Story Time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So today as I was riding with my mother through the veritable metropolis of Parker, Colorado and found myself randomly reminiscing about the following memories.
P-town--as many refer to it--was home to about 12,000 when I moved out to the country--12 miles east into the middle of the arid grassland in 1995. After vacillating between numbers one and two on the nation's fastest growing counties list for many years, it's population has grown to 40,000+. Among the many residents who moved in was the Grace family, and they also attended church where I do at Smoky Hill Church of Christ.
The Graces had an affinity for reptiles. As many on this earth can tell you, I do not share this same attraction for these creatures I did enjoy visiting their house for a couple reasons. The family had not just one or two reptiles, but a room full of lizards, snakes--from bull snakes to anacondas, 7-foot long iguanas, and komodo dragons.
Now one of the pleasant things that always seemed to happen while over at the Graces was that somebody other than myself would pick up some creepy crawly creature and put it right behind the head of an innocent, unsuspecting, unwary young female. Well, you know how the story goes, she turns around, screams, sometimes cries and we all cry because we are laughing so hard.
Now if you know as much as I do about these reptiles you know that they are animals and have to eat somehow. Now in order to feed some of their collection the Graces had bought rats. Now you may say that simply having rats is not something that in and of itself is terribly exciting...but just you wait. Now as Eric (who is 6'6" and weighs almost 300 lbs), the father, did not want to keep the rats live all the time; the rats were stored frozen in the kitchen directly above the fridge, and directly beside ice used to cool beverages.
I often went to get ice and just asked the simple question, "Anybody need a rat for dessert?" That simple question all too often was the impetus for 10 teenagers crowded around the freezer. After a while I learned another fun ice trick from Eric; be kind and get ice for people who are comfortably seated...I would simply take their glass and act as though I were getting ice cubes in their glass and come back, hand them their glass innocently. It was priceless when some people realized that in their cup instead of ice cubes in their Dr. Pepper, there was a frozen rat.
I feel so blessed that was able to participate in this kind of good, clean fun! In case anybody was wondering--as much fun as the shrieks of horror were, no I will not ever own a room full of snakes, lizards, newts, chameleons, frogs, turtles, crocodiles, alligators, pythons, anacondas, asps, vipers, and komodo dragons.

Listen to the Whispers

Well, here I am back in Elbert County, Colorado. For all that don't know it doesn't look like a desert, ahem, but it looks like a very hilly Kansas with a great view of the Rocky Mountains. Much different than Florida, which is hot, wet, and hot. I haven't seen a misquito since I got back to Colorado and probably wont for another three weeks. I live close enough to the mountains that I can still see the snow that is up there (some of it doesn't ever melt) and close enough to play up there year around.
It has been quiet around the house without the dog following me around...it is kinda sad not having the dog around, or the roomate around, the little brother (who is still in school), or even Naomi--to purr at me, attack me, and shove my orange juice off tables.
I made it through finals...some of them barely. I did do well on history, which is my major so I guess I can relax a bit. Now I just need to figure out what in the world I am doing next year. I am leaning towards Florida College, studying liberal arts (a lot of the details are in my last blog). I have been praying about it a lot and the signs are pointing there as far as I can see.
In bible class this past week we studied Elijah and his interactions--often not so friendly--with Ahab. In chapter 19 of I Kings we read the story about when Elijah is hiding in the cave and the Lord tells him to come out of the cave. Verses 11 through 13 tell how the Lord spoke to Elijah. First came a great wind that tore apart the mountains, then an earthquake, then fire...but the Lord was not in any of these three things. Then came a gentle whisper--which the Lord was in. This passage really started me thinking. We all mostly look for big signs in our lives for God to tell us where to go, or what to do. We often wait to change our ways until someone close to us(perhaps ourselves) is harmed or dies, or we hear touching stories about these things. When we start looking only for these things we become just like the people following Jesus in the New Testament. They saw signs and wonders all the time and still did not believe what he claimed. Before we condemn the people in the New Testament just because they needed to see him risen with the scars in his hands...consider what God has given us.
It seems like when we are making decisions we sit around and wait for something to come to us, we wait for an epiphany, or someone to slap us in the face and tell us what to do. I believe we would be much better off if, in our trials and indecisions we just pray to God. Perhaps he wont come thundering to us with an answer, but he will answer. I think we should just pray and listen for the whispers...whether God whispers or thunders, if we are really listening to him we will hear what he says.