My dad can beat up your dad!

To: Big Bear

I've been reading in Matthew lately, it is my favorite gospel. I came across a passage that reminded me of my dad. It’s Matthew 7:7-11. The basic idea of the passage is, “Ask. And it will be given”. As I was reading I immediately thought of the way that my dad has always loved me.

It was about 6 years ago, I had just finished my freshmen year of college and I worked that summer at a camp (Insert my shout out to Texoma Lutheran Camp, RIP). At camp I played around with some of my friend’s guitars and I wanted to learn how to play. So that semester, being that my parents wouldn’t let me work, I asked my dad if I, they, could buy me a guitar. I didn’t really know how to play yet, so my dad said no. I was so upset because my thought was, if I don’t have a guitar, I will never learn how to play to prove myself, therefore I would never be able to get a guitar…oh the tragedy. A little upset about it, I went along my way. However, I think that my dad knows me better than I do. Bound and determined that spring, I suckered somebody into loaning me her guitar for 2 months. It was one of those old Ovation guitars, with a round back and strings as hard as diamonds and as rough as sandpaper. My fingers did not love that thing.

Anyway, to the sacrifice of my roommates at the time, I learned to play the guitar in that two-month period. I practiced all summer and for my birthday, my dad bought me a guitar. It took me almost a year to get that guitar, but I wonder, if my dad had just bought me the guitar when I first asked, would I have actually learned how to play?

My dad always encourages me when I play, even though I’m not that great. But I truly don’t think he sees/hears any fault in my playing. This is the very way that the Lord looks at all of us that are covered by our Savior’s blood. Faultless. What a true reflection of our relationship with God, and the way that He loves us. Thanks Dad!

From: Running Deer

Losing Face

Do you ever feel like you do all of the stupid things that you do in front of the same people. Like at school, when I trip it always seems to be in front of the same colleague. Or how about this…the other day I went to open a door and walk in and I PULLED. Who does that? And of course it was in front of that same colleague. Maybe subconsciously I have decided that it is better to really “lose face” in front of one person and get all of my stupidity out, and then for everybody else, they can just continue to think that I am a completely normal, high functioning member of society.

The Day We Chanted

For some reason I come up with a great deal of my blog topics in church, The Work Laugh, came straight from Sunday morning. I know it’s bad but I always write the topic down and go straight back to paying attention.

Anyway, this whole thought came out of something that we don’t normally do at my church, but last Sunday was a different story. It could be referred to as chanting, repeating, or reading as a whole. Whatever you call it, it involves speaking out loud as a group. This makes my skin crawl. One of the reasons I go to my church is because we don’t chant or repeat as a congregation. (Not really, I chose my church because God called me there and if they want me to chant I will chant).

So why does this bother me so much? I mean I am the annoying girl sitting by herself, singing at the top of her lungs, because I love to sing. But when it comes to repeating as a whole I just can’t do it. BUT STOP! I make my students chant!!! I am a chanting hypocrite!!! I make them say things like. “Of means MULTIPLY” and we don’t line up decimals when we multiply because, and they say, “Math teachers are lazy!”

In conclusion, I promise to stop making my kids chant and if you see me at church during a chant I am probably putting on lip gloss or pretending like I am looking for a friend…and by the way, thanks to the family a couple of weeks ago that asked me if I wanted to sit with them, maybe they are non chanters, and we can start a whole non chanting row, and let it spread. Then one day when they want us to chant nobody will chant!! It’s the overthrow of the chant!!!

The Work Laugh

A dedication before I begin: To all my beloved colleagues, you know I love you guys and really think you are all funny, I just had to parallel my thoughts with a Friends episode. The work laugh can be used in many situations. And you know you have done it too!

I don’t know if anybody remembers the Friends episode where Monica discovers that Chandler has a horribly annoying work laugh and she tries to convince him that he doesn’t need it. But after a terribly awkward situation Monica realizes that it is just better to have a fake work laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agb8h0fGlVw

In the essence of drawing parallels, my current life situation complements this Friends episode quite nicely. See the problem is, that people make jokes and I don’t think they are funny. When people say something that is not funny, doesn’t make sense, or isn’t relevant I just don’t laugh. It’s not funny, and it doesn’t need my laugh. My thought was that hopefully the absence of laughter would help mold their humor. * I am not saying that my opinion on funny/not funny is the end all. We all know I have told me fair share of bad stories, jokes, and one-liners.

However, my plan has backfired. It turns out that this is a rather pompous attitude and I am just coming off as a stick in the mud; with no sense of humor…go figure. Either that or nobody that I work with is funny. So I talked to a good friend that told me I might just need to get a work laugh. She said her work laugh was…”ha, that’s funny”. So I have been practicing work laughs and I think I have a good one. Here’s how it goes…I do a quick closed mouthed “ha ha” and then calmly move my head back then to the side and then point my finger at the person, and give them the YOU RASCAL look. So my new plan is to test it out and let you guys know how it goes. Let me know if you have a good work laugh that I could try.

Man/Women crushes

Before I get started I must state that this is a joke and nobody in this story actually has a crush on anybody.

So a couple of years ago I was dating a guy that was really into wakeboarding. He had a nice wakeboarding boat and we would go to the lake a lot. One time we met a guy on the dock that had a wakeboard, but no boat and he asked my boyfriend if he could have a quick ride. So we took the guy for a ride. It turns out he was a professional wakeboarded and my boyfriend was completely ecstatic the he was driving him. After the ride was over my boyfriend had forgotten, in my opinion, that I even existed. He must have asked the poor guy about a hundred questions. After the whole event I told my boyfriend that he had a man crush on the guy. My boyfriend didn’t like that, but I couldn’t resist. (Note to self: you probably don’t currently have a boyfriend because of reasons as such).

On a more current note, due to a similar situation, the idea of man crushes came up in a group discussion, and the question was thrown to the girls, “Do any of ya’ll have women crushes?” I immediately informed the group….“phhh NO”. BUT Later that night I was headed to bed and all of a sudden I realized that I have a women crush and I was surprising okay with it!!! Even to the point, where I told my women crush that I had a women crush on her. Oddly enough it was, whoI refer to as, “my math boss”. (Note to self: don’t tell my boss I have a crush on her). It’s a wonder I make it through life…

Funks with a Purpose

I think God has set aside certain days to be funk days. A funk day is a day where you just can’t figure out what’s going on…you are in a funk. If you are at work, you seem to be more of a sideline player. If you are in a social setting you seem to be a wallflower. In a funk day there might be a point of break down or tears looming, and many times you feel just socially awkward.

So what is the purpose of these days? Just recently I had a funk day. It was the first day of a conference for work at a beautiful resort near Austin. I woke up, had my coffee, read my bible and went on what I thought was my merry way. About 30 minutes into the conference I started to realize that I was entering funk mode. The funk went with me through the day. That night two friends/co-workers of mine and I took a float on the lazy river and out it came…”So what was up with my funk today” I said. It was like, I was finally ready to verbalize the funk. We got to talking about it and realized that maybe this funk gave me the opportunity to listen to my colleagues, gain perspective, and develop thoughts. By the end of the river ride my funk had pretty much dissipated and I was able to chalk up my weird day to just being in a funk. BUT my funk had a purpose.

So what’s the purpose of your most recent funk?

Caution: I must warn against on-going funks. Sometimes you might have a two-week period of mild funkness or maybe even as long as a month. If your funk lasts for longer than a month, I might suggest talking it out with someone you trust.

Contentment

I was reading in Philippians the other day and Paul said,

“Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content.”

I have read this verse for years and never fully understood how that was supposed to look in my life, or why it wasn’t at work in my life. However, I can tell you to the month (November 2007) when this verse really took up residency in my heart. Over the course of about 2 weeks I just became so content with my life. I hadn’t “acquired” the great things I desired to achieve. I was just glad to be where I was. So I wonder how this great understanding came about. I had been reading that verse for years…why now? I think the Lord works in a very specific time. That specific time has purpose in meaning that reveals itself in, yes, its own time as well. So I can only eagerly wait for my next revealed truth, but if I were to have an agenda of such truth it would be from 2 Corinthians 10:5.