It All Started With a Shout of, "Chicken Juice!"

At the behest of a friend of mine, I will recount as best as I can the events of the night of Monday the 24th of January. Mr. M and I were talking about our rat problem when a sudden knock was heard on the door. "There's one of them now!", I said jokingly, as if a rat was at the door. (Everyone knows that no rat has the decency to knock. They all just barge right in unannounced, which just added a sense of ridiculousness to my joke.) Mr. M opened the door, and two teenagerish voices pleaded with him to let them come in and show us their super-duper vacuum. Mr. M asked me loudly if I had any use for a free stain removing vacuum service. I yelled back, "Yeah, there's that chicken juice stain on the carpet!" That was that. They'd be back in 15 minutes to give us their product demo and remove our chicken juice stain. That was at 8:30. So, whatever my expectations were, what we ended up with was this: a nice guy (too nice to be a salesman for long) vacuumed and shampooed our entire carpet. He moved furniture, the whole she-bang. Mr. M. and I watched, yawning and giggling, recalling the vacuum cleaner salesman scene from "I Love Lucy" and the Tupperware sales calls from "Napoleon Dynamite". We were literally cleaned into a corner as the salesman and all his equipment took up any dry floorspace in our house. When all was said and done, it was 11 PM. The chicken juice stain was history. To my complete and utter shock, the smooth-tongued boss didn't put us on a major guilt trip for not buying the thing. They washed our carpets for free, and left. AWESOME! (I think the boss man was as tired as we were.)

In a somewhat related story, two rats were trapped and killed in our attic, directly above the computer room. The offense this caused to my olfactory senses made it easy for me to spend less time here on my computer. I can write again today because the exterminators came this morning to remove the olfactorily offensive (smelly) carcasses.

Life Off-Screen, or, In Praise of Single-Tasking

I went for a walk with Rufus today, and a driver almost didn't see us. She was putting on her make up. This made me think, multi-tasking is almost always dangerous and/or rude. How many times have you been earnestly talking to someone, only to realize that they're fully absorbed in a virtual conversation with someone who isn't even there?? RUDE.

There is much to be said for single-tasking: doing one thing, and doing it well. For your consideration: Are you aware of your surroundings? Do you hear the birds singing, or notice the beautiful cloud formation? Have you ever come close to walking into a moving vehicle because your attention is fully focused on a palm-sized distraction devise? Do you look people in the eyes when they talk to you? Do you remember what you've read, or does it just get lost in your brain with all the useless information you've acquired?

I'm reading The Winter of Our Disconnect by Susan Maushart. She and her three teenagers went screen-free for months. I try and occasionally do it for a week or two at a time. It is easier for me, since I don't have any "smart" devices, or "i-" anything.

Star Wars Prayer

Today, Mr. M and I will host a group of 13 year old boys for a Star Wars screening and pizza party. It is a birthday party, and we were asked to host because of our movie projector and big screen. This is yet another way God allows me to be a vicarious mother, and to have some small impact on the future of His church. It was over 10 years ago that the young sons of a friend of ours also chose to have their birthday party here. We watched The Hunt for Red October. Our little house, and our little lives, along with our love, are great ministry tools, tools for which we praise God. In reading Hannah's prayer of thanks, I was struck that there is no mention of Samuel-just praises to God for His power and might. Hannah definitely looked past the gift to the Giver.

I'm off to bolt our furniture to the floor now, and wrap caution tape around Rufus.

Answers to Prayer

I've always been told about Hannah. My mom loved the story of Hannah. (2 Sam. 1,2.) That is because my mom was married almost 20 years before she had me. She'd wanted a baby from day one, it just never happened . . . well, not "never", but not for a very long time. Now I read the story of Hannah and see the greatness and creativity of God. I want, more and more as the days go by, to have a hand in the future. That will not come by way of a child . . . not one of MINE, anyway. But God in His kindness allows me to touch the younger generations, partly through extended family, partly through my friends' kids, and mostly through being on staff at our church's college ministry. It's been such a joy. Life becomes so fast-paced with young adults. Everything can change in an instant . . . first she likes him, and then she likes someone else, and then she gets a new job . . . life is like an ever-rolling river for these kids-it's never stationary for long. I think it is making me feel younger, and that is a good thing.

The Church Dynamic and the Dynamic Church

I've been reading and studying, thinking, pondering, musing and meditating on the church a lot lately. This has led me to a great appreciation of being lovingly adopted into such an institution, a people called out of the worldly realm to be led and loved by God. I've also thought about the responsibilities I have (which are also privileges) that come with that blessed adoption into God's family. Specifically, I've been reminded, and I've lived the fact, that when one of us suffers, we all suffer. (1 Cor. 12:26) Something about suffering: suffering causes us to grow in Godly character. (James 1:2) Suffering teaches us about God and His Son. We are called to teach what we've learned to others in the church, so that they, too, will be built up, growing in the knowledge of the Son of God. (Eph. 4:12,13) That means sharing our sufferings. When we share our sufferings, we help our brothers and sisters to weep with us (Ro. 12:18) and pray for us (James 5:13,14), to come alongside us and help us to carry our burdens (Gal. 6:2), and to show us kindness and compassion. (Eph. 4:32) In short, sharing our burdens, struggles and sins with brothers and sisters helps us all to grow closer in unity, and allows our brothers and sisters to show us the love of Christ. Only when we speak the truth can other members of the Body speak truth to us and minister to us. As Christians, we love the truth, and want and need to hear it. The truth benefits the entire body, and we are robbing ourselves of kindness and compassion, and robbing the church of an opportunity to pray for us and help us when we refuse to share honestly our struggles. No Cristian was meant to live in isolation, and we are fooling ourselves if we think we can be self-sufficient.

Twanging In The New Year

I've done cool things. I've hung out with cool people. In fact, I hang out with cool people pretty regularly. Tonight, though, I did something decidedly uncool. Uncool, but so fun! Mr. M and I went to a local pizza parlor-the kind with long tables and benches and peanuts on the floor. We met a few friends for dinner and a live bluegrass band. Four older gentlemen were on the dirty stage: a fiddle, a guitar, an upright bass, and a banjo. We were all laughs and smiles. It reminded me of all the hokey and cheesy and old-fashioned kind of fun I had growing up in a small church. I loved that hokey fun then, and I love it now. I don't care if my friends are cool or uncool, and I don't care if our entertainment is cool or uncool, I just like having a good time with people I love. I've heard it said that what you do on the first day of a new year sets the tone for the whole year. If that is true, this will be a good year.