Some Went, Some Stayed

I go to church with a guy who is in the process of selling all of his possessions in preparation of moving to Namibia. He's going to be the project coordinator for a church plant my church is a partner in. I am so very excited for him. It is wonderful to see people leave everything to run where God calls them. The excitement and the fear of leaping in faith into the unknown are eclipsed by the blessings God showers upon obedience. I love seeing people go.

It's hard to go. But for some it's harder to stay. It's hard to be obedient to "Wait" when all they want to do is leave everything behind and go.

I have a friend who is being told to wait. She's frustrated with staying here. She longs to go serve where her heart is because it's not always here. She, however, is being obedient by staying, waiting and looking for opportunities to serve where she is. She's encouraging me and others around her to trust God even when life is a little boring; there are still lessons to be learned. She sees each day as a chance to seek God more. I love spending time with her.

So while it is exciting to see people go, it is a blessing to see people wait in obedience. God has been teaching me to pray, not just for those who have gone, but for those who have yet to be sent. For the people who are waiting for God's perfect timing and not really understanding it, but being obedient just the same.

It's All Good

Remember that group project that I decided was going to run my life? Well it's getting a little easier. It changed from the initial idea of setting up a computer center for a local tutoring program to creating a teen center for the local Boys and Girls Club. We were going to get a TV, VCR, DVD player, paint, etc... to turn one of their rooms into a great place for teens to hang out.

Because God is so good and knows we didn't have the means to raise money for all that - the donations are just pouring in. My dad's work is donating a 36 inch TV and stand. Walmart is going to donate a gift card. I am working on Lowe's to donate paint supplies. The University might donate some furniture. Things are coming together. Hurray!

This project has made me realize how much I miss being regularly involved in a community service project. Especially in the inner-city. They are so much fun and I learn so much through them! Stupid school is taking up way too much of my time. Well kind of. I know that my ministry right now is here at school, however, I also know that there are tons of opportunities waiting for me when I graduate. While I need to be faithful while I am here, I can't wait to see what God has for me in the future. I get really excited just thinking about.

But for now I have a donated TV to move, classmates to love and exams to study for. Things are pretty good.

Is It Thursday?

So I had a post about eating green beans with chop sticks and a Chinese women making fun of me but my computer froze and it is gone. No. I'm not re-typing it. Sorry.

Instead I just wanted to let you know that It is done! The Talk is finished. The power point is e-mailed, the notes are typed and all that is left to do is practice saying it all.

I am speaking at the campus ministry meeting on Thursday. I have gone from stressing over it to just ignoring it and back to stressing. Finally, my friend Ben stressed enough about it for me that I was able to finish all my preparation without much pressure. So now I am done early. It's Monday and I am ready for Thursday. That is three whole days early! Nevermind that I am winging a presentation in class on Wednesday. I am ready for Thursday.

Woop Woop!

Just so you know

The fear of Peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth is called Arachibutyrophobia.

The fear of Gravity is Barophobia.

The fear of Vegetables is Lachanophobia

The most ironic one is the fear of Long words which is Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. So wrong.

You can find more phobias Here.

The only thing worse than driving to school in a snow storm with crazy Ohio drivers who enjoy pulling their cars out of ditches is driving to school in the same storm with the same insane drivers only to find out after you got there that your group meeting has been cancelled. AHHHH!

Dancin'

Tonight I went swing dancing. In our lesson on Sunday we learned 1/4 of Whitey's Big Apple. Tonight we demonstrated 1/4 of the dance to everyone. I totally butchered it. Counting and stepping and balancing and people watching... ahhhh!!!! It was really fun though and I want to see people do this dance at a competition.

I danced with the Apex Guy tonight and in the middle of the dance he asked if I wanted to see something. Um... ok.... So we ran/danced across the dance floor to the mirror wall. He looked in the mirror and said "I have great hair." I wasn't really sure what to say so I just responded with "Umm... okkk....."

"No really! I have great hair."

"That's not really something people point out to others."

"Can't you see it? Great hair!"

At this point I realize that he is saying he has a GREY hair. It made tons more sense after that. I explained to him my confusion and he cracked up laughing.

Later that night I danced with Shawn, who is an excellent dancer. It's an honor to be asked to dance by one of the pros. And so in response to that honor I stepped on my feet, his feet, the people's feet around me and basically ruined the dance. It was horrible. I think I just blew my chances of ever learning how to dance from the great dancers around me. Sad.

Funny Family

I was informed that I need to update. I have no interesting news about my current life so I will leave you with this dinner table conversation my family had a while ago:

Dad: So what did everyone do today?

Nate: I became a girl!

Andi: I eloped!

Bryan: And I started doing drugs!

Dad: Nevermind.... forget I asked.....

My family is so funny! The other day Nate and I were ad-libing for soap operas (halarious). My friend Meik was coming over and I didn't want him thinking I sat around and watched soaps so I told Nate to turn the T.V. off. Nate, being the funny guy that he is, flipped the channel to Barney and ran out of the room - right when Meik rang the doorbell. NO! I don't watch Barney!

Creek Stories

They would always start with "Ok, but don't get wet in the creek." We had just finished our school work and had asked if we could go play down by the creek. We soon joined Muskrat, Frog and Fish for a new adventure.

This is how Creek Stories always began. My Dad would tell Creek Stories each night before we went to bed. These stories described all of our adventures with our creek friends Muskrat, Frog and Fish. Our escapades took us through time travel, snow boarding, saving the creek and so much more.

Creek Stories always ended with the back door shutting and Mom coming out and calling us in for lunch.

I loved Creek Stories.

I wish I remembered more of them.

To Prove My Point

To prove my point from the last post, I found this article on my business college's web-page:

Modified form of “The Apprentice” television show facing College of Business MBA students

“The Apprentice” reality television show on the business world is coming to The University’s College of Business, although in a modified form.

A Corporation dealing in an automated phone tree service, is funding competition among approximately 50 MBA students in two advanced classes for the spring quarter.

“We got interested in the Donald Trump show and decided to use a similar format for this activity to help our company and the students,” explained the CEO. “The winning teams will receive cash prizes and the losing teams will in essence be fired.”

The cash prize in the competition will total $1,000, with each winning team pocketing $300, and the potential for the students of a substantial monetary return.

An assistant professor of management who arranged the activity with the CEO, said the students will prepare several business plans that deal with bringing one of four products from the conception stage to the market. Topics to be covered include market analysis, a marketing plan, competitor analysis, fit of the plan to the corporation’s mission, financing and technical concerns. The students will be encouraged to work with real prospects and clients rather than doing a ‘paper exercise.’

“We plan to offer the best ones a sales or marketing role to execute their plans,” added the CEO. “The four new products they are developing can each generate $250,000 or more as compensation for these young managers. Unlike ‘The Apprentice’ that offered one $250,000 job, these four product directors might collectively earn $1 million next year.”

The top teams will be selected toward the end of the spring quarter in May, with the winners receiving the money and the losers hearing the “you’re fired” term made popular on the recently concluded television show.

The Apprentice

I've never seen The Apprentice. I have managed to keep up with the show because EVERYONE AND THEIR MOM TALKS ABOUT IT. We even have discussed it my management classes. As if talking about reality T.V. is just as good as talking about reality.

Anyway, I am on The Apprentice. No. Really. I am. It takes the form of business school. The only difference is that I don't get a new wardrobe, there is no make-up, I get no air-time and I pay for it. Oh and at the end I get a piece of paper, not a job.

Business School and The Apprentice are similar in that there is an insane amount of team projects. Most of these involve papers and presentations but occasionally they will step it up a notch. My current team project that will run my life is one where we are working with a charity to create a tech center for their tutoring program. We raise the money for it, get media coverage, set it up, etc... At the end we are evaluated on our effectiveness to work in teams and our leadership abilities. It'll be fun, just tons of work.

We can also get fired. Not so much by our professor, but by our fellow team members. If your team wants to fire you (aka you fail) you have to justify why you should be kept on the team. It can get pretty stressful.

We also sit around and talk about our decisions for a horrendous amount of time. Because everyone knows that the best thing to do is to talk everything through. Eventually you'll run out of time and never have to act on any decision. It's a win-win situation! Or if you made a decision, it's a good thing to discuss that for forever instead of moving on to the next thing.

So that's my sarcastic post about my school. Did I mention I am graduating in 6 months?

Wet

It finally stopped. I wasn't sure it was going to ever end. It rained for almost 2 weeks and I didn't think I could take it anymore. I'm sure all the people whos homes and business are underwater are also glad the rain has stopped. I felt like I was living in Oregon or something. I like rain but it was just too much of a good thing.

Now it's cold. The way it should be in the winter.

Chicken Scratches

Thank you all for your wonderful comments from the last post. They made me smile.

Tonight I will write about Chickens.

Why chickens? you ask. Because chickens are in and of themselves funny. I mean just the thought of a post about chickens cracks me up.

Anyway, like any good Midwestern family, we had chickens and goats and sheep and dogs. But the chickens create the best stories. This is because chickens are extremlly dumb. Ok. Sheep are dumb too, but they hide it under all that wool.

Our first chickens were hatched from some eggs from the local horse farm. It was just our luck to get 4 roosters. If you don't know anything about chickens you need to know this: roosters hate other roosters. Being in the same area as another rooster gets them all riled up and ready to fight. Our roosters, living in the same pen as one another, were on the verge of a poultry war every second. Occasionally they would mistake us kids for roosters and would attack us. We used to sit on the fence posts of their pen and dare each other to run through the chicken pen to the other side. If you didn't get scratched or scream, you won. We gave one of those roosters to a family down the road. They had their nephew come visit and he was attacked and scratched by the rooster. The next day he got chicken pox and swore it was from that stupid chicken.

We were given a chicken called Chicky Babe, a beautiful Rhode Island Red. She came from a couple who lived in the 'burbs and had gotten Chicky Babe as a chick for Easter. They didn't really think about what they were going to do when Chicky Babe grew up. Not many neighborhoods let you raise chickens (however, there is one neighborhood by the high school that hasn't changed their zoning laws and you can raise chickens there). This couple domesticated Chicky Babe and wanted to keep her so they tried to make it work. Chicky Babe had other plans and wanted to see the world. Every opportunity she got she tried to escape. She would hide in their truck bed and jump out at the next stop. Her getaways were generally thwarted, but she almost succeeded once. She chose to jump out at a gas station. He owner realized how upset his wife would be if Chicky Babe escaped or was killed and began to chase her. Soon everyone at the gas station was chasing Chicky Babe around. She was finally caught and then given to us.

My Mamaw can hypnotize chickens. She can lay them down, put them under and they will just lay there, like they are dead. It's really cool. I guess she used to get in trouble as a girl for this. She lived on a chicken farm and her mom would come out and find 10 chickens just laying in the dirt. Eventually it wears off and they jump up and go back to eating bugs. Best thing to see ever! She taught me how to do this. One of those valuable life lessons passed down my family. I now have skills. Guys only date girls with great skills. If you ask me, I'll show you how it's done. But you have to supply the chicken.

Super Women

I was thinking today that I know some pretty incredible people. I mean not just average people. But wow-your-socks-off-kind-of-people. They intimidate me and intrigue me.

I have one friend who didn't go to college. No. She decided to start lobbying for the persecuted church around the world instead. Yeah, she is currently the Executive Director of Stand Today - an organization that is bringing the persecution of Christians around the world to light. And she is writing a book. And regularly flies to D.C. to visit with congressmen and senators to give advice and information about world affairs. I can't compete with that. I mean what have I got? An A on my management exam? Hands down she wins. She literally rocks the world.

Then there is this other girl who is very quirky and so very intelligent. She can quote almost every piece of classic literature. She was an aspiring ballerina who danced everywhere she went, until she had surgery on her spine and had to stop. But I never heard her complain. When she was a teenager and her family got a computer and internet access, she decided that she would like to learn something about investments. So she told her dad some good investments to make, and he did and made enough money to double the size of their house. Then one day she stopped, because it ceased to be fun and he stopped making money. She's an amazing girl.

I have another friend who graduated from college and felt God calling her to teach English in China. So she went. Left her family for 2 years to learn a foreign language and culture and reach a people desperate for truth. She's working with eternity in mind and changing lives.

Yeah. Amazing, incredible women. Women who in small ways are changing the world they live in. I look at their lives and I must ask myself: what am I doing?

Marty

Well classes have started. But I won't bore you with my school woes.

Instead I'll tell you about Marty. Marty lives next door and her full name is Martha Washington. Marty used to come over and play with us when we were little. Her favorite thing to join us in was sledding and I can't say that I blame her - we did have a much steeper hill than she did.

Marty was a fun playmate. She always had lots of energy and couldn't wait to go exploring in the woods. Well, she was fun until she turned violent. At first she just ran into us. We could overlook that. But she kept growing and she grew faster than us and began to knock us over. It really wasn't very friendly of her at all. Well tackling us wasn't enough for Marty. The violence soon escalated into knocking us over and then taking our hats and gloves. After that she would run off with our outerwear and drop it in the creek. That was downright hateful!

My parents could not stand for this kind of behavior; we were afraid to go outside for fear of Marty. So they went to our neighbor and explained the problems Marty was causing. Our neighbor's solution was to keep Marty inside with him if we wanted to play outside. My dad refused to call our neighbor every time we wanted to venture out of our house. One day my dad had enough and smacked Marty across the back. It was enough to send her home whimpering. She never came back. Our problem was solved. We could play outside without being accosted and our neighbor never said a thing. I guess he figured Marty deserved it.

Because let me tell you... having a full-grown black lab tackle you and bite off your hat is a terrifying experience.

I Live in My Car

I got new tires on my car - and I love them. What a difference they make.

I have spent a lot of time recently in my car. Tuesday I went to pick Tamara from the airport and our friend Meik was kind enough to join me. TRAFFIC WAS HORRIBLE. I hate that city. Our timing, however, was perfect and we pulled up just as Tamara walked out. I decided to take the bypass around and avoid the traffic jams and the headache. We drive and drive and drive until I realize we are heading south. Yes. That's right. I missed the exit for our interstate and we were looping the city again. CRAP!

We exit and look at a map to figure out how far we went. Yeah. We were a good 20 miles away from our exit. Grumble grumble grumble. That added about an 1 1/2 to our traveling time. Collectively that is 4.5 hrs of our lives that are just gone.

Today I got lost coming back from my uncle's house. We make 2 turns off the highway to get to his place. I made about 50 million turns leaving it and ended up somewhere on the north end of town. AHHHH. I spent about an hour driving around lost. He only lives 45 min away from me. What a great way to start the new year!

Happy New Year!