‘Cause I’m A Snowfall Kind of Girl

13 01 2012

Well, it’s finally happened. After living in St. Louis for almost 2 months, it’s finally snowed. In fact, as I type this, it seems to be snowing again. It won’t last (snow never does), but at the moment, it’s beautiful.

First Snow of the Season

It’s amazing to me how a little white stuff falling from the sky can slow down everything. There’s only about an inch of snow outside, but it’s so peaceful. The blanket of white has a calming effect. Everyone slows down a little, plays a little, & devours comfort food. It’s like the world knows that you have to enjoy it when it’s here because it won’t last for long.

I wish we had that mentality in every day life: that idea that we can just slow down and savor life a little more. I think Jesus would love it if we lived life like everyday was a snow day. Hebrews equates restfulness with godliness. Hebrews 4:9-10 says “So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.” It goes on to saw that the more we rest in God, the less we’re prone to sin. The chapter also talks about we fail to take advantage of the rest God provides.

Snow comes with its own set of issues: traffic, cold, closures of schools and businesses all inconvenience our lives when it snows. It’s easy to get caught up in all of that and forget to step back to reflect on the peacefulness that comes when the whole world seems blanketed in white. That’s life, though. It’s easy to get caught up in the drama and the details and forget that rest is one of God’s promises to His people. I don’t know what the weather’s like where you are, but I hope you’re intentional about a Sabbath/snow day.


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Categories : Faith, Life in General

No Matter How It All Turns Out, We Still Play The Game

25 10 2011

Last winter I sat in a friend’s living room floor pouring over a baseball schedule. 3 newly acquired friends and I were committing to attend 10 baseball games together, and finding 10 that wouldn’t conflict with our busy lives and schedules seemed a daunting task.

Fast forward almost 9 months and we’re now the kind of friends who finish the others’ sentences. We’ve also seen about 30 games together. Turns out, that once the season started, our schedules were a little more flexible…and baseball was a far more addictive pastime than anticipated.

We were there for good moments and bad: for complete game shutouts, player injuries, the death of a fan, 2000th hits, homestand sweeps, rain delays, chants of player names that give you chills, and the birth of a facial hair fanbase. We’ve met players and their families, been yahoo’s photo of the day, acquired more SWAG than is necessary in life, and gathered together to make posters, banners, cupcakes and away game crafts. We were good luck charms for the team, and they won more than 80% of the games we attended – including ALDS, ALCS & World Series games.

I’ve gone from being a casual Rangers fan who accepted the summer slump and owned 1 Rangers shirt, to a girl who could tell you the complete bios of most of the roster, tweets about little else, has an entire multi-season baseball wardrobe and expects her team to win. Some days I think I don’t really know myself. Some days I think I don’t really know my Rangers.

Sunday night was my last game to attend at the Ballpark in Arlington for the 2011 season. We witnessed Derek Holland achieving greatness and baseball immortality by pitching 8 & 1/3 scoreless innings of World Series baseball. Of course, the win wasn’t all that surprising…our trusty Dutchstaches (worn every time Holland’s pitched since July) are 7-0 when in attendance.

My Texas Rangers are one win away from winning the World Series. And they have two chances to do it. It’s surreal. Bizarre, in fact. It hasn’t sunk in yet, but there’s a part of me that can’t imagine the fairy tale that’s been this summer ending in any way other than a world championship. Of course, there’s a part of me that knows enough about sports jinxes, and knows enough about her team to know not to take anything for granted.

The fact of the matter is that win or lose 2011 will forever live in my mind as the year of My Texas My Rangers…when life’s dress code was red, white, & blue…when friendships were forged in the cheap seats.

That said, I really hope they win. #Rangersin6

the baseballmojo girls

The Baseballmojo Girls supporting Derek Holland in his 2011 World Series win


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Categories : Adulthood, Childhood, Entertainment, Life in General, Relationships

It Shall Be No Longer Mine…part 2

12 04 2011

I know, I know, part 2 is a bit of a stretch. It’s been a year. More than a year. In that time, though, that’s what God’s been teaching me. So there you go.

The month of March was awful. Awful is an understatement. It was a month in my life that I’ll never forget and hope never to relive. It was the kind of month that makes one start comparing oneself to Job. March was a month that included a murder & a Japanese earthquake/tsunami and ended with almost being carjacked. Granted, those first things didn’t happen to me directly, but they happened to dear friends who I admire, love & pray for. The carjacking, though, that was me. You know it’s been a rough month when a guy’s trying to forcibly remove you from your vehicle, and the thoughts that run through your head are “I so don’t have time for this” and “my friends and family can NOT deal with this right now.”

So…Job. I really started thinking a lot about Job. What I thought is how ridiculous it is to compare ourselves to Job. I mean, really?!?! His entire livelihood, family, & health were destroyed and his friends and remaining loved ones advised him to curse God & die. As bad my March was, as apocalyptic and dark as it seemed at times, it didn’t come close to Job status.

That, though, isn’t why the comparison is ridiculous. That comes at the very beginning: Job 1:1, “In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.” Blameless, upright, feared God & shunned evil. God reiterates that (verbatim) when he describes Job in 1:8, “Then the LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.’” Oh that God would describe me in such a way! Blameless, upright, feared God & shunned evil. On my very best days, I’m 2 out of 4.

April, thus far, has been pretty fantastic. As opposite of March as possible. It’s been filled with family, friends, laughter, baseball, great food…I even won 2 tickets to Jazz Fest in a twitter picture contest. Life is good, but it was good in March. It was just hard. God is good, but He has been good since before time began and will continue to be good.

There are going to be times when life is hard…seemingly, impossibly hard. There won’t always be reasons for us to understand. If we’re going to compare ourselves to Job, though, we need to at least take away the lessons he learned. God spends chapters 40 & 41 calling Job out for whining about not understanding it all. In the end, Job’s response in 42:2-3 is this: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.  You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”

This life that I’m living? It’s not mine. Good or inexplicably horrible, it’s not mine. It’s God’s…and He is good, and He is God, and His overarching plan for the world is more wonderful than I can understand. I get to be a part of that. My new prayer is that in life’s “Job” moments (and they’re going to come), I’ll have Job-like faith.


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Categories : Faith, Life in General, Tragedy

I Still Feel Your Touch In My Dreams

24 01 2010

I miss Travis.

He’s not an ex-boyfriend, or ex-friend, or “the one that got away,” or anything like that.

Travis is the guy who cut my hair in college.

Travis doesn’t look like your average beautician. He looks like a guy no one’s dad wants them to date, aka the kind of guy I’m most attracted to. He’s a tattooed musician. What’s not to love, right?

That’s not why I miss Travis. Travis has magic hands. MAGIC HANDS. He gives these head massages that erase all bad thoughts and feelings, ease all pain and alleviate all headaches. Having one’s hair shampooed is one of the most relaxing things in the universe, but Travis took it to another level. His fingers could work on the back of the head and the base of the neck while simultaneously using his thumbs to massage the temple. Bliss. Euphoric bliss.

I got my hair cut yesterday and it looks really cute. The girl who did it did good work and I’ll visit her again, but sitting in the shampoo chair with her fingers tangled in my hair I had the same thought I’ve had almost every time I’ve gotten my haircut since I left Shawnee, OK: I miss Travis…and his magic hands.


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Categories : Adulthood, Life in General


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