The Scouts Knew What They Were Talking About

Near the start of Isaiah, God asks "Whom shall I send (as a messenger to this people)? And who will go for us?" and [Isaiah replies], "Here am I. Send me!"And God sends him, just as he sends Jeremiah and just as he sends Ezekiel and just as he sends anyone willing to put their hand up and say "Here am I. Send me!"

There is just one thing. If you are going to stick your hand up, you better be prepared.

I was talking to someone a while back about this and that was what they said to me. "You better be prepared." At the time I just appreciated the fact that someone thought that God would actually take me up on my hands off offer, but recently as I have read through the prophets, I see the truth in those words. This is not the path for the faint-hearted or the unprepared. It is not for those looking for a comfortable, easy life. It is also not for those seeking their own glory or recognition. Just ask Isaiah, Jeremiah or Ezekiel. Paul. Just ask Jesus.

It is the best path, but you better be prepared.

A good day

Today is a good day.

It is a good day because one of my favourite people is getting her husband back after an extremely long absence I dare anyone to say that one year without your husband is not an extremely long time - and I am excited, although obviously that doesn't even touch upon how excited she is. Like I said, today is a good day.

So, in honour of this momentous occasion, I want to recognise what I consider achievements of what otherwise could have been a lost year.

Two and a bit years ago I had the privilege of attending Brett and Abigail's wedding. It and the preceding two weeks are the only time I met Brett in person to date. Watching people get married, especially people like Brett and Abigail, is kind of like watching the start of a Disney movie. Happily Ever After is not an option. It's the whole point. What I forget is that in between Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After there are dragons to fight and challenges to overcome. Enter The Deployment.

Now the concept of people being deployed was not entirely unfamiliar to me, but it may as well have been. It still is really, so forgive me if this doesn't do it justice.

So a little over a year into their marriage, Brett gets sent off to far flung places for a YEAR. A whole year leaving Abigail to do... something. What do you do for a year when you can't make plans? A year of waiting. Of wishing. Of... Do you remember being a kid and counting down the days until your Birthday or Christmas? Stretch that out for a year. You can't do it. No one person can maintain that level of emotional upheaval and anticipation for a year without some some serious crashes and self pity. You have to do something.

And that is what Abigail did.

Instead of going back to Nac and just waiting for a year, she found herself another (very cute) apartment and stayed in WA and did amazing things with the girls ministry in the Navs. It will certainly never be the same again. She encouraged and taught and lead by example. She was a wife that honoured her husband, regardless of the circumstances. A Christian who gave glory to God. I for one, am nothing but in awe of what she did. Disney would be proud.

And now he is back.

It is a good day.

Moving

I am currently sans wireless at the moment, so this will be brief.

I have sucessfully moved. All my belongings, including my degrees that I almost left behind on a high shelf, have been transported to their new location and unpacked. Yes, unpacked. I have this thing with unpacking where if I don't completely do it within the first day or so, it will remain half unpacked for the next month or so. Seriously. When I came back from Texas a couple of years ago, I had a suitcase on my minuscule amount of floor for months containing non-essential things like my money belt and sunscreen. Same thing with the Philippines/Indonesia. So I have unpacked. My books have a shelf, my laptop a table, my bible a comfy chair, my clothes drawers and shelves that can be hidden away, my cell phone and MP3 player a side-table with a nearby power outlet, clear surfaces for my bags. It's good.

Ok, so not so brief. Who was I kidding anyway?

Never Underutilize Thursday

Today, I was only going to be working 4 hours in the evening, so was going to spend the entire day packing and cleaning, which is why I didn't start yesterday.

Then someone called in sick.

And I got called in early. 4 hours early.

Unfortunately, I slept through the text (I've never done that before) and at 9am discovered that I only had 3 hours to pack up my entire room and do laundry and buy a laundry basket. I wasn't going to even try to clean. And I did all these things. Mostly.

Then, while I was at work, I discovered that due to vehicular problems, my stuff was going to be collected tonight immediately after work, instead of late tomorrow morning like originally planned. My partially packed stuff, the clean laundry still in the basket on my floor. I would like to point out at this point that I really appreciate my amazing new room-mates coming and collecting my stuff. So, I quickly throw some more things into my bags and off they go, leaving me with (hopefully) a laundry basket and backpack of stuff to move tomorrow morning via the bus - I'm pretty sure I can lift the basket - AND a room to clean by 11am before going to work.

I think I will be getting up early.

Oh, and just because I think this is hilarious. My church has a Ushering 101 manual to refer to. An 18 page manual. With appendices. Awesome. I should probably read it. Next week.

And I'm back

I just made an even more ridiculously short visit down to Dupont than even last time, to help throw a surprise party for the one and only Abigail. And it worked! Amy, Bethany and I were all very impressed with our surprise-keeping skills, although it must be said that circumstances worked for us.

I also got to spend a little last bit of time with Abigail before she moves to Georgia, which was great, but sadder than I thought it would be. However, in saying that, it's not like Georgia (still in the same continent/area of continent) can really change a friendship based not on proximity, but a love of writing and an interest in the details. And it's called visiting. More than once every two years. We are going to be just fine. Better than fine. Amazing. And that is my final word on the subject.

Aside from the surprise party, I also got to meet Amy and baby Dave, who are as cool as I thought they would be; a whole lot of other people, whose names I can and can't remember and the new Mr and Mrs Fones. Super cute. Now I just have to go back to actually spend some time with all these excellent people. I'm thinking next month. Something that will be made SO much easier by my new, insanely cheap, cell phone for the states. We price checked it three times before taking it to the counter. Awesome. So, I am now contactable stateside. Fun times!

In the loop

I have, as it has become exceedingly apparent over the last few days, a terrible habit of unintentionally keeping people out of the loop. There are however some exceptions, both with people and events.

So, to reinstate the loop so to speak, this week or is pretty busy. Tomorrow morning I am heading down to WA to visit Abbey one. last. time. before she heads off to pick up Brett (woo hoo!) and moves to Georgia. Georgia seems like a nice place to visit in say, 2011. If I thought my last trip to WA was quick, this is even quicker. I couldn't swap any of my surrounding shifts, so I will be returning on Wednesday morning. Somewhere in that afternoon and evening, I will be finally meeting the one and only Amy. I'm excited. Not to mention the new Mrs. Fones and her husband and various other people I have heard all about. More visits will be required obviously.

Then on Thursday, if I can manage it, there is graduation for Equipping Bases, which I finally finished last week, and an excellent speaker. I have been strongly recommended to find a way to make it, he's that good.

Then on Friday I need to pack up and clean my room, before moving on Saturday morning to my new home. How much stuff can I have accumulated in 7 months?

Then Sunday I'm helping at church as always.

Then on the Monday we have the Christmas roll-out at Starbucks. At which point I will probably want to sleep for a week. It's a good thing I work at a coffee shop.

And that will probably be it until Christmas. Two months to find and send presents, drink way too many eggnog lattes, go to the gym because of all the eggnog lattes on top of two months of pumpkin spice lattes, find enough good Christmas cards, buy winter clothes for the first time in a year and get really excited about Christmas. And my Birthday.

After which, I can begin to get excited about all the fun stuff that will be happening in 2010, including my Mother and Russell coming to visit in June, a trip to Nac for the 4th AND Casey (quite possibly the coolest person ever) and Phil coming to visit at the end of the year. Oh my gosh. Fun times.

And now I have to go do stuff.

Devote

At the moment I am reading through Jeremiah primarily and like Isaiah before that, there was a question that really stood out to me:

"I will bring him near and he will come close to me, for who is he who will devote himself to be close to me?" Jer 30:21

Which reminded me of Is 43:22: "Yet you have not called upon me, O Jacob. You have not wearied me yourself for me, O Israel."

It nearly made me cry.

After all that God has done for me, how can I do anything less than devote myself to being close to Him?

(Devote: To give or apply (one's time, attention, or self) entirely to a particular activity, pursuit, cause, or person.)

Weary myself in pursuit of growing closer to Him?

I think about all the things I weary myself for in my life. My job, friends, family, church, entertainment, yet how often have I wearied myself for God? How often have I invested the same sort of time and effort and priority to God that I give to the other things in my life? Really? Honestly?

I would be one who devotes herself to be close to God.