May, Day 20/21 ...on the Devastation in Moore, Oklahoma...

Since I got to work tonight I have been glued to CNN's coverage of the Moore, Oklahoma tornado. Sometimes it is easy to watch things like this and remain numb to the emotional component - after all, I don't personally know the people affected. But on another level, I do know these people - they are my fellow Americans. In fact, we live in the same region of the U.S. In fact...I experienced the Joplin, Missouri tornado two years ago, so I can very much empathize with the feelings of shock and devastation, fear and grief....

Two years ago, my house survived the storm (though it was damaged, and my car was totalled). I left a little while after the tornado to get some McDonald's across town (where the power wasn't out) for the family I lived with. Then I didn't leave the house again for several days. The destruction was simply too much to take in. (The power was out, too, so we didn't even have the luxury of news, and having a clue what was going on around us, like the people of Moore are probably experiencing now.) For months, especially at night when there were no street lights but only dark heaps of rubbish or empty lots, I couldn't drive across town without crying. For at least a year when anyone recounted their experiences of that day I cried, too. I still panic when it storms, especially when the tornado sirens sound.

I feel sorrow for my neighbors in Oklahoma. I think about the years of hard work in rebuilding that stand ahead for them, and the expense to be paid out by FEMA...such tremendous loss.

And the children....

Lately I have been more attuned to tragedies around the globe. People are people, and when they suffer, I try to make it a point not to remain numb anymore. People deserve empathy. They deserve community. They deserve for their fellow humans to care about their plight.

Praying for those in Moore tonight. Until you've seen a city destroyed by nature with your own eyes, you simply cannot fathom the surrealness of the situation...the extent of the picture not captured by cameras....

I hope in the days and months to come the people of Oklahoma will be as overwhelmed by caring neighbors as Joplin was two years ago. That is a small bit of good that can come out of such a disaster. That, at least, can renew one's hope in humanity!

May, Day 18: A Childhood Memory

I may be touch-and-go for the rest of the month, but back to the Blog Every Day in May challenge! Today I am supposed to share a childhood memory and be as descriptive as possible. (Actually, this is yesterday's prompt, but I already did today's prompt on Day 5 by accident.)

The memory I am going to share came to my mind after I got home from work this morning. I came in and greeted my pets. Being oblivious as I am, I walked into the next room, and when my puppy didn't follow me as usual I went back to see why not. I hadn't even noticed (possibly because I didn't turn the light on when I came in), but he had picked a tag off the bottom of a rug - a large, sticky tag - and his right paw was stuck to his head and one of his eyes was covered. He had gotten himself into quite a mess! It was simultaneously humorous and sad - quite a funny sight, but at the same time painful for him because I had to hold him and painstakingly pull the sticker out of his long hair!

While I worked, I thought about how God has to help us out of our messes in much the same way, and I remembered a lesson from a summer youth camp speaker from when I was a child. This speaker, Pastor Bubba (whose real name was Jim Smith, and who became a friend of mine after I was grown and moved to Missouri), would send a shoe box with a random child each day, to be returned the next day in the morning church service with a "mystery" item inside. It could be anything. And Pastor Bubba would have to give a 60-second sermon on whatever was in the box.

I recall such items being brought as a rock, a stick, a "walking stick" (the insect), a dirty diaper, a frog.... Yes, kids can be quite imaginative ;). But Pastor Bubba was always able to come up with a sermon. The walking stick hearkened to Moses' rod that became a snake in the presence of the Pharaoh; the frog presented an opportunity to talk about the plagues God brought up on Egypt preceding the Exodus...the dirty diaper represented the messes God has to clean up in our lives.

The lesson is that the most ordinary thing in the world can teach us something about God.

After I was grown I worked for someone who was a minister who traveled extensively in the United States (and sometimes elsewhere), and she was known for her object lessons. Part of my job was to help her prepare for her travels, which included packing all the items she would need for illustrations during her seminars. Some of the items included a punch bowl; a toy egg; Hersey's chocolate syrup; a toy hatchet, carrot peeler, and potato; a puzzle; a bag of balloons; a piece of carbon paper and receipt...and I'll bet you're wondering what spiritual significance could possibly be found in any of these items.

Take the hatchet, carrot peeler, and potato. My boss would demonstrate how God uses the events in our life to shape us and prepare us for the vocation to which He has called us...and sometimes it is gentle, like a carrot peeler, while other times it feels like He is hacking away with a hatchet! But the end result is something usable. And the carbon paper? Because God does not use carbon paper - when He forgives, He forgets, and never brings it up again. She would tell her listeners that she had stopped and bought lunch on the way in, and ask if anyone there would be willing to take the receipt back to the restaurant and pay for her meal. Inevitably, someone would volunteer, and she would ask, "But why would you pay for my meal when it has already been paid for?" The same holds true when we hold ourselves in shame over sins that have already been forgiven.

The simple, everyday things of life can teach us a lot. That's why Jesus used them in His parables - things like seeds, children, coins, sheep....

God is not hard to find if we look.

7 Quick Takes Friday

---1---

I haven't blogged since Sunday night. I'm sorry I have been MIA from the "Blog Every Day in May" challenge. I will probably pick it back up here soon - just needed a break. Thank you to all who have left wonderful comments; you guys are great. I will return the love soon!

---2---

After my post Saturday about the ridiculous number of times I've fallen in my life, I rewatched an old favorite movie Sunday night: My Best Friend's Wedding. Want to know why it was my favorite? Well, besides the fact that it is absolutely charming, Julia Roberts falls 5 - go ahead, count them - 5 times in that movie. Seriously, that was one of the selling points for me.

---3---

 

Also Sunday night, while I was watching said movies, I had two giant pieces of cake. Two. Giant. Okay, and a third small piece. And it was good. See, I am leaving for South Padre Island this coming Tuesday for -ha!- [one of] my best friend's wedding. So for the last couple of weeks I have been pretty much living on green smoothies and soup (and now cake). (WHY DID I EAT THAT CAKE?!) I have done pretty well since then, though, so I guess life and weight-loss will go on.

And since I shared about the cake, I will also share that I tried some organic soup from the farmer's market, too. One was called "Crazy for Carrots" and the other "Coco 'nuts' about Kale". The carrot one tasted like curry to me - good but not something I would want every day. The coconut one was good but kind-of watery. I also bought a bundle of asparagus and found a great recipe for Creamy Asparagus Soup I made after I tried the other soups. It was wonderful (I made mine without onions)! I don't think I will pay $7.50 for a pint of soup from the market again when I can make my own, that tastes much better, for much less.

 

I actually bought a bathing suit this week. I've had bathing suits before, but not many. My mom bought them for me when I was little, and she also bought me one after I was grown...after she had remarried and was trying to get back on my good side so she was buying me stuff - I enjoyed it (TMI?)...and I picked that one out (that was about 11 or 12 years ago). And that's it. I've never bought myself one, and haven't shopped for one in quite a few pounds years (okay, both). So I am a little nervous about it (I ordered it online). I decided to go with a tankini. Cute, right? I think so. We'll see when it gets here!

 

---4---

 

So, obviously this is a beach wedding. Not only will this be the first time I have attended a beach wedding, it will be the first time I have ever been to the beach and seen the ocean. I cannot wait!!!

 

(And, speaking of the beach and things being wet...here is a cute picture of my puppy after a bath!):

 

 

---5---

 

For one of my classes last Fall I wrote a research paper called "A Theology of Kingdom Inclusion From the Matthean Parables of Jesus." In that class, the top five papers were to be published in an ebook anthology on topics in New Testament Theology. I found out last night my paper is one of them! So, a few months from now I will be published. I have been published before, but this will be the first time it is academically credible - other things I have written include articles for a denominational magazine I helped edit, and two or three editions of quarterly adult Sunday school curriculum for the same denomination. So I'm pretty excited! This should be good for future teaching resumes, as well as applications into doctoral programs.

 

---6---

 

The summer job search isn't going so well. I already work full-time on third shift, but when I'm not in school I usually try to find something else to supplement my income. I thought I had found a job - applied online and got an email back saying they were interested - but never could get ahold of them. That was three or four weeks ago. So I am going to start applying for more and the search will be seriously underway when I get back from Texas. I plan to stick around here for the next year, but then I have a feeling I will be moving either to Boston, Atlanta, or Berkeley for my doctorate (those are the locations of the programs I am interested in), so I need to start saving for the move!

 

That, and I want to trade in my car for a truck by the end of the summer :).

 

---7---

 

Want to hear something slightly weird but interesting? Okay. Last summer my second job was doing home health care. And one of my clients had this neighbor who was married, but he always hit on me and generally made me uncomfortable. It was really bad because my client was blind, and this guy would come into her apartment to fix stuff and offer to go pick her up some cigarettes or whatever...so he was around all the time, and it just really creeped me out because if he had tried something, she wouldn't have been able to see or do much to help. And lest you think maybe I was imagining his intentions, one time he actually asked me, "Do you ever just want someone to hold you? I just want to hold you." Yeah. He actually used that line!! And he tried repeatedly to get my phone number.... It was just really stressful going to work there every day.

 

So, earlier this week, when I came home from work one morning, one of my newer neighbors was sitting out on the stoop at the apartment entrance, smoking. He initiated a conversation with me when I walked past him, and it culminated in him calling me "baby". So yeah, again, uncomfortable and dreading meeting him at the door again...and a little worried he might try to get into my apartment. Even woke up one day and had one of those in-between-dreaming-and-being-awake moments where I saw an old creepy guy walk in my bedroom door...O.o. But today that neighbor and his family moved out because they were evicted.

 

I shared all that as a sort of sigh of relief. I'm just glad I don't have to worry about him anymore and it was short-lived. (It probably sounds a little mean and callous to be glad they were evicted, but I will state for the record they ended up finding a place with an additional bedroom and lower rent, so it worked out well for them, too.)

 

And on that note, have a good weekend, everyone! :)

 

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

May, Day 12: I Miss Family

Today was Mother's Day. I am late getting this post up, but it fits, because the prompt is to tell about who/where/what I miss, and today I very much missed family.

Most of the time, I love where I am (Missouri). I moved here from Ohio almost 11 years ago, and it has been long enough that most of the time homesickness is a thing of the past. Even on holidays - occasionally I get to be home for one, and many others I have spent with dear friends who are like family. A few have passed just like any other day, not really special, not really lonely...just another day in this interesting life. But then there are some holidays, like today, when I realize the years are ticking past and I think about how I will feel about all the holidays I "missed" when various family members are no longer around to spend them with. Today I missed being near family.

Sometimes it is so easy to take for granted having those people you can just "pop in on" unannounced and walk in their house without even knocking...and they are glad to see you! Or being able to pick up the phone or send out a few texts and arrange a spontaneous game night. Or just run around with someone while they run errands and pay bills. I miss that. I had all those things to a degree in Joplin. I actually thought about driving down there today, but I am saving up money for a vacation, so decided to sleep for work tonight instead.

I woke up in a much better mood. But I missed talking to my mom on the phone. I was going to call her in the morning, but when it came time I figured it might be better to wait until she got out of church (I assume she went), and then I was ready for bed. So I texted that I would call her later in the evening. Later in the evening I got a text from her that she had to go in to work early (she works third shift too). So I will just have to call her tomorrow. But when I am already in a fussy mood, things like that just make me feel like a horrible daughter. :/ (Don't worry, I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow.)

So there you go. You asked for it, and that is me in a not-so-chipper frame of mind.

May, Day 10'r11: Falling for You

I posted Quick Takes yesterday, so I'm counting that as my post for May 10...and I don't like the May 11th prompt, so I'm throwing it out and using the prompt for May 10th on May 11th. :) (Yeah, I like making up my own rules.)

The prompt for May 10 is to "spill" about my most embarrassing moment(s). I can't really think of a particular embarrassing moment...well, I can think of a humiliating moment, but it is really more sad than funny...so I will instead share a sort of vague "collection" of embarrassing moments.

I used to fall a lot. I was pretty much known for it. I'm pretty sure I used to fall every single day when I was a kid (okay, and maybe after that, too), and often more than once a day. Not exaggerating. If all my falls had been caught on tape, I am sure I would have no trouble filling up an entire episode (or two) of America's Funniest Home Videos with them. I seriously could be standing in the middle of a room not moving and just fall over. I console myself knowing I've brought a lot of laughter to others in this way....

I totally feel his pain....

I remember being a 'tween and falling outside the door of Taco Bell where my friends and I had gone to celebrate our February birthdays. And every single time I went roller skating in my life I left on the manager's crutches...I even remember crawling off the rink once. If you think falling hurts, try falling on a pair of roller skates (and I mean landing on them).

I used to fall going up the stairs at my junior high school (thank God I don't remember ever falling down them). And there was the time I was marching along with the junior high marching band, practicing outside the school for an upcoming parade, and I fell with my big ol' tenor saxophone and scarred my knee. I got back up pretty quickly, though, so I'm not sure the band teacher even noticed. Everyone behind me did, though.

I broke my tailbone a couple of times - once falling in the hallway in 4th grade and landing on a door stopper, and once in gym class.

One time I went with my church youth group to Hocking Hills (a national park in the hilly part of Ohio), and while we were hiking I tripped over some large tree roots and sprained my ankle there at the top of a small mountain from which we still had to hike down. And if that wasn't bad enough, not too much farther on there was a fallen tree and somehow while I was trying to get over it all crippled, I came down really hard on my bad ankle and double sprained it, even tearing a bunch of ligaments. That was maybe in June...and in August I fell on the sidewalk after I had come down the steps in front of my great-grandparents' house and sprained the other ankle. I started school that year with two aircasts. Yep, I was one of the popular kids. ;)

In college I had to give a speech in class one day, and we were supposed to dress up for it. So there I was in a navy blue skirt suit...and it was raining...and I was in the parking lot on my way to class...and I have no idea what happened, but I distinctly remember flying through the air and thinking how bad it was going to hurt when I hit the ground and slid several feet (it did hurt, but not as bad as I thought).

At the same college, I drove a big van full of students to Branson one December, and we stopped at a gas station along the highway before we got there. Outside were these gorgeous picnic tables made out of polished tree stumps, and as I was admiring them I completely missed a step down on the concrete and again went sailing through the air, ending my flight when I hit my head directly on one of those beautiful stumps. I had to go get stitches while everyone else went on to Silver Dollar City. I ended up with stitches above my eye, a huge goose egg on my forehead, and the next day both my eyes were black. I was quite a sight and had sore eyes! (Don't worry, I shook my own head pitifully at that joke.)

It's 3 in the morning and I can't think of a good way to end this so...that's it. I fall. A lot (though, I'm proud to say, not nearly as often as I used to).

7 Quick Takes Friday - au natural



---1---

 

First things first: in case you didn't already see this all over Facebook, last week at this time it was SNOWING. In MISSOURI. In MAY!! For like two days straight, and big flakes! Not much stayed on the ground, but it looked pretty heavy-duty.

 

 

---2---

 

 

Also this time last week, I had some visitors in town from Atlanta. My friend was graduating, so she and her husband stayed at my apartment for the gradution. Friday night we went out to dinner before I had to go to work, and we chose a Brazillian restaurant called ReRico. If you are ever in the Springfield, MO area, I highly recommend this place (though it will cost around $30 per person). If you have never been to a Brazillian steakhouse, let me tell you how it works. Well, at ReRico they start by bringing you 4 or 5 different appetizers, including spinach dip, a California sushi roll, some kind of cheese-filled biscuits, and soup (there might have been more, but that's what I can remember). Then you get a trip to an amazing salad bar.

 

Then you turn this little green-on-one-end-and-red-on-the-other doohickey so the green end is up, and servers start bringing around these huge skewers of meat, from which they cut you a slice right there at your table:

Yeah. Heaven in Springfield, MO. There was brisket, pork loin, rump roast, chicken, shrimp, strip steak.... For a little while we had an amateur little Brazillian steakhouse in Joplin called Gaucho's, but it was nothing compared to ReRico. This is definitely my new favorite restaurant (though, at 30 bucks a pop, I don't think I'll be indulging too often).

 

---3---

 

I work at a fairly large group home with several different residential cottages. Each cottage picks a weekend every so often and the kids get to stay at a ranch quite a ways out of town. It is beautiful there, and that is where I got to work overnight last Saturday night. Sometimes when there I get to stay outside by a campfire, or if the weather is terrible they let the kids sleep in a lodge. Last weekend we were in the lodge. And Sunday morning when I left, the nature of the place was simply stunning. I took a few snapshots with my phone. Here are some for your enjoyment. :)
 



 

 

---4---

 

Several weeks ago I posted one of the sermons I had to deliver from a three-part series in my homiletics class this semester. Here is another one (this is actually the first of the series, but I delivered them out of order). This sermon's title is "Ring of Combat" from Revelation 2:8-11 (letter to the church at Smyrna). I did not deliver the third sermon in class, but I might do a vlog for it, just so the series is complete. We'll see :).

 

(My html doesn't seem to be working, but you can find the video here.)

 

We had to construct each sermon with a different purpose. The other one I posted was one of explanation ("this is why/how..."). Today's is a sermon of ability ("you/we can do this because..."). The third one, which I haven't posted yet, is one of obligation ("you/we must do this because...").

 

---5---

 

You might recall I love old hippies. I also love it when people use old Volkswagen vans as advertisements! Here are a couple I saw around town this week. Oh, and guess what. Speaking of old hippies...Willie Nelson is coming to Joplin! July 5th. I must go!!

 

 

---6---

 

I was in a card-making mood last night (not that this is something that usually happens - I think I've only ever made one other card in my life). So I made a card for a friend...and then I realized Mother's Day is this weekend! So I made my mom a card, too. (Some might call this "cheap". I prefer "creative" and "heartfelt".) Took my cool little homemade cards to the post office about 3:00 this morning. But then my brother sent me a text today asking if I had sent out my "Mother's Day Cards" yet...and I was like, "What? Cards...?" And then I realized. I completely forgot about my grandma!! :( Don't worry. She will be remembered...just late. :/ But here are the cards this amateur made last night.

 

 

---7---

 

And we need a song. Since I just found out my man Willie is coming to town, how about one from him? Here is an old Saturday Night Live clip I love. (Note: this is not an advocation for anyone's political views - I just thought the song was cute.)

 

 

For more Quick Takes, please visit Jen at Conversion Diary!





May, Day 9: A Moment in My Day

This was yesterday morning. Since I work third shift, this means I was about to go to sleep...but Albie was just being his usual playful puppy self. Here I was struggling to get him to stop trying to gnaw on my fingers long enough for me to take our picture. His hair is in the state it always takes after he manages to work out his topknot ;).