If you can't beat 'em

I'm currently watching the NFC Championship Game, which at the moment looks to be going to the Vikings or to OT. And, for the first time, I am really, honestly, interested in who wins.

It's not that I didn't grow up around football. Please, no one grows up in Texas completely unfamiliar with what in Texas is THE sport, not even if they spent their entire high school career scurrying between backstage and on stage. I just never cared.

And then . . . I got married.

Everyone has advice for you when they find out you are getting married, some helpful, some less than. So I felt reasonably prepared for the onslaught of adjustments par for the course in navigating the early years of our life together. Football, I have to confess, was not one I anticipated. In retrospect, I probably should have. All the signs were certainly there. But every Sunday . . . for months . . two or three games a day . . . and the occasionally yelling at the TV? Not prepared for that.

So I decided really early on that if it was going to be on TV, I might as well learn all about the game. After a (probably highly annoying) couple of months asking a hundred questions, I got it down. I know what a turnover on downs is. I can match quarterbacks to teams for nearly the entire NFL. I can recognize the motions for the penalties. Heck, I can name most, if not all, of the Cowboys offense - by position!!

And somewhere along the way, my marital adjustment became a new hobby.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. You may find out you like it!

(Oh, and we're now in OT)

I can explain

To begin with, please note the date of my last post and the date of this one. Secondly, please note that the fall semester extends from . . . mid August to mid December. Apparently 12 hours of graduate level classes, 24-30 hours of associated homework, and 20-22 hours of work does not allot much time for "roaming around in my own mental playground" as my friend Cary so cleverly put it.

So, here we go again. Posts certainly won't be daily, but I plan to shoot for weekly. I think blogging and putting some thoughts down on "paper" will be good for both making sense of all the thoughts rolling around in my head as well as promoting some non-academic thought. And both are greatly needed!!! Besides, I truly do enjoy it (I'm sure a good deal more than others enjoy reading it : )

Here's what is rolling around in my head today.

I discovered yesterday that I'm becoming my father.

I had several errands to run, one of which was to have some lab work done. The lady who works at the lab I use for such delightful errands always seems . . . sad. Or concerned. Or something. But in all my time going there, I don't think I have ever seen her smile. So yesterday I made it my mission to infuse her day with enough cheer to elicit one. I got it, and I left feeling like I accomplished more than a chore on my list.

When I was a kid, Dad used to drive me to school. And nearly every morning we would play the same game - he would spend the entire drive trying to get me to smile. It was as if he considered it his personal mission to have me leave the truck with a smile to start the day. And he always succeeded. Even the one legendary morning when I managed to make him forget the game, I announced my triumph . . . with a smile. I can't count the times when I've seen him go to great lengths to make anyone and everyone smile.

So, I think I'm becoming my father. Looking for every opportunity to share the joy of Christ in ways both big and small. I take no personal credit on this one - I simply follow the example of the master from whom I learned.

One year, and counting!

This last Sunday Tim and I celebrated our first anniversary! We spent the weekend in Journey's Inn, a delightful bed and breakfast owned a managed by a dear friend. (If you are looking for a relaxing weekend away, you should DEFINITELY stay at this charming place!) We slept in, ate out, watched movies, worked puzzles, played board games, and were simply . . . together. No computer, no cell phones, no homework, no e-mail, nothing. It was marvelous. As I start my Masters program in less than two weeks, this was the deep breath before the plunge. And I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

Someone new to Abilene recently asked me what I did for fun. When I started to answer her, I realized that I was a bit embarrassed that it wasn't anything more exciting than watching movies, working crosswords, playing board games, cooking for friends, and occasionally eating out. And I guess by most standards my life is, well, boring. But honestly, I am perfectly content with my life, and the wonderful man I've shared it with for the last year.

So here's to boring married life! One year down, and many more to go.

My New Favorite Quote

My friend and fellow minister recently posted this quote on his blog.

"God is looking for those with whom He can do the impossible - What a pity that we plan things we can only do by ourselves." - A.W. Tozer

What does God want to do in your life and ministry?

Collapse and Contentment

The unthinkable happened last week.  My computer wouldn't boot up.  I turned it off and everything went exactly as it normally did.  When I tried to turn it back on, nothing doing.

  

Being the relatively technologically illiterate person that I am, I immediately took it to my good friend and technical assistance person on campus.  He said he'd try to resuscitate it for me and call me that evening.  When the phone rang, I experienced a series of emotions that I imagine experiencing in greater magnitude when awaiting test results from a doctor.  And in this case, the diagnosis was bad.  Not only was the computer completely fried, but all the data contained on it was gone.

All my music, gone.

All my pictures from Australia, gone.

All documents from my college career, gone.

It was devastating.  I probably cried for at least twenty minutes, grieving the loss of my intellectual property and memories contained on what was now a useless collection of metal and plastic pieces.  Grieving my lack of follow through on my long standing intention to back everything up.  Grieving the loss of the hours of work that had been contained on the computer.  Grieving my trust in a piece of technology I always knew wasn't intended to last forever.  

A few days (and the recovery of my data by John "Miracle Worker" Ashinhurst) later, I've regained a great deal of perspective.  For one, it no longer seems as it did in the moment, that a large part of my world had been lost.  Granted, my old files should be loaded on our new computer tonight so I've no longer lost what I thought I had.  But I've done some serious thinking on my attachment to and dependence on the things that I own.  

Soon after we got the bad news, my husband was praying and thanking God for all the things that we did have.  And all I could think was "But I don't want to be thankful right now!  I want to be upset!"  Apparently my level of gratitude depended more upon what I thought I should have than what I did have.  Which was a disquieting realization.

Lessons Learned:

- Trust in what promises to last forever, for only the love of God truly never fails

- Be grateful, for there is always more that I do have than don't have

- Just in case, back up your documents!

Coming Home

Over the holiday weekend my husband and I visited my parents. Coming back to the town I grew up in, all the things that have changed stand out vividly. At the moment, there are many such things since the new Dallas Cowboys stadium was completed just minutes away from the house I grew up in. New businesses are popping up, old buildings have disappeared, and the entire look of that side has been changed by the gargantuan stadium.

At the same time, the town is comforting in its familiarity. I can get places without thinking, my hands guiding the car on autopilot (this drives my husband crazy since when he is driving I occasionally forget to warn him about the next turn). I've been around town so many times in the past 20 years that there are stories and memories at every corner.

But this last weekend, while driving down a street I've been down many times before, I noticed a new restaurant. When I asked my mom about it, she replied that it had been there for a long time, years in fact. For some reason in all that time I just hadn't noticed.

Scripture to me is like coming home. There are parts I'm less familiar with, that seem new and strange at times. Much of Scripture is comforting in its familiarity, those passages that I return to again and again that breathe life into my soul. And then there are those times when while reading something I've read countless times before I see something entirely new. And I wonder, "Has that always been there?"

I should come home more often.

Taste and See

I spent a great deal of this past weekend holding, playing with, watching, and loving on my six month old niece Kate. She's reaching that precious stage where she is beginning to explore and respond to her environment. She laughs and smiles in response to your antics. Her world is full of wonders and new things to see. And often to taste, as most new things her hands pick up also end up in her mouth. Hygienic, no. Cute, yes.

In her developing world of sensory experience, each new thing is an adventure in and of itself. Blankets, puppies, and hair are all patted and stroked as new textures present themselves. Shiny pieces of jewelry are cause for a thoughtful stare. The discovery the a toy makes noise when shaken is cause for excitement and laughter. There is no agenda to her exploration, only enjoyment.

How soon we lose that! Perhaps babies are so captivating because we long for those days when things were enjoyed for their own sake, not for their utility, their rarity, or their status. Those days when each new thing is an adventure rather than an annoying interruption to our schedule or something else to be conquered and managed.

The Psalmist tells us to "taste and see that the Lord is good". To experience God hands on. So much off my life is intellectually oriented. I think, I plan, I analyze, I disect, I conclude. I do these things with Scripture, with theology, and with my own faith. But how rarely do I experience the world around me in ways that point me back to the Creator and Sustainer.

So today, I'm going to notice the trees when I walk to my car and thank God for the shade they provide. I'm going to take a quiet moment to listen to the birds and remember how the Lord takes care of them. I'm going to savor the taste of dinner with my husband and remember that the Lord joins us there.

I'm going to pay attention, because Kate has reminded me just how much I might be missing.