Job

So, I've been reading Job a lot lately. It's really great. But I'm reading Job, and it's gotta be tough to be like Job, because you are being faithful, but still you're suffering. It's totally the worst feeling ever. And Job has all these "friends" who tell him stuff like, "You are not telling the truth - you're a big sinner, and God is judging you for it" which is such a huge lie, because Job was super righteous. And this other dude, Elihu, told him that the Lord can't twist justice, so what He's doing must be fair and just repayment for Job's terrible sins (Elihu right about a lot of things later on). But none of those guys were absolutely right. In the end, Job was the only one with the right idea - he just praised the Lord even as he questioned what was happening to him (you know, boils, scars, his whole family wiped out). I think the really hard part for Job was loneliness, like what you're going through now. I mean, it had to be hard to watch all of his earthly life fall apart, but I think that what he hated the most was the separation from people who were supportive - his "wise friends" didn't do it, and he felt far from God, and his whole family is dead. He was even outcast from society because of his illness. He was so lonely. Job asks these questions of God, and goes everywhere from other faithful believers to garner advice and guidance. But these guys don't know God's character at all, and at the end we learn that the man who is suffering, whose only friends have turned on him and condemned him, gets blessed with even more awesome stuff than he had at the beginning. And he got three daughters with rockin' names (Jemimah, Keziah, and Keren-happuch). Anyway, what I think is cool about the book of Job is that we have this paragraph at the beginning that's all about how awesome Job's life was, and then a paragraph at the end that tells us how awesome his life becomes. But the other forty-two chapters are all about loneliness and suffering. God has got to be telling us something there. Why would he focus like, ten lines, on prosperity and then pages and pages on suffering? And loneliness specifically? I'm pretty sure he knew we were going to suffer more acutely from loneliness than many other worldly concerns. I mean, think about it. We were created to be in perfect community with God, but that's impossible because of sin. So ultimately, what we suffer from is separation from God because of our sin.

I was just talking to a friend this week about loneliness and how tough it is to be around people but still feel alone. And I was reading Job at the same time. I'm not a theologian or anything, but I like Job and thought about him some.

Roadhouse Pizza

There's a new pizza place just a mile from my house. And it's owned by Carol & Dave, whom we love, and there's a ton of variety on the menu. And even though all the food there is great, today I want to write an Ode to Stromboli.

Oh, Stromboli, you're smaller than I expected
Yet the 10.99 I paid for you was not too much.
Your round, crispy, doughy outside conceals your inner beauty
The beauty of Dave & Babies buffalo chicken artichoke dip.
Though the waitress said you would feed two or three
Krista and I wanted one for each of us
Waiting for you by the arcade was not so much fun
I learned that I should never have an air hockey table
Or male children.
You are the perfect excuse for eating bad stuff
I'm basically eating dip, but it's listed under "Entrees"
You make my mind come alive with possibilities
of ways to eat other bad thing wrapped in dough and call them "dinner"
Nutella stromboli, meringue stromboli, Yucatan hot bean dip stromboli
So many choices you offer to me
April makes a good stromboli at the camp, too.
I can no longer settle for simple dinner options
Stromboli you did this to me.

So I hope you enjoyed that. Things are tense getting ready for summer camp; we all need a little giggle.


Also, there was a picture but blogger won't let me upload today. sorry.

Waiting for Baby

Today baby Adleigh is coming into the world - we think. Sandy and Pat are at the hospital awaiting the newest member of the Myers clan (and with six of them now, it really is like a clan). It's a very high tension day for us here, too, waiting for news and thinking about how cute she will be and what she will wear and how she will be the best behaved baby and will sleep full nights starting tomorrow. Well, maybe not that last one. I've gotten to wait for many babies this year, and it's really exciting to be waiting for one more sweet little girl to come into the world! It's so fun to think that just five months ago, we were making Christmas tree ornaments and Kaylin remembered to make one for Adleigh - but she didn't seem quite real yet. How cool!
God Bless baby Adleigh.

I felt like a new template

Every once in a while, I feel like getting a new template. Today is one of those days. Well, actually, I feel like buying new clothes, but a new template is better because it's free and I don't have to iron it. I hate ironing stuff.

Appalachian Service Project

Tonight is a very big night. If you eat at Chick-fil-a in Greensburg tonight between 5-7 pm, your money helps missions! That's right, my church (www.charteroakumc.org) is fund raising with Chick-fil-a tonight. With a COC coupon, your meal still costs full price but 20% of your payment goes straight to Charter Oak's Appalachian Service Project. This mission trip sends a group from COC to Kentucky, WV, Tennessee or VA to build homes & do work to improve living conditions, as well as connect with the families in the area. It's a really cool idea! Plus, I get to enjoy chicken and a tasty milkshake and know I am helping people in my church to love people through this mission. I like that even those who are unable to attend the trip are able to be missionaries.
So eat up!

Sheetz.

There are not many places where you can order a nice, hot meal and get an Arnold Palmer (1/2 tea, 1/2 lemonade) while waiting for your car to get gassed up. Or even to make-your-own milkshake while you check out what's going on with Brangelina and baby Shiloh. But at Sheetz, you can do it all. Today's menu? The not-so-healthy pepperoni and provolone 6 inch sub with a bag of french onion sun chips & a Lite Arnold Palmer made with green tea (that means the tea inside is green and pic of Arnie on the outside has a green background instead of black & white). Excellent.
But while I was catching up on Ashlee Simpson's upcoming nuptials, I also was able to make a phone call, think about adopting a German Shorthair puppy (they look cute even though I know they're insane), and contemplate whether a chocolate-chocolate Krispy Kreme is actually better than a classic glazed. Jury's still out on that one.
I think the traditional Sheetz clientele is interesting, too. At least the local one. In the time period I was there, I saw a local Giant Eagle employee, a mom and her three kids getting slushies, a guy buying a half-moon-pie and chocolate milk, and a dude loading up on cigarettes (filtered, at least).
So as I enjoy my delicious tasty food, I will try to forget that Sheetz sells inappropriate magazines in their stores, and simply appreciate the convenience and variety that it Sheetz.