Little Birdie

Matthew starts his account of the gospel by delineating Jesus’ genealogy. I think that’s cool.

It reminds me that God ordered the entire universe. He ordered exactly who would beget whom, and the number of begets (3 rounds of 14, as it turns out…) it would take to reach the time ordained by Him for the Savior to come.

It reminds me that it’s not all about me. Surprising, isn’t it? Whatever my choices, whatever my sin, whatever my behavior, it’s all in God’s hands. Whatever the nation decides, God uses in His plan. Was God surprised when Obama was elected? No. The heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord.

It reminds me that God knows the plans He has for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future. Did all those people before Jesus know that they were in the ancestral line of the Savior? Probably not all of them. But God knew, and despite their humanity, because He is good and his love endures forever, He worked it out. And He’ll work it out for me–and you–for His glory.

God Transforms

Responsibility into an ability to respond….

Expectation into expectancy….

Disappointment into hope….

Dread into anticipation….

Sorrow into joy….

My mindset into His.

I have been blessed in my job tremendously in that even though I’m the newest person on staff, I have a window office. Now, my office is on the first floor and there is a significant amount of natural green space surrounding it. It’s a nice campus. But as we all know, with natural space comes a nice little side benefit–NATURE. Bees, grasshoppers, birds of all sizes and shapes, squirrels, and innumerable other critters. And for some reason, they REALLY LIKE MY WINDOW.
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I just finished reading The Shack, and it has called into question how I relate to God–all three of Him.

Now, I normally hate reading “God-help” books, and despise “Self-help” books. They make me feel hopeless and magnify my inability to live up to whatever standards are laid out in the book. I can count the number of those books I have actually finished reading on one finger. I only pressed through that one because it was a book on marriage and well, I was about to get married and had NO CLUE what to do. And guess what–it didn’t help.
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If you’re wondering where I’ve been the last month or so, I started a new job on June 2nd. Check it out–I have a title and everything.

It’s been a big change, and change is hard. I am the type to give myself to whatever I’m involved in (after I accept the change, anyway). Seven years at my first job out of college is a sizable emotional investment.
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Training. Healthy eating. A good night’s sleep. Focus. Excitement.

All of these things would have been really good to have for my very first 5K. But I didn’t have a single one of them. Quite the opposite: I probably got out to train twice the entire month before the run. I did manage to eat healthy the day before and day of the run, but the entire month before I think I spent twice my normal allowance on fast food. The night before, I surely meant to get to bed by 9, but I didn’t manage to slide under the covers until after midnight. Focus? HA! Excitement? Bah HUMBUG!
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My husband and I own rental properties. It’s been quite an adventure–fun at times; other times…not so much.

Take yesterday for example. I get a frantic call from a tenant: “Hey Miss Kathy, is there something wrong with our well pump or something?”

Oh. Man. Take it from me; as a landlord, you NEVER want to get that call. In the words of Short Round, “hang on lady, we going for a ride.”

The result? 245 feet of pipe, $300 worth of well pump, 10 hours, and 5 very, very wet people.

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Reading Ben’s very thought-provoking post on Christianese has turned my brain on. I love the tongue-in-cheek writing style, and I LOL’d (is that really pronounced lawled?) because I tend to easily fall into those exact traditions of “holiness” (are you really saved if you don’t use “pour out Your Spirit from the heavenlies” at least once per prayer?).
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Yes, the secret is out. I am insane. By definition, insanity is repeating the same behavior and expecting a different result.

The last few nights I’ve been having nightmares. I often have vivid dreams, and when I’m stressed the dreams respond in kind. Last night I dreamt there was a huge crawly thing skittering across my wall over my head. I woke up on the other side of the room staring wildly up at an empty wall with my hand gripping the doorknob.
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When we last left our hero on February 12th, I had announced to hyperblagspaceworld that I had started running again, and it was going less than stellar. Well, after I recovered from my shin splints, I started up again, only to fall flat on my ass (actually it was more like my knee) and twist my ankle less than a week later. Good thing nobody was watching, but I assume it was pretty funny. I mean, I even laughed at myself. Through the tears, of course. I was so frustrated! I limped back home, iced it down, and hoped for the best.
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