My Contribution to the Gas Crisis

So I assume you know about the gas shortage around the Southeast; if you're not in a city experiencing it, it's pretty crazy. I foolishly let my car get down to an eighth of a tank and started to get genuinely concerned when I drove around for 20-30 minutes one evening unable to find a gas station with gas. I gave up and decided to wait for morning. And that's nothing compared to the stories you hear on the news: waiting for an hour in line only to find that the station has run out of gas before you get to a pump or driving around for an hour looking for gas and then running out before finding any, sheesh.

So it's pretty bad, right? The next morning, I saw that the Walmart on my way to work did have gas, thank the Lord, so I waited my turn for about 20 minutes--not bad at all. I get my gas, and as I walk to my car door, I look at my wallet in my hand and think to myself, "Something doesn't feel right about this...

"Where are my KEYS?!" That's right folks, with my car at the pump, and an at least 20-minute long line of cars waiting, I had locked my keys in my car. Awesome.

Hm, what to do. I went to the station attendant and asked him if he knew how to break into a car. His response? "Do you have a coat hanger?" Um... Well, yes! I don't have my keys or my purse or my cell phone, but I have a coat hanger here in my pocket! Not helpful, ha.

The people all around my car were super nice and helpful, though. These two Mexican men were trying to push down my windows to get in--unsuccessfully, but they were sweet. Then a woman lent me her phone so I could call triple A; I was wary of going that route 'cause they can take awhile sometimes. They actually only took 20-30 minutes though, and I'm wondering if it was because they knew I was blocking a pump!

I felt bad though; what a ridiculous time and place to lock your keys in your car.

It was encouraging to see how the people around me responded to my idiocy though. They were kind and sympathetic and helpful. It's interesting to think of how distance affects how we respond to others. I would guess that those still waiting in line may have had less charitable responses toward me. Granted they also had not been able to get their gas yet, while these kind people had, ha.

Anyway, that's my story, and I hope you enjoyed it, heh.

"You need to get out more..."

So a week ago or so, one of our maintenance guys came by our apartment while I was home on my lunch break. We had a few things around the apartment that we had asked him to look at... well, Christina had asked him to look at 'cause she's proactive like that, ha. =)

One of the requests was to fix the dripping faucet in our kitchen. Apparently someone had looked at it before and decided that if you turned it hard enough it would stop, so they didn't need to fix it. The problem with this solution was that the faucet was a mischievous faucet and would pretend to stop dripping for a little while and then begin again. Or on other days it would refuse to stop dripping at all no matter which way you twisted it. Drip, Drip.... Drip... Drip... Drip, Drip.

So, we insisted on getting it fixed. And mister maintenance man fixed it. And he showed me it was fixed. And I said, "Yay! That's exciting!"

He looked at me with this surprised, quizzical brow and said, "Exciting? ... If you think that's exciting, you need to get out more." I kind of laughed and shrugged. But then he said it again. "Yeah, you really need to get out more." And I looked at him and thought to myself, "I don't know how to respond to you." And a little while later he said it again! "Man, if you think that is exciting, you seriously need to get out more."

Sheesh, man. Are you the excitement police? Who on earth gets upset over someone getting excited about something that they don't find exciting? Now it makes sense to be bothered by someone complaining about something that doesn't matter. But why should you be bothered by someone rejoicing about something that doesn't matter? Certainly superfluous joy isn't something to be concerned about, is it?

But I felt sad that I wasn't able in the moment to explain to the man that the reason I find joy in such a simple thing isn't because my world is small. I guess perhaps it's a choice? To find pleasure in even the smallest victories and beauties we experience here on earth.

So here's to the pleasure of simple things and getting excited about the disciplining of a mischievous faucet!

...I feel His pleasure

The sermon this Sunday at Perimeter was on the sacredness of work and the creation mandate--that God calls us to work and created us to work and that our work is meant to be an expression of worship. To work is to pray; "laborare est orare" (I'm having trouble deciphering if this quote originated with Augustine or not... that is who the pastor referenced at least). It was a good message. I was glad of it. When I first saw the topic, I was slightly concerned that I might have a squirming father in the seat next to me, ha. But he was nodding regularly and made a few affirming hmms that assured me that all was well with the world, haha. Christians don't always get this one right--pastor or not.

Anyway, another quote that was brought up came from a scene of Chariots of Fire that was shown. "I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure." Eric Liddell says this to his sister in response to her concern that his running is getting in the way of his missionary work. This got me thinking: when I ____, I feel God's pleasure. What could I put in that blank? I don't think it is my work. I enjoy my work; I am satisfied by my work; I believe that God has called me to it and that it serves His kingdom and purposes. I believe that my work honors and glorifies Him. But I do not necessarily feel His pleasure doing it in the way that Eric felt His pleasure when he ran.

The closest thing I could think of to put in that blank was writing. When I write, I feel God's pleasure. When I write of truth and beauty and love and humankind, when I write from my heart and spirit and really put myself into my writing and work to create something of worth and substance and the words come together to communicate an idea in an accessible and pleasing way, then I feel His pleasure. And when I thought of this, I became concerned about the fact that I have not been writing, and I wondered why this was. I have not felt I have had much to say, and I am not sure if this is laziness or a season or what. But I now think it will be worth it to make writing more of a priority--even when I do not feel like writing or think that I have little to say.

What about you? When do you feel His pleasure? =)