Cars, Facade, and God

I just had to post this great experience that I had a few days ago. So, as a teen, I was a crazy driver.
Aren't we all?

Well, I would speed in a big way and thankfully only got ONE ticket in my life for my driving (I also got a seatbelt ticket and some warnings too) and that was not even for speeding, it was for following too close to someone. Anyway, as I said, I was a crazy driver- (well not as bad as my sisters, but lets not get into all that)- that would drive way over the speed limit. I did this crazy driving up until last year. I went to a retreat at the coast with my college group from Salem and our speaker was talking about slowing down our lives and just enjoying life.(I believe that I wrote about this already in another post a long while ago, but it pertains to what I am about to talk about)

After that I have tried my best not to be in such a hurry while driving and I believe it has helped. I don't get as antsy to get somewhere and do not get as frustrated with the slow drivers. I just have tried to learn to take in the beauty of the area I am driving through- even if it is ugly juniper trees.

Well, as a result of that, I usually drive around 45 or 50MPH on the back road of Helmholtz (which I think it is 45 there) and I get a kick out of drivers that feel they need to go 60 or 65 on that road.
I knew that this was coming by the way this driver was coming upon me, but he was ready to pass me. The great thing about Helmholtz (at least the place I am driving) is that there are two large passing areas that are fairly safe, so this Subaru was able to pass me and kept going about 60 or 65 and just cruisin' along. I didn't think anything about it until I approach the downhill part and I see this dude slam on his brakes. He slowed his speed down to about 40. You may wonder why, but I am sure most have guessed that it is because of a police car. He was in the turning lane to move to another street. Once I saw this guy, I just had to laugh so hard because of the differential speeds of the Subaru driver. How funny, right? Well, after the cop turned, I just HAD to start chanting, "turn around and come back for him. Ill let you pass me to get em"

Isn't it funny how two-faced we can act sometimes around the law. There are so many times that I am traveling along the highway and there is a bottleneck of cars slowing down, JUST because there is a cop car traveling along the road. I think they should make transformer cop cars so people travel at the normal speed all the time because any of the cars around them could be a cop. The car would just find someone traveling at unsafe speeds and transform right behind them into the cop car and pull em over. That'd be awesome. I foresee that happening in the not-so-distant-future.

It makes me wonder how many of us act like that in front of others, or God? We put on  a Facade (go to my YouTube page to hear Facade from Jekyll and Hyde- Hehe) that makes us look good on the outside, but really we are just fooling others, and TRYING to fool God. We may open up our used and torn bible, but then we never use it other than church. We talk so different at church than at work or school. I feel we need to get back to authentic Love of God. Take off the mask and be the real you. There probably is opportunity to fool others, but there is no point in fooling God!

To end the story, NO, justice was not distributed. The Subaru, for all I know, didn't learn his lesson. But I have to think of all the times that type of thing happened to me. I escaped many times from a ticket when which I should have gotten one. Even when I wanted Justice, Grace smiled upon the Subaru driver.

God is Good!

God is good... isn't He! I have been searching for two new roommates since the start of the year (really last mid December) and nothing has come up. I was even looking for other places to live because of it, wanting to give the place up so my parents could have more money coming in from this house. Well, after two months of pretty much NO ACTIVITY, I have had two fairly serious CraigsList Viewers interested in the rooms. One guy emailed me with a phone number asking me to call (which I kinda blew off) and then he showed up one evening and asked to see it. After seeing the place, he was interested, and I feel it will be a good fit. He moves in tomorrow.
Then, last night I get another email from someone asking about the place. Sure, this one is a temporary stance, but at least someone is interested in the place. We shall see whats to come from that one- if he wants to see the place and if it works out.
God IS good! He can't be anything BUT GOOD!

Lesson Learned- No Walmart Fabrics since I know nothing

I am a CheapSkate!!! I don't like spending a wad of cold hard (to come by, for me) cash on things. I try to find deals wherever I go. I look at the weekly ads to find great deals for that week. I shop in Bulk at Costco, even though it is just me feeding myself. (It pays off in the long run).
For this reason, is the purpose for me to shop on Craigslist. Craigs has got lots of good stuff for cheap. Also, something I occasionally puruse is the FREE section in Craigs. It has lots of stupid stuff sometimes, but every once in a while you get some good stuff. I was looking last week and there was an Ottoman that was set out for free. I emailed this person selling and they never got back to me, then a day or two later they reposted with an address saying its outside and to pick it up. I wanted to, but did not want to make a trip all the way into Bend to do just that so I figured I would wait a day and see if it was still there. The next day I had planned to head into Bend for other things and so I would pick it up if still there. IT WAS! I was so excited to see it still there. This is even a swingable Ottoman for a Rocking Chair type. It works great with my Retro Rocking Chair I got from my Grandmother years ago.
So, the wood on the bottom of this Ottoman is in really good shape. The only thing that needs to change is the stuffing in the top and the covering. That is simple enough for me to fix.
So, I traveled to WalMart today to see if I could find something with which to cover it. I looked all over their selection at the different fabrics available. I found something I liked but was not certain it would work well for a furniture fabric. It felt a bit too stretchy and not sturdy enough for fabric. (I am not knowledgable in fabrics and their uses).  I waited in line for a WalMart associate who was helping someone else. She took her sweet time. Finally, after a few minutes, it was my turn. I asked if this would be a good fabric to use for a furniture piece and she was no help whatsoever. I decided that if she was not going to be helpful I would go somewhere where people actually know what they are talking about with fabrics. I am planing to head to JoAnns on my way to my College group tonight. I am sure that they will be much more helpful to my questions. I learned my lesson.

Boy, was my face Red....

So, it has been a while since I have updated my blog with something new. I bet you thought I was burned out after all that Christmas Blogging! Well, that could be partly true, but to be honest, nothing exciting has really happened. I updated my Blog look for V-Day and then never really blogged about V-Day.

Well, partly, the reason for not blogging about Valentine's Day is because I don't have that special someone to blog about. I am still waiting/searching for that special someone to fill my life with wonderful joy and that hasn't happened yet, but I know that God has great plans for me... (Don't worry, Im not gonna quote the same verse everyone quotes around this time when talking about God's plans... you know the one Im talking about... Yes, I like it, but it is WAY overused... and so Im just not gonna do it.)

Instead of spending a romantic time with my loved one as many did last weekend or on Monday, This month to get me in the Lovey Dovey spirit, I decided since I have so many Chick Flicks in my DVD collection that I would watch many of them. I had more Chick Flicks than days in the month though (and I started late, don't hate me) so I just figured I would choose some of the best ones to watch. It has been loads of fun. Tonight's movie was Two Weeks Notice. Gotta love that Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock. (also the cute Red-head friend of hers from this movie, and You've Got Mail, and Miss Congeniality)
The last time I spent a V-Day with a special someone was a long time ago, but I did it right, if I do say so myself. Made her dinner- Homemade, really good soup, roses, and a song that was written for her. Yeah, Im not a huge guitar player, but I struggled through it. I am also not a big creator of songs, but I felt/feel good about this one, even though it is embarrassing. So embarrassing in fact that there is a story to go along with it....

So, this song, which I entitled Beautiful Blue Eyes, I decided to record it on my computer to remember it in the years to come. Well, for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to put this song, since it is in digital format anyway, on my iPod. Long story short, while driving a church van full of Middle Schoolers with my iPod plugged in, one of the MS students took the iPod and was scrolling through my artists and found... ME.  So guess what, she decides we are going to listen to this song by me. So embarrassing. Oh well, that's what I get for having a song I created on my iPod and letting MS students scroll through my music. Boy, was my face red.

I have chosen...

and the verdict is that I will be on the Greenbay Packers side tomorrow afternoon.

This was a tough decision because I like both teams so much. The Steelers are an all-around good team, but they have won the Superbowl many times before, that was the bigest deciding factor for me. The Packers deserve this win. Another great deciding factor is Aaron Rodgers- the Quarterback. I think that Rodgers is one of the greatest Quarterbacks in the league this year. I believe he will be the factor that will win or loose it for the team.
So, I have chosen to be a Cheesehead for Superbowl 2011.
(Justin that means you have to go to the Steelers side)

Praise God for movement

The past two months, I have had a guest with me to my church's 1st Wednesday Service. My roommate of whom is not able to attend church because of work schedule, but wanting to, has been joining me for these 1st Wednesday services and it has been a good time. We get some time to talk on the way there about pretty much anything, and then also afterwards we talk some about what the service was about and its a good talk. He is still on the fence with being closer to God, but is making an effort.
Last nights talk was all about Communion. On 1st Wed. we always have communion, its a time for the church body to get together and share in that special remembrance. Afterwards, on our way home we talked about communion and where we were spiritually.
I have really enjoyed listening to his perspective and also giving my own as well. He is still searching, but I pray that I can be a positive influence on him and that I might guide him closer to God, little by little, in time.