Adage #8: It's true, patience is a virtue.

The other day after work, I was driving to my friend Kym’s house. I got on the freeway onramp and was greeted by a traffic jam. Spokane traffic jams aren’t close to what I’ve been stuck in while in LA, and yet I found myself annoyed and impatient. So I decide to get off the freeway and go another route.

This backfired on me pretty quickly. The off ramp I chose was in a part of town I am not very familiar with so I was just sort of guessing where to go next. I found myself somewhere I recognized but misjudged my lane choice. And there I was, getting on the same onramp I had started on 15 minutes before and sitting in the same traffic. I was too busy trying to figure it out my way, that I just ended up wasting gas and taking even longer.

I often try to take shortcuts and go my own way. I’m pretty stubborn and I refuse to ask for directions - whether they are from the guy working at a gas station or from God. But in the end, I usually end up getting to my destination with a lot more heartache because I decided to do it my own way instead of God’s.

 Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
      do not depend on your own understanding.
 Seek his will in all you do,
      and he will show you which path to take.
Proverbs 3:5-6

It will probably take me a lifetime to figure this out. The bad news is that I will probably repeat something like that freeway incident next week. The good news is that I’ve progressed a little bit in patience: if this had happened a couple of years ago, I would have gotten off the freeway a second time and repeated that whole process at least one more time.

Summer Adventures in Spokane: Lind Combine Derby

This might have been the best experience I’ve had so far this summer and I’m a little worried it won’t be topped. Laura Arner and I hopped into her car and took a mini road trip to the Lind Combine Demolition Derby last weekend. Basically, people take their wheat combines, paint them and then go after each other until they either lose the header in the front or lose their steering which is in the back.

We weren’t totally sure where it was and the directions were vague. They said to get off exit 220 at Ritzville and take the Lind exit about a mile to the arena. I was somewhat concerned that we would not be able to find the arena. This was one of those times that I overestimated eastern Washington. As we entered Lind, we saw were cars and RVs everywhere, it looked like the town had been turned into a giant parking lot.

In case you are wondering this arena is nothing like the Spokane Arena. There were probably 10 or so bleachers ranging from grand stands to that-looks-like-it-might-collapse-at-any-minute stands around a pretty small dirt arena. Apparently, this is a much bigger event than we expected; it took us a good 15 minutes to find a spot because the place was packed.

It was well worth the trip. Who can go wrong watching things being destroyed? We were also surprised at the diversity of people attending the event. There were some rednecks as expected, but there was also a large population of Harley-lovers and quite a large group of seemingly totally normal people. I even saw a few people I recognized from Spokane.

I can’t describe fully in words how great this event was, so consider this your formal invitation to join Laura and I next year for the 25th anniversary.

Adage #7: Never underestimate the power of sticky notes to help you organize.

In an effort to be more organized at work, I devised what I think to be a brilliant plan. I started to prioritize what needs to get done by using numbered sticky notes. I end up with a lot of paper on my desk throughout the day, so this allows me to keep focused on the most important things. I love lists, so I made a little pros and cons list of my new system:

Pro: Save time so I don’t have to pull all the papers out and figure out what I should do next, I have already decided that.
Con: Sometimes I find something I need to do after I’ve applied my sticky note system and then I have to move all sorts of stuff around. I devised a decimal point system to help out.

Pro: Allows me time in the morning to figure out my plan for that day which translates into less time where I feel like I’m running around with my head cut off.
Con: The sticky notes have begun to lose their stickiness. I had not really anticipated losing track of my priorities because the sticky note fell off in the middle of the day. Today I discovered I had three sticky notes with the number “3” on them because I thought I had lost them due to the unstickiness.

Pro: I get to excitedly explain my brilliant plan with friend and co-worker Laura and how this will revolutionize the way I get work done.
Con: Laura tries to be a supportive friend by pretending to like my brilliant sticky note priority system, She then changes the subject to what kind of dog should she get so she doesn’t have to fake interest for too long before falling asleep from boredom.

Summer Adventures in Spokane: ArtFest

ArtFest is in Browne’s Addition every year. I’ve been once before when my mom was in town and it was a lot of fun, so I forced Laura B. to come along with me this year. We didn’t last too long, but it was fun to people watch, be out in the sun for a while and see how creative people are. I love events like this because they bring out people in Spokane I had no idea existed here.

Next on the agenda: Laura A. and I are headed to the apparently world famous combine derby in Lind tomorrow. Who doesn’t want to see giant farm equipment being destroyed?

West Shore Promo

Here's the video for West Shore - what an amazing day!

Adage #6: Don't let your insecurity replace your identity.

Boys don’t understand girls. Girls don’t understand other girls. Girls don’t even understand themselves. “I don’t even know why I did that. I have no idea why I’m feeling this way.” Those are words I often hear myself and my friends say. It’s risky to put a bunch of girls in a room together for more than 5 minutes. That’s exactly what I did last week at West Shore - a one-day event for girls 11-24 (huge props to Emily Lewellyn’s willingness to follow God’s vision for this and all the females who put tons of work in!).

Here’s what I noticed: girls are insecure. This may not be a shock to you, especially if you spend any time at all with teenagers, but the way insecurities penetrate who we are should shock you. C.S. Lewis said that pride is the beginning of all sin. I think insecurity holds a close second. Insecurities fuel criticism of others, they led us to do things we regret later because we thought they would make us feel better, they plant seeds of self-doubt in our minds. As I talked with girls during West Shore, I began to pick up on this theme of insecurity. It came in many different forms: bragging, shyness, criticism, sarcastic remarks and a thousand other ways.

My good friend, Emmily Ocker, taught the session on identity. She told a story about an insecurity she had just recently encountered and I wrote down something she said, “My insecurity shows my lack of identity.” God has created you and when you become insecure in God’s creation (you), you miss out on your whole identity. That blows my mind. Identity is who we are, Emmily described it as, “the sense of who you are as a person.” God created you to be compassionate, but your insecurity leads you to tear others down. God created you to have a talent to share with others, but your insecurity leads you to hide it. God created you to make a difference, but your insecurity paralyzes you in fear. God created you with all the care and love in the world and your insecurity blinds you from that very care and love.

I’ve been quick to tell you that I saw insecurity in others, but I saw it in myself as well. During the beauty session with the senior high students, one of the ladies leading the group talked about how we need to learn to take compliments instead of feeling insecure about them (this is only one among many wise points they gave us). After maturing a little and praying a lot, I’ve become pretty secure in who God has created me to be. But Satan is sneaky and here’s what happened 10 minutes before the session leader said that particular thing: we were instructed to give a physical compliment to the person sitting to the right of us, that sounds great, right?

I was on the end and no one was on my left to give me a compliment (nope, we haven’t made it to the insecure part, yet). The student sitting on my right, whom I had never met before, asked if she could give me one since there was no one next to me. I was expecting something about my hair because that’s what people usually comment on, but what she said was: “I like your eyebrows” (bam - there it is!).

You’re going to need a little history for this: When I was in 7th grade, I pulled all my of eyelashes out. There were a lot of things going on in my life at that time and just how eating disorders are often about control, so was pulling out my eyelashes. I’ve shared that story with quite a few people, but what I haven’t told most is that I also pulled a lot of my eyebrows out in 7th grade. The eyelashes grew back and it’s not that big of a deal anymore. My eyebrows all grew back, too, but for some reason I am still incredibly insecure about them. I don’t even like when people say the word “eyebrow” in fear that someone will look at mine and find something horribly wrong with them.

I allowed that very genuine comment from the girl sitting next to me to create insecurity. I heard what the session leader was saying, but I let Satan yell over her, I was too occupied with my insecurity. Guess what one insecurity leads to? More insecurities. It doesn’t take much for an insecurity about a small thing to blow up into a giant insecurity about who you are, why you were created, what you were created for. The only way to overcome that insecurity is to surrender it to God, even if it might seem a little silly sometimes. I might have to wake up everyday and say, “God, you created me and that means you created my eyebrows, too, they are a part of Your plan.”

I want to leave you with the same question Emmily asked us in her session: What is holding you back from your identity in God? I want to add to that, what insecurities are holding you back from your identity?

Summer Adventures in Spokane: Bloomsday

Despite my threats to leave Spokane in the midst of winter, Spokane is a pretty cool place to be in the summer. I’m not even really sure whom these threats are directed to - the city of Spokane? my tiny car? my collection of winter coats? innocent bystanders? Since I have not made good on these threats any of the past 8 winters, I think it’s safe to say they are pretty empty promises. This is because when winter ends, summer is right around the corner and summer is so good, I forget about my threats of moving back to California where it is warm all the time.

Now that I have weekends off, I have decided it’s time to make the most of being in Spokane during the summer. I fully intend to try to make it to every event the area has to offer me. So if you know of any that I’m missing, let me know! Or better yet, invite me to come along with you!

Bloomsday is a big race held every year in Spokane - it’s kind of a big deal. Every year, I slightly entertain the idea of participating and then I forget about it until I’ve missed the deadline to enter. This year was no different. But Kevin ran it, so I went downtown with Serena and Lily to drop Kevin off and then hang out for a little while.

I’ve never even been down there during the event, so it was really fun to be around the atmosphere. Serena, Lily and I went to the finish line to watch the elite runners finish. It was surprising how little people were watching with us, but it was amazing to see some of the world’s best runners in person.

Then we went down to Riverfront Park to walk around all the vendors and such. We found a mini-donut stand and what better way to celebrate other people being physically active then eating unhealthy snacks! While standing in line, I ran into one of my friends’ parents from the west side (the Beauchamps) and got a chance to catch up with them.

Overall, it was great to at least get to see what happens during Bloomsday. Next year the goal is to actually participate (preferably in some sort of ridiculous costume) and throw a sweatshirt on to a tree.

Some upcoming events I plan on participating in:

1. ArtFest is next weekend in Browne’s Addition, anyone want to go?

2. There is a Combine Derby in Lind on June 11th. My former roommate, Laura, invited me. I believe her exact words were something like: “I was trying to think of someone who would do random crap with me. Like who would drive two hours to see a combine derby with me? Alissa!” I almost cut her off because I was already enthusiastically raising my hand (even though it was a phone conversation) and saying, “I’m in, I’m in!” I’m so predictable.