And breath...

Yesterday my husband decided to clean out a closet. And that was the end of the day. About 12 hours later every room had been purged and cleaned in one form or another. I didn't get anything done that I wanted to do but I did get done the things I needed to do and that is much more important. Now I can focus on the things I want to do, which have become things I need to do, and I can do them with much less distraction.

Before that though, I take some time to just breath. This really is the calm before the second storm of the second semester. Life gets busy after today and will slow down some time in June. So I sit in my clean house, doing a little bit of what I want to do as I nurse a stomach and head ache. I think I have just plum worn myself out. Nothing to pick up. Nothing to scrub. No more loathing. 

Just breathing...

Books

Reading: "The Scarlet Thread" by Francine Rivers (I'm hooked on Rivers!)

My mom brought me this one but I already had it. :) Yay Mom!

Getting ready to read: "Never Say Diet" by Chantel Hobes.

From my mom. She always knows what will be good for me.

It is almost midnight and I'm sitting on my computer "unwinding" for a few minutes. After a busy day with a pretty sick kid I need a few minutes to myself before I can go to sleep. But as I sit here my mind reels with the thoughts of so many people I know who are going through a lot of transition in life, big and small... Only it seems to me that there are more big transitions than small and a lot of these people are leaders among their peers and so it seems that the support for some has been pulled out from under them... After all, who supports the legs of the table when they get tired? 

I don't know... I can't help but wonder what God has in store for all of these people when there are so many attacks from Satan that are so evident and seem to be happening all at the same time. I have never really known a situation that seemed so individually collective. I know that sounds contradictory but I can't list out everyone's situations because that would be bad form, I think. But I can tell you that out of 10 families I know in Portland alone, all of them are facing serious personal transition let alone the transition that most churches are going through and the transition in some of their jobs, which affects half of those families. I'm talking about serious illness, economic insecurity, emotional turmoil, loss of loved ones, spiritual starvation and overwhelming depression. 

At first I didn't know why I was writing about this, but it just occurred to me. Please be in prayer for people around you, for yourself, for your ministers and leaders. Please be on your knees for your family: your parents, your husband or wife, your kids, your friends. Please ask the Lord for guidance and security in your faith, your relationships, your health and your job. And think of those around you, that they too can benefit from the power of the Almighty God.

Psalm 3

A psalm of David, regarding the time David fled from his son Absalom.

 1 O Lord, I have so many enemies;

      so many are against me.

 2 So many are saying,

      “God will never rescue him!”

                         

 3 But you, O Lord, are a shield around me;

      you are my glory, the one who holds my head high.

 4 I cried out to the Lord,

      and he answered me from his holy mountain.

                       

 5 I lay down and slept,

      yet I woke up in safety,

      for the Lord was watching over me.

 6 I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies

      who surround me on every side.

 7 Arise, O Lord!

      Rescue me, my God!

   Slap all my enemies in the face!

      Shatter the teeth of the wicked!

 8 Victory comes from you, O Lord.

      May you bless your people.

Writing it on my heart...

"Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, 

who loved us and by his grace 

gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, 

comfort you and strengthen you 

in every good thing you do and say."

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

There are a lot of my people around me who are going through some tough stuff in life. This is not abnormal... everyone deals with something... but it seems to me that when someone or a group of people are on the verge of GREATNESS, Satan strikes the hardest.

Please know that I as I pray for those I know are having a tough time, I think of you as I remember this verse. 

Mac is back!

Every once in a while something happens that you don't expect and you're not quite sure how to respond. The sequence of events seems logical and plans are made and pennies are saved and you expect that what you get is equally as logical. And those stricken with the worst luck on the planet add one variable... the BIG X. That's the one thing that you know is going to go wrong, so you plan on the one wrong thing. 

In September I dropped my Mac. This was predictable on my part. Not a surprise, I should say. And after six months of learning a lesson, planning, penny saving and careful consideration I took my Macbook to the Apple Store to be shipped and fixed. This was also predictable. Who buys a laptop, brakes it and says, "Oh well, better luck next time,"? So three days into the "7-10 day waiting period" I get a call that says, "We must replace the main logic board. It will cost $755.00. Please call us and authorize the repair." (Again, predictable.) "Sure," I say, and they commence repair. Then today I get a phone call, "Your Macbook is ready to be picked up." And as you can imagine, I was sort of delighted in the idea of tap, tap tapping on my little keyboard again and so we got dinner, gathered ourselves and our pennies (by this time converted to dollars) and headed to the Apple Store. Predictability is written all over this scenario, right? 

I walk into the store, wait the general 5 minutes for a store employee to ask what they can do for me and I hand them my little slip and ask for my computer. "Will that be cash or credit?" they ask and after my response the lady says, "Oh, well you come stand here please," and off she went. I talked RAM and operating system with a clerk like I knew what I was saying and after a few minutes the other clerk came out with my little Macbook. "This is the one," and "thank you so much," and we commenced the payment process. I took out my little envelope getting ready to pay and then it happened... the BIG X. You know you're in for a surprise when the clerk looks puzzled and asks for some help, while looking at a screen you can't see. "Why is this ringing out as zero?" was the whispered question. "Hmm... let me check," says the other guy and whisks away for a few minutes. After a few minutes he came back and said with a big smile on his face, "There is no mistake here. It looks like this repair will cost you nothing. You are free to walk out of here with all of your seven hundred fifty five dollars if you'd like." 

Yeah. I had to catch my breath. Then I had to gather my wits. Now I had the money for another "gig of RAM" and I picked a pretty pink cushioned case... Several of the clerks were as happy for me at this point as they were sad for me back in September when it was evident that it would be a costly repair. The store was a buzz of the good fortune of this young lady. And to top it off, the RAM rang up 100 dollars less than the sticker price. 

I don't know whether this nice surprise makes up for all of the other bad luck I have had in life, but it sure makes me think twice about having the worst luck... that it's not about luck at all. That is a topic for another blog. For now, I'm happy to have my computer back. The lesson learned is well deserved and remembered.