Humor

I thought that we all needed a bit of humor today. That's Jessie, by the way.

So here are a few periodicals that speak to life's situations.

Challenges

I have been reading the psychological thriller by Feodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment. Not of my own free will, mind you. It was a requirement for my Russian Literature class. Yesterday, we had a visiting professor come in to discuss his perceptions of the novel, as well as ways that he taught it to his classes in the past. He brought up an aspect of the novel that we had not yet considered. Many of the characters in the story are presented with a very striking dichotomy in their behaviors. For instance Porfiry Petrovich, a Russian detective, has a very rational mentality, and is given to intense spirituality. The character I chose to discuss was that of Sonya, a young girl who chose prostitution in order to provider for her siblings. Although she is living in such blatant sin, she is a deeply devout Orthodox Christian, who recognizes her sinful state.

Now, after all the technical details, the professor asked us to consider any dichotomies in our own lives. Not something that was easy to do on such short notice. But, I did come up with a list of about 3. Though not on the level of rational/spiritual, or sinner/saint, my dual natures are just as interesting, I think. My deals with speaking. I have no trouble at all speaking in front of people. In fact, I am a very outspoken individual (I know, you don't believe it, but it's true). Put me in front of a group of people, 5 or 500, and I could talk for hours, well...maybe an hour and a half. But, and here's the duality, I cringe at the thought of one-on-one confrontations. It doesn't matter who it is, it could be a stranger, or my best friend, and I still fear confrontation, to the point where I will become physically ill.

I'm not sure if anyone else finds this as intriguing as I do, or not. But I am putting a challenge out to all those in blog land who read corismindlessponderings. What is a dichotomy in your own character, two seemingly incompatible aspects that reside within one shell (uh, that's you). May not seem interesting to you guys, but this is what nerds sit around doing all day. Fun, huh???

Out of fairness, I will respond to the challenge I received a while ago concerning eight things people don't know about me.

1. I love watching cartoons, more so than 'real' movies.

2. I know 95% of the words to 98% of the songs in the Veggie Tales movie catalog.

3. I actually enjoy being able to read things written in dead languages.

4. I really want to have more kids. As much as I can't stand kids, I really do long to have more, and to be able to actually experience and enjoy a pregnancy. Guess I'll be waiting a bit on that.

5. I hate the telephone. Whatever happened to writing a well thought out letter and experiencing the anticipation of waiting for correspondence from a loved one, or claiming that the letter from the bill collector, or the annoying relative, got "lost in the mail."

6. I'm a republican. If you know me, you know that is a profound self-realization.
6b. I hate politics!!!!!

7. I have a shoe fetish, which for someone with a size 11 wide, that is a very difficult indulgence.

8. I see dead people.

Hehehe, ok, not really.
8. I find men in uniform irresistible. That's what I get growing up on a military base surrounded by men in uniform.

Well...now you can fulfill your challenge. And this is probably alot more than you wanted to ever know about me. Oh well.

Godspeed!!!

If you have an open mind, is there a chance your brains might fall out?

You know, I actually feel like that today.

Honestly, I feel like crap today. A stupid head cold or something. I stayed home from school yesterday because I drove to about Hickory Corners when I got so nauseous that I thought I would throw up, so...I turned around, took some drugs and went to bed.

I am having a seriously hard time even forming coherent thoughts today. It is even harder to form a coherent prayer in my head. I wonder if anyone else ever has those kind of days. I know that God hears the thoughts in my heart, but I would kinda like to tell him what's on my mind, as well.

Oh, well. I just wrote all thins really uninteresting stuff so people could say that I am updating more often.

I am contemplating what to dress up like for Halloween. Maybe if the cold keeps up, I could go as a sick person, wouldn't take much prep work. Any ideas?

Later

WAAHHHHOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Well.... I just got some great news that I have to share with the whole three people that read this.

I just received my acceptance letter from Calvin Theological Seminary!!!!

PRAISE GOD!!!!!!!!!

I can't even describe how relieved I feel, like a huge boulder has been lifted off me. I was beginning to wonder if this was where God was calling me, and know I know!!!!!

BTW...It was one week to the day since I received the confirmation letter stating that they received everything and were going to send it to the review board. I have never seen a college work that fast at anything!!!

I am so excited, my hands are shaking.

Well, at least I have posted something. I realize that it has been a while. oh well.

WAAHHHOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Why do people look up when they think?

I am sitting here in Sprau Tower on WMU's campus, in a little cafe thingy, trying to fill the time until my late class at 6:00. I have been doing a lot of people watching while sitting here. It's amazing some of the things that people will wear. I know the big thing in fashion nowadays is to be original, and unique. I strikes me that in all this attempting to be unique and original, that everyone is essentially wearing the same thing. Most everyone is wearing jeans. I know that they have become a staple in most everyone's wardrobes, but really...is that the only type of bottoms that anyone has anymore. I will interject that I am not at the moment wearing jeans, they are an army green corduroy material. 65 percent of the people are wearing a t-shirt, or t-shirt type material top. There is also a lot of layers. I have seen some girls that are wearing three tank top layer willy-nilly on top of each other, most time with bra straps showing. The other thing I am not quite getting is wearing patterns and colors that have no business what-so-ever being in the same room, let alone on the same body at the same time. Again interjecting, I will say that I am also wearing a tasteful green 3/4 sleeve light sweater and a pair of heeled black dress shoes with an open heel that clink when I walk, with a pair of black trouser socks. (I wonder if many people in this generation even know what trouser socks are!?!).

I just got up and cleared my head for a second (I had to take a potty break). I realize that there really was no point to my previous tirade. A lot of school work, and life in general has me desperately seeking times of absent-mindedness for relief. Now I am "Off to read Beowulf, the wonderful Beowulf of old." (pardon my lose paraphrase, see previous sentence for understanding).

Later all!!!

Watch the pretty birdie...

Kinda strange title, but I couldn't think of anything informative, intriguing, or interesting, so I went for the first thing that popped into my head.

I will be talking today about life, and it may seem that I am complaining, this is not the case. I just want to get some things off my chest and vent for a bit, but remember, It's All Good; Beautiful day, Great to be alive; Thank God I'm Alive!!!

I don't think that there has ever been a time in my life that I have been so busy, and seemed so overwhelmed with all the things that I have to do. School is really reading heavy this semester, in fact, I bought 26 books for my four classes. 26!!! Now I like reading, but this is a bit much. I am still working at the Women's Center on Friday's, and Babysitting Tyler on Friday mornings. Teaching Sunday School. Taking Jess to soccer practice on Wednesday evening, then Praise practice, then Faith Weavers. Soccer games on Saturday mornings. The wonderful Worship Taskforce that meets every two weeks on Wednesday evenings, in which I get the pleasure of reading another book!!! I started BSF last week, which is two hours on Tuesday morning... but I realized that I am too busy, and with a lot of prayer, decided to not do BSF for lack of time. On top of all this, I still have to be a mom, packing lunches, making breakfast and dinner, and try to keep my house from reaching the toxic waste dump status.

Honestly, I don't know how people do it all. It really does make me appreciate the 40 min drive to class four days a week. At least I get some time to myself, where I only have to worry about driving, don't have to deal with Jess, and can tune out the world blasting my WAYFM. Thankfully, I have realized the importance of quite time with God, though they are few and far between.

Last Friday, I was helping Jen go through 20 years of collected possessions (for lack of a more polite word than junk or crap), and was exhausted. It was getting dark. Jen was in the house putting Tyler to bed, Jess was in the pole barn with Jen's folks; no one except me was outside. So I sat on the ground. I just sat there looking at the clouds. The wind was blowing cooly, and the clouds were moving rather quickly across the sky, the trees were rustling and it was very peaceful. I couldn't help but slow down, and just not think about anything except God. This time only lasted for maybe ten minutes or so, but it was enough to renew myself and to calm down and appreciate life.

My prayer is that I can have more of these short breather moments more often.

It's been a while...

I realize today that it has been a while since I have pondered mindlessly and talked about it. Well, unfortunately, today will not be a mindless pondering.

Doing my devotional this morning, made me think about things. Well, of course I think about things when I read God's Word, but it was really thought provoking this morning. It was entitled "God's Viewpoint."

"From one ancestor [God] made all nations to inhabit the whole earth."
Acts 17:26

The jist of the article was about a guy who saw a bumper sticker that read "God bless the rest of the world, too." He talked about how you see tons of stickers, and hear almost everyone saying "God bless America." The point was that "God is not the God of one nation or denomination, and Christ came for everyone who believes." It is easy to get caught up in the need for God's love in our own country, because we definitely do. But America is not the only country in the world. God created all people, and He has a "world perspective."
With Deanna and Jamie and Taylor in Africa, where the standard of living is much lower, and the problems are more serious than what outfit I am going to wear to school today, it is enlightening. We, and definitely me included, need to break out of our Ameri-centric mindset, and see that God's love is more than sufficient for the whole world, not just America, and that we need to show that.
I almost wonder if this is not one of the world's lies that we have bought in to. We do need to show God's love right where we are at, but that doesn't mean we need to stop there. It almost is like denying that God is that awesome that He can handle it all. America is not better than the rest, nor do we have a monopoly on God. If anything, we underestimate Him, and take Him for granted. He is not simply the God of White Protestant Conservative Americans, but of the North Koreans working on Nuclear technology, on the members and victims of the Taliban and Al-quiada, of those in the path of Hurricane Franklin, of the Pygmies, and even of all the murderers, thieves, and every other sinner in the world.
I pray that my eyes will be open to see that, and not only pray that God would bless America, but the entire world.
And I thank God that I will never know everything there is to know about Him, but that everyday is a chance to rediscover who He is.