The Hole

I heard a story about a guy who fell into a hole.  Along came a doctor.  The guy in the hole cried up to him.  “Hey, can you help me get out of this hole?” The doctor took out his prescription pad and wrote out a script and threw it into the hole and walked off. 

Next a priest came by.  The guy cried out “Hey, I’m stuck in this hole, can you help me out?” The priest wrote down a prayer and threw it down to him in the hole and walked off. 

Next the guy’s best friend came by and saw him down in the hole.  He jumped down into the hole with his friend.  The guy said “Are you crazy? Now we are both stuck in here.”  His friend said, “Yeah, but I have been here before, and I know the way out.”

Okay, so cool story right. Happy ending we presume, the guy and his friend get out of the whole.  Everyone ends up happy in the end.  But, there is more to this story. 

Who are you in this story?  If you came across someone in need, what part would you play in their story?  Each person played a part.

The doctor- his answer to the problem was to cover it up with substances.  A lot of people do this.  Maybe it’s not drugs or alcohol.  Maybe it’s work, or activities, or family.  They will do anything other than dealing with the problem.  Sometimes these things are helpful to take our mind off the problem, to help us gain a little perspective on what we are facing, but we still have to face the problem.  Substances alone are never the answer.  We still have to solve the problem.

The priest- his answer to the problem was prayer. Prayer is always the best way to deal with a problem.  But, prayer alone can’t solve every problem.  In this case prayer was not the only thing the man needed.  A prayer for strength would be good, but then action doing it is what he needed.  Every situation is different.  Prayer sometimes is just the beginning of the answer.

The friend- his answer was action.  Having been in the same situation himself, he put himself back into that same situation to help his friend pull himself up.  He sacrificed of himself to help another.  His friend could have just said, “Hey I know what you need to do.” Then told him and walked off, but he didn’t.  He wanted to make sure he made it out of the situation safely.  He could have waited above and talked him through, but again, he had been through this and knew the pitfalls ahead. 

So, who are you?  When someone faces a tough situation around you, what do you do?  Do you dive in and help them with your experience?  Or, do you stay on the outer edges, give them a little nudge and hope everything works out okay in the end?

I believe we all go through things in our lives as Christians for a reason.  Somewhere later on in life, we are going to come across a friend in a hole and we can say “Hey, I’ve been here before and I know the way out.”

The Good Old Days

Remember the days when you could turn on the TV and the only drug ads you would see were for things like Advil and Tylenol?  Oh, how I miss those days.  Now, almost every commercial break contains an ad for the latest and greatest drug for what ails you.  Is it just me, or are they all starting to sound the same?  And could they get any longer or more descriptive?  I mean by the time they get done, I think I have what they are talking about!

-          “Do you have a rumbling stomach?  Do your eyes water?  Does your hair grow?  Then you may have X disease!  But don’t worry, because now there’s PYstasis.  Yes, PYstasis, is just for the treatment of X disease.  Talk to your doctor about X disease and if you might be a good candidate for PYstasis today!”

Oh my gosh!  Yes, yes!  I have all those things.  I must have X disease!  I had better call my doctor today!  I had better get on PYstasis right away.  Oh, but then comes my favorite part of the whole ad, the legally required WARNING:

-          “Warning, PYstasis possible side effects include: runny nose; cough; hair loss; rash, bleeding from the nose, ears, eyes, mouth, and in some rare cases death.  But talk to your doctor about the benefits as they may out way the side effects.”

I’m sorry?  What benefit of a drug out ways death?!  Hmmmm, none that come to my mind.  Oh and I have a question.  What happens if I CAN’T sit or stand for 30 minutes after taking a medication?  Will I spontaneously explode if I lay down?  What aren’t they telling us about this one??

Then, about every other break you get the ones for those law suits.  I guess these are for the “rare cases of death” they warned us about.  I really love these. 

-          “Have you or a loved one been injured or died while using a pain patch? Call us, we can help.”

Why, yes.  Thanks for this ad; I did die while using a pain patch.  I’ll call right away! 

And could we please go back to the days when the raciest commercials on TV were for “feminine products”? I mean come on.  Growing up I thought these ads were pushing the limit, but oh man the ads these days.  Especially the ones for, I’ll just call them “male products” (you know what I mean) are so over the top!  If you happen to be watching a ball game or race, they are on almost every commercial break!  Please, please at least get rid of that jingle for the one brand, I hate it when it gets stuck in my head. 

Okay, so that is where I stand.  Thank heavens for my dvr is all I can say.  Most days I can fast forward through all of this stuff.  But sometimes I am forced to see it.  Oh wait, here’s one now.  Great, now it looks like I also have something called TQstoma?  Man, I hope this drug is cheap!

End rant.

Okay, I get it…

Isn’t it funny how when a message is trying to get through, it seems like things come at you from different angles and from strange places.

It all started with Timm’s messages on Cross Roads.  How the choices we make, even the ones that seem to be very small, really do determine where we wind up in life.  Add this to the fact that our small group is doing the Andy Stanley study Destinations which is about the Path Principle.  This is about how our destination not our intentions, determine our destination.  Seeing a pattern yet?  It gets better.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have heard little things that have jumped out at me.  Things that other people may not have given the time of day.  But to me they have had a double meaning or have really stuck out.

-          It’s a slow climb up but a fast fall down.  This was a comment on the news.  They were talking about our economy, but it hit me differently.  I said out loud to myself.  “Economy, heck that’s true in everything.”  Then I thought, yeah that’s right.  It really is.  You don’t notice the climb to where you are going, but you sure notice the fall.

-          People never crumble in a day, it’s a slow fade.  From the Casting Crown’s song Slow Fade.   I really like this song; it has so many good lessons.  But this line really hit me the other day.  Again, how true is this?  More often than not, it’s not an epic event that leads to a person’s collapse it’s a slow meticulous process.  One bad decision after the next or one bad decision that leads to a path that leads to the fall.

 So, here I am getting all these messages about paths and destinations and utter ruin, and I am thinking uh oh.  Am I headed for something?  Is that what this is all about?  Have I made some huge bad choice and God is trying to tell me to make a U-turn?  I don’t think so.  I think it’s a wakeup call, a reminder.  Something to cause reflection on my life.  Is there something going on that needs to be changed that isn’t getting me where I need and want to be headed.  There are things if my life I really would like to change and basically this is my wakeup call to get back on the wagon and get going. 

Even, the answer to this situation came from interesting places.

-          Andy Stanley gave us this verse in our last study group lesson.  He gave us the NIV version but I am going to give you the Message version because I think it really drives home his point.  I am putting this on my refrigerator and on my desk at work, just as a reminder for myself everyday to check my path:  Prov. 27:12 A prudent person sees trouble coming and ducks; a simpleton walks in blindly and is clobbered.

-          Prayer- when life gets too hard to stand…kneel.  I saw this plaque in a store.  Enough said.

I am making some changes in my path to change my destination.  My walk is grounded in my faith, so we aren’t talking about any major changes to outsiders.  These are things I personally want to accomplish.  Things I have started and then stopped or just never started. 

 But, I am keeping my eyes open for what may lay ahead on the path.  I am prepared to duck!

Winging it…

Thanks to my DVR, I have rediscovered the West Wing.  I love this show.  I really had forgotten just how much I did until I started watching it again.  They show at least two episodes every day on the Bravo channel.   

The writing of this show was so great.  The cast and their characters were so well developed and it just worked so well.  Sometimes I wonder just how accurate things are, but for the most part it looks pretty clear that this is how things work to me. 

The story lines are so intriguing, ranging from lighthearted to serious.  There are times like when Sam “accidently” slept with the call girl and they all teased him about it for days; when they put the goat in Will’s office; pretty much Donna’s entire career; when CJ and Charley were having their “war” and playing pranks on each other; and just the day to day banter between the characters.  Then there are the times like the assassination attempt; determining whether to intervene in another country’s civil unrest; or nuclear accidents.  The writing for each of these story lines is just awesome.  The characters each played their parts and you get to see how the system is supposed to work from the inside out.

Although I have to admit I got the biggest laugh the other day when I heard a line from one of the early seasons.  It was the president and Leo (Chief of Staff) talking about a company run by a friend of theirs that was about to go bankrupt.  The president said something to the effect of this – we can’t just go bailing out companies when they are failing.  Oh, can you tell that this was an old show!  I just burst out loud with laughter.  If they only knew then what we know now, they couldn’t have written that line!

What is cool about watching this show this way is that I can tape all week and then watch all the episodes at one time one after the other.  It’s like spending a work week at the White House.

Because I have this experience at the White House though, I have found out a few things:

1.  I find myself fighting the urge to say “Thank you Mr. President” every time I leave a room or say thank you to someone.    I think it would be really funny if I did, just to see what their reaction would be.
2. In comparison to running the country, my job isn’t really as stressful as I thought it was. 

Just had to share my thoughts on it.

Sacrifices

Not long ago, I was reading the story of Abraham and Isaac.  No matter how many times I read this story it still amazes me how strong Abraham’s faith was.  Here he was willing to sacrifice his son because God told him to.  The son he had waited 100 years for! 

How many times have we complained about having to sacrifice some small thing in our life?  And let’s face it; it’s usually the small things we complain about the most.  Here Abraham was asked to make a tremendous sacrifice and he did so willingly without even a “But, God are you sure?”  Amazing. 

Through Abraham’s willingness to follow through on God’s command to sacrifice his son great blessings were given to Abraham and his family.  God rewarded him by sparing Isaac and blessing him greater than he could imagine.  It was the simple act of obedience, more than the sacrifice itself that brought the reward.

So, in those times when I am asked to sacrifice something even something so seemingly unimportant, I have to ask myself – is it the sacrifice or the act of obedience that is going to bring me the most reward?  

Something to think about.

Intervention Update

Well, here we are another day and progress is well… let’s just say there is no progress.  In case you need a refresher on my addiction here is the short version.  I am addicted to crossword puzzles.  It started small, just helping others, and has now grown into a full blown obsession. 

At work we began with just a couple of us doing them at break and at lunch; now there is a team of us working on them. In fact, you might call us a gang.  We are thinking of getting matching shirts and coming up with a secret handshake.  We have even gone the extra step of buying books to work on in case the worst happens and we don’t have a newspaper one day, or for the rare occasion that we actually complete both the puzzles in the paper for the day. 

We have even drawn people into our circle that swore they would never help us.  We are sneaky like that!  But, we have shown them that they are a lot smarter than they thought they were.  So, I think it is a win-win situation.  If we are stuck on a question, look out.  Anyone who comes into the break room is fair game.  We will just yell out the question to them as soon as they walk in the door.  They look like a deer in the headlights sometimes.  The other day even the guy who refills our coffee supplies was helping with one. 

My addiction has gotten so bad and become so well known, that I received two books as Christmas presents this year.  Those enablers! 

So, if you hear of a new gang that has taken over Auburndale anytime soon, just hope it’s us and not a bunch of teenagers.  Now, we just have to come up with some cool names.  Any ideas?

Could it be Satan?

Remember the Church Lady segment from Saturday Night Live?  That was one of the catch phrases for that character.  But lately I’ve been thinking about this in a different light.  You know how they say whenever a church is doing things right, Satan comes in to try and destroy it.  Well I think that works for people too.  I have seen this first hand and lately in the lives of my friends.  I will give you a personal example from my life that all happened over a three month period a year and a half ago.

It all started with a broken tooth.  This broken tooth led to a crown, which led to having to have a root canal on that tooth before the crown could be finished.  Then during this time I had the shingles – fun stuff.  Shortly after recovering from these two wonderful things, I broke my little toe.  Let me tell you just because it’s the little toe, there’s nothing little about the pain.  Then my a/c compressor went out and I had to replace the a/c unit at my house.  All of this was over a two month period.  Once the next month started I just knew things would get better, I had a vacation scheduled and I was looking forward to working around the house.  Well during that vacation I had the worst case of the stomach flu I have had since I was in High School.  Needless to say these three months were costly – monetarily, days missed at work, and pain wise.

Now, I know you are asking what does this have to do with Satan.  Well here it goes.  I believe that all these things at once were a form of attack by Satan.  Why?  Because I had been living for God.  Over the last three years I have completely given my life back to God, in ways I never did before.  Oh I have been a Christian since I was 12 and in church since I was 4 or so, but I will admit that I strayed away from church, not from God, but from the Church for a few years a while back.  But even during the years when I was in church and as I have followed God there were things I just kept control of; as I am sure we all have from time to time.  But, since I have been back in church I have completely turned over things to God, and believe me I feel so much better for it.  I tithe the way I should, I pray more, I worship more and more deeply, I feel His presence more during my day because I’m more aware of it.  I am seeking His will instead of my wants in things I do and I find the pressure of things is less.  Satan doesn’t like it when we do these things.  I think that these months were Satan’s attempt to turn me away from my newfound peace.  I will admit I started to waiver a time or two, but then I would pray for strength and God would help me get through it. 

Anytime you rely on God, Satan is going to come at you to try and pry you away from your stronghold.  Don’t worry; God is there to help you.  Just as the song says – He never lets go, through the calm and through the storm, He never lets go of you.  I know that there are those going through times right now that seem unbelievably hard: financial, physical, emotional, even spiritual.  Hang on.  He is there for you.  He never leaves us; He is there to uplift us and help us through these times of trial.  No matter what they are, He will be there with us to help us carry these burdens.  Pray for strength; lean on your fellow Christians. Odds are they have been there before.  Satan doesn’t mess with someone who isn’t doing something right for God.  But, God will never leave you. He will never let go.

Peace…

I heard this on the way to work this morning and had to share it.

“Don’t take much for this crazy world to rob me of my peace…so I stand here lifting empty hands for You to fill me up again.”

Awesome words. 

Don’t let the world steal your peace today. 

W.O.O.

The Wizard of Oz is a classic movie that scared the crap out of me when I was a kid.  I can remember the first time I saw it.  I was just a little tike and watched it at a neighbor’s house.  They were a young couple without any kids at the time – guess they wanted to scare someone else’s kids – but they seemed to have a fondness for me.  Back then I was kind of a cutie if I must say so myself!  Ha!  Anyway, the memories of my childhood are kind of like an old movie that needs to be restored, they are a little spliced together.  This memory is like that, but some parts are very vivid – must be the trauma.  I don’t remember the couple’s name or much about the house, but oh I remember the movie. 

You have to admit that there are parts of that movie that to a kid say around 5 or 6 are terrifying.  First, you have the munchkins.  Now, they aren’t supposed to be scary, they are the good guys.  But come on, they are a little creepy.  You have the Great Oz, at first he comes off like a bad guy.  When you learn he’s just a man behind the curtain, the fear subsides.  Then you have the wicked witches.  Definitely scary.  You have the one you don’t actually see that long, who is killed by the house and then the main antagonist who is all throughout the movie.  Even though you find out that she can be killed by water, she is one scary lady. 

But the most horrifying part of the movie has to be those flying monkeys.  Man oh man; you have to admit that there is nothing scarier than a flying monkey.   I mean they were everywhere and they were ruthless.  Look at what they did to the poor Scarecrow!   They even took Toto!  Now that is just mean.  For days after seeing that movie I combed the skies for flying monkeys.  I wasn’t sure where they would come from, but I knew they were there somewhere.  There was nothing in the world worse than flying monkeys!

Eventually of course this fear passed and I realized there were no flying monkeys, wicked witches, or munchkins.  There was no Great and Powerful Oz.  It was all make believe.  But now that I am an adult, I kind of wish sometimes I had me some flying monkeys…

So, fess up, what movie scared the tar out of you as a kid?

Perfection

I’m sure by now that you have heard the song “Free to Be Me” by Francesca Battistelli.  From the first time I heard this song, I just embraced it deep down inside.

First of all, it’s really a catchy tune with a great beat and a chorus that is just fun to sing.  It’s one of those songs you find yourself singing without really realizing how deep it is the first few times.  I know I did.  But, once I started dissecting the words, the more I heard it, I realized just how amazing the tune was and how true it is for my life and probably for a lot of people out there too.

Sometimes I believe that I can do anything, yet other times I think I’ve got nothing good to bring. But You look at my heart and tell me that I’ve got all You seek.

How many times have we heard Timm say that we don’t have to have it all together before we come before God and say we are ready to be saved or that we aren’t expected to be perfect once we are?  How many times as a Christian have we been told that if we aren’t perfect we must not have been saved in the first place?  It’s so nice to hear that we don’t have to be perfect – we are human.   God wants us the way we are, He will work on us and make us better.  We will want to become more perfect to please him.  No-one comes to Him perfect.

I’ve got a couple dents in my fender, got a couple rips in my jeans, try to fit the pieces together but perfection is my enemy.

On my own I’m so clumsy but on Your shoulders I can see I’m free to be me.

We think we have to be perfect at what we do either because we are Christians or to become a Christian.  Well, we don’t and it’s a good thing.  If perfection were required, it would be one short list of saved people.  We put so much stress on ourselves, thinking we aren’t good enough, not perfect enough, that we miss the point.  We miss the blessing. 

A war is already waged for my destiny, You’ve already won the battle and You’ve got great plans for me.

It’s time to stop worrying about being perfect or about what is in our past.  It’s time to focus on the future and what God can do in our lives.  Let Him shine through us, let His plans for us be put into action.  By doing so our dents and rips and errors will become less noticeable and our inner light will shine more and more.

We aren’t saved because we are perfect; we are perfected by being saved.  We are all works in progress.

 

 

Time Keeps on Slipping

Spring has sprung, March has flung and the first quarter of 2009 has sped by.  Here it is April and it just feels like this year is getting away from me.  You know that song “Time Keeps on Slipping into the Future”?  I always thought it was a cool song to sing, but didn’t really understand it.  Now I think, ahh, I get it.  Seems like the older I get the faster time goes- it really is slipping away from me.  There just aren’t enough hours in my days or weeks in my months anymore.  It is all a huge blur anymore.  It seems like it was just January yesterday.  I am alone here?  Do you find that time gets away from you in this crazy world?

Rocky update…

Well, the Rocky saga has come to a close.  This morning we captured him and set him free.  It was like an episode of the Crocodile Hunter.  Rocky was spotted in the kitchen.  He was cornered under the sink.  We schemed up a way to capture him.  Would a box work?  What about a plastic bag?  As one co-worker tried to convince him we meant him no harm but were trying to free him from his bondage in our office, the other two of us tried to figure out a vessel to contain him in.  Then it happened, he bolted.

He dashed from the kitchen to the hallway and behind the file cabinets on the wall.  Now wedged between the wall and the file system he was cornered, but out of reach.  We could see him, but we had to keep him there until we could devise a new plan.  Now, other co-workers were arriving – reinforcements.  Okay, the box was out, the garbage bag it would be.  Now, how to get Rocky into the bag was the next phase.

One co-worker climbed on top of the filing cabinet system and shall we say “prodded” Rocky along on his journey toward the garbage bag.  The garbage bag was taped to the end of the filing cabinet so Rocky had no-where to go but into it.  All doors were sealed and someone was guarding the exit at the other end to see if he made a break for it.  All went as planned until Rocky reached the edge of the bag and then he refused to go in for a few minutes.  After much hissing and spitting – by Rocky – and much pleading by us (“were doing this for you”), he finally went into the bag.  A hasty retreat out the back door and finally Rocky was set free.

Now, Rocky is free to roam the trees surrounding our building once more.  Let’s just hope he doesn’t decide he liked it in our office and return again this evening for the weekend.

Anyway, hope you had an exciting day too.

Unwanted guests…

Our office has been overtaken by unwanted guests.  First, a couple of weeks ago, my boss’s office was swarmed by termites.  Now, we have a squirrel running loose in the office. 

No kidding, it reminds me of the scene from Christmas Vacation where the squirrel comes flying out of the Christmas tree.  He or she, we aren’t sure which it is, apparently started out in the kitchen roaming around looking for scraps.  Yesterday afternoon it proudly hopped onto one of the ladies desks at the end of the day and practically scared her to death.  At this point, I’m not sure what will happen next.  We all open doors and enter rooms very cautiously and await the next shriek from someone who has spotted the critter.  When I left today he/she was “trapped” in the kitchen (as much as you can trap a squirrel).  At least that was the last I saw of it. 

Remember a few posts back when I wrote about the circus train?  Well, I feel as though the circus has come to live at our office.  Instead of lions and tigers and bears, we have termites and squirrels and oh my, I don’t want to think what might be next!

We shall see what adventures Rocky – that is what I just decided to call it – gets into tomorrow. 

The “Plot” Thickens…

A few weeks ago, I had the strangest phone conversation that I have ever had in my life.  Here is how it started.

Me:  “Hello”

Mom: “I’ve got a burial plot for you.”

Me: “Uh, Okay.”

Mom: “You know the family plot I told you was empty the back way we go to Wal-Mart.”

Me: “Ooookay.”

 

Seriously, that was how she started the conversation.  I mean, no “hello, how are you” or anything.  I know that I have been sick lately, but I didn’t think I had been that bad. 

She proceeded to tell me that she and my father had lunch with two of my aunts and the subject had come up.  Have you noticed that it seems that when people of that “age bracket” get together the conversation naturally seems to go to three areas: 1) medical procedures they have had or are going to have; 2) medications they are taking or have taken; and 3) how many people that they knew that are still alive?

Anyway, apparently this topic came up at lunch and my mother somehow confirmed her suspicions that there was an open plot at the cemetery in between two of my relatives.  She has put in a request that I get this plot for my final resting place.  Which I must say was a very nice gesture on her part.  Don’t get me wrong I am not complaining – it’s free.  It’s just that, I don’t know either of the people I will be stuck between for all of eternity – well my physical body anyway.   I guess I need to plan a few visits to get to know my relatives that I will be spending this time with in the far future so we won’t be strangers when the time comes.  Although, now that I think about it, when that time comes, I won’t know where I am being put, so do I really care? 

Anyway, I have yet to see the deed or whatever they have for burial plots, so it’s not a done deal yet.  I’m not counting my coffins before they are hatched so to speak.   When I get the paper in hand, I’ll consider my final arrangements made in stone, or at least a spot for a stone. 

I wonder if I could plant a little garden in that spot until I need to use it?  You know, do my part for the environment and all. 

Spinning…

Does your head ever spin?  The other night I was watching a program on tv about the logging industry.  There was this guy who was brand new to the job; he had never even been out in the woods before.  All around him were huge machines, chainsaws, and trees falling.  Any one of which could kill him in an instant if he wasn’t paying attention.  He made the comment, “looks like I’ll have my head on a swivel all day today.”  Do you ever feel like that?

 

In the hustle and bustle of day to day life do you feel like you have to have you head on a swivel just to keep from getting blindsided by something?  Between work, church, home, family, etc, etc, etc…. sometimes it all sends your head spinning.  Sometimes you just want to scream “Stop the insanity!” Remember that old infomercial catchphrase?  Well, when things seem at their worst there is always hope.  You can always remember there is someone there with you that will help keep you from spinning out of control.

God is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t worry.”  Deuteronomy 31:8 (The Message)

Wandering…

I just can’t help it; sometimes my mind just wanders off when I am supposed to be paying attention.  I am off in my own world, having my own conversations in my head. 

Example?  I am at a conference and I am supposed to be paying attention to the speaker, but here I am off on a tangent.  It usually starts innocently enough.  Like, gee they pronounced that word funny.  Or, I wonder where that door goes; I bet it’s a secret passageway.  Luckily the stuff right now does not apply to our system, because I have no idea what is going on.  But I know I’m going to be in big trouble soon.  The next speaker has a very awesome accent.  When she speaks I keep thinking – I wonder if she comes from the same part of Scotland as Sean Connery?

Okay, so as I said many times before I think I have a touch of ADD, but it does make life interesting.  At least for me anyway.  Maybe not so much for those around me.  Ha!  I usually rely on a great friend to take notes for me in meetings so I don’t miss any important things I am supposed to do.  I’m on my own right now.  This could be bad.  How much longer until lunch???

So….do you wander?  If so, how far?  Come on; make me feel a little better would ya?

Psalm 18

I am falling in love with Psalms – the Message is just bringing it to life for me.  I read this chapter the other day and it was just what I needed.  I read it again, because I needed it again this week.  Thought I would share some of it with you.  Hope it brings you peace in your day today.

Psalm 18 (The Message)

 ^1-2 I love you, God— you make me strong.
   God is bedrock under my feet,
      the castle in which I live,
      my rescuing knight.
   My God—the high crag
      where I run for dear life,
      hiding behind the boulders,
      safe in the granite hideout.
 ³ I sing to God, the Praise-Lofty,
      and find myself safe and saved.
 ^4-5 The hangman’s noose was tight at my throat;
      devil waters rushed over me.
   Hell’s ropes cinched me tight;
      death traps barred every exit.
 ⁶ A hostile world! I call to God,
      I cry to God to help me.
   From his palace he hears my call;
      my cry brings me right into his presence—
      a private audience!
  ^16-19 But me he caught—reached all the way
      from sky to sea; he pulled me out
   Of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos,
      the void in which I was drowning.
   They hit me when I was down,
      but God stuck by me.
   He stood me up on a wide-open field;
      I stood there saved—surprised to be loved!
 ^20-24 God made my life complete
      when I placed all the pieces before him.
   When I got my act together,
      he gave me a fresh start.
   Now I’m alert to God’s ways;
      I don’t take God for granted.
   Every day I review the ways he works;
      I try not to miss a trick.
   I feel put back together,
      and I’m watching my step.
   God rewrote the text of my life
      when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.
 ^25-27 The good people taste your goodness,
   The whole people taste your health,
   The true people taste your truth,
   The bad ones can’t figure you out.
   You take the side of the down-and-out,
   But the stuck-up you take down a peg.
 ^28-29 Suddenly, God, you floodlight my life;
      I’m blazing with glory, God’s glory!
   I smash the bands of marauders,
      I vault the highest fences.

Crossing Guards

Every day on my way to work I pass several crossing guards.  It’s one of those things you take for granted.  Then I noticed on a school sign that Feb 6^th had been Crossing Guard Appreciation Day.  Wow.  It had come and gone and I didn’t even know it.  I thought, “I wonder if anybody else had noticed?”

These people are outstanding (literally) citizens when you stop and think about it.  I mean, I don’t know if they get paid for what they do, but that doesn’t matter.  Most of them are older people who are giving of their time to keep children safe on their way to school.  I can’t think of a better thing to do with your time.  Can you?

They stand in the morning, they stand in the afternoon.  Rain, shine, cold, heat (kind of sounds like the post office motto, which is another blog for another day) – doesn’t matter, there they stand.  They brave the traffic on busy intersections.  These days you can’t be sure that people are going to stop for you just because you are armed with a whistle and a little stop sign.  All to ensure that kids get across safely to school or back home safely. 

I remember that there was this one lady who I would see every morning on my way to work.  She would wave to every car that passed her.  Some days I would wave back, some days I wouldn’t.   It just made her day.  It made mine too.  She would talk to every child as she helped them cross that street.  You could just tell that she loved what she was doing.  She considered it the highlight of her day.  She hasn’t been at that spot for the last two years, not sure what happened to her.  I know that I miss her.

Anyway, here is my shout out to you the unsung heroes of the school system.  Without you all those little kiddies might be tardy every day.  Thanks for keeping those intersections safe!  Happy belated Crossing Guard Appreciation Day!  Keep up the good work and when I grow up, I hope I can be just like you.   Making a real difference in the world.

Groggy Bloggy…

Inspiration from blogs comes from everywhere.  A thought; a sign; a passing conversation; a sleepless night.  The worst for me are those that come during those sound nights of sleep.  During the middle of the night or morning hours, when from a deep sleep inspiration for a blog pops into my cloudy mind.  Is it a dream or is it real?   It’s too good and usually makes too much sense to be a dream.

So, what do you do, there are two choices:

1. Ignore it and try and go back to sleep.  Hoping you will remember it when you get up.
2. Write it down.  This can be a little problematic.  You are groggy from sleep and writing at the same time.  If you can read the chicken scratch that comes out, the thought usually melds with the sleep world into something like this.  “To live without truth is to they all had tiny hats!”   Totally useless!

I have often thought of getting a tape recorder, but then again it would still be that mixture of sleep world vs. awake and who would want to listen to that later on.  Not me. 

So, I opt for option 1.  I have found that any inspired idea (groggy or not) that is worth writing – notice I did not say worth reading – will kick around in my head for a while until I write in down.  Maybe that is where all that noise I hear in there comes from.  Sometimes I wrestle with an idea that I don’t think is good enough for you to hear and it turns out to get a better response than a blog I think is awesome.  One should not question the blog inspiration center of the brain!

So in closing let me say this – inspiration can come from anywhere and anytime, don’t fight it.  But, much like the way you should not drive a car or operate heavy machinery while groggy, please blog responsibly and don’t blog groggy.  None of us want to read about how the economic crisis can be solved by people wearing tiny hats and riding in yellow submarines just because you mixed your dream world and reality.  Unless of course that might actually work! 

Let’s be careful out there!

To Miami and Back- 4…

Here is the fourth and final installment of my adventures in Miami- at least for now.

Leaky Room- this one is possible the worst (and most disturbing) of my adventures.

The only time our accommodations have not been at a 4 or 5 star hotel, for some reason they had us stay across from the University of Miami.  The hotel rents out some rooms to students at the University as well as to tourists.  When I came back from one of my sessions at the office my key wouldn’t work in the door, so I went to the front desk.  I told them I couldn’t open my door.  They asked me what room I was in, and that is when I heard the understatement of my life.  They said “Oh there was a little problem with your room.  We have moved you to the room next door; here is your new key.”  Okay, no problem.  I said what was the problem?  “Oh the people in the room above yours had a water leak and it seeped down into your room so we had to move all your things.”   “The only thing that was wet was your tennis shoes and we dried them here they are,” and they handed me my shoes.  Let me say they must use some mighty powerful dryers because I think my shoes shrank a size. 

So I went to my new room and went in.  I looked at the desk and noticed a puddle of water on the desk, which seemed to have come from the ceiling or something so I called the front desk.  They sent someone to my room to clean it up.  I also noticed that they had forgotten the stuff I had in the shower.  So the guy had to go into my old room to get it for me.  As the door was open I could see the water still dripping from the ceiling all over the room that I had been staying in.  It was like a little waterfall!  I thought to myself, a little problem!  So off to my new room – right next door (this is a key to the story). 

I start settling in for the night, order dinner (which they bought for the trouble).  Then as I start to get ready for bed, I notice water oozing from the wallboard onto the headboard of the bed.  Then I notice that there are little bubbles of water all over the wall – this is the wall that is adjacent to the room I was in the night before!  The water then begins to seep from the bubbles and down the wall.  It reminded me of a scene from some horror flick.  I probably should have called down to the front desk, but this was the last night there and I really wasn’t in the mood to change rooms again, so I decided to sleep in the chair for the night.  I did keep an eye on the wall and the ceiling.  When I checked out the next morning I let them know they needed to get someone in there and check the walls.  They said “the wall and ceiling fell down?”  I said “No, they are wet and dripping from the room next door.”  I thought their question was rather strange at the time, but went on to my meeting.  When I got to office I was talking to the other ladies about the night before and some other ladies came in and said “did you guys hear that the ceiling collapsed in one of the rooms at the hotel last night?”  Gee now that question made sense!

Needless to say we have never stayed at that hotel or any other hotel like it again!