Very Busy Season (or... VBS)

 

It's Vacation Bible School time around our place.  Which means, basically, that we run around for a week pulling our hair out, picking up more children than can possibly fit in our vehicles, and generally feeling like surely we'll be more organized next year.

We never are.

So don't expect me to update regularly like I was doing last week (three times!  possibly a new record!) because I'll be busy feeling guilty about breaking the law by having at least 10 more kids in my van than I have seat belts.  That sort of thing.

But it surely is good to be having VBS.  There's something energizing about all the kids, and the smell of paint, and hearing little voices learning Bible verses.  That sort of thing.  So (loss of hair aside), it's a good week around here.  A good week indeed.

For shame

I listen to the Christian radio a lot.  We have about four, actually, where I live, so if there's a boring conversation/song I don't prefer/lousy reception I just flip to another station and I'm set.  Rather handy.

It's especially handy when it's Share Week (every station calls it something different, but Share Week is the week when listener-supported radio stations ask for donations and hope you feel led/guilted into sharing of your bounty).  I'm going to be honest--I've never donated to a radio station.  Even though I listen to several, most of which are listener-supported (the one Christian station we have that isn't listener-supported is irksome to me because of the commercials.  Which, of course, is what the other ones avoid by being listener-supported), I just don't donate.  And I could say, "Oh, but I don't have a job!" but the truth is, even when I had a job I didn't donate.

So anyhow, obviously guilt keeps me from listening during such weeks (yes, your ministry has been an encouragement.  No, I apparently do not want to help fund you so you can encourage other people.), but sometimes I hear part of their programming anyhow, because I don't prefer the songs on the other ones so I come back, even though I feel guilty.

I should probably stop feeling guilty.  Guilt is a sort of sin.  Or something.  Anyhow, I hope my guilt has not caused you to stumble somehow.  Please ignore me if it has.

So, recently I was listening to part of a Share Week, and they read an email from a listener whose name was Jason.  Jason donated to their Share Week because he liked their radio station.  Jason, however, wasn't a Christian.  He didn't like it because of it's Christian-ness, but he did like what they were doing and wanted to support them.  They obviously asked for prayers that Jason would get saved, and that the programming would perhaps reach others like him.

(Picture this:  me, hearing this on the radio, basically crippled with guilt.  Scene set.)

Jason-who-is-not-saved donates and I don't?  There is something wrong with this picture.

Went to the Moody website and what did I see?  That I can still Share with them.  GUILT.

Down side, though, I still haven't donated to any of those stations.  Up side, I pray for Jason.  I like to think that he's accepted Christ as his Saviour by this point.  I think we would all agree that that would be the nicest happening.

Evolution. Pfft.

A few weeks ago I was picking up my newphew(ish) from school and I asked him what they'd learned that day.

"Oh, nothing really," he said.  His usual response.

Naturally, I always give him a hard time about learning nothing, so I badgered him for a little more information.

"Well," he mused after a minute, "they were talking about volcanoes.  That was cool, but they said that it was because of evolution.  Can you believe that, Auntie Jo?  Can you believe that my teacher believes in evolution?  The Bible even says it's not true!  And she thought it was real!"

Oh, childlike faith.  I hope he never loses that staunch faith in the Bible.  Not like I think he's at risk to, but as a child I tended to say "Bible says it?  Count me in!" but once people started asking for specific examples of something, I never knew what to say.  I remember giving someone a gospel tract when I was little.  Just sort of wandering by myself when we were at a historic village one day.  Anyhow, the person to whom I gave this tract asked me if I believed in the Bible.  Of COURSE I did!  I was probably eight or so, which was old enough to know that I believed in the Bible wholeheartedly, but as soon as this grownup started asking me about the flood, and about creation, and all sorts of specific things that he said weren't true, I had no idea what to say.

It was sort of traumatizing, actually.

To this day, I'm not sure why I was wandering by myself, nor do I know why that adult thought it was okay to start grilling me about my beliefs.  I guess I did give him a tract, so I sort of asked for it.  Details, details.

Anyhow, I smiled when I heard my nephew(ish) talk about the folly of evolution, because of course it's not true.  The Bible says otherwise!

Tru dat, my friend.  Tru dat.

My type of book

This is a photo from Guyana.  I'm sure you're jumping wildly about with excitement thinking, "Hot dog!  She's going to tell a story from that trip she took where she didn't tell us any stories?  She's finally thought of one?  And she's going to share it and show us that she loves her blog readers just as much/more than she loves her facebook friends, even though she usually dislikes facebook and loves Google, thereby we infer that she should love her (Google-powered) blog readers extra-much and eschew her facebook friends?  This is that time?"

Uh, no.  You should probably stop over-thinking things.  I still don't have Guyana stories.  And why would you use the expression "hot dog"?  That seems a little outdated.  Not like I'm judging you, I'm just pointing that out.

Now that it's established that this story doesn't actually relate to Guyana (except to say: this picture was taken in Guyana), allow me to continue.

This is a photograph of my brother and I, reading.  Is this unusual?  Indeed, it is not.  We tend to read all the time.  Stop light?  Time to read!  Family gathering gone long?  Book!  Airport?  Bound and printed is how I like my material, thanks.

So anyhow, we read.  The whole family, really.  My younger sister has a love/hate relationship with reading (I know, WHAT?  I just stop at the love/ and pretend that the slash is part of the word.  Oh me?  I have a loveslash relationship with reading.  You?) but recently I got her hooked on The Mysterious Benedict Society books, and she's nearly done with the four books (three plus the prequel) and she only started the series on Friday.  It makes me so proud.

Anyhow, the book she was reading in Guyana was some book published by Reader's Digest a while ago about the human body.  Seemed like a book I'd probably not rather read, though my brother and I both read books of my choosing while in Guyana, and they weren't exactly a laugh a minute.  I thought her book seemed sort of boring, she thought my books were boring.  Figure that.  You can't really see in the photo (see?  the picture actually has a purpose) but we're both reading books that you may not have perused yet.  Mine is called Just My Type, and his is called The Elegant Universe.

I have to go on record as saying that Just My Type was a quicker read than The Elegant Universe.  Just My Type was a book about fonts, and it was very well written.  The author went through the history of fonts ever since Gutenberg made them popular, and it even has a section on the interrobang.  My favorite ever.  The Elegant Universe is about the string theory, which I find quite interesting, however... it gets a little long.

Confession time.  I'm still not finished reading The Elegant Universe.  I got it out from the library around Easter time, but didn't have time to read it, so I returned it and got it out again before Guyana.  Seeing as my brother didn't think to bring a book (WHAT?) on the trip, I lent him mine, and I read my other book--the font book--and he read the string theory one.  He didn't finish it either.  But I still intend to finish it.  It really is a good book.  Honestly.  I actually laughed out loud in one part.

I'm such a nerd.

But anyhow, that's sort of my whole point in this story.  I sometimes weird myself out.  Here's the thing:  I (sadly) fall prey to reading Karen Kingsbury/Beverly Lewis/pick a Christian author and I've probably read a book by him/her thing.  But I've been trying to read more informative books and less pointlessness recently.  Not that I think there's something wrong with Christian fiction (I'm... not one of those people.  I understand that Philippians 4:8 says "whatsoever things are true," but I still read fiction, even in light of that), but sometimes I take stock of my life and think, "Hm.  I don't have a lot of education, but I do read.  So I should educate myself via words.  That much I can do."  So I read things like The Elegant Universe.

But I don't always like reading books like The Elegant Universe.  I get halfway through and think, "Brian.  Oh, Brian.  WHY ARE YOU ONLY NOW GETTING TO THE PART ABOUT STRING THEORY!?"  (May I just interject that this would be a perfect place for an interrobang?  Do you see why I miss it so much?  Seriously, I cannot believe that it didn't take!  It sorrows me!)  Because seriously, the author (Brian, in case you somehow missed that, and thought I fondly gave the actual book a name) spends the whole first half of the book discussing either the theory of general relativity or quantum mechanics.  I understand why he had to lay so much groundwork, but after a while it got to the point where I just wished he'd, well, get to the point.  So anyhow, when I'm halfway through such books, and furrowing my brow and making solemn promises to myself that no child of mine will ever have the name Brian I think what am I doing?

And then I get all guilty.  Am I reading nerdy books because I actually am tired of Karen Kingsbury and cohorts?  Or do I just like to read smart books because it's a nifty conversation starter?  Or do I just really like to learn things?  Am I being pretentious?  Does Brian Greene really have to go into so much detail?

Sorry.  That last question clearly isn't in relation to most books.

I just have to evaluate my motives every once in a while.  I've pretty much decided that I actually want to read the books, and I'm not just being pretentious.  Because I've tried having conversations about nerdy things, and it never works, and then I just feel awkward.  Actually, I take that back.  I have a cousin who actually understands the string theory.  I was talking to him about it, and I was like, "Sweet!  Give me the condensed version!  It'll save me from finishing the book I started!"  And... as it turns out, he doesn't have a condensed version.  It was rather lengthy, and just as we got to the actual string theory part (which is to say, he laid the groundwork, the part I've actually gotten through in the book I'm reading)... our conversation got cut off.

And he lives many hours away from me.

So now I have to finish my book.

Ugh.

Thing is, technically I could just read the wikipedia article about it and call it a day.  But... I'm obsessive.  I can't not finish a book I've started.  Actually, I've actually been able to not finish books in recent years, which I count as being a very grown-up thing to do, but it sort of hurts me.  And at this point I think I'll probably go crazy if I don't finish this book.  I've been working hard on it.

How did I start this topic?  Oh yes.  I saw the book on my dresser (conveniently under my stack of Bible, Kindle, and journal) and furrowed my eyebrows at it.  And figured that I would talk about it (a lot) in my blog, and maybe that would count as reading a few pages or something.

Doesn't usually work that way.  Sorrow.

In other news, I must disclaimer this message.  Thing is, these books are interesting.  I have learned a lot thus far in The Elegant Universe, and I learned a lot while reading Just My Type (the author is from England, so he talks a lot about the fonts they use on signs around London and stuff, and he would have photos of said signs in the book, and I would feel well-traveled because I'd seen those very signs.  Even though every person who's been to London or traveled even a few miles on the M1 has seen those signs, which technically makes it way less cool that I've seen them.  Though let's be honest.  It was cool that I'd seen those signs), but I must admit that neither author is a Christian.  The science book teaches evolution like it's a fact.  Scientists.  Pfft.  The font book casually references typographers traveling about with girlfriends.  Sinners.  Pfft.

Problems I didn't have with Karen Kingsbury, bless her heart.  (And I'm really not trying to pick on her.  She's just well known, thereby an easy reference point.)

Maybe the moral of the story is that I should finally buckle down and read Darby's synopsis.  My mother had read it by the time she was my age.  Virtuous woman.

Food for thought.

Suddenly I realize that I didn't have a point with this rather lengthy post.  So I'll make a point.

.

Haha, get it?  Periods are points.

I... need more sleep.

It's about time

I've sort of been procrastinating recently about getting caught up here.  Not because I don't want to talk about Guyana and how wonderful it was, but because I've pretty much explained how wonderful it was to pretty much everyone I know.  It's one of those things where after a while you dread hearing, "How was it?"  I just picked random stories and would tell like one story to each person who asked, so people now know random little things about it.

Also, not only did I spend a lot of time telling everyone about it, but I also spent a long time captioning my facebook album so as to cut down on the explanations.  So I wasted all of my residual Must-Tell-Everything! feelings on facebook.

Crazy social networking.  (PS, I apologize to everyone I ever scoffed at for being addicted to Pinterest.  You were right.  It's addicting and awesome.)

Anyhow, so what happens to my blog readers?  Basically you got the raw end of the deal.  I'm not going to copiously go into details of everything.  I'll say some things (still thinking of what stories I'm not tired of telling, give me a minute) and show you some pictures and then move on to my regularly scheduled rambles (well, as regularly scheduled as I know how to be).

So, we'll start with a family photo of, well, our family.  We're standing on a savanna.  Randomly.  In Guyana.  So... yeah.

Next is a photo of me standing in front of St. George's Cathedral.  It's a really tall wooden building.  The only of it's kind, which being interpreted is to say, the tallest wooden freestanding structure.  I'm not really sure what the significance of that is, but anyhow, it's white and wooden.  That much I could see with my own two eyes. 

 Finally, some palm trees.  We were technically (I think?) in the jungle or something, so there were a lot of palm trees.  Also, coconuts.  Also, pineapples.  The pineapples (they call them "pines," though why they can't say the apple, I'm not sure) were literally the best I've ever had.  We cry when we see pineapples in the States now, because they just aren't as good.  Sob.

So you know how I said I was going to think of a story to tell?  Still nothing.  If anybody is interested in my facebook album (complete with rather lengthy captions) please let me know, and I can send it to you.  If we're not already friends on facebook.  Otherwise... I'll think of something more inspiring to say next time I deign to update this blog.  Sigh.