Two Heads are...Better than One?

Somewhere in her many global trottings, my lovely sister picked up some new games. And one of them was sort of a He Said/She said type of thing, where one person writes down a name, folds down the top of the slip of paper, and passes it to the next person, who writes down another name, and then repeats the process until the little epistle contains the name of a boy, the name of a girl, the location in which they encounter each other, what he said, and what she said, and finally, what happened as a result.

We had the better part of the Beaty family playing this lovely game during the past two days on several different occasions, and some of the results were most remarkable.

For example:

Joel Flage

and Susan B. Anthony

met in Athens, Greece

and he said, "Well, am I ever pleased to meet you!"

she said "Touch me and I'll bite you!"

So they just sat pondering their wonderful new relationship.

Santa Claus

met Liv Tyler

on top of Old Smoky

he said, "How about a date?!"

She said, "you have got to be kidding!"

So he flanged her down 70 times 7...

Ben Beaty (my brother)

and Laura Kulp (his mother-in-law)

met at a computer store

and he said, "Darling, I have an important question!"

and she said, "Can it, Bucky!"

so they went dancing on the roof of someone's house.

An old German farmer

and Taylor Swift

met in her grandfather's safe

and he said, "Turn on the lights! I can't see."

and she said, "Oh! You have a wonderful smile."

and then they had to spend five years in counseling.

Al Capone

and Cinderella

met while scuba diving

and he said, "I need a beer."

and she said, "Oh boy, I'm not sure what to think!"

so they stepped on a mine and were blown to a beautiful alien planet.

You never realize how many inside family jokes exist until you start playing a game like this with your siblings...heh. Think what we'd be missing if we all truly could only live in the moment and there were no such thing as short-term or long-term memory...

There are so very many things to love about Christmas breaks!

Not the least of these would be a small nephew, who, in his rapid march towards an antiquated state, will be attaining the impressive age of 12 months two days from today.

This charming young individual adds huge amounts of interest to life in general, and he's mostly a joy to be around. Except for when one happens to be unfortunate enough as to upset the little man...he has a rather interesting habit of roaring indignantly with mouth opened to approximately the size of a small hippopotamus as he lunges forward to bite the nose of the offending relative/former friend. Typically this results only from a food-related offense, though, so--we just don't take his cookies away from him, and then it's all good.

On another note, though, the days at home have been a lovely break from the routine of academia. It's been an opportunity to step back, to take stock and evaluate, and to see some things from a new perspective. And sometimes that's a really humbling experience, because more often than I care to admit, I'm guilty of things that I can't exactly look back at with pride. This whole growing-up-and-taking-responsibility-for-my-own-actions thing is sometimes painful, sometimes embarrassing, and other times just plain ol' overwhelming...but I am every day more thankful for the grace of a God who loves unconditionally and is not only capable but willing to redeem my mistakes.

Today I read a really well-written article by Nathan Zacharias that dealt with the topic of failure and our Biblical response to it, and he said a couple of things that particularly resonated with me this week. He writes:

"...when faced with failure, the road to recovery can't be taken until I first recognize that I need to recover in the first place. So in those painful moments of realizing what I've just done, it's important that I take heart in the fact that feeling that emotion of regret in the first place is a major part of the battle in overcoming my failure.

After some of life's breakdowns, it's tempting to throw in the towel on what the future holds. Sometimes I think that we've messed up so badly that God will never be able to use me to do any good. That thought, though, warns me that I'm seriously underestimating the redemptive power of Christ."

It's the thought of the redemptive power of Christ that gives me hope even on the days when I feel a little overwhelmed by the sad lack of Christ-like character which appears to plague many of us who call ourselves Christians.

So as I finish out 2009, surrounded by those I love best (who are exceptionally special simply because they know what a dork I am and choose to still love me anyway!), my prayer is that God would give each of us the grace and the strength to live by the truth that we know, the humility to admit that we don't know it all, the strength to face our mistakes, own them, and allow God to redeem them, and the character to accept, cherish, and forgive those who are at different places in their journey than we are.

May God bring about a revival, and may He begin it in my heart...

I distinctly remember beginning this year with the honorable aspiration to update my blog at least once every two weeks. Which does not explain why, nearly an entire semester later, I have only managed to update the aforementioned blog a grand total of…two times. Shameful.

Virginia is blissfully warm compared to the weather that those of you in the northern states must be experiencing on a regular basis. I do not apologize for this fact, but I do extend my heartfelt sympathies to those of you who live with snow out of necessity rather than love. ;-)

During the past several weeks, I have been continually reminded of how blessed I am to a) live in a warm state, b) have amazing family and friends both near and far, and c) be serving such an awesomely faithful and gracious God.

One day last week in my Economics class, our teacher was solemnly discussing with us the most recent statistics on divorce in the United States. He and his lovely wife have been involved in pre-marital counseling for almost two decades, and they have a great deal of conglomerate wisdom. He was explaining to us the importance of a couple discussing their money matters together as a couple, and he told us all in a very solemn tone indeed that if we were considering marrying someone, and that person happened to refuse to discuss their finances, we should most definitely seek a new potential spouse and drop that girl/guy like a hot potato. We all nodded dutifully, very much impressed by his profound wisdom and experience in this matter.

We then began to discuss then the struggles of relationships in general, and he made the comment to our class that out of the five girls in our class, one of us would most likely not marry, statistically speaking. Ashley’s hand shot up: “That’ll be me!” she blurted. “I just want to live alone in a house with my fish forever.”

We rolled our eyes, knowing that it had been only a few months since she ended her last dating relationship. The teacher smiled, and shook his head, bemused by the impetuosity of college women.

Then he turned to the class, and asked very slowly, “But really, guys, what do you think the number one cause of divorce is in the United States?”

Ashley’s hand shot up again: “Marriage!” she announced energetically.

We laughed. Very hard. For a very long time. But she’s kinda right. And so, I thought to myself of how grateful I am that my parents were willing to take that risk…and to make it work! Woohoo!

I love you, Mom and Dad!