Good for a Chuckle

Things feel rocky and kind of unsettled today so I thought I would try to think of something that made me smile in the past 24-ish hours. Hope it makes you smile too.

Yesterday, Erin, Gregg, Daniel, and I attended an event at church called "A Walk Through the Old Testament". Of course, I was pretty excited about it. The program teaches you about 77 people, events, and geographical locations chronologically through the Old Testament. It focuses on the story of God's people. The session uses participation, key words, and hand movement to help you remember. At the end, we covered the whole story in two and a half minutes. It apparently works because on the commute home, I distracted myself by running through it and I remembered 72 of the 77. Not too bad!

Anyway.....When we were learning the section about the kings of the United Kingdom, we were running through with the presenter. Each king had a heart (for God) characteristic that went with their name (Saul - no heart, David - whole heart, and Solomon - half heart). At the end of our run through up to that point, the presenter was messing around with us by adding on Bob - New Heart. (Say it quickly and you will hear the name of the actor). I groaned as we turned to go to break. As we walked up the isle, I overheard the following conversation between an husband and wife in about their late 30s:

• Wife: Who is Bob New Heart?
• Husband: I don't know. Maybe a Veggie Tales character.
• Wife: I've never heard of him. We need to see if we have that one when we get home.

Seriously!? I laughed immediately. It took everything I had not to turn around and look at who they were. Sometimes, eavesdropping can really pay off!

Workroom Secrets

For the past week and a half, I have spent most of my afternoons in the workroom. The copy machine and I have been bonding. I think that the laminator and cutter are a little jealous but I will more than make up for that tomorrow.

Anyway, I have found myself running into a man in there almost daily. We seem to hit the machine at the same time (randomly) and out of nowhere, we have been getting to know each other. In fact, before last week, all we had ever done was said hello in passing. He teaches fifth grade and I teach first. What I find funny about it all is a conversation we had late last week. We usually just chit chat and swap "war stories". Until last Friday. He was at the copier and I was chopping paper for a project we did this week.He got really serious and started telling me about something that has been on his mind quite a bit lately. Suddenly, he jerked his head around and looked at me with these big eyes. He told me that only one other teacher on campus knew what he had just shared. He asked me to please not tell anyone else - it was a private matter. Of course I agreed. I was (and still am) shocked that he confided something in me. Since then, he seems to be more free to talk to me about all sorts of things. In fact, there have been a couple of times I have wondered it there was something he has wanted to tell me about himself but stops just as it is about to come spilling out.

I've asked myself why he would randomly share something he felt was very personal with me. It was definitely out of the ordinary. Part of me feels very privileged to have been confided in. But why me?

Tonight

Tuesday nights have become the highlight of my week. Aside from my beautiful sister, bible study is THE reason that I decided to move to Houston. I cannot put into words the significance it holds to me and the place it has filled in my heart. Every week, I can dive DEEPLY into the word of God and encounter him in new and exciting ways.

As I was waiting for Praise to start before study tonight, I was SO excited about the songs playing over the speakers. Several were songs that I love but have not been released on the radio. One called "Still" by Watermark filled my ears and tears slowly came to my eyes. The simplicity of the song gets me every time. I knew I would be a good night.

Praise time started and the very first song was "O Praise Him" (best known by David Crowder Band). I found myself not being able to sing the chorus enough. The simples lines of "O praise him/He is holy" just couldn't be said enough. Then the praise leader sang a BEAUTIFUL song about the woman in John 8 who was healed by the simple touch of Christ's robes. You could hear a pin drop in the auditorium.

Then, for an hour and a half, we talked about Jesus and his fulfillment of the prophecies. I would be perfectly fine if that was my glimpse of heaven. Our God is SO good!

I guarantee that no one had a better Tuesday night than I did!

Extremely Annoying!

Do you ever have one of those moments where you realize something about yourself that may be blatantly obvious to those around you but you have been previously blind to? I had one of those last night. I was laying in bed, rolling something around in my mind when it hit me - I think in extremes and immediates. No is No and Yes is Yes. I recognized it pretty quickly and wanted to kick myself for it. In an attempt to reconcile this to myself, I jumped into problem solving mode but a part of me can only hear that extreme. The odd part I that I usually place that extreme on myself. I limit myself and forget to look for the third door. I tell my students to be problem solvers all of the time and here I was, laying in bed and not doing it myself. Grrrr!

That is extremely annoying!

Passion

Tonight was the first small group meeting of the singles from my church. Since we haven't had anything outside of class, I don't really know many of them with the exception of one girl. I don't even know her very well. Anyway, it was nice to get to know some people better. We laid out some ideas for our life group which will begin in a few weeks. It was productive and a good introduction.

The best part of the night was after most people left. There were four of us that stayed behind and we visited with the couple that hosted our evening. Of the two, I know her best. She is one of those people that draws you in the moment you meet her and I think she is wonderful. They are from South Africa. They are planning to go back to do mission work once a few more details are taken care of. They told us what their goals are, what they have seen, and how God is speaking to their hearts. It was such a blessing to hear the passion in their voices as they talked about how God is leading them and what they hope to accomplish in each phase. It was very humbling. The website for their team (Mission Providence) is: http://missionprovidence.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1 .

I have learned that God places us where we are for a purpose and his timing is best in all things. Sometimes, when I talk to people so full of purpose and passion, I selfishly wonder about myself. What is God doing? Where is he leading me? What passion will he lay on my heart for him? What is he preparing me for? Will I have the faith and strength to follow where he leads?

Two and a Half Weeks Later

Despite what some of you may think, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. What a GREAT two weeks it has been. Daniel and I went to his family's Christmas and then he got to experience ours. I stayed in Pleasanton the whole break. I spent lots of time with Daniel, helped Mom and Dad around the house, stayed up late visiting with my friend Caleb, and just relaxed. For two weeks, I did not even think about work (well, except for a few minutes here and there). It was the best Christmas/New Years that I can remember.

I consider myself a pretty independent person. I've built a quiet little life here in Houston that I have grown to like. Sure there are some things about being here that are not my favorite but, for the most part, the good outweighs the bad. However, the past two weeks have shown me something better - life full of so many beautiful things that I expected to only watch other people experience. All I can say looking back on it all is that our God is so good! Now, less than 48 hours back at home and I miss it! I am thankful for every moment and memory but I really miss actually being there. I feel almost silly to admit how much.

Who knew?