Apple Scrapple and Tuna, Egg Salad Sandwhiches

Why do people always pick on apples being the fruit from the tree of knowledge and good and evil? They're quite a delicious fruit to be sure, and see nothing sinful about them. Maybe it's because guy's have an Adam's apple. I always thought that was a silly name for them though, because no guy has an Adam's apple as big as an apple. At best, a large cherry. But I digress...

Anyway, as I was trudging up the steps this morning to the third floor of the ladies dorm, where I lay my head at night, I thought how funny it was that I had just made an early morning excursion to the FAC to fetch 2 instruments that I have no idea how to play for a friend who lives off campus and forgot them there. I wasn't bothered by her request for me to bring them to church, but as I was lifting up the edge of my cloak as not to let it drag the ground, and caught a glimpse of my amazing slipper socks (from L. L. Bean) I started musing about how completely random my life is. The last thing I would have thought I'd be doing a frosty Sunday morning is trudging over to the FAC in slipper socks and a cloak to fetch a flue and an oboe... piccalo... or whatever it was.

So then a whole 6 seconds ago I was reminded of how I tend to attract people from all the far flung corners of the personality universe. One of my friends is writing a confessional autobiography about her non-existent dating life, and she asked me to get a few people to read it. So I sent it 3 friends who said they wouldn't mind giving it a look over, and I realized that amongst just those 3 I had a pretty broad range of opinions. This lead to a quick 10 second recollection of my list of friends, which is about as diverse as the human populous itself. The only sort of person I don't have as a friend is... the normal sort. Though I'm pretty sure there's one or two in there somewhere.

Alright, so this is really random, but I had to dig up a friend for one of my roomies out of an obscure picture file, and then I found a half forgotten file of pictures in which was one of the most hilarious pictures I've ever seen of my cousin George and my friend BC. I got quite a chuckle and it reminded me of a lot of fun times and goofy experiences I've had with my nutty friends.

If you didn't know this, you are about to be told that I usually take several hours or a day or two to make a blog post. Not because I have such incredibly profound things to say, duh, or that I have such trouble composing it. It is for the sheer fact I don't always have the ability to sit down and write all at once. This usually works out for the better.

Take tonight, for instance. I go to church via church van on Sunday nights due to choir, but Sunday mornings there and back and coming back on Sunday nights I ride with a friend fondly called Pirate. Usually it's me, Pirate, and one or two others. Well, tonight, one or two others managed to all find other rides. That was the situation at the beginning of church tonight. Afterwards we learned that one girl, let us call her Mary, found out that her ride wouldn't work out. This was after we found another girl, call her Jen, who was willing to ride back with us so it wasn't just Pirate and I (which is against the rules). So we had to tell Jen that Mary was back and she (Jen) could return with her brother. Due to timing of all this, I ended up in Pirate's car by myself eating sandwiches while he went hunting for Mary. After ten or more minutes he gave up the hunt and we both returned into the gym where the church was having a fellowship so we could tell Jen we needed her again. In all of this, Pirate decided he was hungry so he sat down and ate and I found yet another girl who needed a ride, call her Meg, and I went back to have a few more sandwiches. Before it was over, I had had at least 5 or 6 little tuna or egg salad sandwiches, several carrot and celery sticks, and some potatoe chips and a cookie.

At the end, Pirate was mildly frustrated, I was laughing my head off (cuz isn't that just like life?) and telling him he should turn this into a skit. To this he declared that he didn't want his life to be turned into a skit. He said it was an epic drama, but has turned into a tragic comedy. I told him it was straight comedy and he should still turn it into a skit.

If he doesn't, I might. I just might. It was too perfect.

Psalm 27

I don't really have a "life verse" per say, but if I was going to pick one, this one would be in the top 3 for consideration. Actually, you could probably say this is my life passage, but there are too many good ones for me to pick, and my particular fondness lies in the last 2 verses. But anyway!

I have been meditating on Psalm 27 quite a bit over the last few weeks, and it seems increasingly over the last few days. In this psalm, David is declaring God as his light and salvation, right off the bat, and then instantly asks "of whom shall I be afraid?"

The entire passage he shows how God will save him from enemies, storms... and then he says something that has caused me to muse a bit.

"One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple." I think often times we seek after God, but we don't even think to ask that we may dwell in His house all the days of our lives. As in present tense. I think we usually look at this in a future tense way. If not anyone else, I know I have.

Verses 7-9 I have lived out and wrote about before, so I won't rehash that, but I'll now park on verse 13 for a minute.

"I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!" A lot of times we sit around wondering why us and asking questions, almost not wanting answers for fear our delicious misery would be ended. But here, David, a man who knew what it was to be a man with a price on his head, is praising God even though people have/are (this non-scholar doesn't know when this psalm was written) just waiting to kill him. He was persuaded that he would see the goodness of God while yet alive, not just in heaven. I think at moments we think we won't see God's goodness until after we're dead (but I think that's more of our despairing moments). Me thinks we fail to see it even when things are going good. We lose sight and focus. Obviously... humans... the whole species is ADD. I'm convinced.

So, I end the way David did.

"Wait for the Lord: be strong, and let your heart take courage: wait for the Lord!"

Epiphany

I had an epiphany today during devotions. Tis a wonderful time to have them. Anyway, I've been saved for 14 years and I've recently started trying to figure out what things about the Christian life I know and what things I actually understand. There is quite the difference you know.

So today my epiphany was on the Fruits of the Spirit. Particularly joy and peace. I started to wonder whether I actually understood "joy" at all.

Then it dawned on me what joy was. I'm sure I don't have it down pat just yet, but at the moment, if you were to ask me to define joy, I'd have to say at least part of it is an untouchable feeling of 'happiness' and 'peace' combined, that no measure of sorrow can ever penetrate.

Almost at the same time I realized I understood, and have understood what perfect peace is- the unshakable feeling that even though the world around you has crumbled, you're still standing safe and sound in the cleft of the rock.

It almost seems silly to me that it has taken me this long to figure this out, but I suppose this is the result of having doctrine and theology shoved into my head since I could understand speech, with out ever remembering what it was like to not know joy or peace.

With this I also realized that these are not things that I have to really strive for. They are, after all, Fruits of the Spirit. And like any fruit, it grows naturally from the tree. Of course the gardener must tend the tree and what not, but the gardener doesn't force the fruit to grow, the gardener simply makes it easier for it to grow and does what he can to ensure it does. That is my job. By being a Christian, the fruits of the spirit are a natural product of it.

... I think I said that right... :o)

I hope that made sense, because this is how I finally got a grasp on the whole concept of the Fruits of the Spirit. If I'm dead wrong, somebody let me know so I can either explain better or change my thinking...

Our God is so patient with me! Once again, I am humbled.

Scraps of Thoughts

I've finally gotten a job on campus in the Costume Room! Fun times that is! I get to work with beautiful costumes, fun fabrics, and crazy people. It's great!

So in other news- I'm starting to hold great disdain for my printer. It always manages to run out of ink at the most inconvenient of times. Here I am, trying to print out a picture of C. S. Lewis and it decides that it shall run low on black. I have received no official notice from my printer that it is so, but I would guess from the very light color of the black in the picture that it is indeed running low.

Either that or being obstinate, which is a perfectly reasonable theory with my printer.

Anyway! I have decided that one of my lots in life is to be perpetually number 2. I found out twice in one day that I was 2 different guy's 2nd pick to take to Artist Series. Considering everything, I do not know whether to be indifferent, flattered, or offended. It's a rather strange thing to learn. On one hand flattering that I was considered, on the other hand almost insulting, but not enough to be actually insulted or genuinely offended. I think I'm more flabbergasted than anything else.

Flabbergasted... what a fun word! What a fun book! (By Ray Blackston. I recommend it for a fun mini vacation)

But! I am not saying that simply because of that particular incident. It seems that in most things I tend to run as people's second thought. Which again, isn't bad, but it's a peculiar place to be. I dare say it differs from the whole "Woman is under man" thing. It's easier to be under someone than to realize that should whoever is in front of you be unable to perform his duties that you are next.
"Aww! That was a good try, but no!"

Guess it's like being Vice President, eh?

Wouldn't that be scary: Vice President Frank. MWAHAHAHA! Though, I suppose what would be scarier is whoever was president. That would mean that someone actually picked me to run with them for office. I don't know about you, but that seriously causes me to question the mental state of whoever is running the country at that time. Not to sound like I'm being harsh on myself, but quite honestly, I'm not what you call vice presidential material... I'm entirely too opinionated and stubborn. Maybe that's why whoever will chose me.

The world may never know.

Scrap that. The world will never know.