This little guy has seen some crazy tiny airplanes and some crazy fun places...
After all, who doesn't want to leave a place that can boast a -6 degree temperature without even factoring in wind chill? :)
Second favorite part about traveling? Per diem. I order Tiramisu at every restaurant. I'm becoming a subject matter expert. I went to a Hibachi restaurant for a co-workers birthday on this trip and it was complete with birthday sundae and singing-drum-beating waiters.
Everytime I travel by air I allow myself a few guilty pleasures on my iPod. The first and most important is a single episode of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. I know this is the lamest thing ever, but it is straight from my childhood and I can't watch it without grinning from ear to ear. I also really like to watch episodes of How I Met Your Mother -- I laugh out loud in crowded waiting areas and don't even care --- so funny! Lastly, I create a playlist for every major trip and label it accordingly. It's kind of cool now to look back and see what life was like on those trips. Uh -- how depressed was I Mexico 2010 mix? Considering a career as a dj Beth? Cause the North Carolina 2010 mix is quite possibly the best dance playlist ever. The Memphis 2011 mix was Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake with some Amos Lee thrown in for good measure. It did not disappoint.
Speaking of being up at 4 --- here's a little bit of a situation for you. My trip to TN was to assimilate a new leader to a team that she will be taking over out there. She was from San Diego and had not seen snow in 4 years. Cut to us, driving to the airport, the day after my cancelled flight, at 4 am on solid packed snow with my CA driver chaffeuring me. What should have been a 25 minute drive to the airport took 45 minutes, leaving me with 35 minutes to go from drop off lane to jetway. Yikes. I performed a security hat trick, with liquids, a laptop and a winter coat in just a few minutes and then glanced quickly at my boarding pass to get to my gate. 19C. On it. I generally speaking make fun of anyone who is running in a panic in an airport. But in this situation, I was not about to miss this flight and stay in Memphis another day. So I run. Fast and hard. And this is coming from a girl who was ecstatic to find a Dunkin Donuts the day before, so I'm not in optimum physical condition at this point. I get to where gate 19C should be and there is nothing --- no gate. Sick joke???? What's happening here. I look again and that is definitely my seat number, not my gate number. So I now run back down the terminal, past people who have already seen me running in the opposite direction, for a little encore run to my actual gate. I made it. It was just a lot of drama leading up to the close call that was my 6:00 departure. haha
I keep thinking about confidence guys. And I think I have stumbled on to something cool to share with you this week. How are you at math? Cause I think I have a formula for confidence :)
Isaiah 32:17 -- The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.
Well that's somewhat helpful right??? The verse flat out ties our confidence in life to righteousness through our faith. I like the idea of tying quietness and confidence together too... how many times would it have benefited me to just shut-up and give it a rest and not let my insecurites out quite as much? I would like to be one of those gentle-quiet-comfortable-in-her-own-skin-content-magic women one day...that's possible right?
So if we know that confidence comes from righteousness, we better get ourselves some of that then huh?
I heard someone define righteousness as an object doing the job it was created to do...like if a pen can write, we would call that a righteous pen.... make sense? My favorite passage about righteousness is in Romans 4, where it talks about Abraham's faith:
20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. 21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. 22 And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. 23 And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded 24 for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.
Our righteousness -- our job that we were created to do -- is to believe God, and believe that Jesus is what saves us... and the effect of righteousness is quietness and confidence.
But Beth---- I'm not a righteous person. I do not have it together. I am not doing what I'm supposed to do, I'm not righteous, confident, faithful or secure in any way? What do I do???
Glad you asked.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
Own it man. Tell him what you did and how you feel and he is faithful to purify you from all that garbage. I think that starts to make sense to me though... the secret things that keep us in bondage, steal our security away from us and prevent us from living a confident life....that math adds up!
My friends, I have lived life in a stronghold of sin. I did it for quite awhile actually. And can I just tell you what it feels like to have some victory in Jesus? Relief. Some days it feels better than others but I am so so grateful for grace and for the closeness of Jesus when I needed him. When addicts reach milestones in their recovery they receive "chips" -- 30 day chips, 90 day chips, etc...
As part of my recovery and in celebration of a milestone, my friend Autumn thought I should have some chips too....
Behold.....
It would be next to impossible to describe to you how blessed I feel in this moment :)
Does that give you some things to think about?? I feel like I kind of went in a million directions with this post, but I'm starting to see in scripture how it all ties together. I hope you are having good weeks out there! I feel like my days are messed up and it feels like a Friday, when in fact it's only Tuesday... Oh well! Hope to talk to you all soon!
Beth
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