We’re halfway through July which means the Memorial-Day-through-Labor-Day-summer-season is also halfway over. (It also means the stores in Nashville have already loaded the shelves with a depressing explosion of binders, folders, and pencils for back to school.)


Time to take stock of the adventures thus far. Since Memorial Day I have……

—learned to boogie board at the New Jersey shore in possibly the coldest water outside of the Arctic Ocean.

—been stung in the neck by three wasps.

—sprayed a wasp nest with enough poison to kill every bug in the southeastern US.

—run 2.5 miles! Without stopping! Or swearing!

—added a touch more blonde to my hair. Why not?

 

—tried mountain biking.

—tried sitting on one, um, cheek until the purple, grapefruit-size mountain biking bruise on the other side healed.

—walked 467 miles through the lower east side of Manhattan during a Saturday afternoon downpour…..

— …..but also walked the High Line.

—planted a garden that refused to grow. Seriously. It just sits there.

—stayed at a 245-year-old bed and breakfast near Philadelphia.

—road tripped against my will to Mobile, Alabama and back. (There’s a reason videos like this and this always come from Alabama.)

—tried unsuccessfully to “establish dominance” with a 60-pound Siberian Husky.

—lived through the Great Cicada Invasion of 2011.

—lit fireworks and made root beer floats.


Just a few more weeks, folks! What adventures are you having this summer?

Filed under: fun, life, lists Tagged: belmar, cicada, high line, summer

Number of friends on Facebook: 628

Number of “friends” I’ve never met: 134


Number of bruises on my hind end after mountain biking last week: 3

Number of times I fell off the bike: 3

Number of times I’ll probably go biking again: 0






Number of old boyfriends whose birthdays I still remember for no reason: 7

Number of days each year I forget to take my multivitamin: 359

Number of times I’ve moved since college: 6

Number expressing my love of moving: -1004


Number of times I asked All Natural Lawns & Landscape to mow my lawn the last two weeks while I traveled: 2

Number of times they actually mowed: 0

Number I had to count to before calling them and expressing my unhappiness: 20

Number of comments on the CS version of Tuesday’s post: 17

Number that said I was doing  “violence to Scripture and to the sovereign character of God”: 1

Number of times I’ve decided to read through the Bible in a year: 5

Number of times I’ve actually read through the Bible in a year: 1

Number of years I’ve committed to journaling: 3

Number of years I’ve consistently written in my journal: 0

(Number of minutes I looked online to see if “journalled” was a word: 4)

Number of years I plan to make either resolution again: 0


Number of dollars I owe in library fines:

let’s just say I’m not allowed to borrow any more books right now.

Filed under: fun, life, lists

I recently wrote this article for Christian Standard magazine, and I’m already getting lots of feedback on both sides of the issue. Click the link below to read the entire article on the CS site.

“God’s plan for your life isn’t a map you see all at once, but a scroll unrolled a little at a time, requiring faith,” Rick Warren recently tweeted.

“God will accelerate his plan for your life as you put your trust in him. God is giving you victory sooner than you think,” says Joel Osteen.

Less prominent Christians champion the theology as well. In responding to a new believer’s question about his career, a contributor to Bible-Knowledge.com writes, “God will now be the one to fully guide you into whatever jobs he will want you to have. . . . The choice is no longer yours! In the meantime, God will make sure you have enough money and support coming in to keep you afloat until this next job comes through.”

It is comforting to believe God has mapped out our future. It is exciting to think he’s bringing me victory. And I would love for God to make sure I have enough money while I passively wait for it to happen.

But unlike pastors Warren and Osteen, Mr. Bible-Knowledge, and many Christians I know, I don’t believe God has created a plan for my life—or for yours.


Problems with “The Plan”
–We take verses out of context

Jeremiah 29:11 is a cherished verse, frequently used for encouragement in graduation cards, post-breakup pep talks and, yes, job searches. (Well-meaning believers have recited it to me in all three contexts.) Along with The Bachelorette and people who refuse to vaccinate their children, its yanked-out-of-context use is one of the biggest pet peeves of my life.

Somehow we forget the grim reality surrounding this verse: amidst oracles of doom and judgment against Judah, Jeremiah says these words to comfort the people (as a group) with promises of eventual restoration and return from exile.

This is a bit different from claiming it as a guarantee of a fulfilling job, wonderful spouse, or ministry “call.”

Click here to read more, including why I find this theology harmful, why it lets American Christians feel special, and and what I do believe about God’s plan.

Filed under: God, life, opinions Tagged: Jeremiah 29:11, joel osteen, plan, Rick Warren

This weekend I told my family I spend 90% of my time doing things I don’t want to do.

(On further consideration I revised my estimate to a more generous 80%.)

So: about 80% of my life is comprised of housework, laundry, grocery shopping, preparing meals, packing, unpacking, exercising, filing, paying bills, balancing my checkbook, cranking out copy, staying on top of emails, sitting in airports, researching, attending meetings, managing websites, mowing my yard, running errands, and meeting other assorted deadlines.

That leaves 20% for what I want to do: work on writing projects I care about (like this blog), read good books, watch good movies, work in my garden and my flowerbeds, start projects in my house I may not finish, travel for fun, and spend time with people I care about.


Perhaps this is just another sign I try to do too much. I really like being a freelancer but it’s demoralizing to start the day knowing it’s not possible to finish everything. I’d probably categorize more of my paid work as “things I want to do” if I wasn’t constantly fighting the clock to fit it all in.

Or perhaps this is just what it means to be an adult. Am I thinking about this incorrectly? Is it wrong to want a 60/40 split?

What percentage of your time do you spend doing things you really don’t want to do?

Filed under: life, work Tagged: chores, deadlines, duty, freelancing, work

David Beckham’s feet

was Jennifer Taylor ever on Seinfeld?  

undercover boss Amway

wallpaper dancing Macarena

Pirates of the Caribbean eye makeup

people worshiping eggs

pictures of pancreatitis

I wasted my twenties on the wrong man

warning nude beach

write down the number of people are involved in the whole process of getting a loaf of bread

Дэвид Бэкхем  (There are a LOT of Beckham fans out there.)

Filed under: fun, life, lists Tagged: David Beckham, Pirates of the Caribbean, Seinfeld. Macarena