Thursday, February 08, 2007

I'm a Lion

I've decided that if I were an animal, I'd be a lion. I don't care what you think, I don't want to hear any crap about looking like a friggin teddy bear, because I'm not. I'm fierce, I'm wild, and I'm the king of the stinkin jungle. If you have a problem with this I'll eat your face off. What animal would you be?

Monday, February 05, 2007

One Minute, Forty-Five Seconds

First of all, props to my home girl Rachel for catching my spelling blunders. I honestly suck at spelling and I would be clueless to the fact if it weren't for BASS watching my back.

The first thing I do in the morning is fix a cup of coffee. I'm actually really good at getting out of bed as soon as the alarm goes off. I don't think that I'm actually awake, but I'm on auto-pilot. I wake up, make my bed, and head into the kitchen. I'm not aware of what I'm doing until I'm in the kitchen. I also think that it's impossible for me to speak until my first cup of coffee, and that brings us to the subject of this post...

Most of the time I have coffee left over from the day before, yeah I know gross, but I really don't notice in the morning. I poor a cup and put it in the microwave for a minute and forty five seconds and then I wait, and wait, an wait...do realize how long a minute and forty five seconds can last? It's incredible. It doesn't sound like much, but I've realized that I can accomplish a lot in a minute and forty five seconds. Its sort of become a game I play. I see how much I can get done in a minute a forty five seconds. One time I was able to get Tozer (our dog) breakfast (pour both the food and the water), change my clothes (I work outside early in the mornings so that's three layers of clothing), and even check my e-mail before the timer went off on the microwave. It's incredible.

I'm not sure if a minute and forty fives seconds feels like a long time just because I'm impatiently waiting for my morning "go juice", or if it actually is a long time. I always recieved poor marks for my time management skills in elementary school. Honestly I think its a horrible thing to test elementary school students for time management skills, can they even tell time? The only time management I ever understood were those paper chains you would make to countdown the days until Christmas.

I think that a minute and forty five seconds happens to be a good amount of time. I wonder how much could be done if I took advantage of every one minute and forty-five second interval. I would appreciate a lot more. Time with my friends, naps, beauty, face time with God. Jack Johnson probably had the same life altering experience warming up a cup of joe when he penned the words, "Slow down everyone, you're moving too fast." So here's to you Jacky J, and just imagine what would happen if I warmed up my coffee for two minutes a ten seconds.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

The Bottom Shelf

The only time I like to shop for groceries is when I'm hungry. It quickly morphs from a necessary evil to an exciting adventure. There's a lot I love about late night Walmart runs. Buying what you really don't need, having a contest with Trevor to see who spends less. I've figured out that whoever purchases the frozen chicken breasts typically loses. The rare encounter with an attractive member of the opposite sex sprinkled in there from time to time, but my favorite thing about the Walmart endeavor is about six inches from the ground, keep looking, a little farther down, about ankle height. Ah, yes, there it is; the bottom shelf. Collegiate best friend, home of the beat up and bedraggled. Where the deformed and naked find shelter.

It is a good day when a overdrafting college student stumbles upon the mountain of goodies on the bottom shelf. Its where they put the cheap stuff. Dented and crushed cans with torn labels for 10 cents and piles of Ramen that will cost you less than a tank of gas. A person could possibly buy a weeks worth of food for less than the cost of single text book.

There's something homey about the bottom shelf. I can't help but smile and say, "hey guys" when i look down at those cylinder shaped rejects. Its almost as if I can relate to the bottom shelf. If I were a canned good would I find myself on the bottom shelf? I sure hope so.

God shops on the bottom shelf. He just doesn't look there for a bargain or as a last result, that's where He starts. He seems to go after the broken and the beat up. I even think He might hope to find us there. Our God is a redeemer, and until we understand we're broken, redemption will avoid us. I find that God has favor with those who don't understand why God is so crazy about them. David is a guy whom God loved fiercely. The Bible accredits him alone with the phrase, "A man after God's own heart," but he seems to live life with the "who? me?" look on his face.

So here's to the bottom shelf. A place to find an amazing offer, maybe a place to get a picture of grace.