BUSTED!

The day had finally arrived. The day that I had been dreading for the past 10 years. I got my first speeding ticket. I was just cruising along anticipating a visit with my dear friends Alex and Carla and I see a white car in the distance. Well, by the time I look down to see how fast I am going, it was too late. I see the bright red lights of the brakes and the car turns around to chase after me. By this time, of course, I go down to the speed that I should of been driving in the first place. Do you know how hard it is to actually drive 80km on a highway? Seriously. No one actually drives that speed. So he busted me for driving 110km. Yeah, I probably deserved it because I do have a heavy foot but I was looking forward to seeing friends I hadn't seen in like 2 years. I tried to use that excuse and I really thought it worked until I saw him walking towards me with papers in his hands. He had me sitting there for like 25 minutes. How horribly mean is that? So because of my obvious charm, I got away with a $40 ticket and 1 point against me. I should be grateful to him because he said it would of been a $340 ticket with 4 points against me because I was driving in a school zone. Oh well, I can laugh about it now.

Leadership

"I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." - Phillippians 4:13

This verse has been going through my head for the last 8 months or so. My family has been going through kind of a tough time trying to understand the direction God has been taking us within life and within the church. I find it so hard not to put the blame on others mistakes and decisions and to really sit back and look at why God would of made this decision or put my family on this path. Is He trying to teach us something? Is He testing our faith? For me personally, I find it so difficult to just sit back and see where the pieces fall. I am a go-getter. When someone has hurt or disappointed people I love, I want to fix the situation right away. I don't have the patience to just sit back while they are hurting so bad. How do you get through a time like this?

Secondly, church. That word sometimes really freaks me out. How do you even choose the leaders in a church? I realize that no one is perfect and they are allowed to make mistakes, but at who's cost? Who do they think they are? What makes them think that they know better than others? One thing I don't get is how they can sit in a church service knowing full well that they have hurt or disappointed someone, and really ignore the situation and do NOTHING about it. This is something that I have been struggling with for months now. Around July, I made the decision to leave the church that I had been attending for the past 10 or so years. It was probably one of the hardest decisions I ever made because the congregation at the church was so amazingly supportive and encouraging, but I just couldn't sit in those services anymore.

Since then, I have been attending a great church. Yes, the church makes mistakes and it is far from perfect, but the difference is the leadership takes charge of an issue and deals with it right away instead of trying to hide it in a corner hoping that one day it will just be forgotten. They admit their faults and mistakes and as a congregation, they work on it and encourage one another.

I don't want you to read this entry and think that I am a bitter and unappreciative person when it comes to leadership in the church. I respect the role of a leader and I can't imagine how difficult it must be to have that kind of responsibility. I am simply saying that if you are a leader, it is your responsibility to deal with the issues in your particular church and not to hide and run away from them. That is the only way you will gain the respect you should have from your congregation.

My last 18 hours

I would like to paint you all a picture of the last 18 hours of my life. I get home from work and while I am coming down the stairs to my apartment, I trip and fall. Not just one or two steps. Five or six steps. The steps at my place are nice and cemented tiles so there is no cushion to them. So there I am, lying at the bottom of my stairs in complete and total agony. Not only did I bang my head, but I have bruises all down the side of my left leg, my knee is completely bruised and bleeding, the heels on both of my feet are totally bruised and the side of my left hand is banged up. When I finally had enough energy to get myself up (probably 15 minutes of just lying there) I went on my bed to rest a little bit more. So when it came time to go to bed, I could not find a comfortable way to sleep so it took my like 1 and a half hours to fall asleep and even then, I kept waking up through out the whole night. So when it was finally morning I went to get into my car and realize that it was broken in to and all of my cd's stolen and my car completely trashed. Thank goodness they didnt break anything but how annoying is that?? The drivers door was wide open and the crazy thing is that it was parked under the carport and my bedroom window is right there. So I get in my car and now I am heading to the one place I dread the most in my entire life. The dentist. I am like a child getting a needle. I have to talk myself into sitting in the chair, opening my mouth and letting them do their thing. But I think my luck is starting to get better because I have no cavaties. YEAH!

So, there it is. The story of my life. I guess it is good when you get to the point of laughing at yourself. I actually find it quite amusing that this all happened to me in 18 hours. Gotta love it!

New Years Resolutions

Is it just old school or do people out there still have New Years Resolutions?? I have been thinking alot about what I want to do differently in 2007. So, I have came up with mine. It is kind of lame and boring but I really want to get better at this. I want to really watch my spending habits and so I am writing down everything I spend money on and then at the end of the month I can calculate what I need to change and really watch. I have to say that I have been doing pretty good.

Now it is your turn. I want to hear what other people want to do differently in 2007. Tell me what your New Years Resolution is?