Good for some giggles!

If you know me personally, you are probably aware that I like to laugh. I find life to be a lot of fun, and most situations contain at least some humor, in my opinion. I would say sarcasm/wit (whichever term you prefer) and laughing at my own silliness would be the two most common things that make me laugh.

Regardless, I have found some things that never cease to make me giggle, and I hope they will make you laugh, too! Enjoy a little bit of sunshine on this dreary, rainy day!

1) Brother Barry. This was introduced to me at the office (as many of my favorite video clips are). If you like mullets, this is the video for you. If you get a kick out of Pentecostals, this video will do you good. If you think 1980s, mullet-wearing, nonsensical, charismatic, nervous Pentecostal preachers are funny, please click here.

2) Since St. Patrick's day just passed (ok, like 2 weeks ago), I thought it would be good to share this. This "leprechaun sighting" was a real news story from the great state of Alabama. Way to make your country-folk proud, guys. Click here to see a leprechaun...

3) Along the same lines: Here's a ridiculous news story out of California (I believe). If you weren't aware, I'm slightly ghetto (so I like to think ;) as white girls go, so I love Bub Rub in this one!

4) Last (but certainly not least!) for today: Rapture ready?? If you have been wondering lately about ANYTHING Rapture-related (and I do mean ANYTHING), you need to see this. Apparently, the Rapture Index is at 168, which is pretty durn high. What factors does this take into account? Just to name a few:

18. Gog (Russia)
19. Persia (Iran)
20. The False Prophet
21. Nuclear Nations
22. Global Turmoil
23. Arms Proliferation
24. Liberalism
25. The Peace Process
    

Check it out for a chuckle!

Do you have any funny sites or things to share? I'm always up for a good laugh! Leave a comment and let me know what I should look at!

An upcoming trip....

This just in: I'M GOING TO UNION!

I just got word that SEBTS will be taking a trip to help with rebuilding/landscaping at Union during our spring break. I will most definitely be attending. I am so unbelievably excited!! An added bonus is that Variety Show is the weekend I will be there, so that is even more marvelous!

Yay. I am so pumped. My parents were going to be coming for a visit that weekend, but I guess it will get rescheduled.....That makes me sad, but it's such a good opportunity.

Union, here I come!!

Face-bashing, car-smashing and other things

1. My car is STILL not ready....We're waiting on insurance to pay and for them to put the new grill on. (Turns out, they had ordered the wrong grill and realized it after putting the car back together. Sheesh. I want to see your grill. You wanna see my what? Ya ya grill.)

2. I got whacked in the face last night with the volleyball. During VBall at Bay Leaf, which I participate in fairly regularly, I was playing the front line. This tall guy goes up to the net and spikes the ball....directly into my forehead/nose region. It was about a 4-foot range. Thankfully, my nose isn't broken, no concussion, and no bruising. Therefore, chalk it up to more bad luck for me and another good story to tell.
Edit: I just received flowers from Mr. Spiker at the office to say sorry. Apology accepted, and thank you!

3. It's supposed to be 82 by Friday. YAHOO!!! I am so excited about warm weather. I played outside all day Saturday (Helped out with church's Easter egg hunt and then played at the lake with Ben) and it was marvelous. Jen and I have discussed it, and summer is cheaper than winter because you can hang out outside, have a great time, and never pay a cent. Most fun things in the winter require $$. Considering how poorly I am doing money-wise after my ticket and the accident, free=fabulous.

4. Not free, but still fabulous, would be a concert. Lifehouse is going to be in Charlotte on a Tuesday in April, and I'd love to go, but it would be silly to drive down there for a concert on a Tuesday. However, it's about time for outdoor music season, so maybe I can get my "live music fix" through that.

5. We were trying to think of what kinds of activities BL could plan for the college/young adults crowd, and I suggested live music in a park somewhere. If they're good, I think a lot of people would stop and listen. Do you have any ideas for good meet-ya activities?

I know lists are supposed to be 10, but Kevin needs a model/subject for lighting experiments, and since that is more work-related than blogging, I ought to go.

Ciao, playas.

So long minivan....

The minivan is gone.

Enterprise needed it, I suppose, so I have been "downgraded" to what I am actually paying for: a Chevy Cobalt. It's not the same one I had at first, which got a flat tire after 3 days. This one is nicer, as it actually has automatic locks. Score!

Here is a visual progression of the vehicles I have driven in the last month or so.

(Lily, all smashed on accident day --> Cobalt #1, manual locks and pre-flat tire -->The Kia Sedona, a wonderful minivan -->A white Cobalt, complete with automatic locks --> Lily, fully restored and functioning!)

My car is *hopefully* going to be ready tomorrow. I would LOVE that. I am ready to have it back! If it's not, my rental $$ is up (per the insurance company) and I:
A) Start paying the insurance rate price for the Cobalt
B) Borrow cars and rides until Lily is done getting fixed

I'll call tomorrow and hope it's done, and if not, I'll be borrowing Lindsay's car for a bit, as she is out of town this weekend.

Here's a side note about my car. When speaking with T. at Haddock, he said," We'll begin putting it back together, and then we'll make sure we have all the parts it needs." Hhhmmm....Statements such as that do not inspire confidence in how well my precious vehicle will turn out....Please Lord, heal Lily.

Anyways, I just thought I would update on my car situation. That's all.

Life as I know it

I don't really have anything profound to say today. Do I ever say anything profound? Maybe I should say "deep" instead....That would be more accurate.

Recap of life since my last post:

-I went to Birmingham this past weekend for Stephanie Jones's wedding. It was great, and the wedding went so good. At first I was not real excited to go, after finding out my P12 roomie Jenn wouldn't be there because of a death in her family. However, though the trip was long (and we started at 4:30 AM Friday) it was SO GOOD to see some old friends from Union and Zeta. The girls there were all a year older than me, so it had been at least a year and a half since seeing most of them. It was great to catch up, hear how life was going, fill them in on what I'm doing, and reminisce about the past. I miss sorority life, I'm not going to lie. It was a lot of drama, a headache sometimes, a lot of commitments, but totally worth it. I loved the random conversations with girls who I hadn't ever really gotten to know beyond a surface point, the ability to be real with people, knowing they'd still be my friends (I paid them to do that, right? ;) and the great friendships that developed out of so many shared bonds and experiences. So, all in all, the weekend was a wonderful time to reconnect and to hang out. Plus, Lindsay and I had some great conversations in the car!!

- I went to the ballet Tuesday night with my mentor. It wasn't the best thing I have ever seen, but it was pretty good. The group was from St. Petersburg, Russia - where I've been, and also the namesake of my birthplace! They did Romeo and Juliet and it was an interesting....remix. The story was basically the same except for some evil queen I don't remember in Shakespear's version. Though it was well-done, I appreciate Shakespear's words and genius so much, so it was a little sad to only have the dancing, and not that. Regardless, it was neat getting to hang out with Cathy and catch up.

- Last night was church and then dinner at Chili's. Church was a special presentation on the Passover, the Messiah, the Jewish festivals, and Holy Week. It was very informative on how traditions play a huge role in our Resurrection Sunday activities, as well as neat to hear how everything Jesus did was so Jewish. I think we forget sometimes that he was Jewish and it was his culture. Dinner afterwards at Chili's with Lindsay and Erin. Delish. I highly reccomend the Big Mouth Burger Bites. They were so tasty.

- I am PUMPED about Lost tonight!! I have not decided if I'll be watching it in real-time or taping it while hanging out with friends.....I am tired and need to clean my apartment, plus I need to save money, so I feel like just staying home. However, there's a group of people going shagging, so that could be fun too. We shall see what happens.

- I have had lots of blonde moments in the past week or so. Everyone at the office sure gets a kick out of them, so maybe someday soon I'll post them so you can read about how silly I am. We have fun with it though!!

Blessings this weekend. (In keeping with the teaching from last night, I am going to try and stop calling Easter Easter, which is a spin-off of a pagan holiday celebrating Eastre, the fertility goddess. I knew that a while ago, but still called it that. I don't want my faith to confuse others, so let's just call it Holy Week and Resurrection Sunday.) So, have a wonderful, Messiah-centered weekend and remember the sacrifice of the cross, especially in these days. Love - Lauren

Living missionally, calling, life, etc.

Missional is a buzz word these days in my life here at SEBTS. I seem to hear it often, but rarely do I hear it defined in any kind of tangible terms.

Yesterday at church, Charles Lyons, pastor of Armitage Baptist Church in Chicago, spoke at Bay Leaf, where I go. It was phenomenal. His words weren't even what left the biggest impression on me, but rather seeing how his church says they want to be missional and they ARE. They reach out to the gangs, to those who hang out on street corners, to the Muslim community, all in the name of Jesus. It stirred such a longing in my heart to see all people, the beautiful unloveable people, of my community, to come to Christ. I want to be involved in a church that is involved in the community and puts their faith into action. Although I think my church as a whole has that vision, I don't know that we are implementing that vision as well as we could be. That could be wrong and my own misconception as I haven't been there that long and don't know the inner workings of the church.

Nevertheless, the College and Career Ministry seems to be very much on fire for turning Raleigh upside down for Christ. Chad and Heather (the minister and his wife) have such a passion for the lost, and they do a great job at reminding us why we gather together as a body of believers: To worship God and tell others about Him so God gets all the glory. To that end, I am so thankful and excited to be a part of the leadership of that group, and to see how God works through us to establish his Kingdom here in Raleigh.

Along with all of that, I am excited about the direction my small group is going (emphasis intended). Though we are few, may we be powerful for Jesus! Ron said last night he would like us to view our WePod (as our small groups are known) as a church plant in the North Hills area of Raleigh. That means our goal is to encourage one another and bring those who don't know Jesus into our group and teach them. We're praying about ways to make that a tangible reality in the coming weeks. Our area is very high-end, filled with a lot of upper echelon, young, working professionals. It would be so cool to see God use our group in reaching that demographic!

On the flip-side, but in conjunction with all this passion for reaching Raleigh for Christ, I am beginning to brainstorm and talk to people, again, about doing an ESL class, specifically directed at the Hispanic community. There is a huge portion of Hispanics in the Raleigh area, and especially around a certain church we have connections with. This is something I believe the Lord keeps bringing up in my life (reaching the Hispanic community) for a reason. I am pumped to find out what exactly may happen there!

Ironically enough, I am listening to "Waiting on the World to Change" by John Mayer. We keep on waiting, waiting on the world to change. One day our generation is gonna rule the population. So we keep waiting, waiting on the world to change.

I don't want to sit and wait. I want to do something.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." ~Mohandas Ghandi

Life Is Weird

This time last year, you could hear my roomies and I saying, on a fairly consistent basis, "I just feel weird. Everything is just weird."

We assumed and even presumed that once we had graduated/gotten married/gone to seminary/gotten jobs/moved to new towns/met new people/bought furniture for an apartment/gotten settled into a new life that things wouldn't be weird anymore.

Things are still weird. In the last year, I have gone from a busy college senior to a busy working girl about to re-enter school. Despite the flip in circumstances, things are still weird.

Good weird sometimes, bad weird sometimes, but definitely not what I expected at this point last year. The Lord has a funny way of changing my plans. Praise God for that, or I'd probably be in Denver or N. California teaching ski lessons at some killer resort. That would have been weird though too.

So, not a lot to say, except that I am glad that normal doesn't really exist. Life will always be weird, awkward, fun, unexpected and an adventure, and for that I am grateful. Who needs normalcy?

Happy reflections

Just wanted to say that:

1- I am thankful for the minivan I am driving while my car is being repaired. In addition to being awesome, it carries all my friends around. Way to go, Kia Sedona.
2-Springtime is creeping closer. It is currently nearly 70, thunderstorms are on the horizon, and bathing suits are in the stores. Yes, spring is getting close! Yay!!
3-I am improving at speed pig, thereby allowing me beat the boys sometimes :)
4-Right now, I am listening to Brian Regan, and he is quite entertaining. "Stupid in school" is currently making me giggle.
5-I love my new small group, even when it's really small.
6-I am thankful for new beginnings.
7-Ben is, increasingly, living up to his name - Bendicíon. It's blessing in Spanish, and really, Rascal would be more fitting sometimes. However, he's becoming more and more of a blessing to me, every day.
8-I need to stop sticking my foot in my mouth. Lord, please tame my tongue.
9- I like lists, thanks to my dear old roomie, Jenn. This is for you dahling! (Remember, always 10!)
10- Finding joy in the small things is becoming increasingly possible for me, praise God. He is teaching me to find joy and happiness in Him, even if nothing else makes me happy. Thankfully, right now - as you can see - lots of things are making me happy :)

Blessings, friends.