community living

a friend of mine used to say that when we share only our victories we build competition. BUT when we share our losses we build community.

i was thinking today of how often in my quest to encourage someone i fail to share that i fail. . . and somewhat regularly at that.

that being all i can be for God and living my life with excellence standards so i can truly be a good witness/ambassador for Him is exhausting and can do more harm than good in my trying to earn the right to be heard.

it's about being honest in our humanity - because only then can we really be reflective of God. if i set myself up as a superhero, there is little room for the awesomeness of His mercy and grace in my life. if i am honest in my humanity, there is all the room needed to give Him the glory for what good there is. . .

Total Eclipse of the Heart: Literal Video Version

the original 1984 Bonnie Tyler video made absolutely no sense - good song but weirder than weird imagery. someone has given us a literal version where the song and the "art" are finally
in synch.

3 resources for the domestically challenged

over the years i have struggled with keeping my house to some level of non-CHAOS ("can't have anyone over syndrome" - per the fly lady - but i'm getting to that).

i have actually used the same philosophy with my home that i use with my personal devotions. i use what works until it doesn't.

when we only had 1.68 children, my devotions were leisurely affairs over tea while they were napping and cleaned as needed. when that 1.68 became 5.7 - little boys count double :) - i used nap time for cleaning and wedged my quiet times - i had multiple small increment devos during the day - in between handing out snacks and cleaning up after snacks, after placing a small child on a potty chair and wiping said small child's bottom, in between laying down to go to sleep and actually falling asleep - sometimes this amounted to a12 second devotional. i sang a lot of worship songs while picking up, cleaning up, straightening up, and throwing up - i throw up easily when i'm tired. i hoped that the worship in the worship songs counted for something. i had three intensive years of bible school - no where in all that instruction did we cover quiet times for mommies. so i rolled with the punches and adapted.

ok, so i know some of you are rolling your eyes. . . please, just file this away for the future - when one of your friends/sisters/grown children can't keep house like you do.

when the kids were really small i used the SHE system by Pam Young and Peggy Jones (Side-tracked Home Executives). a great little system based on rotating 3x5 index cards that scheduled chores on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. it worked and the sisters who developed it were really funny! (the only time this didn't work is when the card file got dumped. . . )

when the kids were school age i used the flipper system developed by Sandra Felton, founder of MA (Messies Anonymous). too cool! using index cards inserted into a flipper photo album with a over-head marker to check off the chores. i had made some homemaking progress so this was a step forward.

then the kids were tweens and teens, i was working full-time and i needed some extra help. enter The Fly Lady and her marvelous computer based system with fun stuff to do like the 27 fling boogie.

each system met a different homemaking skill level need for me. so i share all this with you to say - IF YOUR CURRENT SYSTEM IS NOT WORKING. . . FIND ANOTHER ONE!
do not give up! there is help out there!

dave and i will be empty nesters soon - like in 9 weeks - and i am going back the flipper system. . . i'll let you know how this goes. . . i'll also post something about my adventures in quiet times. . .

another one bites the dust

another phone call, another stunned youth pastor outta a job.

so i'm calling for the creation of a clergy/church clearinghouse - a matchmaking service of sorts.

it seems that a lot of good youth pastors have been hired, used, abused, and spit out by chucklehead churches. and a lot of good churches have hired and then been used, abused and spit on by chucklehead youth pastors - hence the clearinghouse idea. . .

i propose we set-up the dating service so chucklehead congregations can find chucklehead youth dudes and keep their chuckleheadedness in the chucklehead family. . . leaving healthy churches and pastors to find each other and get on with the work of the gospel without the distraction that comes with having to work with/around chuckleheads.

any takers?

why i don't drive a red car even though i want to

i like red. a lot. i like red cars. a lot. but i do not drive one because i hold to the theory, urban legend, whatever you want to call it - that red cars get pulled over more often.

if you google that statement you will get proof that
- yes, they do
- no, they don't
- insurance rates are higher for red cars because of this "fact"
- insurance rates have nothing to do with what color car you are driving

all i know is that while driving to Minnesota this week, I was in a "pack" of 5 cars with a red one towards the front. we were all driving about 12 miles over the speed limit. we all slowed a bit when we came over the rise and spotted a police car in the median. we probably all breathed a sigh of relief as we realized he wasn't making a move.

but then he did. he made his way steadily through the cars behind us, to get to us - who were now all driving 2 miles over the speed limit, and finally settled right behind the red one. i held my breath for like 10 seconds and then. . . sure enough, the lights went on.

ok, so i don't know if a ticket was even issued or if there was a reason the officer was specifically looking for that red car. all i know is while driving to Minnesota this week, I was in a "pack" of 5 cars all speeding a tiny bit and only the red one got pulled over.

i will continue to admire other people's red cars.

a change of perspective

i am in Winona, Minnesota today - hanging around doing the tourist thing while one of my kids is sitting through transfer student orientation at one of the local places of higher learning.

yesterday, on the way here, said kid and i were admiring the lush green, rolling, hilly, bluff-infested countryside. we actually stopped talking for a few miles. then we laughed - it was pretty dang obvious we are Chicago flatlanders when this amount of topography can make us ooh and aah.

i'm from out west where mountains are mountains and well, massively rugged and more than awe inspiring. they're down-right "put-you-in your-puny human-place" gigantimungous (ok, not found in the dictionary - but definitely should be). not to mention the other extreme "The Grand Canyon" - aptly named for depth and grandness. looking at either one puts things in perspective - quickly and decisively.

but since i've lived in the level land of Lincoln for over half of my life, and my day-to-day view has adapted - the lush green, rolling, hilly, bluff-infested countryside was an unexpected sight for sore eyes.

so, no - it wasn't the panoramic view of THE ROCKIES. . . it was Wisconsin!?!

back in the saddle again

well, after an extended blogging/internet fast, i am back. i wish i could say that it was self-imposed for serious spiritual contemplation but that would be a serious stretch of the truth.
it was woman vs technology and i was on the losing team.
so let's get begin again or pick up where we left off or start in the middle or. . .