Long Days

Growing up (like when I was in High School) there was a show called 

I have little rec-election of what the show was about, but I use the title often.

Today has not been a "strange day" it has been a "long day."

It hasn't been bad.  I helped my friends move out of their apartment so they can move into their new home (the parsonage of the little church) and then I had to come to work for 8 hours.

I think it's long because our work schedule for the April was released yesterday.  Next week I have two days in a row off!  Two whole DAYS!!!  I am so excited that I am distracted from much else and so today has been another "Long Day"

Dragging and making it,

Mel C

Spring Break

I miss spring break mission trips.  

Like this one to Panama City Beach for "Beach Reach" in 2006.

There isn't a lot that I really miss about college because I really love the life I have now, but I do miss spring break mission trips.  When else do you get to pile into vans with people that you kinda' know and come back so tight it feels strange not to be together after only seven days of being gone?  

All the college kids are getting back from their big trips to New York City, Big Break, and the like and it makes me miss those days of roaming around a city and looking for people to share Jesus with.

Even as I write this I realize that this should be my everyday life.  That spring break is not the only time I can go around spreading the truth and love of the Lord.  It's not something that only radical college students can do when they are on spring break.  It's something that we all should be doing and it's something that I struggle with.  I don't normally strike up conversations with people so that I can tell them about Jesus.

I don't normally pray for strangers on the street.

I don't normally give rides to people who need them.

I don't normally spend 24 hours a day with people that I want to build relationships with.

Maybe I should.  Maybe I should be praying for people on the streets.  Maybe I should be helping out those that I can help.  Maybe I should be more intentional about the relationships in my life.  

Maybe I should go on Spring Break everyday and make the most of what I've been given.

Nostalgic and noticing it,

Mel C

A Strange Day

Today has been strange.  I started out strong and energetic and ready to go.  I even got up early enough to make an omelet for breakfast.  I made it to campus early enough for me to be comfortable with myself and to not feel rushed or hurried.  I enjoyed chatting with friends before service with friends and classmates and most of chapel.  About half way through service I started slipping down the slippery slope of sleepiness.  It was all down hill from there.  I got to class and felt like all the energy drained out of me and left me a sloppy mess in a chair.  It was sad and pathetic.  I always feel like such a mess when I have to fight against sleep so much.

I got back to the house had lunch and took an hour long nap.  It was a good nap and I felt good and then my energy fell out from under me.  I'm sitting here doing phone calls trying to keep my eyes open and not really doing anything that I need to be doing....  oh well.

Maybe it's the weather.  Yeah, definently the weather.  Over and out kids.

Here's to a good night's sleep!

Mel C

the hard thing

This week our state director challenged us to step up as a staff and do the hard thing.  "What is the hard thing?" you ask.  Well, it's loving the ladies so much that we discipline them when they break the rules.  And I'm not talking about huge, massive rules, I'm talking the little ones.  Ones like not turning their hair spray in on time, still being in bed 3 minutes after wake up, not signing off on chores.  Little bitty things that don't seem to be that important.

Why are things like how neat their desks are when they leave important?  Basically because they won't be here forever and it's the little stuff that will trip you up and throw you right back into the pit that you just clawed your way out of.  We as a staff have been called upon to serve them women by helping them to become disciplined in everything.  Little things like getting too much food, regulating how many times they can have soda a week, keeping them in check with they words and jokes matter.

And it doesn't just matter for recovering addicts.  It matters for you and for me.  We have to choose to do the hard thing in our lives and to be disciplined.  Right now I am struggling with how I use my time.  I have so much to do that I don't want to do anything, so I've been choosing to watch "Friends" for hours on end.  It's got to stop. I've got to choose to do the hard thing in my life and be disciplined.  I can not give disciplines out to my students for not doing what I don't do.

It is the little things that will get you in the end.  People will tell you that affairs don't just happen because they don't.  There are a thousand smalls steps leading up to the actual affair.  A thousand small choices like what you are going to watch on TV tonight, or read while you lay in bed lead up to huge issues.

That is satan's gimmick.  If he can convince you that one little lie won't hurt anyone, then he will eventually convince you that cheating on your taxes is okay as long as you are still giving to the church.  We can not live lives of compromise.  In the book of Revelation Jesus tells the church of Laodicea that he will spit them out because they are living lukewarm lives (Revelation 3:14-22).

I choose to live a life that is decisively for God.  A life of integrity and honesty.  It hurts and it is not an easy path, but I choose it any way.  I choose the hard way with my students and with myself.  I'm not sure what this means in my life right now, but I will keep you up dated on the changes as they happen.

Choosing the road less traveled,

Mel C 

Today

Today I slept until 11.
Today I organized a list of donations for a conference.
Today I'm scrambling to fix all the forgetful things I did last week.
Today I want nothing more then to be at the beach.
Today I've been using 2 different computers in a side by side fashion.
Today I'm ready for next week to be here.
Today I've done zero homework.
Today the house is empty.
Today I work at 3 pm.
Today I miss my church, I haven't been there in more then 10 days (that's a long time in my life.)
Today I want for a "normal" life all the while knowing that if I had that I would not be happy.
Today I revel in God's glory and hope that I am bringing glory to His name in all that I do.
Today I will shower.
Today I will laugh with the ladies of the house.
Today I will live life abundantly.
Today counts.

somedays...

somedays i get tired of doing the reasonable thing.  i get tired of stuff like using the shift key, doing my school work, making the ladies of the house follow the rules.  somedays i listen to country music as loud as I can and  somedays i just want to run around yelling "i got a mustang, it'll do 80."  Monday was one of those days.  And so i listened to the song in the car driving not quite 80 through the "country" on my way to my parents house.  Because Monday was one of those days I'll share a little bit with you about what happens when God fearin' women get the blues.  enjoy.

You don't have to be my baby,

Mel C

The Doldrums

The last few months have been breath taking in my life.  God has been doing some great things.  He has revealed areas that had to change in my life, helped me in changing them, healed me, and moved me miles forward in a very short time.  It's been the kind of time in my life where so much has happened that every moment has been new, fresh, exciting and exhilarating.

Only once before have I ever experienced a time like this.  It was an equally amazing time where I was taught more they I can begin to explain.  But something I always forget about times of extreme growth and rejuvenation is that they are followed by a much slower time.  A time where not much happens because you have to adjust to being this new person.  You have to take what had been shown to you and begin to apply it to your everyday life.  To prove that you have really changed, and I don't mean to prove it to God but to yourself.  I think that God factors these doldrums into our lives so that we can adjust to the person he is making us into.

If God where to completely rework you and then throw the new you into the mess that is this world with out any time to adjust then you are more likely to fail and to fail grandly.

I am in the doldrums right now.  I slept 12 hours last night because I've been going full speed ahead for two months.  The past week I've not been very good about having a quiet time because I've been so tired and stretched thin.  I feel like the world is going in slow motion so that I may hold tight and stay firm in the newness of me.  God is giving me this time in the doldrums to adjust, reset, reaffirm who I am now and to prepare for the next big flurry of activity.

It's a good time of deep breaths and at the same time I find myself frustrated, annoyed, and disappointed with myself.  I have to remember that I need this time.  That this has nothing to do with my failure or performance but is just a time to breath deep and settle into how I have been changed in the last two months.

Thankfully resting,

Mel C

Visits with a Purpose

I got off of work yesterday at 4 and had to promptly jump in the car and zoom (if you can call 2 hours zooming) to the little town that was home a little less then a year ago.  One of my very near and dear friends has been commuting from the city to be a part of the play "Doubt".  It was wonderful.  She did amazingly well.  It was a great trip that last 4 whole hours and then I returned to my current life because I have responsibilities here on Sundays now.  It was like a dream.  I don't know if you have ever had that kind of experience in real life but I have.  There have been a few other times where I have veered so quickly from the life I am living onto some tangent and quickly returned.  Those times leave me spinning circles and evaluating every part of my life.  Except for last night's trip.  I left the play house knowing that I was good.  That a short visit was nice but it was nothing compared to the joy that I have found in the city... I love it.  I'm glad I'm here and I realized that this is more home then that.  It's taken a little longer to make the conversion to calling this city home, but home it is and that is really fun for me.  It was a great visit that had a great purpose beyond going to a play in a community theater.

Big City Lady,

Mel C

It's that time of year again...

Every year around April or May (sometimes as early as March) I start to get antsy... I start wanting to change things; be it where I live, what I do, what I wear or whatever, I just want to change things.  It just doesn't feel right for me to be somewhere for more then a year.  I don't necessarily mean change cities or towns, just the place where I live, but not this year.  This year I'm staying put.  I'm not packing bags to go away for the summer or boxing up everything to move to a new place (or storage unit).  I'm staying put.  And it kind of makes me ache a little.  So I've decided to cut my hair.  I've been growing it out for a few years (in case some tall dark and handsome fellow where to come along and propose and my hair would be long enough to fix in our wedding, and to donate to Locks of Love) and woke up on Tuesday morning knowing that it was time.  The weather is getting warmer, my hair is getting more and more broken with every passing day, and I'm using waaayy to much shampoo and conditioner.  I can not support a bottle a month need for this mess on top of my head.  As soon as I can squeeze a hair cut into my schedule (and budget) this will happen.  I'm beginning to get super excited about it.  I think my only requirement is that Patsy (my hair dresser) doesn't cut bangs into again.  I'm done with that scene.

Long locks no more!

Mel C

P.S. I'll post pics of the current length soon so that you have an idea of how much hair I have.  (It's never been this length at any other point in my life, ever.  Not even in High School.)