Monday, January 28, 2008
Sirius-ly, Folks
I love technology. I love gadgets and widgets and whatnot. One of my favorites is Sirius satellite radio. I've had it for the last few months, and I'm hooked. No commercials except for very brief ones about Sirius itself. Just music. All sorts of music. Or sports. Do you know how cool it is to be driving 150 miles and be able to listen to the game without having find a local station? Amazing! There are all sorts of channels. Channels I haven't even begun to explore. I did explore the French Pop station. Interesting, to say the least. Those 2 years of French class in high school have REALLY paid off now. Anywho... if you haven't tried the satellite radio thing, I highly recommend it. In the words of Ferris Bueller (whom I will quote from time to time), it is so choice.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Meanderings
This particular post will consist of a hodge-podge of thoughts I've had that really don't deserve their own individual post. No, I do not have adult attention deficit disorder. I just think a lot. Probably too much. I think, anyway. Okay, let's get started.
#1 I ROCK!!!! My children say I rock, and Guitar Hero tells me quite often that I rock, so it must be true. Ah, Guitar Hero. I am hooked. It began as a Christmas gift to my son, Tim (or as I like to call him, "The Timinator"). Christmas Day, he opened that gift and we got it set up. He began to play. I looked in on him a while later, and he had removed his shirt. He is a rocker. Anyway, back to my thought. Just last night, Miss Kailey was rocking out on Guitar Hero, playing an encore - "Welcome to the Jungle" - with Slash, no less. "Mom, who is Slash?" "He played guitar for a band called Guns 'n' Roses back in the late 80's, early 90's. Now he plays for a band called Velvet Revolver. He's really good, but scary-looking." "Oh. Well, when was this song released?" "Uh... 1988, I believe. Maybe '87." (I remember this because her father and I had just started dating then). "So when you were 20 or so?" "Yes, Kailey when I was 20. Half my life ago." HIT THE BRAKES!!! Half my life ago?!? Have you ever been going along, happy as can be, enjoying life or just doing dishes when, all of a sudden, reality gives you a swift and mighty hard kick in the posterior? Dang! Half my life ago. Yes, half. I will be 40 in just over 2 months. I voice this to my children and to their grandmother, who is here for a visit. And Tim, my rocker who rocks Ted Nugent-style (sans shirt), saves the day a few minutes later: "Aw, Mom, it's okay. Really, you look only 32, maybe 35. And you're the coolest, prettiest mom in the whole world." Thank you, Timmy. (Won't he make an excellent hubby someday)? And yep, I rock. :)
#2 What?!? No Super Bowl party at church? The NFL won't allow it? Nonsense! Don't they realize that if there are 60 people at a church Super Bowl party that only about 10 or 12 people actually watch the game? Puhleeze! I believe that falls within that copyright law of theirs. Now, everyone knows how much I love football (and baseball), and of course, I'd be one of the people watching the game (yes, shocking, I know, but true in spite of my gender), while everyone else enjoys the cappuccino punch and whatever other yummy concoction I made for the occasion. Now, I'll be at home, watching the game without cappuccino punch (kids don't like it, and I don't need to drink a gallon of that stuff by myself), probably with something good to snack on, though, and still complaining about that copyright law that has infringed upon my right to gather in my place of worship for a time of fellowship, prayer, and devotion while the game just happens to be on in the background. Ack!
#3 While I'm sure I slept last night, I distinctly recall hearing my furnace run all night long. As the minutes ticked by, I envisioned dollars being chucked out of the heat pump outside my house as it kept my family warm. Sigh... Spring is less than 2 months away. Baseball season opens in just over 2 months. And while I anxiously await those days, I also dread them. Why? Because I'll turn 40 then, too! (See Meandering #1). Ack! Ack! Ack!
#1 I ROCK!!!! My children say I rock, and Guitar Hero tells me quite often that I rock, so it must be true. Ah, Guitar Hero. I am hooked. It began as a Christmas gift to my son, Tim (or as I like to call him, "The Timinator"). Christmas Day, he opened that gift and we got it set up. He began to play. I looked in on him a while later, and he had removed his shirt. He is a rocker. Anyway, back to my thought. Just last night, Miss Kailey was rocking out on Guitar Hero, playing an encore - "Welcome to the Jungle" - with Slash, no less. "Mom, who is Slash?" "He played guitar for a band called Guns 'n' Roses back in the late 80's, early 90's. Now he plays for a band called Velvet Revolver. He's really good, but scary-looking." "Oh. Well, when was this song released?" "Uh... 1988, I believe. Maybe '87." (I remember this because her father and I had just started dating then). "So when you were 20 or so?" "Yes, Kailey when I was 20. Half my life ago." HIT THE BRAKES!!! Half my life ago?!? Have you ever been going along, happy as can be, enjoying life or just doing dishes when, all of a sudden, reality gives you a swift and mighty hard kick in the posterior? Dang! Half my life ago. Yes, half. I will be 40 in just over 2 months. I voice this to my children and to their grandmother, who is here for a visit. And Tim, my rocker who rocks Ted Nugent-style (sans shirt), saves the day a few minutes later: "Aw, Mom, it's okay. Really, you look only 32, maybe 35. And you're the coolest, prettiest mom in the whole world." Thank you, Timmy. (Won't he make an excellent hubby someday)? And yep, I rock. :)
#2 What?!? No Super Bowl party at church? The NFL won't allow it? Nonsense! Don't they realize that if there are 60 people at a church Super Bowl party that only about 10 or 12 people actually watch the game? Puhleeze! I believe that falls within that copyright law of theirs. Now, everyone knows how much I love football (and baseball), and of course, I'd be one of the people watching the game (yes, shocking, I know, but true in spite of my gender), while everyone else enjoys the cappuccino punch and whatever other yummy concoction I made for the occasion. Now, I'll be at home, watching the game without cappuccino punch (kids don't like it, and I don't need to drink a gallon of that stuff by myself), probably with something good to snack on, though, and still complaining about that copyright law that has infringed upon my right to gather in my place of worship for a time of fellowship, prayer, and devotion while the game just happens to be on in the background. Ack!
#3 While I'm sure I slept last night, I distinctly recall hearing my furnace run all night long. As the minutes ticked by, I envisioned dollars being chucked out of the heat pump outside my house as it kept my family warm. Sigh... Spring is less than 2 months away. Baseball season opens in just over 2 months. And while I anxiously await those days, I also dread them. Why? Because I'll turn 40 then, too! (See Meandering #1). Ack! Ack! Ack!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Let's Not Do the Time Warp Again
So, I'm in my room, folding and putting away laundry, when I hear from the living room some familiar refrains from the opening credits of a VeggieTale video. Dave and the Giant Pickle. Josh and the Big Wall. I'm transported back in time, when Kailey was but a toddler, and all was well in the Campbell household. I still had my mother. I still had an intact family unit. I still, although an adult, had my naivete concerning the big, bad world. This, of course, inevitably caused pangs. Pangs for what I once had, and long for again. Pangs I normally keep to myself because, really, what good does it do to entertain them? It does no good... usually.
Humour me for a moment as I sort of intertwine the two Veggie episodes. Let's take Dave. He faced a pretty big pickle. His faith in God was bigger than that pickle. His God, our God, was bigger than that pickle. God took care of that pickle through Dave with a pretty measly slingshot and a stone (Dave had 5 stones because, well, you know... just in case). I think God just shakes his head and laughs when we have a back-up plan, you know... just in case His doesn't work. God beat the pickle. One stone. That's it. Dead. Over. Then there's Josh. Gotta bring down that Jericho wall, but how? How in the world was he going to do that? He wasn't. God was going to do it, through Josh. Just believe little fella, and do what God says. God didn't say it'd be easy. It might be rather difficult. They might make fun of you. They might hurl purple slushies at your head. It might get messy. And it certainly was messy. Slushies everywhere. Feelings hurt. Courage diminished. Faith bruised, but not broken. One more time around that wall. Just endure that messy stuff one more time around, and that wall will be down. Boom! Promised Land.
I've fought giants, and thought I wouldn't make it. I've marched around and around the same wall so many times, waiting for it to come down that I thought it'd never come down. I've endured countless purple slushies being hurled at my head by enemies and loved ones alike. And by the grace and power of God, here I am. Still standing. Tired and weary, but blessed and joyful. Giants defeated, walls crumbled. Family still intact because we have a heavenly Father as the head of our household. Going through it at the time I thought it was so difficult, but now that I've come through it, and can look back on it, I see that all I really had to do was wait on God, believe in Him and what He would do for me, and it would be done. Pretty easy stuff... when I look back at it again.
Humour me for a moment as I sort of intertwine the two Veggie episodes. Let's take Dave. He faced a pretty big pickle. His faith in God was bigger than that pickle. His God, our God, was bigger than that pickle. God took care of that pickle through Dave with a pretty measly slingshot and a stone (Dave had 5 stones because, well, you know... just in case). I think God just shakes his head and laughs when we have a back-up plan, you know... just in case His doesn't work. God beat the pickle. One stone. That's it. Dead. Over. Then there's Josh. Gotta bring down that Jericho wall, but how? How in the world was he going to do that? He wasn't. God was going to do it, through Josh. Just believe little fella, and do what God says. God didn't say it'd be easy. It might be rather difficult. They might make fun of you. They might hurl purple slushies at your head. It might get messy. And it certainly was messy. Slushies everywhere. Feelings hurt. Courage diminished. Faith bruised, but not broken. One more time around that wall. Just endure that messy stuff one more time around, and that wall will be down. Boom! Promised Land.
I've fought giants, and thought I wouldn't make it. I've marched around and around the same wall so many times, waiting for it to come down that I thought it'd never come down. I've endured countless purple slushies being hurled at my head by enemies and loved ones alike. And by the grace and power of God, here I am. Still standing. Tired and weary, but blessed and joyful. Giants defeated, walls crumbled. Family still intact because we have a heavenly Father as the head of our household. Going through it at the time I thought it was so difficult, but now that I've come through it, and can look back on it, I see that all I really had to do was wait on God, believe in Him and what He would do for me, and it would be done. Pretty easy stuff... when I look back at it again.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Is Being Awestruck Contagious?
Yes, I believe it's true. I had evidence of it this morning. The K-6 school day begins pretty early in these parts, and anyone who knows me knows that I'm not fond of waking my children at 5:30 a.m. to be ready and on the road to school by 6:45 a.m. Today, it was very nearly impossible to get the kids up and at 'em, but I did, and we were only running a few minutes behind. I hadn't given God even the semblance of a "good morning," and when I neglect Him this way, He finds a way to get my attention. This particular morning was no different except that my eldest child, Kailey, got to witness it. We were driving to her school after dropping off her brother and sister at their school. The road is hilly and winds through the countryside, and has a great view of the eastern sky when the trees are robbed of their leaves. The sun was beginning to come up, but clouds were closing in and doing their best to blot it out. Or so I thought. God had other plans for the clouds and sun this morning, and He was going to show me just what He had in mind. I rounded a curve, glanced to my right, and saw the most incredible hues of pinks, blues, oranges, and purples lighting up those clouds, the sun itself not quite visible except for the blood orange-red at the horizon. The purple was like nothing I'd seen before at that time of day, as I'd only really seen that color in the sky at twilight. I gasped audibly, alarming Kailey, who thought there must be a deer trying to sacrifice itself on the hood of my truck. She looked at me, tears in my eyes, my face lit by the sunrise, and I told her to look. She gasped and looked back at me, tears in her eyes, and said, "God's so awesome." She took the words right out of my mouth.
I dropped her off at school, and drove south toward work, spying that ever-changing sunrise as I drove. He got my attention, and floored me in the process. He knows just how to do it, too. I've been convinced all day that He created that sunrise just for me this morning, and no one will be able to convince me otherwise. He wanted my praise at that exact moment. He wanted me to remind me of how mighty I know He is, and He wanted me to proclaim it. Proclaim it not just for myself, but for Kailey, too. He affords me opportunities to teach my children about Him, to show them that He's more than the stories they read in the Bible or hear in church on Sunday. To show them how He moves me, how He's real for me and can be for them, too. How, when one least expects it, He announces his presence. In the past, He's had to tap me pretty hard on the shoulder to get my attention. Today, however, He got my attention with the silence of a sunrise. How does He get your attention?
I dropped her off at school, and drove south toward work, spying that ever-changing sunrise as I drove. He got my attention, and floored me in the process. He knows just how to do it, too. I've been convinced all day that He created that sunrise just for me this morning, and no one will be able to convince me otherwise. He wanted my praise at that exact moment. He wanted me to remind me of how mighty I know He is, and He wanted me to proclaim it. Proclaim it not just for myself, but for Kailey, too. He affords me opportunities to teach my children about Him, to show them that He's more than the stories they read in the Bible or hear in church on Sunday. To show them how He moves me, how He's real for me and can be for them, too. How, when one least expects it, He announces his presence. In the past, He's had to tap me pretty hard on the shoulder to get my attention. Today, however, He got my attention with the silence of a sunrise. How does He get your attention?
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