Around the corner.

1. My half-marathon with Sarah Holley.

2. My grandfather’s wedding.

3. My trip to my parents’ house in MN.

4. FALL! It was chilly IN the house when I woke up this morning. Apparently, Palmer thought so, too. I couldn’t find him when I got out of the shower… so after searching… this is what I see…

Palmer is no dummy. He jumped up in my bed and made himself at home in all of the blankets. (How cute!)

Happy Friday!

Back in Iraq.

My mom’s best friend, Krista, e-mailed my sister and me the other day. Fabulous! I LOVE getting e-mails… real e-mails… not just a forward or spam.

Back to the e-mail:

Hay ya’ll,

Did you know that Jeffery Dexter is in Iraq?  His wife, Patty, said he
would love to get e-mails and I thought of you two.

Smiles!
Krista

Oh, wow.

Some background:

Dex was the college minister at my parents’ church in Lakeville, MN when I was in college. The summers after my freshman and sophomore years, I stayed at my parents’ house and worked at a bank in St. Paul. While I was there, I went to Hosanna! with my parents and sisters. My sister asked me to come to this college program with her. Let me say that this was a time in my life where I didn’t necessarily not want to be at church, but I DID NOT want anyone to challenge me. Basically, I wanted everything to be on my terms. I DID NOT want to go but knew that I should. I knew that if I went, I would hear stuff I needed to hear, but did not want to hear… you know that feeling? Of impending doom? (That’s an exaggeration… but you get what I am saying.) I fought every minute of it.

Anyway… Kimberly finally got me to go with her one night. And, I was right. I heard what I needed to hear. And, it was rough. And, it was intense. And, it was a challenge. After the ’service,’ this man that spoke – Dex – walked straight up to me and asked me what my deal was. What? He didn’t really say it in those words, but it made the same point… just more tactfully.

I was caught off-guard. I didn’t like him (only because he didn’t know me and called me out.) I don’t remember what I mumbled… but I did it as I walked away slowly as he was saying, “See you next week.”

“Yeah right, buddy,” was what I thought as I stomped off to the car. (Such a mature 18…)

I don’t know why or how, but I went back every week. One week I heard Dex’s testimony. Amazing. He has been through it all… abuse of every kind, alcohol, drugs, sex, lies, church drama, every struggle imaginable. What I LOVE about Dex… he doesn’t hide any of it. He knows it’s his past… and he knows that God is using those experiences every day to connect with people that take alternate routes just to avoid driving close to a church. Dex does church in the coffee shop. Dex does church while he’s on a jog. Dex is one of those people who just says it how it is… probably to the point where it should be offensive but it’s not… it’s intriguing, instead… causing people to want to know more.  Dex wants to be Christ’s hands and feet… so much so, that he re-enlisted in the service, and went to Iraq… to serve as the Chaplain’s Assistant. This is more difficult than it sounds. It’s more than just carrying around a Bible. Chaplains can’t carry weapons. Nope. So, technically, they can’t protect themselves if need be. Dex… can carry weapons. He accompanies the Chaplain at all times… and protects him… guards him literally with his life.

WHAT? We were all shocked and scared when he told us. We prayed for Dex, and threw him a “coming home” party… we said that we refused to say “Going away.” We told him that we would keep his wife and daughter company while he was on his trip.

He was gone for AWHILE. He came back safe… but had seen some terrible terrible things while overseas. He shared his experiences with us (too gory and sad to go into here) so that we would understand how our troops are honestly doing their best to make it better for other people… how prayer for our troops is needed more than we can comprehend… how much our troops really love the people living in our country.

We prayed for Dex and his family. A lot. We still do… or at least, I do. I have to admit that I haven’t kept in touch with Dex as much as I’d like. He impacted me… snapped me out of my bad attitude… was there to counsel me when I had NO idea what the heck I wanted to do… was there to tell me how it is… was there to point out blessings that I had taken for granted… was there to show us all of the little things that he could see – like the behind-the-scenes play by play.

I was a little shocked and scared when I got Krista’s e-mail.

So… I emailed Dex. And called him Jeff at first… which is super weird because I never ever called him that… I told him about what’s happening with me… about how I moved to Nashville… about how I found a church that I think that he would really connect with… and then I asked about him. I asked about how he was really doing…

His response:

It is hard because I miss my family something terrible. I feel like
there is something else I should be doing to better the world.

This tore me up. I can’t imagine leaving my family behind to go and protect the rest of our nation… to protect the man that prays with soldiers as they are dying… who counsels the young men and women who watched their best friend die on the battlefield. This is sad, but it’s real. When I think of Dex, I immediately think of this verse:

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

- John 15:13

So, now, Dex and I are pen pals. I am going to send him The Shack for when he has any down time. (You know I am all about that book right now.) I know that every one has a different view about the war. I don’t think that anyone of us actually likes it. Just because we don’t like it doesn’t mean we can’t support the people who have literally given up their lives to keep US safe. US… people they don’t even know. I would love for people to rally around Dex. I would appreciate your prayers for him and his family. I would ask you to pray that God bring him peace in the midst of the chaos and sadness. I would ask you to pray for protection for him. Most of all, I would ask you to pray that Dex is able to see the impact he is having… that he is encouraged.

Thanks for listening.

Happy Thursday. I am truly humbled.

Exhale and Surrender.

I think, that lately, I have been holding my breath. It’s like taking an abs class… you’re doing a million crunches and you realize, at the end of your set, that you didn’t inhale or exhale one time.

That’s what I have been doing. I have been working really hard to make progress, but fighting it at the same time. “Use me God, but only if it isn’t going to hurt.” “Use me God, but only if you’re going to show me an easy way.”

I know. That isn’t exactly the definition of surrendering.

Here’s the thing: I WANT TO Surrender. I don’t want it to be left up to me. I want to breathe in and exhale slowly, and be ready for whatever.

Basically, I want to be challenged. I want God to use me in ways that blow my mind… not for my entertainment… but for His Glory. I want my life to be a testament to Him… to what He can and has and will do. I don’t want to be at the game. I don’t want to be watching other people play. I don’t want to be on the team and sitting on the bench. I want to be IN THE GAME, to be on the field/court/etc.

I have been talking to my mom, a lot, lately. She honestly is my best friend… well, she, my dad, and my grandfather. Last night, we started talking about The Shack. I have been wanting to read it, and she just finished it. We started talking about God… how He’s perceived, and how we all judge God… how we all put Him in a box and limit what He can and will do. I’ll admit it. I do it all the time. I get really excited about something that God is doing, and then get worried… like He’s going to be stopped… or that He won’t follow through. Sometimes I think that God doesn’t care about the details… that He’s too busy trying to keep us all from beating the junk out of one another… Like He’s sitting in meetings trying to keep one world leader from getting all of this power to destroy someone else. I think of him as this man who cares deeply, but is trying to take care of the “big issue.”

I don’t take time out to think that God isn’t just a noun… he’s a verb. He is continuously creating… continuously doing. I don’t take time to see God in the lady who brought her widowed neighbor dinner or to see God in the teenage boy giving his last $5 to the homeless man sitting on the corner. I think that sometimes we all put God in this box… expecting Him to appear in the exact same way to everybody…

Now, I am not saying that I think that there’s more than one God. I believe that there’s ONE GOD… and that there’s ONE JESUS…. and that there’s ONE HOLY SPIRIT… I just think that we, as Christians, should have a little faith. I think that if we honestly let God be “I Am”, let Him be “Our Father,” let HIM be “the Judge”… let Him be the things that He says He is – instead of getting caught up in the legalities, the how’s – that our minds would be blown away by what He could accomplish through us.

I also feel like, just maybe, (and I am talking to myself here, too), that we should look at it expecting a positive outcome. OF COURSE I am going to be scared to surrender if I think that it’s going to hurt. BUT, who says it’s going to hurt/be hard? I know that God doesn’t promise us cake and roses and easy times all day everyday… but I know that my attitude about things hasn’t exactly been always positive. I think that it’s much easier to surrender knowing that God is good. Everything that He does is good. He is going to use me for good.

So, today… I have chosen to exhale. I have chosen joy. I have chosen peace. I have chosen a positive attitude.

What about you? What do you choose?

Why my legs still hurt from my Saturday 10-mile run.

(Photo from http://www.nashville.gov/greenways/locations/cropening.htm)

This is the new Pedestrian Bridge over the Cumberland River… connecting the Shelby Bottoms Greenway to Two Rivers Park. I was running with the engineer who helped design this pain-inducing monster (just kidding, Sarah… kinda).

Sarah and I had our 10-mile “long run” on Saturday. As you can see, the trail runs under the bridge, and it’s relatively flat. Fabulous. From the trail head to this point is about 2.5 miles… not bad. The monster hill with the trail spiraling up to the top probably wouldn’t be terrible at 2.5 miles either… but one does not head up the hill here. Nope. You run under the bridge… complete another 3.5 loop, and then come back to the bridge at mile 6… and then you run up the hill…or up and around, should I say?

Anyway… It really is beautiful at the top… you can see the river and lots of pretty plants… ha… it may be more enjoyable if you have an oxygen tank waiting at the top

I was… Tagged.

By Whit.

Here are the rules..
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Write 6 random things about yourself.
3. Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
4. If you’re tagged, DO IT and pass on the tag.

#1) I used to teach Latin dancing… salsa, etc.

#2) When I was little (like 11), I remember standing in my grandparent’s driveway in Memphis. I told them that I was definitely going to do three things when I grew up:

1. My first car was going to be a jeep.

2. I was going to go to the University of Kentucky because my older cousins thought it was cool, and I liked the basketball team.

3. After I got done with college, I was going to move to Nashville because I liked music.

*** For the record, I did all three.

#3) I am allergic to shellfish… which is fine because I think it’s gross.

#4) I could drink coffee at any meal.

#5) I was voted “most responsible” in high school my senior year.

#6) I play the cello… I love playing. I don’t like playing for people. I am not sure why and wish I could get over that fear. My mom is the same way about the piano. She’s AMAZING… but she only plays for my dad, sisters, and I.

I think that pretty much everyone has been tagged… but I say I want to hear from…

Brandi

Karen

Jarrod

Jenni

Pete

and… Brad Ruggles!

Beating the age rule.

How does one sock-it-to the car rental company people who categorize people by age and lump them all into a group? (Yes… I may be slightly bitter still… I am going to have to listen to Pete’s message from this past Sunday again, I think…)

Answer: Buy a plane ticket.

Yep. Take that Enterprise/Hertz/everyone else. By the time I rented the car and had to pay the insurance… it was going to cost me the same as purchasing a plane ticket… that’s not even adding the cost of gas to drive from Nashville to (gasp) Minnesota. Yep. I know. LOOONNG drive = LOTSSS of $$ in gas.

Anyway… this morning, I got up to run with Sarah. We have a half-marathon in three weeks… and I have to say that I probably haven’t been training as well as I should. The first thing that I notice when I walk out the door… it is CHILLY. Really chilly. And DARK. Like… middle-of-the-night dark. It kinda threw me off. I ran my first mile to meet Sarah at our little meeting point… and off we go. We usually chat for the first mile together, and then we’re pretty quiet… only talking when we are trying to convince each other that our legs don’t ache or that we’re not breathing so hard that we’re going to pass out or that we’re not, in fact, running up a hill… that it’s actually an optical illusion (or not… my legs are pretty clear about how it’s really a hill.)

Anyway… we’re on the last stretch of the green way… and all of the sudden, directly to our left, we hear this awful howling and snarl.

Um… seriously? It’s dark… the path is lit by the moon and a far off street light, but we cannot see what’s in the brush/bushes/slight rain forest on the side of the trail. Sarah and I look at each other… and take off in a dead sprint. Remember that, at this point, we have been making very good time… and about to begin mile 5… sprinting is hard… we sprint. We don’t look back… until we get close to the road… I look back. No big coyote (yes, there is one in West Nashville… my neighbor has warned me about him/her) is following us.

The point of this story? There really isn’t one… except that I can only remember running that fast out of fear one other time in my life… when I was in the sixth grade and this bully boy was chasing me down the street with a water balloon. No lie.

Lesson: Don’t run in the dark in the forest that houses hungry coyotes.

Minimum Age Requirement.

Someone please tell me if this makes sense.

I am going to MN in October to visit my parents. My car has 105,000 miles on it, and while it would probably make it there… I am not really willing to take the risk. Alas, I will rent a car.

This, my friends, is slightly frustrating because I am not 25. This means that I have to pay more. A LOT more. $189 more. How is that fair? I don’t think that me being 24.5 years old makes me any better of a driver than some 18 year olds… nor does it not make me better than several 25+ year olds. Trust me. I see these people everyday on 65 South. TRUST ME. I know that I am a more responsible driver than those people.

I have never gotten a speeding ticket.

I have never been in an accident.

The WORST thing that I have done, driving-wise, is park the wrong way in front of my house at 2:30 am. Yes. I have the citation to prove it.

So… why do I have to pay more than a 46 year old man who has virtually destroyed every car he owns and is one speeding ticket away from jail time?

Anyone? Bueller?

Help.

I got two hours of sleep last night. Two.

I went to bed at 10.

I tossed and turned and flipped and changed clothes and turned on the fan and turned off the fan and put Palmer on the floor (he jumped right back up in bed with me) and I still couldn’t sleep. Our house alarm went off, too… not sure how that happened… but that sent Palmer into a tizzy so we weren’t going to even sit still or lay down for at least a half hour after that…

Do you ever have nights like this? I gotta say… it was more than frustrating. How did you finally get to sleep?

My teeth are chattering. And, the end of the world?

Why?

Because it is THAT cold in this office.

I have consumed three cups of coffee… so I guess that could technically be contributing to the chattering teeth, although, I am pretty positive that it’s about 52 degrees in here. Not QUITE cold enough to see my breath, but ALMOST. (AS a side note… I know that I have said numerous times that I am going to “quit caffeine.” Here’s the problem… and maybe I AM just making an excuse… but we have several flavors of coffee in the office. None of them are every good, and the only one that I like is the french vanilla coffee… and it has caffeine. Oh well.)

Currently, I am wearing two shirts, pants and a sweater and am wrapped in a fleece blanket. I am serious. Not exaggerating. And, I still have goose bumps. Normally, I would just think that I was the weird one… until I saw my co-worker pull her sweat pants out of her gym bag and put them on over her tights. Everyone is totally ignoring our “dress code.” Also, I can’t help but think that having the air conditioner set at 48 degrees is anything but economical or environmentally friendly. Just sayin’.

Speaking of environmentally-friendly, or in this case, not-so-friendly things, I read a crazy article yesterday. (Sometimes I have lull moments while working and need to think about something else other than what I am doing…) ANYWAY… the article’s title: “Meet Evans the Atom who will end the world on Wednesday”.

Alright… maybe I am just easily amused, but this made me want to read it. I read this article… apparently, this crazy dude has been building this huge multi-billion dollar machine that’s 17 miles long over in Europe. Why? To recreate what happened in the seconds just after “The Big Bang.” 1) I know that there are many many views on the theory… whatever. That’s not the point of the story. 2) I didn’t even know that it was humanly possible to do something like that (kinda scary.)

You really need to go read this article. Apparently, scientists all over the world are protesting the experiment because of the potential damage it could do to our planet. (Yes, that’s what I thought, too… very encouraging.) Here’s a quote from the article:

But a handful of scientists believe that the experiment could create a shower of unstable black holes that could ‘eat’ the planet from within, and they are launching last-ditch efforts to halt it in the courts.

One of them, Professor Otto Rossler, a retired German chemist, said he feared the experiment may create a devastating quasar – a mass of energy fuelled by black holes – inside the Earth.

‘Nothing will happen for at least four years,’ he said. ‘Then someone will spot a light ray coming out of the Indian Ocean during the night and no one will be able to explain it.

‘A few weeks later, we will see a similar beam of particles coming out of the soil on the other side of the planet. Then we will know there is a little quasar inside the planet.’

Prof Rossler said that as the spinning-top-like quasar devoured the world from within, the two jets emanating from it would grow and catastrophes such as earthquakes and tsunamis would occur at the points they emerged from the Earth.

‘The weather will change completely, wiping out life, and very soon the whole planet will be eaten in a magnificent scenario – if you could watch it from the moon.

RIGHT. This is a fabulous idea. I think that it sounds kinda like a hoax. I can’t help it. I’m a skeptic. But really, either we “learn a lot” or we make our planet eat itself from the inside out?

Does this make any sense to anyone else? Seriously, I would think that this would rank at the top of the news stories… right up there with Obama, McCain, and Ike.

I want to know what you think! What in the world??

What to write when I’ve got nothing.

I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.

- Jeremiah 31:25

I am seriously so glad to know that.