Twist Me Tragically

I would like to pack up my life and just move around all of the time. If only people would come with me! I have a very "short-term-attention-span", and chasing injustice and helping those who are hurting to give what I am able (especially since I am so able) is becoming the more and more attractive road to me now.

Who can sit still when nursing homes are torn apart in Indianapolis just yesterday...? Who will go?

The fact that I sit as a University Student is a wonderful thing and a painful thing. I want to be able to make use of what I have been given, but I know the gifts that I have been given are being cultivated now, so I must do what I can now while I wait. Sigh.

((Soak up the overflow of blogs while you can! Everything changes tomorrow! :) ))

That's going to leave a mark...

They begin with 15-25 rubberballs lined up along the half-court line. When the whistle blows, the games begin.

You've guessed it, some of the gyms have started "Adult Dodgeball Classes." Really, who needs step aerobics, walking, swimming, and racquetball when one can chuck a RUBBER BALL at their friends? The adults interviewed about the new dodgeball class rave,

"I feel like I am seven again..."

"There is just something special about hitting your buddy with a giant rubber ball..."

"I'm working through unresolved childhood agression." Ha.


Had to share,
katrina

Circle "n/a"

Do you ever assume that God's words don't apply to you?

Today, it is a stretch to think of someone directly in my family or group of friends who has died for America. Honestly, I find myself rather impatient watching George W. give speeches and watching news-related memorial day shows. My first reaction: "This doesn't apply to me."

This was the same yesterday at church (in the midst of my "vacation.") Mike was talking about Revelation, and he mentioned when Jesus said, "Take heart, in this world there will be troubles, but I have overcome the world" My first reaction: "HA! This is vacation! This doesn't apply to me." This weekend is the ultimate in Memorial Day sales, TV marathons, A sunny forecast... you name it!

My second reaction (and usually the wiser of the two reactions): "Who do you think you are?" I may not be a slave or prisoner in China or have to prostitute myself out to pay for my family's bills (Thank the Lord), but there must be a genuine realization of what is going on around me. Just because I am in this "vacation" time, and I am feeling healthy - doesn't mean that yesterday was nor will tomorrow be a cake walk.

I start a new round of classes and a new job tomorrow... all in one day! My sleeping patterns will shift drastically tomorrow, the community around me will change tomorrow... and I just chose to circle "n/a". May God have mercy on me for my scatterbrained, undisciplined mind. God is one just, proactive God, and he is the "chi" of rest! I pray God will continue to Teach me how He wants me to deal with his business.

All Hail!
katrina

WARNING: INSIDE JOKES!

Pews are replaced by tarp-covered couches and the witnesses surrounded by tiki torches.

The wedding party walks in with "nine" bridesmaids and "nine" groomsmen!
Is this number simply good design, or an act of the UNCOE?

The preacher asks, "Do you take this women to be your wife?"
And the groom proudly squeals, "KaraaAA!"

"You may now "kiet" the bride..."

The witnesses surround the bride and groom as they leave the scene with "go web go" hand gestures, followed by a launching of spools of thread.

Ha!
katrina

Bum Bm Ba Dum Bum Bm Baaa Duuuum...

I went to Trish and Trey's wedding last night in the beautiful St. Paul's church.

My girlfriend, Lauren, is engaged to be married (August 7th), so she was sensitive and noteful of the details.

I watched the wedding party enter led by the parents of the bride and groom, and then Trey went to the front of the church, and he stood expectantly. Weddings are so full of expectations. I think this was the best kind. The moment he saw her walk down the aisle in that gown, his heart overflowed to his face, and you could see his pure joy jump out through his eyes. His knees slightly shook, his hands wriggled.

He kept grabbing Trish's hands over and over. I couldn't help but think of my Lover. :)

The wedding conitnued, but throughout it all... that first moment when the hope changed to sight was powerful. I hope that I do not lose this memory for a very long time.

I do hope your day continues well,
katrina

Light

For you were once in darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. (see Eph 5)

I have been inspired today by a wonderful group of high school junior "has beens." Their last day of school was yesterday, so talk of the eminent "senioritis" has commenced. One girl listed a grouping of books she planned to read this summer. She had a list of the books she had read throughout the year mounted next to the other list as her pride and joy; a badge to be worn upon her arm. The books ranged from Dostoevsky's "The Brothers Karamazov" to "Ella Minnow Pea"... Her list remains ambitious, but I am excited to see what she has to say about each.

I am looking forward to re-organizing and cleaning now that my class has finished, and I am giving my Saturday Cardio-A Class a bit of a makeover. It's summer, might as well.

Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder,
katrina

Love Shack

I finished my class today! I start a new class and my job on Tuesday, so I have a short break.
I am looking forward to the summer classes. I will be taking Advanced Drawing, and I am ready!

Tonight we are sending off one of our Aerobics instructors into the world to inspire the people in a new place. I am looking forward to getting to know everyone better at this celebration tonight.

Abilene is such a strange place. It has been sunny all day and storming all day. The rain just comes through the sun. I cannot even see the clouds or believe my eyes. It seems like something has just gone very wrong. Am I still on earth?

Man, people are shacking up all over the place. I'm surrounded by new marriages, new babies, new couples....

This reminds me of a scene in the movie, 28 days.

A good proactive step toward the road of dating begins when one first takes the responsibility of plant on, and once the plant lives a year, then one might try caring for a fish. (If you're really ambitious you could do both, I suppose.) If both live, the logical next step would be to capture and care for a small mammal of some sort. (My sister, Julia always wanted a pot-belly pig.)

After the mammal thrives under your care, the 'doors to dating readiness' fling wide open as you walk into your newly found arena. You see where this is going...

I think blogs come somewhere before plants. (Or maybe between plants and fish on the commitment continuum...?) Hmm. I suppose everything is better in pairs.

"The animals they came out, they came out in twosies twosies..."

Love like an ocean,
katrina*

Compelled by the SHOULD BE

"I should be reading for a test tomorrow," says my brain. I know I should be.

"Me? Focus...? Now, what does that look like?" I couldn't stop thinking about one thing, and I knew the only peace I would find would be if God took it away from my watch. So, I prepared to go about formally giving it up, and my way of choice is to do that through journal-prayer. I write in pencil what I want to say, and I dialogue in pen with what God says. (I suppose this is logical. He's permanent; I'm not.)

So I sit here obsessing over my part of the "should be." Funny, isn't it?

The pen is ready to go, but I cannot find the pencil. I rustle through the desk looking for a pencil, beating myself up -focusing on the sin of my day -- reminding myself of how ungodly I have acted and continue to act...

I sigh, and as I look up... there is the pencil- the little mechanical lead sticking out from between the pages of my Bible. :)

I guess there is something to be said for the way things are. Ha.

See what is written in ink:
"... They will be like a
well-watered garden,
and they will sorrow no
more...

...Only if the heavens above
can be measured
and the foundations of the
earth below be searched
out
will I reject all the
decendants of Israel
because of all they have
done, "
declares the Lord.
(see Jer 31)

I should get to reading for that test now!
katrina* :)

enjoy the strawberries...

The people of HEB must know that when they put a big bushel on sale for 99cents (like they did last week) that people like me will come and shout for joy... we will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord!

I love how God turns our mourning into gladness. Katrina breaks out into song, "You have staaaaaained my fingers aaaallll red; you have stained my fingers with smelly joooy; you have staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaained my fingers with strawberry; you have stained my fingers with sweet smellllllsss.... this is how we eat strawberries, this is how we eat strawberries, this is how we eat strawberries, this is how we eat straaaaaaaawberries....."

Peace like a river,
trina

Sara and Sara in Sara's Class

Today I subbed for Sara at the State Street YMCA. Strangely enough, none of her regular people showed up. BUT two girls (about my age) came. They both are Abilene people, and they both have the name "Sara". Anyway, the neat thing about meeting them was that one Sara just graduated from OBU where a handful of my high school girlfriends attend(ed).

We started making connections! It's a small world. This girl from Abilene could tell me all about MY high school and MY friends and it was so strange to me. I am inspired to hear things about the good things coming from the people who I miss and love. Anywho... exit babbling.

Other than that, I have been "Challenged by the Disciplined life" for most of the day. I went up to the library and read first thing in the morning (eh... about 9:59am). After, I ate and checked for my ACE certification letter, and I called to see why it hadn't came. They said that I should wait. So I read Ecclesiastes. Well, I listened to it online... same difference, right? There is time and purpose for everything under heaven (insert sigh). Trina breaks out into song, *A time to call ACE, A time to get scores, A time to read, A time to be bored, A time to sing, A time to sing more... a time to plant, a time to harvest." There is some interesting stuff on the pages I've been holding today.

Foster asserts that Jesus' instruction tells us to use money unrighteously to make friends. Even more interesting, he does an excellent job of maintaining his point. He quotes "Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon..." (Luke 16:9).
That's crazy.
He also mentions adikos (IT'S GREEK!) So, are the any wise Greek scholars in the house willing to throw me a bone on this brain knot?

Anywho...

Katrina continues singing, "A time for short blogs... a time for long blogs... this blog is reeeaaaallly loooong."

Peace like a river: Tada!
trina*

Things I Enjoy

King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom (1 Ki 10:23).

But he said, "It's better to have a meal of vegetables in love than a fattened calf with hatred" (Proverbs 15:17). HA. I really like vegetables!!!


OR! It's better to have http://www.hotdogonastick.com/intro.html in love than http://www.starbucks.com/retail/nutrition_freshfood.asp in hatred. I get this; I've experienced it!

Material things are neither antithetical nor inconsequential to the spiritual life but intimately and positively related to it. - Richard Foster, The Challenge of the Disciplined Life p. 38.

So unrelated, but in conclusion, I have linked an illustrator I enjoy...


Love like an ocean,
katrina

Justice

I am doing a group project on the movie, Dead Man Walking with Susan Sarandon. This movie really touched me. In the movie, Sarandon plays a nun that receives a letter from a man on death row. She goes to visit him, and he is apathetic, hateful and harsh. Worse, most people immediately pull away from her as she continues to visit the man accused of a rape and two murders. In response to the people's probing question, "Why are you doing this?" She simply says, "He asked me to come." Her words were few throughout the movie, but she chose them powerfully.

I also read this afternoon from the book, The Good News about Injustice. The founder of the International Justice Mission has written this. He claims that the way to minimize injustice in the world today is through justice, compassion, and moral clarity. This has challenged me today to make obedient choices on a very small scale.

Finally, I read from Genesis 1 and 2 this morning. I think the fact that God saw that His creation was good and kept on creating is an interesting statement for the artist. For me, if something is good, that means it usually is a nice place to stop painting or printing or sculpting. If it is not what I intended (or is not good regardless) then I think that warrants some more creating from me. Since I tend to brush over God's holiness and focus on His love, I often forget how God and I are different, but He continues to fascinate.

Day - O

Daylight come and me wanna go home...

Whew! Talk about a productive morning! I slept through the fitness plan of the morning that Robyn and I had prepared for last night. I turned over an hour after we had decided to wake up to find her on my floor rapped in my blankets, loving the sleep-time.

Since she had to be at work at 6:45, I clobbered her with my pillow, handed her a kiwi with a spoon, and kicked her out of this house.

After 2 Thessalonians, I drooled over the Today show. Oh, this day in history. By 8:15, I was on my way to social services. I sat by myself for about an hour in that waiting room staring at a poster that said, "The KEY to SUCCESS is WORK." The line variation wasn't very nice on the key, but the blues in the poster were soothing, none the less.

Two older AF/American ladies walked in and sat down next to me about 9:15. The younger mumbled something about the weather, and I began to watch the POWER OF THE BLUE KEY POSTER TAKE OVER THEIR ATTENTION. They stared and stared at this poster. The key to success is work. Hmmm. I have always wanted a key to success.

Tyson Fajita Chicken, Kosher pickles, and a Woman with a message

Anywho, after the appointment, Yukari and I left for HEB. We needed paper products of all kinds, so we decided to stock up. An older woman came up to me with an excitement about her. She approached, and asked us if we had just moved into an apartment or a house or something. I told her that we were students, and we had just run out of our basic paper needs. She proceeded to give me a moral lesson for the day. "Since you're so far away from your mother, you should one thing. This will get you through..." With a stern tip of her head, and raise of her ruby red brittle finger nail, she raised her sparse eyebrow and squeeked, "TRUST NO ONE!!! There are so many people out there who want to take advantage of you! That is really all you need to know."

Yukari approached me about kosher pickles and the lady walked away like a confident prophetess. It was quite an adventure at HEB.

Love always trusts,
trina

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