"SILVERWARE FOUND! CEREAL EATEN PROPERLY!"
(I have to admit, before finding the silverware I thought about using the flat-headed screwdriver part of my Swiss Army knife to eat each individual Crispix bite, then I thought I'd use my icec ream scoop, then I decided my mouth wasn't big enough so I opted for the coffee scoop instead. Thanks to all you concerned and caring folk who were thinking about getting me some silverware!)
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Monday, June 19, 2006
Friday, June 16, 2006
House Warming Boy Scout Style
In this time of crazy uncertainty and change, there are a few things that are sure to be anchors of hope…The grace of God made manifest through 1) the kindness and generosity of His saints and, 2) the reliable camaraderie of a good Swiss Army knife.
In a weeks time I’ve gone from doing my first thorough search for a new place to live, to interviewing at one place, to securing the housing. A week to the day from looking at the place I moved in, which brings this harried search to lasting a grand total of eleven days—under 2 weeks. In that amount og time I have learned the following:
1) Be nice to your friends and maybe they’ll help you look for a place to live.
2) All I own are clothes and books.
3) Except for the cut out art and pictures I hung on my walls.
4) Never hang anything with photo corners.
5) Never hang anything with packaging tape.
6) Friends are here to keep you humble and to remind you never to hang anything with photo corners or packaging tape.
7) God will provide a place to live (through Sue, Der, and Wilbur).
8) God will provide a bed, table, and chairs (through the Taylors).
9) God will provide a nice white lamp (through the Grants).
10) God will provide…and when He does…
11) Be nice to your friends and maybe they’ll help you move.
All of this has been shown through the kind graces of kingdom saints. But there comes the time when I’m left with all this stuff, in boxes, in an unfamiliar place and an overwhelming apprehension floods over me. So I pulled out the God-provided (through Mrs. Tan) bread roll and decided to bake a little bread. There’s nothing that cures dread like some good, focused productivity, and we all know that the best kind of productivity is centered around food!
The bread is done. The search begins for something to cut it with. Thought process:
1) Drat! Everything is packed!
2) No, my forks, spoons, and butter knife are still at the other place.
3) A butter knife is no good any way.
4) I have nothing to cut this yummy chicken-stuffed bread with.
5) Key chain pocket knife?
6) SWISS ARMY KNIFE!
I knew I had seen it in one of the open boxes…some where. Scramble. No luck. Found it! (sigh) Ahhh. The memories flooded in…every where this faithful knife has been with me…AAAHH! Quick, SOAP—need anti-bacterial soap! IT'S BOXED UP!!
Thought: “I’m gunna die from putrefied-10-year-encrusted fish gut bacteria or something!”
But as I was rinsing the knife under extremely hot water, wiping it thoroughly with the one towel I could find, I was thinking about all the places I’ve been, all the memories a simple little tool from Switzerland can evoke, and all the apprehension of newness and unfamiliarity melted away.
I have been through this before and each time I am reminded of the greatest gifts God gives through the simple graces of His kind saints and the small comforts of a ready Swiss Army knife. And when I ate that ruggedly sliced chicken-stuffed bread my thought was:
God is good.
In a weeks time I’ve gone from doing my first thorough search for a new place to live, to interviewing at one place, to securing the housing. A week to the day from looking at the place I moved in, which brings this harried search to lasting a grand total of eleven days—under 2 weeks. In that amount og time I have learned the following:
1) Be nice to your friends and maybe they’ll help you look for a place to live.
2) All I own are clothes and books.
3) Except for the cut out art and pictures I hung on my walls.
4) Never hang anything with photo corners.
5) Never hang anything with packaging tape.
6) Friends are here to keep you humble and to remind you never to hang anything with photo corners or packaging tape.
7) God will provide a place to live (through Sue, Der, and Wilbur).
8) God will provide a bed, table, and chairs (through the Taylors).
9) God will provide a nice white lamp (through the Grants).
10) God will provide…and when He does…
11) Be nice to your friends and maybe they’ll help you move.
All of this has been shown through the kind graces of kingdom saints. But there comes the time when I’m left with all this stuff, in boxes, in an unfamiliar place and an overwhelming apprehension floods over me. So I pulled out the God-provided (through Mrs. Tan) bread roll and decided to bake a little bread. There’s nothing that cures dread like some good, focused productivity, and we all know that the best kind of productivity is centered around food!
The bread is done. The search begins for something to cut it with. Thought process:
1) Drat! Everything is packed!
2) No, my forks, spoons, and butter knife are still at the other place.
3) A butter knife is no good any way.
4) I have nothing to cut this yummy chicken-stuffed bread with.
5) Key chain pocket knife?
6) SWISS ARMY KNIFE!
I knew I had seen it in one of the open boxes…some where. Scramble. No luck. Found it! (sigh) Ahhh. The memories flooded in…every where this faithful knife has been with me…AAAHH! Quick, SOAP—need anti-bacterial soap! IT'S BOXED UP!!
Thought: “I’m gunna die from putrefied-10-year-encrusted fish gut bacteria or something!”
But as I was rinsing the knife under extremely hot water, wiping it thoroughly with the one towel I could find, I was thinking about all the places I’ve been, all the memories a simple little tool from Switzerland can evoke, and all the apprehension of newness and unfamiliarity melted away.
I have been through this before and each time I am reminded of the greatest gifts God gives through the simple graces of His kind saints and the small comforts of a ready Swiss Army knife. And when I ate that ruggedly sliced chicken-stuffed bread my thought was:
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
The Universal Tight-Rope Act
I’m preparing for an upcoming move. I’m in between. It’s a weird little stage--creating more loose ends than tying up. There's so much unceasing urgency. I fell that I've finished as well as I could with this last season of life, but beginning well in the next has always been a rather un-balancing act for me. My move is both a physical change of location and a practical change of calling. Everything seems so uncertain, unstable; a tight-rope walk that is both incredibly intimidating with every step yet spectacularly invigorating as I can see some distant end in sight. I know not whether the next step will hold me up or cause me to slip.
I recall a quote from a play I was once in, "Hope and the world hopes with you. Despair and you despair alone." It seems subjectively true. The very nature of hope is more widely inclusive, more diversely encompassing. While despair is a solitary confinement from any semblance of relation, any hint of sympathy. Why must there be such extremes?
I invite you to click here to follow what my dear friend, Jayme, has observed on this very reflection. It is from her that my introductory lilt and content are mimicked, and it is to her that I extend my utmost thanks for initiating this pensive session.
I recall a quote from a play I was once in, "Hope and the world hopes with you. Despair and you despair alone." It seems subjectively true. The very nature of hope is more widely inclusive, more diversely encompassing. While despair is a solitary confinement from any semblance of relation, any hint of sympathy. Why must there be such extremes?
I invite you to click here to follow what my dear friend, Jayme, has observed on this very reflection. It is from her that my introductory lilt and content are mimicked, and it is to her that I extend my utmost thanks for initiating this pensive session.