How to be a chivalrous gentleman

I was in a parking lot with a number of people after an event tonight. There were two guys and two gals, including myself, and three cars. It had snowed, the cars were covered and needed to be cleared before we could drive off. While the other woman and I cleaned off our cars, the two guys chatted while one of them cleaned his car. Not once were we approached by either of the guys offering to clear our cars for us. And one of the guys was a passenger for the other lady! When all was said and done, I was the last one in the parking lot, not even in my car yet. I am glad that I don't have any problems with my car, or I would have been stranded there alone as no one waited to make sure I got it started ok with no problems.

While all of this is not the end of the world, and I'm sure some men would argue that they might get their heads bit off for insinuating that a girl can't clean the snow off her car without a man's help, the truth of the matter is that most women are looking for a knight in shining armor. In other words, a chivalrous gentleman. Someone who will at least offer to hold the door open, or help us put our coats on, or wait until we are in our car with it started to leave the parking lot.

And I must add that I hold no delusions that either of these men are interested in me romantically, and perhaps not even as friends. BUT these actions are learned actions, and practice makes perfect. Chances are if they don't treat me this way, they won't treat the woman of their dreams this way, and that may make her be "the one that got away".

I know, I know. Some of you may be saying "if I did that for a girl, she would immediately think I was interested in her, even if I wasn't." Yes, I can see your point. But if more men did this with no ulterior motive or design, we would get used to it and quit reading things into it!

Try it. What have you got to lose? The worst that could happen is you will start an epidemic of kindness!!

Happy Valentine's Day

Always remember the One who loved you first.

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." - Ephesians 3:18-19

40 Days

I've heard a lot recently about different 40-day things. One gentleman took 40 days to focus on recommitting to his marriage. Another person spent 40 days focusing on their prayer life. God brought to mind the 40 days of rain during the flood and the following renewal.

My life has been really crazy lately, going a lot of places and doing a lot of things. All worthy causes that I enjoyed helping out, mind you. But they took me away from home. Away from things that I need to be doing. I moved into my condo 11 months ago and I still have items that do not have a home other than the cardboard box they moved in. A whole dining room full of cardboard boxes. Yes, most of them came from a storage unit (otherwise known in the last two rentals as the garage) and haven't been touched in ages. But once in a while there is something that I need that I know is in one of those boxes and I have to go digging through them. My birth certificate is something that still hasn't surfaced.

What honor am I bringing to God by putting myself out there and serving Him by helping others when I'm drowning myself? Not much. I long to be able to open my home and invite others in. To repay the hospitality served up by so many in my life. But I can't be Christlike and offer them a glass of water in my own kitchen because of it's condition.

So, I am taking my 40 days. I will not feel guilty for saying no, I can't help with that. I will establish routines. I will attempt to arrive at work at the same time every day. I will put routines into place so that when I do begin to help others again my home doesn't suffer. And I will make at least a small dent in the mountains of boxes I am living among so that maybe I can have a Christmas party at my house this year!

T-minus

17 hours and counting. Go to my Endurance Ride blog to see how I'm feeling about tomorrow.

Dirt is cleaner than....

My pastor made an interesting point this morning that I have never thought about before, but have been thinking about off and on today.

Do you remember the man who was struck dead because he reached out to save the Ark of the Covenant from falling to the ground? A first reaction to that might be that that was pretty harsh judgment. But God had given his word what would happen if it were touched, no matter the motive. Consider for a moment, though an alternate look at the situation. Yes, God made a decree, but surely he could make an exception because this guy was going to save the ark from diving in the dirt, right? Here's the 'huh' factor though. The reason he had to die is because it would have been better for the Ark of the Covenant to touch the ground and the dirty dirt than for it to touch the human, because the dirt is cleaner than the human. The filth that covers us because of our sin is dirtier in God's eyes than the dirt of this earth.

I don't know about you, but that's really puts it into perspective for me.

Thank you Lord, for using me.

Today started out to be one of those days. You know the kind...nothing goes right no matter what. But God was gracious today and let me see the why behind it this time.

It started yesterday afternoon when I took on a last minute emergency job assignment. Things were rushed and I didn't get home until 10:30. I got up late this morning, and therefore didn't have time to complete and submit the necessary reports from last night's work. So I went merrily to my daytime job. Only to realize that I left my cell phone at home that has all the vital data for the reports in it. So I turned around and went home again, and back to work for the second time. All of this put me getting to work at 9:20 am. So that means that I will need to work until 5:20 pm to have an 8 hour day. No problem. When 5:20 rolls around I decide to finish what I am working on and bank some extra time against leaving early on Friday for a Dr. appointment.

At 5:29 I was shutting everything down when my phone rang. I took the call and had to get a last minute FedEx shipment out the door. By the time I left it was 5:45 and I was supposed to be at the church to open the bookstore at 6:00. Never going to make it, even if I don't grab dinner. Oh well. God has a reason and a plan. After swinging through a drive through (fast food Mexican, if you must know) I arrived at the church at 6:30. Here is the cool, God working, God revealing moment....

I arrived at the church just in time to greet a mother with her 4 young children who were invited by another family to come to our AWANA club. They were 15 minutes early, didn't know where to go and didn't see anyone else around. I was able to help her and the kids into the church, show them where we meet and answer many of their questions about the clubs.

If I had been on time I would have been downstairs in the bookstore and unaware that this lady needed a friendly face. And it all went back to my forgetting my phone this morning. How much calmer I would have been if I had been praising God for his guidance in my life instead of fuming at myself for forgetting something as basic as my phone!!

A plumbing issue...fixed.

Without calling a plumber even! About a week ago I noticed water under my bathroom sink. I pulled everything out and decided that it was a drain problem. My short term fix was to not use the sink! Notice I said short term LOL.

Some internet searching on another issue (I figured if I was going to fix plumbing issues, I might as well fix them all at once) revealed that fixing my non-sealing drain plug might also be the cause of the leak.

Sure enough, a closer look said the pivot joint for the drain plug was indeed the site of the leak. So, a trip to Home Depot for supplies, several moments of confusion, and more moments of frustration later, I was able to install a new pivot joint and now my sink doesn't leak and will plug tightly.

The best part is I don't have to brush my teeth in the kitchen sink anymore :D