Caffeinated Rainbows

So, I'm sorry that I have been so out of touch lately, but to be fair, you try working at an office supply store for a few weeks... it would make anyone a little out of touch with reality... it's the fluorescent lighting... messes with your head. But you remember that fork I was talking about a few weeks ago? Well I think I'm at another one... and Lord knows I need to make a decision so no tragic and unexpected pushes in the right direction happen. I've really been feeling like God is using this time in my life to prepare me for the things in my life that are going to be permanent, I don't have any reason for that, but it's what my gut tells me. So I've been weighing my decisions carefully and trying to do what God wants me to do and lately I feel like I've been so caught up in doing the "right" thing that I've let my good intentions consume me. Granted, it doesn't sound like such a terrible problem, does it? But let me tell you something... if I was contemplating doing something wrong I could carry on, reminding myself that there's always forgiveness later. (That's right. Give all the disapproving looks you want but you know you've done it too.)

But Friday, I went out for a little coffee, because we all know if there's one place to go for sound answers... it's Starbucks (I know, I obviously learned nothing from my honest tea experience)... and on my way down... I saw 7 different rainbows. SEVEN. And it really got me thinking about Noah. You know, sometimes I feel like we don't give the guy enough credit. I mean, I guess I get why you never hear about his drunken spell and questionable interaction with his son after the flood but I don't think I ever really considered that God wiped out the entire world, but chose to save Noah and his family to continue on human kind... umm... that's kind of a big deal. If God had looked over Noah like we do, well, then we never would have had the chance to look him over to begin with... or we would have gills... and I'm thankful neither of those circumstances apply. You know, I bet people thought Noah was crazy. Heck, Noah probably thought he should check himself into the metal ward at times. But Noah was faithful. He was obedient... even when he didn't understand. And God spared him for it. It says "God remembered Noah."

God told Noah those rainbows were a symbol of His promise; yes, His promise not to wipe out all of man kind (you can uncross your fingers now), but also His promise to remember the covenant, to remember us. And it made me think, it's not so much about me remembering God in my decision, but knowing that God has never forgotten me... and no matter what I direction I decide to go... as long as I'm chasing after His voice, just like Noah, God will remember me. Sometimes... it's just a matter of waiting for the rain.

Because Israelites like Honest Tea too...

So today after work I finally had some time to myself. Granted, the house could have used a good cleaning, and the dishes needed to be done, I really could have used a shower (but what else is new really?), and my bed had been calling my name since noon, but it was about time that I just had some time. So I biked on home from work, changed into my favorite sweater and keds (yes, you've probably seen your grandmother in very similar apparel... but I'm telling you, someday, knitted stripes WILL come back), ripped the bobby pins out of my hair, and headed out, stopping only to pick up some dinner from my favorite little coffee shop on the way.

For the first time since I moved back home, I had a chance to really enjoy where I live. I finally had a few unregimented moments to remember just how much I love this town and all the good memories that come with it. It seems like so long ago that I had this kind of interaction with myself. I've been so lost in the structure of my days that I think I just needed to walk away and walk into myself for a bit. And I knew just where to go... I was headed to my happy place, a big oak in the center of town, with a book one hand and a bag with triscuits, hummus, and iced green tea in the other.

SO here I am, basking in all the little things that bring so much happiness (cause I know hummus and oak trees do it for you too) and I open up to read a little bit of Paul's encouragement for Timothy. After all, if you can't meet with God in your happy place, then where can you? (Yeah, yeah, I know all about finding God in your suffering too. No need for all you downers to go shoving Paul and his chains down my throat.) And just as I'm finishing up chapter 3 of Paul's second letter to Timothy, you know, the part about scripture being the answer for pretty much everything... it happened...

I took the last sip of my Honest Tea.

This may seem trivial to you, but for me, it's the best part of my organic caffeinated beverage experience. You see, when you finish off a bottle of Honest Tea, you can see the quote imprinted on the inside of the label. And those quotes have never failed to be applicable to my day. Every bottle holds some lesson necessary to my life at that time. No matter what I'm going through, Honest Tea is there to offer me a little anti-oxidant boost and an inspiring word. And here's what it told me today...

"Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine."

I sat there, trying to decipher the metaphor of this profound message, knowing that somewhere in those words, knowledge was being offered; all I had to do was find the deeper meaning...

Yeah, so you can see where this post is going.

Here I was trying to find wisdom from a label on a plastic bottle without giving a second thought to the God-breathed words sitting open on my lap. It's a good thing God likes losers... cause man, while I know it's hard to believe with my killer fashion sense and idea of a good time, sometimes, I really am a loser. It kind of made me think about the golden-calf mishap that came to be while Moses went up on the mountain to grab the Ten Commandments quick. You know, when they got impatient and decided they needed a little moral boost and direction... so what better than a cow made of recycled jewelry? We all know those earrings were out of date anyway and if worse came to worse, they could sell it no problem on etsy. People love recycled art.

Okay, but seriously, they were looking for answers from a statue inspired by cattle while Moses was getting the answers directly from the Big Man himself! Why, that's almost as dumb as expecting an Honest Tea label to speak truth into your life while the Truth itself is sitting right in your lap... ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. Yeah. Crap.

So I take back what I said, maybe finding God in your happy place isn't always that easy... actually in my case, and the dummies at the bottom of the mountain, He was staring us right in the face. Maybe the hard part is just realizing He was never the one that was lost to begin with... we were.

Welp, I told you. Did anyone get me that ticket to Canaan yet?... cause I heard they're down an Israelite.