We are moved in. I wander among the boxes. I look for something to do. Dang, I’m really hooked on having internet at home.
Saturday was our big moving day, and also marked the beginning of our internet fast. The move went fabulously, if I may say so myself. We haven’t lost too many things that I’m aware of, we had a lot of great help, and the whole thing was completed in two trips.
The move itself was rather miraculous, to say nothing of our closing situation. We came back from vacation on April 22nd, hoping to close on the 27th, but still needing some details to line up before that was a sure thing. We needed to be out of our rental by the 30th!!!
We received a lot of gracious help on Wednesday, the 25th and were able to schedule for closing on the 27th. This required some key people to go out of their way to help us, and we are brimming over with gratitude for them. The problem is that we only had 2 other people to help us move, no small thing for a couple whose life long goal is to have their own library in their house!
On Thursday a bunch of people offered their help. In addition, I was praying that the Lord would send some friends down from Burlington to help. On Thursday one of those friends called from out of the blue, saying that he was praying and he heard that he needed to come help us move. Crazy!
To make things better, our Budget moving truck (never, ever rent a U-Haul) was upgraded to a 24 foot monster at no cost. It was pretty sweet. We practically threw things in, not having to pack it very tight at all.
For now I’ll actually have to WORK on the house since I can’t fritter my time away on the internet, lest I drive the 20 minutes to Manchester.
Sigh.
I can also light candles, burn incense, and pray to the satellite gods for high speed internet beamed down from above.
We are moving tomorrow and as of midnight tonight we will no longer be DSL customers, sniff, sniff. In the near future we are having satellite internet installed, but until then I won’t have access to internet unless I go to a cafe or to work. I hope to post again on Monday.
This whole moving experience has been absolutely nuts, and really stressful, but against all odds we have a place and will move our massive number of books in along with the two bunnies. They are going to rip the new carpet to shreds!
If you’re itching for some blogs with a touch of humor and a Christian perspective, check out Nate or Makeesha.
If you’re the Vermont blog type, I’m happy to report that Cathy is blogging more at 802 Online. Way to go Cathy, stop apologizing for not blogging, we all understand your new job is demanding. 802 Online is a great place to find out what Vermont bloggers are up to.
I hope to be up and running at least from a cafe in the near future. Until then, let’s all covenant to not do anything too important. I don’t want to miss out.
Technorati Tags: moving
Saturday is a our moving day, and we have spent quite a bit of time packing and organizing our home. Last night I carried most of the smaller items from upstairs into our garage. The less up and down we have to do, the better.
Today and tomorrow I hope to move everything up from the basement. This will keep everything we own on one level, speeding along the moving process.
I spent a good deal of my time carrying boxes last night that I was tempted to just chuck into the donation pile. I’ve grown less and less attached to my own possessions the more I think about moving them, and especially when I think about asking other people to move them. I kept asking myself, “Is this important enough to ask someone else to move it for me?” Many of my old history books did not survive this question.
If only I could remember that I may end up having to move an item one day before I purchase it, then I would probably restrain myself more often when out in a store.
But in the midst of the books and other items we haven’t used so much, there are some precious memories I dug up. For example, our photo albums were all boxed up, which was a reminder to give them a look sometime in the near future.
I also uncovered my Master of Divinity hood in a pile of clothes that I was planning on sending to the thrift store. It’s almost like I’ve uncovered another life I used to live, or possibly another person I used to know.
Moving brings about an odd look at the past through artifacts. It reveals where we come from and hints at who we have become. It’s a time of discovery that is both creepy and wonderful.
In order to improve the world, the following changes will be put into effect immediately:
- The absence of butter at a cafe does not merit a hissy fit.
- Except in the case of a medical emergency, cell phones may not be used at indoor public places, especially cafes and airplanes.
- When using a cell phone for a medical emergency, the caller is to speak in a low, “inside voice” and is not permitted to say, “I’m in a plane right now” or to discuss other conditions that are inconsequential for the conversation.
- All passengers on airplanes must restrict their bodily appendages, especially legs and arms, to the designated space. All trespassing into the private space of other passengers will be punished through a hefty fine that increases at 15 second increments if the violation continues.
- Airplane passengers who recline back will be ejected from the plane immediately.
This is not a complete list, but it’s a step in the right direction. Additional items may be added through an additional post or through the comment section.
Seven years of schooling and I still haven’t quite found my place in life. Approaching my twenty-eighth birthday, I’m still not where I thought I’d be. That’s OK.
While attending a community group (as in a small home meeting of Christians) with Julie’s brother and sister-in-law, I heard many recent college grads struggling to find their places in life. Many were working at low-paying or dissatisfying jobs. Many had a glimpse of what they thought the future would look like, but didn’t know how to get there. I sensed a little frustration and a lot of struggle.
I was there and have been there. It’s hard to face your family after they’ve put you through college and say, “Thanks for the first-rate education, but now I don’t know what to do with myself.”
During my second year of college I settled on the path of ministry, becoming a pastor in particular, and therefore finished with a BA in Bible and English Literature–the Bible is literature after all. Then I shot straight into seminary and completed my Master of Divinity program in three and a half years.
The problem was that in the course of seminary I ended up ruling out an academic career or a career as a pastor. What else is an MDiv good for in the job market?
And that brings me to my point. Life is about the process of elimination. We have to go for the things God sets before us one step at a time, and as we move forward some things are ruled out, while others become more attractive. We can only pursue our options until they lead to another course or come to a dead end, requiring a whole new direction.
In my own case every major step I took planted a small seed that I hardly noticed. That seed led to something else that planted another small seed. For example, seminary led to serving in a church, that led me to nonprofit organizations and that led me to where I’m at right now, serving in the nonprofit sector.
In addition I went from aspiring to write academic theology books, to lay level nonfiction, and now to a mix of nonfiction and fiction. Everything seemed to change over time, but each step brought me a little closer to where I want to be. And I confess that even “where I want to be” changes over time.
That doesn’t mean I’m content, but I’m working on it. In the end we must find our contentment in our standing with God, but we can take comfort in knowing that he cares about where we’re heading and what we’re doing.
To all those recent grads who are struggling to find their place, I can offer this encouragement: it’s normal and it’s a long–if not life-long– process. Life is this strange mix of enjoying where we are, but also weeding out what doesn’t belong.
Throughout the Old Testament–I just finished 1 and 2 Samuel–God is very, very involved in the day to day events of life. He withholds rain, causes illness, and decrees which army runs away in defeat.
God’s connection with world events and our mundane lives has been on my mind lately. Am I just seeking an easy out for life by dragging God into everything that happens, or am I responding to the events of life from a Biblical point of view? The first creates a dilemma–if God isn’t directly tied with the little things, then where do we draw the line with the big things?
The latter scenario creates another mess. It’s easy enough to say God’s in control of everything from the standpoint of America. Prosperity feels good and I don’t want to feel guilty about it, so it’s nice to say, “God’s blessing us, and we best not stop him while he’s at it.”
Nevertheless, I am convinced more and more, no matter how many doubts I entertain, that God is far more involved in this world than I would have guessed. The trick is that I have no way of knowing how it works exactly.
And if God is not directly pulling the strings in every circumstance–which seems unlikely, but we’ll go with this for a moment–then he is at least able to work with us wherever we find ourselves. God responds to our prayers, even if he brings about outcomes we did not choose or acts on a larger scale–perhaps through future generations–than we could have ever imagined.
Despite the uncertain ground brought by this statement, I believe that my life is in God’s hands and that somehow he’s working in all of my circumstances to bring about his will. Even though I’ve flirted with open theism, I find myself consistently regarding the events of life as God’s plan. Is this bad theology simply showing up again, or the perspective of faith? I’m not sure.
Even if my theology is flawed at this point in time, it’s how I am living in faith. That has to be good enough for now.
Technorati Tags: theology - open+theism - God - predestine
Love: that is the reason why we are here.
One of the members of the community group we attended last night shared that thought, and I think it’s right on. When it comes down to our most basic calling on earth, I believe we can do no better than Jesus’s statement calling us to love God and to love one another.
Love should drive our thoughts and actions. If we are not acting or thinking from love, then things can only become worse.
Technorati Tags: love
I didn’t have my elbow on the arm rest. That was my first mistake. He settled in, commandeered the arm rest, slid his elbow into my ribs, and then flopped his knee against mine. I was flying again.
Four years after my last flight, I was–I’m being vulnerable here, so bear with me–a touch nervous. Let’s say I felt a constant need to do a quick overview of my accounts with God to make sure I was still in the black. Admit it, no matter how common it is to fly, it’s a little nuts to think that we can slap wings and and engine on a long metal tube and presto, you can soar through the air at ridiculous speeds.
The security was tight at the airport. We took off our shoes, opened our bags, and handed over all valid forms of identification to the security crew who swarmed all over the metal detector area. They shot us with puffs of air and waved all kinds of magic wands on our stuff. I’ll admit that I felt pretty good about our safety on the flight.
Once settled on the plane the fellah to my left with his elbow in my side talked and talked. No matter I had a magazine, no matter I was working on my fiction debut masterpiece–he needed to yap a little. I played along, didn’t surrender too much information, and treated him nice.
When I go on vacation I typically lose all social skills. I am a little clam who wants to be introspective, to pray, to read, to study a little theology, and to write. It’s time to catch up with God, and so the clam keeps his little lid shut and broods. Intruders not welcome, with exception of wife.
The one thing he said that caught my attention related to the pilots of smaller planes who fly to the tiny airports, such as our second flight of the day to Fayetteville. He mentioned that these pilots are often not as experienced as those who fly the big planes. When we began our descent into Fayetteville on a tiny plane, the nose of the plane dipped and then it really plunged down. I have never been on a plane that dipped so much on the front end . . . ever.
I don’t think of myself as unreasonable, but at that moment I was a rush of panic, prayer, and pulse. While my palms grew moist, the thought of the elbow in my rib, the knee rubbing mine, and his little comment about the pilots of the small planes danced about in my reeling head. And then in a moment the nose went up, little lights appeared off to the side, and we skidded onto the ground.
And now we’re in NW Arkansas enjoying the green vegetation and the wonderful absence of spring snow and mud. I’m so glad our plane isn’t a small flaming wreck on the ground!
So we’re moving at the end of April, but before that we’re going to Arkansas to visit Julie’s brother and his wife for a week. That means we’ve been in packing/organizing mode this past weekend. I’ve never coveted a dumpster before, but now it seems like the most wonderful thing in the world.
The nice part about this trip is that we’ll have plenty of down time and the lappy is coming with us, so Julie can work on her grad school and I can putter around with the blogs. I have so many thoughts sitting around in my Google docs right now. I can’t wait to play around with them and see how they look once posted.
This is the perfect time to skip out of Vermont. April has been crummy. Rain, sleet, hail, snow, and everything else wet, white, and slippery. Of all the months I’ve lived in Vermont, April is by far my least favorite. Not that Arkansas is a travel destination, but inches of mud and ice have a way of lowering one’s standards.
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Until Don Imus made disparaging and racist remarks about the Rutger’s University’s women’s basketball team, I knew nothing of the man or his radio/television show. Now his show has been dumped in part because the public deemed it so, but more likely because key advertisers threatened to drop out and the big corporations had to consider their financial situation. But that’s a cynical post for another day.
After making two pans of brownies (by the way, if you ever want to diet, bake all of the time so you know how much sugar and butter go into baked goods), I was scrubbing away at our few pots and pans that aren’t packed in boxes. I began thinking about ways for Imus to find redemption in the midst of this scandal. Apologizing is a good first step, but there has to be something that works for the long term.
I don’t know Don Imus or his show all that well, but here’s what I’m thinking. Imus’s gift is his voice. He used it to make veritable bushels of greenbacks for himself and for the big corporations. On occasion Imus held fundraisers on his show, and he poured a lot of money into his ranch for children.
Now, no matter how awful Imus’s remarks were, I think we all want him to come out of this changed and singing a different tune. I hope no one wants him to be ruined. So my thoughts for his redemption go along this line: use his voice, or radio show, for nothing but nonprofits, charities, and other social causes.
There are thousands of nonprofit organizations working for equity in housing, providing healthcare and other basic human services, tutoring, counseling, teaching, and building better communities. These groups are always in need of ways to get their messages out, and what better way than a radio show dedicated to such groups?
Wouldn’t it be amazing if Don Imus started over with this new show, and on the first episode he interviewed a group working for racial equality? And the best part is he could still have his fair share of controversy, the people who run nonprofits are typically advocates for a cause and they are usually not very shy.
It’s a pipe dream at best and a stupid musing on a Friday morning at worse, but if anything, I wanted to illustrate a possible scenario with repentance and redemption. I think it could really work in the long haul for Imus, but what do I know? I’m just a blogger with two trays of brownies and a bunch of clean pots and pans in the kitchen.
Technorati Tags: Imus - redemption - radio
::IN A MIRROR DIMLY::
Welcome to the blogging home of Ed Cyzewski: freelance writer, theologian, nonprofit employee, resident of Vermont.
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