Irony

Nikki came up to me the other day and genuinely said, "Katie, I just want you to know that I love you.  I know I pick on you a lot, sometimes too much, but I love you." 

I told her I loved her, too, and went to give her a hug.  As I got close, she burst out laughing.  She backed away from me and kept laughing.

"What?"

She didn't say anything.  She didn't have to.  It was then that I remembered I have blue lines running across my face.  I was in an event on campus where I let the freshmen paint blue lines horizonally across my face.

Well, I came home and wiped them off with paper towel and water then a make-up remover wipe and saw a huge difference, but I still had blue lines across my face. They kind of looked like veins. So I hopped in the shower, used some soap, some eye make-up remover...

Now my face is so dry it's ready to fall off, but the blue lines ain't goin' anywhere.  And Nikki's laughing at me immediately after apologizing for picking on me incessantly.

<>< Katie

Angels

Yesterday morning my alarm went off just as a new song started on the radio. I heard the initial chords and got really excited thinking it was "Angels" by Amy Grant. I quickly then remembered that this radio station doesn't play any songs that weren't recorded in 2008. There's so much good music that has been lost by their exclusivity (ok, yes, that really is a word. I had to go check), but that's a whole different story.

Last night, I was listening to my iTunes on Party Shuffle, not really paying any attention. I usually play my iPod because the internet makes noises (the virtual door slam was just a few seconds too early there, oops.) and it drives me nuts. For some reason, this perticular day I had iTunes on instead, but I didn't think much of it until I went to shut down my computer.

Then I heard it. Again. The opening chords to "Angels" by Amy Grant. This time it really was "Angels" by Amy Grant!

So I woke up yesterday morning hoping "Angels" by Amy Grant would be the first song I heard in the morning. Instead, it was the last song I heard at night. Ironic? I think not.

<>< Katie

God's Sense of Humor

Last night, I went to bed hearing thunder off in the distance. Before I fell asleep, the distance had gone and the storm was here. Torrential rains poured down on my house, lightening flashed, and thunder roared. I listened to the sounds of nature, praying they were a simple thunderstorm and no more. I contemplated checking the weather to see if tornadoes were anticipated. Tornadoes have a tendency to appear when least expected, and I expected them last night therefore there would not be any. After all, God is in control and if a tornado blows my house over, in His loving arms I'll be. This storm made me think back to one several years ago.

I was still in high school one evening when a storm rolled through. We'd eaten dinner but no schoolwork had been done when the power went out. Our power goes out quite frequently. It's created problems and since then we've put in a generator. However, the generator only powers certain rooms and appliances (the sub pumps, the refrigerator, the furnace, etc.). Needless to say, my bedroom and computer aren't on the generator. It was going to be incredibly difficult to get my homework done in a dark bedroom. It would be just as hard to get my homework done in the lighted kitchen where my sisters were panicking and the radio was blaring.

Frustrated due to my overload of work and inability to do it, I opted not to do any homework for the few hours we were without power and just sit and enjoy the storm. Grumbling and moaning about the lack of power, I sat on the couch in the front room and watched the lightening, listened to the thunder, and peered out into our eerie neighborhood sans electricity. The lightening was lame and when I whispered,
"God, this is a boring storm" a huge bold of lightening flashed and thunder cracked shaking the whole house. He would make a liar out of me! The lightening got much more interesting after that.

Finally, I stopped my complaining and began to thank God for the nice break from the world. How I needed it because I was feeling overworked, underpaid, and not appreciated (just a perk of being middle class and educated). If taking the power away was the only way He could get my attention, so be it. Thank You.

At that very moment, the power came back on and a floor light was shining brightly into my eyeballs. Wow, You're funny. Lesson learned.

<>< Katie

"The men were amazed and asked, 'What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him [Jesus]!'" Matthew 8:27