work stories.

The following are some (paraphrased) funny telephone calls we've received at work the past week:

"I live in Orlando, uh, Florida (ohh, Florida, not Virginia...) and I need a driveway alert system. I have a very long driveway...uh, 240 feet and I need to know when people are coming up it. Well, I guess it's long for us here in the big city but probably not for you, right?"

-man from Orlando (FL)

"Yeah, I have one of your alert systems and it works real well. It's just great. I have the outside part by the driveway and then the thing inside beeps when a car comes up the drive and I love it. I also have the portable receiver that alerts me when I'm working in my garden. Just great. But I think I need another receiver by the pool. I like to know when someone's coming up the drive when I'm swimming because I don't always have a suit on."

-Tennessee-an woman

"Well I just got an alert system about a month ago and had my handyman install it and it worked fine right away. It picked up the cars coming in and out, but then it started going off at odd times. It went off at 11, 12 at night. I thought it was probably a deer, or most likely a bear, but then I got scared when I realized it could have been a car."

-woman from North Carolina

"Your catalogue says if I need help, all it takes is a phone call, so I called you for help. I got my system in March and it's been working great- until today. I brought everything inside with me and I changed the battery and (man walks past transmitter and chimes go off in background). Huh. Would you look at that. (Man walks back past transmitter and chimes go off again). I guess all it takes is a phone call."

-man from Northeast

quote from Josh McDowell.

"What you are as a single person, you will be as a married person, only to a greater degree. Any negative character trait will be intensified in a marriage relationship, because you will feel free to let your guard down -- that person has committed himself to you and you no longer have to worry about scaring him off."

For awhile now I have been believing this crazy lie that my life is going to all of a sudden be perfect when I meet the man I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with - that I won't ever struggle with some of the things I struggle with now. Which is pretty crazy because some things- like loneliness for example- I'll still feel that after I'm married for sure, but maybe in different ways. Anyway, this is just a good few sentences to keep in mind.

culture shock.

Saturday I experienced some random culture shock that is pretty funny to me...


Alyssa dropped me off at Latte Da after we listed to country music on the 20 minute air-conditioned drive into Vermillion in her car. I told her to have fun at work and didn't kiss her good-bye. I walked into an empty coffe shop. When a cashier surfaced she took my order in English and in record time. She made my change while I still had my wallet out. And, while I waited for her to whip up my Carmel Nut Heaven, I read a short article on the MN Viking's Pre-Season worries- in English. Finally, she brought my drink out to me in like two minutes and thanked me- in English.


Pretty much none of this would ever happen to me in Brazil, lol.

sisters.

I just want to document the fact that I have some pretty awesome girl friends. I was just thinking of them today and how great they are, how much they care about me. I talked with like 5 of them in a span of 3 hours tonight which was fun because I'm chillin' alone in the FH tonight.

They just rock! I can't believe what great relationships I have with them and how much they teach me and bless me probably without knowing it. They are truly like sisters to me and it doesn't matter that we'll part ways soon because I know we'll be friends for a long, long time.

That all sounds really corny and cliche but it's so true. :]

second call.

[this is kind of part two of the post right after this one (but before this post in terms of the date)].

I've been reading 'The Ragamuffin Gospel' since I've been back from Brasil. I love this book. In my current venture through the 200 page paperback, I've pulled even more from it than in previous readings, and have been able to better apply it to my life, which is always a good thing. Recently I read a chapter towards the end entitled 'A Second Call' (which I read this past week after hearing the sermon on first loves. God was definitely trying to get through to me this week).

Brennan Manning talks about a crises of Faith Hope and Love in this chapter- several things stuck out to me:
1. Routine makes things dead. Each day is new. 'The moment I think I understand is the moment I don't understand.'
2. 'If our faith is going to be criticized, let it be for the right reasons.' Not because we are emotional or passionate but that we are not emotional or passionate enough.
3. Christianity doesn't deny the reality of evil and suffering.
4. Our God's love is not dignified at all. And that's the way He expects our love to be. Manning describes His love as even embarassing at times- God wants the same from us. And even for us to love others in the same embarassing way.
5. God 'expects more failure from me than I expect from myself.'
6. 'The Christian with depth is the person who has failed and has learned to live with it.'
7. 'The real challenge of Christian growth is the challenge of personal responsibility.'

That's a lot of heavy stuff. Perhaps the 7th idea sticks out to me the most- while the others are all things that I understand, or have no heard, or know I don't have a clue about, the final statment on growth has been evident in my life this summer, and it's something I've come to realize through both things I've accomplished, and things I haven't but have wanted to.

That's a really long sentence. Basically, I've been growing a lot in the area of personal responsibility and while I still have a lot of growing left to do, it will hopefully take place over the rest of my life in due time.

first love.

Last week at Hillside one of the elders gave the message since PT was on vacation- he told the congregation he was interested in preaching about something he is currently struggling with-- thus losing his first love. It was one of those moments where you blink hard and say to God- Wow, that's perfect timing on your part. Touché.

Apparently the only place the phrase 'first love' shows up in the NT is in Revelation. Interesting. Any way, the passage (2:1-7) is written to the church in Ephesus and can kind of be broken down in to two parts: 1- Good stuff they do, and 2- stuff they are forgeting. The parts are separated by the conjunction 'but.' The speaker made the point that when you give someone a compliment and then say 'but ...' they often just focus on the part after the but.

So forgeting your first love. Chances are this has probably happened to any Christian at least once in a small degree. It's happened to me in a small scale this summer. Every since project I've been very apathetic towards growing in my walk, reading my Bible, etc. Oops. And this coming from someone who just went on a 6 week missions trip overseas. I basically let myself slack off and think I went 6 weeks with steady, solid growth- what's two or three weeks? I deserve time off. Time off? I seem to have made a silly excuse that because I am not provided specific times for prayer and time with the Lord and evangelism, it's ok to not do any of that so I can have some 'me' time. Wow.

yes, again...

i was at work the other day assembling IRs and i grabbed some battery wire thingers, which are bound by a rubber band in groups of like 50 and they were flopping all over so I grabbed the buddle with both hands...and all i could think about was the fact that they resembled a bouquet of wedding flowers. ah! what's wrong with me! seriously. maybe it's the fact that everyone i know seems to be getting engaged or married ... or whatever. anyway, i finally figured out the colors that i like...turquoise for dresses, cream flowers? maybe pomegranate colored flowers. hm these are actually kind of similar to the colors on this page. odd. anyway, i think i've got some time to decide...