Thursday, December 31, 2009

Fingers Crossed for 2010!

Even-numbered years tend to be big for me.

In 2008, I landed my current job that led to my many wonderful friendships.

In 2006, I graduated from college.

In 2004, I frolicked (yes, frolicked-- harder than it looks) across Europe and studied in Oxford for a semester.

In 2002, I graduated from high school.

In 2000, I moved to Houston and got involved with my kick-a color guard.

In 1998, I graduated from eighth grade. Yes, graduated. From the only school I'd ever been to. IT WAS A BIG DEAL.

Oh, and in 1984 I was born.

I can't think of any monumental events that happened in an odd-numbered year.

Fingers crossed for 2010!

Happy New Year!

Monday, December 14, 2009

Slightly Distracted

Family traditions are straight up random when they don't belong to your family. We had an "Awkward Family Christmas... Party" for our youth kids this week and we spent part of the evening sharing traditions. A lot of people all wear new pajamas on Christmas Eve. Several families actually hide pajamas for everyone to hunt. One family plays a giant game of hide and seek in the dark late Christmas Eve - this includes Grandma.

I didn't ever think of our family traditions as odd... until I verbalized them to several people this year and everyone shook their heads knowingly. "Yep. Your family is weird too." Perhaps it was the fact that all of the kids slept in the same room (even as recently as just a few years ago), or the random assortment of goodies in our stockings (batteries, tic tacs, and a lint roller), but I think it was the fact that we still claimed our spots for our Santa gifts when I was 20 years-old. We also used to identify the earliest time everyone could wake up on Christmas morning. As soon as we stepped out of the Christmas Eve service at church, the bartering would begin. When we were really young we used to open Christmas gifts around 6:30am. We've now progressed to roughly 8:30 or 9:00am. I think Clay would still prefer for it to be earlier.
Christmas Eve for the past few years has been spent at my Aunt and Uncle's Church. We usually attend a later evening service. It's beautiful. They usually have a professional vocalist from the Houston Opera, a full orchestra, and a massive choir. The pipe organ is gorgeous. As I look around and see teenagers checking fantasy football scores and texts on their phones, I can't help but notice my own distractions. I have to turn off my desire to wonder about the fonts chosen for the bulletin or the turn-around for the next service. "You do not work here. Stop worrying about child-care." The distractions of the season are everywhere and they beckon us to concern ourselves with just about anything but the Christ-child in the manger.

We started a new sermon series in youth this past weekend entitled "Unwrapped." Our hope is to strip away everything that's been added and pull out just the story from Matthew and Luke. We spent this past weekend remembering that Mary was not chosen out of her perfection, but out of her willingness. This weekend we will examine that first "Silent Night" that was probably anything but silent. For while our Savior was sinless, he was most certainly fully human... and much crying he probably did make. You get the idea.

All this to say, in ten days, when you sit by yourself... or with your crazy family - in front of a tree, around a table, in a wooden pew, or on a cushioned chair... remember the 42 generations who awaited the birth of the Messiah. Recall the young teenage girl who gave up her expectations for God's amazing reality. Picture the infant breathing his first gulp of air and wailing - and then the man who cried out and gave up his last breath on Calvary. This God made flesh has come.

"Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." Isaiah 25:9

Monday, December 7, 2009

Vignettes

When Lara went to England for eight months, we agreed that neither of us would watch our beloved “A Goofy Movie” until we were reunited again. Sometime while she was gone, though, I found myself holding the DVD case and contemplating the cover art.

“Do you think it would be cheating for me to just, like, watch the trailer?” I asked my friend David.

He considered for a moment. “I don’t think it would be cheating. I just think it would be like if you had a boyfriend and hugged another guy for a little bit too long.”

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Once late at night, my college roommates and I realized that both of the bathrooms were out of toilet paper. Not wanting to go to the store so late, we discussed our options. Someone suggested we just pee in our backyard until we could replenish our supply. There was a beat, and then Kisha snapped us out of it.

“Guys,” she deadpanned. “If we peed outside, we would still not have toilet paper!”

I think we laughed for about five days after that one.

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Sitting in our boring Literature for Children class one day, Lara and I took a break from our regular note-passing when we noticed our fellow classmates were squealing and screaming at something at the front of the room. Apparently there was a particularly large spider crawling across our professor’s desk, and none of the girls in the class would go near it. Finally, one popped up, dashed to the desk, and dispensed of the spider. The room was quiet with awe, until Lara broke the silence by meekly yelling out, “Bravery!”

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I hoodwinked the group into watching yet another movie- this time “High School Musical.”

At one point in the movie, a heartfelt Troy Bolton asks, “Have you ever felt like there’s this whole other person inside of you, just waiting to get out?”

“Yeah,” David responded. “It’s called being pregnant."

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And these are a few of my favorite funny moments from college.