Rambling Out Loud

On my commute I have a lot of time to think, and one of the things that I've been pondering in my car is a slower pace of life. I think about when people would sit on their porches with lemonade and just talk to each other. I imagine a game of Scrabble or checkers or chess while watching the world go by.  No phones. No social media. No marathoning Netflix.  Just friends, family, and conversation.  I used to think that quietly sitting on the porch would be the most boring waste of an afternoon, but now I'm beginning to think they were on to something. Our life is so fast-paced now. Work, school, social events, sporting events, church, lessons, grocery shopping, cleaning, and the list goes on... I long to just sit in silence and companionship.  Oh, I'm good at sitting still with my phone. Sometimes I will lounge on my bed and glance up to realize I've sat there for two hours flipping through Facebook and Pinterest. How much of my life am I wasting on this dev...

My heart is broken for this world.   There is so much pain and hunger and fear and injustice.   It’s often difficult for me to find a balance between caring and letting it all overwhelm me.   Maybe that is the reason missionaries and the people they serve have been on my mind so much… I’m not sure how many of you know that I felt called to go into missions when I was thirteen.   Over the next few years, I convinced myself that it was just a “church camp high”.   My logic was that there is no way God would ever call ME.   Psh.   Who am I?   Nothing. I have gone back to this over the years.   Sometimes I feel the pull so strongly it threatens to overwhelm me.   I get so frustrated by the fact that I seem stuck where I am.   I cry out to God, “If you want me to go, then show me the way!!!”   At other times it’s a gentle tug…somewhere in the back of my mind I feel His presence urging me on to something.   The closer ...

I hate being sick. Do you ever feel that brief moment of panic when a co-worker (or friend or family member) coughs, sniffles, and then blows their nose...loudly?  It's generally followed by the groan and "ohhhh ib thick...".  (Translation:  "ohhhhh I'm sick" in stuffy nose-speak) It's at this moment that my adrenaline takes over. I jump back a few feet, throw my hands up, and say, "I don't wanna get it!  Stay away from me!"   I then proceed to saturate everything they may have ever touched with Lysol, run to wash my hands repeatedly with antibacterial soap, and start popping vitamin C. Not very comforting, I must admit...but did I mention that I HATE being sick?   I'm sure I'm not the ONLY germ-a-phobe here either!  I KNOW some of you are with me.  When I'm sick, you return the favor...so we are even.   And sadly, it doesn't always work.  We still end up catching it, but at least we know we have done...

I love Bay Area Park.  I think it's because it doesn't feel like Houston.  In fact, it's one place down here where I can go to escape traffic noise.  It has the feel of being off in the country, by a lake. This place helped me maintain my sanity last year.  I spent most of my lunch breaks there....thinking, praying, writing, taking pictures... It was my quiet place.  It still is.  There are times I go there just to get away.   Bay Area Park does disappoint me though!   These signs are posted everywhere: Damn.  I REALLY wanted to agitate an alligator...and introduce him to my five pound chihuahua... (By the way...being the Grammar Nazi I am, I must mention the incorrect word choice on the sign...if you see it too I love you!  I mean, really?  If the city pays for a sign you'd think they would have someone edit...) Here's the crazy part...I was there once and saw someone letting their two dog...