Why do car accidents always seem to happen in parking lots?

The two times that my car has been damaged since she has been in my possession have both been in parking lots. The first one was in the church parking lot, a late night after choir practice, dark & snowy...a small dent, no big deal. Friday, though, it was in broad daylight and a slightly bigger deal! As I was idling, waiting for a pump to open up at the gas station, a girl who had just gotten off her shift tending the cash register was completely oblivious to the world around her as she backed out of her parking spot directly into my rear driver's side door...Hard. Apparently, she was in the middle of a fight with her boyfriend as she was pulling out, which explains the distraction, but still doesn't fix my door...Argh, I hate having to deal with this stuff!

My poor Talullah...all beat-up... :(

Microsoft Paint

For those of you who thought Microsoft Paint was one of those computer accessories that just took up space and had no useful purpose, I have news for you: I used Paint yesterday and today to do stuff for work! I edited some graphics that our ridiculous version of Photoshop was doing a really bad job editing, so I just pasted them into Paint, zoomed in really close, and made the corrections I needed to make! Now, if only I could come up with a use for Microsoft Notebook...

Do you know what LavaLife is?

Well, neither did I, until yesterday. Sheri (my boss) and I were working on reconciling all the statements for the department's credit cards for the past month, and there was a charge on it that we had no record of ever making. It was from a place called LavaLife, and so I googled it, and it confirmed our suspicions that it's definitely not a purchase anyone here in the gym would have made. (At least I hope not...because it turns out it's an online DATING SERVICE!!!!) We laughed and laughed and laughed, until several people (including Bill Swanson and Matt Webb) jokingly 'fessed up, which made us laugh more because everyone in the Athletic Department is married except myself and 2 other women! (And, no, we're not that desperate. If I ever use a "meet other singles" service of any kind, you have every right to drag me out into the street and shoot me!) So someone's personal life is more exciting now, thanks to Houghton College. Of all things to steal someone's credit card number for...

Today is a good day

Why?

1. Jesus Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!!!!!!!!!
2. The sun is shining, it is warm, and the daffodils are blooming in my front yard
3. Rachel called this morning! From Japan!!!! What a wonderful way to start the day. :)
4. I am drinking coffee right now...ah, how I have missed it...
5. Our Easter cantata went off without a hitch yesterday, and there were 8 people who responded to the altar call after Pastor Jon's message, one of whom has already expressed interest in baptism! (She has apparently been seeking out who Christ is for several months now, and has finally decided it's time to jump in and start following in His footsteps.)
6. I spent all day yesterday with a group of wonderful people from my church, including a missionary family on furlough from RVA, and many very cute children with whom I jumped for hours on the trampoline (my legs still feel like Jell-O...) and went on an Easter egg hunt and roasted Peeps over a bonfire.
7. Pastor Jon gets points for culinary creativity this weekend - he decided to try something new with the ham for Easter dinner this year, and so he deep-fried it. The whole pork shoulder, so there was sort of a crust that formed on the outside, and the ham on the inside came out really tender, and actually really good! (But far too much work, he said...) Somehow, I just find a deep-fried ham really amusing, in a bizarre sort of way.
7. Did I mention that the sun is shining?


P.S. - Did you know that, in 1953, it took 27 hours to create one Marshmallow Peep, but today, it takes six minutes? Well, now you know. :)

On this Thursday of bread and wine, of towel and water...

Prepare the way of the Lord, the prophets cried. But even they can’t have been fully prepared for a Saviour who washed the feet of those who would follow in his footsteps, or a God whose star-flinging hands were splintered on a wooden cross.

Bread of heaven – it sticks in the throat. An immeasurable, unquantifiable Creator willingly brought down to Earth like manna and reduced to the status of a metaphor; something to be shared, broken, eaten.

And, in the same way, his very essence distilled into a full-bodied cup of wine, albeit wine for a wedding, the best vintage, saved to the last and drunk at the death.

Take, eat. This is my body.

Take, drink. This is my blood.

Feed on me. And I will turn your world upside down and inside out. Not in the way a genie out of a bottle might do it. Not in the way the rulers of this world do it. Not in the way you may expect.

As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, ‘human strength can’t begin to compete with God’s “weakness”.’ Simple. Foolish. Ungodly?

What a way to go.

~Brian Draper, London Institute for Contemporary Christianity

Just thinking of the bread and wine of which we will partake tonight makes everything catch in my throat. Just thinking of my Lord wrapping a towel around His waist to wash the feet of those who would fall asleep as He prayed, who would deny they knew Him, who would betray His trust, I weep, because I know that that is me. That I would be like Peter and say, "Lord, it is I who should be washing Your feet - please, let me take the towel. I am filthy, inside and out. You are the Messiah, the Son of God! It is I who should be on the floor at Your feet." And yet He gently insisted, "This is the full extent of my love. This is how my Kingdom works - you must let me do this for you, let me become your servant, your sustenance, your life." How humble Your love, O God!

A weekend to rest

After a wonderful, phenomenal visit with Uncle Mike and Jeremy on Friday (during which there was muchexchanging of news, reminiscing, laughter, and of course the good 0l' Brazilian hug-and-kiss-on-the-cheek combo), I was ambushed by Katrina and Paul, who were headed off to Paul's house in PA for break. Their mission: to convince me to go with them for the weekend. My "I really shouldn't go" excuse (besides having to pay for gas...): the girls in my youth group would absolutely KILL me if I didn't come to see them perform in Beauty and the Beast on Friday night, after Kat & Paul were leaving. I couldn't miss the play, but I didn't want to have to drive down by myself late at night, paying for all of the gas. But with the promise of a hot tub, home-cooked food, and acres of trees to climb, with a comfortable bed to sleep in at the end of the day, it didn't take them very long to change my mind! I know, I'm a pushover when it comes to hot tubs and food and someone to split gas with...Throw in a little music and some books, and I'm REALLY a pushover! :)

So I went to Beauty and the Beast (which was really well done - the costumes, the sets, the music - probably the best high school drama production I've seen in a long time), and then proceeded to make the drive to Rockton, with Paul Christensen to split the cost of gas and keep me awake. Pulling in at midnight, exhausted and sore, the perfect end to the night was a soak in the Shaffners' hot tub! Wonderful...followed by Saturday, a day of firsts for me: my first time shooting a gun (Paul's own .357 Magnum revolver...it was awesome!!!! Even though I have terrible aim...), my first time buying an article of clothing from Goodwill without trying it on, first time going off-roading through mud and over rocks & logs (in the Shaffners' sweet Jeep, with Paul driving and Kat & I hanging out the back), and my first time seeing a Civil War mortar cannon being fired! Among many, many other incredible things...like apple pancakes for breakfast, and an amazing roast for dinner...like a trip to the library, where they were having a book sale where Kat & I bought 12 books for 90 cents...like the freedom to climb a tree or curl up with a book or take a nap in the middle of the afternoon or do whatever I felt like doing...like talking about The Screwtape Letters in Mr. Shaffner's Sunday school class...In short, it was wonderful. Pictures to come soon! :)

I think my favourite part about this weekend, though, was being blown away by how, with my own parents so far away that I can't run to them when I need a safe place, God has graciously provided me with surrogate families when I need them. Like Uncle Mike, who listened to my rambling because he cares, who offered hugs and prayers and encouragement. Like the Shaffners, who not only opened up their home for a weekend of rest, but also offered me their spare bedroom upstairs if I ever need a place to live or even just to crash for a little while. I left their house at 5:30 Monday morning with tears of gratitude in my eyes, for their generosity, their kindness, their open hearts, wise words, and the love of Christ that they poured out on me this weekend. I didn't realize until after I left how much I had needed that! Thank You, God, for Your body. And thank you, Paul & Kat, for sharing your family with me.

When worlds collide

Wow. Jeremy Davis just walked by the door to my office on his wandering tour of the gym, and I jumped up, threw open my office door, and gave him one of the biggest hugs ever! You see, I've never seen him in this country before. And now he's in HOUGHTON!!!! I've known him ever since he was born, in Brazil, into one of the most amazing families in my mission, just 10 months after my brother Ben was born. And now he's visiting colleges!!!! Unbelievable. He's one of my little brother Ben's best friends (one of the "Three Stooges," as I affectionately call Ben, Jer, and Caleb, who have been practically inseparable since birth), and a REALLY quality 15-year-old guy. Jer, you're awesome!

And since he can't drive yet, that also means that his dad, Uncle Mike, is here on campus, with not that much to do while Jeremy's doing his stuff. So I get to see, and talk to, and laugh with, one of my favourite "uncles!" He can play virtually every musical instrument known to humanity, and if he's never seen it or played it before, just give him a couple minutes with it and he'll be a pro. And he's a great preacher - although, come to think of it, I've never heard him preach in English before... :) I can't wait to hear how he's doing, how the whole Davis family is doing, to catch up on news and life from back home. And to get an Uncle Mike hug. Oh, how I miss his belly laugh!

I'm so excited, I can't stop grinning! Wow. God is so amazing.

Remember that dream?

The one in which I dreamed that it snowed?

Well, it came true. I woke up this morning to snow. And it's falling from the sky again. What happened to spring?

Life doesn't have to be exciting to be good

A few weeks ago in youth group, we talked about whether or not we can know what we really need, or whether our wants and our needs are so entangled that we don't know which is which, and we have no way of knowing what is ultimately best for ourselves, but only God does. As part of the exercise, we took a sort of genie-in-the-lamp quiz. Pastor Don made a list of about 20 things, and then we had each person take 5 minutes to read over and think about the list, then circle the 3 things they would ask God to do for them that they thought would make them truly happy. The options ranged from "having a car" to "if people liked/respected me" and "if my parents/family would just stop fighting all the time." And you know what the most popular option was? "Moving away from Cuba!" [edit: for those of you who, like Tegan, are confused, this is Cuba, NY we're talking about... ;)] It is truly amazing how many of them thought they would find happiness if they could just get out of their rinky-dink old town to a more exciting place! Like New York, or Hawaii, or Hollywood. Or, in some cases, Olean...("Anything is better than Cuba," says Amanda.) "But what makes you think that you'll be happy in New York, Stacy?" "Well, there's so much more to do there, more people...I dunno, it's just more exciting." "OK, I'll give you that...but do you need excitement in order to be happy? What happens when New York gets boring? When you've seen all the sights, shopped in all the stores, gotten tired of the pollution and the traffic jams?" They didn't really know what to do with that. And frankly, sometimes I don't either. But if what I want is always something more than I have now, something different, then I'll be waiting around forever for happiness to fall into my lap, for the perfect conditions, for the next exciting thing because what I have now just isn't as good as I think it could be.

I'm not trying to say that excitement is a bad thing. Sometimes we do need to get away. Sometimes a change of scenery, a change of pace, gives us a kick in the pants, and sometimes that's what we need. But if we continually "need" those kicks in the butt, shouldn't that indicate to us that something is wrong? Do we really need exciting vacations in an exotic tropical paradise to "rekindle" marriages? How about bringing love into everyday life instead of escaping to find it, as though everyday life is somehow bent on destroying romance? And why do we do the same thing with our faith, as though the only time when our relationship with God can really thrive is when we are on a spiritual retreat, or in our spiritual alone time delving into Scripture? I love my daily quiet times, set apart for prayer and reading and worship, but I have found recently that perhaps I idolize them too much. Because if I somehow see those as my only moments of prayer and worship throughout the day, and spend my whole day counting down to those hours, then I have missed all the other hours in which I could have been praying and worshiping as I worked, as I ate lunch, as I answered the phone...Why does the word "routine" always seem to have negative connotations, meaning dreary monotony and drudgery? As though somehow it's a bad thing to allow oneself to "slip into" a routine? Granted, if the pattern becomes thoughtless, stuck in a rut, following a routine simply because that's what you do and have always done, then that quickly becomes complacency, and I flee from that as fast as I can! But if I constantly need to change things in order to avoid the rut, if I need boosts of excitement to keep me interested in anything, if I look forward for my fulfillment, will I ever learn how to be content right here where I am? To pray in the circumstances I've been given? To love the people who are around me instead of looking for more exciting or more respectful or more intellectual people to befriend?

There is something strangely fulfilling about routine. Something extremely good about small, mundane tasks, like vacuuming up dead ladybugs from our living room carpet, or kneading bread dough, or stuffing hundreds of envelopes with support request letters. There is something deeply stabilizing about becoming familiar with Scriptures, with the prayers of the church, to the point where they become ingrained in my very being. I love rolling out of bed and watching the sun rise, starting the day by breathing a prayer of thanksgiving, "Thank You, Lord for this day that you have made! It is good, because You have declared that it is good, and I will rejoice and be glad in it." And I don't have to move somewhere exciting or have a different job to rejoice - there are no conditions. Oh, that someday prayer, communion with God, will be a habit for me! One that will not be easily broken! That prayer would be as natural to me sitting here at my desk at work as it would be in my "prayer closet" or in a church service or laughing over how stupid I look trying to keep up with Cari in DDR. I so desperately want Amanda and Stacy and Cari and Lindsay and Jenn and LeighAnn and Jessica and Crystal to seek the fulfillment they crave in the place where they will find it - in Christ - and not in the constant quest for the next best thing. He IS the best thing - the greatest taste, the richest of fare, the Living Water, the Bread of Life! I want God to bring significance to their everyday lives, not just the times when they feel spiritually excited about Him.