Pet Peeves

Here are two of my top pet peeves that are ticking me off today.

1) Gigantic suburbans and other massive SUV's that park in spots labeled "compact." Seriously! They already hog all the gas and make the prices go up, hog the road and pollute the air, but do they have to be so arrogant as to claim the tiny parking spots meant for cars like my little Civic. The worst place for this is at my gym, Club Sport, where the parking spots are already small and the affluent of LO who tend to populate the gym all seem to drive overly large vehicles. Big SUVs have big doors that are usually being opened by children. Last night I had trouble finding a parking spot because the stupid SUVs had taken the compacts spots and elsewhere they take up two spots not leaving a space big enough for my little car. Argh!

2) Sweaty, stinky, hairy middle-aged men. Again, this is a gym related pet-peeve. I could hardly work out last night because of the lack of oxygen. I was trying not to breathe so I wouldn't smell the dude next to me. I actually moved machines because he was so very stinky.

Funny for the day

Driving to work this morning I saw something that made me crack-up. I was behind an older Ford Explorer with the license plate "BAAAA." The bumper sticker to the right said, "SHEEP" and the one to the left, "Sheepherders." That is one proud farm girl!

The excerpt below is taken from an interview with Emmanuel Katongole called "From Tower-Dwellers to Travelers" an interesting perspective on missions.
"That is why we need to learn another model—mission as pilgrimage, which is based on a vision of the Christian life as a journey. This model grows out of the sense of being pilgrims together, pilgrims who feel the dust under their feet and come to know the places where they sojourn.

The problem with the world is not that we do not see others. We do. We know the needs of the world. But to feel the gifts and needs of the world—that means learning to journey with people in different parts of the world. This kind of journeying is slower than mission done as delivery of aid, slower even than partnership. It takes time just to learn the history, for example, of Gulu in northern Uganda, to learn what is happening there. But when we take time for that, it begins to transform the pilgrim. You have learned the names of people and places, these far-flung places with names very difficult to pronounce. You have inhaled the dust.

Mission as pilgrimage is about that transformation. It's not about fixing northern Uganda. You're not going to fix northern Uganda! It's not even about partnering with "northern Uganda." How can you partner with all of northern Uganda? Where do you begin? Instead, the pilgrim begins to know, to feel, that northern Uganda, with all its tragedy and terror, is a Christian story. That it is not just their story, but that it is our story." Emmanuel Katongole

Being yourself with God

God has been working on my heart to show me how I've created these walls around my heart and myself as a defense and way to keep myself "safe." They have kept me moderately safe by keeping people out and, consequently, keeping God out as well. I'm realizing that I wasn't accepted for "me" and that hurt so I locked myself up and transfered people's rejection of my whimsy personality onto God. So as I was reading my devotions this morning and came across this passage I was stopped dead in my tracks. God wants me to simply and honestly be myself with him. And I can't truly worship God unless I am being my true self. What a radical concept for me. Truth breaking through a shroud of lies that would keep me bound and tumbling the bricks of the fortress walls around my heart. The movie Bridget Jones probably wouldn't seem to connect here considering how smutty it is, but my favorite line which makes my heart ache just thinking of it is: "I like you, just the way your are." What girl doesn't want to hear that, especially from a dashing charming man like Mr. Darcy? I particularly long to hear that affirmation. And wham-o here it is, in the the scripture, a declaration from the true lover of my soul that He wants me to come to him, that he invites me to worship him, that he likes me - just as I am.

clipped from www.biblegateway.com 23-24"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."

Loving our City!

go to LOVE Portland and sign-up to participate!

Quote of the Day

"Be not he slave of your own past- plunge into the sublime seas, dive deep, and swim far, so you shall come back with self-respect, with new power, with an advanced experience, that shall explain and overlook the old." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

FINISHED!!

I have done it! I have accomplished something of monumental proportions this weekend. What may you ask? drumroll please.... I finished reading the autobiography of Madame Guyon. It has taken me years. Agonizing long years to get through this book. I pick it up and read a couple chapters in between other books when I can make myself do so but it hasn't been pretty. A book shouldn't be so hard to read. I blame it on the fact it was written in the late 16oo's-early 1700's in French. The true meaning and eloquence with which it must have first been written has to have lost something in the past four hundred years and the (poor) translation into English for it to be such a drudgery to read. I stuck with it. I finished it. I may have even learned from it - you never know! I would recommend reading about her, she had an amazing life and spiritual perspective - just not this autobiography, unless you are a glutton for punishment and trying to anesthetize yourself.

Good Quote of the day

"we don't have to fit into prefabricated moral or mental or religious boxes before we are admitted into the company of God - we are taken seriously just as we are and given a place in his story, for it is, after all, his story; none of us is the leading character in the story of our life."
~Eugene H. Peterson, Introduction to 1-2 Samuel in the Message

Bizarre & Strange

I've been reading through the old testament using the Message for a change of pace. It has been good. The OT has been more understandable in the Message but with more comprehension comes a realization of just how bizarre and strange the commands of God are to the Israelites. What really throws me for a loop is the rituals surrounding the sacrifices and in particular that the blood is supposed to be splashed on the alter and with the thumb smeared on the horns of the alter. Why? That would make the alter a stained, sticky, smelly mess! Strange! Then during the ordination of the priests Moses is directed to smudge the blood from the sacrifice on the right ear lobe, right thumb, and right big toe of Aaron and his sons. Bizarre! I really just don't get it. In comparison to all the wacky-doodle stuff the surrounding nations would do I guess the blood isn't that strange but to us - wacko!

Quote of the Year

"When Jesus takes your hand He keeps you tight. When Jesus keeps you tight He leads you through life. When Jesus leads you through life He brings you safely home." --Casper ten Boom
as quoted at the end of "In My Father's House" written by Corrie ten Boom

NW bashing

I'll admit that I am in the category of thinking Crocs are a funny looking shoe but oh so comfy! I wore my mary-jane bright red Crocs to Bible study one day and with a tone of incredulity tainted with disdain Mink asked, "Why are you wearing those?" I felt the need to defend my shoe choice - they are super easy to clean after slopping around in the mud which is my back yard. The New York based author of this article revels in her dislike for the Crocs and makes no guises of her viewpoint but did she have to dis the Northwest along with my beloved shoes? I did find it quite interesting to get an east coasters opinion on the Northwest. Obviously she won't be wearing Crocs anytime soon or visiting the Northwest. And maybe we are the better for it, we can blissfully stay in our happy green counter-culture bubble.

clipped from www.slate.com Comfort and function were always the main Crocs pitch. The shoes' original home was Boulder, Colo. The early Crocs customer was probably a Pacific Northwesterner who liked to boat or garden—this was a niche shoe, after all. He or she was drawn in by the "no slip" grip on the sole, by the aerating holes, and by the featherweight heft of the thing (a pair weighs a mere 6 ounces). The clunky look was not a drawback (this is the region, after all, that brought us grunge), and many customers were pleased that the shoe was made of a proprietary nonplastic resin formula (known as Croslite)—it was, as one testified, "vegan." Because the material is soft, bacteria-resistant, and has a strangely "natural" feel, the Croc fits in with the Northwest's typically green and mildly counterculture ethos. Soon nurses, doctors, cooks, painters, and other workers who stand on their feet all day had discovered Crocs and found them to be life-changing.

The Prodigal Son

This painting is by one of my favorite artist - Liz Lemon Swindle. If you've been to my house you know that I love art and have seen one of her other paintings - Hold On Tight, which is Jesus giving a piggy-back ride to a child. Besides the subject matter what I love about her artwork is her ability to portray, capture, and conjure emotions. I had big tears well up in my eyes when I saw this picture and thought about how it represents God's acceptance of me.

clipped from www.greenwichworkshop.com

Weather woes

I can't believe how hot it has been! What I really can't believe is how I bemoan the lack of sun for most of the year and now that it is hear I am holed up in my home or someplace inside with air conditioning hiding from the very sun that I crave. In a feeble attempt to keep my house cool I have an absurd routine of getting up around 6:30am to turn off the fans that I have strategically placed around in different windows and close the shades so that my home feels more like a cave blocking out the rays that will simultaneously heat my home and brighten my outlook. So now that the NW actually has sun I'm going to great lengths to block it out. And when the temperature cools down next week and window shades can be left up again - then rain returns. There is no winning!

When did July get here?

Well, it has been some time since I've posted anything - borrowed or original. I hope you all had a great 4th of July. I had an interesting experience. I celebrated Independence day with some newly sworn in Americans. How odd to be celebrating independence from Britain with a British couple who are now Americans but still sound very much English. We had a lovely dinner together and then everyone took off to a baseball game at PGE. I could not be cajoled into going but instead stayed at my parents enjoying the coolness of the AC and a working TV. I felt a twang of guilt as I drove home at 11pm that I was being quite un-patriotic. I didn't even bother to go to the end of the cul-de-sac to see the neighborhood kids light off their fireworks. Less then that I didn't even flip channels to see any of the televised fireworks. I sat inside in an anti-social slump. What makes it even worse is that is was really nice weather! The joke always goes - when does it stop raining in Portland? July 5th! But this year the weather couldn't have been more perfect and I was a non-participant. Shameful! But I got to wondering as I drove home about the immigration problem we have in the US and wondered why is the US so popular? And I also am wondering why we have such a huge problem with illegal immigrants when, according to Carolyn's first hand experience, it is cake walk easy to become a citizen. Or rather the "tests" are easy peasy, maybe the paperwork and background check before you can take the test is what excludes many people from becoming legal. As we celebrated our national holiday I got rather contemplative about the future of this country. There is no telling where we are heading.

Blindness

This is taken from the Slice of Infinity newsletter from RZIM for June 8th titled "That I May See." I found it rather thought provoking. Hope you do to. I'd love to hear your thoughts that are provoked!

clipped from by138w.bay138.mail.live.com But that doesn't make it less real. Blindness is as natural to humankind as the desire to understand. We are blind to our own faults, blind to truths we don't want to hear. It is the cure to this blindness that is important. Eugene Peterson writes, "There is widespread interest in living beyond the roles and functions handed to us by our culture. But much of it ends up as a spirituality that is shaped by terms handed out by the same culture."(1) What do you do to see authentically? What do you do to protect yourself from walking blindly down paths shaped by dangerous ideas, down roads paved with misleading promises?

And we still ride horses to school...

Better Save the 'Two Washingtons' Story for Tomorrow

Clerk: Sir, you need to fill out a customs form for that.
Man: What? Why? This is in America.
Clerk: Sir, it's North America, but Oregon is not in the US.
Man: Yes, it is. It's in the northwest.
Clerk: Really? Are you sure? Oh.

--Post office, 99 Macombs Pl

via Overheard in New York, Apr 2, 2007

Grunge Suicide Is Always an Option

Woman: Would you let Michael go to the west coast?
Man #1: What?
Man #2: No! You don't want him to be a freak.
Woman: I didn't mean Oregon.

--Chipolte, 44th Street

via Overheard in New York, May 27, 2005

Shift Happens

I came across this on the blog for Western Seminary Alumni and thought it needed to be shared. The facts are a bit startling and scary!

Rosie ain't no posie

Why are we supposed to care about Rosie O’Donnell? Seriously! Each time I open Firefox (ack! You wouldn’t think I’d use Explorer do you?) my homepage of Comcast pops up. I read the news headlines and check the weather for my saved locations of Tualatin, Brno, and Baghdad before surfing to my intended website. I regret to say that this really is one of my main sources of news, reading the blip headlines, and almost without fail there is one about Rosie O’Donnell and the latest ruckus she is causing. I really don’t understand why we are supposed to care what she has to say or why we are supposed to be interested in everything she espouses. She provides no end of fodder for the media to pick up on. She is a loud mouthed, inflammatory, liberal, provocative prima donna. Who cares? She yaps about tolerance, but really just wants tolerance for her viewpoint and shows no tolerance for any opinions that counters her own. Why is she deemed worthy of so much press? I would much rather see the space and time of the writers go towards something newsworthy. Maybe the genocide going on in Africa? Maybe the degradation of women and children in SE Asia? Maybe the tragedy of the orphanage and foster care system in former Iron Curtain countries that is leading to a homeless epidemic among youth and young adults? Of if they are bent on pointing the lime light on a celebrity with something to say direct the light to Bono. If nothing else he is speaking out for a cause other than himself and doing a lot of good. Does my ranting about Rosie’s ranting somehow negate my point?

Corrie ten Boom ROCKS!

This past Saturday I was rather productive. I had finished washing the dishes and cleaning the cook top which required to be taken completely apart due to rice boiling over - oh! what a mess! It was about 8:30pm by then and I didn't know what to do with myself. I couldn't finish vacuuming, at least not if I wanted to keep on friendly terms with my neighbors. So what to do until 11pm when Mystery started on OPB? I picked up a book that had been in my side table for close to two years - Tramp for the Lord by Corrie ten Boom. I nearly missed Mystery I was so engrossed in the book. I had to keep a box of tissue near by as just with The Hiding Place I can't help myself from crying as I read her story. She is one of the most amazing women in the Christian faith as far as I am concerned. Sunday evening I picked up the book to keep reading and couldn't put it down. That is I didn't put it down until I finished it - at 2am. It has been over twenty years since she passed away and she still has so much to teach and show us about following God. Her complete submission and obedience is inspiring and puts me in my place for the lack of it in my own life. Reading her words always leads me closer in my own walk with Jesus and shows me how amazing life could be when truly walking with Christ as Lord. Everyone should read Corrie ten Book - including you! As if to augment the lessons I was learning this weekend from Corrie I listened to a sermon from Mark Driscoll at Mars Hill Church in Seattle titled "Humility and Hospitality" that really centered around "long-obedience." I'm learning a lot about obedience and just how disobedient I am.

Vision from golf clubs

A couple weeks ago I decided to clean up my garage. I needed to find a plug for a thingy - Day Lab Junior - I want to sell on eBay but instead of just looking for the plug I chose to reorganize my storage as I looked and sweep the floor and generally clean up. It was a nice sunny day so it didn't bother me to be out there; I had my tunes and was dancing around and daydreaming while I wielded the broom. I became a little overwhelmed with all the stuff in my garage. Somehow my reorganizing took up more space than before. I don't understand that phenomenon. I also took some pictures of the golf bags and club I'm hoping to sell as well. The thought occurred to me: "Maybe I should just sell everything!" I realized it would be a relief in many ways to be able to sell everything I have, so liberating and freeing. I could actually make the day dream I was enacting in my head of living in Europe a reality. But then I started to think about all my books and I didn't like the idea of parting with them. I realized that with a vision of something greater I could lay aside my attachments to my home, art, inherited silver and crystal, maybe even my books; but that vision needs to be there first and it needs to be divinely given. Then I read the Slice of Infinity newsletter from RZIM: At Home in Mud and Darkness I do not want to be like the rich young ruler, so I am praying for vision. I know I am in some weird holding pattern limbo land, that something new is on the way, but I am praying for a God given vision for the next part of my life. Amazing the philosphy and insight you can get from some old golf clubs.