The Winning Streak I'm Ashamed Of

I love winning arguments.  I think that's normal...I mean, who on earth likes to lose arguments?  In comes work.  "The customer" (in my case, student) "is always right".  Isn't that the motto of countless businesses?  Well I think it stinks!  Especially when they are obviously soooo wrong!  But since I'm the employee, I have to put a smile on my face and apologize.  Here is the scenario:

Not so smart question asked by anonymous
Not so smart answer returned by me.  (I can thank my dad for that particular quality that he passed down to me haha, I love you dad!). 

The response that followed included things like:
"As your Sister in Christ", (this was the second worse thing that was said...I mean really, they pulled out the God-card prior to yelling at me email style???)
"condescending", "disrespectful", "violated", "disappointed"
and the worse..."I do forgive you, completely".

You are probably thinking, "What on earth did she write to warrant such a strong response?".  I am still asking that question myself my friends.

I struggled with my response to this email for about a day.  I prayed so hard that God would give me the words to write back but every attempt still contained me...I was still defensive, still sarcastic, still trying to prove that I was right (as their Sister in Christ, of course).  I consulted several co-workers, my supervisor and finally my boss, to get some wisdom.  And you know what I did in the end?  Despite every bone in my body wanting to justify myself, I just apologized.  No defense, no sarcasm...I waved a white flag of surrender.  The crazy part about it is that when I hit the send button, I felt good.  I had no regret about anything I said, I knew I did the right thing.

Am I still hoping that she'll apologize for her accusations?  In a way, I am...especially since I replied so nicely :).  But all this makes me wonder how Jesus felt about his accusers.  He was wrongly accused and his response was silence.  He was beaten and crucified and his response was "Forgive them".  He had all of the power in the universe at his command and he chose to die.  He could have easily proven to each person there that he was indeed the Messiah but he instead gave us the most beautiful gift...free will.  He gave it to Adam and Eve in the garden and they chose sin and he gave it to His accusers and they chose to kill their Creator.  I wonder sometimes if God knew before he even created them, the choices Adam and Eve would make and therefore knew that he would have to send Jesus to die for us.  Can you imagine the love it took for him to create us anyways?  I guess that's John 3:16 right there.  My desire to win an argument is in such contrast to God's love for me, it makes me cringe just thinking about it.  Can I be petty sometimes, absolutely.  Thankfully, there is forgiveness and thankfully there is always love.  Today is a #4 day for me.  What # are you today?

A PENCIL MAKER TOLD THE PENCIL 5 IMPORTANT LESSONS JUST BEFORE PUTTING IT IN THE BOX :

1.) EVERYTHING YOU DO WILL ALWAYS LEAVE A MARK.

2.) YOU CAN ALWAYS CORRECT THE MISTAKES YOU MAKE.

3.) WHAT IS IMPORTANT IS WHAT IS INSIDE OF YOU.

4.) IN LIFE, YOU WILL UNDERGO PAINFUL SHARPENING,

    WHICH WILL ONLY MAKE YOU BETTER.

5.) TO BE THE BEST PENCIL, YOU MUST ALLOW YOURSELF 

    TO BE HELD AND GUIDED BY THE HAND THAT HOLDS YOU.

 

                    

The End of the World

One of the benefits of working at a Christian university is the mail we get.  I know you might think there are countless other benefits that are worthy of blogging about, and I assure you there are ;), but nothing brings a smile to our day more than when some "well-meaning" person decides to share with us their thoughts about Christianity as a whole or our school in general.  I think the funniest one we ever got was from an angry student...it had a cut out picture of the devil glued to the top followed by their lovely thoughts about our school.  Last week, we received a stack of brochures in the mail from Family Radio.  Some of you might have heard of Family Radio before and the Harold Camping following.  If you have, then you now understand the title of this blog post.  If you have not, then let me enlighten you...the rapture will take place on May 21, 2011!  Did you get that!?!  Mark it down in your calendars because you won't want to miss it!  I hope you get my sarcasm, please tell me that you do.  If you are interested in seeing the mathematical equation that Harold has used to set the date of May 21, 2011, go here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/02/harold-camping-claims-rap_n_409377.html

It gets better though... it seems that Harold Camping also predicted that the rapture would occur on September 6, 1994.  I like how they ask for financial support "to help us help you to reach out to others, which is your reasonable service".  I think he should have a 100% Rapture Guarantee, or your money back.  That would be great!  Even though I still wouldn't contribute, it would at least make me laugh harder.  

I thought about writing a letter to Harold Camping and putting it in the mail so that it would get to him on May 22, 2011.  It would say something like "Wrong again buddy!"...I guess I still have time to work on that though.

His brochure, as silly as I think it is, brings up a good question.  Am I ready?  I don't live every day waiting for Jesus to come and I don't believe we are called to live lives of waiting.  I think we are called to live lives of following, following Christ.  So maybe the better question is...Am I following?

I read something interesting in the book I am reading: The Parable of Joy by Michael Cord.  The passage is John 1:6-34 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%201:6-34&version=NIV.  Michael says in regards to this passage, "The ministry of John the Baptist serves as an important landmark in the geography of the faith.  Before John, as far back as Abraham and the other patriarchs, having faith meant waiting.  The exercise of belief was almost completely a matter of waiting for the Messiah.  John the Baptist was the final faithful "waiter."  After John, faith is expressed by following the Messiah.  This significant shift from waiting to following was immediately preceded by an act of repentance in preparation for the Coming.  That is where John fits in.  His baptism of repentance, which so confused the Jewish authorities, perfectly prepared the waiting faithful to become faithful followers."

So while Harold Camping may be reaching people for Christ, I think he is cultivating a waiting faith.  What is your faith based on?  Are you waiting or are you following?





 

The Beginning

Hmmm, where to begin?  I guess I can begin by sharing my motivation to even start blogging in the first place.  My sister blogs and she blogs a lot about yummy recipes.  She even posts pictures of her baking creations in a way that shows you the whole process from start to finish.  I thought that was such a great idea!  Words can tend to get boring but pictures will make your mouth water!  I have a 13 month old son, Parker, and I have learned that a book with pictures can hold his attention for at least two pages.  If it doesn't have pictures you can forget about it!

I have journaled on and off again since the second grade when I had one of those diaries with a lock and key so that no once else could read about how mean Sara was to me in school or how devastating it was to have my long time crush, Josh, break up with me.  (Is it just me, or is second grade way too young to "go out"??)  I journal regularly now and have been since we found out we were pregnant with Parker.  I wanted a way to document the pregnancy process and hopefully share it with him someday.  I get to journal now about all of his milestones so that I can look back and remember October 28th, when he first slept through the night; December 9th, when he first laughed; June 5th, when he took his first steps, etc. etc.  But journals don't have pictures so I found my answer in blogging.  I also feel like I can cover a wider variety of topics.

So today I want to talk about CVS!  So deep, I know.  I started couponing a few months ago and have fallen in love with CVS and ExtraCare Bucks (ECBs).  For those familiar with ECBs, I have found that the key is to find those deals in the CVS weekly add and use the same amount in ECBs from previous purchases to get the new ECBs deals.  For example:

You have $10 ECBs from a previous purchase

One of this week's ECBs deals is to buy $25 worth of P&G products and get $10 in ECBs.

So you use the $10 ECBs from a previous purchase to get another $10 in ECBs.  That way, you are constantly getting "money" from CVS to spend on your next purchase!  

This information is so un-original, I get all of my coupon bargains from www.southernsavers.com.  But there is a lot of information out there so for someone who is a beginner to couponing like me, this is a lot less overwhelming (I hope).


For me, it ends up becoming a challenge...how much can I get from CVS for how little money?  Well, here's what I got today.

This was the deal: Spend $25 on P&G, get $10 ECBs

So I bought:
Downy Liquid Softener

Gain Laundry Detergent

Tide Laundry Detergent

This was the deal:Get $2.99 ECBS on Colgate Total

So I bought:
Colgate Total

This was the deal: B1G1FREE on Softsoap Bodywash
So I bought:

2 Softsoap Bodywashes

All for a total of $14.09 out of pocket with $12.99 in ECBs for future purchases.  I saved a total of $40.35 today!

Here's what I used to get this deal:

$10 ECBs

$3 ECBs
$5 off $40 purchase (I got this in an email from CVS)
$1.00 off Tide Coupon (PG 9/26)
$1.00 off Gain Coupon (PG 10/10)
$.75 off Colgate (SS 10/3)
$.75 off Softsoap (SS 10/3)
$2.50 off Downy (I got this from a free Downy sample I requested online using www.freebies4mom.com)


Happy Couponing and Happy Savings!!!