Wednesday, May 31, 2006

More adventures at work

Today at work, I hit another time warp thing where the day seemed to slow to a crawl and I was supremely bored. SO...I pulled out my cell phone and did a little shotgun text messaging. I sent out a message that read something like the following, " I'm bored. Send me a message!" to about five different people. I got several replies and it did a great deal to brighten up my day. So thankyou, you folks who know who you are. ( Wesley, are you still on some sort of vacation?) And then Brad told me later that some people have to PAY for text messages. And I felt bad. I am deeply sorry. So THANKYOU EVEN MORE if you had to pay extra to send me a message.

It fills my heart with joy when I hear the little pling-pling noise that the cell phone makes when you get a text message. If anyone wants to send me random text messages during the day, and overflow my heart with happiness, you are more than welcome. If you don't have it, you can email me ( or Brad, since I don't have my email address posted on the blog) to get my cell number.

On a different note, I have been having some interesting conversations with people at work concerning spiritual things. I brought in a copy of "Mere Christianity" to loan to a guy who seems to be aaaaalmost on the right track. He talks about how being in communion with the Holy Spirit is the only way to live and he reads his Bible and tries to be like Jesus every day...but he thinks that Jesus is simply the most "enlightened" person ever and that there is really no such thing as evil. Okaaaaay...So like I said, we've had some interesting discussions. Me! The person who hates debating! I've had discussions!

It's easy to get discouraged when people seem so mixed up in their thinking but I have to remember that nobody is so confused that they are beyond God's ability to reach them.

This guy gets along really well with the girl sitting next to him but when she is there, he doesn't talk much about spiritual things because, as he said to me the other day, "She's not open minded, like you are." Huh. I never thought anyone would call ME open minded. I wonder if I should be insulted. :) Hee hee hee. ( You know, the whole gleeful aspect of a hee hee hee is totally negated when you just put a plain old period after it. To be truly "hee-hee-hee"ing, one must put an exclamation point or "..." afterwards. And by the way- what is the technical term for "..." Anybody know? Andrea?)

It's so hard to know how to say, "You're wrong" in a nice way, especially with my non-confrontational personality. But the Holy Spirit really has been helping me. I'm not just saying that because it sounds pious and nice; He has given me an amazing ability to relax and say stuff that I normally wouldn't think of on the spot- to be kind and yet not a dish-rag. It's incredible how years of being steeped in the Bible suddenly pays off in unexpected ways. But anyway- this guy says he wants to read the whole thing ( "Mere Christianity") tonight.

And then there's a girl who's very definitely a Christian and she and I had a really great talk today. It's so refreshingly odd ( or oddly refreshing?) to have an open conversation in an office and be talking about the Holy Spirit, prayer, faith, and Jesus' return. It boggles my stiff Yankee mind.

10 comments:

melrandall said...

You are worth 10 cents any day of the week!!!

And yay for DISCUSSING!!! I totally know what you mean about the terror of even hinting at a debate. But when I started working with all manner of un-like-minded folk, it was amazing how they were just people, not big scary ideas walking around ready to eat me. I can do people. And the Holy Spirit sure is good at thinking on our feet for us...(a lil ellipsis there at the end -- such a useful notation)

drewey fern said...

I love the text message sound too!!! It's like a veritable "I love you" coming out of the phone. Wheeeee! Someone's thinking of me! Hurrah for cell phones! Of course, one month I went way overboard and had to pay something like $17.00 for texting alone. YIKES! But once in awhile is both affordable and enjoyable.

Shari said...

"It's easy to get discouraged when people seem so mixed up in their thinking but I have to remember that nobody is so confused that they are beyond God's ability to reach them."

This is SO weird. My mom and I just talked about this exact subject today. I was frustrated at seeing how people think that Christianity is just a religion for weak people and then we got into a discussion about neighbors and friends who are just confused by it all. And we both said almost exactly what you said above . . . that God can reach them. It's just hard knowing that they're missing out on so much and not being able to "make" them see and believe.

TripleNine said...

Ditto to what Mel said. I was wondering how many others got that message. I really didn't think that I would be picked out exclusively.

You caught me during my last few hours of vacation. I almost texted you again when I was in the airport heading home. But I figured you weren't worth that much :) j.k.

Claire said...

Melissa- ELLIPSIS! YES! It was sort of tickling the edges of my brain and I couldn't quite remember it. Thankyou!I think I overuse it quite a bit...

Andrea- I remembered after I sent it that...OOPS, DER. She's in school. Why did I send that? Ah well.

Shari- YAY for hearing from you again! Thanks for sharing.

Wesley- you are a gem and a half.

Sojourning- that's the thing- I AM afraid to share...and my natural hesitance, compounded by my Yankee reservedness, makes it so that the Holy Spirit has to make it REALLY EASY for me...or else He completely takes over...or something...anyway- it's all about HIM.( she blithers off into nonsense land) And Yay for hearing from YOU again!

Avalanche Cowpoke said...

Yay for our open minded Claire!!! 8~)

Booker said...

Good job Claire! You have no idea how much that cheered me up this evening...

Marie said...

That was good to hear... one thing that I feel helps me if I'm talking with an un-like-minded person to say that I don't agree... I want to be agreeable, but for my own strength of conviction I want to also say what I believe, or don't believe... and too, that they won't think I believe what they believe or do is right.

If I don't agree with what they believe/do maybe that will put a seed of doubt in their mind. Maybe that doubt will cause them to look for the truth, you never know.

I was talkin' with a lady at work yesterday and found out she was wiccan, and she was "explaining" how it has to do with the 4 elements and if you study religion... whatever.... that you'll see that they all come from the same place, and I said gently, that I don't agree with that. And then we went on to rejoice in the freedom we have in our country to believe differently. :) Phew!

On the way to Florida I sat next to a VERY TALKATIVE scientologist... believes simalarly to the Wiccan, ( I talked to him last Tues. and the lady this WEd, it's kinda weird that I had the chance to talk to 2 differnt people that believe in some of the same types of things in a little over a weeks time)

And I was able to talk to him quite abit about Jesus and how he was crucified at exactly the point where the priest was sacrificing the lamb... etc...
He was brought up Catholic, (hmm?)

It is good to remember that they ARE lost in lies, that there only is ONE way to God. That all religions are NOT the same. There is TRUTH... absolute TRUTH. Everything is not RELATIVE. Sometimes when talking to people in my mind the lines can be blurred.

These are people and I want to accept people but that doesn't mean I should accept their BELIEFS. There is a difference...

It's actually good for me to know they believe differntly, and to talk some with them about what they believe. And that way too I have them targeted! That conversation can be a stepping stone to me sharing what I believe. For me to speak truth....

Ok, that topic really stirred up my "brain juices."

That was my 50 cents worth! oh I guess I have a few more cents worth...

Yeah to being a light in this dark world. And that we can connect with people and still love them even if they don't believe the truth. Keep the relational connections, they can be the lines that make it possible to share spiritually. That's my heart!

P.S. I love...<--those, when talking you say "dot,dot,dot..." as in "I love my cat, dot, dot, dot..." (boy that was a weird example... man I AM talkative!)

Claire said...

Wow.

Loreo said...

Between Claire and Marie, I am encouraged and challenged! What a breath of fresh air in this stale world!