In May, I was talking to a local young man about his employment opportunities, and I mentioned that the cafeteria there on campus needed people in the dishroom…if he was interested…and he quite decidedly said he did not want that job, ’cause there was no purpose to it. I said something about that one could try to make people smile in that job–just to be friendly so they have to smile! He thought I was nuts–to have bringing a smile to someone’s face be so important? Yet, that’s how I think–to make someone smile makes me so happy. (At our church, there was this one lady that never smiled when she was coming in…and it was my goal just to get her to smile back, and finally, one week, she did, and I was SOOO happy…but anyway…)

At work last Friday [I help to serve meals down at the college cafeteria], there was one boy who was wandering around and clearly not having a good day… He was one of the first kids in, and was the last kid getting his food. I reaaaally wanted to say something to him, and hopefully brighten his day…but I wasn’t sure if it was considered “proper”, as a food server, to get “personal” like that? Then….everyone else left…and it was just us two left, and I could tell he wasn’t happy, so I forgot my reservations, and just said, “You OK?” He answered, “Yeah, I’m fine, I’ve just had a bad day…” then the cook came back with the rolls (we’d run out just before him), and was joking about those, and within a couple minutes, this boy was smiling and laughing along.

I went home quite happy, and feeling like the whole day had been a success - he had SMILED!!! Now, this isn’t like, “Ooooo, the cuuuuute boy in class smiled at mmmmeeeee!!!!” Lol. He may be kinda cute, but this is different - this is, a person having a down day was “forced” to smile by me. I don’t know what his problems were, and I doubt I could fix anything for him. But Ron (the cook) and I got him to smile and laugh.

I’ve since found out that this boy is actually a brother in Christ - so I got to lift a brother’s spirits, without even knowing that’s what I was doing. I’m a bit of a nut, but it still makes me happy to think that I made him smile. =)

Go make someone smile today…it’ll make you feel good, to. =)

Many places in the Bible, as well as in all sorts of “Christian living” books and articles, sermons, etc., we are told to honor God at all times.  “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men…”  If it’s whatever I do, then that’s supposed to apply to everything I do!  If I’m thinking about this, then when I go up to the college to work, I can do it as unto the Lord, not as unto the men I work for; even when I go to do dishes, I’m well to remember that I’m supposed to do it as unto the Lord.  Yet, “whatever” you do entails so much more!  Right now, I’m sitting here listening to ZOEgirl and writing this.  How do I listen to ZOEgirl as unto the Lord?  I expect an e-mail any minute from a friend who was going to his first day of work today; when he’s home, I expect to discuss his day with him.  How do I talk to him for the Lord?  In about a half hour, I’m going to get myself ready for work this evening–how do I put on my shoes in a way that honors God?

I think that to answer this, we must determine what honors God.  This question is not overly-easy to answer; however, if I think of Him as my Father, then I can ask, what would honor my dad?  Is he only honored at the exact moment that I am doing something for him?  I would say that he is honored far more when I behave in a manner that pleases him at all other times.  He is honored when I cook his eggs in the morning just how he likes them, but he’s more honored when I go up to work and behave in a way that reflects well on his name.  Not that I’m thinking the whole time, “I’m Rick’s daughter, I’ve got to be good”, but I just be how he’s raised me to be, and he is honored.

I would suggest that God is the same way–He is honored when you take time to pray, read the Bible, etc., but He is equally honored when you go out and be who He has made you to be.  If/when I talk to this friend over e-mail, I can be honoring God by sharing His love with my friend.  I’m not going to get on there and say, “Hey, I’m what Heod’s messenger–tell me what’s up, I’ll tell God, and if He tells me to rejoice, we’ll rejoice; if He tells me to cry, I’ll cry with you; hold the line while I figure out He’s saying.”  All I have to do is be me.  God has given me a great love for people (now, this specific friend, I can’t help but loving, with or without God…but more generally speaking )–I believe that God is pleased and honored when I simply love people.   God has given me the ability to see the bright side and laugh lots–I believe He is honored when I smile and have fun.

Honoring God is more about being who He made us than anything else.  Imagine that you are the creator of a dishwasher.  You bring it to an inventions-competition where you hope that it will bring honor to your name by washing dishes faster than the other 16 dishwashers; however, when you tell it to start, it tries to cook, instead of wash!  Cooking is perfectly fine and good (good food is worth eating =) ), but it was created to wash, and by washing it will bring you glory.

I assure you, though, that your dishwasher is not thinking, “I’m going to honor my maker this very moment”.  In the same way, we can do everything we do to honor God without always thinking about it.  I have joked around with folks at work in a way that I believe brings honor to God, yet I have not (normally) been thinking, as I joked and talked, that I bore Christ’s name and needed to honoring Him–I was simply being who He had made me…

Just some thoughts that have been rolling around in my head. =)

I’ve been working up at the local college a bit recently, and as some of you have heard, it’s been interesting at times.  Y’all know that I’ve been raised as a conservative Christian homeschooler.  I’ve been surrounded throughout my teen and ‘tween years by guys and gals that are also conservative Christians, in general.  Sure, there was the youth-group-set at church, but I hardly saw them–the folks I interacted with at church were primarily homeschooled, but all conservative-ish Christians.  The guys I’ve spent time around have always been that group of guys who are true gentlemen, who treat girls with decorum and respect–many of them will joke with girls and be great friends, but they view girls as friends, people, etc.  Great guys to be around. =)

The past month and a half or so, then, I’ve been working some at the local college.  The group on this campus is about as different as night-and-day from the kids I’ve grown up around.  I won’t go into all the details, but if you’ve ever heard folks say that guys have “one thought on their minds”…you’d believe it, to work around this college campus.  All the girls are more a means of fostering those thoughts than anything else.  Just sorta, that mindset, all over.  A mindset that is totally foreign to me.

I have worked many many hours up at the college, and that’s what I had seen from about all the guys.  The first 1/2-hour that I worked with a guy up there was with one of the very few “good guys” on campus; since that 1/2 hour, I haven’t worked with him, and the other guys were out for what they could get, and that was it.

But then I walked into work yesterday–and there was a real man!!!  Living and breathing, in real life, a true man of God!  It was so refreshing to be around a guy that didn’t follow all the girl with his eyes.  A guy that didn’t flirt every opportunity he got.  A guy that if he thought about the girls at all, he was doing so respectfully!

He was a good worker, too.  The guy I’ve worked with most has said frequently that he likes to work slowly, ’cause he gets paid more.  The other guy I worked with yesterday told me, half-jokingly, at one point to slow down–if we work so fast, we have to do more.  This “real man”, though, worked hard the whole time.  I saw him once before at work, working in the dishroom.  I didn’t have any interaction with him then (I was working elsewhere, just saw him as I walked through the dishroom a couple times), but even then, in a very glory-free job where everyone else just shuffles along, he was working fast and hard.

At the end of the day, I grabbed him for a minute to thank him for being a real man, and I asked a question whose answer I already knew–he was a Christian.  I didn’t have to ask; Christ showed through him.  I doubt he’d come to work thinking, “I’m going to be a witness for Christ in my work today”.  I know he wasn’t trying to impress me with his Christianity–he generally avoided contact with the girls, didn’t seek it to show them what sort of man he was.  One of the other guys on my crew says he’s a Christian; his Christianity is shown in that he prayed before he ate the one day, and that’s about it.  It impressed me at first, but now I’ve seen more of who he really is (who he was even that day, but I was too blind to see it then), and I see that it was an easy thing to do, with two Christian girls there, to bow your head for a minute.  This fellow yesterday, though, lived Christ, from when I first saw him until he walked away.  That took real dedication.

To all the men of God out there, the girls who appreciate it might not seem to be very many, and it may seem like the jerks get all the attention from the girls, but there are girls who really appreciate who you are, and are thrilled to be around you.  This gentleman yesterday reminded me of what true men are like; it’d been long enough since I’d been around real men much that I’d forgotten.  Men of God help women to be ladies of God.  I suspect it works the other way, too.

With God’s help, I want to be a true lady of the Lord, not only for myself, but also so that I can encourage my brothers to be honorable men of God.  If we pure-minded individuals each do our part, we can make a pure-minded force that encourages each other, and together, we will make it.

My dad’s an ordained Southern Baptist pastor. As you might expect, everything, therefore, that happens in our house is deeply spiritual and sounds like church. A prime example would be this morning.

As breakfast wrapped up, the notes of a little tune floated from one of my sisters. As she switched from humming to softly singing, the words were discernable–”You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em…know when to fold ‘em…know when to walk away…know when to run!”

Ahh, yes, good ol’ Christian songs! Within a couple minutes, all those at the table were singing along to Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler”.

Indeed, we are a model Baptist pastor’s family.

Note: My dad’s actually used that good ol’ song as an illustration for how to intereact with people. Who knew I’d be learning lessons from “The Gambler” in this conservative homeschool Baptist Christian house?

My baby brother loves prayer time. One of his first words was “Amen”. Every time he was around someone who was praying out loud, he had to chime in on the “amen”.

This was pretty exciting when he was sitting in church down here, the first time at this new church….and the pastor prayed, finished with “Amen”, all was quite, and a little baby voice piped up–”Amen!” Especially cute since his little “amen” had a very emphatic, southern-sound to it….”ahh-MEN!” type of thing. Everyone laughed, and the pastor (who had stopped by our house hte week before), said, “Thank you, Kirk”. Thankfully, everyone just thought it was funny. =)

But anyway…from a young age, Kirk payed attention to the prayers. I don’t know about your house, but at ours, standard dinner-time prayers are some slight variation of, “Lord, thank you for this day, for the nice weather, and thank you for this tasty meal. Amen.” Hearing “thank you” and “amen” in conjunction all the time, Kirk made some connections in his head…before long, he was using “amen” in place of “thank you”. =)

We all think it is quite hilarious… If we refill his water…or get him a banana (his favorite snack)…or help him find his ball…or anything else…he’s likely to tell us “amen”, which we’ll answer with “you’re welcome”. =)

He’s a cutie for sure… =)

Another old poem I found on my computer…this one from September 15, 2006:

I Love You

“God, where are you?” I ask as I weep.

“Why are You letting this happen?

Where is Your hand in this?

Are you only now-and-then?”

In my distress I can’t help but cry

None of it makes sense or seems right.

But then my God tells me “I love You

When you talk to Me, I delight.

“But I don’t want religious things.

I want you to be honest.

If you feel like yelling at me, do.”

His words are a caress.

“I love you enough to take it all

But in the end remember—I love you.

I’ll take the yelling because it’s how you feel,

But in the end, I want you to love me, too.

“I know it’s hard right now

To think that this is for good

But when you look back in years to come

You’ll see that it was as it should.

“So rest yourself for now and

Let me take care of these issues

They’ll be fixed shortly,

And you’ll bid them adieus.”

I wrote this about a year ago…and coming across it in my files today, I thought I’d post it. Beware all who hurt my friends! lol Though…the person that I wrote this about has since inflicted pain on friends of mine. :-/ But yeah…anywho…from April 27, 2007:

I’m sore at someone—I don’t know who.

They hurt one dear to me—this is true.

If I knew who it was I’d “pop them one good”

I’d bite their head off, if only I could.

But I don’t know who the aggressor is

I know only one thing, and that is this.

They’ve hurt one dear to me who rather wanted their help.

Oh, if I knew who they were, soon you’d hear them yelp!

In Christ the hurt must turn the other cheek

But I’ll take up their case…I’m not meek.

True I should be kind to them, too,

And the hurt needs me to see them through.

So I must stop up my anger and turn to love

And pray that we’ll all get help from above.

He can take care of this and bring justice from pain

Where I’m prone to muddle He’ll make the way plain.

About 10 minutes ago, my baby brother fell over a stool, and started crying and asking for Momma. (No, that’s not a joy. ) Mom wasn’t available at the moment, and I was the oldest gal around, so I got him. I hugged him and carried him around, and in a couple minutes, he calmed down and snuggled up. Now, some girls just love every baby they meet and can’t get enough of the babies, and are just born moms. I’m not quite so much that type–I’m more just an average girl who has seen babies, thinks they’re OK, and would like to be a mom someday…but has a lot of other dreams, too. Yet…there’s something so fulfilling about having a baby snuggle up in my arms…making him feel good, and helping him out. What is it about babies that it just feel so “right”? Mother instinct in every girl, I guess. =)

There’s few better feelings than a baby (or young child), cuddling down, feeling safe and secure in your arms… (I don’t know, though–maybe for you guys, having a wife relax and feel safe in your arms would be about the same thing. =) )

OK, so, I got this e-mail forward through that really bugged me…it was called “15 things”:

15 Things You Probably Never Knew or Thought About

1. At least 5 people in this world love you so much they would die for you.

2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way. !

3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.

4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don’t like you.

5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.

6. You mean the world to someone.

7. If not for you, someone may not be living.

8. You are special and unique.

9. Someone that you don’t even know exists loves you.

10. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.

11. When you think the world has turned its back on you, take a look: you most likely turned your back on the world.

12. When you think you have no chance of getting what you want, you probably won’t get it, but if you believe in yourself, probably, sooner or later, you will get it.

13. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.

14. Always tell someone how you feel about them; you will feel much better when they know.

15. If you have a great friend, take the time to let them know that they are great.

Now, on the surface, these things are pretty cool. But, they aren’t necessarily true!!! 11 and 12 are “life’s all good, believe in yourself” junk. Some of those early ones, well, some folks will believe them, and some won’t. I don’t know that they’re always true, either. 5 people who would die for me? Maybe…but…not prideful or anything, I’m a bit of a social-butterfly type that attracts people. I don’t know if that’s true for everyone–and for someone that really thinks they don’t have that many friends (or the line about there being 15 people who love ‘em somehow), it would just be “rubbing it in”–”everyone else does, but I can only count two…”

Yep, so, it bugged me. Don’t you feel enlightened to know?

And aren’t you glad I have a blog, so that I can post this here, rather than e-mailing one of you to rant? lol.