The Beach

Today’s blog entry is brought to you by an eclectic mix including Third Day, Glory Revealed, Michael Buble, Jars of Clay, and … .drumroll … Jonas Brothers. You never know what will happen when the iPod is on shuffle.

I’m also sipping on Earl Grey tea with honey. Good for the soul, good for the scratchy throat. I’ve been popping the Vimmunity and praying to fight off this latest round of sinus ickiness.  Anyone who saw me playing piano at church on Sunday may have noted I was not singing along.  You’re welcome. I’m not usually mic’d but the piano is. So it’s close enough.

Btw the iPod has now moved on to John Berry’s rendition of “O Holy Night”. Yes, it’s July. No, I don’t care. Best version of that song ever.

Last week we were talking about checking a few things off the goals list.

Spend at least one day at the beach – done.

Post-conference last week we had scheduled the Monday flight back home for late in the day. After exploring options, our party of six cabbed it to the Orlando airport, rented a Crown Vic, and headed for Ron Jon’s in Cocoa Beach.

That sounds fairly simple, but I addressed a lot of “but what if” questions along the way.

J

I felt like I was channeling my friend, Christen, whose signature phrase is, “It’ll be fine.”  Trust me, I’ve done this before. Do not underestimate my ability to find sand and become one with it.

God always speaks to me at the beach. And indeed he did. I felt like I never really managed to get still and quiet this time, though. Too much going on. Ugh.

Solution – I will have to go back soon.

God speaks to me all the time, not just at the beach. I just need to get quiet enough to “hear it” / figure it out. I don’t share specifics with many people because so many just don’t understand. I am probably the only one who can truly understand my calling. And that’s fine. It’s just a little disheartening when people inadvertently … or in a well-meaning but misguided effort … try to rain on my parade.

I’ve got my umbrella and galoshes ready, thank you very much.

I received a specific answer to prayer while in Florida. Most people would consider it small. Or nothing. Maybe even coincidental. But to me it was huge. And positive. And smile-worthy.

I don’t know, isn’t anything God does huge and monumental in the greater scheme of the universe? I mean, it’s God!!! The almighty. The omnipotent. The big guy.

So when we recognize that God has taken care of something we are completely incapable of, let’s give credit where credit is due. And be happy about it.

Think about that. I’ll be over here on my beach towel with my SPF50.

JJJ

Time and Change

Where do I even start …

I’m kind of on top of the world at the moment. In awe of God and his handiwork. And listening to Chris Tomlin today.

I checked several items off my goals list in the last week. That would be my written goals list. Not my manager’s list. Not my CEO’s list. Not a corporation’s list. My list. Mine, mine, mine, all mine, hee hee.

I attend several events for my business throughout the year. One of my goals was to make it to at least one “optional” worship service on Sunday morning at a national event. The service is always fairly early, especially considering that the fun and networking goes on into the wee hours the night before. And depending on how far away from the venue we’re staying, there may be a walk or a cab ride involved.

So it’s really easy to blow off church at 7:30am before another long day when sleep is at a premium. And if no one is keeping you accountable.

What drove me to make this one a written goal was missing the service last fall in St. Louis. I was looking forward to it, truly planning on being there. It was time change weekend … time to turn the clocks back an hour. Officially that happens at 2am I guess. But often it takes a few hours for computers, tv’s, cell phones, etc. to update the time you see displayed in a lot of places. I used to work at a plant where it would take a couple weeks at least for everything to catch up. Talk about confusing.

In St. Louis we were back in our hotel room briefly that Saturday evening to change into Halloween costumes, and I noticed the maid had apparently updated the alarm clock. “Oh how nice,” I thought. So when we went to sleep in the wee hours, I set the alarm on my cell for early early … and not knowing whether the phone would update as expected while I was asleep … and not knowing how that would affect the alarm … I somehow had worked out that when the alarm went off, if the time on the phone and clock agreed then I should get up, but if they disagreed then I had one more hour to sleep. I don’t know, trust me, I’ve taken more math classes than any human should have to, and I aced the analytical section of the GRE. The statistical likelihood of me being right was high.

Except …

It was an atomic clock sitting on the nightstand.

Which means a satellite speaks to the clock at least once a day to keep it updated and aligned with government time standards and the planets and who knows what else.

So my roommate and I dragged our extremely tired selves out of bed and headed across the street. While we were getting ready, I had been messaging my frequent partner in crime / friend / prayer partner asking what time he was walking over to the worship service … followed by a “never mind, we’ll be there last minute, see you there”.

Um yeah, hopefully his phone was on vibrate because by the time we got there, the next breakout session was starting. We completely missed the worship service. Our phones were showing the correct time. The clock in the hotel room had also updated in the middle of the night and was now wrong.

Oy vey.

(Yes, this does bring up a whole discussion for fellow computer nerds on how updates from atomic-land are programmed, but we will leave that for another time.)

Later that morning I was sitting in the general session in the Edward Jones dome, where cell service is practically nil and getting enough of an internet signal to use messenger is worthy of notifying the Vatican. It was about 10:30 – no, really it was actually 10:30, lol. My phone vibrates and this simple message appears … “Your phone should update the time automatically.”

In a testament to how far I’ve come, I skipped the sarcasm and responded with grace and something to the effect of “you’ll laugh, it’s been an adventure”.

Fast forward to Los Angeles in March this year. I was on the volunteer staff for the event and the worship service conflicted with my duties.

Fast forward again to Orlando this past weekend. I didn’t have anyone else in my circle saying they were getting up early and making the twenty-ish minute walk in July-in-Florida-heat-and-humidity to the convention center. But I did it anyway. And it was good.

So, kids, what can we learn from all this?

Write your goals down, even if they seem small and stupid. It’ll spur you to actually do them.

You never know which of your teammates might show up a few seats away from you in church.

I will not hold it against any particular one of said teammates that they could have mentioned they were cabbing it to the convention center and therefore did not arrive damp and frizzy. J

God speaks through the most seemingly insignificant things. Over and over and over again.

Show Me Somethin’ Mista!

We interrupt this blog for the Granville 4^th of July Street Fair and random miscellaneous other time occupying items.

I’ve been going with the flow as of late, spending time with old friends, and resting a bit without feeling guilty about it. Well, resting in between workouts. I’ve been experimenting with a few recipes involving flaxseed, chickpeas, and such. And I ate a lot less fair food than I thought I would. (You might be a food Nazi if …)

All good stuff.

I still haven’t figured out what the big guy is trying to tell me with all the connectedness stuff. I have my theories, they’re just not ready for prime time yet.

I have some travel coming up & some product launching to do, so I’m getting back in gear. You know … hair, nails, a couple new clothing items, lol. It’s been a nice little break, but I’m feeling a mite restless. Tired of waiting. For me. For others. Honestly maybe for God, too. But clearly he’s saying to wait. So okay, fine.

And in a nod to Mardi Gras and my couple tours of duty in New Orleans, I just want to say, “Show Me Somethin’ Mista!” Before you get the wrong idea, the phrase is actually “Throw Me Somethin’ Mista!” … what children at parades are taught to yell to get coins, beads, etc.

And it’s not like nothing has been going on. I was having a really blah tired Sunday morning but dragged myself to church anyway. Where one of my favorite people got baptized. Win.

Let me say that again. Win!

Maybe all my restlessness is a side effect of my past road warrior life. I like to be on the move. I like to get things done.

I think summertime bakes people’s brains sometimes with the heat. And some people are so obsessed with fitting in all of their scheduled fun before school starts again that they get everything done while getting nothing done. It’s a weird phenomenon, and I’m not sure I’m doing it justice with my description. Maybe it’s just good old fashioned procrastination … I’ll have more time when school’s out for the summer … I’ll have more time when school starts back and we’re all in a routine … I’ll have more time after the holidays …

Put up or shut up! Ha!

Okay, who’s ready to get some stuff done? J