Recently at dinner my dad told me he was talking to a friend and the man asked about me. I was like, yeah dad? What did you tell him? He said, oh actually I was telling him things and it really made you sound successful. Then he had my mom and I had a great chuckle.
I’ve been reflecting on this, I’m good with words, I know how to present the facts in a way that gets the response I want (for the most part). I can share highlights to make things sound glamorous, or lowlights to elicit sympathy/empathy. But sometimes I spend too much time thinking about how to present things. And it’s difficult to not become proud of my accomplishments or discouraged by my failures. Maybe you’ve picked up that this whole thing is very self-centered. Jeremiah 9:26 says, “But the one who boasts should boast in this, that he understands and knows Me—that I am Yahweh, showing faithful love, justice and righteousness on the earth, for I delight in theses things. This is the Lord’s declaration.” This is the good news, that even more than I know Him, He knows me and continually shows His faithful love.
But since you might want to know what’s going on with my life here it is, completely tainted by my perceptions and open to your interpretation.
Job:
I am still employed by Clean Harbors. I still don’t have defined tasks. Next week marks 4 months of employment. Thanks to Clean Harbors I now have clean teeth and it has been confirmed that I still don’t need glasses and I have good blood pressure. Last month I was off a Wednesday-Friday and when I came back on Monday they had moved all my stuff. Evidently someone with legitimate responsibilities got demoted into my office and they gave me a smaller office with no exterior windows. This was a little humbling because before when people would ask me what I do I could say, “I don’t know, but I have an office with a window and a really nice view.” Now what can I say? On the flip side, my new office has 2 glass walls and I now understand, more fully, how fish feel. And actually the furniture is laid out better so I’ve been able to decorate with houseplants and artwork. As I was told recently, I sit there and look pretty. And a lot more people pass by and stop in to chat and tell me their life stories.
Although I have no responsibilities (not an exaggeration folks), next week I am getting sent to Houston for “training.” The irony is I’m supposed to tell them what I want to be trained on. I don’t even know who the training people are, or what they could train me on. We work with oil and it’s Texas so maybe I can ask them how to find oil, I hear that’s a lucrative market.
The good news is I have friends in Houston and it’s a free trip. So actually I’m really excited. That brings be to why I should be packing, I fly out tomorrow morning at 6am. I'm not quite sure what to pack for the 100* humid weather.
Other Travel:
The other benefit of having a job with no expectations is it’s really easy to ask for un-paid leave. One time I brought up to a boss that I wanted to take a week off to help a friend move from NM to IL. He hesitated because I was, “really learning some helpful things.” The next day, someone asked me to sharpen a box of pencils—this is not a joke—a whole box. The next time I asked him about taking the time off he didn’t hesitate and I went on a road trip.
With this availability the Lord recently dropped a trip to Cuba on my lap. If you know the Hieberts this trip will make slightly more sense. If you don’t know them, they’re this Canadian couple I guess in their 70’s that have been going down there a few times a year for the past 20 years this time they’re going with another American couple (Mark and Bonnie Swecker) that has been a bunch and they invited me to go along. I guess it's a missions trip of sorts.
They sent me a flight itinerary and a packing list: instant oatmeal, power bars, pillow, towels, toilet paper…basically it’s like camping. But it won’t be camping because a young couple from a church they meet up with is hosting me. I think I won’t let them know that I brought my own toilet paper unless it seems appropriate.
We’re still waiting for our religious visas to come through (us 3 Americans, the Canadians don’t have to worry about it) and then the plan is to fly out of Miami on September 21st and fly back on October 5th. I would fill you in on details but I really don’t have any. As far as travel planning goes the only think I have done is sent in a picture of my passport (taken on my phone) and June Hiebert told me I should wear long skirts and leave pretty much all of my clothes there so I’ve been purging my closet. I did buy one skirt at Salvation Army with the trip in mind but love it too much (I think that is a sign of a bad missionary) and God is really going to have to make it clear if I need to give that skirt. I was also planning on re-watching Dirty Dancing - Havana Nights to brush up on my Cuban knowledge, I have seen it once but don't remember much. The tagline is "No one puts this baby in a corner -- not even Castro," so, if I remember correctly, it's a documentary. I'm not being purposfully vague, if I knew more I'd share.
Other things:
- I’ve found myself in multiple conversations lately that have left me wondering, HOW IN THE WORLD did I get here. Then I have to try to keep a neutral face and come up with the right response. Sometimes it has worked, at least once it totally failed and I had to do a lot of backtracking and prayer later on.
- One example: I said something and this lady at work asked me if I live with my mom. And I said yes. Then she asked me if I help my mom out. Again I said yes. Then she said, “That’s good that you can live with her if she needs the help.” Then I realized she was thinking my mom was elderly and needed rides and help to the bathroom or something and I had to clarify that I meant we take turns cooking and I'm not a total bum.
- I bought a newer car last weekend, by newer I mean it is literally 20 years newer than my old car. This is 83% exciting and 17% depressing that just as I am finishing up my student loans I added another chunk of debt. As my dad pointed out, now I have to keep my job.
- Also, most of you know (or know of) my mom's dad, Grandpa Vern - poet, artist, song writer, cowboy, flea market operator. We just found out (yesterday) that his prostate cancer has progressed really rapidly and they're putting him on hospice (tomorrow). This afternoon when my sister and I were visiting him in the hospital he was still reciting poetry and talking about how it will be good to be moving into my parents' house for his last days because we can all do karaoke together (so get ready cousins). You can pray for our family, especially my parents and aunt as they have a lot of decisions to make and take on the roles of primary care takers and that his boasting will be in the Lord.
People like pictures but I never take any, I did scrounge up two. The 1st is one Saturday morning when all of Julie's kids ended up in bed with me. Landon was especially excited to tell me, in all sincerity, I won the sleeping-in contest.
The 2nd is me and this statue at the University of Illinois - my friend said it was a model engineering student, "reading and ignoring girls."
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