On this day I woke up and treated it like any other day. One difference was the annoyance that my bank was closed.
But then, after I got home from town, I sat still for a minute and I realized today is Good Friday, not some bank holiday, but the day when Jesus began His journey to Golgatha.
What an amazing thing He did. Oh, the torture and abuse that He suffered for you and me so that we could be forgiven for our sins. He went to the cross and paid the debt that we are incapable of paying so that we could be with Him in eternity.
And yet for most of us, as we go through this day, we think only of it as another holiday. A day off work, a day to shop, a day to think only of ourselves...
Lord forgive us, yet again, for taking for granted what You did for us so many years ago.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Reunited at last
When I started learning Spanish I was introduced to a woman from Mexico who was taking classes to get her citizenship. We became instant friends and have maintained our friendship ever since.
She had a son, but her ex-husband took their boy and hid with him in Mexico. For months prior to the kidnapping her mother-in-law told the boy things like: don't eat your mother's food; she will poison you or don't sleep at your mother's house; she will pluck your eyes out while your are sleeping. She had him afraid of his own mother. So when they took him away they justified it as rescuing him from the witch.
She tried to find her son, but was unable to do so for many years. He lived with his father's mother. The brain-washing witch.
After 16 years of heart break, she found her son and they have been emailing and talking on the phone for a month. He spent this weekend with her. He was 5 years old the last time she saw him and he is almost 21 now.
She has kept a diary ever since his dad took him. So Saturday night, her son read about everything that has happened from the moment he was stolen from her.
He realizes how his father and grandmother have lied to him about his mom and he wants to get to know her, to put the past behind them, and to go forward.
He looks like his dad, only taller, but he has his mother's personality. And he told his mom that he and his dad clashed a lot. He was probably a daily reminder of his mom, since he is so much like her.
My friend is so happy. Her sufferings have been washed away by the great joy of this reunion. She has forgiven those who robbed her of her son.
She is a bigger person than I am.
She had a son, but her ex-husband took their boy and hid with him in Mexico. For months prior to the kidnapping her mother-in-law told the boy things like: don't eat your mother's food; she will poison you or don't sleep at your mother's house; she will pluck your eyes out while your are sleeping. She had him afraid of his own mother. So when they took him away they justified it as rescuing him from the witch.
She tried to find her son, but was unable to do so for many years. He lived with his father's mother. The brain-washing witch.
After 16 years of heart break, she found her son and they have been emailing and talking on the phone for a month. He spent this weekend with her. He was 5 years old the last time she saw him and he is almost 21 now.
She has kept a diary ever since his dad took him. So Saturday night, her son read about everything that has happened from the moment he was stolen from her.
He realizes how his father and grandmother have lied to him about his mom and he wants to get to know her, to put the past behind them, and to go forward.
He looks like his dad, only taller, but he has his mother's personality. And he told his mom that he and his dad clashed a lot. He was probably a daily reminder of his mom, since he is so much like her.
My friend is so happy. Her sufferings have been washed away by the great joy of this reunion. She has forgiven those who robbed her of her son.
She is a bigger person than I am.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Spring Break
I think this is the first time in a long time that I don't have plans for Spring Break. I am at a loss as to what to do and where to go. I 'm feeling incredibly indecisive. Any suggestions? The beach... the lake.... stay home and get some work done (yuk). I don't know. It is day 1 and decisions must be made. I think I will start this great vacation with a trip to... Walmart or Walmarts as the old folks say. LOL It just makes me smile to even write Walmarts.
Well, anyway, I hope your Spring Break is a good one. Be safe, but have fun!
Well, anyway, I hope your Spring Break is a good one. Be safe, but have fun!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Injustice
Doesn't injustice just drive you crazy? It makes me feel like I could breath flames.
Ok, so here is the story. I teach at a local High School. We have several exchange students from South America. One exchange student (I'll call him Boy A) is in my class and he is living with the family of another boy (Boy B) who is also in my class. So what happened is this...
Last Monday Boy B decided that he and 9 other students (friends & girlfriends) would skip school and stay home and play video games.
Boy A also stayed home, in bed, and slept all day, while they all played video games. The other students all said this was the case.
They all had parents call in to the school and lie for them so their absences would be excused.
Boy A, the exchange student, did not have anyone to call him in, so, he got 2 days of In School Suspension, which means he will spend 2 days sitting in a cubby hole painted black, in isolation, on a short stool. He will not be allowed to talk to anyone or see anyone else.
The video playing skippers got off scott free. No reprimand, no punishment, smelling like roses.
Oh, but no worries, there will be other students in the room with the exchange student, in other cubby holes. You know the type...students like the boy who sexually harrassed 4 teachers. The boy who was caught in possession of drugs. The boy who peed in a gator aide bottle while on the school bus. Yeah, you know the type.
And there will a supervising teacher in the room... to insure complete silence.
It is so unfair to treat a visitor to our country in this manner. He is a decent boy. In his country, students are not giving ISS for missing school. It is a matter of choice.
I am powerless to help.
I am angry.
Ok, so here is the story. I teach at a local High School. We have several exchange students from South America. One exchange student (I'll call him Boy A) is in my class and he is living with the family of another boy (Boy B) who is also in my class. So what happened is this...
Last Monday Boy B decided that he and 9 other students (friends & girlfriends) would skip school and stay home and play video games.
Boy A also stayed home, in bed, and slept all day, while they all played video games. The other students all said this was the case.
They all had parents call in to the school and lie for them so their absences would be excused.
Boy A, the exchange student, did not have anyone to call him in, so, he got 2 days of In School Suspension, which means he will spend 2 days sitting in a cubby hole painted black, in isolation, on a short stool. He will not be allowed to talk to anyone or see anyone else.
The video playing skippers got off scott free. No reprimand, no punishment, smelling like roses.
Oh, but no worries, there will be other students in the room with the exchange student, in other cubby holes. You know the type...students like the boy who sexually harrassed 4 teachers. The boy who was caught in possession of drugs. The boy who peed in a gator aide bottle while on the school bus. Yeah, you know the type.
And there will a supervising teacher in the room... to insure complete silence.
It is so unfair to treat a visitor to our country in this manner. He is a decent boy. In his country, students are not giving ISS for missing school. It is a matter of choice.
I am powerless to help.
I am angry.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Perfectly Imperfect
I am extremely OCD. I am not medicated for it but everyone who knows me... knows it is the truth. I used to say I was a perfectionist but as I got older I realized that being a perfectionist, was just a cover up for being OCD.
I read once that if you recognize the symptom, then you are half-way through to overcoming it. What they didn't say in the book was that there is always another obsession just waiting to take the place of the one you just overcame.
Right after I read the book, I overcame some really bothersome obsessions. I thought, "wow, I am not OCD anymore" but after a few weeks I realized.. I had acquired a whole new obsession.
It is very frustrating to say the least. I don't want to obsess over these little details of life, but something within me compels me and it has to be just that way or I can't live with it.
The lamp has to sit on the back of the table, near the wall. It cannot sit in the center of the table.
The pictures on the wall have to be geometrically, perfectly aligned. No random, or abstract arrangements can be tolerated.
Everything has to be done just so, or I come unglued.
I don't sew because I can't do it well enough to suit myself. It's okay if the person who sews for me isn't perfect... but if I do it... it has to be perfect.
It's a real pain in the butt.
I cannot handle incompetence.
Most of the time, I just can't handle...
me.
I read once that if you recognize the symptom, then you are half-way through to overcoming it. What they didn't say in the book was that there is always another obsession just waiting to take the place of the one you just overcame.
Right after I read the book, I overcame some really bothersome obsessions. I thought, "wow, I am not OCD anymore" but after a few weeks I realized.. I had acquired a whole new obsession.
It is very frustrating to say the least. I don't want to obsess over these little details of life, but something within me compels me and it has to be just that way or I can't live with it.
The lamp has to sit on the back of the table, near the wall. It cannot sit in the center of the table.
The pictures on the wall have to be geometrically, perfectly aligned. No random, or abstract arrangements can be tolerated.
Everything has to be done just so, or I come unglued.
I don't sew because I can't do it well enough to suit myself. It's okay if the person who sews for me isn't perfect... but if I do it... it has to be perfect.
It's a real pain in the butt.
I cannot handle incompetence.
Most of the time, I just can't handle...
me.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Blink
I read a book yesterday called, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" which is the story of the editor-in-chief of French Elle magazine, Jean Dominique Bauby. Well, he was the editor until 1995, when at 43 years of age, he had a massive stroke. At that time he became a person classified as having "locked-in syndrome," which is possibly the worst thing imaginable for a person to have. The only part of his body that he could move was his left eye. He wrote this book by blinking when his typist got to the letter he wanted. For example: she would say E...S...A... saying the letters of the alphabet, not in the order we learned them, ABC..., but rather in an order determined by their frequency of use in the French language. When she said the letter he wanted, he would blink and she would write it down. Can you imagine how long it took for him to write a 132 page book?
It gives the word Blink, a whole new meaning.
It is worth reading. It is worth changing the way you look at life. It is worth changing the way you live your life.
It gives the word Blink, a whole new meaning.
It is worth reading. It is worth changing the way you look at life. It is worth changing the way you live your life.
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