Friday, July 16, 2010

Can I be seriously lucky?

Contemplating a trip to Las Vegas because I have had two lucky “wins” lately. The first, I won $50 in a raffle by attending a conference call for my business contract. The second, I won a Wii Game System for attending the same conference call this month. Am I lucky or do I just deserve a prize for attending some really long conference calls?

What if I did go to Vegas and win some serious cash doing some serious gambling? What if winning these two items is some sort of sign that I should go? Boy, it sure is easy to see how people get sucked in to making those kind of decisions, based on this kind of history, or less.

I am in an area of my spiritual thinking that always stumps me, burns my brain. If I believe that all things come from God, is my winning the Wii from God? And if He is so blessing me, as is evident by the $50, then the Wii, should I take a trip to Vegas? But, what if its just entertainment and it’s not spiritual at all? What if God wasn’t in it, except maybe to know, as only He can know, and follow me as I take my next step, whatever it might be and live with those consequences? I know there are deep thinkers that will extrapolate this all the way down to well, yes, because God brought you to a place where you were able to attend the meeting and be present to win, then yes, God blessed you with the Wii.

Smell that? Uh huh. Its my brain burning.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

It's a bad wind...

This month has been incredibly challenging. Not because of drama or trauma or anything along those lines. Its the storms. My goodness, the storms. I am beginning to think I will be writing an all weather related blog!

Two recent storms in my community took down many, many beautiful, old, stately trees. While they weren’t officially saying tornado for storm #2, if you saw the uprooted trees, snapped power lines and look of dismay and dread on the faces of my neighbors, you’d say otherwise.

My home is surrounded by big, old trees. We were lucky the 100-mile an hour winds just skirted us. However, 1/4 of a mile away, trees tumbled like old time pick up sticks. The damage left in the wake is incredible. Neighbors without power for 96 hours or more, the utilities company doing all they could but this wasn’t one or two trees down, this was a road of trees, with a subdivision and a golf course thrown in. In back yards, front yards, across roads and streets, literally hundreds of trees. Roofs, windows, walls and vehicles destroyed while we ran to basements to take cover. My husband and I ran, too, then came back upstairs to watch wind and rain while 1/4 of a mile away our neighbors lives were changing.

We lost some trees, some large branches, but compared to my neighbors, its nothing. I began to think what I would be doing today if these magnificent trees that surround my home began to tumble like those 1/4 mile away. It made my husband begin to think of a survival kit. The fact that we don’t own a transistor radio..nothing to hear the news in times like these. No big flashlight but several little dainty ones. Candles to freshen the air became the light we whispered by. Why do we whisper in the dark?

I hope you are safe today. I am grateful beyond words that I am.