Parents…Oie Vey

Well I don’t know how, but I’ve managed to make my mother think that I do drugs.

It started a few days ago.. Saturday I think. I had just finished taking a nice little nap when mom called me into the kitchen for supper. Now, I’m the kind of person that after waking up from a nap is virtually dead to the world. I think it’s my body going into full on sleep mode, and then not being very happy when that is interrupted. (Did you know interrupted has two r’s in it? I didn’t.)

So I stumble into the kitchen and sit down in a chair by the microwave while I wait for her to finish dishing the food (pasta I think it was) from the pan and what not. I rest my head against the microwave.. eyes half closed.. jaw open.. hair going every which way. Mom looks over and gives me a very stern look, and very abruptly asks “Are you doing drugs!?” I responded with “What are you talking about?” and she says “You’re acting strange! I’m going to get you a drug test.” (Of course she didn’t, and isn’t. It was one of those things parents say that they think sound threatening)

“Oh yes mom.” I said “I do drugs. Lots of them. You know.. crack.. weed.. all that good stuff.”

So as if that wasn’t bad and insulting enough, here’s what happened today.

Our family keeps most of our medical drugs and prescriptions in one closet in mom and dad’s bathroom, on a certain shelf. Pretty much everything is there.. Tylenol, allergy stuff, ointments, blah blah blah. So usually when you want some sort of medicine, you go there, because most likely it’s there. Sounds like common sense right? Apparently, only kids who are doing drugs should have that knowledge.

Dad comes up to me and mom and asks her where the Tylenol 3 is. I speak up and say “In the closet..” In a ‘duh’ sort of way. Simultaneously, the two look at me and ask “Why should you know where it is?!” Mom continues to ask if I have been into them, and I ask what a Tylenol 3 is anyway.

No really. That’s the first time I’ve heard of it. I guess it’s like, extra strength Tylenol.

She tells me that that’s where most kids get their drugs, from their parents’ medicine cabinet. I agree again

“Oh yes mom! I do drugs. Lots and lots of drugs. Because I go to church and I’m very active in the youth group.. and I do drugs!”

She glares at me, but that pretty much closes the conversation.

Honestly I’m appalled and insulted. And just plain annoyed because now every time I go to get Tylenol or Aleve or something, they’ll suspect that I’m taking too many or something. Insulted because I thought my parents thought better of me than that. I mean, what reason would I have to do drugs? Blah!

God’s Glory

A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell.

–C. S. Lewis

All glory to God forever and ever! Amen. (Galatians 1:5)

Bible Puzzle Answers

Hello world. Here’s the answers to yesterday’s puzzle I posted (:

—

This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping
him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, he passed it on to some
friends…One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing from
his john boat. Another friend studied it while playing his banjo, Elaine Taylor, a columnist friend, was so intrigued by it she mentioned it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judges the job of solving this puzzle so involving, she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are really easy to spot. That’s a fact. Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam, especially since the book names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our genes is
responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books in this
paragraph. During a recent fund raising event, which featured this
puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth set a new record. The local paper, The Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was one of the most difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it, “The books are all right here in plain view hidden from sight.” Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also, keep in mind, that punctuation and spaces in the middle are normal. A chipper attitude will help you compete really well against those who claim to know the
answers. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus, there really are 30 books of the Bible lurking somewhere in this paragraph waiting to be found.

—

Bible Quiz

So a friend of mine’s mother gave this to me yesterday. It’s pretty fun. There are 30 books of the Bible hidden in the paragraph down below. Your job is to find them. Actually, there are 31 if you can find the variant of one Old Testament prophet’s name. They are both Old and New Testament books.

I’ll get you started, and give you the variant of the Old Testament Prophet. It’s Osee, which is a variant of Hosea. Hmm.. I wonder if both spelling are in the puzzle.

So yeah! You can use a Bible if you want… I don’t consider that cheating. But.. don’t cheat

—–

This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman in an
airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping
him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, he passed it on to some
friends. One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing from his
john boat. Another friend studied it while playing his banjo. Elaine
Taylor, a columnist friend, was so intrigued by it she mentioned it in
her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judges the job of solving
this puzzle so involving, she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves.
There will be some names that are really easy to spot. That’s a fact.
Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam, especially
since the book names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from
answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a
scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that
something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in
seeing the books in this paragraph. During a recent fund raising event,
which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth set a
new record. The local paper, The Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons
who reported that this puzzle was one of the most difficult they had
ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it, “The books are all right
here in plain view hidden from sight.” Those able to find all of them
will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One
revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may
occur without their numbers. Also, keep in mind, that punctuation and
spaces in the middle are normal. A chipper attitude will help you
compete really well against those who claim to know the answers.
Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus; there really are 30 books
of the Bible lurking somewhere in this paragraph waiting to be found.

—-

I actually only had trouble finding five of them. Well, six actually. I’ll give the answers tomorrow or sometime.

Sinners

Romans 5:8

But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Wow. I was driving home today from volunteering at the hospital, and this bit of scripture popped into my head. The reality of that statement hit me like a ton of bricks. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

God knew what kind of people we were. God knew what kind of people we were going to be. He knew we would mess up, and how often we would do so. He knew how foul some of us would become. He knew what terrible things would come. Yet He loved us, and still does of course. He loved us even though we were sinners who had never repented. He loved us and showed us His love by giving up His only son to die for our sins. Our filthy, stinking, rotten sins. The sins of the world.

Not only did God know. Jesus knew. Jesus knew when He went to the cross what He was going to die for. He knew He was sacrificing Himself for a bunch of sinners. He knew that He was about to take on the sins of the world. Terrible, horrid sins. We can’t even begin to imagine what He had to witness on that cross. Our actions. Our deepest, darkest secrets. But He died so that we could be forgiven of those things.

God knew the whole time. Yet He loved us even when we were sinners, and sent His only son to be crucified so that we could be forgiven and live with Him forever.

Praise the merciful Lord, God Almighty!

Everybody Bleeds

Call me morbid, but I seem to have found a good way to remind myself that the people I pass by daily are real people with real lives. They bleed.

I have a real problem with thinking of others as people with lives and families and such as that. Sometimes I don’t even see them. It’s like they don’t exist. It’s like they’re just figments that happen to be in my way from time to time. It’s my world, they’re just living in it! But that’s not true.

They have just as many joys and sorrows as I do. They go home at night, say hello to their family, eat supper, crawl into bed, wake up, and do the whole thing over again. When they’re hurt, they bleed. And bleeding is a serious thing. You have to have that stuff to live. Which I suppose is why it makes such an impact on me to look at someone and say ‘He bleeds’. By saying he bleeds, I say he has blood, and therefore is alive.

People are so much more real when I say that. I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned that twenty times now, but they are. And it helps me to be kinder to them, and more understanding. It’s almost like a new connection is formed, and I feel closer to complete strangers. When you get down to the basics, I’m no different from anyone else. We all bleed.

Flesh and Blood brings on a new meaning suddenly. It’s commonly used to refer to your kinfolk right? Children, parents, yadda yadda. But aren’t we all flesh and blood of each other? Adam is our common father after all. We may look different and act different, but in the end we’re all brothers and sisters.

How’s that for a macabre post?

Italy

So! Italy was great. I had lots and lots of fun and had some great experiences. I even got to see the Pope (from about 100 yards away) when we went to the Vatican. He gave a speech. I think it was like, a sermon summary or something. But it was fun!

The ear infection thing had cleared up a lot by the time I got on the plane and nothing went wrong at all. (:

Yaaay fun.

Ear Infection + Flying

Ok. Here’s the deal. I have an ear infection. It was present on Thursday. I got medicine on Friday. I took a dose Friday night. A dose Saturday morning and night. And a dose today and tonight. That’s five doses of antibiotics. I’ll take another tomorrow morning. My ear feels better. Though it’s still stuffy. And it rang earlier, and is right now.

I’m getting on a plane tomorrow. I’ll be flying to Atlanta, that’s about an hour and a half trip. Then from Atlanta to Italy.

I haven’t been this scared in a long time. I’m so scared that my ear is going to hurt on the plane, even though it feels a lot better. I don’t want it to hurt! I suppose I am lucky though that I have the flight from home to Atlanta to find out if it’s going to do anything, and how bad it will be, so I can drug myself up in the Atlanta airport if the need be.

I’ve been praying that it gets better (and it has!). I suppose what I need to do is trust that the Lord will be with me. He will be with me and will heal me if I ask Him. He will heal me and keep me away from pain.

Trust. Truuuust. Trust.

Pray for me.

(EDIT: Since a number of views for this post have come from people searching about ear infections and flying, I’m going to say this here:

Nothing went wrong. My ear popped normally, and there was no pain. Maybe the occasional what felt like more pressure than usual, but that’s about it)