Ok kids, everyone turn in your Bibles to the book of James (it's toward the back of the New Testement) , James chapter 1 to be specific. Verse 2 says “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” This passage goes on to talk about how trials build perseverance which eventually leads to a more perfect, or mature, faith in God. While I do not believe God sends bad things into our lives, I do believe he uses these things to teach us, strengthen us, and to make us better Christians. So I guess I’m wondering what I’m supposed to be learning from this past six weeks that I have gone through.
Bear with me here. I’m not complaining, just pondering what I should take from all this.
First I break my thumb forcing me to wear a brace/cast thing for the past six weeks. It is getting much better, and the injury could have been exponentially worse than it was. I have an appointment tomorrow. I'm hoping he tells me I can stop wearing the brace. But it was just step one.
A couple weeks ago the transmission on my still relatively new car breaks and has to be overhauled. I know nothing about cars. I felt like the guy in the computer commercial saying ‘so the security is in the blinky thing?’ when it was explained to me. Now, I was spared having to shell out more than $4,000 for this repair because it was still under warranty, by all of 400 miles. Ok, so this clearly could have been far worse than it was.
This morning I wake up to hear my sump pump doing and impersonation of Old Faithful. It was spewing water up instead of pumping it out. After the panic subsided, and my Dad came over to help, We figured out the problem. A check valve had broken and was pushing the rain water back into the house rather than outside. The obvious water pressure broke most of the pvc joints in the sump pump contraption. There are two things in home repair that freak me out; plumbing and electricity. This involved both. It took all morning but we got the valve replaced and the all the pipes back together and in working order. Another good thing is there was minimal water damage. Yet again, even though it freaked me out pretty good, it could have been a whole lot worse.
Finally, over the past couple months I’ve been seeing one of my doctors to resolve a recurring problem. A few weeks ago he comes back to tell me that I have stones in my bladder again, and he wants to go in to remove them before they get to big or cause any more problems. I am going in this Thursday for that. I’m not overly worried or nervous about this. But it will render me useless for a few days.
Hmmmm, so in reflecting on this as I write maybe my ‘pure joy’ is in the realization that even though bad stuff and inconvenient stuff happens it could always be worse. In spite of these kinds of crazy things in my life, God is still clearly very good to me. I’ve got good friends, I’ve got a good family (well mostly), I’ve got a good job, and I’ve got this blogger thing to help me reflect on stuff. Who could ask for any more, right?
2006-05-16
2006-05-10
Alright Already!
I’ve been taking a lot of heat from people about my lack of blogging recently. I’ve even been getting comments from Derek’s mom. So I guess I should get to it. Inspired by some of Derek’s posts I’m doing a list of things I’ve been up to since I last updated this blog. These are in no particular order, just the order they popped into my head.
1. I dug out my high school letter jacket for an anti-valentines/80’s party. Sounds lame, but it was actually fun.
2. You probably know by now, but I’ve been nursing an injured thumb. It’s been about six weeks since I had my stage diving accident. Things seem to be progressing nicely. I hope to get rid of this brace/cast thing soon.
3. I had to get my transmission overhauled on my Saturn VUE. The thing is 3 years old and the trans just crapped out on me. By an act of God this happened with about 35,600 miles on the odometer. My warranty runs out at 36k. 400 miles saved me more than $4,000.
4. Dad retired. I’m jealous.
5. Michael got confirmed. He’ll be graduating from junior high in about a month. Congrats to him for surviving what, for most people, is the most trying and traumatic years of their lives (junior high).
6. My dog is now a eunich. He went under the knife and lost his manhood.
7. Another note about my dog. He’s growing up to be a horse. He is now six months old and weighs 62 pounds. I was told, when I bought him, that he shouldn’t top 60. Let me say that again, he is six months old. That means likely six more months of growing before he stops.
8. I have been exceptionally busy with FaithWorks. I’ve actually been doing a decent job of keeping that blog up to date. faithworksstjohnrochester.blogspot.com
9. I participated in a digital camera scavenger hunt. I thought it was going to be lame, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. This added new places to list of travels that my little red lobster magnet has been. He has traveled to Vatican City, London, Dublin, New York, Chicago, and now Rochester Hills.
10. I have booked all the speakers I need to for FaithWorks Unions for the entire year. I can now either sit back and relax, or start making contacts for 2007. I haven’t decided yet.
11. I got a new boss at work. Thanks to a restructuring I now report to some one who makes me say ‘wow, and I thought Derek was anal’.
12. I had yet another first date. Must not have gone as well as I thought since she wouldn’t let have a second date. Oh well.
13. I have topped 2400 tracks on my iPod. I am up to 2415. I have a couple new CD’s that I need to pick up, so that number should climb.
14. I am loving the fact that the Tigers are playing so well right now. I couldn’t stop smiling watching my boys beat up on the Twinkies of Minnesota by a combined three game score of 33-1.
15. Derek’s mom is getting ready to retire. I’m jealous.
16. I recently discovered that I’ve got two weddings to attend on October 14. One in Grand Rapids, and one in North Carolina. I’m not sure how I’m going to pull that off.
17. I have arranged for an ‘Ask the Pastor’ session for FaithWorks. He has agreed to answer questions on pretty much any topic…the harder the better. Any suggestions?
18. Oh, I almost forgot! My dog knows how to operate a light switch. Isn’t that pleasant.
19. I want to extend this list to 20, but I can’t think of anything. Let’s see…my bowling season ended. My team finished in 5th place out of 9 teams. I ended up with a 145 average (which is an improvement for me)
20. My commitment with Head 2 Heart is almost up. YEAH! One thing I have learned is that junior high teachers are either saints, or they are certifiable nut jobs.
21. Oh, how could I forget. I got free tickets to the Pistons first round game against the Bucks. I was sitting 4th row, courtside. I was across the court from the Pistons bench. It was a lot of fun. I’m sure Derek appreciated the phone call I made him while there.
Hey I did it! Ok that’s enough. I’ve wasted a fair amount of time at work doing this. I hope you are all satisfied with this for a while. Feel free to leave comments or questions. Maybe that’ll spark more postings, you never know.
1. I dug out my high school letter jacket for an anti-valentines/80’s party. Sounds lame, but it was actually fun.
2. You probably know by now, but I’ve been nursing an injured thumb. It’s been about six weeks since I had my stage diving accident. Things seem to be progressing nicely. I hope to get rid of this brace/cast thing soon.
3. I had to get my transmission overhauled on my Saturn VUE. The thing is 3 years old and the trans just crapped out on me. By an act of God this happened with about 35,600 miles on the odometer. My warranty runs out at 36k. 400 miles saved me more than $4,000.
4. Dad retired. I’m jealous.
5. Michael got confirmed. He’ll be graduating from junior high in about a month. Congrats to him for surviving what, for most people, is the most trying and traumatic years of their lives (junior high).
6. My dog is now a eunich. He went under the knife and lost his manhood.
7. Another note about my dog. He’s growing up to be a horse. He is now six months old and weighs 62 pounds. I was told, when I bought him, that he shouldn’t top 60. Let me say that again, he is six months old. That means likely six more months of growing before he stops.
8. I have been exceptionally busy with FaithWorks. I’ve actually been doing a decent job of keeping that blog up to date. faithworksstjohnrochester.blogspot.com
9. I participated in a digital camera scavenger hunt. I thought it was going to be lame, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. This added new places to list of travels that my little red lobster magnet has been. He has traveled to Vatican City, London, Dublin, New York, Chicago, and now Rochester Hills.
10. I have booked all the speakers I need to for FaithWorks Unions for the entire year. I can now either sit back and relax, or start making contacts for 2007. I haven’t decided yet.
11. I got a new boss at work. Thanks to a restructuring I now report to some one who makes me say ‘wow, and I thought Derek was anal’.
12. I had yet another first date. Must not have gone as well as I thought since she wouldn’t let have a second date. Oh well.
13. I have topped 2400 tracks on my iPod. I am up to 2415. I have a couple new CD’s that I need to pick up, so that number should climb.
14. I am loving the fact that the Tigers are playing so well right now. I couldn’t stop smiling watching my boys beat up on the Twinkies of Minnesota by a combined three game score of 33-1.
15. Derek’s mom is getting ready to retire. I’m jealous.
16. I recently discovered that I’ve got two weddings to attend on October 14. One in Grand Rapids, and one in North Carolina. I’m not sure how I’m going to pull that off.
17. I have arranged for an ‘Ask the Pastor’ session for FaithWorks. He has agreed to answer questions on pretty much any topic…the harder the better. Any suggestions?
18. Oh, I almost forgot! My dog knows how to operate a light switch. Isn’t that pleasant.
19. I want to extend this list to 20, but I can’t think of anything. Let’s see…my bowling season ended. My team finished in 5th place out of 9 teams. I ended up with a 145 average (which is an improvement for me)
20. My commitment with Head 2 Heart is almost up. YEAH! One thing I have learned is that junior high teachers are either saints, or they are certifiable nut jobs.
21. Oh, how could I forget. I got free tickets to the Pistons first round game against the Bucks. I was sitting 4th row, courtside. I was across the court from the Pistons bench. It was a lot of fun. I’m sure Derek appreciated the phone call I made him while there.
Hey I did it! Ok that’s enough. I’ve wasted a fair amount of time at work doing this. I hope you are all satisfied with this for a while. Feel free to leave comments or questions. Maybe that’ll spark more postings, you never know.
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