if you're the kind of person who, when puttin' on yer pants, yanks their jeans up for that final, "Urg!" yank by the belt loops. You could find yourself in an airport bathroom (ready to fly out, not having just arrived home) hearing that "only ripping fabric makes that kinda noise" sound, and have a belt loop and the fabric it's attached to above your back pocket come swinging free, revealing a pleasant view to whatever yer wearin' underneath. "God bless my underwear..."
Thank heaven I am wearing an untucked shirt today and a zip-up hoodie...both are long enough to cover the tragedy and I can use the hood to cowl my face if necessary.
Good thing this layover is in Vegas. No one will even notice. They'll think I am a showgirl. Especially if I had snatched a couple of feathers from the little birdies that were sipping from the drinking fountain across from my gate at the Boise airport. Little birdies love to hang out inside airports :)
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Six Years Today
Amazing. It's six years today since my first day with MAF. Within three months they sent me to Russia and Kazakhstan, and the crazy list of places I have been, things I have eaten, churches I have worshiped in, people I have met, and ways I have seen God work was launched.
As I ran down a hallway here at headquarters today to have a discussion about the role Learning Technologies might play in the job of a new family to MAF who are headed overseas to actually fill a different role, but heard about LT providing training for pastors and got very excited at the thought of having a part in it, I literally said aloud, "I have the weirdest job on the planet." My boss is on his way to England and Turkey, and here I am discussing some of his communication from a phone call and my input from meetings to help a committee make a decision about this family's life. Good heavens.
And then I get weepy. I think about the people I have met who live in places where staying fed is a struggle, staying warm is a luxury, and staying safe is a daily tightrope walk. Even when I am not traveling, I meet people who come through the doors at headquarters who live extraordinary lives of sacrifice, both here and abroad, and others who are getting their first safe start here in America. And those who are here for a time then headed back to walk lonely trails to remote villages so people might know that a man who was the incarnation of the very God who created them died on a cross and rose from the dead so they might live forever with him. They are deeply loved and they have been rescued. There is good news.
And God uses silly, easily distracted, sometimes too serious, sometimes not serious enough, not as smart as the next guy, me. He is so gracious to let me tag along to where he goes and where he sends. Thank you, Father. An unexpected life, indeed. Please cause me to live it well.
As I ran down a hallway here at headquarters today to have a discussion about the role Learning Technologies might play in the job of a new family to MAF who are headed overseas to actually fill a different role, but heard about LT providing training for pastors and got very excited at the thought of having a part in it, I literally said aloud, "I have the weirdest job on the planet." My boss is on his way to England and Turkey, and here I am discussing some of his communication from a phone call and my input from meetings to help a committee make a decision about this family's life. Good heavens.
And then I get weepy. I think about the people I have met who live in places where staying fed is a struggle, staying warm is a luxury, and staying safe is a daily tightrope walk. Even when I am not traveling, I meet people who come through the doors at headquarters who live extraordinary lives of sacrifice, both here and abroad, and others who are getting their first safe start here in America. And those who are here for a time then headed back to walk lonely trails to remote villages so people might know that a man who was the incarnation of the very God who created them died on a cross and rose from the dead so they might live forever with him. They are deeply loved and they have been rescued. There is good news.
And God uses silly, easily distracted, sometimes too serious, sometimes not serious enough, not as smart as the next guy, me. He is so gracious to let me tag along to where he goes and where he sends. Thank you, Father. An unexpected life, indeed. Please cause me to live it well.
Monday, January 12, 2009
There oughta be a website...
where you can pre-screen the food combinations you might put together before you actually consume them. Remember the unsuccessful ham-stacky-thingy-ma-doodles from 2007? I may have discovered tonight that ham is the enemy in any combo besides swiss cheese and fresh bread for a tasty sandwich. Oh, and my choice of eating trough may have contributed to the error tonight.
To start with, I have lots of lettuce to eat before my next trip. Lots. Last week, Fred Meyer had bags of salad on sale, 5 bags for $5. I had guests for dinner one night and I think we ate 1/2 - 3/4 of a bag. You can do the math about what's left for just little ol' me.
I decided tonight that I needed to get a move on with the remaining lettuce so it all gets consumed before I leave. And there's ham, too. So, chef salad seemed the natural order of the evening! Turned out all I really had around to put in the salad that was interesting to me tonight was shredded cheddar cheese and ham. And I wanted to eat LOTS of lettuce, so I used a mixing bowl instead of a plate for making my salad. And then it needed something crunchy...hmmm...crunchy. Pantry scan, pantry scan...no croutons, no really crunchy nuts...oh, wait! Peanuts! I have dry roasted peanuts in here!
Um, I don't think peanuts and ham were meant to be friends. But I didn't figure it out until I was near the end of the salad the size of a Crate and Barrel mixing bowl. And then, well, you're near the end...you might as well finish it up and be done with it, ya know?
Mistake. Kathie deeply unwell. Sitting very still for one hour on couch. No moving, please.
And no more making dinner to eat out of a mixing bowl. Bad idea. Mixing bowls are for mixing, not for eating out of. Unless they are full of cookie dough.
Oooohhh! Mmmmm...cookie dough...
No, no. Still too much misery. Must wait.
To start with, I have lots of lettuce to eat before my next trip. Lots. Last week, Fred Meyer had bags of salad on sale, 5 bags for $5. I had guests for dinner one night and I think we ate 1/2 - 3/4 of a bag. You can do the math about what's left for just little ol' me.
I decided tonight that I needed to get a move on with the remaining lettuce so it all gets consumed before I leave. And there's ham, too. So, chef salad seemed the natural order of the evening! Turned out all I really had around to put in the salad that was interesting to me tonight was shredded cheddar cheese and ham. And I wanted to eat LOTS of lettuce, so I used a mixing bowl instead of a plate for making my salad. And then it needed something crunchy...hmmm...crunchy. Pantry scan, pantry scan...no croutons, no really crunchy nuts...oh, wait! Peanuts! I have dry roasted peanuts in here!
Um, I don't think peanuts and ham were meant to be friends. But I didn't figure it out until I was near the end of the salad the size of a Crate and Barrel mixing bowl. And then, well, you're near the end...you might as well finish it up and be done with it, ya know?
Mistake. Kathie deeply unwell. Sitting very still for one hour on couch. No moving, please.
And no more making dinner to eat out of a mixing bowl. Bad idea. Mixing bowls are for mixing, not for eating out of. Unless they are full of cookie dough.
Oooohhh! Mmmmm...cookie dough...
No, no. Still too much misery. Must wait.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
They Walked Him Home
Marshall and Lara said goodbye to Timmy yesterday until they see him again in the arms of Christ. If you want to know what a tiny angel looks like, explore their blog a little and see the kind of love Timmy engendered around him in less than two years on this earth.
If you want to see two bigger angels, take a look at Lara and Marshall. The love and support they created around Timmy through an incredibly difficult illness is extraordinary beauty in the midst of some of the deepest pain I think we can know on earth. When Timmy was diagnosed with Leigh Syndrome, Marshall and Lara said that from day one as Timmy's parents their highest calling was to make sure their son knew Christ, whether that was to introduce him to the knowledge of his Savior when we was older or to love him well until Jesus came to take him home. Jesus came yesterday at 3:00 PM, and Timmy's parents and nurses walked him tenderly to the healing embrace of his Heavenly Father.
I am grateful beyond words for the five or so hours I got to spend with the three of them the Tuesday after Christmas, reading Timmy an alphabet book his mama made just for him with pictures of his daddy and lots of other family, smooching his face, laughing at music that only Marshall would know how to find, eating Lara's delicious spaghetti, and listening to Marshall and Lara's hearts (and them listening to me plenty, too, patient people they are!).
God, thank you for the reality of your grace and the promises of restoration. Thank you that Timmy is energized and whole and that you will be nearer to Marshall and Lara than I could ever imagine. Tonight, with my tears, I give you my precious friends.
If you want to see two bigger angels, take a look at Lara and Marshall. The love and support they created around Timmy through an incredibly difficult illness is extraordinary beauty in the midst of some of the deepest pain I think we can know on earth. When Timmy was diagnosed with Leigh Syndrome, Marshall and Lara said that from day one as Timmy's parents their highest calling was to make sure their son knew Christ, whether that was to introduce him to the knowledge of his Savior when we was older or to love him well until Jesus came to take him home. Jesus came yesterday at 3:00 PM, and Timmy's parents and nurses walked him tenderly to the healing embrace of his Heavenly Father.
I am grateful beyond words for the five or so hours I got to spend with the three of them the Tuesday after Christmas, reading Timmy an alphabet book his mama made just for him with pictures of his daddy and lots of other family, smooching his face, laughing at music that only Marshall would know how to find, eating Lara's delicious spaghetti, and listening to Marshall and Lara's hearts (and them listening to me plenty, too, patient people they are!).
God, thank you for the reality of your grace and the promises of restoration. Thank you that Timmy is energized and whole and that you will be nearer to Marshall and Lara than I could ever imagine. Tonight, with my tears, I give you my precious friends.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
S'more pain, please!
Joy: The sleek, newly installed microwave got christened with a marshmallow and a graham cracker to make a s'more. Happy, happy food.
Pain: The meeting I was in at work, approximately 90 minutes after the installation, where the five men I was sitting with all said they would have been more than happy to install the microwave for me, saving me the $150 installation fee. It started with me mentioning that I had just arrived back in the office after being home to meet the installer.
Bill: "Oh, yeah, I just installed one of those."
Kathie: "One of those? As in an over-the-range microwave?"
Bill: "Yeah, for our daughter in California while we were there for Christmas."
Tom: Pointing at the housing units for visiting staff across the street, "You know how many of those things I put in over there?"
Mike: "Yeah, we could have created the space for you to have it put in, cabinets, erveything."
Kathie: "There already was a space."
Mike: "You mean you were just replacing one? Not adding a new one?"
Darryl: "That means it would have been really simple; the hardware was already there."
Kathie: "Well, um, he drilled some additional holes in the cabinet above..."
Bill: "It probably came with a cabinet install template."
Kathie: Voice rising, "There's this thing on my kitchen counter right now that says, 'Upper-cabinet template'!!!"
Tom: "Kathie, you have brothers here that you need to ask for help when you need it."
Kathie barely refrains from slamming head on table, blurts out, "Crap," instead (yes, in a meeting where I work), and wants to vomit.
I did ask for help for the garage door opener installation. Actually, I asked for Dave to look at the broken one. When he saw the condition of the gears, he offered to install the new one.
This microwave has a vent and a fan and a light and stuff...I wouldn't know what to do, so I don't even know how to ask help for what I don't know how to do. Uggghhh! Grrrrr! Arrrrggghhhh!
This post and the microwave shall serve as my $150 reminder TO ASK FOR HELP. I missed a chance to be a better steward with my money; one of my brothers missed a chance to bless me; I missed a chance to be blessed.
As Lara so beautifully said a couple of weeks ago, "I am learning to be imperfect." Amen, sister, amen.
Pain: The meeting I was in at work, approximately 90 minutes after the installation, where the five men I was sitting with all said they would have been more than happy to install the microwave for me, saving me the $150 installation fee. It started with me mentioning that I had just arrived back in the office after being home to meet the installer.
Bill: "Oh, yeah, I just installed one of those."
Kathie: "One of those? As in an over-the-range microwave?"
Bill: "Yeah, for our daughter in California while we were there for Christmas."
Tom: Pointing at the housing units for visiting staff across the street, "You know how many of those things I put in over there?"
Mike: "Yeah, we could have created the space for you to have it put in, cabinets, erveything."
Kathie: "There already was a space."
Mike: "You mean you were just replacing one? Not adding a new one?"
Darryl: "That means it would have been really simple; the hardware was already there."
Kathie: "Well, um, he drilled some additional holes in the cabinet above..."
Bill: "It probably came with a cabinet install template."
Kathie: Voice rising, "There's this thing on my kitchen counter right now that says, 'Upper-cabinet template'!!!"
Tom: "Kathie, you have brothers here that you need to ask for help when you need it."
Kathie barely refrains from slamming head on table, blurts out, "Crap," instead (yes, in a meeting where I work), and wants to vomit.
I did ask for help for the garage door opener installation. Actually, I asked for Dave to look at the broken one. When he saw the condition of the gears, he offered to install the new one.
This microwave has a vent and a fan and a light and stuff...I wouldn't know what to do, so I don't even know how to ask help for what I don't know how to do. Uggghhh! Grrrrr! Arrrrggghhhh!
This post and the microwave shall serve as my $150 reminder TO ASK FOR HELP. I missed a chance to be a better steward with my money; one of my brothers missed a chance to bless me; I missed a chance to be blessed.
As Lara so beautifully said a couple of weeks ago, "I am learning to be imperfect." Amen, sister, amen.
Ramen, Popcorn, What?
The new microwave is being installed this afternoon. Above-range-microwave = installation. Ouch. Thank you, Sears...
What do I nuke first? Cast your vote, people...
What do I nuke first? Cast your vote, people...
Saturday, January 03, 2009
Not Refusing and Not Rushing
From Brennan Manning's Reflections for Ragamuffins this morning:
I want to be the kind of person who embraces growth and loves the opportunity. I am in theory; in practicality, I much prefer being told I am already brilliant and doing things perfectly. Sigh... I have discovered that the real connotation of "growth" in my head means I am not measuring up and that I have dangerous, humiliating deficits. Not exactly great soil for allowing God to bring beautiful change. And I still have a little of the old, "I'll get it right then show you how well I can do, Lord." lingering around. You know, the idea that I can just "gut out" the tough moments and work really hard to bring about change. What hooey. I have no guts!
That's been one of the most wonderful things to accept--I have no guts. I have nothing naturally existing in me that can be brave and muscle myself any nearer to the greater heart, the deeper compassion, the longer patience, and the better service I want in my life. Nope--no guts.
But I have the Holy Spirit. And He that lives in me will keep a watch on the cloud and fire and will know which way to go, will give strength and wisdom and love for the journey and change, and make it possible to be brave in the unknown.
Lord, may it be so.
The Challenge to Grow
When God introduces creative tension into our lives by calling us to break camp, abandon the security and comfort of the status quo, and embark in perilous freedom on a new exodus, our insecurity and procrastination may focus only on the darker implications of the challenge and plunge us anew into unhealthy guilt. Stubbornly to stand still when the Lord is clearly challenging us to growth is hardheartedness, infidelity, and a dangerous lack of trust. But to start trekking across the desert impulsively without the guidance of the cloud and the fire is reckless folly. When God's call is not clarified and the inner voice remains indistinct, our restlessness and interior disquiet may be signaling a new exodus into greater openness, vulnerability, and compassion, a deeper purity of heart, a transformed mind and spirit. The landscape of the American church is littered with burned-out bodies and abortive ministries born of unhealthy guilt and fear of resisiting God's will.
Who will acquit us from guilt? Who will free us from the bondage of projectionsim, perfectionism, and moralism? Who will rewrite the script? Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ our Lord!
When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before.
Joshua 3:3-4
I want to be the kind of person who embraces growth and loves the opportunity. I am in theory; in practicality, I much prefer being told I am already brilliant and doing things perfectly. Sigh... I have discovered that the real connotation of "growth" in my head means I am not measuring up and that I have dangerous, humiliating deficits. Not exactly great soil for allowing God to bring beautiful change. And I still have a little of the old, "I'll get it right then show you how well I can do, Lord." lingering around. You know, the idea that I can just "gut out" the tough moments and work really hard to bring about change. What hooey. I have no guts!
That's been one of the most wonderful things to accept--I have no guts. I have nothing naturally existing in me that can be brave and muscle myself any nearer to the greater heart, the deeper compassion, the longer patience, and the better service I want in my life. Nope--no guts.
But I have the Holy Spirit. And He that lives in me will keep a watch on the cloud and fire and will know which way to go, will give strength and wisdom and love for the journey and change, and make it possible to be brave in the unknown.
Lord, may it be so.
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