Sunday Thoughts

I just finished reading Cold Sassy Tree. This book was often mentioned as one to be read over the summer in high school or as a book of choice, and I finally got around to reading it. What a fantastically humorous and witty book. It reminded me so much of what it is to be southern. All the good and bad. And how life just...IS. And how people just ARE. Told from the perspective of an adolescent boy, it was pure and refreshing...I don't mean to write about books all the time, and this does sound like a review...but it's more about what the book made me feel. Quite plainly, it made me mad about southern pride. And how I feel it's changed one of my favorite people in the world. It made me sad about how people gossip and spread rumors that aren't true, and how people can be stuck in their ways and hate others just because of a simple offense or difference. It made me appreciate the truly good people in life. The people that aren't afraid to do what they feel is right. It made me feel that God is close and more real. Honestly, I felt like I understood Him more....Mostly, it made me miss family. And the bond that is just naturally there. It's been a little tough for me this summer to not be around them...last summer it seems like I was OK with being on my own, but this time I feel lost. And I shouldn't because I have Josh here...so it makes me angry at myself for that. I just want to be home....
This is a quote from Cold Sassy Tree that help put things in perspective for me today...
"Faith ain't no magic wand or money-back gar'ntee, either one. Hit's jest a way a-livin'. Hit means you don't worry th'ew the days. Hit means you go'n be holdin' on to God in good or bad times, and you accept whatever happens. Hit means you respect life like it is--like God made it--even when it ain't what you'd order from the wholesale house. Faith don't mean the Lord is go'n make lions lay down with lambs jest 'cause you ast him to, or make fire not burn. Some folks, when they pray to git well and don't even git better, they say God let'm down. But I say thet warn't even what Jesus was a-talkin' bout. When Jesus said ast and you'll git it, he was givin' a gar'ntee a-spiritual healin', not body healin'. He was sayin' thet if'n you get beat down--scairt to death you cain't do what you got to, or scairt you go'n die, or scairt folks won't like you--why, all you got to do is put yore hand in God's and He'll lift you up. I know it for a fact, Love. I can pray,'Lord, hep me not to be scairt,' and I don't know how, but it's like a eraser wipes the fears away. And I found out long time ago, when I look on what I got to stand as a dang hardship or a burden, it seems too heavy to carry. But when I look on the same dang thang as a challenge, why, standin' it or acceptin' it is like you done entered a contest. Hit even gits excitin', waitin' to see how everthang's go'n turn out....Jesus meant us to ast God to hep us stand the pain, not beg Him to take the pain away. We can ast for comfort and hope and patience and courage, and to be gracious when thangs ain't goin' our way, and we'll git what we ast for. They ain't no gar'ntee thet we ain't go'n have no troubles and ain't go'n die. But shore as frogs croak and cows bellow, God'll forgive us if'n we ast Him to." - Grandpa Blakeslee, Cold Sassy Tree.
I feel like it's so true that we expect God to just give and give and give...but there are times when it's not right for Him to give, and we need to suffer a little, but ask Him to help us get through whatever it is we're going through.
This is long already, but really quickly...My family (Mom, Dad, Rachel, and Hannah) went on a stake trek this past week. They got hit with a wind storm going 85 miles per hour and rain on top of it. There were ten buses that brought the 500+ people out to the trail, and not all could not come back the night this happened; everyone's things were wet, tents were blown down, and hardly anyone could sleep. Luckily, they were able to get three buses out so some people could sleep in them, and a visitor's center on the trail was able to house a few hundred of the trek members. My mom and dad's tent was reinforced, and they stayed out that night since there was not enough room in the other shelters. My mom said she imagined this is what it would be like before the Savior was going to come. She said that despite all the problems, it was a good time to ponder and read the scriptures since she and my dad couldn't sleep...A way to look at the good side of being able to come closer to God on a night like that.
Anyway, that's what I've been thinking about today...I know God will always help us be able to endure.

New Things : )

Josh went to Best Buy today to finally replace our finikicky (hahaha!! I was trying to type finicky and that is the result...I had to leave it up, it almost works). computer charger! The old one had wires sticking out of it (which we "resolved" with tape) and we had to put bottle caps or books under/on top/to the side of it to make it stay charging. It was also probably unsafe. So that was a wonderful thing to finally get. I can (and am) now typing with the laptop in my lap where it belongs instead of leaning over the coffee table afraid to move anything lest we lose the charge. : )
I also went shopping this week for slacks. I have owned maybe one or two pairs in all my life, and never knew what it felt like (or looked like) to have ones that fit properly! They are surprisingly much comfier than jeans. Yay for that : )
This morning on the way to work, the Mini Cooper received yet another rock-bullet to the windshield. It is probably made of paper. We now have five lovely-sized chips in the windshield. One that has spread in a matter of minutes, and will probably reach the other side by the end of the week without so much as a bump in the road to help it. So we are getting a new windshield, and told Clark to make it bullet proof.
I am currently reading a book called Hand of Isis. It's historical fiction about Cleopatra and her two half-sisters and the growth and struggles in Egypt at the time. It's incredibly interesting. The author states at the end that all of the technology and facts of Egypt are real. At the time, the Egyptians were in the process of creating a steam-powered jet engine called an aeliopile that they thought if they could make it powerful enough, they could fly to the moon! The author says that if the Dark Ages hadn't happened, we might have been flying to the moon a lot sooner. It just made me think about God's plan for the world. Maybe we weren't ready for such a big step in world development...
Anyway, to finish the random post now inappropriately titled, I was watching America's Funniest Home Videos and there was a clip of a hound dog hitting keys on the piano while howling at the top of his lungs....bahaha.

What character are you?

Today I thought about the office I work in and if they were all characters, what would they dress like every day? Like a Dilbert or Charlie Brown type character...What brought me to this question? Today I wore a plaid shirt. Plaid shirts remind me of my boss. He wears plaid shirts (with the occasional Hawaiian pattern thrown in there) and khaki pants every day. So today I said to Josh, "I look like Ron today." Ron's character would be the plaid and khaki guy. Then another girl always wears black. She would wear a black turtle neck and polyester pants....and so on. So I thought, if I were a character, what outfit would I have 15 duplicates of in my closet? I haven't really answered it...it's just something funny I thought about.