Friday, October 23, 2009
A Comedy of Errors
Today was an eventful day to say the least. Little did I know all that would transpire when I rolled out of bed this morning. I should have guessed a crazy day awaited me when I woke up in the middle of the night with my glasses on my face. I remember distinctly placing them on the books on my night stand prior to going to sleep. And as far as I know, I didn’t get out of my bed prior to waking up. So at some point while I was sleeping, I reached over, picked them up, and placed them on my face. As if I can read in my sleep! This morning I woke up and my glasses were laying on my nightstand, not on my books…proof that I didn’t dream it up.This morning was going pretty smoothly until I opened the door and saw a river running down our neighborhood sidewalks. It was pouring buckets of rain. So, I dashed out to the car splishing and splashing through all the water which resulted in a wet and chilled girl. The drive to work was a bit tense as I tried to make the familiar path through the downpour and huge puddles. I was relieved to arrive in the parking lot at work only to knock over my coffee as I was gathering my things to take inside. I caught it quickly – but it still spilled.
I proceeded to get our guests settled for the morning show I produce and everything went smoothly until the show began and we couldn’t hear one of the guests speaking. I had given the engineer the incorrect microphone number. By now, I’m sure you’re figuring out…it was a very OFF day for me today. The rest of the show went well thankfully. It wasn’t until afterword that my next little hiccup occurred. I was cleaning up the studio, gathering more items than I probably should have, and ended up spilling one of the guests’s left over water down the front of me. As if I hadn’t gotten wet enough coming into work!
Oh but it gets better. I was sitting at my computer, doing business as usual when I heard it: the sound of death when it comes to computers. It was a loud, deep, buzzer sound that proceeded a warning message that of course I didn’t understand. So I called the IT guy in for assistance. He suggested I finish the task I was working on and then restart…a logical solution…most of the time. Today was different. I couldn’t finish what I was doing because the error message kept coming up. So I did the next best thing…I restarted my computer. Shortly thereafter I was staring at the blue screen of death. We tried to revive it, but alas, our efforts were useless. It was time to bury my beloved computer.
Since I was out of a computer at work, I decided to go home and work from my laptop. So, I got in my car, very frazzled mind you, and drove home. As I was getting settled into work at home, I realized I was missing my cell phone. This was a problem since I don’t have a home phone, and I had told my co-workers to call me if they needed anything. So, I started to frantically search for it thinking this is the last thing I need. I ran back out to my car thinking perhaps I’d left it in there. But no, it wasn’t there. When I came back inside I was greeted by an ugly black spider. I loathe spiders. Let’s just say it joined my work computer. After sweeping my eyes through my apartment and dumping the contents of my purse, I finally thought to look in my coat pocket. Sure enough, inside of it was my cell phone.
My first attempts, yes I made several, to log onto our internal work website were fruitless. I had to call our IT guy once again and ask him for help. I soon found out I needed to enter my entire email address, not just my user name. So, I did, and bingo I was logged in! Mind you, I don’t normally have this much difficulty with my computers. Remember, this was a very strange Amelia Bedelia kind of day for me.
When the work day finally came to a close I decided to make chili soup for dinner – a perfect choice for such a rainy day. That is until I was stirring the ingredients and they splashed into my eye. Thankfully it wasn’t painful…just felt weird for a while. By this time, I was laughing...a little bit.
Christin came home and made me go exercise with her to get all my pent up bad day energy out of me. It really did feel good to work out. Upon our return I entered the kitchen and screamed at what I thought was a jumping bug, gaining Christin’s attention quickly of course. I soon realized I was screaming at a fluttering leaf. This time I collapsed on the floor in laughter. A great way to end the day, don’t you think?
English poet, Lord Byron, once said, “Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.” I agree with him. Hope you’ve had your fill of laughs….it’d be a shame for such a comedy of errors not to produce several belly full’s of laughter!
I’d like to say I was laughing throughout the entire day – but I can’t say that I was that grace filled. At one point when I was simply exasperated, I opened my Bible to Psalm 34 and this is what I read.
“I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are discouraged take heart. Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together.”
This scripture was enough to focus my perspective on what really matters, so I started thanking God for those things. Next time, I think I’ll turn to scripture a little earlier in the day. Good idea, don’t you think?
Jamie at 10:54 PM
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Fireside Chat
Family Time
It’s been a full summer and fall for me. I traveled to PA with my Mom for our family reunion back in July. It was great to see everyone…although I didn’t feel like it was enough time to have a good heart to heart conversation with anyone. You know how when there’s one big mass gathering it’s hard to know where to start and it’s hard to go much deeper than small talk? Well, that was mostly my experience. I was glad to see everyone though and am enjoying keeping up with my cousins through facebook now. I did have a wonderful time traveling with my Mom though. We had several hours in the car for mommy/daughter time. I wouldn’t trade that for anything!
I’ve also had the pleasure of spending time with my sister and her family since they are currently living in Gas City. It’s been wonderful to have them so close by and to take a weekend jaunt every once in a while to visit with them. Jayden is doing really well…and will turn one on November 11! It’s so hard to believe just a little under a year ago he was fighting for his life. We praise God for the miracle’s He’s done in Jayden’s life. Last weekend I had a very special visit with them. Betsy and Gerson dedicated Jayden to the Lord. Now, they’ve done this many times throughout Jayden’s health problems. But this time they wanted to do it in front of their church – the people who prayed and supported them in very difficult and uncertain hours. My cousin, Dean, is the current pastor of their church so it was even more special that he got to officiate the dedication ceremony. Rekindled Friendship
I’ve also been spending time reconnecting with an old college friend of mine, Melanie. We had lost touch of each other right after we graduated and then last spring she started going to my church. She was there a couple months before we ever ran into each other (it’s a large church). Actually, the way we reconnected was really fun. Our church has a video each Sunday featuring the journey’s of those who attend there. We were doing a series about community so that month there were various small groups featured on the “My Journey” videos. Our small group happened to be one of them. So, as soon as Melanie saw me in the video she nearly stood up in church and yelled my name…I’m not kidding…ask her…she’ll tell you the very same thing. But she didn’t for which I’m grateful. She did run up to a friend of mine whose in leadership at our church after the service and asked if she knew where she could find me. So she directed her to me and thus began our renewed friendship. The fun part is that Melanie did not know the Lord in college but has in the last year decided to commit her life to Him. Shortly after we reconnected she asked me to take her through CTO…I was honored and humbled to be asked. It’s been quite the journey. CTO (Called to Obedience) was a tool God used in my life to bring about major change in my heart, so I’m thrilled to be taking Melanie through it. What a challenge it’s been to go through the Bible study again and continue to fine tune my faith. It’s been a great reminder that while we can experience freedom in Christ here on earth, we will never reach the finished product this side of heaven. I’m asking God to help me be ok with that. Life is just messy. But it’s also good.
Recent Readings
I recently finished reading Red Moon Rising by Pete Greig and Dave Roberts. It’s the story of a 24/7 prayer movement that started back in 1999 in Chichester, U.K. by a man (Pete) who was given a vision by God of a faceless army of young people in every nation waiting for orders. It wasn’t until a little later that things started to come together and 24/7 prayer rooms were born all around the world as he obeyed Christ’s leading…all connected by their 24/7 Prayer website. There are many amazing stories in the book of how God worked supernaturally to unite these prayer warriors and continue to grow the awakening of our great need for God in this generation. Many of the prayer rooms were launched in marginalized places such as a building that served as a bar scene. They went to places where I imagine Jesus would go. He spent plenty of time with the marginalized in His time. There have been teens high on drugs that have come off the streets into these prayer rooms curious about God…begging to be witnessed to and then giving their lives over to Christ as a result. There was one prayer room that saw every single person who was on their list to pray for salvation become a Christian in the first week of the prayer room being opened. Young people camp out in these rooms in the wee hours of the night and pray their hearts out to a God who is answering their prayers. They are in essence, changing the course of history through their prayers.
I went and visited one of these prayer rooms a while back. It’s about 25 minutes away in Columbia City in the basement of a church. There’s something powerful about walking into a room where prayer has been the focus for hours on end. I was moved by the experience. I loved how the room was set up. There’s a wailing wall where post it notes are hanging, filled with prayer requests for loved ones. And then there’s a wall where answered prayers are listed. The room was divided into different areas where you can focus on praying for the leading officials of the community, for Jerusalem, for youth, for the sick, etc. But they also encourage you to pray however you feel led whether that be through writing poetry, drawing, listening to music, etc. They don’t box prayer into a neat little package of bowing your head, closing your eyes, and folding your hands. I appreciate that. There are so many ways to communicate with our Creator, and this movement is celebrating that and embracing it. God is honoring it and moving in ways I’m sure no one had ever imagined possible. Red Moon Rising was published in 2003, so I’m sure there’s many more amazing stories I’ve yet to hear or read about. It’s exciting to me to see my generation stepping up to the challenges of this world through prayer. And now I’m left with the question, how will I respond? God’s stirring something in my heart these days regarding prayer and communion with Him…but I’ve yet to get a clear vision of what that looks like. So I wait.
A Waiting Season
Speaking of waiting, I continue to wait on the Lord regarding my singleness. I must admit, life has been so much more peaceful since taking a break from E-Harmony. Some of you have said that you like to live vicariously through me and my dating life. I have no idea why! Dating is messy, sometimes painful, and usually hard work. Others of you have said, “I’d hate to return to my dating days”. I can resonate with that except that I’ve yet to leave my dating days. Well, it’s a growing experience at least…and fun at times. I am an advocate of growth. But I can’t say I love the process. Christin and I have gotten a good laugh out of the bouquets of flowers we’ve received from men we simply aren’t interested in. Mind you, these men have been giving us flowers on the first date…so we’ve not had a chance to say, “no, thank you.” So, I live in the tension of the here and not yet…trusting God with it all. I realize my singleness is a blessing in this season because I’m able to do many things I wouldn’t be able to do otherwise. So I embrace that and move forward taking advantage of those opportunities. I’m sure many of you are also living in your own season of the here and not yet. Life is full of waiting. And that’s ok. Whatever you’re waiting for now, I pray God’s grace will be enough for you in the middle of tension and uncertainty. May these scripture verses encourage you as much or more than they have me in my seasons of waiting and facing the unknown.
“The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” Isaiah 58:11
“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13
Jamie at 8:35 PM
