A Chicken's Whodunit

Being from a 'large' family of seven, odd things are bound to happen. But not half as many odd things as happen to a family of ten. But still, odd things do happen to us. Especially since we have forty chickens.

Half of those chickens are at this moment, chicks. In fact, they are chicks that we recieved in the mail. And actually, we recieved them in the mail at six in the morning. To be more correct, we recieved a phone call from the post office at six in the morning. And we went and got them at seven. Actually, to be more precise, we have ten less chickens today than we had last Friday. Because ten chicks decided to give up on life and die.

Fortunatly, everyone is used to dead chickens at our house, (even our dog goes and digs them up in the woods) because...a lot have died. So, due to the fact that on one Labor Day years ago, we slaughtered all our roosters, and also because many of our chickens are just plain old, nobody was really sad that these poor chicks spent their last moments on earth at our house.

Now, as the oldest in the family, and therefore the most responsible, (ahem, ahem) I am the chicken person. I am in charge of feeding them, watering them, and letting them into the run in the morning. I am also in charge of forgetting that we are running out of chicken food until the day that the can is empty, and causing my parents to run a much-needed but much-despised trip to Walmart for chicken food.

Now this chicken food comes in 40-pound bags, three of which fill up the garbage can that we use for storage. These bags are heavy, and everyone hates carrying them all the way out to the chicken coop, so they often stay in our garage until, one at a time, every couple mornings, I must carry one to the coop and pour it in the can so that the poor animals can eat their daily bread.

Such was it this week. Last Saturday, I went to Walmart on that fateful run to get food. Returning, we put them in the garage and forgot about them. Until, that is, I had to get a bag and bring it out to the chicken coop.

The night before I had to do that, I went to bed thinking obsessively about it, and wondering if there was any possible way to get out of it. Of course, I thought of none, so I then went to sleep.

Upon waking up the next morning, I remembered my task and set out to accomplish it. I staggered out of the garage with 40 pounds of chicken food in my arms, and walked the many yards to the coop, where I poured it in the bucket. After finishing all the chicken coop duties, I went back inside the house.

Wandering into the kitchen, I pulled out some pots and pans, deciding what to make for breakfast. Whence my eyes fell upon an odd subject. Sitting by the couch from which my brother was sitting, was a nice, neat 40 pound bag of chicken food.
In which I demanded upon my nine-year-old brother, Andrew, as to why he had brought it in. He replied that he knew nothing about it except that it was just there when he had come down to the kitchen.
I next asked my father, who was turning on all his office computers, why he had brought a bag of food into the kitchen. He also was clueless, so I went back to the kitchen, resumed making breakfast, and all the while pondering why someone would have brought it in. Or, even who had brought it in, as everyone but me, my dad, and Andrew, was in bed.

To this day, no one knows or will admit to bringing the bag inside the house, when it should have stayed in the garage. I have my suspicions though. And who is the suspect? Myself.

It is entirely possible that I could have done half of my job while sleepwalking. After all, Andrew often scares members of our family by sleepwalking and just standing in their room until they wake up. And so, there are several points for me, which could almost entirely prove this event.

• I am related to sleepwalkers and have on occasion done so myself.
• I went to sleep after deciding that I would do the job in the morning.
• I did not wake up once all night and have no memory whatsoever of any dreams, nightmares, or other disturbing circumstances which often wake me up at three in the morning.

And so, there you have it. The Whodunit of my family. Having everything to do with chickens.

Love, scientifically

Well, I read the interesting parts of the Wall Street Journal every day. Most of it is quite boring, but usually there is at least one interesting article.

Such was the case on February 13th. The headline was: Is it Love or Mental Illness? They're Closer Than You Think. There was a picture of a brain with a little speck of red in it, and of course that looked interesting, so I read it.

I found out something amazingly interesting. In the beginning statements, the article said,

"Recent studies of brain scans show that being in love causes changes in the brain that are strikingly similar to serious health problems like drug addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder"

Drug addiction? Serious health problems? 'Oh, but don't worry', the article cheerfully went on. "This doesn't mean that love is bad for you." It then goes on to describe a study in which images of people were shown pictures of people they knew, and when it came around to the person they had "intense romantic feelings" for, their brains basically went bonkers. Aslo, Italian studies showed that blood levels that drop for mental illnesses also drop in "love-struck" people.

All this quite worrying evidence left me wondering - are we even talking about the same kind of love? No doubt I know what kind of love they are talking about. Having experienced romantic attraction myself, I know how it could relate to going crazy. Of course, as I am unmarried and could probably not be married legally yet, then...maybe I don't. :-)

But the Bible always says that love is something entirely different than romantic attraction. The famous 'love chapter' of the Bible in 1st Corinthians isn't even in the context of romantic love. It's talking about church and spiritual gifts!

Love is unfailing. Romantic attraction comes and goes. Love is this. Love is that. Love is all the things that romantic attraction is not.

Which makes it saddening that society has been so degraded as to define love with romantic attraction.

Imagine where we'd be if God based His love for us on how much He was romantically attracted to us. Uh...that's kinda not the God I know.

So what do I say? I'm a bit ticked that the WSJ would actually equate love with mental illness. But on the other hand...what can I expect? The only thing they know about love is that it is either biological or romantic attraction.

There's a whole bigger side to love than that. I know we can feel 'in love' and all, and that is true, but as Christians, feelings have to be in submission to God before they're entirely valid. I mean, if God had wanted me to marry the first person I was romantically attracted to (as a little kid) then, um, I don't know what I'd be doing. That would be very weird.

We don't walk with our feelings in control, but we walk with God in control. So maybe that's why these people in the article are exhibiting signs of mental illness. Maybe they are walking with their feelings in control instead of God in control, and going crazy because of it. (Hehe) I don't know. I'm not going to argue with scientists. But I do have my speculations...

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Meanwhile, I must get my pictures ready for an art contest that I may lose horribly in...or I could win, and I must finish answering questions about Frankenstein. It is a horrible book; I really suggest you don't read it. In the meantime, go look at my art website which I updated very recently. I'm working on learning how to use Photoshop, in order to make it look professional in the future. And go look at The Modesty Survey. It is really cool. :-D

*All quotations were taken from the February 13th 07 edition of the Wall Street Journal, D1, Health Journal - Is It Love Or Mental Illness? by Tara Parker-Pope

Modesty Survey Results!

TheRebelution.com just launched the results of their massive Modesty Survey! Over 1,600 Christian guys answered questions on everything from glitter lotion and lip gloss to swimsuits and skirt slits! For you girls, it's everything you've ever wanted to ask guys about modesty, but were afraid to ask! For you guys, it's really interesting to see what other Christian guys think!
Most importantly, the survey is presented as a resource to help Christian girls (and guys), not a list of legalistic rules, and it is accompanied by the Modesty Survey Petition (which tons of guys have signed - 800 and counting) which encourage young women to focus on the heart, not the hemline, to honor their parents, etc.
TheRebelution.com presents the results of the survey as a big St. Valentine's Day gift from 1,600 Christian guys to all Christian girls—and I can't think of a better one!
Go check it out: http://www.therebelution.com/modestysurvey/
But also make sure you spread the word to all your friends. We want as many Christian girls as possible to see it on Valentines Day, so you can repost this post on your blog or forward it as an email.
Guys, they are still accepting signatures for the Modesty Survey Petition, so this is an opportunity for you to still share your voice on the topic of modesty!

Understanding "Do Hard Things"

The motto of the Rebelution is - Do Hard Things.

I understand it now.

The first time I went to the site and read that, I didn't really know what to think. It was a cool blog and all, but didn't quite know what to do in my life about 'hard things'. I had a good life. God was changing me. I was learning. Sure, life wasn't perfect, but it wasn't bad. I was...pretty good with where I was. And I was confidant that if God wanted me to do something hard, He would tell me in His time. (In other words, I didn't want to do any 'hard things' and would only wait until life got so bad that I couldn't see clearly anymore and then God would have to stop me in my tracks and turn me all the way around.)

I didn't understand the motto. I thought it was all just 'nice'. Pleasing to the ears.

But then last week, I started understanding it. Finally.

Upon a first glance into my mind, one would think that I understood it now, simply because I had seen teenagers with obviously much lower standards than my own. But that would be a flawed understanding.

I had gone to GenUnleashed down in Portland. I had to struggle from being judgemental there, as I saw girls and guys interacting with each other in ways I considered inappropriate, girls from youth groups primping in the bathroom for the teenage boys who would invade my personal space and flirt with all the pretty girls.* Oh yes, my first thoughts were not humble. Arrogance spun around in my mind as I 'thanked God' that the people in my youth group would not ever act like this.
In the midst of that, I started to see a glimmer of something. "Wait a second!" I thought. "This must be what the Rebelution talks about when they say to 'rebel against low expectations'! As I mulled it over, I suddenly realized that this couldn't be all. Nobody in my youth group had these kind of low standards. We must be at the top! We must have finished! Success was in sight!
God suddenly spoke to my heart.
"But that's not all."
"What? We're doing pretty good!"
"Just because you may have higher standards than the youth groups standing next to you doesn't mean that there's not more."
"There's more?"
"Don't be satisfied with where you are at. Keep going further."

In reality, it does no good to compare ourselves to our peers, Christian or no. If we try to compare ourselves to other people, all that will happen is that our standards will sink lower and lower, and our pride will rise higher and higher. Comparing ourselves to others is worthless. We will become discouraged or arrogant.

Poncho Lowder once said that "you can't leave here [from an experience with God] and go back living the same [lifestyle] expecting a different result. You have to live different."

Quit comparing yourself to others.

Go after God.

And Do Hard Things.

*Please note that I immensely enjoyed the conference, regardless of the annoying people! There was not a very large percentage participating in these kinds of activities, but the few who did were quite noticeable.

An encouragement

I was going to blog about my experience at Generation Unleashed II today, but something more important has come on my heart, and it needs to be said.
If you're reading this and feel like saying -

"Wait a second - you keep going to all these conferences! God keeps changing your life! I can't ever go to them. God'll never use me."

Let me tell you - You can go to a conference and get nothing out of it. I'm sure plenty of people have done that at every conference I have ever gone to. If you are blocking your heart off from God and refusing to listen to Him, then you won't hear Him, conference or no.

Sometimes, however, God brings it in at the right moment - He changes your life forever - in a split second. You don't have to be at an event for that to happen. He can use the conference or camp, but the thing is - God had that moment planned. He doesn't have to have you be in a spiritual place to meet you. You could be at a bar, and God could come and *snap* a divine moment happens. Why? Because He is God. Regardless of your circumstances, God will make divine encounters happen in His timing.

And often God sort of prepares you and it is just a confirming thing sometimes. Most of the time, God changes me at home. The process is more important right now than the result. The result is sure and steady - it will come. But only if you let the process happen. My process has been at home for the most part, ever since God met me for the first time at camp. Even then, He had been taking me through a process. But the thing is - even though you might feel God's power, go deeper, and be in more of God's presence - the process just as important. There has to be a balance.

So when I say that God 'changed my life' at a conference, what I really mean is that I had a divine encounter and that He opened my eyes to things. You can have encounters with God any day. The prerequisite is to spend time with Him and ask.