Injury Report

I was recently cleaning out a drawer, and found an old injury report from Kate’s preschool. It’s dated 9/18/06. So she was two at the time. Here’s what the report said:

Time of injury: 10:08 a.m.
Staff reporting: Ms. Sandusky
Child’s Name: Kate Rush
Cause of injury: Fell off bathroom stool
Where it happened: Bathroom
Suggested prevention steps: Hold hand while climbing down
Personal note: Gave hug and she was fine

Can you imagine moms and dads having to fill out this kind of report after every injury? We’d be bogged down in paper work!

While her report was certainly thorough…I noticed that Ms. Sandusky failed to indicate whether or not Kate had indeed finished her work upon the stool previous to the fall. Had she not finished, or had she been in the middle of her work, this report might have been slightly longer…and maybe a little more interesting.

Life In The Rush House

Turns out – boys and girls are different. For our 14th anniversary, I gave Crystal a love note and had 14 roses delivered to her school. She gave me a Sonic gift card and a new David Baldacci book. We were both thrilled!
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Are we bad parents for forgetting to leave money from the Tooth Fairy under Mason’s pillow…two nights in a row? We made the same mistake with Emma when she was little. When the Tooth Fairy finally did come, she left a note explaining that her “fairy toddler” had had the flu. I guess we’ve got some creative explaining to do.
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Our third grader loves to read so much that he is giving up two recesses a week to be in a book club with only girls! Nerdy or brilliant? I say brilliant…for more than one reason!

14

Today marks fourteen years for Crystal and me. I’ll spare you all of the lovey-dovey, sweet talkin’. But I will say that I’ve loved every minute of it. I can’t believe that God has blessed me with a woman like Crystal. I know that’s what everyone says. (Well, not everyone.) And I know that’s what one should say. But it’s definitely true for us. Life with Crystal is rich.

I love you Crystal. Thank you for loving me too.

10 More Things

I don’t want my blog to be full of negativity. So here are 10 things I do like:

1. I like to have one big sneeze every now and then. It’s refreshing.

2. I like to drive long distances by myself. This doesn’t happen very often. My family always feels the need to tag along! I like to go on road trips with them too…but it’s a whole different experience.

3. I like to sweat. I don’t know why. It just feels right to work up a good sweat.

4. I love it when Emma and/or Kate give me that, “I’m in love with my daddy” look. (Little do they know that they could have almost anything they want in that moment.)

5. I like to clean the windows on my car. I’m a little OCD about some things. This is one of them. There’s just something about feeling like your windows are down because they’re so clean and clear! Exciting!

6. I like doing the grocery shopping first thing Saturday morning. It feels good to be productive on a Saturday morning. And it’s fun to look at that cart full of food I’ve never eaten and decide where I’m going to start!

7. I like baseball caps. It’s an addiction that I’m not ready to surrender.

8. I like…love…rice krispie treats and cherry cheesecake out of the box. Cheesecake out of the box is soooo much better than real cheesecake!

9. I like watching really nervous people give speeches. (I know that this is a mean sickness on my part. Since I don’t really get nervous about public speaking, I derive a sick pleasure out of watching others get nervous. And I don’t feel very apologetic about it either!)

10. I like reading the comments left on Mike Cope’s blog. He’s got some really uptight people analyzing every word he writes. It’s hysterical and a little bit scary.

You Are Mine

A couple of weeks ago I approached God in prayer with some fears that had been weighing on me. I can be a pretty insecure and fearful leader sometimes. But I’m learning to immerse myself in the presence of God when fearful.

Most days nothing visible or emotional happens. I just remember that God is present, and that He cares. And I know that by surrendering to and confiding in Him I’ve done the right thing.

But this particular day something did happen. God whispered to me through His Holy Spirit. (He’s allowed to do that, isn’t He?) His words were, “You are mine.”

This short sentence has really helped me to be less fearful. I whisper it all day. When I run, I say it over and over again. I know that it is true. There may be some subjectivity to my experience…but Jesus’ story backs up the claim. God owns me.

If you are my enemy, and you’re reading this…please know that you have no power over me. I am possessed by God. If you are my friend, and you accidentally hurt me along the way…do not fret. You cannot undo what God has done and is doing with me.

If you are a fearful person, let me encourage you to surrender your fears to God. All of your labor will be in vain if you do not. Your worry will confuse your toiling. You will do more harm than good until you know deep within that He has declared, “You are mine!”

Tagged

I’ve been tagged!

Here’s how this one works…
1. The rules are posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and ask them to read your blog.

What I was doing 10 years ago:
Working on staff with the St. Louis Spiritual Internship…going to lots of Cardinal games!

Five things on my to do list for today:
1. Pray
2. Buy my secretary lunch because she won the NCAA Men’s Basketball Bracket Picks…by a lot
3. Meet with my friend, The Doug
4. Run
5. Watch Mason’s first baseball game of the year

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Support lots of missionaries. Buy the St. Louis Cardinals.

Three of my bad habits:
1. diet coke
2. not finishing books
3. American Idol
(That’s it. I have no other bad habits! Honest!)

Five places I have lived:
1. Searcy, AR
2. Dallas, TX
3. St. Louis, MO
4. Baton Rouge, LA
5. Fort Collins, CO

Five jobs I have had:
1. lawn boy
2. Sign Printer for Anthony’s Dept. Store
3. Toilet Cleaner in men’s dorms (yuck!)
4. Youth Ministry Intern (not a good one)
5. Actor/College Recruiter (This was the coolest job ever. My friend and I were given a car and gas card. We traveled through twenty-six different states in one summer doing skits and recruiting for Harding at summer camps. We had a blast!)

Five People I Want to Know More About:
1. Mason Puckett
2. Amanda Sanders
3. Thomas Ashcraft
4. The Doug
5. Clyde Slimp

10 Things I Don’t Like

1. I don’t like it when people brag about things over which they have no control…like how much hair they have, or how tall they are. Congratulations hairy, tall people. You did a good job growing that hair and those legs!

2. I don’t like it when Ryan Seacrest puts the American Idols through emotional calisthenics before letting them know which one gets the boot. In protest, I’ve vowed to no longer sing until Ryan changes his ways. Don’t even try to change my mind.

3. I don’t like okra.
4. I don’t like poison ivy. I have it on my leg right now. Poison ivy seems to have a big party when it finds my body. Thankfully my father-in-law clued me in to the ultimate cure. Clorox! Pour some Clorox on a wet rag and scrub away. It stings like crazy, but once you get the feeling back in your leg it doesn’t seem to itch anymore.

5. I don’t like country music.
6. I don’t like the NBA or the NHL.
7. I don’t like to wear turtlenecks or ties. I want my Adam’s apple to be free. I feel that if a therapist did a little digging, he/she might be able to find out why.

8. I don’t like it when parents seem to be obsessed with the idea of their child being advanced in everything. Why do people feel that their three year old ought to be able to write in cursive? Is this important?

9. I don’t like to put away clean laundry. I’d rather do the dishes or mop the floors than put away a pile of socks.

10. I don’t like coffee breath. I’m not a coffee drinker…so this is for you. Please coffee drinkers – please pop in a mint before you lean in close to whisper something top secret to me.

That’s it for now. But stay tuned. There are lots of other things I don’t like.

2 Services

Our little congregation experienced two services for the first time yesterday. (Actually, they were having two services many years ago when their building was being built. That was way before my time.) In the grand scheme of things adding a service is not that big of a deal. But for those who are experiencing it - especially those who tend to enjoy the blessings of intimacy and fellowship in smaller numbers - this was a big deal.

I felt like yesterday went really well. Here are two things with which I was particularly pleased:

1. There continues to be a growing spirit of joy in our congregation. For this I am really grateful. When the joy of the Lord is present, change and discomfort are less burdensome.

2. Our members showed their true colors in their eagerness to serve. There were a lot of added jobs and some difficulties that came with transitioning to two services. I don’t think I’ve heard one complaint. (I’m sure there were some – but I didn’t hear them. That’s saying something for a church of 400!) Instead, I witnessed many of our folks expressing willingness to serve in any way. I’m really thankful for the spirit of service that God has created in this congregation.

During the sermon time(s) I encouraged our folks to continue a prayer that I’ve been praying since we first moved to Conway. If you bloggers and lurkers out there ever find yourselves praying for the University Church of Christ in Conway, Arkansas…here’s what you can pray:

We are praying that the Lord will give us (1) Joy, (2) Unity and (3) Evangelistic Success.

Thank you for your prayers.

Ignoring God

Don’t you think it’s sad that we often do not notice God? I hate being ignored. And I don’t suppose that God likes it very much either. I think that we ignore Him a lot. He has gone to great lengths to let us know certain things about Him. One of those truths is that He is very much present and active in this world and in our lives. Still, we often don’t pay Him much attention.

The whole invisibility thing doesn’t really help matters. But honestly, I think that’s just an excuse. God has done plenty to make His presence known. The truth is that I’ve developed the bad habit of thinking life and breath is all about me. I often don’t even try to notice Him.

This sort of ignoring God then becomes disgraceful when we have little gatherings to talk about Him (or tell about Him) – and we act like we’ve been with Him. But truthfully, we haven’t. So we overcompensate by being really assertive and sometimes defensive about what we are certain must be true about Him. (We can’t remember exactly where that passage is…the one that backs up our assertions…but it’s in there somewhere!)

When crisis arrives we find ourselves angry with God. We cry out, “Where were you? Why don’t you care? Why didn’t you rescue me?” Don’t those questions seem a bit odd in light of our tendency to ignore Him every other minute of our day? If I were God, I would bellow, “I’m not talking to you right now! So there! Now you know what it feels like!”

Thankfully, I’m not God! The amazing thing about Him is that He seems to always accept our return. He endures a lifetime of going unnoticed, and then takes us back. Completely! In a heartbeat! If there is a forgiveness gap to overcome, it is self induced. He is more than willing to reengage with us again, and again, and again…

So today I commit myself (again) to notice God more. How about you? Wanna join me? God is present in our midst. Let’s spend life noticing Him. What kinds of glorious things might happen if we did just that?

Crystal’s First Blog Post

Hangin’ out at the ball fields……..

Dusty thinks I should start a blog. He’s crazy. I don’t have that much to say. What would I write about all the time? So, since I don’t have enough material to start my own blog, I thought I might borrow his every now and then.

And I do in fact have something I’d like to write about…baseball! (Dusty and Terry aren’t the only addicts in the family!) I absolutely love baseball season! I can’t wait to hang out at the ball fields. Caleb and Mason are both playing baseball this year. Each of them will have two games a week plus practices which means we could be at the ball fields every night of the week! Some people would say “You poor thing!” But truth be known, I love it!

I love the peacefulness at the games. It forces me to sit in a chair and be still. No dishes. No cooking. No cleaning. No homework. No laundry. No school work. No fighting. Only sitting and watching. I love the friends we get to see and visit with and the new ones we meet. I love the sounds of my kids playing and cheering, snow cones, hot dogs, and the heat. And I love watching those boys catch and hit the ball with pride! I can’t wait for baseball games. See you at the ballpark!