Thursday, May 24, 2012

Things that make you go hmmmm?

With as many miles as I travel in the month I have to find humor along the road. So here are just a couple things that have made me smile because either they are just funny or they are a little ironic.

In Gila Bend there is a business that allows you to accomplish a couple different items on your to do list if by chance you need to order and pick up your meat from the butcher and cash your check. I am all for diversifying your operation. I see it all the time in agriculture, the cattle market is a little low so you supplement your income by selling wood, lumber, hunting rights, hay, or maybe becoming an distributor for circle pivots or something. Maybe you start raising pumpkins and doing corn mazes in the fall to pick up some extra money to keep your farm or ranch afloat. I'm not judging, I've been there but this one just made me smile... a lot.


Another thing that I have found ironic... Union Pacific. In my travels to Cochise, Pima, Pinal and Yuma  counties I spend a lot of time (mostly to Yuma) traveling next to the rail line. Has anyone ever noticed the types of containers the railroad hauls along the tracks. The rail line that I drive has several hundred trains a day coming and going from California (the shipyards) to all parts of the US. Here's what I am talking about.

There are a ton of containers that are stamped on the side "China Shipping." I know, everything comes from China but the ironic part is that the Union Pacific locomotives pulling these long trains have "Building America" painted on the side between the flag and their logo. So we are building America, one hundred China shipping containers at a time.

The last one that I always get a smile out of is when the highway department puts out the signs about fresh oil and no line markings to warn drivers but don't take down their signs after they have finished striping the roads.

Just some random thoughts about things I find interesting from the road.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Life lessons from Michal and other discarded people

My small group has been working through the book "Bad Girls of The Bible." It's been interesting and I really have enjoyed reading Liz Curtis Higgs and her thoughts on the different ladies of the Bible. Last night's was on Michal (Saul's daughter and David's first wife). It made me sad that she was traded around by the guys like property and yes she was not a nice person. What made me sad was how both Saul and David (a great man) treated her.

Her dad gave her to David and then when he escaped gave her to some other guy only to take her back and give her back to David when he asked for her several years later after getting a new wife. She was traded like property and I started thinking how often do we treat others like property. We get a new friend to hang out with and that's who we spend all our time with (like a new toy or purse or shoes) and then when they aren't useful anymore we toss them aside for the next best thing. Or we go into friendships seeking what we can get from them or what we want and not maybe looking at what they need or what God is expecting from us.

I am not saying Michal is excused from being a bad girl for being rude and snide to David for his dancing and worshiping God and having other idols but I wonder if either Saul or David would have just stopped and considered her feelings would the story have turned out better. Would the story be different if they or someone had invested in her- reached out to her and loved her.

I was thinking all of this when I visited an FFA chapter who's advisor reaches out to the students and accepts them as is- broken, messed up, not the most desirable and he tries to build them up and give them something more in their lives and equip them with knowledge, skill and confidence that they can do something with their lives even if no one else believes they can and has written them off. He's not successful with every kid he meets but he tries to give them the opportunities and that is what counts. No judgement just acceptance and opportunities. If we had more people like that in the world we would have a better world.

If I was more like that and had a heart for others, my world would be a better world.

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

My Barbie Dolls Need Counseling

Almost every girl had a Barbie growing up. I was kind of a tomboy when I was really little and preferred playing with rocks and my toy tractors, truck, farm equipment (they were the metal ones that lasted for ever because they never broke). Most pictures of me as a little kid have me covered in dirt and doing something outside. I remember in first grade going to California with my mom to visit her family and seeing a Barbie doll in a night stand at her aunt's house. It was broken (the plastic part in the leg was sticking out at the ankle and you had to slide it back in the "skin" before you could play with her) but they let me have it. I think my grandma may have given me my second and third Barbies.


Some of us had more than one and some even were cool enough to have Ken. I didn't have the car or the house and I think as I came close to growing out of playing with Barbies I finally got a Ken doll. My favorite Barbie was the one that came with her own horse. She had a white sparkle jumpsuit and hat and she had a button in the back that you could push to make one of her eyes close to "wink" at you. Her arms were also bent so she could hold the reins when she was riding. She was the only Barbie that I never cut her hair.


I think a lot of us also cut their hair and maybe like other girls I would make my Barbies have babies (stuffing material up under their shirts to make them look pregnant). I didn't realize until I mentioned in Bible Study a few weeks ago that the other thing I used to do to my Barbies wasn't normal. I used to "borrow" my mom's blue eye shadow and put bruises on my Barbies. They would have a fight with each other and have "bruises." I had a very active imagination. 


Now that you are done laughing. Obviously I didn't play with dolls very much. It made me wonder... what other things did I do as a kid that I thought everyone did? What things did you do and now you realize that it wasn't "normal?"




Maybe I should have mentioned this to my counselor several years ago....