Poodle vs. Rooster

Yes, I know. You've been checking my blog every 5 minutes to see if I've posted. I'm sorry to disappoint.

Just to quickly explain the subject line, we have a dispatch radio at work and a couple days ago, the lady came on the radio and said that the cops had been called to a house because a lady's poodle was being attacked by a rooster. Only in Union County. We said it was too bad we didn't have a video camera, or we would have put it on YouTube.

Speaking of work, I've had a few really fun articles to write lately. One about a couple that's been married for 32 years and won a national Old Lovebirds contest...another about a high school student who just wrote a book and one about an old house that was turned into a Sunday school. For the last one, when I went to the house, a bunch of church ladies showed me around and one of them had a 9 year-old daughter. I was asking her daughter some questions about how she liked the new Sunday school and the girl was really talkative. She was trying to get her words out and said it's hard to be in front of a reporter for the first time. I was just thinking, "You're closer to my age than anyone else here."

But the people at the church were SOOO happy to show me around and extremely grateful for having the story about the building be in the paper. It's nice to see that other people appreciate what I love to do. That's the kind of story that gets me excited to go to work.

Oh and as a sidenote, one of the ladies was from Kingsport. Small world.

So this past weekend, I got to go to Minneapolis for Easter to visit Pete. I told him I've never built a snowman in March before...It was a very healthy snowman, too. Prune eyes, grapes for a mouth and a carrot nose...(except from the back it looked like he had a brain tumor because the snow wasn't cooperating). And since it was built by a southern girl, I gave it a scarf to keep it warm.

Pete said it looked like it needed to go on a diet, but I say snowmen are supposed to look that way. It makes their jolliness more convincing.

We went to a Good Friday service on Saturday...(just seeing if you were paying attention...of course it was on Friday) and back again on Easter Sunday. I think the best part of the service was when all the little kids went up to the front for story time and the lady handed out little bags of candy. There were probably 50 kids or so (maybe I'm exaggerating but I doubt it) and they all stood up at the same time when the lady said she had candy to give them. Then they turned around and got that "I don't remember where my parents are sitting" look on their faces before running back up the aisles. One boy yelled, "Jelly beans, jelly beans!!!" all the way back to his seat.

Then we went to an Easter gathering with his family. They're all really nice, but his 7 year-old godson informed me that he's never going to have a girlfriend because they have worse cooties than boys. I'm sure there will be some mind-changing not too far in the future. ;)

As usual, my trip went by way too fast, but it was fun and I got an Easter basket from his mom. :)

To jump to this weekend, I worked all day yesterday (since I didn't work Monday) and then went to a banquet for SES. The school hosted a conference this weekend and Alex (the president of the school) had asked me to give a testimony. I'm attaching it to the end of this entry because Mom wants to read it.

I felt refined at the banquet because the tables were so fancy. I didn't know I was going to get dinner. They even had cheesecake at every place setting, but I switched my blueberry cheesecake for a strawberry one before anyone sat next to me. Another guy who is in one of my classes gave his testimony as well and we both got great feedback. There were probably 100 or so people there. Josh McDowell was the guest speaker and everyone got a copy of his latest book, too.

Afterwards, I went to Starbucks with my classmate and I'm jealous of all the places he's traveled to! But it gives me motivation to go myself.

Today, I've been a bum. I woke up at 8:30, realized I didn't have to get up for at least 45 minutes to go to church and didn't open my eyes again until 12:38. I haven't gotten enough sleep lately so I don't feel too guilty. I had Pete tell me what he learned in church today so maybe that counts.

Then I cleaned the apartment and played Scrabble online with Pete for awhile, even though Sara told me I was "lame." I told her I'm not and she changed her description of me to "funny." Unfortunately, I lost the game, but I still say it's because he got to use the word "ravioli."

Finally I decided to do some homework, and I just finished reading a couple of chapters and memorizing verses. Only 5 more weeks of class left!

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Here's my testimony from yesterday...although I did memorize the first paragraph:

(First I just want to say that I took a public speaking class and was told that I shouldn’t sound like I’m reading, but since I wrote my testimony yesterday, I haven’t had time to memorize smooth transitions…So I hope you don’t mind).

Two years ago, I started getting letters in the mail from seminaries, beckoning me to join their student body made up of smiling young professionals with Bibles glued to their hands.

In the trash they went. Letter after letter, week after week…I probably opened one of them just to make sure I hadn’t accidentally applied to a school I didn’t know about.

I would stand at the mailbox and say to myself, “I don’t want to go to seminary. That’s for preachers and other mission folk. Why do I keep getting these things?” I had never expressed interest in seminary and certainly didn’t intend to end up in one.

Last fall, in my last semester of undergrad, I had plans to go to Chapel Hill for grad school to get a master’s in journalism. But that wasn’t God’s plan.

In September, a guy in the Baptist Campus Ministry at UNC Charlotte told me about a writer’s conference at SES. “Where?” A few weeks later, I was listening to people talk about writing with a Christian world view and met Alex McFarland.

I told him I had wanted to go to grad school for journalism but had also thought about a master’s in religion because it had always interested me. I know it’s an expression, but I promise you his eyes lit up. “Well, y’know…” he said. “We have a grad program here…Let me get you a pamphlet!”

This is my first semester at SES and I’ve thought about quitting more than once. My first week here was spent in a Thomas Aquinas module. We talked about things like, “Can reason unite being with change and multiplicity? Either being or non-being is the reason for change, or being or non-being is the reason for many!”

My vision got blurry and I started to plan my escape. I thought, “No, no, no; I must be in the wrong class. I won’t press charges, but I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to think that hard after dinner. Is this a joke? I knew that camera was in here for a reason.”

For six consecutive evenings, the question, “What was I thinking?” begged an answer.

But at chapel the next week, Alex addressed the new students. He said that a lot of us in the room may be thinking we are not smart enough to be here and everyone is ahead of us…Yep. He said we may be thinking we’re not as spiritual as the other people here and don’t belong. That, too. And he said we may be wondering what we’re doing here when we have rent to pay and a job to tend to…And by then I thought, “Alex McFarland has been reading my blog!”

Grad school is not easy. It’s a lot of work. A couple weeks ago, I was told three times in one weekend that I have no life. And when I tell people I’m going into journalism and getting a master’s in religion, I get a lot of people saying, “What are you going to do with that?” Personally, I can think of plenty. But what I’m learning here is not just preparation for a test; it’s preparation for every day of the rest of my life and absolutely invaluable.

On Tuesday, I found out one of my bosses is an atheist. Like a lot of people, he grew up in the church, but eventually shed his religious beliefs. Overhearing a conversation he had with a coworker (who went to a local Bible college), I was discouraged at best. It was sad to hear why my boss believes there’s no God and almost worse to hear my coworker’s attempts at changing his mind.

I sat there, trying to form the perfect response in my head and after awhile, a quote I read in one of my textbooks came to mind. I shared the thought with my boss and he disagreed.

Even though he seems set in his ways, I have a new mission. I’m not going to tell him to repent every day or bake him a “Jesus loves you” cake, but I can set a good example and be prepared not only to defend, but share my faith.

Nothing can stop us from fulfilling God’s plan and God’s plan for me was to go to seminary. There’s no way I could describe how God has changed my life the past year in the few minutes I have up here, but I know that He has placed me where he wants me…And that seems like a pretty good reason to go to class.

Enough already

In the past week, four friends have told me that I need a life. Three of them were last weekend when I felt guilty for going to a movie instead of studying. And sadly, I realized yesterday that even though I dusted, mopped, vacuumed, did laundry, cleaned my bathroom, put dishes away, went to the grocery store, took the recycling, caught up on e-mails and made a couple of phone calls, I still felt bad for not doing any homework. So basically, I'm incapable of taking a third of a day for myself without feeling guilty for it. I think my friends might be right...

Except it's not that easy. Last weekend, I had a whole paper to write plus a rough draft for another class and reading to do. When things involve research and a lot of thinking, it's not that easy to just get up and go to a movie whenever I feel like it without thinking of all the other things I should be doing instead. Now of course not every weekend is like that, but I almost envy my friends who have time to be bored.

I think I've done a little better this weekend. Today, I went to church and then just hung around the apartment until this evening when I went to look at a couple houses for rent. No textbook cracked open, no Word document opened, no research done...Just me, Sara, flipping through crappy movies on TV and my Cadbury egg. Does that count as having a life for awhile?

Speaking of looking for places to live, I was highly disappointed in my selections today. I'll spare the more boring details, but in the end I found myself in the passenger seat of a Gator, holding the landlord's dog while crossing a pasture that separates the owner's property from a tiny little depressing house with concrete walls and carpet that smelled like smoke. The last guy who lived there was a Katrina victim who was dying of cancer and I'll bet anything he died in the house. It gives me the creeps.

On the bright side, the property was furnished and had horses grazing in the front yard, but still, no thanks. The second property, owned by the same people, was a disturbing orange color right off of a main road that will be undergoing construction soon. A lady and her two kids live there now and they make a silly family. When she opened the door, she greeted the landlord, then looked at me like, "Who are you?" with her eyes and nose scrunched up. I almost said, "You know what, I'm really not interested in living here anyway. I don't need to waste your time." But I don't say things like that, so I just introduced myself and after a few awkward moments of her hesitating to let us in, she moved aside and let us through the door.

While I was standing in the doorway, her daughter gave me a full-out scowl and seriously scared me. I was so ready to get out of there.

It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't exactly taken care of either. Messy and one bathroom for three bedrooms, not to mention a crappy layout. And I know I must sound really picky, but honestly, you don't have to be very picky to turn these places down. I was surprised because the landlord's house was really nice and when I talked to the couple earlier, they made the places sound great. Of course, I guess they wouldn't say, "Yeah, the houses are really small and smell funny" over the phone.

Anyway, my search continues and hopefully I'll be able to find a roommate that doesn't keep changing her mind on what she wants.

Class is going better, though. I'm finding the material more interesting, although I still feel like everyone else knows a lot more than me. There have been several occasions when someone in the class will quote some scholar, author, "great thinker," etc., etc.

"As so-and-so says..." And the teacher always knows who they're talking about. I don't.

On a different note, life has been a little depressing lately. Just this past week, all these young people have died, and working at a newspaper, I hear about all of them. First, the student body president at Chapel Hill was shot to death around the same time a girl from Georgia was found dead. Then, two high school students were taking an unofficial skip day from school and ended up having a wreck. One died and the other is in critical condition. If he lives, he'll be charged with manslaughter. Next, there was a fire is Salisbury and two firefighters died. At least one was a volunteer firefighter and just 19. Then a lady in Matthews...the assistant town manager or something...died when a tree hit her car. And today, Mom told me that someone's son was also in a car wreck and died at just 20.

It makes me think that people are lucky if they can get through life without getting cancer or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There's way too much life to be lived to be the victim of some careless decision or random act of violence. It's kind of scary.

However, I heard the best story ever on Friday and it was one of those "there must still be some good in this world" moments. I get to write an article about it tomorrow, but I'll give you a sneak peek: There's a bus driver/Vietnam veteran in the area who is called Cross Man. He sculpts crosses and gives them away for free. The way he got into it and the hundreds of people he's reached is incredible...That's all you get for now, but I'll post the article on here when it's done.

To keep with the lighter note, I got my car window fixed today! All the car places I was calling were going to charge me a minimum of $75 and since I already had the window, that seemed like too much to pay. But a guy at church fixed it for me today thanks to Mom talking a lot. (I mean that in the best of ways). She called the pastor to ask a favor and mentioned that my car was broken into and my window needed to be replaced. Lo and behold there's a guy at church who could help me and wasn't even going to charge me...but I paid him anyway because it's the thing to do and I was very grateful. Now if we can just do something about the $3.17 gasoline.

One more thing: I've found a downside to my job...school board meetings.