Self-Indulgence = Blah

Today has been a 'blah' day. I'm not quite sure why, but I've been in one of those moods where I don't feel like doing anything, and all I want to do is sit around and veg. I'm sure there are several reasons for this, but ultimately I realized that the only way to get out of this mood was to stop sitting around thinking about what I feel like doing, and instead do something productive that benefits someone else. In fact, I didn't start feeling better until I made Matt a sandwich (funny how the focus wasn't on me...).

Matthew 3:4 does something I don't think is done anywhere else: it describes John the Baptist's clothes. "John's clothes were made of camel's hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey." Regardless of whether or not someone's wardrobe and diet are included somewhere else, I know it doesn't happen a lot. I realized that if it was included, it was probably an important detail. So I thought about what the relevance of this was. The note in my Bible said that John's wardrobe and diet show a visual protest against self-indulgence, which I verified by pulling out Matt's commentary (it said the same thing with a lot of larger words). What I realized is that in my flexible, wide open schedule I've become extremely self-indulgent. Although I don't go out and spend a whole lot of money, I do whatever I feel like doing when I feel like doing it, which means I usually end up watching TV or perusing sites like Facebook.

In my quest to do something productive and less self-indulgent, I opened my Bible up to Revelation and read the following (7:15):

Therefore,
"they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.

The illustration above shows those who "have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (vs 14) serving God day and night. This reminded me that I should be serving God at all times - day and night. By serving others I'm serving God, and serving others takes the focus off of me and puts it on someone else, which I'm sure is a good thing.

So what am I taking from all of this tonight? I'm guilty of self-indulgence and that needs to be changed. My focus needs to be on serving others, whether it's something simple like serving my husband by making him dinner or washing dishes, or something larger for someone else. My long-term goal is to keep my eyes open for things that need to be done so I can step in and do them. In the short-term, I'm going to spend less time sitting in front of the computer and TV so I can pay attention to other things going on around me.

Bill Cosby

"The networks say they don’t influence anybody. If that’s true, why do they have commercials? Why am I sitting there with Jell-O brand pudding?"

- Bill Cosby

That is my all-time favorite quote. Earlier today, Matt and I watched a previously recorded "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" from February in which Bill Cosby was a guest. I have a lot of respect for Bill Cosby. He is a funny comedian that hasn't sunken to crude jokes to get people to laugh. Matt and I watched "Bill Cosby: Himself" on Netflix a while ago, and we were laughing so hard. Although it's over 25 years old, it's still hilarious.

The Cosby Show is probably my favorite sitcom, too. Some of the later shows aren't quite as funny, but the early ones are fantastic. I think what makes the show so great is that the content is something everyone can identify with and it doesn't sink to sex jokes/cheap shots. My favorite part is it shows a positive example of a husband and wife that love each other and their kids, and are more concerned with teaching them what they need to learn as opposed to giving into everything they want.

Goodbye Uncle Al

The world lost a great man yesterday. We knew it was coming, but that doesn't make it any easier...especially considering the speed of the loss. Less than a year ago he seemed fine. He was making jokes and giving advice like he always did. Even a few months ago, despite the quick onset of physical limitations, he still had his fun sense of humor and wise insight to offer. 

It was hard when my grandma passed away a few years ago, but it didn't seem as harsh. She had lived a full life. At over 80 years old, she had seen both of her children happily marry and have kids, and all four of her grandchildren were old enough (the youngest was 17) to know her and remember her well. I know God's timing is perfect, but this time it doesn't feel so ideal.

As much as I'll miss my uncle, I know he's going to be missed much more by others. I pray that God provides comfort to his wife, kids, mom, brothers, sister and close friends. I know we'll never know why God chose to take him yesterday, but at least we can be assured that he's no longer in pain...and that there is a reason God chose to do it this way.

Obedience, Prayer and Pumpkin

I have to say (well, type) that Joseph and Mary really impress me. I've started reading through the book of Matthew again, and what really hit me in the 2nd chapter is how they followed God's guidance without hesitation. 

After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother. 

- Matthew 2:13-14, NLT

What really struck me when I read this is that they got up and left that night. I can't imagine what it would be like for Matt to wake me up one night and say "Let's go, we have to move to North Dakota* tonight." They probably had friends in Bethlehem - they had already been there for about a year and half - and they just got up and moved that night. It blows my mind. That's the sort of obedience I hope I show when God gives me clear instruction.

To change topics a bit, I watched The Preacher's Wife last night. I remember watching it with my mom when I was younger, but I didn't remember it very well and it was in the Instant Play section of Netflix so I decided to watch it again. Although I disagree with some of the underlying theology, I thought it was a really good movie. I think my favorite thing about it was that as soon as the audience sees the pastor pray, God answers - just in different ways than he expected. I think that's fairly realistic, which is probably why I liked that part of it so much. Of course the singing in it was fantastic (Whitney can sing), too. It would be so fun to be in a choir like the one at that church...

Another recent highlight: We got to carve a pumpkin today! Matt and I found out we make a pretty good carving team. I hate decided what to cut, so he drew a picture on the pumpkin for me to cut out. Then I opened it up, gutted it, and cut along the lines (although he did the tree). Then he took the pumpkin back and cleaned up the edges, which was convenient since by that point I was done dealing with the pumpkin. I thought it turned out pretty nicely! Can you tell what it is?

You can still see the pen lines a little bit, but I'm sure they'll fade from focus once it's dark and we light a candle inside. It'll probably be easier to see the little scene then, too. Too bad the spots were too hard to include...

* North Dakota was chosen as it's roughly a 2-3 day drive, and based on the distance from Bethlehem and the edge of Egypt it probably took Joseph and Mary at least 2 days to get there...although that's just what I figured so it's just an estimation.

Five TV Shows Worth the DVR Space (even though I don't have a DVR)

I have to say, I cannot get over how awesome Castle is. Not only is the show well-written with great actors all around, but Nathan Fillion keeps making Firefly references! Those of you that saw last week's episode, Fool Me Once, did you catch the 'shout out' 6 minutes in? If you're on Twitter, I would recommend following both Nathan Fillion (@NathanFillion) and Castle (@WriteRCastle) as they both tweet about the show. Castle has a Facebook account, too, so add him as a friend if you prefer that to Twitter (don't worry - they don't ruin anything before the show airs).

Although Castle is probably my favorite show airing at the moment, there are quite a four others that have been holding my interest:

The Big Bang Theory: With a premise of 4 nerds and 1 hot girl, how could it not be amusing? I love all of the characters' quirks, and appreciate the nerd humor I understand (although they're good at keeping it from going over my head but, as I hear, still very accurate). Apparently Wil Wheaton is on this next episode, so there should be some fun Star Trek references!

NCIS: Honestly, it's the chemistry of the characters that keep me hooked on this show. I mean, I liked it when Kate was on it too, but I didn't need to watch every episode the same way. Ziva brings a lot to the group, and I like the way the actors portray their characters (especially Abby) now that they've had a few years to settle into their roles. PS - Gibbs is awesome.

Glee: Okay, this one is totally a guilty pleasure. The plot is a little too overly dramatic for me, but the songs are just so fun! They're what keep me hooked. My favorites so far were "Don't Stop Believing" in the pilot and the Bon Jovi/Usher Mashup in Vitamin D.

Survivor: As fun as this show is, I never got into it until my brother suggested Fantasy Survivor. This has turned Survivor into a game we can play together even though we don't live near each other. We each pick an MVP at the beginning of the show (go Brett!), and then each week we make picks for who's going to help win reward/immunity challenges, get voted off, be safe and then one mystery question that changes each week (i.e. whose vote will be shown on camera or who will be shown holding the immunity idol).

On that note, I haven't watched NCIS yet this week and really need to go watch it...so I will.

Someday I Want to See...

Scandinavia! Yes, I know I've been there twice...once when my family went to Norway and Sweden in 1997 and then again when I studied abroad in Norway in college. But I really want to go back, and I would love to visit Iceland and Finland as I've never been to either. Denmark would be cool, too, although it's lower on my priority list.

Last night as I was folding laundry I found two holes in one of my Norway shirts (my "Norway, land of the Vikings" one). I love that shirt, and was really sad to see the holes...so naturally I informed Matt that we'll need to go just so I can get a new shirt. This got us thinking about how much it would actually cost...needless to say, a trip to Scandinavia is out of our budget at the moment, but I can say that hotel and airfare isn't nearly as much as I thought it would be. I guess those trips start to add up once you get there and decide to do things. If I ever make it back to Norway, here are the things I would need to do (in no particular order):

• Eat at Peppe's Pizza (I still crave their BLT pizza even though I haven't had one in 4 years).
• Eat a kebab (those things are so good in Europe).
• Go back to Hamar and wander around where I used to live.
• Visit the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo (one of the ones I never quite made it to).
• Take Matt on the Norway in a Nutshell tour.
• Eat Chinese food in Bergen (we always eat chinese food in Bergen).
• If we're there around this time of year, buy and drink Julebrus (Christmas soda).
• Buy a new Norway shirt (since that's the urgency for going now...)
  

Obviously, that's only a partial list. If I was actually going anytime soon I would put a lot more thought into it, but those are the things I would want to do off the top of my head.

Then of course, there are the excursions to Finland and Iceland. As I've never been to either, I would need to do research to figure out what I want to do, but both sound really cool (and not just because of the weather). As I'm just as much Finn as I am Norwegian, it would be cool to see that part of the world.

I'm not quite sure why I want to go to Iceland so much...I think it's because it looked so fun in a video we watched in one of my Scandinavian Studies classes...and because that's where the team from D2: The Mighty Ducks is from...haha.

So...if anyone wants to take us on an all-expense-paid trip to Scandinavia, we would be happy to go. Although, to be honest, we'd probably be happy to go anywhere if it's all-expenses-paid...

Note: Matt thinks this sounds like a ploy to get a free trip, but it's not. I'm just sharing why I want to go to Scandinavia...again =)

God Protects, Listens...and Has a Sense of Humor

It can be frustrating to wait for God's timing on things. In retrospect it's usually easier to see how his timing is always best, but that doesn't make it easier while you're waiting...especially when you have bills to pay and a lot of free time to wonder why he's taking so long.

In these instances I try to change my perspective. When a child is waiting for something, 15 minutes can seem like an eternity. An adult knows that it's well worth it to wait that 15 minutes, though, or whatever they're waiting for won't be quite as good (i.e. the food might not be cooked all the way through). I think it's the same way with God. We sit here wondering why it's taking so long for him to do his providing thing. Who knows - maybe the situation he has in mind isn't set up quite right yet, maybe we need to learn something before we're ready, maybe his way is something completely different than we expect...or maybe he knows that we'll appreciate the opportunity more if it doesn't just land in our lap.

These are also times I remind myself of all the ways I've seen God work in my life. In the past 10 years alone, I've seen God protect me, answer my prayers and use his timing to remind me he's in charge.

God protects:

Fairly soon after I got my license in high school, I was driving as my friends and I hung out. We had talked about playing pool earlier, and then ended up doing something else instead (I can't remember what). One of my friends decided to go home while my other friend and I decided to go to Starbucks. As we were on our way to the coffee shop, we realized my friend forgot her pool cue in the backseat. I'm not quite sure why we decided we needed to return it before going to get coffee, especially since we'd see her again soon, but we decided to make a detour to her house to drop it off. As we were leaving to head back out to Starbucks (and the busy street we had to take at commute time to get there), my brakes stopped working. Fortunately I was only going about 20mph, and was able to slow down as I turned the corner and park on the next street. Of course the cell phone we had for emergencies didn't get any reception (that was back when everyone didn't have one), but we also happened to be about 5 minutes by foot from my parent's house. Just think - the brakes could have given out when I was going twice as fast on a much busier street at commute time. We also could have been stranded much further away.

God listens:

There are two times I've asked God to heal Matt within the past year and a half, and both times he has answered my prayers exactly as I asked. The first time was at Mount Hermon (family camp) with my family last year. At the beginning of the week he wasn't feeling very well - like he was beginning to come down with something (I think it was Monday night). He asked if I would pray for him to get better, so I did. I didn't really think about it at the time, but when I prayed I asked that he would feel better by the next day. The rest of the night he still felt sick and, when he woke up the next day, he felt perfectly fine. This happened again right after Matt came back from a missions trip to Mexico. Of course, this was right after Swine Flu broke out (when everyone was panicking), and he came home feeling terrible with a fever. We took his temperature right away and it was 101. I prayed that God would bring his temperature down within the next few hours and help him feel better soon. Although it took a few days for him to feel better, I took his temperature again two hours later and it was down to 98.

God times things perfectly:

The most recent instance of God reminding me that he's in charge occurred within the past few months. I don't remember much about what was going on, but I know it was a Thursday and I was complaining to Matt about how I was hungry. Of course, he felt the need to point out that I sounded a lot like the Israelites in the desert grumbling to Moses about food, to which I told him I didn't see any manna lying around. About a minute later, the doorbell rang. Standing there was a UPS man holding a "Mannatech" box that happened to be full of food (Beef/Turkey Jerky, chocolate, etc). I knew my mom had sent a box, and she told me it would it would arrive on Friday. Apparently God had arranged for the package to arrive a day early at just that instant to remind me that he's in charge...and that he has a sense of humor.

I know thinking back to these situations and trying to change my perspective doesn't make time speed up, but it helps me stay calm and not worry. I know God is going to provide what we need when we need it and, in the meantime, he's listening to my thoughts and concerns...and most likely using this time to teach me something new.

Life Then vs. Now + What Change Means to Me

Happy October! It's weird to think that Matt and I have been living in Washington for almost 3 months already...and even stranger to think that we've been married for almost a year (it'll be a year mid-November). It's odd to think of how much my life has changed in just a year. This time last year, I was working 40 hours/week plus a 30 min commute each way 3 of those days, involved in a variety of weekly activities (i.e. Bible study), planning a wedding, driving about 2 hours a week to spend time with Matt, finding time to hang out with family and friends and, of course, keeping up with a few of my favorite TV shows. How did I do all of that?? Now I work closer to 30 hours/week with a daily commute to my living room, spend time with Matt (which requires no drive whatsoever), try to go for walks at least 5 days/week, and keep up with a variety of TV shows. I guess I could add the Bible study we've started going to since we've gone twice and plan to continue...but even still, my activity level has significantly dwindled. As someone who enjoys having a lot going on and keeping busy it's been a bit of an adjustment, but I know it's a part of moving to a new place where we don't know many people, and it will take time to get plugged in to the community here.

I guess one of the things this change is teaching me is how much I need to depend on God every single day. I consider one of the gifts God gave me to be faith, and I've only really doubted God once in my life (I know that's not typical of most 25-year-olds). I think a lot of it has to do with how God made me, but also with how my mom encouraged me to look at events in my life from an early age. I don't believe in coincidences. There have been too many things in my life that have just "worked out" for them to be a random chance. It's easy for me to see God working in my life, but I lack the self-discipline to regularly pick up the Bible and spend time focused on him without distraction. A year ago, when I was much, much busier, I justified my lack of discipline through everything I had going on. Looks like God's not letting me use that excuse anymore...

I was reminded of all of this when a former neighbor and friend from elementary school posted a link to a skit by The Skit Guys on YouTube. It's a great reminder about how God never said life would be easy, and that when things are hard it's for our own good. It's also a great reminder of how we should find our value in God, and not from the media or society we live in. Check it out at http://bit.ly/148Etz.