I was talking to a friend earlier this evening and it started to make me think about what people want out of life. What do you want out of life? Are you content to live a life where all you get out of it is a job you don't hate, bills that are paid, and to be well taken care of until you die?
That's not enough for me. In all seriousness, if I had believed that was all there was to life, I would have killed myself a few years ago. I struggled with years of depression when I was in college and if I had thought that would have ended all the pain, I think I would have done it.
What is the point of life? If there is no afterlife, then everything we do on this earth is futile. The riches I acquire will not come with me when I am gone. I may leave them to my children, but my children may squander them on pursuits of pleasure. What good is food and drink? It sustains the body and may provide momentary pleasure, but overindulgence just harms this feeble body I reside in. Is the pursuit of power most important? To trample my fellow human beings and gain prestige in a life that I cling to by a mere thread? What happens then when I die? My power goes to someone else who will then die. Will I even be remembered when I am gone?
Solomon addressed all these issues and more in the book of Ecclesiastes. He was one of the most affluent kings of all time. His power was great, his every whim met, he had a unique opportunity to pursue any and everything we place value on in this life. What his verdict when all is tried and assessed?
"Meaningless!" 35 times (give or take) the word appears in the book. It is all meaningless! We live and our life is fleeting.
What does have meaning?
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
"Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil."
This life is not enough for me. Settling is not enough for me. I want nothing more than to love and please the Heavenly Father that loves me. That is the meaning of my life. He sent His Son to die for me that I might know eternal life in His presence. How glorious!
Do you believe in God? Do you know what will happen to you after you die? Are you satisfied with that?
I will be satisfied with nothing less than an eternity with my Father. I will be satisfied with nothing less than a life deserving of Him. I am not perfect. I will not always do what I want to do. But if I do not live for Him, then I do not live at all.
The rest is meaningless.
*I know that not all of you who read this blog believe this, but my goal is to serve food for thought.*
29 May, 2011
28 May, 2011
Why, yes, it HAS been over 3 months!
Hello everyone out there in Bloggerland!
First of all, let me extend our deepest apologies for not keeping you up to date. I was sick for a long time and by the time I felt well enough to write, it was an overwhelming mountain to try to communicate all that was going on to you.
I want to share with you all the illness have been suffering from for over three months now.
When we first arrived in North Carolina, we were exhausted! We had spent the week before packing up, moving out, saying goodbye, and traveling to CIT. It was wonderful to be somewhere that I knew was more stable, but there was still the grief of leaving our friends and family behind. I began to suffer very quickly from the introduction of new allergens into my immune system. Texas is bad enough in the spring, but at least my body is fairly used to it!
What were just obnoxious sniffles quickly developed into a full-blown sinus infection. The first I had suffered in four years. It was also the worst I had suffered in my entire life. To add on top of it, I was enjoying back pain and a rash that suddenly appeared one day on my chest and back. I was just a ball of joyfulness wrapped in a ribbon of ecstatic ;)
One day, the pain of the sinus pressure became too much. In the tiny little town we were staying, the doctors were not accepting new patients. There were not any emergency clinics either, so off we headed to the ER at the local hospital... for a sinus infection...
Once we got in to see a doctor, she diagnosed me with... a sinus infection. No surprise there. She could do nothing more, as the infection just had to run its course. However, I decided to show her the rash that I had written off as an allergic reaction or poison ivy. She took one look and said, "Oh, no, that's not an allergic reaction. It's shingles."
"What? Shingles?" I was very confused
"Have you been under any stress lately?" she asked in a slight Scottish accent.
I was about to answer no, but the words died on my tongue. I had just spent the past 3 months meeting with people, attending various social events, raising support, packing up our home, and saying goodbye to my family and close friends to travel almost 700 miles and begin attending the most emotionally challenging classes of my life.
Had I been under any stress?
I answered her in the only way I could.
I started bawling.
Once I finished, she wrote me a prescription for Acyclovir. She also told me to consume more chocolate and laugh more.
Chocolate and laughter. Now that's a prescription I can fill!
Ben then took me to the pharmacy (Sonic) and then took me home to rest.
The pain I thought was just back pain was actually nerve pain caused by the no longer dormant herpes zoster virus. The pain would begin to get worse in the ensuing days, but the doctor had also had prescribed vicodin. Now that was fun for all!
The day after we told our CIT crew of the diagnosis, someone left a grocery bag full of chocolate on our front doorstep (We met the most amazing people there and most have become like family to us).
Within a week of the ER visit, the rash began to clear up. As I write this, the marks can still be seen and the pain is still there, but it gets better everyday. It's something I can ignore most of the time with only occasional pangs of remembrance.
I hope this explains a little of why we have not updated in so long. Ben does an amazing job of keeping up with everyone on facebook, but I confess that is one of my shortcomings.
Thank you all for your prayers and continued support! We will be sending out a newsletter soon and hope to continue blogging on our experiences at training.
First of all, let me extend our deepest apologies for not keeping you up to date. I was sick for a long time and by the time I felt well enough to write, it was an overwhelming mountain to try to communicate all that was going on to you.
I want to share with you all the illness have been suffering from for over three months now.
When we first arrived in North Carolina, we were exhausted! We had spent the week before packing up, moving out, saying goodbye, and traveling to CIT. It was wonderful to be somewhere that I knew was more stable, but there was still the grief of leaving our friends and family behind. I began to suffer very quickly from the introduction of new allergens into my immune system. Texas is bad enough in the spring, but at least my body is fairly used to it!
What were just obnoxious sniffles quickly developed into a full-blown sinus infection. The first I had suffered in four years. It was also the worst I had suffered in my entire life. To add on top of it, I was enjoying back pain and a rash that suddenly appeared one day on my chest and back. I was just a ball of joyfulness wrapped in a ribbon of ecstatic ;)
One day, the pain of the sinus pressure became too much. In the tiny little town we were staying, the doctors were not accepting new patients. There were not any emergency clinics either, so off we headed to the ER at the local hospital... for a sinus infection...
Once we got in to see a doctor, she diagnosed me with... a sinus infection. No surprise there. She could do nothing more, as the infection just had to run its course. However, I decided to show her the rash that I had written off as an allergic reaction or poison ivy. She took one look and said, "Oh, no, that's not an allergic reaction. It's shingles."
"What? Shingles?" I was very confused
"Have you been under any stress lately?" she asked in a slight Scottish accent.
I was about to answer no, but the words died on my tongue. I had just spent the past 3 months meeting with people, attending various social events, raising support, packing up our home, and saying goodbye to my family and close friends to travel almost 700 miles and begin attending the most emotionally challenging classes of my life.
Had I been under any stress?
I answered her in the only way I could.
I started bawling.
Once I finished, she wrote me a prescription for Acyclovir. She also told me to consume more chocolate and laugh more.
Chocolate and laughter. Now that's a prescription I can fill!
Ben then took me to the pharmacy (Sonic) and then took me home to rest.
The pain I thought was just back pain was actually nerve pain caused by the no longer dormant herpes zoster virus. The pain would begin to get worse in the ensuing days, but the doctor had also had prescribed vicodin. Now that was fun for all!
The day after we told our CIT crew of the diagnosis, someone left a grocery bag full of chocolate on our front doorstep (We met the most amazing people there and most have become like family to us).
Within a week of the ER visit, the rash began to clear up. As I write this, the marks can still be seen and the pain is still there, but it gets better everyday. It's something I can ignore most of the time with only occasional pangs of remembrance.
I hope this explains a little of why we have not updated in so long. Ben does an amazing job of keeping up with everyone on facebook, but I confess that is one of my shortcomings.
Thank you all for your prayers and continued support! We will be sending out a newsletter soon and hope to continue blogging on our experiences at training.
14 February, 2011
The Road Trip of Epic Epicness
Buckle up, comrades, for we are about to take you on the ride of a lifetime across part of the former CSA.
Once every era, the dreaded "Yukon Dilemna" strikes fear into even the most stalwart Texas, icing roads and leaving a trail of below-freezing days. Fortunately, our plans had only been delayed one day and we departed our beloved country/state on a Thursday morning, the 3rd of this month.
IH 30 is the pavement we tread for many a mile before if brought us to that border strider, Texarkana. Spell check doesn't seem to care for that clever name combination. Regardless of the moniker, we had crossed over before we realized it. Arkansas should really give better warning than they do, at the minimum they should mount a yellow "Razorback crossing" sign. Needing a lil' break, we made use of their 'Welcome Center' where the restrooms were indeed as clean as advertised. The free coffee was, well, it was free.
A few more hours brought us to Little Rock and a new leg of the Eisenhower Interstate System, IH 40. Side note, have you ever heard that tale about how every mile in five is straight so it could be used as an emergency runway? Not true, go check out www.snopes.com if you don't believe us :D Having quickly exhausted the charms of our eastern neighbor, we crossed the mighty Missis...[how many s's and p's are there again?] sippi River into Tennesse.
Driving through the Smoky Mountains was awesome, reminded us of that scene from 'Cars' where Lightning and Sally go for a drive. Haven't enjoyed a drive like that since the road to Hana. Our kind host in Charlotte treated us to pizza, bowling and Settlers of Catan. Megan won both rounds of bowling AND Settlers, so we guess she was on a roll(groan) After visiting his church on Sunday and being introduced to the awesomeness that is 'Cook Out' (best milkshakes ever), we loaded up again and backtracked an hour and a half to the Center for Intercultural Training campus in Union Mills. What we did once we arrived is for another post, however. One last thing before we finish, do you ever get a little frustrated with how quickly you unload something that took you hours to load? I mean, that car was empty in 10 minutes once we pulled up on the lawn right up to our apartment door. Wait, was I not supposed to share that?
Up Next:
The first week of class!
DISC & Mindstyles! (Ben & Megan are polar opposites)
Ron's Cooking!
Once every era, the dreaded "Yukon Dilemna" strikes fear into even the most stalwart Texas, icing roads and leaving a trail of below-freezing days. Fortunately, our plans had only been delayed one day and we departed our beloved country/state on a Thursday morning, the 3rd of this month.
IH 30 is the pavement we tread for many a mile before if brought us to that border strider, Texarkana. Spell check doesn't seem to care for that clever name combination. Regardless of the moniker, we had crossed over before we realized it. Arkansas should really give better warning than they do, at the minimum they should mount a yellow "Razorback crossing" sign. Needing a lil' break, we made use of their 'Welcome Center' where the restrooms were indeed as clean as advertised. The free coffee was, well, it was free.
A few more hours brought us to Little Rock and a new leg of the Eisenhower Interstate System, IH 40. Side note, have you ever heard that tale about how every mile in five is straight so it could be used as an emergency runway? Not true, go check out www.snopes.com if you don't believe us :D Having quickly exhausted the charms of our eastern neighbor, we crossed the mighty Missis...[how many s's and p's are there again?] sippi River into Tennesse.
Above you'll see a quick snapsot as we enjoyed the monumental bridge that ushers motorists into Memphis. Did you know that they have a pyramid there? Somehow we doubt that it will last as long as the Pharaoh's. We arrived in Nashville well after dark and spent the next two nights with a friend from Aggieland and her husband. They graciously opened their home to us and we met their thestral/dog and two cats. (seriously, he looked like a thestral). You may have lived out of a suitcase before, but for three days we lived out of our car that was loaded down like you wouldn't believe. Friday gave us the chance to visit an old friend of Ben's from Austin, meet his new wife and grab some lunch with them. That friend is a musician, and he invited us to the gig he was playing with his sisters that evening. They are REALLY talented and you can check them out here
 |
| 'Trudy Chase' members Meredith(L) & Katie Bandas Thomas(R) with Brian Bandas(L) & Aaron Thomas(R) |
Saturday we headed out to Charlotte, NC to spend the weekend with another friend of Ben's, but we had to show you what we saw on our way out of town:
 |
| Who does AAA call when THEY break down? |
Driving through the Smoky Mountains was awesome, reminded us of that scene from 'Cars' where Lightning and Sally go for a drive. Haven't enjoyed a drive like that since the road to Hana. Our kind host in Charlotte treated us to pizza, bowling and Settlers of Catan. Megan won both rounds of bowling AND Settlers, so we guess she was on a roll(groan) After visiting his church on Sunday and being introduced to the awesomeness that is 'Cook Out' (best milkshakes ever), we loaded up again and backtracked an hour and a half to the Center for Intercultural Training campus in Union Mills. What we did once we arrived is for another post, however. One last thing before we finish, do you ever get a little frustrated with how quickly you unload something that took you hours to load? I mean, that car was empty in 10 minutes once we pulled up on the lawn right up to our apartment door. Wait, was I not supposed to share that?
Up Next:
The first week of class!
DISC & Mindstyles! (Ben & Megan are polar opposites)
Ron's Cooking!
08 February, 2011
Packing up to Leave
It always amazes me how much can happen in a week. Specifically, within the 11 days since I last blogged. We hadn't packed yet and were still sleeping in our little apartment in Mesquite.
Here's how it looked about two years ago when we moved in.
The coat rack never looked that tidy ever again.
As a matter of fact, the whole apartment never looked that tidy again.
I won't post any pictures of the empty apartment. It was too depressing to take any, so I assume it would be too depressing to look at any.
One thing, you should all get used to is the fact that I (Megan) am a photographer. Therefore, my posts tend to have a lot of photographs. Although, I do try not to take too many photos, which means I end up not having all the ones I wanted. I think I'm going to stop doing that now. My advice to you: Take lots of photos! You can always delete, but you can never go back to that moment you were trying to capture!
GRATUITOUS PHOTO ALERT (heretofore referred to as a "GPA")!
Actually, this is me with the last bouquet Ben brought home from Central Market. Aren't they gorgeous!?! They dwarfed me and I could barely hold them. God has blessed me with such an amazing husband!
Speaking of Central Market, check out the cake they made for Ben on his last day:
It made him Hungary (ha-ha!) :D
8 days ago we moved out.
6 days ago we hit the road.
More about our road trip soon!
~Ben & Megan
Here's how it looked about two years ago when we moved in.
The coat rack never looked that tidy ever again.
As a matter of fact, the whole apartment never looked that tidy again.
I won't post any pictures of the empty apartment. It was too depressing to take any, so I assume it would be too depressing to look at any.
One thing, you should all get used to is the fact that I (Megan) am a photographer. Therefore, my posts tend to have a lot of photographs. Although, I do try not to take too many photos, which means I end up not having all the ones I wanted. I think I'm going to stop doing that now. My advice to you: Take lots of photos! You can always delete, but you can never go back to that moment you were trying to capture!
GRATUITOUS PHOTO ALERT (heretofore referred to as a "GPA")!
Actually, this is me with the last bouquet Ben brought home from Central Market. Aren't they gorgeous!?! They dwarfed me and I could barely hold them. God has blessed me with such an amazing husband!
Speaking of Central Market, check out the cake they made for Ben on his last day:
It made him Hungary (ha-ha!) :D
8 days ago we moved out.
6 days ago we hit the road.
More about our road trip soon!
~Ben & Megan
28 January, 2011
Exercising our Faith Muscles
This is our first post on our new blog. We will be chronicling our adventures in support raising, training, and finally living in Budapest, Hungary for two years. As of right now, our plan is to be in Budapest for two years. After that, we will come back to Texas as we decide if God is calling us to Hungary long- term or if He has other plans for us!
On to the story that everyone is wanting to hear!
Ben and I have been support raising for Budapest for about 4 months now. Our goal this whole time has been to make it to training in February. Things were looking great and we stepped out on faith. We gave our apartment 30 days notice and Ben gave his job 2 weeks notice.
Training starts February 7th and we have been packing up our apartment this week to leave on Wednesday for North Carolina. It was a sad time, but things were going fairly smoothly.
We found out Monday that we did not have enough in our account to go training.
*Cue the little girl inside me to start crying*
Ok, the big girl on the outside cried too.
After a couple of boxes of kleenex and some time to vertically monologue in a heated manner, Ben and I decided it might be a good idea to pray. Always a good idea, but sometimes you need to rant at Him a little before you're ready to be on speaking terms. As usual, He was waiting with open arms.
We told Him how desperately we wanted to do His will, but we didn't know what we were supposed to do. If we needed to wait, we would wait, but if we were supposed to go now, there were things we needed to do! It seemed like most of our friends did not think were going to be able to go to training. We needed to raise $5,600 in three days and while we know that our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, sometimes it's hard to convince ourselves that there will be ground beef for dinner tonight.
I have to admit I was mad. I was mad at the people that didn't think my God was big enough to come up with thousands of dollars in a few days! I was mad at myself for doubting this at times too. I shared with Ben that I just wanted someone to give us a gift, no matter how small, and say "I know it's not all you need, but I wanted to be a part of getting you to training in February, because I know God can do it!"
Thirty minutes after we prayed this, some of our supporters called. They were going to give us a gift in April, but decided to do it earlier because they believed God could get us to training. They did it online and the money was on it's way at the exact same time Ben and I were praying for it.
Now the big girl was totally justified in bawling her eyes out...
and she did so...
exceedingly...
Ben and I felt that God was telling us to continue walking in faith as He was working it out. We were supposed to go to training, so we better start packing and getting ready to go. Wednesday was coming soon.
However, within 72 hours of learning about our need, we did not have the $5,600 we needed.
We had almost $10,000!
Ben and I had a date last night as Jason's Deli. Our dinner had just arrived and Ben's phone started to ring. Now my husband is a gentleman and since it was an unknown number he was about to hit "Ignore" and start in on his food. I had a weird feeling and told him to go ahead and answer it. It was a church we interviewed with on Tuesday afternoon.
They wanted to give us $7,000.
I stopped wearing mascara this week.
It's been too dangerous.
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."
Proverbs 3:5-6 (Sometimes the KJV says it just right)
We're going to training!
Blessings,
Ben & Megan
On to the story that everyone is wanting to hear!
Ben and I have been support raising for Budapest for about 4 months now. Our goal this whole time has been to make it to training in February. Things were looking great and we stepped out on faith. We gave our apartment 30 days notice and Ben gave his job 2 weeks notice.
Training starts February 7th and we have been packing up our apartment this week to leave on Wednesday for North Carolina. It was a sad time, but things were going fairly smoothly.
We found out Monday that we did not have enough in our account to go training.
*Cue the little girl inside me to start crying*
Ok, the big girl on the outside cried too.
After a couple of boxes of kleenex and some time to vertically monologue in a heated manner, Ben and I decided it might be a good idea to pray. Always a good idea, but sometimes you need to rant at Him a little before you're ready to be on speaking terms. As usual, He was waiting with open arms.
We told Him how desperately we wanted to do His will, but we didn't know what we were supposed to do. If we needed to wait, we would wait, but if we were supposed to go now, there were things we needed to do! It seemed like most of our friends did not think were going to be able to go to training. We needed to raise $5,600 in three days and while we know that our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, sometimes it's hard to convince ourselves that there will be ground beef for dinner tonight.
I have to admit I was mad. I was mad at the people that didn't think my God was big enough to come up with thousands of dollars in a few days! I was mad at myself for doubting this at times too. I shared with Ben that I just wanted someone to give us a gift, no matter how small, and say "I know it's not all you need, but I wanted to be a part of getting you to training in February, because I know God can do it!"
Thirty minutes after we prayed this, some of our supporters called. They were going to give us a gift in April, but decided to do it earlier because they believed God could get us to training. They did it online and the money was on it's way at the exact same time Ben and I were praying for it.
Now the big girl was totally justified in bawling her eyes out...
and she did so...
exceedingly...
Ben and I felt that God was telling us to continue walking in faith as He was working it out. We were supposed to go to training, so we better start packing and getting ready to go. Wednesday was coming soon.
However, within 72 hours of learning about our need, we did not have the $5,600 we needed.
We had almost $10,000!
Ben and I had a date last night as Jason's Deli. Our dinner had just arrived and Ben's phone started to ring. Now my husband is a gentleman and since it was an unknown number he was about to hit "Ignore" and start in on his food. I had a weird feeling and told him to go ahead and answer it. It was a church we interviewed with on Tuesday afternoon.
They wanted to give us $7,000.
I stopped wearing mascara this week.
It's been too dangerous.
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths."
Proverbs 3:5-6 (Sometimes the KJV says it just right)
We're going to training!
Blessings,
Ben & Megan
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