Virtually Paul

Rejected by Hannah

If you’ve been reading Geoff’s blog lately, you’ll probably have seen this post which he quite cleverly used to get a bunch of Christians to read his blog through a sensationalist blog title. This post attempts to do much the same. So, if the thought of Paul asking out some extremely unlucky girl called Hannah just ran through your mind and you became curious about this post… firstly: “Sucked in!” and secondly: “Why are you so interested?”

I watched some of Hannah Montana this morning. Not because I’m creepy either. I was eating my weetbix. I like the show a little bit. It reminds me of old shows that I used to watch back in school days like Saved By The Bell and California Dreams, which were Saturday morning favourites for my sister and I. Anyway, in this morning’s episode, Hannah came up with a ripper of a quote, which I wanted to share because it’s such a good shut down. I think more girls should use it when they’re being chased by guys in their “just friends” category.

[to her closest male friend, at the suggestion that they would make a good couple]

Hannah:  “Eeww! I don’t love you!… I mean…

I love you… but like a brother, or even… a pet goldfish.

I’d cry if I had to flush you down the toilet but I don’t want to kiss you.”

It’s just perfect on so many levels.

Hope: Climbing the mountain

I learned something interesting today. I had a really difficult task to get sorted. I wasn’t equipped to sort it out by myself but I am directly accountable for a tight deadline that I have to meet. I couldn’t start my work on that until this first bit was out of the way. I wasn’t happy. It’s really hard to motivate yourself to get something done when you don’t really grasp the concept behind it. In the end, I had to enlist some serious help. I got there in the end, with some serious coaching and a little bit of I’ll-just-do-this-bit-for-you. I understand a lot more about the process than when I started but it was quite technical accounting stuff. I don’t think I’d be able to go through the process on my own tomorrow.

What I learned, was actually more about me. My instinct was to avoid the issue, whether that be wanting to run away from the office and hide in a dark hole for the day, or just being less than motivated and becoming easily distracted by the many trivialities that can exist in a busy office. Eventually, I realised that I’d gotten myself a bit worked up. I ended up opening up a Word document and just throwing the thoughts into it quickly and reading them back. I’d actually become so worried about the idea of not meeting my deadline, that the initial hurdle… the bit that required holding a little bit of nerve… was almost too much to face. I wasn’t sure how things were going to pan out, so I stopped being particularly constructive and just started having a bit of a sook and bracing for the impact.

I can think of a few instances recently where I’ve had a similar reaction to less-than-comfortable situations. I am going to try to change this habit. I’ve been sitting back trying to think of people I know, who seem to roll with challenges better than I do when the world starts to seem a little bit less certain. I can think of a few… and I think I can work out what they have in common. Part of it is about habit and practiced discipline. More than that though, it seems like they actually “have” something. Maybe there’s something to this:

Psalm 62:5-8
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.
Selah

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This is potentially the funniest Christian blog I’ve ever come across:

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