You can go with this, or you can go with that.....

It is Friday and a long weekend.....makes me want to dance like Christopher Walken.

So many times we want to change other people....which we can't do. Yet we are unwilling to change ourselves, which we can do.

"It is easier to put on slippers than to carpet the whole world."

Top 10 Reasons I Love my Job

10. Variety--each day is different.
09. Answering the phones--never know who or what you'll get!
08. Free food--thanks C-Young, Chris, Robert, Tony, K-Lai, Rita, Debby, Britt, Crumpy, Tygre, Jenny, and everyone else I forgot to list.
07. Co-workers--they are pretty cool! But you've got to watch that Chris Goree! : )
06. Random occurances--like today watching Stine try to blow up a balloon an nearly pass out.
05. It keeps me young....I think.
04. Casual dress. Trust me, once you get a "real" job, you'll know why this is such a perk.
03. Getting paid to go on Spring Break.
02. Getting paid to hang out with college students.
01. Hearing, "Holly, I have a question...." a million times a day, and knowing the answer.

Ten Years Later

This post is going to date me. Ten years ago today I was a senior in high school. I didn't have class until second hour, which started around 9:30 or so, if I remember correctly. Back then my dad and I would share the car, so he would come home each morning from work to take me to school.

On April 19, 1995 he came in earlier than normal, so I was still getting ready for school. He turned on the TV and watched as I gathered my stuff. I remember walking into the living room and seeing what was on TV and trying to reconcile in my mind what it meant and what was going on. The bombing had just happened and news crews were just getting on the scene.

We watched until I had to go to school. I remember being captivated by the events and it seemed like time stood still that day. I was the first one at my school that knew what had happened. I went to the office and told them, and the news quickly spread throughout my little school.

My first class was a history class where I was a TA (teacher’s aid). We turned on the TV and watched. The rest of the day we sat in class and watched.

We had some band members in OKC that day--in the Myriad. They heard and felt the blast, but everyone was okay. No one I knew personally was killed on that day, but I remember thinking I was witnessing history. I can’t believe it has been ten years.

In a Pickle

I get on theses "kicks" where I want the same thing all the time. My mom is this way, as is one of my brothers. I guess it is genetic or something. Anyway, my latest kick is dill pickles--especially hamburger style dill pickles (and they MUST also be COLD!). Yummy! My mouth is watering just thinking about them.

I like to salt them too. I know, I know, I always salt everything. But on the dill pickle slices it is a perfect mix. For all you naysayers out there, you should try it before counting it off as weird.

Other so-called "odd" things I salt include apples, oranges, watermelon to name a few. Brian Cllifton, remember at the MT retreat a couple of years ago where I got you to salt your apple? He was one naysayer that was proved wrong.

Thinking about it, I have a lot of "weird" food combinations. For example, I like mayo on my chili-cheese dog. I dip pizza in ranch (not as odd anymore). As a kid, one of my favorite lunches was cold, iceberg luttuce with cream of chicken soup. I haven't made that in years, but it still sounds good. For breakfast, we used to have white rice with butter and sugar on it. I'm sure there are more, but that is all I can think of this morning as examples.

This blog entry may not save the world, but I hope it gives hope to others who have quirky tastes and food combinations.

Quotable Moments

"It's a bad day to be a duck!" --Susanne Scott referring to the ducks on the frozen pond at Glorieta

"Get off the bed! Get off the bed! I need to do something." --Crumpy (I have NO idea what he was talking about!)

"I'm going to steal one of these." --Rita, holding a WWJD bracelet in the Lifeway Bookstore. (That is what I heard, she says she didn't say that!) :)

"I don't have many twenty-dollars." --Debby Adams, referring to the cost of her parking ticket. (See her blog for details.)

"You lost it when I met you." --Tim to me, referring to my personal space.

My Mentor, My Mirror

I love Jen Kelsey. There are people in your life that suck life out of you, and then there are people who breathe life back into you. Jen is one of those life-giving people. She encourages me so much I can get up and try again no matter how many times I fall on my face.

She lets me cry and talk and be honest. She asks me questions, lets me think, pushes me gently in new directions, corrects me, and loves me regardless of what I "do" or "don't do." She will listen; she will offer advice; she makes time for me. I love her, and she has my heart so I will follow her no matter how hard the road is that she asks me to walk down. When she rebukes me, I listen and cry and try again.

Each time I am around her, I am humbled by her love for me. I want to love like that. She has more health problems than anyone else I know, and yet you would never know that talking to her. I want to be selfless like that. Jen is selfless, optimistic, fun, wise, and more like Jesus each day.

She makes me think of 1 John 4:10 which says, "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

Jen loved me before I loved her. She wanted me in her life before I wanted her. She loved first, and because of that love, I have grown to love her and "follow" her example. It is because Jen loves me regardless of my behavior that gives me freedom to fail and be forgiven and to keep following and trusting her. What a great living example she is of 1 John 4:10.

Is it just me, or is it hard for anyone else to accept (in your head and heart) that God is the same way (but to perfection)? I know Jen is not perfect and I am not in any way "worshipping" her. But she mirrors this biblical truth so clearly, it helps me believe (in action of heart) 1 John 4:10 better. I see a human with weaknesses loving like that, I think, of course GOD can do that! He does everything perfect!

She is the mirror that reflects 1 John 4:10 to me. I know it is Christ in Jen that I see. It is not Jen in herself who can do that, it is Christ living in her that loves, that is sacrificial, that is forgiving. I look at my life and think, "What am I mirroring? What truth(s) do I display in lifestyle?" I need far more of Jesus and a whole lot less of me.

My challenge to you is tell people in your life what they are mirroring for you. What verse do you see them living out? What biblical truth do they help you believe and act on better? Let's all be life-givers.