Ike, Big Brother, and Finality


NEWS FLASH is basically news or thoughts that may be changing over time - an update or an evolution of thought that covers a multiple of topics. It is what makes a blogger tick and it is the reason why we read. So, with that in mind, I came up with NEWS FLASH as an acronym that stands for what is going on in life:



News (or current events)
Entertainment (movies, TV, celebrity, etc.)
Writing (thoughts on the blog(s) or other writing projects)
Spirit (thoughts on God and/or the supernatural)
Family (or friends)
Love
Anxiety (a rant or a trouble)
Sports (also considered should be contests, reality TV, recreation, cards, games), and
Home (house, yard, or even another family type of thought.
___________________________________________________________________

NEWS - I am sure glad that I don't live in Texas. No, it isn't because "W" is from there, although that is a good point. It is just that even here in my little pocket of southwestern Indiana, Hurricane Ike was brutal. He came through Sunday and there are still thousands of people without power. A good friend of mine still has no electricity and he is being quite testy - even with moi! I am just thinking about what they are recovering from in the Galveston-Houston area. My prayers go out to them.

ENTERTAINMENT - Big Brother 10 is now history. It was very satisfying to me because it was one of the rare seasons that my fave took the prize. Actually, the last two seasons were quite nice. I particularly liked this one, because the winner, Dan, had to go through a whole lot more challenges than others on there. Plus, he was just a fun guy to "be around'.

WORK - The big meeting with my evaluation is tonight. I am so concerned about it that instead of brushing up on any questions that may be asked, I am blogging here for you people. I think it will be fine. I am just glad that I won't have to think about it much more.

SPIRIT - I had a pretty good brush with the Holy Spirit yesterday - believe it or not. I had lunch with one of my commissioners (one who will evaluate me). We didn't talk about work, though. She is having a tough time understanding her husband and feeling a lot of pressure. It is more complicated than most because he has been recently diagnosed with cancer and it does not look promising.

Going into the lunch, I was pretty pre-occupied with my own marital situation as I will get to later. All of the sudden, the spirit filled my mouth and I started ministering to this commissioner explaining why her husband was acting the way he was acting along with an assorted other issues that she was troubled with. It was as if I was sitting next to myself watching and listening to me talk. I even tried to tell myself to shut up; this was a boss, for crying out loud, and I am hardly an expert in dealing with her situation. Yet, I continued anyway.

I really didn't know how she was going to take this flood of . . . whatever it was. However, after a good cry, she told me that she was so grateful for that lunch and that I will never know how much that meant to her.

The Lord works in mysterious ways.

FAMILY - the family is one facet of my life that is looking good. Of course, wing night was last night and a good time was had by all. It is nice to know that my siblings will always be there when I need them. We have that with each other and that is a blessing that everyone doesn't have. I need to make sure I think about that more often.

LOVE - This is the reason I was pre-occupied with myself when lunching with my troubled commissioner. Yesterday, my wife went to file a paper at the courthouse to waive the final hearing of our divorce which was supposed to be late next week. However, she came back my ex-wife. They processed the paperwork while she was there and now it is over. It freaked her out. It freaked me out. Now things are . . . different.

ANGUISH - See above

SPORTS - I feel as though I am mathematically eliminated from my fantasy football title chase. It is only in its second week. How sad! On top of that, my beloved Bengals are worse than my fantasy team. In most seasons, if this type of thing was going on in my sports life, I would be furious. This time, for some reason . . . I just don't care.

HOME - My renter has come as close as I have been in YEARS to causing me to enflict physical harm on another human being. He is just too much for me to deal with right now. So, I will skip that little story, lest I get all worked up about it again, and share this one instead:

I am taking over the house that I shared with my wife. She is leaving town for good this weekend, and I am financing it in my name. For a while, there was no chance that I would be willing to do this. Now, however, it is the only thing that makes sense. I am happy about it. It is just a plain little two bedroom house, but that is all a batchelor (sigh) like me needs right now.

9 comments:

chosha said...

It's weird, that finality, isn't it? I mean you already knew it was over, but somehow that final step is still overwhelming. It nails it all down. Still, it's steps like that that will finally give you some closure and the ability to move on.

Good luck with the evaluation.

Anonymous said...

I hope all goes really well tonight, Jeff. I'm sure it will.
I know exactly what you mean about ...basically channelling God. Its happened to me before too - quite a few times. You have no idea how you are saying what you're saying - where the info, or the "right words" are coming from - yet it seems like they just flow through you to the other person. Its such a cool feeling. I also think God has spoken to me through other people.
I'm sorry for the finality that you're experiencing. Man, that seemed really fast to me, so I can't imagine how it must feel to you.

Jeff said...

Chosa: It is strange. It feels like a death in the family and world looks a little different in my eyes. The worst part is feeling like a failure - knowing that I tried so hard.

Steph: They are diliberating on my evaluation as I type this. I am sure it will be fine.

The spirit thing is strange. I think it is one way that God reminds me that He is still there and very real.

Sayre said...

When I got divorced from my first husband, we did it through the mail. One day a packet of papers arrived, I signed at all the arrows and mailed it back. The next piece of mail informed me that I was no longer married. Very strange.

Your evaluation will be fine. Even with all the personal stuff you've had going on, I'm betting that you've given just as much effort to your work as you would have if life was all rosy at home.

I've had that out-side myself experience before too - singing at a church camp. I don't sing loudly or particularly well, but I was playing guitar and singing when I noticed that the other voices were falling off and people were looking at me. Then I was looking at me - singing loudly and beautifully "Morning Has Broken". It was an amazing experience.

Sorry about your football teams. My brother's girlfriend is doing fantasy football and is dead last in her group. And quite bummed about it to boot.

Sayre said...

When I got divorced from my first husband, we did it through the mail. One day a packet of papers arrived, I signed at all the arrows and mailed it back. The next piece of mail informed me that I was no longer married. Very strange.

Your evaluation will be fine. Even with all the personal stuff you've had going on, I'm betting that you've given just as much effort to your work as you would have if life was all rosy at home.

I've had that out-side myself experience before too - singing at a church camp. I don't sing loudly or particularly well, but I was playing guitar and singing when I noticed that the other voices were falling off and people were looking at me. Then I was looking at me - singing loudly and beautifully "Morning Has Broken". It was an amazing experience.

Sorry about your football teams. My brother's girlfriend is doing fantasy football and is dead last in her group. And quite bummed about it to boot.

Sayre said...

Uh-oh.... why am I in here twice?

Jodi said...

You sound much better. You didn't call me, though. (pout)

Big hugs.

J.

Chris said...

We have been thinking about you. I'm glad to see you posting again.

Anonymous said...

hmm. congrats?