One For The Road

Well, my friend Scott is moving to Sioux Falls tomorrow. He will be adjusting to big city life, and will soon discover whether or not mail will be delivered to his house or if he needs to go to the post office to retrieve his mail. I look forward to hearing about his findings in his urban education.

Irene has come home from Iowa. She brought be a gift from home: a one pound bag of coffee beans from my much beloved Friedrich’s Coffee back in Des Moines! I look forward to having a cup with breakfast tomorrow.

As for the A Team, the male member will be leaving my Tuesday night to start his over-the-road training. Angela and I discussed some rules about him staying, and she apologized for him coming every night. Angela told Emily Ann that in a month that in a month she may move out…. that’s right, the A Team might be setting up their own love nest. Emily Ann came into my room and jumped up and down with me. We are stoked about the idea of her actually leaving. Its so mean, but at the the same time, it would be a blessing. Both Emily and I feel alienated in our own apartment and do not feel as if we have any privacy. Angela’s lack of discretion and maturity has been nothing but a problem for us both. I think we both would be immensely relieved to not have to deal with the drama anymore.

Lastly, I am at the end of the road for A Blog A Day In May. I did indeed post every single day this month. Some posts were YouTube cop-outs, while others were related to my spiritual life and were personally revealing.Along with those transparent posts, I plead for prayer, congratulated friends, encouraged others, and sadly, even wrote some boring, mundane words. I have written quite the variety. But honestly, doens’t that reflect me well? I like not being lumped into a blog type. I’m glad I kept this up, but now that I am not bound by my own honor, will I blog tomorrow? We’ll see!

What In the World? You Decide Edition

Welcome to What In The World?, a weekly feature on my blog where I post a photo that I found ridiculous, hilarious, or just made me scratch my head. Sometimes the object of my blogging has the amazing skill of doing all the above!

As I do research for my What In The World? features, I find images that are beyond explanation. What does that mean? I couldn’t come up with the perfect snark or correct clever witticism to describe the photo. A couple of weeks ago, my friend Kelly sent me this week’s photo, and I mulled over it since. Still I have nothing.

So now friends, this is where you come in. Take this photo and tell me what in the world you think it is. Tell me something that describes it. Give me a storyline. Or say something completely, utterly and totally random that makes no sense at all. Let’s entertain each other! Anyway, here is the object of my blog and a couple of my first impressions.

What is this? You tell me.

So, what exactly do I think this is? My first reactions were…

“This was the least appealing orange known to man.”
“Froggy has a new friend, and its orange.”

Can you come up with something better? By all means, please do, and let us know by responding in the comments!

The Morning Visitor

Jenna, it’s all your fault. You jinxed me.  I read this blog post on about my friend discovering a cockroach in her apartment, and counted myself thankful since I had not yet discovered any of those creepy buggers in my own domicile.

That gloating didn’t last long.

This morning as I was preparing my coffee, I spied a bug crawl from somewhere around my sink. It headed in my direction. Deciding my roommates would prefer not to have a rude awakening from a six am freakout, I decided to be proactive and attempt to get the bug down my sink drain. I fillled my coffeepot twice and dumped the water on my counter. The bug flipped but slipped in the opposite direction of my sink. I grabbed a plastic container and covered the bug before it was able to get away. I examined the bug more closely in its plastic enclave. It had been a long time since I had seen a cockroach, so I decided to ask for expert advice and texted Jenna.

“Can you describe a roach for me?” I asked, hoping she was actually awake at this early hour. As she is recovering from surgery, she might have been sleeping later. I know I would.  I decided to wait before I would attempt to kill my buggy breakfast guest that I would have my morning coffee and start my Bible reading. I didn’t want to kill the bug and have the eggs spread, just in case it was a roach. The progency of the creature squicked me more than the bug itself. Deciding he was secure, I started the book of Judges while my coffee brewed. Once the coffee was done, I got up and saw that the bug was no longer underneath the container. The container was in exactly the same place I had left it. What, was this bug some sort of magician? Some sort of a small insect Houdini? Had it actually mastered every Harry Potter’s fan dream and disapparated?

Not wanting to go on a bug hunt, I decided to give up and contact my landlord later. I sat down and started reading again. My phone buzzed with a text. It was Jenna.

“Look cockroach up in Google Images. Whatever I tried to describe would only use words likeL creepy, vile, disgusting, and terrifying,” Jenna’s text advised.

“I think you jinxed me,” I replied. “I am too squicked to Google it. A dark colored oval bug got trapped by me under a tupperware container. I watched him and it looked like it couldn’t get away.  I went to tend to my Judges reading. I went to grab my coffee and IT WAS GONE. MY CONTAINER HAD NOT MOVED.”

Jenna, who probably was sympathetic to my plight, gave me a bug description. “Oh, sick. That has roach potential, did it have megalong feelers? Same as the length of its body? The feelers are the giveaway to me, but I am only familiar with TX  roaches.  They FLY down here.”

I groaned. The culprit matched her description very well.  Soon I received another message from Jenna. ” Joey JUST found another one! The exterminators don’t come until Tuesday!”  I could feel her pain. I contacted my apartment manager about the crisis, and she apologized. She informed me that our neighbors (Burmese refugees) attracted them and spread them to the rest of the complex. An exterminator was scheduled to come starting next week, once a month, for the next several months.

I am glad that my landlord had a game plan, but I want to try and battle it out with the infestation before next week. Becuase we are having an exterminator come, I don’t want to pump my house full of chemicals that could combine in weird ways with the exterminator’s chemicals. I read that bolic acid is a good, natural roach killer, but I have no idea where to find it. I keep my kitchen pretty clean, so there is not much more I can possibly do with that form of prevention. Do any of you have any ideas? If you do, PLEASE HELP! ALL suggestions will be taken seriously. Unless, of course, if it includes, dynamite, gunpower, fire, gasoline, or any sort of explosives that will create property damage and risk human life. Also, I prefer the suggestions to remain legal as well. Thank you!

The A Team

Well, it certainly didn’t take my new roommate long to move on.

Angela started trucking school Tuesday. SThat same night, a balding, bearded, bandana’d and biker-like gentleman returned home. She exploded into the house, “You need to meet my new friend!” but I told her I was on the phone. (My best friend Jenni’s dad had a heart attack. Who do you think is getting my attention?)  I wasn’t sure how to react. Didn’t she just have her heart broken?

I pretty much hid out in my room the entire night and talked to Jen and Scott. Over the couse of the evening, I heard loud laughter coming from her room. I finally went to bed around 11:30, and her gentleman caller had not yet left the apartment. I woke up at 6 yesterday morning, and heard two pairs of footsteps walking out the door. That’s right, she met this man and he stayed the same night he met her. I was alarmed that she would allow a strange man to stay in our apartment. I can’t control her morality, but its disconcerting to have a stranger staying under my roof with no prior notice.

Last night I went to help at Family Support Center with some pretend interviews, and when I came home, there he was again. I decided to play be cordial with him and introduced myself. His name is Angel. Nice. Angel and Angela!
 
Since I had put a chicken breast into the oven, I was stuck in/near the kitchen for at least twenty minutes. Now that I was their captive audience, the A Team began to tell me the story of how they met. Many inappropriate accusations about a certain woman in their class ensued. Finally they admitted they are “seeing each other”. Angel started a sentence with the words,”I’m a Southern gentleman, but she started to open up and we….” but I didn’t let him get much more out before I interrupted him and said, “So this is where my social graces go AAAAAAAAAH!” and I screamed. Sometimes I pretend overreaction to diffuse a situation and get people to SHUT UP. It worked, and they laughed hysterically. They then prattled on about their relationship and how Angela still needs to heal from Bob, so they were taking it slow. I finished making my chicken for my salad today, and scurried upstairs. Needless to say, he stayed again last night.

I don’t know what to say.I am uncomfortable with the idea of a man practically moving in. I don’t know when I am going to be able to approach her alone and discuss the situation.  I feel like my safety and privacy has been conpromised with allowing any Tom, Dick, and Harry she meets from trucking school to share her bed. My roommate Emily feels the same way. If this continues, something needs to be done.  Any advice?

Dropsies

Today I major case of the dropsies.

This morning, I was drinking coffee and I spilled it on my khaki capris. Twice.

I opened a container of mocha yogurt, and the second I peeled the lid back, the brown contents spurted itself onto my green polo. Thankfully, I ran into the bathroom and it all came out with soap. Today was the last day the FDIC was in my office, and I didn’t want to greet the auditors appearing as if a mudman spat on me.

At lunch, Iwas eating leftover spaghetti and reading the book of Joshua. What do you think happened? A strand of angel hair pasta slipped onto my lap, and a meat chunk rolled down my leg, staining my ankle with marinara.

At dinner, somehow, I don’t know, I got Caesar dressing, cheese, and lettuce on my lap. What was going on today? Dude,  I don’t even know.

So what happens when you force yourself to blog everyday for a month and you don’t want else to say? You wrtie about your complete inability to put food in your mouth without it ending up on you.

Welcome to my uninteresting life.

Prayer Works

Please pray for my best friend Jenni’s dad. He was attending an eye appointment in Des Moines today, and he had a massive heart attack. He was rushed into emergency surgery at Iowa Methodist hospital, a short distance from the mall in which he had collapsed. One of his arteries was 100% blocked. After surgery, Rankins were told her dad would be released in three days. He has been given a slew of lifestyle changes, but it is completely of the sovereignty of God that he is live. We can be thankful for these things:

-His mother Elinor was with him, and was able to advise the receptionist of how to contact Jen’s mom. Elinor did not have Mrs. Rankin’s work number, but she was able to tell the receptionist her daughter-in-law had been there before for an appointment. After a name search, they discovered Mrs. Rankin;s work number and the receptionist made the call.

-Mr. Rankin was not alone and he was already in Des Moines. Had he been back on his farm in Panora, he would have died. Jenni’s family lives in the middle of nowhere, It would have been an hour before he could have been transported to a hospital. Otherwise…. he would be dead.

I received this text from Jenni, and I think her words are best spoken for themselves:

Dad had one main artery that was 100% blocked. They put in a stint in him and gave him blood thinners. He’s goin to be ok. Had he been alone when it happened he wouldnt be here.

What a startling fact. Had he been alone…. wow.

Just last night, I was re-reading this blog and this blog about Jen’s family. One made me laugh but the other made me concerned. Jen’s grandma Elinor has not been doing well, and she previously had no concern for God at all, and Jen’s dad is the same way. I felt burdened to pray for them. When I got ahold of Jen right after her message about her dad’s heart attack, I told her this. Today, when the family was waiting at the hospital, Elinor agreed to talk with a chaplain. In the past, she probably would have cussed and run the clergy off.

Maybe God is using this to soften their hearts to Himself.  Either way, please keep praying for them. Shortly after I heard the news from Jen, I called and texted friends all over the place, asking for prayer for her dad. In turn, my friends passed on the prayer request. In fact, I had a friend’s friend ask for an update on how Mr. Rankin was doing. I told Jen that people all over the country were praying for her family, and she was choked up. Despite all the pain and sadness Jenni has endured, I have never heard her cry. I think that the thought that strangers cared for her and her family meant alot.

Really, though, there are no strangers when you are adopted through Christ.

So let this be your lesson: Prayer doesn’t always get the results we want, but it does so much more. It pulls us to the heart of God. It pulls us closer to our loved ones, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Prayer truly binds us together, because intercessory prayer is an act of sacrificial love.

 

-

It’s Complicated

MyFacebook status is set as a complicated relationship with my dear friend and LutheranMe, Kristin. Its a joke of ours, cause we are very similar people with very different interests. She is a science teacher and loves the outdoors. I am more of a city girl and enjoy the humanities, She is 5′10″ tall, am I am 5′1″. I am a diehard Hawkeyes fan; they are her last resort team. Despite these superficial differences, Kristin and I have a very close friendship. We understand one another, and hold each other accountable spiritually, physically, and emotionally. I am so glad to have a wonderful friend like her to come alongside me and encourage me, especially when guys are jerks or I feel discouraged about things like work or my location.

Kristin and Emily, December 2008

Now, though, I don’t think our joke should survive. Kristin has done and found herself a man. From what I can tell, he seems to be a good man. If he is anything less, well…. I have ideas for retribution.

Vern, you have a good woman. She better not need to kiss Froggy. Also? She is all mine when she comes to Utah. Oh… and welcome to the family.

Still, my job isn’t over yet. And Kristin, with my current work in process, neither is yours. We still need each other. Maybe more than ever.

Bittersweet Sunday

Nancy Johnson was back at church today. She was looking wonderful, and was in good spirits. I was so happy to see her! She is not 100% but seems to be recovering well. She is being careful about what she has been eating and trying to give herself extra nutrition. Whatever it is, it appears to be healing and we are overjoyed she is on the mend.
Today was also the last day with Zoe and Sandy at be with us over at Jordan Valley Baptist Church. Sandy is a missionary with Children’s Evangelism Fellowship, and she and her daughter Zoe are re-locationg to Orlando to be closer to her family while Sandy raises more support for her ministry. She feels led by God to be a director for a local chapter of CEF. Check her out here. I am going to miss Zoe, she teases me far more than your average six year old. Also, I am going to miss those huge, doeful eyes of hers.

 

Seriously, how could you not miss those eyes?

 I will also miss Sandy and my occasional McDonald’s run with her. If you recall, I was out with Sandy when I had this gentleman ask me out. Feel free to check out her ministry here.

June is going to be a busy month here. Maranatha Baptist Church in Grimes, IA will be coming out here to help with a Vacation Bible School at Jordan Valley. The last weekend, my LutheranMe Kristin will be around to visit me for four whole days. And then…. it’s off to Iowa in July! I am so excited to see my friends and family!  So until the end of the month I am just going to try to relax and finish strong on my Blog-A-Day-In-May. It has been a challenge, but I hope you have enjoyed some of the introspective and Christian posts I have made. I don’t want to turn this into a straight theology blog, but I am going to warn you now: more God stuff is going to be added to the  mix. I have chronicled some of my struggles from last winter. I severed some friendships and have restored some of my clarity back. I feel like myself again, and now I want to focus on the most important element of my life: God. So that means less snarking and more Spirit. There is also going to be less complaining about boys, since I am on another current project. That is a secret mission for now, so I will leave it there and let you all speculate.

I promise, though, I will snark sometimes. Its part of my charm.

Tide

You all know that I used to write poetry. Unsure of what I wanted to blog today, I dug into my old poetry trove and found this work. It was written during a time when several small struggles turned into large ones. The situations helped breed discontentment. One of thing I struggled with the most was  if I was supposed to be at my alma mater, Faith Baptist Bible College. Looking back on this work that is nearly five years old, I can’t help but grin sheepishly at how similar my thoughts are now when I am struggling. So I will start with the poem, then I will quote the blog I wrote to accompany this poem on November 15, 2004.

Tide- Written November 10, 2004

My faith is slipping through my fingers
Falling into the tidalwave of blackened water
Carreening straight toward me
I am engulfed
Overwhelmed
I am sinking, sinking in
Sinking in the depths
Sinking in the depths of myself
A shamble of stress eaten caverns
Being flooded with a sea of doubt
The wounds from fear
My inadequecies are waves
Crashing over my head
As I am engulfed
I see a face….
It’s my face….
I see nothing more than one who struggles endlessly
Needlessly, because of her failures
Glaring me in the eye
Like a mirror with its dark image
Pointing it’s finger…
“See what you have done to yourself.”
I cry out to God
For a solace from this stuggle
That I may swim in this murky tide of struggle
Or sink, sink to the depths
Where is the rock of my faith
That I so often stayed firmly planted on
Why do I not seek the grace of Him
Who pulled me from my sea of sin
Why do I not seek the mercy
From Him who calms the storms?
Why do I not search out the beacon
Who called me to His light?
Why, oh why…
Do I think I am on my own
That’s it’s all up to me…
Whether I sink or swim?

And here is the Xanga blog I wrote November 15, 2004 to accompany the poem. It is all in italics and blue.

There has been something going on lately in my spiritual life I cannot seem to shake. It has been a distrust, a lack of reliance, a bitterness, an impatience toward my God. I don’t know why I am this way. I certainly know better.

Psalm 144  Praise be to the LORD my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
He is my loving God and my fortress,
my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
who subdues peoples under me.

O LORD , what is man that you care for him,
the son of man that you think of him? 

 Man is like a breath;
his days are like a fleeting shadow.

 

This was the psalm of my devotions last night. Where is my trust? Where is my praise? I should be thankful the Lord of the universe even has dealinngs with me!

James 1:2-6: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

I am the man who is doubting. I am being tossed about like the wind. I am going through a trial. Where is my joy?

I always want to be alone now. I just want to hide. I don’t want to talk about it. I can’t talk about it. It just makes things worse. And when I do talk about it, one opens their mouth and speaks, trying to give advice. Jen has been doing this in particular. I don’t want advice. I know what I need to do. I need to trust God more. I need to pray more, I need to stand on grace!  But where is that grace? Where is my place of rest? I so badly want rest!

Here’s an outline of my trials:

1. I have been without a job this semester. My bills are piling up.
2. I was dropped from my mother’s health insurance because she is not helping me pay for school.
3. I am at the end of the semester, worn out from classes.
4. One of my roommates is driving me nuts. She has been clingy and bossy all at once. She is begging for attention and trying to mother me all at once. She knows better than that, too. We have been friends since I first came to college.
5. I miss my friends from home. I feel as if I should be there for them and upholding them in their struggles.
6. I was denied for a school loan.

                      Please pray…. pray for any one of those. There is some light at the end of the tunnel:

-Only a month until the end of the semester
- I will be home this coming weekend and Thanksgiving is in a week and a half. I will be alone on Thanksgiving because my mom is going to a friend’s house that I have never felt comfortable being with. I was there last Christmas and was miserable. My family Thanksgiving is Saturday. But that will provide some respite from Faith life until two weeks later and my semester will be done.
-I have a job interview next Monday. I hope they would let me start in January.

      Thanks for reading the ramble… and thanks in advanced for prayers.

                           Em 

I look at this post and see some things that encourage me. I am more likely to deal with small problems more quickly. In the past I would procrastinate enough before dealing with a problem that I would be overwhelmed by stress and worry in the proces. Now, if I deal with things faster, well, I have much less stress.  How people approach me and talk to me no longer bothers me as much. I have learned how to accept advice with more grace, and to know who to seek out when I just need someone to listen to me. Moreover, I have become more likely to discuss small trials with the Lord. He has shown me He is trustworthy in the big things, and perhaps as I age, I will continue to understand He takes care of the small things as well.

So what I would like to know, do any of you have any issues in your life that you struggle keeping in God’s hands? Or do you have a problem you find yourself repeating over and over? Talk to me! Let’s compare notes.

Nothing Between

Today I spent several e-mails discussing Christian concepts with a member of another religious view of my own, where the teaching of the priesthood is central in his view. The concept of the priesthood has been reverberating in my own Scripture reading as I just finished Numbers and am now in Deutereomy. I was challenged to think of my own views of priesthood. This song came to mind. I hope you enjoy, then read the Scripture passage below it that inspired this song.

Ok, so what exactly is a priest?

I am going to explain this in the simplest way possible. A priest is one who goes on your behalf before another. In the case of Israel in the time before Christ, it was a member of the tribe of Levi who would offer sacrifices before God to cover sin.It is my belief we no longer need this. Here, have a read of Hebrews 4:14-16:

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

And why was the sacrifice of Christ on the cross enough to atone for sin? Let’s look at Hebrews 10.

For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.  For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. 

 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

        “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
        But a body You have prepared for Me. 
        In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
        You had no pleasure. 
        Then I said, “Behold, I have come–
        In the volume of the book it is written of Me–
        To do Your will, O God.”‘

Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.”  He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

Once for all. We don’t continually need to offer Christ as a sacrifice. We do not need a member of our family to be our go-between with God.

Need some more proof? Lets look at Hebrews 10: 19-23

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

I hope these Scriptures speak for themself. Not only is faith alone in Christ alone sufficient for my salvation, but it is all the priesthood I need. But seriously, why would I want a man to go forth on my behalf, when I have Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, to act as my Great High Priest? Christ alone, my friends. There is nothing between the Father and I, thanks to the sacrifice of Christ. Solus Christus!