Kung Fu God

Lately, I've been doing a lot of thinking. It's been a strange week. It happens.

Today, I started to work on the lesson for Sunday. I know, a little late in the game, but hey not too late...it isn't Sunday. We are going to watch the movie Kung Fu Panda. Now, I've seen this movie with my 5-year old niece. She liked it a lot.

How is it that we can learn from the smallest of things around us? I'm not always sure, but then again, I'm positive I know. God is in everything.

This story about a panda who thought he knew what he wanted, but didn't think he could accomplish it. Soon, he did. He had to keep practicing. He had support and mostly, he started to believe.

There's times that I question myself and my abilities. I start to wonder, if I'm doing alright. I sometimes feel as though I might be failing. However, I have to stop and smell the rice.

I have to really have it slapped in my face from God. That God has given us these abilities. We are God's instruments. God will guide us through and won't let us completely drown. After all, Jesus can walk on water. Jesus will help us.

I read the story of Moses today. He stands before God and says that he cannot talk to the people. This always blows me away. I mean, God is there telling him to do this. Obviously, if God is saying do this...there's a reason. Yes, it would be scary, but God wouldn't push you to do this if you weren't able.

I say, that I can't believe the audacity of Moses and saying, "no not me, get my brother" (loosely quoted). But, I think back, and I think of those times, that I have stood before God and said, "no not me...get someone else." How will we in our lives start saying, "Yes Lord. You have blessed me with these gifts. I will glorify You!"

Warning: Eeyore Content Included

I'm at the office right now. Usually, I enjoy it. However, lately, I haven't been.

The same thing kind of applies to a few things. There's a lot of good things going on right now, but again, there's times that I'm not enjoying things.

It's really just through the week while I'm at the office, sometimes, when I'm around certain friends, but that's about it. The rest of the time, I'm so on fire and just so joyous.

Why is this? I'm not really sure. When, I'm around the children, youth, and others, I'm usually really happy.

I think it's mostly because in my office, there's not a lot of social interaction.

It's weird, I need more people, but, also, less.

This sounds so nutty.

Maybe, I'm nuts. Right now, I just want to curl up in a ball and cry. But, not really.

There's so many people that want something from me. I'm afraid that I can't deliver. Sigh.

How Spiderman Shops

Today has been an amazing day. I arrived at church, all the sunday school classes were covered, my nursery workers were there, and the plans for the day were already in action. I taught the B & F class. It was really amazing dialogue. We discussed community and what that means, fears that can inact us from being a productive community, and a lot of other things. I was really excited that it wasn't just me talking but we were talking with each other. It was great, they actually had me in there the whole entire time talking!

Worship was a lot of fun. Jason and Jennifer made me laugh...long story with that as well. Jason had me rolling, so when I got up to lead the affirmation of faith, I was really enthusiastic sounding. I'm hoping the adults just thought there was just joy in my voice. The youth knew I was trying not to laugh. The children's lesson went really well. We were talking about mistakes and forgiveness. So, I drew a picture of a stick figure with a pencil. I had drawn the face with the mouth and the eyes switched. So, I had to fix it. So, we talked about how God forgives our little mistakes and will always be there with us. Then, I read the scripture today and Jennifer made me laugh so, again I read with enthusiasm!

I just loved how the day started. I will say children's council did meet...that was kind of a low for the day. It was definately more tolerable than usual. Then, Shannon and I set up for the prayer stations. Then, we all played Mad Gabs, which is hiliarious to play. Then, we went down to the 3C's room. I was so proud of my youth. They did such a great job in worshipping and taking the stations seriously. In fact, they were really impressed by them.

It was neat at the end, we ended up circling up and praying. The music in the background changed to As I went Down in the River to pray. They all began to sing it. It was so amazing to see them so actively participate. It's been really neat to see them all mature and grow in their faith.

They all even helped pick up the room. They totally rocked tonight!

Then, I got to talk with a couple of great friends tonight. It was just a great day. I'm looking forward to the week. I think it is going to be one of God's best blessings yet.

On a different note, this is just funny.

How Spiderman Does His Shopping - neat site with funny stories

Customer: “Excuse me, where is the exit to the street?”
Me: “Take the escalator down to the first floor and go out any of the doors.”
Customer: “Down? I have to go down? But I came in on this floor.”
Me: “Ma’am, this is the 3rd floor.”
Customer: “But I came in on this floor.”
Me: “That’s impossible, this is the 3rd floor. ”
Customer: “Are you sure? I swear I came in on this floor. And you know, the customer is always right. ”
Me: “Unless you scaled the building to get in, I am right on this one.”

Now, I wouldn't be me if I didn't tie this into something. I've totally seen this at church. The members always think it's better to do something like you've always done in the past. The notorious statement: We've never done it like that before. It's almost the same as And, you know the customer is always right.

That's not always true. Sometimes, people do make mistakes. That's why God forgives and we should too. We need to understand that we shouldn't keep a record of all the wrongs. The truth is God made us human. We have free will...we're gonna screw up now and then. That's what makes life so beautiful.

what happens when you have nighttime medicine

The other night, I realized..."Hmmm. I'm becoming sick." I know what a revelation. It only occurred a few days after a friend forced me to drink tea; because I looked sick and didn't sound well. So, I decided, I shall take some nighttime medicine. That should do the trick...sleep and relief.

Well, I began reading while the medicine did it's work. When all of a sudden I hear loud talking and laughing from my roommate. She and a friend came into our house at 11:30. Instead of sticking to one of the rooms far off from the bedrooms, they choose the office.

I get so infuriated with these things. Parts of me first feel this rage (if that's what you could call it), of how inconsiderate is that. I'm trying to sleep and I don't feel good. I just want to sleep and you're being rude. But then the other part feels awful for feeling that. I get caught up in my emotions. I'm not very good at being selfish. But I'm not going to lie. I don't understand why it would be to much to ask for someone to be considerate of you.

There's all of these little things that have been building. I write them off and put them on myself. I say, well, I'm a jerk for expecting that. I'm slowly starting to realize that no, I am not. It's really not too much to expect from someone to be respectful. I am considerate of my roommate...at least I feel like I am.

So, this brings me to the dream I had after this. I finally fell asleep, thank you Jesus for nighttime medicine! I'm not too clear on all the details, but mostly here's the gist:

I'm on a vacation, I think it might be Washington D.C., and I'm with a bunch of my 'friends'. However, during this whole entire trip something kept gnawing at me. Finally, I find myself after a distinct moment leaving and going into the bathroom of where we were staying. I am trying so hard to control everything. I was so ready to go back. I had this huge epiphany, and then I wake up.

Well, I dislike those dreams that leave you all shaken inside. I just couldn't shake that feeling. I started thinking about it some more today. I started looking at the cast of my dream. I realized something, all of the people there were people that lately are relationships having been shifting, and honestly, not for the best...or maybe...who am I to say? Anyways, that did not help me to feel better, I suppose relief. Some of them are friends that I would hate to lose but really when I look at the relationship, it is time to move forward. Things can no longer stay the same. That was part of the dream. Everyone in the dream was trying so hard to remain the same. Any tension there was ignored...it was the elephant in the room.

Wow, so I suppose I shouldn't ever have a nightcap before bed. However, I did have some good revelations...even though, I'm unsure of what to do with them...

Unexpected Surprises

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGVL-b_6vFE

This is a hysterical one. There's times that we start off the day. We have our plan and our agenda set. Well, most of the times. However, there are those days that something just happens to offset them. It might not be bad but it might not be great.

First, there are always those people around us who will make those comments that bring down the mood. However, it is up to us in how we respond. We could allow it to deflate our balloon or we can try and help them out by being really positive around them.

Secondly, in this video, I laugh because of how so many of us will have our agendas set and then God allows our attitudes to be lifted.

Awhile back, I was having a real tough day. I just felt like I was in a rut. It was after class. I went to my car to go to work. When I walked up, the person who parked by my car had parked literally, three inches away. So, I went to my passenger side and was going to climb in through that way. I had a drink in my cup holder. I set it in there to crawl across the front. As I started to sit down in the driver's side. I realized something, quite quickly, I had a wet bum. In the process I had knocked the drink into my seat. I sat there in the ice and water, laughing. Just like that my blues were washed away.

It's amazing how those small things in our lives can really turn a frown...or a drink upside down. Praise God for those small moments in our lives.