If I flap my arms will I fly?

This morning, as I had coffee with a dear friend, she expounded on her pastor's Sunday sermon. He said that prayer should be our first response, not our last request. He likened a lack of prayer to trying to help a pilot fly a plane by flapping your arms.

I wonder why it is so difficult to trust God? I wonder why we always think we have to "help" God with our worry. And what makes us think we can fix stuff? Jarad fixed Agnes' heater today. That's an easy one. Well, for him, anyway.

But there are certain things that only God can fix. We can be conduits for His healing, to be sure. We can give advice. We can direct. And, we can pray. But why do we put the prayer part last?

Pastor Mike gave a really good devotional at our MiSC (Men's informal Service Club) meeting earlier this month. He said, "Prayer does not prepare us for the work. Prayer IS the work." So, I'm learning about prayer. Lots of prayer. And lots of fasting.

If you're prayed up, and fasted up, THEN you are ready to dispense Godly wisdom to those who are having difficulties. If you blab first and pray later, chances are, the stuff you spout will be from your own mind. We had one resident who, to make his point in class one day, exclaimed, "And that's a science fiction fact!"

"The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."
-I Corinthians 3:19

"Blog Blog Blog." I just like to say Blog.

My staff informed me that yesterday's virgin blog was unprofessional and non work related. Well, one thing is for certain, we're filling that swear jar up!

Today was Photocopier Day.

John Malach asked if I believed in miracles.

I assigned Myrna, one of our volunteer receptionists, and near program graduate, to find us a free photocopier. One in which we could actually READ the words being copied, instead of having them embedded in the numerous grey zones on the paper. Well, one of her initial calls was to Gold Network Printing Solutions. John Malach, the President, had JUST, and I mean JUST the day before, told one of his clients, Impact Printers, to consider donating their old copier to charity.

Enter Myrna.

I had told Myrna it was going to be a tough assignment. I didn't want any sales calls. I didn't want to go into contract with anyone. I had ZERO budget for this project. Out of the clear blue she calls President John, who puts us in touch with Impact Printers, and "Voila!"

Today we learned how to copy, collate, staple, double-side, reduce, enlarge, and pretty much everything a copier can do. No service contract. No payment. Just a small delivery fee.

So, to answer your question, "Yes, John, I do believe in miracles."

"Then shall the virgin rejoice!" Jeremiah 31:13

So, here I am. My first Mission blog. And, as usual, my office is The Hub and it is filled with people - namely, Jonathan, his lovely wife, Vicki, Melanie and Rebecca - standing over my shoulder all interested in my virgin blogging experience. Now they're laughing. I wonder if I will delete this. They're implying I need to pay a dollar into the swear jar.

This morning I put a magnet by the coffee maker. I offended Mel, who said I had to pay a dollar for the swear jar. It was from an office collection of magnets and it said: "THIS ISN'T AN OFFICE--IT'S HELL WITH A COFFEE MAKER." Yeah, I went for the shock value on that one.

I was pretty excited to recently learn about blogs from Becca and then Jon. I told them I just like to say blog. "Blog, blog, blog." It's a great word! As a journaller and part time Muser (Is this a word? Can I get a job at this?) I have been DESPERATE for Jon, Webmaster Extraordinaire, to set up my blog. I wonder if anyone even reads these things. At any rate, I can aMUSE myself.

Monday may not be the best day for blogging. This has taken me 3 hours to write. I'm going to press. No deep thoughts for now.