings and emotions all too well. Two of my favorite people of all time passed away when I was in junior high and high school (my grand parents). I still remember going through their house and helping pick what was kept and what was to be sold/given away/thrown out. But this isn't about me, it is about others.
There is a sweet family that lost their father/husband in a sudden accident. It wasn't expected, he wasn't sick, it couldn't have been predicted. One day they had their daddy, the next day they didn't. One day their husband woke up and walked out the door for work, but didn't come home. Can you imagine that? That is someone's reality. Several people's reality actually but in this case it is them ... their world has stopped for a brief moment in time. They are left with memories that can't hug them before they go to bed. Those memories can't tell them that everything is going to be alright and that daddy is coming home, because he isn't. All they can do is try to pick up where things left off and start over. A life without her best friend that slept in her bed with her every night. A life without daddy.
What would you do? Can you imagine that?
Just the mere thought of it makes me want to curl up in the fetal position and bawl like a big baby. It makes me want to go home and hug my own daddy.
Often we read verses like Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Somehow we think that verse makes us invincible. Many times we forget to keep reading: Jeremiah 29:12-14 "Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." [So I am not saying this traumatic event has sent this family into exile, just hang with me]. We think because of verse 11 that our life is going to revolve around what we consider good and what we consider our future, welfare, and hope. Bad things happen, God allows/causes those bad things (contrary to popular belief). Not because God is "bad" but because God has a purpose that we do not always understand. We may never understand His reasoning for things, but when we acknowledge His all-knowing, all-seeing, overwhelming love for His people we see that our plans are not God's plans. Proverbs 16:1 "The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD." God has all the answers, we do not.
God knows the plans; He knows the paths; He knows the future and the hope. We only see a tiny little portion, our own lives and those we hold dear around us (some times not even that). When He causes these traumatic events or allows them to happen He wants us to call upon Him and go to Him in prayer. Like David, He wants us to pour everything out to Him: Psalm 22:14 "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast." The Lord wants us to seek Him and find Him in events like these. Just as the LORD has pursued us, He wants us to pursue Him. He knows all things and knows the answers to all things. So why would we seek the knowledge of others before seeking that of God. He also tells us in verse 14 that He will restore our fortunes and gather us up from where we have been driven. That alone implies that we are going to have misfortune and be driven away from all that we know. He knows why, He knows where, and He knows how. In events like this, He wants us to pour our hearts out like water that has been poured out all over the place. He knows we are going to be a big crying hot mess. He made us that way, He is not surprised when we do become that way. He knows we are going to be all out of sorts and that our heart is broken. This family feels like they are melting into the very floor they are walking on, they have lost a key part of their lives. Their whole lives have been flipped upside-down. Everything has changed for them; their hearts are broken.
Psalm 34:18 reminds us that "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit." Psalm 147:3 says "He (the LORD) heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." God promises to make things better. Things will never be the same but He will bind up the wounds, heal them, save the crushed spirit, restore their fortunes, and give them hope. Things will forever be different, but this is not the end. Not yet. He still has a plan, that is why the rest of this family is still here.
Some of you know this family personally, don't forget to pray for them. Don't forget to hug your families and remind them how much you love them.
Some of you do not know this family at all; please pray for comfort for this family. Don't forget to hug your families too.
This family loves each other dearly, the hug each other often; don't think I am saying anything against them. My heart (and prayers go) goes out to them and as I sit and think about all that they are going through right now, it is all I can do to not start crying myself. This event in their lives has reminded me in any events (big, small, traumatic, mundane, etc) I am (we all are) to be seeking the Lord. I am to love at all times, even when it is hard. Life is often far too short to spend most of it mad at others or not loving others. We never know when our days with them will end.
Decide to make today and everyday here after different.
You have a choice, we all do.
Recently it seems death has been very present among those I know. Thankfully I haven't had to experience this in quite some time but I know the feelings and emotions all too well. Two of my favorite people of all time passed away when I was in junior high and high school (my grand parents). I still remember going through their house and helping pick what was kept and what was to be sold/given away/thrown out. But this isn't about me, it is about others.
There is a sweet family that lost their father/husband in a sudden accident. It wasn't expected, he wasn't sick, it couldn't have been predicted. One day they had their daddy, the next day they didn't. One day their husband woke up and walked out the door for work, but didn't come home. Can you imagine that? That is someone's reality. Several people's reality actually but in this case it is them ... their world has stopped for a brief moment in time. They are left with memories that can't hug them before they go to bed. Those memories can't tell them that everything is going to be alright and that daddy is coming home, because he isn't. All they can do is try to pick up where things left off and start over. A life without her best friend that slept in her bed with her every night. A life without daddy.
What would you do? Can you imagine that?
Just the mere thought of it makes me want to curl up in the fetal position and bawl like a big baby. It makes me want to go home and hug my own daddy.
Often we read verses like Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Somehow we think that verse makes us invincible. Many times we forget to keep reading: Jeremiah 29:12-14 "Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." [So I am not saying this traumatic event has sent this family into exile, just hang with me]. We think because of verse 11 that our life is going to revolve around what we consider good and what we consider our future, welfare, and hope. Bad things happen, God allows/causes those bad things (contrary to popular belief). Not because God is "bad" but because God has a purpose that we do not always understand. We may never understand His reasoning for things, but when we acknowledge His all-knowing, all-seeing, overwhelming love for His people we see that our plans are not God's plans. Proverbs 16:1 "The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD." God has all the answers, we do not.
God knows the plans; He knows the paths; He knows the future and the hope. We only see a tiny little portion, our own lives and those we hold dear around us (some times not even that). When He causes these traumatic events or allows them to happen He wants us to call upon Him and go to Him in prayer. Like David, He wants us to pour everything out to Him: Psalm 22:14 "I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast." The Lord wants us to seek Him and find Him in events like these. Just as the LORD has pursued us, He wants us to pursue Him. He knows all things and knows the answers to all things. So why would we seek the knowledge of others before seeking that of God. He also tells us in verse 14 that He will restore our fortunes and gather us up from where we have been driven. That alone implies that we are going to have misfortune and be driven away from all that we know. He knows why, He knows where, and He knows how. In events like this, He wants us to pour our hearts out like water that has been poured out all over the place. He knows we are going to be a big crying hot mess. He made us that way, He is not surprised when we do become that way. He knows we are going to be all out of sorts and that our heart is broken. This family feels like they are melting into the very floor they are walking on, they have lost a key part of their lives. Their whole lives have been flipped upside-down. Everything has changed for them; their hearts are broken.
Psalm 34:18 reminds us that "The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit." Psalm 147:3 says "He (the LORD) heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." God promises to make things better. Things will never be the same but He will bind up the wounds, heal them, save the crushed spirit, restore their fortunes, and give them hope. Things will forever be different, but this is not the end. Not yet. He still has a plan, that is why the rest of this family is still here.
Some of you know this family personally, don't forget to pray for them. Don't forget to hug your families and remind them how much you love them.
Some of you do not know this family at all; please pray for comfort for this family. Don't forget to hug your families too.
This family loves each other dearly, the hug each other often; don't think I am saying anything against them. My heart (and prayers go) goes out to them and as I sit and think about all that they are going through right now, it is all I can do to not start crying myself. This event in their lives has reminded me in any events (big, small, traumatic, mundane, etc) I am (we all are) to be seeking the Lord. I am to love at all times, even when it is hard. Life is often far too short to spend most of it mad at others or not loving others. We never know when our days with them will end.
Decide to make today and everyday here after different.
You have a choice, we all do.
Friday, May 11, 2012
When God Says "No"
Over the past 6 years my friends and I have had
this running joke that God wouldn’t let me leave the state for more than 7 days
at a time. This spring He said yes to me for a trip to Italy. There is
something awesome about getting what we want, but what about the times we don’t
get what we want? God is still good. He still has a plan. He knows all things
past, all things current, and knows all things of the future. He knows all.
When we are told “no” we seem to revert back to our two year old selves and
throw a mini-tantrum. God has a plan that I do not yet understand.
Ok, maybe not everyone; but I know I do. This is a
problem, because in essence I am saying I think my plan is better than God’s.
God knows what is best for me (and you). He has a specific plan for us and some
things, sadly, just do not fit into His plan.
Although He has given me many yeses, there are
still so many things where I am getting a big fat no. Some of them I understand
and some of them I have been left in the dark. He is opening up some doors and
quickly closing others, all-the-while leaving some slightly cracked. Originally
I thought I was graduating in December; nope, there is more school to be done.
Thought I would be taking another short trip overseas for the summer; nope,
there is work to be done. Thought I would be doing this, that, or the other and
so many things have changed (but stayed the same) in such a short amount of
time. This time last year I had a completely different major with my current
goal and vision. Now I am studying in a different department, learning
completely different things and around drastically different people than
before. God has a plan.
Sometimes I feel like God leads us in certain
directions to test our faith and trust in Him. For instance, this year
everything seemed to be working out perfectly for me to go overseas for 10 days
with the university’s Study Abroad program. Then, things changed. God allowed
things to work out everything perfectly until He told me no. He has me
right where He wants me, and for whatever reason that is here … where I am
currently writing this from – my job. He has given me a job, in the most unique
of ways, and has allowed me to work with students from all over the world. He
has also given me some of my best friends through this job. His plan is sweet
and lined with good things (that doesn’t mean we always get what we want or
that things are always going to be hunky-dorey either).
I don’t always get what I want. I didn’t marry
that guy or get to date that other one I “liked sooo much”. If I did, my life
would look quite different. I didn’t get to graduate within 4 years of starting
college. If I would have, I wouldn’t be working here and most likely not even
have the job I have now. I didn’t get to leave the country every time I wanted
to or take the trips I wanted to take. If I would have, I would be in much more
debt (let’s be serious, travelling is expensive – don’t let that stop… please
travel! So much out there is just waiting to be seen). I didn’t get that job I
applied for in Hawaii. There are so many things I have been told “no” on, but
there are so many good things that have happened because I was told “no”.
God’s plan is so much better than my own and I
miss that at times. When I am turned down for things it doesn’t mean I need to
stop trying, it means I need to find where I should be trying. My efforts are
not wasted, they are learning opportunities for what is to come in life. Our
parents, grandparents, and elders didn’t become wise overnight. No! They lived,
they learned, they were told no and had to figure things out. Don’t give up on
God when you don’t get your way, ask where you missed the turn or where to go
next. Sometimes our “GPS” needs to recalculate.
Trust God’s plan even when you don’t understand.
That is something I have been trying to learn over the past 6 (almost 7 …)
years. We have to surrender our own plans for the plans of the One who knows better.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
I'm Being Followed ...
I think I'm being followed...
Nakeli, a good friend/co-worker has a theory about me: where ever I go I find someone I know, am connected to, or make friends with anyone near. I pretty much laugh it off because I have lived in the same town for almost 24 years. So knowing, what seems like to my friend, a majority of the population is understandable. See this theory is becoming "fact," so my friend says. Then I started thinking about it a little more this past week. When I hopped on the plane headed for Rome I thought, "surely I won't know anyone other than my friend who lives in Italy." boy was I wrong. On the flight to Toronto the lady that sat next to me turned out to be from my home town. Not just that, she works at ASU in a department our office works with quite frequently. I was stunned ... Then I thought, "whew! That won't happen again the rest of the time I am gone. Who could impossibly run into in Italy?"
On Wednesday I headed out to Rome on my own. I went to the Colosseum on an English guided tour. I started chatting with the others going through the same tour. They were a sweet couple from Scotland who enjoyed traveling through Europe on holiday. I spent a majority of the day with them and enjoyed every little bit. The next day Janelle and I are leaving the Vatican when we hear, "Bailey!" we turn around and it's the Scottish couple from the day before. Janelle laughed and said, "your friend is right, can't take you anywhere." I was still half in shock that it happened at all.
Stepping back to Wednesday for a moment, when I was out I stopped and had lunch at this little restaurant facing the Vittorini building. When I finished lunch the waiter asked me where I was from and I replied. A table over a Taiwanese lady heard me say Arkansas. She turned around and asked me more specifically where in Arkansas. She then told me she has family in Little Rock.
I got on the plane to head back from Rome and thought I was in the clear, it had been a few days since I met anyone with Arkansas connections or anyone who recognized me. When I sat down in the plane from Switzerland to New Jersey I started chatting with the girl next to me. Low and behold she is from Arkansas. I started laughing before she asked me where I was from and then felt the need to explain. I can imagine she was weirded out by "this would prove my friend's theory" laughter. She laughed after I explained.
Then I got to the airport in Newark, while I was waiting on my flight a guy sits down 3 seats to my left. I looked, because of my minor ADD, it was a student from ASU that I have spoken with on several occasions. As we boarded the plane I noticed a history professor from ASU as well.
I think I am being followed by Arkansas ...
Then again
Maybe I am just chatty...
Surely that is what it is, I am a chatty Cathy. I have no problem with that, I learned from the Nigerian lady on the metro that I look friendly. Maybe that is what it is. So I am admitting defeat and beginning to believe my friend's theory (proved fact) ... Just don't expect me to run for office or anything.
Oh! By the way, our flight attendant looked like Oprah. Her name tag even says "Oprah."
Welcome to my life.
Nakeli, a good friend/co-worker has a theory about me: where ever I go I find someone I know, am connected to, or make friends with anyone near. I pretty much laugh it off because I have lived in the same town for almost 24 years. So knowing, what seems like to my friend, a majority of the population is understandable. See this theory is becoming "fact," so my friend says. Then I started thinking about it a little more this past week. When I hopped on the plane headed for Rome I thought, "surely I won't know anyone other than my friend who lives in Italy." boy was I wrong. On the flight to Toronto the lady that sat next to me turned out to be from my home town. Not just that, she works at ASU in a department our office works with quite frequently. I was stunned ... Then I thought, "whew! That won't happen again the rest of the time I am gone. Who could impossibly run into in Italy?"
On Wednesday I headed out to Rome on my own. I went to the Colosseum on an English guided tour. I started chatting with the others going through the same tour. They were a sweet couple from Scotland who enjoyed traveling through Europe on holiday. I spent a majority of the day with them and enjoyed every little bit. The next day Janelle and I are leaving the Vatican when we hear, "Bailey!" we turn around and it's the Scottish couple from the day before. Janelle laughed and said, "your friend is right, can't take you anywhere." I was still half in shock that it happened at all.
Stepping back to Wednesday for a moment, when I was out I stopped and had lunch at this little restaurant facing the Vittorini building. When I finished lunch the waiter asked me where I was from and I replied. A table over a Taiwanese lady heard me say Arkansas. She turned around and asked me more specifically where in Arkansas. She then told me she has family in Little Rock.
I got on the plane to head back from Rome and thought I was in the clear, it had been a few days since I met anyone with Arkansas connections or anyone who recognized me. When I sat down in the plane from Switzerland to New Jersey I started chatting with the girl next to me. Low and behold she is from Arkansas. I started laughing before she asked me where I was from and then felt the need to explain. I can imagine she was weirded out by "this would prove my friend's theory" laughter. She laughed after I explained.
Then I got to the airport in Newark, while I was waiting on my flight a guy sits down 3 seats to my left. I looked, because of my minor ADD, it was a student from ASU that I have spoken with on several occasions. As we boarded the plane I noticed a history professor from ASU as well.
I think I am being followed by Arkansas ...
Then again
Maybe I am just chatty...
Surely that is what it is, I am a chatty Cathy. I have no problem with that, I learned from the Nigerian lady on the metro that I look friendly. Maybe that is what it is. So I am admitting defeat and beginning to believe my friend's theory (proved fact) ... Just don't expect me to run for office or anything.
Oh! By the way, our flight attendant looked like Oprah. Her name tag even says "Oprah."
Welcome to my life.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Nigerian on the Metro
Janelle and I were headed into Rome on Thursday. While we were waiting for the metro to get to the station a lady approached us to ask if we speak English. We told her yes and she let out a huge sigh of relief; she physically looked as if weights had been lifted off her shoulders. She was so excited to find English speakers that it was a joy to speak English. She told us she is from Nigeria and she traveled to Italy to find work. She is horribly homesick and misses her husband and children. She was accuse fly on the wrong metro and didn't know how to get back in the right direction. She began to just talk talk talk on the way to her stop.
To be honest I can't even tell you her name, but God used her to remind me even when we are obedient to His will and His way things will not always be easy. Honestly I have no idea where she stands spiritually but God likes to remind me of things in the neatest little ways. My desire is to move overseas and share the gospel, He has out this in my heart. Meeting that woman reminded me that leaving everything behind and moving half way around the world is not an easy task. She doesn't speak the language and is struggling in learning and picking it up. She seems to be trying so very hard to make it and not be discouraged. These are the same challenges I will someday, soon, be facing. He doesn't let everything be easy because He wants us to rely on Him. That is what this woman was having to do, rely on something/someone other than herself. She literally relied on two complete strangers to help her. It was such a blessing to be able to be there and give her an (English) outlet.
Let me back up for a second, when she approached us and realized we spoke English she told us she only approached us because we look friendly. If you know me you know I could talk to a brick wall if I thought it would talk back, basically I love people. This was such a huge compliment, Janelle and I looked friendly, approachable, that is just what she did - she took a leap of faith and approached us for help. I forget how important it is to just appear friendly and loving and approachable. God uses even the simplest things to execute His will. He used Janelle and I to provide the slightest bit of relief to this woman. She walked away with higher spirits than the day before and seemed more confident to conquer the day. Yay for being where God wants us when He wants us there! We don't have to worry if God is going to put us where He wants us, because if we are being obedient (and even in times we are not being so obedient) He has us right where He wants us. Hopefully this thought will stick with me for the rest of this year (2012- not just the school year). This is something I struggle struggle with greatly, wanting to be somewhere else... Somewhere "better."
To be honest I can't even tell you her name, but God used her to remind me even when we are obedient to His will and His way things will not always be easy. Honestly I have no idea where she stands spiritually but God likes to remind me of things in the neatest little ways. My desire is to move overseas and share the gospel, He has out this in my heart. Meeting that woman reminded me that leaving everything behind and moving half way around the world is not an easy task. She doesn't speak the language and is struggling in learning and picking it up. She seems to be trying so very hard to make it and not be discouraged. These are the same challenges I will someday, soon, be facing. He doesn't let everything be easy because He wants us to rely on Him. That is what this woman was having to do, rely on something/someone other than herself. She literally relied on two complete strangers to help her. It was such a blessing to be able to be there and give her an (English) outlet.
Let me back up for a second, when she approached us and realized we spoke English she told us she only approached us because we look friendly. If you know me you know I could talk to a brick wall if I thought it would talk back, basically I love people. This was such a huge compliment, Janelle and I looked friendly, approachable, that is just what she did - she took a leap of faith and approached us for help. I forget how important it is to just appear friendly and loving and approachable. God uses even the simplest things to execute His will. He used Janelle and I to provide the slightest bit of relief to this woman. She walked away with higher spirits than the day before and seemed more confident to conquer the day. Yay for being where God wants us when He wants us there! We don't have to worry if God is going to put us where He wants us, because if we are being obedient (and even in times we are not being so obedient) He has us right where He wants us. Hopefully this thought will stick with me for the rest of this year (2012- not just the school year). This is something I struggle struggle with greatly, wanting to be somewhere else... Somewhere "better."
Saturday, March 24, 2012
A Little Taste of Italy...
Wow! Let me tell you that God has blessed me immensely with loving family, great friends, and good food (hehe) ... well and safe travels of course. As I look through my own pictures I can't help but ask myself if that is really me posing in front of this or that building. "Am I really here," the question that kept playing through my mind. Before leaving to get on the plane people asked me if I was excited to go. That was hard for me to answer, not because I didn't want to go but because it didn't quite seem real. It seemed as if I was living someone else's life doing things someone else would do. But this has been my dream since I was little. I think I was 6 years old when someone asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up. I told them I wanted to go to other countries and help people. Which is what I am on the path to do currently. Cultures, languages, religions, people, and history all fascinate me. Being in Rome where the history and culture is so thick is, well, almost unreal. My life still goes on day-by-day. I walk, eat, sleep, and breathe just like I would in Arkansas. Only, I'm not in Arkansas ... I'm nowhere near my family or closest friends. Yet, I don't feel very far way either. It is the strangest feeling to have. This is my life, this is how I am supposed to live; off in some other country where I may or may not know the people I go to live amongst.
There is so much to be told about the 6 days I have spent in Rome and I will write about them, slowly, and tell you not only what I did and saw but what I learned from the culture, language, religion, people, and history. If I wrote it all at once you wouldn't want to read it; trust me, it would be really long. Just know this, everything (practically) that I have done since being here is new to me. So these posts will not be labelled like the rest of the "31 Day March" challenge but everyday has been something new and exciting.
I will tell you this, before I venture into posting and updating and whatnot, God continues to show me how much He loves me (not just me but this is my blog and what God is showing me so that is what I am sharing with you). He has provided constant protection, safe travels, lovely people, interesting situations, cultural sensitivity training (yes, even God reminds me to be sensitive to other cultures), and well... more than I can think of right now. There will not be a quiz or a test over this so don't feel like you have to read this or ask me about what I have been writing. There are so many things out there to see and do that I don't expect you to be part of every little thing I have done. Go, live your life!
This has probably been the biggest lesson of all. We only have one life to live, so why not start living it now.
There is so much to be told about the 6 days I have spent in Rome and I will write about them, slowly, and tell you not only what I did and saw but what I learned from the culture, language, religion, people, and history. If I wrote it all at once you wouldn't want to read it; trust me, it would be really long. Just know this, everything (practically) that I have done since being here is new to me. So these posts will not be labelled like the rest of the "31 Day March" challenge but everyday has been something new and exciting.
I will tell you this, before I venture into posting and updating and whatnot, God continues to show me how much He loves me (not just me but this is my blog and what God is showing me so that is what I am sharing with you). He has provided constant protection, safe travels, lovely people, interesting situations, cultural sensitivity training (yes, even God reminds me to be sensitive to other cultures), and well... more than I can think of right now. There will not be a quiz or a test over this so don't feel like you have to read this or ask me about what I have been writing. There are so many things out there to see and do that I don't expect you to be part of every little thing I have done. Go, live your life!
This has probably been the biggest lesson of all. We only have one life to live, so why not start living it now.
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