Does God Speak Today?

I really think that many of us believe that God has said all He is going to say and that He is quiet now. So, how does He interact with you today?

I spent a few hours talking with a friend today about how God speaks into her life and into my life. When you're with someone who allows God to speak into their life, something strange happens. A strong sense of trust and safety encompasses you. It was pretty amazing. I found myself confessing things that I am afraid to let the world know about me. Things that I know are deeply rooted inside me.

Two weeks ago in Staff meeting, Craig made a flip comment about how we 'listen'. That when we really listen, we obey. He was associating that with his son, who heard him the first time he told him to put his shoes on, but Craig knew he was listening when after the second request, his son left what he was doing and obeyed his father.

One of the lessons I put together last spring was on listening to God's voice. I re-used it again a week ago when I spoke at the Saturday night service. In it I related a memory I had of conversations with my mother in which she emphasized quite clearly the difference between merely hearing something and listening - meaning that I took her words inside me and acted on them.

James 1:22 says "Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."

Today, as I was speaking with my friend, we were discussing how we heard God speaking into our lives. She looked right at me and said, "You have to obey Him to show that you are listening."

That makes me wonder what it is that God is speaking to me. I fully understand that I am a strong-willed, bullheaded woman. I know that God loves that about me. He made me to be who I am. At the same time I know that is what keeps me apart from Him. When I forget to relinquish that part of me to Him, He has a much harder time getting through to me. I actually have a lot of things in my life that I obviously have trouble relinquishing to God.

I believe that God is preparing us for an amazing transformation. I have no idea how long it is going to take for that preparation and I have no idea how He will manifest Himself, but I am confident that we are on the cusp of something very exciting.

I don't want to miss it. I want desperately to be a tool to be used by God however He will. And to do so, I need to continue listening and obeying His call in my life. It's kind of exciting. It's really scary. It's the activity of a God who still moves and interacts with His creation.

Taking out the Trash

I love an empty trash can. They don't happen around me very often, but since I've taken this job at FW, the trash gets emptied regularly! It's amazing! I don't have to deal with it, the trash just goes away for me.

Do you remember the story of the Shoemaker and the Elves? The Elves come each night to make shoes for a poor shoemaker, until his business is thriving. It's a wonderful story. In my life, however, having my trashcan emptied and a new liner put in is as amazing as that story.

I throw away (or recycle) things regularly, but I hate dealing with a full trash can. At home, that's Max's job. But, he has decided that he will empty (sometimes) one trash can. So, the trash in the living room piles up until I deal with it and the second trash can in the kitchen never gets emptied, the trash in the downstairs bathroom overflows until I deal with it. It frustrates me beyond belief! I can always tell when it's time to deal with the trash myself. I no longer have room on my desk, because I haven't taken the time to throw everything away.

I could probably nag at Max and whine at him, but that's not my style. Max doesn't like it any more than I do!

Why am I telling all of this to you? Well, sometimes I think the garbage in my life is a lot like that. I do not like dealing with it. It piles up. Before I know it, the garbage is flowing over into places it shouldn't be. It makes it difficult to work and difficult to enjoy my life!

Am I calling God the eternal trash man? I suppose so. I don't even have to bag up the trash and have it outside on a certain day of the week. If I'm smart about this, I don't have to work very hard at all. I just have to pay attention to my relationship with Him. He takes out the trash! Sometimes He and I have a tug of war over a piece of garbage that He thinks should be gone from my life and that I think I'm not ready to part with, but if I'm smart about it - I just let it go.

That isn't as easy as it should be, I tend not to be that smart. I have little bits of anger and annoyance, petty arguments and stupid feelings that I hold on to. Those build up in my life like a pile of trash!

I walked into my office this morning and sat down. As I began working, I was tossing papers in the recycle bin and trash in the trash can. I smiled. Both had been emptied before I got to work, both will be emptied before I get them full to overflowing. Little things like that make me very happy. I don't have to think about it - it just happens for me.

I walk into my relationship with God. As I began talking with Him, I toss things in the recycle bin, tears and anger, resentment and arguments in the trash can. Both are emptied before I even finish the conversation. It doesn't have to overflow. I don't really have to think about it - it just happens.

God is bigger than my trash ... how about yours?

Just Shout at God!

Yesterday, I told a friend to just go into her office, close the door and shout at God. She was lamenting the fact that just about the time she really began to open herself up and start relying on God to get her and her family through everything, things began to fall apart around her. Why in the world was this happening?

Boy, I get it. I have spent many an hour whining and screaming at God. And that's ok. Because God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows us down to our inmost parts. And He knows our hearts. I believe that God prefers the conversation we are having with Him over us leaving Him behind as we go through our lives. Even if we're mad.

For instance, Psalm 22:1-2 - "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, fso far from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent."

Or, Psalm 10:1 - "Why, I Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?"

Psalm 13:1-4 - "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

"Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, 'I have overcome him,' and my foes will rejoice when I fall."

You see, I think God wants us to question Him and be open with our feelings when we talk to (or shout at) Him. But, at the same time, I can't believe that He wants us to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. So ... what's next?

Well, today, I was talking with some other friends about the reason that we have the scriptures. When it comes down to it - the very last point of the reason...

... Hope.

Romans 15:4. "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."

The last part of Psalm 13 (look back a few paragraphs) is the ending of the lament of David. I think it's cool.

Psalm 13:5-6 - "But I trust in your unfailing love, my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for he has been good to me."

The reason we have hope is because of God's unfailing love, because God has been good to us in the past and because He has offered us salvation.

When I'm at my lowest point and just crying out to God, whether I'm pleading or shouting or whining or throwing a tantrum, He never walks away from me. He doesn't have to leave the room so that I'll learn a lesson. He has all the time in the world to sit with me until I'm ready to pay attention again. God knows that things aren't easy down here on earth. I doubt that He wants them to be easy. If we led easy lives, what reason would we want to be in heaven? No, God knew that day that Adam and Eve left Eden, that things were going to be tough for us.

What He doesn't want us to ever forget is that even though things seem really tough and we're in a 'mood' because of it, He is still there. His love is unfailing. He has been good to us and will be good to us again. In fact, probably through the things that we are most annoyed with Him, He is being good to us - we just can't see it.

So, when it seems awful - for heaven's sake - don't shut down and walk away. Shout at God, tell Him exactly how you feel. Open up the conversation. Allow yourself to be vulnerable before Him. Then, He'll be able to communicate with you as well and offer you the Hope thatonly He can give!

Harry Potter

Well, it's 1:30 in the morning and I just finished "The Deathly Hallows". I started about 8:15 this evening and THIS is why I read so little fiction anymore. I tend to consume well-written books and if a book bores me ... and takes me a long time to enter into the character's lives and the world in which it is written ... I don't have time for it.

I waited and waited and waited yesterday for the book to show up. When it didn't come, I finally pulled out Book 6 - The Half-Blood Prince - and re-read that. I had to preach last night, so I also spent time polishing the talk I was giving and fretting over some last-minute VBS stuff to prepare for this morning. By the end of the evening, I didn't have the 7th book in hand and forgot about it.

This morning we went to church, came home, cooked breakfast and then took a nap. I figured I would check Amazon.com one more time after supper to see if they had updated the tracking on the package. Whoops. It said it was delivered! UPS never delivers to our front door, but Max went ahead and checked for me. There it was. I ripped the box open and pretty much told Max that I wasn't going to be any good for the rest of the evening. He politely kissed me good night and went upstairs (poor guy).

I couldn't wait to get started. From page 1, I was entranced. It didn't begin with familiar characters, but began by introducing two of the Dark Lord's henchman and reinforcing our fear and loathing of a major character.

But, I've finished the book and I feel pretty good about the entire story. I am flabbergasted at the incredible creativity of JK Rowling and the depths of the characters she has built. She has obviously lived in this world and watched these people interact. You can tell how much she has loved them. Her mind is pretty amazing and if she weren't so famous because of these books, she'd be awfully interesting to talk to. I appreciate anyone that can strip me out of my world and plant me solidly in a world of their creation.

The story of Harry Potter has always been about love and sacrifice and it remains that way through the end of the story. It is also about redemption. Harry couldn't bear to see people in pain - whether it was Peter Pettigrew, who had been a friend of his parent's and then acted as a snitch to the Dark Lord, or Cho, who gave them up when forming Dumbledore's Army. He understood that he had a greater purpose in life.

We aren't all called upon to be the one great leader that will battle the Dark Lord ... that task is left to Jesus Christ. But, we are all called on to be prepared to sacrifice to bring others to Jesus. Harry Potter's mother gave up her life to protect her son, and in doing so offered him a protection that was all-powerful.

I find it interesting to see the connection here. The blood that flows through Harry Potter comes from his mother who offered the ultimate sacrifice. The blood that flows through each of us comes from Jesus Christ, who offered the ultimate sacrifice by battling and winning over the Dark Lord.

In the end, good wins out over evil ... every time! There's a reason for this underlying thread that runs through all good stories. Authors and movie writers may not know why they write this way, but I certainly do. There is hope ... eternal hope. This hope is offered to us by the cross. And whether or not people want to acknowledge it ... life on earth for everyone, not just for Christians, is made better by the hope that was given to us when Christ conquered Satan on the cross.

So ... Harry Potter. I've finished the story. If you REALLY want to know who dies and what happens at the end, I'll tell you. I was darned proud of myself. I didn't read the end of the book first. I started at page one and read straight through. I wanted to know how many pages I had to read, so I checked the last page, but I have to say I kept my eyes firmly planted on the bottom of the page, so as to read the page number and no words above it. I had told my friends and my husband that I don't like surprises, and I really thought I was going to go ahead and read the ending first. But, as I got wrapped up in the story, I couldn't do it. I had to let it play out. Rowling practically demanded that I do that. She was unrolling the tapestry piece by piece and you could see the history of her characters develop and the action of the present was pressing towards the end. So, I read it and enjoyed every minute of it.

Can I just tell you that I'm thankful to be a fast reader? I don't think I could have happily drawn this out over a few days. I had to finish as quickly as possible. Every time I had to go to the bathroom or let the dog outside, or clean up the kitchen and put supper away, or talk on the telephone, I was screaming in my mind. I just wanted to read.

I'm kind of sad that it's over. But, it's been an amazing run. These will be 7 books that I'll enjoy reading again and again.

The tale of Harry Potter has been told. Hmmm ... I wonder what's next!

The thing about God ...

...is He is bigger than me. Whew!

I should be sleeping right now - tomorrow morning is coming early. However, "Little Miss Sunshine" was on tonight and I knew that I wanted to see it, so I stayed alert. I'm so glad I did. What a riot. I had to bury my face in the pillow while I was laughing so that I wouldn't wake Max up. Ok, and my laughter seems to upset the animals. They can't discern whether it's laughter or tears. I guess they assume tears.

Absolutely one of the strangest families I've ever seen, but as I watched, they showed more love to each other than many 'normal' families I experience today. Part of that love was tolerance for each other no matter what they had experienced and were dealing with. When pain is as great as it can be, the hug of a small child is what is required to bring reality back to the situation.

We make such a big deal out of things. We try to analyze, we offer opinions, we pay for therapy. Sometimes all it takes is giving a little bit of time and a little bit of affection. The simple things. We make it so difficult.

I know it's Hollywood and way oversimplified, but this movie has me thinking a lot about love and families and interactions with other people. All of their 'stuff' was right out there in the open. And in the end, they loved each other because of all of that 'stuff'.

We bury all of our 'stuff'. Or at least do our very best to hide it and put our best foot forward. There is absolutely nothing real about us anymore. No wonder we don't trust anyone to actually love us. No wonder we are always suspicious. If we're hiding this much 'stuff', obviously everyone else is!

All of my life, I've known that God knows everything about me. For some people that is very scary. For me, it's been quite comforting. Scripture tells me that I can't hide from Him. Thank goodness! At least there is one place in my life where all of my reality is laid bare. You see, I know that God created me. I know that He loves me. I know that He sent His Son to rescue me from myself and from the world. I know that there is nowhere to hide. I am so thankful for that.

The next step is for me to trust everyone else as much as I trust Him. It probably won't happen too soon, but give me time!

The Last Place You'd Expect This

I am beyond furious. And I am a little startled with my reaction. This morning I was quietly working away and my phone rang. It was Max ... asking if I had seen the news regarding Michael Vick. Ummm ... no, what's going on?

Michael Vick, the star quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons had a federal indictment handed down on him regarding dog fighting.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19836601/site/newsweek/site/newsweek/

I tend to not react too badly when stars are idiots. It's what they do. There are so few of them anymore that do anything to garner my respect, I just plan on them being low-lifes. And sports stars? Puh-leeze. They make millions of dollars for doing their thing. Not something I will give them a lot of respect for. The ones that we decide to honor generally turn out to be ... well, idiots. They pump steroids in their bodies, they beat their wives and girlfriends, they act like morons when they drink. Pretty much just like the rest of the general population, but they get paid large amounts of money and plant themselves firmly in the public eye.

So why am I so furious? I am sick and tired (and avoiding all of the expletives I'd like to use as adjectives) of these sports stars parading around the world, asking for young people to give them respect and their money and they have absolutely no sense (avoiding more expletives) regarding their own responsibility.

What is this man thinking? That it's appropriate for him to be killing animals and torturing them so that they will fight with each other? That abuse like that is the right thing to do? What in the hell?!?!

I picture a young boy from Georgia sleeping at night with a number "7" Atlanta Falcons jersey and tonight, his mother just can't stomach allowing him to wear it one more night. So, she has to explain to her son that this man isn't worthy of his adoration. Or young men graduating from high school, who have thought all along "I can be that good. I can work hard and become a star... just like Michael Vick. He's a hero." And tonight. He's not. He is less than a fallen hero. He's a jackass. Has he given a celebrity's approval to the hideous sport of dogfighting? Something that is illegal in more than 50 states? What in the hell was he thinking? How does a man who makes millions of dollars playing football think that he needs to make more money doing something as awful as this.

I'm furious. I want this man slammed in jail for a very long time. I want him stripped of all of his endorsements and I want the Falcons organization to dump him right now. I don't do rage very well and I generally want to wait until things are out there before I make judgments. I rarely believe that excessive jail time is appropriate. But, tonight. Throw the book at him.

Lessons Learned

I posted a long blog last night that is now off my site. If you caught it - fine, if not ... that's even better. You see ... I'm not much for talking about people on here without their permission, even when I'm absolutely furious at them and don't have much respect for them. It took me about 12 hours to remove it and this was after reading it through several times. I'm glad to tell you the stories, I'm just not glad to have them down so that everyone can see them ... forever.

None of this changes the lesson that I wish everyone could learn.

During the last couple of weeks I have dealt with two women that force the world to be decent to them and treat them well, even though there is no darned good reason to do that. Only because they exist and walk among other Christians do these two women garner any respect and decency. It's not about them, it's about our God. People treat them well, because God expects them to do so.

Yet, these two women insist that they are Christians and insist that they are leaders within their churches. They simply don't act like Christians and their leadership is done through intimidation and manipulation. Both of them are getting up there in years (over 75) and both of them would have strongly complained about these same personalities when they were younger and very active in their churches.

My question today becomes: What can we learn from people that drive us crazy? What can we learn from people that expect to be treated well, no matter what they say or do and tend to say rude things to everyone around them and act only in their own best interest 95 percent of the time?

I certainly hope that I learn to never be that person. I hope that a generous spirit pours forth from me, that I am more willing to give and to be in the background rather than have the world create drama around me and celebrate the fact that I live on this earth.

I complain a lot about the sense of entitlement that our young people have today. They don't feel the need to work for anything or sacrifice to achieve things in this world. They believe that the world owes them a living ... a good living and if they don't get it, they throw a tantrum. There are several generations that are becoming adults right now that are living within this sense of entitlement.

However, there seems to be a similar sense in many people who have lived past the age of 70. I find it generally in women. They have raised children, worked hard (so they think - but many of them never worked outside the home or even lived in a rural area - they were coddled by husbands and older children), participated in activities in the church all of their lives and now ... they believe that they have the right to impose their will on younger generations simply because of their age.

Not so much!

These women no longer give from a spirit of generosity - they expect to receive something back. When money is given, it is a transfer of goods ... for the money they give, they want respect and adoration. Gifts are given with strings attached. Gifts are also generally given with a nod toward the giver - never to the receiver. No thought is given to the appropriateness of the gift, but only to the fact that it is being given and should be appreciated.

I have about 25-30 years before I approach the age of either of these women. Max is under strict orders to keep me grounded. And so are you all! When my suggestions and opinions no longer make sense in the order of things and I begin to concentrate only on my own agenda and it becomes more important than Jesus Christ ... it's time to remind me.

And I'm calling you all out now. Consider why you say the things you do and consider why people speak to you. Is it truly because you are a loving, generous person? Do you draw people to you because of the Spirit of God inside you or do people tolerate you because of the Spirit of God inside them?

That's my lecture for the week. I'm awfully tired of self-centered, manipulative old ladies. I just pray to never be one of those.

PTL 990

If you read yesterday's post, you might have felt sorry for me. Oh, please never do that unless I specifically tell you to do so. I whine a lot for no good reason and generally get over it pretty quickly!

I used to drive my mother nuts. I moved 6 1/2 hours away from home for my first 'real' job. I was the Christian Ed and Music Director in a Methodist church in Spencer, IA. It was pretty darned lonely. I knew no one except the senior pastor. But, he was an aloof sort of fellow and his wife was weird, so I was alone.

Mom and I talked on the telephone all the time. When things would get stressful, I would call her and completely unload on her, sobbing and crying and freaking out and on and on and on ... What she didn't know was that once I unloaded, I was much better! I just needed to say all of my stuff out loud and the pain of it would begin going away. However, she just absorbed it all and began worrying about me and wondering how she could fix it for me. She would get off the telephone and go into complete 'mom-worry' mode.

We would talk the next day and I would be rambling on about all of the things going on in my life and she would stop me. "But, what about ...? Are you ok? How are you going to handle...?" Whoops. She was still processing on the conversation we had the day before and I had stopped processing on it once I had spoken the words.

She yelled at me once about it. She was pretty annoyed with me. I laughed at her. I knew that was her job and she knew that was her job. She just didn't like that job!

So, what's up with the title of this blog? Well, after feeling sorry for myself last night, I decided to see what I could do about that. It's my fault that I've pulled away from listening intimately to God. So, it's my responsibility to find a way to open my heart again.

This morning I was laughing with Him (God) about the insanity of my life. I turned a corner and breathed out, "Ok God ... what's next?" and a van cut in front of me with the license plate "PTL 990".

PTL = Praise the Lord. 990 times. That's all I heard from Him. Over and over and over and over and over and over again.

Are you kidding me? Of course! That only makes sense. When I am praising Him, I am not thinking about myself. When I am praising Him, I am not worrying about my stuff. When I am praising Him, it's all about Him.

Nothing to Say

This is a bad position for a Communications Director to be in. My home life is less than exciting. I get up, go to work, come home, maybe eat dinner out, crash and sleep through the night. My poor brain is being drained at work these days. I'm not even sure why! I just know that it can't think well in the evenings. That's definitely not what I would like to see happening for myself!

Part of the trouble is that I've been shifting my life back to being a morning person and I don't want to accept that. I get up between 6:00 - 7:00 in the morning and expect to be able to stay up until after midnight! Bad Diane.

I've been thinking a lot about prayer lately. I haven't felt terribly 'close' to God. Oh, I talk at Him - ask Him to deal with things going on in the world and in my friends' lives, etc. I thank Him for the things that are going on around me on a daily basis. I ask for Him to guide me as I do things. I want desperately to be within His will, but I haven't taken the time to simply be quiet before Him. There are always a million things that need my attention.

It feels like we live in the same house, but aren't really taking the time to sit down and talk to each other. We have meals together, but there are always other people hanging out with us, so it's never an intimate conversation. We're in the same room together, but I'm watching television and He's sitting on the sofa waiting for me to pay attention to Him.

Oh my ... sometimes this is the same relationship that I have with Max! And our relationship suffers as well when I allow this to go on for too long.

Maybe this is why I haven't had much to say lately. I'm not communicating well with anyone!

Ok, God. What's up and what do You need to say to me? I suspect it's time I really listen to You!

Deep Thoughts

Last night I began research on a new study ... and started with "Foxe's Book of Martyrs". I read the first paragraph and got lost in thought! Read this:

Christ our Savior, in the Gospel of St. Matthew, hearing the confession of Simon Peter, who, first of all other, openly acknowledged Him to be the Son of God, and perceiving the secret hand of His Father therein, called him (alluding to his name) a rock, upon which rock He would build His Church so strong that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. In which words three things are to be noted: First, that Christ will have a Church in this world. Secondly, that the same Church should mightily be impugned, not only by the world, but also by the uttermost strength and powers of all hell. And, thirdly, that the same Church, notwithstanding the uttermost of the devil and all his malice, should continue.

Which prophecy of Christ we see wonderfully to be verified, insomuch that the whole course of the Church to this day may seem nothing else but a verifying of the said prophecy. First, that Christ hath set up a Church, needeth no declaration. Secondly, what force of princes, kings, monarchs, governors, and rulers of this world, with their subjects, publicly and privately, with all their strength and cunning, have bent themselves against this Church! And, thirdly, how the said Church, all this notwithstanding, hath yet endured and holden its own! What storms and tempests it hath overpast, wondrous it is to behold: for the more evident declaration whereof, I have addressed this present history, to the end, first, that the wonderful works of God in His Church might appear to His glory; also that, the continuance and proceedings of the Church, from time to time, being set forth, more knowledge and experience may redound thereby, to the profit of the reader and edification of Christian faith.

As it is not our business to enlarge upon our Savior's history, either before or after His crucifixion, we shall only find it necessary to remind our readers of the discomfiture of the Jews by His subsequent resurrection. Although one apostle had betrayed Him; although another had denied Him, under the solemn sanction of an oath; and although the rest had forsaken Him, unless we may except "the disciple who was known unto the high-priest"; the history of His resurrection gave a new direction to all their hearts, and, after the mission of the Holy Spirit, imparted new confidence to their minds. The powers with which they were endued emboldened them to proclaim His name, to the confusion of the Jewish rulers, and the astonishment of Gentile proselytes.

That is absolutely profound! I have never looked at that passage in Matthew 16 as a prophecy, but it is so cool to consider the implications. I apologize for the fact that you have to read through ancient grammar ... it's good for you! And it's only 3 paragraphs, right? If you skimmed it, please just take a few moments and read through it slowly. The language will soon become beautiful to you. And the words carry a deep meaning.

Here's the passage from Matthew that Foxe is speaking of: (Matthew 16:13-20)

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"

They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"

Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

Not only did Jesus reveal himself as the Son of God to Peter, but He revealed the purpose of Peter's life and revealed the beginning of an amazing shift in thinking.

There are so many pieces to process on in this passage now that Foxe has opened my mind to new interpretations of it. I will no longer be able to read it without considering how Jesus changed the thinking of the disciples.

The 'church' did not exist at all. This was a new beginning. Peter would be the foundation of this new beginning. Jesus Christ gave Peter power over heaven and earth in this conversation.

I don't know yet what I'm going to do with this information. I'm probably going to let it roll around a bit in my head. This is the stuff that warms me up and makes me realize how thankful I am for God's Word. I do know that I am going to have to keep reading Foxe's Book of Martyrs. You can too ... Foxe was born in 1516. Everything he wrote is in the public domain!

Eight Things About Me

I was tagged by Jacque. And now I have to THINK! Argh.

*Each player lists 8 facts or habits about themselves.

*The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before the list of 8.

*At the end of the post, the person tags 8 people, then go to comment on the tagged person's blog, letting them know they've been tagged.

1. My mid-elementary years were in Morning Sun, Iowa with a future graduating class of 23.

2. I met my husband online and dragged him up here from North Carolina.

3. I always figured I would be a music teacher ... who knew?

4. I made a personal commitment to Christ at the age of 13.

5. My first car was a VW bug - I miss it.

6. I've lived in Omaha longer than I ever lived anywhere else.

7. I have a scar on my right ankle from dropping a pair of scissors point down into it. They really did go "sproingggg".

8. I wear my mother's engagement ring as my engagement ring.

Oh ... whew! I was going to keep going and realized that I only needed to do 8. I don't know that I know 8 bloggers, but I will tag:

Cody
Rebecca
Brad
Maggie
Craig

It occurs to me that if I don't know 8 bloggers personally, some of you need to step up! I KNOW you all have plenty to say - we talk all the time!