light bulbs and bumble bees

a couple of stories from the snider home:

So our house is really close to our neighbors house (kind of annoyingly close)...like - have to keep the blinds close and lights off when changing so as not to seem indecent - kind of close.

anyway - our neighbor is a sweet old widow and her driveway separates our house, but she has an apartment above her garage that she rents out. there are new renters...these renters have this habit of having friends over and then leaving the porch light on until all ungodly hours of the night. did i mention our houses were close together? our bedroom window just happens to face their apartment which means our entire room is illuminated by this ridiculous porch light.

one night, we had just had enough of waking up at three 0'clock in the morning to this stupid light. Chris went into Jack Bauer mode, grabbed his flashlight, and trekked (although not a long trek) over to their apartment, and unscrewed the bulb. the funny part - he only unscrewed it a little, so they probably think the bulb broke when really, it's just not screwed in all the way. needless to say, we've been getting good sleep - in the dark, i might add, for nearly a week! :D

Then the other day, i came home from class and was in the middle of microwaving my lunch. i saw this bee on the window sill and spent the next 5 minutes attempting to shew it (gently) out of the house. he was a stubborn little bumble bee. in the middle of my shewing i opened the microwave to stop it from cooking, and just left the microwave door open since i was a bit distracted with my little tormentor.

with cup in one hand and a papertowel to trap the bee in the cup in my other hand, i was determined to 1)NOT get stung and 2) get him OUT of MY house. well, this little guy proceeded to fly on over to the microwave and crawl into the little whole where the door latches. so he was not just in the microwave, where you cook the food, he IN the interior of the microwave - where the light bulb is. once he realized how hot that light bulb was, he wanted to get out, but couldn't figure out which way to go. (dumb bug).

so that little bumble bee DIED in my microwave, and we can't get it out. there's these stupid screws on the back so you can't take your microwave apart, and so there the bumble bee stays. any one know anything about bumble bee decomposition? should i get the bee out of the microwave or just let it burn? :D

- L

"The Shack"

"The Shack" by William P. Young is an AMAZING book that i think you ALL should read. basically, it is theology in a novel. it's about a murder that leads a man to have an unusual and incredible encounter with God.

this book challenged my view of God, it made me see him in a different light. it explained many questions and elaborated on concepts that i was familiar with already. it helped me to see God in a way i had never seen him before - a God who, although is complex, wants to have a relationship with me that is quite simple - a close, growing, and loving relationship. it also challenged the way i live in relationship to other people. my relationships with others should mirror my relationship with God. to simply love and serve someone (without expecting something in return) and have them love and serve you is to be in a relationship the way God intended it to be.

we so often put God in a box. the Sunday school version of who we think God should be, how he should act, what he should look like. Although Jesus is fully human, he is fully divine, and therefore God (the trinity) is not bound by our human limitations. however, sometimes He limits himself to be on our level to have an intimate relationship with us - wrap your mind around that one. :D

all this to say. this book was incredible! i couldn't put it down. i borrowed it from the bookstore i work at, but i want to buy it so i can mark it up and write notes in the margins. i would recommend buying it so you can mark it up and refer back to it later. and after you read it, i'd like to know what you thought of it, so leave a comment or e-mail (lauren.bogear@student.indwes.edu) or facebook me.