PSA: Be careful were you store your fire extinguishers

Well God and I had a good laugh today, although I must admit I took a little longer on the laughing part.

I couldn't get a ride into my doctor's appointment today so I neglected taking my meds and just drove in myself. And anyone concerned about me driving has bigger problems. I am fully convinced some people have fake drivers license. The guy in front of me on the Seward Hwy was driving erratically, but I was dealing and not even getting annoyed (Yay for good music) Then we turn a corner and who knows what happened, maybe there was a goat 100ft up, but he slams on the brakes and I had to follow suit. As soon as I did there was this explosion from the back of my car and it starts filling with smoke. I figure I blew a tire pretty bad and pull over. Looking in the back (before I could even get my one handed seat belt off) I see nothing but smoke. I check the tire...all good...and have this sinking feeling that my car is really on fire. (and maybe I should have grabbed the jacket at least) I cautiously popped the trunk (thank you so much for the rope pull Ross) and just thick smoke. Great, I can't even get to the fire extinguisher or figure out where the fire is. Of course the other guy is long gone and I'm stuck in winter and in a sleeveless shirt and sling staring at my car wondering what to do now. Fortunately the huge cloud of "smoke" rose up and some visibility returned. There was no fire, just a couple ski poles, a fire extinguisher, and a really big mess. The fire extinguisher either got punctured or the safety pin wasn't very safe, I couldn't see. Very releaved I began to air out the corosive dust and clean off the windsheild.

So I have an important message for all of you smart enough to carry a fire extinguisher in your vehicle: Be sure to keep it somewhere separate from the passenger compartment of your vehicle, and that includes having the seats up accessing the trunk! It was just one of those days that make you want to laugh and cry at the same time. I won't go into the other shinnagins of the day, but it invovled more bad drivers, trying to set up physical therapy, and attempting to prop open the hood on my vehicle with one arm (very entertaining for all those in the parking lot who took one look at me and crossed to the other side) Sitting at school now I'm smiling and shaking my head. It could be worse, much worse. I wasn't feeling like everything sucks but sometimes it's good to have a reminder before you get to that point of despair. God must have decided I needed one of those today. So life's alright and God's great. Tonight I'm giving a verbal climbing lesson, this might prove to be amusing as well. Have a great, less surprising day.

Dependency

Let's face it, most of us hate to be dependent on someone else. I know someone will argue with me that there's a lot of people who abuse the welfare system, or their friends and family even, that have no problem making themselves someone else's problem. And I'll even concede to that...yet for the most part the people I come into contact with like to be independent. We value self-sufficiency, strength, determination, oh yeah and just plain sucking it up.

Well, I had to have shoulder surgery a week ago and it's been a wake up call. I now need to be dependent on all kinds of people. I can't drive, but have to go to class...I'm living with a family from church because I can't live alone yet...I used to do dishes for my friends just because I enjoyed it and well they didn't, but tomorrow I'll need to admit although I tried the last few days, I shouldn't...some days I can't even open the prescription bottle! For 3 months I'm not allowed to lift anything or eventually even lift my arm above shoulder height, and then they'll start working on stuff SLOWLY. ARGGGH! So tonight I had Hannah (a 14yo girl I'm living with) cut my hair off all so I could brush it myself. It's made me stop and think why do I value and respect independency so much. Yet God tells us be dependent on him and the bible is full of talk of unity and community. It's said that Satan's ways are the most effective when they present themselves as a friend. Is this independency that is so ingrained in our culture now one of Satan's favorite strongholds? Is something that we see as so positive really in need of being tempered with God's grace? When putting it that way it's hard to say no and keep on living as I have. Thinking back a few years, I already have begun to change that mindset. It came in the little things like not being uncomfortable if someone held the door for me and finally accepting a granola bar from a friend when we're up skiing. I don't know how it would look to live both dependently and still functional with healthy relationships. I'm just starting to think maybe this ideal of ours is bit too high of a priority that comes at the cost of genuine, God-style loving relationships with those around us. There's a book called 'Irresistible Revolution' by Shane Claiborne that talks about living in community. I didn't completely embrace his lifestyle when I read the book. In fact I thought, if everyone goes and puts themselves into his position, who's going to go further from that immediate community and who's going to provide so much more of the help that is still needed. I still do feel that way, but maybe there's more to his ideas then I originally credited them.

Well I got scolded for not writing more. So here's what's going on in my life that's completely honest and humbling. I may not like this stage of life I'm in right now, but I do know I've got a lot to learn from it. I hope you don't need a surgery to find your dependency.