Noodles with Attitude

Yesterday our church celebrated the 150thanniversary of its founding. It was a big day with lots of special guests, period costumes (including men growing beards just for the occasion), food, old friends, music, and on and on.

A lot of planning and preparation went into the events of the day. I was involved in some of the preparation. One of my requisites for agreeing to do some of this work was that I did not want to be doing any of it at the last minute. After all, we’ve had 150 years to get ready, right?

Those that held that power in their hands faithfully delivered what I needed to do my part back in August. I worked on the multi-media presentation that included pictures, audio clips and video segments of former pastors. With the help of Jimmy and Scott, we got it all together.

A couple of weeks before the actual event, we had a rehearsal with the narrator and chief historian. There were only a few minor kinks to work out after that. Those were taken care of in just a couple of days, so for more than a week ahead, we were ready.

I was so ready, in fact, that I wanted it to be over with. I had been looking at those old black and white photos long enough. I was ready to move on to something else. Stick a fork in me, 'cause I was done.

Part of the celebration, of course, included food and as most church gatherings do, it was an everybody-bring-a-dish kind of event. A couple of days before, Scott asked me what kind of salad I was planning to make and take.

I told him I wasn’t making a salad and that I felt like I had already done my part. I had already contributed as much or more than everybody else. I was going to have to be their early on Sunday to get everything set up. I’m tired and busy and I’ve already been working for months on it, plus, I have visitors staying at my house. Haven’t I done enough?!

“Oh, so you’re going to be one of ‘THOSE’ people,” he said. “The ones with the bad attitude.”

Hmmmphf.

Pasta salad it is.

I worked through my steaming bad attitude standing over a pot of boiling hot water.

Add a little oil, spices, and multi-color pasta spirals and ta-da...a great big bowl of what is now known around my house as Bad Attitude Salad.

There were a LOT of people at the anniversary celebration Sunday. More than they expected, I think. So I guess maybe my big bowl of Bad Attitude salad was one little, unnoticed thing that made the food and the blessings go a little further.

Even when I think I’ve done all I can do, God always shows me how He can squeeze out a little bit more.

"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. John 6:9-11

Today

My friend tells me that she did NOT understand my last post. Never fear, my sweet friend, I think you got it more than you realized. The idea of the previous post was just how confusing all these words we use can be. So, if by the end of it you were confused, you got it!

Today, let's simplify.

Here are a couple of sentences from a Bible study I'm working on (Discerning the Voice of God by Priscilla Shirer)

The Enemy's discouraging voice tells us what we could do "if."
The voice of God tells us what we should do NOW.

The Enemy's voice will focus on the past and the future while the voice of our God will focus on today. He is the God of right now.

Today, what do you think about that?

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. Ecclesiastes 5:1-2

WYSIWYG ASAP AYS

I think the Hardees sign in the previous post (which is physically right across the street from my office, so I see it every day, several times a day) has bent my brain on the word thing again.

I think I mentioned before about my subscription to Dictionary.com’s Word of the Day (alas, in a post about another fast food sign!). Words amaze and amuse me. It is, after all, the main way we communicate. It is fascinating to me how what we hear sends signals to our brain which causes us to understand someone or something.

I know there are other methods to get your point across. Words, even though they are often misunderstood and abused, are by far the most effective and efficient way. (again, the Hardees sign says way more than just “try our new hamburger”).

You can learn a lot about how things are written.

For instance, I don’t have children, but if I did I don’t think I would want to take them to a day care or preschool that has spellings like “kidz” or “kollege” or “skool” in their names. I know they’re trying to be cute, but learning your ABCs and forming them into words is difficult enough without daily reinforcement of the incorrect way.

And by hard enough I mean that, even after 4 years of college and having a job as a copywriter, there are some spellings and pronunciations that bewilder me.

For example.

Onion is pronounced UHN-YUN

Based on that, the word “on” might should be pronounced “uhn” instead of “awn”.

Other words that begin with that same sound, “uhn”: unknown, unleash, uneasy, ungrateful…

Oh, but wait. Those are words that begin with a “U”, not an “O” like onion.

If we spelled it like we pronounce it, the word that is the moniker for that pungent bulb that makes us cry when it chop it up, would be union.

But we have another pronunciation and meaning for that word, union (YOON-YUHN).

Is there wearing anybody else out?

No wonder we’ve resorted to reducing polysyllabic words down to a couple of letters for the sake of saving time and money. AKA text messaging.

Talk about confusing.

Did you know there are websites that will translate your words into a text message? Ahh, but do you have to spell it correctly first in order for it to translate correctly? ( http://www.lingo2word.com/index.php )


IDK


WC

Well, then, NM

Tigger started it with his TTFN. He most likely got his start at Kidz Kollege.


I too will have my say; I too will tell what I know. For I am full of words, and the spirit within me compels me; inside I am like bottled-up wine, like new wineskins ready to burst. Job 32:17-19

Hey y'all, looky here

Take that corporate marketing campaign and bring it down to the local level. Reaching your local audience is the key to success in selling your product. Bringing those high and lofty plans down to where we, the people in the real world, live sometimes requires scaling down and eliminating some of the extras.

So here you have it:

Does anybody else see the humor in this?

"Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding. Proverbs 9:5-6

Quips, quotes, and zingers

With the presidential and vice-presidential nominee debates recently televised, all the news reporters and political pundit types waited for the one-liners and zingers from the candidates that would become the sound bites they played over and over and over.

So far, I think they have been a little disappointed. I don’t think there have been as many quotable quotes from any of the candidates in these debates.

That is OK with me. I’m already weary of the campaign trail and frankly, don’t want to hear any quip over and over from either one of the candidates. Only twenty-seven more days and we will have a new national leader.

In Gripped by the Greatness of God (I read the book a while back, now I’m currently working through the study) on the discussion of sovereignty, James MacDonald quotes Thomas à Kempis, “Man proposes, but God disposes.” Ah, how true. That’s a one-liner that hits right on the mark, especially in light of political leaders.

James MacDonald goes on to say that no political leader anywhere will ever be elected or put into power without God’s permission. God will allow it because He can use it for His good. Even non-Christian leaders. Even the president of the United States. Even a republican. Even a democrat. God can use him/her to bring about His purposes. For me, that is a very reassuring thought in all these uncertain times.

And speaking of one-liners, a friend of mine sent me an email this week that had some interesting ones about the Christian life. I thought they were worth sharing:

Don't let your worries get the best of you; Remember, Moses started out as a basket case.

Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisors.

It is easier to preach ten sermons than it is to live one.

When you get to your wit's end, you'll find God lives there.

People are funny; they want the front of the bus, the middle of the road, and the back of the church.

Opportunity may knock once, but temptation bangs on your front door forever.

Some minds are like concrete thoroughly mixed up and permanently set.

A lot of church members who are singing ‘Standing on the Promises' are just sitting on the premises.

Be ye fishers of men. You catch them - He'll clean them.

Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.

Don't put a question mark where God put a period.

Forbidden fruits create many jams.

God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called.

God grades on the cross, not the curve.

Prayer: Don't give God instructions -- just report for duty!

The task ahead of us is never as great as the Power behind us.

We don't change the message, the message changes us.

The best mathematical equation: 1 cross + 3 nails = 4 given.

I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. Isaiah 45:5

Come on, sing along

Yay! My boss is out of town all week, so that means I’m in charge at the office. First order of business, play my music really loud.

Before I could do that today, though, I had to get all my music in order. I had some tunes on my iPod, but not on my computer at work, and I had some CDs in the car but none of those songs were on my iPod or my computer. And I had some things only on the computer and nowhere else.

All of that is good if what I need is variety. As it is right now, however, I have a lot of choir music to learn between now and Christmas. I need to be able to pull up the song I’m currently trying to sear into my brain no matter where I am – in the car, the office, or at home.

So, whew, it’s all synched now.

Yay, again.

I love music. I always have. I sing in the choir at church and in a ladies’ ensemble because I love it so. It’s another one of those things that God knew about me so He made a way for a musician to fall in love with me and want to marry me.

I love music, but it is not my gift. It doesn’t come naturally to me. I have to work at it and all in all, I’m not that good at it. But, oh, the blessing I get from it when I let myself get swallowed up by it.

Music is one of the main sources God uses to speak to me. I can be desperately seeking to hear from God and nothing else will soothe my searching heart like the Christian music playlist on my iPod. Or, I can be happy and feeling as free as can be, singing along to the radio, when, WHAM! The lyrics hit me with a sudden impact, even though I have heard the song a thousand times before.

Most of the scripture I have memorized, I learned from a children’s song, a hymn, or a choir anthem. “Beloved, let us love one another…,” “Better is one day in his courts…” “And He shall reign forever and ever…” Oh, I could go on and on. How about you?

And, it doesn’t even have to be Christian music to move me. When people who DO have the gift use it like He intended for them to, it usually blows me away. I am so thankful God has seen fit to surround me with people like that.

Since I’m in charge this week, and because I’m editor-in-chief here anyway, let me share with you some of the people around me that do just that. Just because I can…



Makes you want to stand up and salute, doesn't it?

And, then there's this guy...



Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:19-20

Checks and balances

The economy. It’s on everyone’s mind.

Earlier this week I had my own sort of financial crisis.

At work, I tried to handle a financial transaction online. It was a task that I had done before. This time, however, broken and outdated web links kept me from efficiently doing what I needed to do. The account is on a locally owned bank, not some giant conglomerate, so I thought calling them on the phone would be my next best option. All I really needed was the updated, correct, web address. Surely someone at the main branch just down the street could give me that, right?

Wrong.

Once I got them on the phone and posed my problem to them, I was transferred to at least three different people and put on hold at least twice by each of those three people. After all that and still no answer to my question, the exchange ended mid-sentence. As I spoke, they hung up on me.

To them, I was the idiot. To them, I was the one with a ridiculous request. To them, I was not worth their time because I was asking a question about something that was not in their current database of knowledge. Never mind trying to help find an answer, which in the end would benefit not only me but them and any other online customers as well.

I don’t think any of the people that I spoke with on the phone were idiots. I do think that they were not really listening to what I was asking. They tried to get me to sign up for online banking. They wanted me to fill out an application for a credit card. No thank you, I already have all that, I just need a correct web address to make a transaction. I wasn’t even asking them to make the transaction for me. I just wanted a web address that worked so I could do it myself.

They were providing solutions that were well within their current knowledge database, but had little to do with my question. Mostly, they had not been properly or thoroughly informed or trained. That part is not really their fault.

What IS their responsibility is how they direct themselves based on what they know. And, how they use what they do know to learn more about what they don’t know.

I have that same responsibility. One thing I DO know is that what I do and say often affects other people. My words or actions may not change the course of someone’s life, but it might affect their feelings or their attitude. I could ruin or make someone’s day without even trying. I want the small deposits I make into other people’s lives to earn high dividends.

Which is why I thought twice about dialing the number right back after they hung up on me, and asking to speak to the bank president. After all, it is a local bank; the president is a local man that everybody knows. It wouldn’t have been hard to get him on the phone. I wanted to make that call so badly, but I couldn’t do it.

That responsibility to others is also why after cooling off from the phone call and resisting the urge to call back, I wrote and re-wrote a letter to the bank president, and then finally ended up deleting it without sending it. I just couldn’t find a way to express my problem without saying something negative about someone.

I know I would be miserable if my boss received a phone call or a letter about me that was critical and unflattering. I don’t want my life to cause people to do things like that. I want people’s lives to be better because of me.

So, I let it go. I didn’t want to, but I let it go.

It’s gone. And you can take that to the bank.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Ephesians 4:29-30