Archive for July, 2012

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27 Hours

Monday, July 23rd, 2012

I've done a lot of stupid things in my life.  Some might be of the opinion…that I'm a natural at it.  This weekend, I jumped off the deep end of dummy and took my beloved iphone with me out on a boat.  On a lake, with deep water and rockin waves.  Now, before you get all…..ooooh, bad idea lady.  Don't.  

For I am a responsible phone owner.

Matter of fact, I get teased constantly about all the layers of cell phone protection I have on my phone.  God bless the makers of the Ballistic case!  It's not just one case…it's like, three!  It literally has three different pieces of protection.  Perfect for people like me.  I'm clumsy and forgetful.  Sometimes I set it down in strange places, like my lap while I'm driving.  Then, I get out of my car and out on the parking lot it falls.  Nothing can penetrate three layers of hard bouncy rubber Ballistic beauty.

Except, falling off of a rocking boat and into 45 foot deep water.  That triple layered safety case?  It's heavy and sinks like a lead bowling ball.  Yep, straight to the bottom of Lake Monroe not too far from John Mellancamp's cute little home on the water.  I saw it all happen.  It fell right in front of me.  I don't think I'll ever get that KAPLOOK! sound out of my memory.  It was sickening!

What's even sadder, is that it was my friend's hubby who knocked it in.  He was pretty upset and I couldn't even think about the phone because I knew he was probably fighting a bit of turmoil in his own heart.  Accidents happen.  He didn't do it on purpose.  It was in the wrong place (my fault) at the wrong time!

Boo, for both of us.  Time kind of stood still.  Who knew what to say?  It was just one of those things.  Sad, regretful…awful moments that you wish never happened.  But it did.

The big question….did I have insurance?  Absolutely not!  That would be way too intelligent of me.  I enjoy living on the edge of danger and that's the price you pay for doing so.   I mean why insure a phone?  Nothing's gonna happen!!?  Uhh, no comment!

For the rest of that night, I tossed and turned.  I prayed.  I scoured the internet.  I knew what Verizon was going to say and even sent a Verizon employee friend an email asking for advice.  Replacing it with them was around $850.  Be still my heart!  She suggested I get busy and watch Craigslist.  Really?  I'm a little wary of scams on Craigslist.  I have some sort of radar that directs me to all the loonies!  But, I HAD NO DANG PHONE!!

I went through all the listings for Verizon phones nearby (when I say, nearby…that means within a couple hours drive from my house).  I must have clicked on 30 iphone ads.  Most of them were busted, broken and had words like locked or clean ESN.  My favorite, TRADE ONLY!!  Whaaaa?

Depressing…

I couldn't help but fall into a pit of despair.  My mind started playing tricks on me and all I could think about was how perfect my iphone was.  It didn't have a scratch.  Every touch that it had ever felt came from my own little grubby fingers.  It was the best phone in the world.  Now, it was dead on the bottom of a dirty muddy lake.  Who deserved that fate?  See, how the crazy was starting to set in?

I sent two different sellers a message.  Both were offering to sell NEW iphones still in the box for $300.  If they weren't cheating lying scammers, anyway.  Within a few minutes, one of them responded.  We emailed back and forth, me asking questions and then trying my best to read between the lines of all his answers.  I'll call it my SCAM MONITOR!  Listen, the way I see it…I've already stepped off into a costly mistake with this "phone in the water" incident.  I cannot afford to get ripped off!

I'm leaving for a mini vacay in less than 2 weeks, dangit!  I want to be able to eat out or something while I'm gone!

So, very long story short.  I agree to meet the Craigslist killer seller an hour away from home and make the purchase.  Pending all was cool with Verizon!  He agreed and off we went.  We met at a Sams Club parking lot (you know, busy with shoppers) and they were legit normal people.  Thank you Jesus!   Hubby took the perfect looking iphone to the car and called Verizon….I talked to the nice young couple who were selling it for her best friend and within minutes hubby handed me my new cellphone.  

So, 27 hours after I'd witnessed my hot pink darlin' fly through the air and land in the lake of no return and $300 dollars later….I was back among the world of communication.  The lesson?

Ballistic needs to make a flotation device to go with all those layers of protection on their cases!   No, just kidding.  Don't take your precious prized iphone on a boat without some sort of waterproof protection.  EVER!

The End!

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Posted in Royal Proclaimations | 5 Comments »

Madness In Movie 9

Friday, July 20th, 2012

Mornings like this are staggering to wake up to.  During the night while most of us were sleeping soundly…a gunman wreaked havoc on innocent movie-goers in Aurora Colorado killing 12 and injuring over 50 people.  The news came like a punch in the stomach.  My own 3 kids and their friends were sitting front and center of the big premier of The Dark Knight Rises Batman movie.  I fell asleep trusting they were safely tucked inside of the AMC Theater 25 minutes from my house.  Granted, we live in Indiana and Colorado is thousands of miles away….it still sent sickening shock all through my body.

Why would a person do something like this?  We may never know.  Was there no clues to the darkness of this young man's soul?  No one noticed he was in any way disturbed?  All we can do now is pray for those affected by this horrible act of violence.  Families are hurting and need the support and compassion that each of us can offer.  Don't miss an opportunity to pray for strangers.  God is sure to hear every whispered word.

As I write this post, I'm listening to the story of Jessica Ghawli (Redfield) who was killed during the movie mayhem early this morning.  She was an aspiring sportscaster who worked for the sports website Busted Coverage.  She also was a near miss victim of the deadly mall shooting in Toronto just last month (June 2).  Thanks to a strange feeling, she felt compelled to go outside.  Because of this, she missed the shooting that took the life of one and injured 7 others.  Jessica had written about the experience and described how she couldn't grasp the fact that she escaped such a close call with death.

Jessica's story is mindnumbing.  Her family is left with questions and the never ending ache of her loss.  Only God can heal the broken hearts reeling from this tragedy.  May He blanket each of them and hold them up as they walk through what may be the darkest period of their lives.

On this late July summertime Friday….with all the expectations of family fun this weekend, don't forget to hold the ones you love a little longer and to cherish the time you have with them.  Death is like a thief in the night, it strikes when we least expect it.

Holy God In Heaven,

Our hearts are breaking watching the news unfold from Colorado.  Please work in the lives of the victims struggling to survive and those left with the tragic loss of loved ones.  Nothing about this event makes sense but we trust that YOU are in control.  Help us to understand…and fill us with compassion.  Surround these families with love and support and let your glory shine bright.

Amen

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Posted in Royal Proclaimations | 4 Comments »

Who’s Running This Place?

Thursday, July 19th, 2012

I know I was all "up in a tizzy" yesterday about my old cable company and it probably wasn't the best place to air my frustration.  So, if you were wondering if I'd lost my ever loving mind….I didn't.  I was just bursting with frustration and writing it out really made me feel better.

Sometimes, just saying it outloud or writing your feelings down..helps.

Last night as I crawled into bed, I could hear a rumble/argument going on in the next room.  I tell people all the time that I didn't have FIGHTING kids, and I really didn't.  They got along well most of the time growing up.  Also, I didn't allow them to get into knock-down drag-out fights.  I tried to help them work out any differences and believe me, they had plenty of those.  Disagreements are just part of life!

So, instead of barging in on them….I let it go.  I could hear back & forth banter and some of it sounded pretty heated.  It took a lot of willpower not to intervene, especially when it escalated to cry-talking.  I didn't know who, just that the argument had managed to reach real emotions.

Which is what arguments are about anyway.  Real emotions that rear their ugly head and beg for release.  Everyone's not equipped to sit on them or stifle them down in a heart closet.  Sometimes….blurting them out and spilling them for the world to see is all you can do.  Like me, yesterday regarding the cable bill issue.

King David experienced a few blow ups during his lifetime.  In 2 Samuel 13, David's own son, Amnon, crossed the line when he pretended to be sick and raped his beautiful sister Tamar.  After he finished with her, he literally threw her out and locked the door.  Nice guy, huh?  When Absalom (Tamar's other brother) heard this he hated his brother Amnon.  Who wouldn't, right?

Absalom let it fester.  Don't we all?  He devised a plan to get him drunk and then ordered his men to kill Amnon.  The message delivered to the King was that all of his sons had been killed.  When his nephew, Jonadab spilled the truth about the rape and Absalom's hatred for Amnon….David flipped out!  He ripped his clothes (they do that a lot in the Bible, huh?) and fell down on the ground.

I imagine he was pretty overwhelmed.  Falling out and losing it seem to be a natural response to such horrific news.  As a mother, I can't help but think David was blaming himself.  Why did I?  Why didn't I?  All the crazy thoughts that go through a parents head.  David probably had them all.

Troubles come in life.  Bad things happen.  We're only human and while our issues may not be as terrible as David's….they're still issues.  It's up to us to handle them in a way that honors God.  I don't recommend blogging or posting on Facebook your anger (sorry y'all) when you're upset.  It doesn't solve anything and more than that…it only ignites more pain.  People get their feelings hurt.

This morning I asked about the argument.  Both gave general answers and seemed to have it worked out.  Just as I had hoped.  Reminding me….let go and let God!  He doesn't need me running everything!  HE IS IN CONTROL!

Whew!

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Goodbye Crummy Cable Company

Wednesday, July 18th, 2012

WARNING

BIG FAT GIANT ANGER AHEAD

 

Ever have one of those moments where you try to take care of "business" and no matter how many hoops you jump through….you can't get it done?  Yea, that's how my morning has gone.  For weeks, we've been making a cable change.  Why?  Because as much as I love watching tv (which I rarely do) and using internet (which I do a lot), I can't come to grips with paying $186.07 a month for service.  So, when the nice door-to-door dude rang my doorbell IN JUNE…my ears were a perkin' to the possibility of BETTER SERVICE FOR HALF THE COST!!

Oh yea!  Happy dance!  Did you hear me?  I said, half of what we were paying!!

Needless to say, we jumped on the new deal and started the ball rolling.  Which must have had lead in it because the whole process was a drag along nightmare.  That was June.  It's July 18th and we've been using our new cable provider since July 3rd!  So, it took a good long month to get the good deal benefits.  Which is another story.  One that consists of 47 million calls to Norris (the door-to-door dude) to get an appointment for installation.  We'd get an install date, no one would show up.  Three times, people!

Don't ask.  It was crazy train, and our whole family rode along begging to get off.

Moving on to the reason I'm all flustered and hot under the collar today.  I didn't pay the bill to my old cable provider on the due date because we were in the middle of having a switch.  My thinking was that I would pay the final bill all at once with the pro-rated days added in.  It shouldn't have been any days but the dates kept being pushed back by the "no show's" of the installers.  Am I making any sense?  I waited to pay the bill….not just decided to quit paying them.  I wanted a clean ending to our account.

The new cable was installed on July 3rd in the late afternoon.  The old cable provider was closed for the holidays, which put us at ending service with them after the 4th.  No biggie.  I called them on the 5th, asked how to end service and wrap up our bill (which by this time, they'd sent me a new bill with another months amount due on it).  The nice lady told me that in order to end service I must bring in all equipment to the office.  Once that was done, we could close down all account services.

Ok, cool.  (I have no car)

On the 6th, my son took in all the boxes, remotes & cords belonging to the old provider.  Service was now ended.  The bill would be finalized and sent to us soon.  I waited a few days and called the old provider for a final payoff amount.  That's when the "run around" started.  No one could tell me a final payment.  I could see that I owed the past due bill but they were trying to charge me the next months bill too.  Even though I only used the service from July 2nd — July 6th.  I explained that I would need to pay the pro-rated amount of usage for those days. They agreed but couldn't tell me how much that was.

She'd have to call me back.

Today…I had waited long enough.  So, I called.  When I explained to the 2nd person they put me through to my reason for calling….Gwen (that's her name) decided to get really jerky with me and talk to me like I was asking her to solve a Calculus problem and without the help of a fancy calculator!  Hello, customer service nightmare!

Nothing was accomplished with this (my 4th time of calling) conversation.  I felt so frustrated…I really wanted to cry.  My head is pounding!  I still don't have the final amount.  So, I just mailed the past due bill and will wait (because one of the brilliant statements from Gwen?  It takes several months for them to figure out all this sort of thing!)!  Whaaaaaaaat?

Listen, here's how I see this.  If Cinergy Metronet wants to take several months to figure out how much I owe them for their service of 5 days (which I wasn't even using…since my new cable was clicked on July 3rd!).  Cool!  I'll wait until then to pay them for it!  Thanks, Gwen!  You're winning!

The moral of the story?  Be prayed up when you call cable customer service!  Oh, I kid.  It's don't switch cable providers!  No, kidding again.  I don't have a moral to this story because I'm still mad and headachey!  Next time you're on the phone with a (less than understanding) customer rep.– good luck.  It might be a test of faith.   Or an attack however you want to look at it.

So, Cinergy….Kiss it!  Kiss it, real good!

Signed,

Never Coming Back!

Ps- you want to hear something really funny about this situation?  The company my hubby works for (IT) deals with this cable provider almost every single day.  They (hubby's company) give them so much business it's crazy.  Not only were we paying an outrageous amount for our service…we were also handing them tons of customers on a regular basis!  In my book, they are the epitome of crummy business!

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Clean Up, Young Man

Tuesday, July 17th, 2012

During the clean-up of Israel by young King Josiah…his workers (Hilkiah the high priest) came across a copy of The Revelation of Moses.  For years the king had been on a mission to bring back his neighborhood/temple to a place of acceptance and honor to God.  He despised the filthy shrines, the Asherah groves, the altars, the many god and goddess figurines and anything that wasn't in step with God and His holiness.  King Josiah knew, all of it had to go!

When Hilkiah found the book and shared what was written inside….King Josiah pretty much flipped!  He was distraught.  Enough so, that he jumped up and ripped his robes.  He knew that his people had been a part of exactly what God was warning about in the book of God's Revelation.  He called several of his closest aides and gave them the mission of praying to God and asking Him what they could do in light of all the clean-up of Israel and Judah.  King Josiah was convinced that God's anger must be off the charts against them. Why wouldn't it be?  

The king understood….God had every right to be upset with them.

Sadly, you and I don't always think like that…do we?  Little sin here….sneaky white lie there.  Rated R movie here….gossip about a co-worker there.  Divisive behavior here….mean spirted response there.  Aggressive behavior here…

You get the picture, right?

We live, pretty much however we want.  Most of the time.  Except on church days.  We try to behave then and honestly, who doesn't want to be seen as holy on Sunday?  We've conditioned ourselves to Christ-like behavior.  Don't tell me you don't know how to turn on the "good girl" behavior!  I know all about it, I'm an expert!

It's easy to slip into sin as a lifestyle.  Each person has the ability to turn their head the other way or justify something they want to do, as harmless.  I wonder how the people King Josiah found himself cleaning up after got started in their deep sin.  I'm sure it was innocent at first.  Maybe a little bracelet of protection at first then oh, an altar of worship.  Every little detail, justified in some way or another.

Ever justified a wrongdoing?  Yea, me too.

The more I live (and I'm getting on up there) the more I see of people watering down God's holiness.  It's becoming more and more acceptable to customize God's word and what He expects of us.  No longer is there a limit to how far anyone can go in what's acceptable and not.  

I remember growing up and flipping out when a church member wore spagetti straps (GASP!) to morning church.  Today, tank tops are considered clothes (not to me, by the way) and flip-flops are appropriate church shoes.  Now I know what you're thinking…niether of those are sin issues and you're right.  But that's a sample of how accepting we are as a society.

Smoking and drinking are hot topics in Christian circles too.  It's not sinful to most..but it is a little off-setting if you think about it.  How awkward would it be to have someone share the gospel with you while smoking a cigarette and holding a drink in their hand?  I think it would be a little odd.

Followers (Christians) are to be set apart.

Our behavior, actions and lifestyle are all a part of our relationship with Christ.  It's important for our outside to match our inside.  I'm not going to mention any names… but there is a Christian worship leader who thrives (out in Twitter, blogland and Facebook) on being edgy.  He likes to use shocking language and totally pushes the envelope on touchy topics.  He's very popular and while I'm sure his ministry is rockin'….I find him a little raunchy!  I mean, I get it..he's trying to reach people.  His messages are oftentimes right in line with what the world likes to accept as normal.  I feel convicted when I read some of his comments/blogs/tweets.  Not the kind of convicted that causes me to repent but the kind that says….IS THIS GUY IN LOVE WITH THE SAME JESUS AS ME?

That's just me.  I'm safe.  I've always been that way.

What is it that God expects of you and me?  Is it risky dangerous outlandish behavior to get other's to follow Christ?  I don't think it is.  Does He call us out of our comfort zone to follow Him?  Indeed, He does.  Does he ever put us in a position of sin in order to do so?  NEVER!

For King Josiah, God saw that his heart was completely line with His and promised that He would protect him as long as he obeyed.  The king trusted God and along with his followers committed to God's Covenant publicly.  They agreed to the change.  No more Baal shrines, no sex-and-religion shrines and no more followers of any gods besides the ONE TRUE GOD.  This is what God expects of us.  He wants holiness, honor, righteousness….trust & faith.

What needs to go?  What do you need to clean out of your life?  Just like Josiah, you can sweep through and remove whatever doesn't belong there.  Don't hold back.

His Word…is true!

FYI: The scripture I was reading today was 2 Chronicles 34.  King Josiah was in his early twenties when he went to work cleaning up his kingdom.  You can start — no matter how young or old you are, right now!

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Friday the 13th? Is That You?

Sunday, July 15th, 2012

I'm not superstitious….at all!  But our trip to Indy on Friday the 13th was a true test of my belief system (not my faith in Christ) just the fact that crazy stuff goes on at weird times. 

It was a wild ride, to say the least.

I've mentioned a time or two that I HAVEN'T LEFT MY HOUSE all summer.  The trip to Tennessee in June (weekend wedding) has been the extent of my traveling journeys.  I was super psyched about going to Indy for the night with my hubby and our girls.  It was a last minute plan.  Our girls had concert tickets for a show on Friday night right downtown…so I thought tagging along and staying at a great hotel in the area would make for a fun weekend.

The girls have been working hard all summer and this was a chance to get-away with them and enjoy ourselves. 

The morning should've been a sign that there was trouble on the horizon.  I learn slow….so no to that idea, mm'k?

–Hubby backed into son's car.  No damage, just a charged up beating heart that got me kick-started into stressin' a little early.

–Drove 35 minutes in the HOTTEST car I've ever ridden in and that was just the first few miles of our trip.  Who knew such a hot ride awaited us?  Hubby spent an hour working on his car in a Walmart parking lot (and if I know him…he was pleading with God to make that sucker work) while the hot afternoon sun beat down on him.  We sat in a Subway restaurant wondering where in the world he was.  Good news–he got it working and off we went!  Whew!

–Interstate crazies!  I kid you not…the traffic was like a scene out of a wild movie.  People were hogging up the left lane, driving slowly and the "lead foot driver's" were weaving in and out of traffic…coming in on you from the right (because everybody knows…they are the only cars on the road that have somewhere to go, right?) nearly causing several accidents.  It was  T E N S E !!

–Missed the turn to head downtown Indy.  Rerouted back through the industrial area.  Then drove around trying to show the girls the way to their concert from our hotel.  It was a bust.  But we tried anyway. I'm learning, some things just have to be experienced on your own. I worry way too much!

–Arrived at our nice expensive hotel and it seemed like total chaos. The valet guys were running around and cars were parked all willy-nilly. This isn't the sort of place where you unload yourself and trudge into the hotel. But that's sort of what we had to do. I don't know why…but this really got under my skin and stressed me out. But, I had no idea what I would face once inside that lobby.

–While hubby is checking us in at the desk, I wait over near the doors. All of the sudden, it was like someone had opened the floodgates of a NFL football game arena. Tall, sweaty boys (young men)…HUNDREDS OF THEM! I am not exaggerating when I say hundreds…came walking across the lobby in droves. All heading to the elevators. Which is where we were heading too. Except they overpowered us and walked all over us. They pushed past us as if we were furniture to get their turn on the elevator. Me nerves? Were frazzled! It took us 20 minutes just to get to our room.

–The plan to enjoy the pool/hot tub while the girls were gone to their concert? Yea, right….did you read that last paragraph? Hundreds of football boys beat us to the punch! frown

The whole day was a challenge. I told my family that I was feeling uber stressed and that I was sorry. I had these big hopes for fun and escape but the craziness of the day seemed to push all that in a corner. Dang my high-strung personality!!

All was not lost.  After the girls left, hubby and I hit the streets.  We shopped around town a little bit and then decided to look for some place to eat dinner.  I knew I needed something a little different than usual and that's when some guy steps out of a bar & grill type place and says, "Hey, we're selling our appetizers for 1/2 price and they feed two people…wanna come in?"

Best decision, all day!  We had a great dinner and were all alone until we finished and started to leave.  The food was great, the service fantastic and the environment soothing!  It was just what I needed to "chill the heck" out!  We walked back to the Marriott our hotel and relaxed for the rest of the night.

We slept in, had Starbucks for breakfast and hit the mall for some shopping!  Oh I almost forgot. Not only was there a NFL football camp for high school boys going on….we were also bombarded with a Cheerleading competition going on closeby.  There must have been a gazillion of the little painted-up-faced girlies with every member of their family running around Indy.  Everywhere we went, cheer girls & their entourage.  We shopped on.

I didn't say we were quitters! 

We ended our day with PF Changs because that's what we love to do when were downtown. Eat lettuce wraps! Worth the wait, cause that's what we had to do. I thought I'd be nice and ask for a booth instead of a table. We waited, we waited and then kept waiting. The hostess tells us WE'RE NEXT and then comes back to say that the manager gave our table away. What are the chances?

Is it me?  hehe!

Ally & Gates riding the luggage rack back downstairs.  We take all opportunities to party.

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A pose before they head out to see Vampire Weekend ( a band ).  Which they loved.  Both had a great time and were glad they came.  Me too!

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These benches were so cool.  We decided that everyone should decorate their house with cool ottomans and lounge chairs.  It's chic!

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What I came home with–It's important NOT to get too worked up over little things.  If you let every little troubling detail invade your mind/heart/feelings eventually you'll be left with disappointment.  Our flesh is mushy and we can't always fight off the garb that comes our way.  God knows this and reminds us in scripture, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart…LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING…in all your ways, acknowledge HIM and HE WILL MAKE YOUR PATH STRAIGHT" Proverbs 3:5-6.

So next time you plan something exciting…don't set yourself up for stress.  Go with it, trust the Lord to handle the little stuff and HAVE FUN!  Even when some Dukes of Hazzard driver cuts you off.  Smile and wave!  You're going to get where you're going eventually!

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