Drama

I hear this word all the time, lately.

"I hate drama."
"She's so dramatic."
"Spare me the drama."
"I don't like dramatic people."
"I'm looking for a boyfriend/girlfriend who won't give me any drama."

What I want to know is, What are you drama-haters so afraid of? If you don't want any drama, you might as well just fall over and die right now, because life is full of it! If you ask me, people are just looking for a way to make life easier and relationships more convenient for themselves.

Drama is all around us. It's in our families, the late-night talks, and the strangers we encounter. Deep down inside we crave it. We watch TV and movies so we can get some of it without having to deal with it in real life. But I say it's time we TURN OFF THE TV and rip off those earphones and cut the small talk... and start jumping into the depths of the drama of Life. We only live once, after all.

Marry a job?

On Wednesday night as I was plopping sausages onto a man's plate, he said, "What did you do? Marry a job?"

Most of the time I enjoy the job of my husband (youth director) and helping him with it. But I found it interesting that the man said something about it as I've been thinking about that very thing lately. When you get married, you do have to clearly communicate the word "no" and not feel guilty about it once in a while. At the same time, if you make a commitment, you have to follow through and do what you promised. I am learning how to do both.

We are still eating those sausages, and we probably will be eating them out of the freezer for a while.

Hope of the Moose Chasing Sort

I wrote this on October 24, 2006, and saved it from MySpace, as I am still currently being chased by a ferocious bull moose (whom I love very much):

When one meets Jesus Christ, one's hopes start changing. He has that effect on people... Have you noticed?

You start hoping for these crazy things you never gave much thought to before, like... "I hope I can make it to that interesting worship gathering again next Sunday" ...and "I hope my sister/brother/parents/boyfriend/second cousin/boss finds out about Jesus too" ...and "I hope God will speak to me again SOON!"

It's like your hopes start becoming what God hopes for... which are really solid things that God wants... certain things that are sure to happen if God has anything to say about it... and you know he has a lot of say in it, being in control of the universe and all...

So you start wondering and hoping in these things the Bible talks about, lasting things, like people reconciling in the name of Jesus, and the fact that your sin has been removed from you as far as the east is from the west... You are less and less disappointed when temporal things don't turn out as you wished or planned.

Sometimes, though, I forget the certainty and eternity of my Jesus-hopes and go back to hoping (wishing, really) that I won't be allergic to someone's cat. Who cares about the stupid cat. Jesus is coming back - soon!

What are we hoping for? A new car? Guidance for our life here? A nice day with our cats??

Last week I was being chased down a mountain by a moose, and I could do nothing but run for my life and scream at the top of my lungs. I was scared out of my mind and probably looked like a ridiculous fool. But for some reason I was screaming words of hope, and I know that it was God who saved my life, and that changes everything.