So Andrew and I are waiting to catch our flight to Charlotte in route to Lexington, Kentucky!! I’m so excited about our trip. It’s going to be an amazing weekend of relaxing, home cooked meals, time with mom and pops and Kentucky football.
Anyway, we both couldn’t get over the fact of how stressed out everyone is in the security lines. You can see the distress in everyone’s face. The old lady who couldn’t find her license, the up tight New Yorker who couldn’t figure out the new liquid policy and of course the disgruntled security workers trying to push everyone through like cattle.
It should all be pretty simple. Take your shoes off. Put them in those little plastic carts along with any bags you might have. Push them down those bumpy line things. Have your license and boarding pass ready and then walk through the sensor praying you don’t set it off.
Let’s all take a deep breath. We’re going to make it through.
So, any funny or not so funny airport security stories out there?
Andrew and I, and the rest of our church family, said our goodbyes to Pastor Bryon. Bryon Mondok has not only been our pastor. He has spoken into both Andrew and I’s lives in ways we would never be able to repay him for.
We just came home from his send-off party after wishing him farewell in the parking lot of the Jupiter Community Center. We hardly said two words to one another as we made the 30 minute ride home.
When we got in the door we chatted about how we would describe Bryon.
For Andrew, he said he would sum up Bryon with this: “humbly courageous.”
Bryon will take on any challenge. He’s up for any dare. He doesn’t flinch when life gets tough. He’ll never back down from a fight. He has a lot to be proud of.
But at the same time, Bryon was always the one stacking chairs for set up, taking out the trash after meetings, emptying the dishwasher at the office or making sure he was last in line. He served others the way I imagine Jesus would serve.
For me, the phrase that sums up Bryon is: “truth in grace.” Bryon was never afraid to tell me how it was. He always let me know what was on his mind. When I was out of line, I knew it. But never once was that truth not coupled with love and grace. I ALWAYS knew Bryon had my back.
I also never felt like a kid around Bryon. He trusted me with a lot, and that encouraged me more than he will ever know. He made me believe in the strengths I doubted in myself. Because of his trust in me, I grew immensely under his guidance.
Bryon will always be in some way or another my boss, my pastor, my teacher, my friend and my family. There will not be a day that goes by that our thoughts and prayers will not be with Bryon, Susan, Charity, Aaron and of course little Ali. God has amazing plans for each one of their lives.
So I guess I’m moving up in the blogging world. Chris Goeppner told me about this guy who mentioned my blog in a post about female bloggers. I am now on his blogroll and feel very loved (even though my name is spelled wrong). Check it out.
1. You get to go to sleep at 8:00 pm without anyone giving you a hard time
2. Skipping in public
3. No work
4. Daily, scheduled naps
5. Recess
6. Notes from mom in my lunchbox
7. Lollipops at the bank and the doctor’s office
8. Happy meals
9. Trick or treating
10. Imagining up a game to play in any situation
11. Really high metabolism
12. Making new friends in like 5 seconds
13. Swingsets
14. Stuffed animals
15. Toys in the bathtub
Tiger is the man. Andrew has me watching all the major chamionships now, and so it is always exciting when Tiger grabs another one. This video is the shot that Tiger won the Masters with. I’m still waiting to see him at the grocery store sometime.
So Blogmaster Bryon Mondok called the office this morning. And of course it is such a privilege to hear from the one and only. For those of you who are not familiar with Mondok Blog, there are around 50 million new posts every week with people checking in every two minutes to see if there is a new post.
Well anyway, while we were going over some logistical, office stuff Bryon proceeded to let me know he had been keeping up with my blog (what an honor). I thought he was going to tell me he was so glad I entered the blogging world and maybe even give me a few encouraging words on my posts thus far. I was ready for it.
Then he paused and said, “Well more like your time capsule.”
My WHAT? TIME CAPSULE?
Come on! I thought I was doing pretty well here. I’ve been around for a little over a week and I’ve got three solid posts, right? I’ve seen much worse (I won’t mention anymore names… that got me in a bit of trouble last time).
So I told Bryon that there just isn’t that much to blog about. And then I paused and said, “Well you also have WAY better material, I just can’t compete.”
I love to read. And I love to read all kinds of books. So here is a short list of some of my favorites. Some are from childhood, some from college, some from ministry, some from friends and some are just from my own curiosity. These are in no particular order either.
- Neil Postman: Amusing Ourselves to Death
- St. Augustine: Confessions
- Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice
- Madeleine L’Engle: Walking on Water
- C.S. Lewis: The Abolition of Man
- Fyodor Dostoevsky: The Brothers Karamazov
- Frances Hodgson Burnett: The Secret Garden
- Anne Lamott: Traveling Mercies
- Brother Lawrence: Practicing His Presence
- E B White: Charlotte’s Web
Let me know what you think if you’ve read any of these, and I would love to know what your favorite books are.
