Fo Shizzle

Someone got me to thinking today about "The Office" and some of my favorite quotes. So many are so funny. When I first started watching the show, it just wasn't all that funny to me. I quit watching after the first couple of episodes. Then I started watching again with a friend, and it grew on me. The friend deserted me, but the show didn't. I went back and rented the previous episodes and caught up. Oh my gosh, I can't believe how much of the show was so real. Aside from the usual office escapades, the whole Jim-Pam thing, well, déjà vu so many times. Some of the same exact dialogue!

Eyeleen and I started watching together and I just clung to the laughter and tried to ignore the irony. What's the deal with that anyway?

We'll talk another time. Maybe in the comments. Don't wanna hear it? Don't wanna know? Don't go to the comments.

Is my life really this ridiculous?! For sure.

Alrighty. I Hear You.

After my "What To Do" post...

May 20 Devotional Scripture:

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here I am. Send me!" ~ Isaiah 6:8

May 29 Devotional:

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out...not knowing where he was going... ~ Hebrews 11:8-9

"Lord, if Abraham could follow You through a major change in his life, so can I. Grant me, Lord, the courage and vision of Abraham. Build my faith through this experience of stepping out without having all the details nailed down. I want to do the right thing, but I need clarification from You as to what that might be. Please show me the difference between a foolish decision and a faithful decision, and help me act on the faith you've given me."

Reminiscing: William Faulkner

I read "As I Lay Dying" in jr high school. I'll think I'll put it on my list of things to read (or read again) this summer. And I'll fondly remember Mr. Anderson, my 8th grade English teacher. "Dive on out!"

I just read and was reminded of Faulkner's "stream of consciousness" writing. That is SOOOOOO me.

"Stream of consciousness is a literary technique which seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose internal interior monologue, or in connection to his or her sensory reactions to external ocurrences." From Wikipedia

And is that ever soooooo blogging!!

As I Lay Dying

Coup de grâce - Stroke of grace (or mercy). A final blow or shot given to kill a wounded person or animal.

Yeah.

From wiktionary: Note that if said with a silent "s" sound, and thus, "coup de gras", this will come to mean "Stroke of fat" so it is proper to say the "s" sound on "coup de grâCE".

I'm just saying.

Hey Friendship

"...Now you know. Your girl or your boy, who you thought was your best friend, your road dog, your true blue, has shown his or her true colors leaving you standing looking stupid, hurt and betrayed in his or her dust. Now what? Once you go through the initial hurt, pain, suffering and all the other emotions that come with being deceived, it dawns on you that you have a decision to make. Do you allow this person to remain in your inner circle? Chances are if you were as close to this person as most of us are with our best friends, he or she probably was your inner circle. Are you ready to sever the tie? Do you want to forgive and move past this indiscretion and make an attempt to salvage the relationship?

...there is an art to friendship just as there is with all relationships. It is truly a give and take situation to make it work...So, for those of you out there with strong intimate friendships, cherish them, protect them, enjoy them, and more importantly don't take them for granted. Because one day, the other half of the friendship circle could get a wild hair, and flip out, and play their stupid card. To this I say "oh holder of the stupid card", think long and hard before you make the dumbest move of your life. Sometimes people do things and lose people and relationships in their lives that can never ever be replaced. They are usually one of a kind relationships. So before you make the final decision to go through with this ultimate act of betrayal, just know that this just might be it for your antics, the true "coup de gras." [sic] You just may be losing the person and or the relationship forever. There may be no turning back."

~Rica, Associated Content, The People's Media Company

What To Do, What To Do

Alisa is home from college for the summer. She's decided now to look for a summer job. She's going to substitute teach in Jasper for the next couple of weeks, will teach dance and gymnastic classes for a couple of weeks, is going to Montreal for a week and planning a trip to Hilton Head with friends, but she's realizing that since her paycheck from her job at IU has stopped, there's not much cash for gas, fun, etc.

Oh and Indiana University is now forever in her past. She just didn't like it there. She' been accepted at Vincennes University and accepted to the nursing program there. (Nursing? That's a-whole-nother story!) She very excited that she made the dance team, so she's a Blazerette! HOWEVER, now she's not so sure about going to VU. She's applied to USI, with her Dad's blessing, where her heart (boyfriend) is. And I'm trying to talk her OUT of the nursing thing. Are we failing her as parents?...you might think.

We'll see. In the meantime, I read this article in RELEVANT Magazine that made me think of Alisa at first. Then I started to realize that with all of the floundering I've been doing lately, maybe I could learn something valuable from this also. Here's an excerpt:

By being open-minded about what I consider enjoyable, I could end up somewhere unexpected. Who knows? That unexpected place may end up becoming the right job. The book Keys to Liberal Arts Success (Figler, Carter, Bishop & Kravits) cites stories of students like Elsa Rousseau, who graduated with a sociology degree and now heads up the marketing department of a real estate and banking firm. “They hired me because there was an energy and compatibility between us,” Rousseau wrote (p. 242). “It wouldn’t have mattered if I were a dance major.”

It was helpful for me to find this information and think about my past experiences, but the best advice I received during my period of searching was from my sister, Lindsay. She had heard a sermon about not dwelling on past accomplishments, but instead focusing on what is most important to a hopeful future— becoming more like Jesus. She read part of Philippians 3:12 to me: “I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be.” I will never have the perfect plan or make the perfect decision in my life, but I can have this peace: God has brought me to where I am, and He will never leave me.

There is a point when staying in one place causes people to stagnate. Even though it would feel comfortable if I kept working for my college newspaper or stayed in school until something better came along, I would never learn to take a risk. Even worse, I would never learn to put my trust in God.

I've been thinking (and praying) alot about God's plan for my life, for awhile now. There are a couple of things that keep coming back to me, but nothing definite about changing jobs or leaving Jasper. Just some thoughts about my heart's desires and serving Christ...and being able to live for Him without all of these frustrations and heartaches. I have a lot of garbage getting in the way and some of it I just can't seem to get past.

So I am opening up my mind and my heart to possibly leaving some comforts--my home, my church, familiarity in my job, friends--to entertain the idea of a new home, a new church family, a new job that will pay more, which will ease financial burdens, new friends and acquaintances that might open up opportunities to help others and serve Christ more and better. I just might make God more pleased with me, my attitude, and my work for Him. Some of this garbage may get left behind so that I can return to the real me. The me that was always nice, sweet, and pleasant. Where is she?

I'm looking for her and, finally, accepting that she's still inside me, just may be stagnant and stuck in the miry pit. If I have to let go of some good stuff in order to clear out the clutter, that might just be what needs to happen.

As we go down life's lonesome highway
Seems the hardest thing to do is to find a friend or two
A helping hand--someone who understands
That when you feel you've lost your way
You've got someone there to say, I'll show you

~ Lionel Richie ~ Say You, Say Me

For DiAn...and you...and me

He is able...to run to the cry of...those who are being tempted and tested and tried.
Hebrews 2:18 AMP

Jesus was angry enough to purge the temple, hungry enough to eat raw grain, distraught enough to weep in public, fun loving enough to attract kids, weary enough to sleep in a storm-bounced boat, poor enough to sleep on dirt and borrow a coin for a sermon, radical enough to get kicked out of town, responsible enough to care for his mother, tempted enough to know the smell of Satan, and fearful enough to sweat blood.

But why? Why would heaven's finest Son endure earth's toughest pain? So you would know that "he is able...to run to the cry of...those who are being tempted and tested and tried."

Whatever you are facing, He knows how you feel.

~Grace For the Moment, Vol II, April 30 by Max Lucado

Nothing Works Well Without Him, Nothing Ever Will

Sometimes in a relationship, we can be so caught up in our feelings for the other person that we squeeze God into the background. It becomes a confusing emotional mess, and we wonder why God isn’t giving us more direction, when all the while he is there waiting to be allowed back into first place in our hearts.

~ When God Writes Your Love Story by Eric Ludy

Are you in a relationship that is God-inspired? Are you asking God for direction in your life, in your relationship? Do you truly want Him to be in control? We Christians know that God must be our main priority. Some of his “directions” we KNOW, we just have to obey; some we have to continually seek.

In the book, When God Writes Your Love Story, the author, Eric Ludy, has a conversation with his girlfriend’s father. He’s not completely comfortable talking to him about their relationship, but he just wants her dad to know that his intentions are honorable. He gets this response: “One of the ways I know your friendship... is from God is because ever since you have been in her life, I’ve seen her only draw closer to God.”

What a big responsibility you have to someone that you let in to your life. You must nurture the other person’s relationship with Christ, as well as have him/her help you draw closer to God. It’s not just the two of you. God must be in the equation and He must be the common denominator and the predominant factor in both of your lives. There can be no debate on this.

If you’re in a serious relationship that is not God-inspired, it might happen all too frequently that God is an afterthought or a second-thought in your life. Do you get caught up in the emotional and physical thrill and forget to consider what you know to be God’s direction, or you sometimes choose not to consider Him at all? It’s got to be all or nothing with God. You can’t pick and choose when you let Him in.

As Christians we must stay in close touch with our Heavenly Father and continually seek His wisdom and His guidance for our lives. We must honor Him in all things, in all ways. Nothing works well without Him. Nothing ever will.

“Not without design does God write the music of our lives. Be it ours to learn the tune and not be dismayed at the ‘rests.’ They are not to be slurred over, not to be omitted, not to destroy the melody, not to change the keynote. If we look up, God himself will beat the time for us. With the eye on Him, we shall strike the next note full and clear.

If we sadly say to ourselves, ‘There is no music in a rest,’ let us not forget there is the making of music in it. The making of music is often a slow and painful process in this life. How patiently God works to teach us. How long He waits for us to learn the lesson.”

~Ruskin

Send A Revival

Search me, O God, and know my heart today
Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray
See if there be some wicked way in me
Cleanse me from every sin and set me free

I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin
Fulfill Thy Word and make me pure within
Fill me with fire where once I burned with shame
Grant my desire to magnify Thy Name

...Take all my will, my passion, self, and pride

~ J Edwin Orr