Lesson 1: Learn to Laugh at yourself

I think I've already learned this one, but it's always good to be reminded. And, I might add, it's great to have people in life to encourage you--even lend their laugh to help you-- to laugh at yourself. Here's a funny story from my day.

After I finished working today at 1:15 I went to the Health Center right across the street from where I work in Seaton Hall to get my PPD test for tuberculosis. After the nurse shot me I had some questions about the dental and optometrical services of the center and the receptionist sent me down a flight of stairs to the basement dental office. After getting the answers to my questions (cleaning of teeth is free) I went to leave following the red exit signs. As I pushed through a door into the stairwell my eye read the sign "Exit Only: Keypad Necessary for Re-entry." That's fine, I thought, I'm leaving. I walked up a flight of stairs to find double glass doors and, unfortunately, a small sign reading "Emergency Exit Only." So I continued to make my way up to the top of the stairs hoping to find an exit. Nope. Keypad. So I went back downstairs. Maybe I missed something. Nope. Keypad. Locked in a stairwell. What a nice way to start my experience at UNL. Eventually I banged on the window and got a lady to hear me and let me out. But not before I considered walking out the emergency exit (how would they find me, really) or calling the front desk to tell them that, yes, I was locked inside their building and couldn't get out.

In any case, I got out and am alright and not any less adventurous. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

God is in Shuffle

My first "week" at UNL is over. I'm glad it's Sabbath and there's time for rest. My two days at UNL were bad and good. The first, orientation, was way too long and ended with a headache. The second, my first day at my new job, was much better. I met good people, got a new feel for what I will be doing, and generally enjoyed my day.

Bad or good, I felt God leading me both days. When I was getting ready on the first morning I had my music on shuffle. Some might say that shuffle is just controlled by electronics and circuits. And that may be true. And I often feel that God uses the shuffle function to let me here a reminder at just the right moment. Because just as I started listening to the music I heard "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me." And I remembered that going to UNL doesn't take me out of God's care. And I can still trust Him to keep me in His care.

Then, after that no-good day was over (actually by the end of it my headache was gone and I had laughed some good laughs with Ben, Leslie and Nancy), I read a page of My Utmost for His Highest, a favorite book of mine. Again, here I believe God uses my randomness to bring out important messages. I try to read one each day, but I'm not nearly as consistent as I'd like to be. So I was reading a page from March but I it was the one I needed to read. Here's what it said:

Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. It is a life of faith, not of intellect and reason, but a life of knowing Who makes us "go." The root of faith is the knowledge of a Person, and one of the biggest snares is the idea that God is sure to lead us to success.

The life of faith is not a life of mounting up with wings, but a life of walking and not fainting.

Oswald Chambers has some good thoughts and that doesn't mean that I have to agree 100% with all of them. I agree almost completely with his thought here, the only thing I would change or add is at the end. I would contend that the life of walking and not fainting--the life of walking with God--is soaring compared the life of walking alone. I choose soaring.

One major updraft in my soaring life is that Shelli came back to Lincoln yesterday! I would write more but I'd rather go see her.