it would SO happen that way...

So, I am at work last night. Just workin on a logo thing while listening to a Rob Bell sermon ...and my phone rings. It is none other than my long-time, dear friend Erika from Washington State. She asks me whats up, I tell her what im doin, then return the question. ....and can i just tell you how surprised I was when she informed me that she was sitting on the front stoop of my house!? I thought she was kidding. She wasnt. ...And she had her entire family in tow -- some members of which I had not seen in 6 years.

Now, before I go on, you need to know that this is actually not a random visit, if you understand Erika and her family of origin. This is 'normal howdy-do.' And because my life has come to give new definition to the word, 'exciting' or 'out-of-the-ordinary,' I am unfazed... I rush home and am excited to see my friend.

I come home to find all 5 of them hanging out in my yard (they've been here for 30 min), entertaining themselves by reading the magazines in my mail box. I jump out, give hugs, say hello, and invite everyone in. as we are going in, Erika hands me my extra house key, which she had found in my yard. i didnt think too much about it, except that I hadn't walked through my yard in days, had used the key that morning, and remembered it had been on my big key ring that I was holding in my hand. Weird.

anyways... so, we go inside, catch-up, get annoyed by the dog, and so forth and so on. They leave after visiting for an hour and head onwards on their trip to the east coast.

Fast forward 2 hours...

I am hungry and need some milk. I decide to take a walk to the gas station nearby to get some. So I shove 2 bucks in my pocket, grab my cell phone, and take my house key off the ring and leave... As I go to lock the door, I realize that I had taken my church key off the ring instead. ...Of course I dont have a car key with me. i'm stuck. So, I call my friend who has a house key ...no answer. Call again. No answer. I figure she must be at work. She usually gets off at 11pm. ...Then I remember her phone doesnt work anymore. Perfect.

...at this point I reason with myself that I cannot go get milk, because it will go bad by the time I get back into my house. So I walk to Dairy Queen and get some ice cream. This seems the most logical thing to do. I can eat ice cream and wait for my friend to get home at 11. By this time I am done my twist-dipped cone, I have decided that i have time to walk to her house ... that is 5 miles away.

Finish the cone. Start walking. And walking. This is no longer a good idea. I am still hungry -- the whole reason I left home in the first place -- and I am tired. So I call my pastor. He picks me up and takes to my friends house. She's still not home. So I go to his house and wait for an hour.

Long story short: she gets off work, her boyfriend tells her to come get me at my pastors house, she comes, we go, I get in.

So, as I am thinking about my day yesterday... specifically the random visit and getting stuck outside...and I remember the key. The house key that mysteriously came off the ring and was in my yard. How my friend who lives 2000 miles away, happened to stop by and find this key and put it in the house ...and how never in my life had I needed a key to randomly be in my yard as much as I did tonight.

So, to anyone who tries to tell me that there is no karma, or that there is no luck, or that all of life is just happenstance, and that there is no One 'up there' holding it all together and pulling pranks on certain people... I  beg to differ.

Because this story pretty much sums up my life. (If you know me, you know its true!)

So, heres to May 18, 2006 and to all the other days and lives like it!

Let the intensity roll-on! ...And to the One holding all this together ...bring it! J

Currently Reading To Heal a Fractured World : The Ethics of Responsibility By Jonathan Sacks see related

so... this is my new post. i like the colors. ummmhumm.

i figured it was time to have a new post when i realized i had 33 posts on my last post... you see... i dont know 33 people who have a xanga... or 33 people period for that matter. so in my observation of my sweet-33-comments, i realized that it must be annoying for my 6 friends to continue leaving comments on the same posts. (i will thank you, my 6-faithful, in the credits of my life)

so heres my new post... for you... in loving honor of xangateers everywhere that dont mind leaving multiple comments on one post...

lets make it 35 this time ok?!

...as a side note, can i just say, that i am at work right now. i am 24 years old, and am in my office right now posting a new xanga entry...

shoot me now...

Currently Reading Traveling Mercies : Some Thoughts on Faith By Anne Lamott see related

i hereby call on all who comeith across this entry... to click on the link below, and to then behold one of my favorite SNL sketches of ALL TIME:

"CELEBRITY JEOPARDY"

so... my personal opinion is that the one with "burt reynolds" aka "turd ferguson" is THE BEST!

cast your vote here, by way of comments, on your favorite celebrity jeopardy SNL! (warning: ones after 1999 really arent that funny, and could be considered somewhat crude. and no one likes a crude celebrity jeopardy.)

http://www.smithappens.com/video_celebrityjeopardy.php

(my deepest thanks and appreciation goes to my dear friend and SNL lover, room7rocks, for finding this spectacular link! i love you. if you were a man... i would ask you to marry me!... or at least ask you out to coffee...)

Currently Listening Hopes and Fears By Keane see related

...so, this is the blog that expresses my love for the lotus flower and why... you dont care, but you are reading this... so you might as well know. :)

(you can view the fully illustrated version of this at www.myspace.com/i_put_the_hug_in_thug )-- pictures located with other photos.

ok...and now its time for..."the lotus low-down":

The lotus flower appears in legends originating from ancient Egypt. It played an important part in ancient Egyptian religion. The pure white lotus flower, the only plant to fruit and flower simultaneously, grows and emerges from the depths of the muddy swamp. Growing from the mud at the bottom of ponds and streams, the exquisite Lotus flower rises above the water and is usually white or pink with 15 or more oval, spreading petals, and a peculiar, flat seedcase at its center.

Egyptians believed that the lotus was a symbol of the sun, of creation and rebirth. Because at night the flower closes and sinks underwater, at dawn it rises and opens again. According to one creation myth it was a giant lotus which first rose out of the watery chaos at the beginning of time. From this giant lotus the sun itself rose on the first day. A symbol of Upper Egypt .

The Lotus flower has for thousands of years symbolized spiritual enlightenment. The flower essence's purpose is to accelerate spiritual evolvement and enhance healing on every level within the system.

Traditional or Historical uses include: Providing a relaxing, euphoric sensation. May help relieve muscle spasms. For some, it may act as an aphrodisiac. Egyptian Blue Lotus is a sedative, antispasmodic, and ethnogen. (aphrodisiac what?) :)

anyways...

so... why do i care?...

well it is just this: that i think it is amazing that something so beautiful comes from the bottom of a swamp. thats it!

...and i think it is amazing how somehow, our cultivation of spiritual rebirth, does indeed come from yuck most of the time. lotus happens to us in real life... the swamps that we curse are the soil for the grandest and most beautiful things in life.

so... next time your night seems be a "sinking into the dark recesses of a swamp"...just remember... morning comes. and the creation and nutrients that the swamp provides during the night, gives you the ability in the morning, to rise above it all, in the most glorious of fashions... to unfold with the Son itself, the magnificent beauty that comes only from the murk.

so, be a lotus! yeah! hahaha...

oh yeah... one fun fact that may interest a certain someone:the habitat for the lotus flower is that it grows along lakes and rivers in wet soil. AND... is indigenous to Tanzania, Kenya

:) El

Currently Listening Across A Wire: Live In New York City By The Counting Crows see related

does anyone read my posts??? hummm... doubtful... oh well... blog-on!

so... sometimes when i am stressed, i scream. then i pace. then break-out in hives. then i scratch... then i think: geezzz why am i so stressed? then i nap. upon waking i cuss (because i didnt mean to sleep so long). then i rememer that the day will end soon, that all the crap will pass, and that these are the things and the days that make life colorful and, well, life... then i laugh. i laugh a lot. i laugh till i cry. and i think of how funny it all really is... and if its isnt funny at all, i laugh because it isnt!

so, if today is one of those, "i-think-i-am-going-run-my-head-through-the-wall-after-sitting-in-sack-cloth-and-ashes-and-capping-off-a-random-passer-by-sort-of-day"... just remember, 1. you could be living in topeka, kansas. 2. it has been worse. 3. one day it will be worse and this is training. 4. you now have one day less to live until heaven; where there will never be a day like this again! 5. one day, god will make everything beautiful in its time...

peace.