No Dice

I found out yesterday that I didn't get accepted to Bethlehem Seminary.

It's a bummer. I have no idea what my next step will be.

But God is good. He is sovereign. He doesn't make mistakes. He likes me.

So it's hard to be too upset.

Malachi 3:6
"For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed."


In other news, I watched water boil today, so there's no truth to that myth.

That rule doesn't apply to me

Guy and I fought over who had the right to blog about this event, and I've given him two days.

You snooze you lose.

I usually sit in the balcony on Sundays when I go to Bethlehem. The ledge on the balcony is about waist high and a foot wide, and makes a very tempting place to rest an item. However, the risk of said item falling off the ledge and onto the sanctuary below is quite high. Common sense dictates that you shouldn't put anything there.

Guy, Cassie, Kyle, and I were sitting in the second row of the balcony. When the sermon began (D.A. Carson spoke, and it was really great by the way), the guy sitting in front of us pulled out his pew bible and followed along with the sermon text. He then proceeded to place his bible on the ledge of the balcony. A few seconds later he bumped it. Luckily, it slipped off towards him, landing near his feet. Guy and I both watched it go. It was traumatic.

Lesson learned, right? If I were in his shoes, I would have thought "Sheesh, that was close. Guess I won't be doing that again."

NOPE. Seconds later the bible was right back where it was. Doesn't this guy know that the Word of God is sharper than any double-edged sword? One false move and it's going to be death by ESV (thanks to Guy for that line) for whomever is beneath us. Most likely an older widow, a real prayer warrior. The blessed sister won't even know what hit her.

I haven't even gotten to the most ironic and exasperating part of this entire affair. In case the aforementioned common sense fails to prevent people from committing involuntary manslaughter or at least gross criminal negligence, there is a small sign every few feet on the ledge that says something to the effect of

Please do not lean over or place items on ledge.

This guy had placed the bible directly on one of those signs. The rest of the service was touch and go for me. Every time he touched the bible or shifted in his seat, the life of the dear old saint (who was probably on oxygen) innocently sitting beneath us flashed before my eyes. I may have blacked out once or twice.

By the Lord's grace, that bible did not fall. The service ended and the guy put the bible away, oblivious to how near he had come to making the worst mistake of his life. Clearly the Lord has more work for the kind gal sitting peacefully beneath him.

I'll keep her in mind next time I'm tempted to break a rule that I'm prideful enough to presume doesn't apply to me.

Bands that should tour together for obvious reasons

Uncle Kracker and Kid Rock

Sheryl Crow and The Eagles (the Counting Crows could open as well, but that's a little too obvious)

The Beatles and The Scorpions

Vanilla Ice and James Brown

The Killers and The Police

Guns N Roses and U2 (just because Bono's always talking about peace and stuff)

Milli Vanilli and Ashlee Simpson

Prince and BB King

I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface here. I don't know why I'm not a concert promoter.

Any others?

This must be one of the seven habits of highly effective people

I just went through both of my email accounts and cleaned out my inboxes so that there were zero messages in each, for the first time ever.

Yes, I am bored. Why do you ask?

This is why I'm a raging alcoholic

Apparently my tires are magnetic. In the last year or so I have picked up three nails and one screw. Is it just me, or is that a lot? Seems like a lot.

Just as a heads up, if you are going to put a hole in your tire that needs patching, the best place to do it is Upsala. There it only costs $12 to fix. Gotta love Upsala Motors. If not Upsala, do it in Fargo. Only $16 at OK Tire.

But don't go to the Bridgestone in Brooklyn Center. $30. Lame. And they also do a "courtesy check," which is code for "find as many things as we can with this car that may possibly need work, and see if we can get some saps to go for it." They tried me for over $300 worth to replace two tires and a belt, flush the radiator and transmission, and change the oil. Good one.

On the plus side, I sat and watched Jeopardy in the waiting room.

Save the boobs: a word on semantics

I listen to the radio while at work, and several times a day I hear a commercial for a fund raiser for breast cancer. I think it's the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure or something. Same concept as the Rabies fun run on The Office I think.

Commercials as a rule are annoying, and this one is no exception. The commercial is a series of sound bytes from participants about why they are participating, and how the walk makes a difference in the fight against breast cancer.

One quote in particular just gets me. She says something to the effect that by participating in the event, she and others are uniting to "speak out against breast cancer in the most meaningful way possible."

Clearly all cancer sucks. Breast cancer is no exception. I think these fundraisers are fantastic, and the money raised is crucial to further research in fighting the disease. But you don't "speak out" against breast cancer. You speak out against things with a moral compass, namely people.

For example, you speak out against domestic abuse or abortion. These actions are not ok, and the people who commit them are wrong to do so and must be held accountable. Breast cancer doesn't care what you think of it, it's not a person. It's like condemning a tornado or hurricane. I'm surprised politicians don't do it.

Of course this is not an important issue. I assume that the woman who made the comment (more precisely was likely told to make the comment by the people recording her) more likely meant that this event raises awareness or demonstrates intentionality about finding a cure. But when it comes to "speaking out" against breast cancer, you're preaching to the choir.

In my case, approximately ten times per day.

Stupid radio. I need an IPod.

Things that make me nervous-part deux

Pinatas.

I am surprised that it ever goes well. Only by the grace of God. Just watching the video I linked to made me so stinking nervous.

They are never a good idea.

February

New Year's Resolutions are difficult to stick with, so I've decided I'm going to try to break this year up into months in an attempt to make it a little more manageable. You, my blogging audience have the opportunity to monitor my progress as the year progresses.

This February, I hope to

1. begin memorizing Ephesians
2. stay on track with fighter verses (so far so good)
3. clean my room (seriously, it's time)
4. look into opening another savings account
5. position myself to be 100% ready for mustache march
6. blog 10 times (including this one)
7. find out whether I have been accepted at Bethlehem (this one won't take work on my part, but nevertheless)
8. finish reading Money, Possessions, and Eternity by Randy Alcorn and at least one other book
9. continue going to Tuesday morning prayer at Bethlehem

I've been sitting here for 5 minutes trying to think of a 10th thing, and I have nothing, so 9 it is.

Wish me luck.