Category Archives: Experiences

You know, stuff I’ve experienced.

Workin’ at the good ol’ ENT

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A few highlights from the past 3 weeks at my new job:

  • Having fun getting to know the 3-4 ladies I work with the most and doing my best to stay neutral when each of them tells me stuff about one of the other ones.  They are friendly and have been great to me.
  • Trying to figure out what to do when one person trains you to do a task one way and then another trains you a little differently.  Do I do it all ways at once so that whoever is watching over me at the moment is satisfied with my work?  Good stretching exercise for my pea brain!
  • Getting tickled when patients walk up to the counter, tell me the doctor they came to see and then just look at me.  I look back and say, “and you are?”  Being psychic would help, either that or having a photographic memory for more than a few thousand patient names!
  • Realizing that a smile goes a long way in helping people feel welcome or better about their day.
  • Wishing there was so much more I could do for a patient besides smile when they’ve come in for a biopsy report or have been disfigured by surgery for cancer.
  • Trying to remember that many of the patients are not raising their voices at me because they’re angry, it’s because they’re hard of hearing.
  • Learning a big lesson today after making a mistake that upset one of the docs so much he dropped the “F” bomb in the back office.  Woops.
  • Making cookies tonight to take tomorrow to help make the back office a happier place.
  • Realizing there are so many people in the world who have very little people skills, even intelligent people.
  • Knowing now more than ever how important people skills are.  Taking time to learn them is time well-spent.
  • Also realizing there are many people in the world who care most about their preferences and being considerate of others isn’t always a priority.
  • Being so thankful to have already met a few other co-workers who are believers.
  • Being thankful for a job in which I can be with people and hopefully make a difference.
  • So extremely thankful for Friday afternoons off!

 

Just say it

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A friend and I were chatting at a local restaurant this evening, having fun getting to know each other, sharing stories, etc.  After we’d been there 30 minutes or so a waitress came by to take up our trays, which doesn’t usually happen there.  I thought to myself, “How nice of her.”  Then another worker actually vacuumed the rug right around our table.  I even had to lift up my purse up off the floor.  My friend and I joked, “you think they want us to leave?”  A minute or two later the manager turned off the lights behind the counter and started rolling out these empty, really noisy racks so that we couldn’t even hear each other.  We laughed and said, “They must be closing soon or something, they sure are eager to go home!”  A few minutes later the manager came over to us and said, “Well, I’m heading out now.”  We looked at each other, gathered our things and headed out the door.  As we left we noticed the hours posted on the door said they close at 9:00 pm and it was now 9:45 pm.

We cracked up thinking those workers must have been getting pretty annoyed with us and wondering what our problem was, while we were thinking “what is their deal?  They’re making us feel like they don’t want us here.”  Well they didn’t – they wanted to go home.

It would have been so much better if that manager would have come over to us and told us closing time was at 9 pm.  We would have been glad to go before they closed.  Instead he tried all these not so subtle ways to let us know we needed to leave and they weren’t very effective, just kind of confusing and funny.

If you’ve got something to say, don’t beat around the bush, leave hints that often don’t get picked up, or get all stressed out wishing someone knew what you needed or are thinking.  Just say it!  Talk.  Communicate.  It makes the world a better place.  Take my word for it.

Jealous God

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I remember hearing years ago about Oprah’s turning away from mainline Christian faith into her confusing mixture of new age beliefs.  She was sitting in church and heard the preacher say something about God being a jealous God.  She thought to herself that if God was jealous of her, what kind of insecure god is that?  She ventured away from traditional views of God and into a nebulous tangle of self-deifying thinking.

I think she misunderstood.  I agree that the word jealous usually has negative connotations.  I was taught growing up that it’s not good to be jealous.  Someone should have told Oprah that God isn’t jealous of her as if He wants to be her, He is jealous of her attention.  He wants her heart and life to be centered on Him and not other things or people.

I caught a glimpse of what this means tonight.  I have these revelations in the oddest places in the strangest timing sometimes.  I was standing in a concert enjoying beautiful, awesome worship music with thousands of other enthusiastic people when I got clearer understanding about this.

I have some hurt over people in my life who have held me at arm’s length or refused my initiations at love or interaction.  When I see them react positively to others and not to me, I feel jealous.  I want that attention and love.  I felt God say that is how He has felt with me lately.

I have allowed myself to get caught up in busyness for a while now.  I’ve been restless and my prayer times have been short and kind of perfunctory.  I know that what I need and really want most is that nearness to God but I keep allowing other things take my attention and time away.  I don’t understand why I do it either and have felt very frustrated with myself.

Tonight I heard God tell me that He’s a jealous God and He wants my attention.  He doesn’t want me to hold Him at arm’s length, saying “later, God” or “I need to do this first” or “I want to give my attention to this instead.”

Can He forgive me for the fourteen-millionth time?  He said “Yes.”

Tonight at the concert Louie Giglio reminded us that extravagant worship happens when we are faced with God’s extravagant grace.  I fully agree.  When I remember my place and what God has done for me, His mercy and patience extended to me over and over again, the only reaction I can give with full sincerity is thankfulness and worship.

I prayed that the other relationship I long to have restored will be someday, but also that I will be thankful I have a jealous God who even notices I’m alive, much less wants me to spend time with Him and live in close relationship with Him.

Welcome

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Four vehicles full of people from our new church drove 4 hours Saturday morning to come get us and our things, loaded up our stuff in trailers, trucks and vans all day, then drove with us 4 hours back to Illinois.  They had a yummy home-cooked dinner waiting when we got to town, so we could all recharge before unloading the truck late into the night.  We actually had fun and they seemed glad to do it all.

They had cleaned and scrubbed and fixed up our new house until it sparkled and gleamed.  They had filled the fridge and cupboards with groceries, put up new shower curtains and bath mats, set out kleenex, hand soap, toilet paper, you name it.  We were hooked up right from the start.  The message was loud and clear: “we want you here!”

We could tell they had spent hours before we came preparing and planning for our arrival and it made us feel so special and at home.

Today, John and I tried out the local Qdoba and were treated so warmly.  That may sound funny, but it really was an exceptionally welcoming, smiling crew who looked like they were having fun and enjoyed their work.  It made us want to go back, and soon.

There’s a lot to be said about making an intentional effort to welcome someone.  If we would open up our hearts and arms in churches and put that much effort into preparing for and welcoming people who are new and may have never gone to church before we’d probably see a lot of them come back because they felt as if we really meant it: we want them there with us.  They would feel welcome.

 

(I have to also give a shout out to the lovely friends from our old church who were able to come help on Saturday with our move, too. We love you!)

 

 

Go west, Klotz family!

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Okay, just a little bit west. Peoria, Illinois to be precise. Today is moving day and we’re mostly ready to go. Rocky and Esmae, the wonder cats, have been roaming around restlessly, probably wondering why their home is now a maze of box towers. Krissy got up early and gave me a pep talk, then a hug. I loaded up the trunk with stuff for Goodwill and am sitting in McDonald’s having a breakfast burrito, waiting for Goodwill to open.

I’m glad this day is here. It’s time to make this change official, to watch God turn the page revealing the start of a new chapter for us.

I’m sure there will much to blog about after this day and in the days to come. Stay tuned!

All together now

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It turns out you need both front tires of your car pointing the same direction if you want to go anywhere.  This morning, Krissy and I were attempting to back out of our parking space to go to school and work when the steering wheel started jiggling.  The car moved erratically and wasn’t doing what I wanted it to.  It veered back and forth and when I tried to drive forward it just sat there, with the steering wheel turning on its own and still jiggling while we began to smell hot rubber.  I hopped out to see what was wrong and saw that the front left tire was facing forward but the front right tire was turned sharply to the right.  Uh oh.  That can’t be good.  We had to get the car towed to the shop because that tire, for whatever reason, wasn’t responding to the steering wheel or the direction I was trying to drive.

I’ve been thinking about change a lot lately, probably because we have some big changes coming up soon for our family.  Even though change happens all around us all the time and is a part of life, we still resist it.  That tendency seems to be built into most people’s core.  We veer toward what is familiar, what we already know, what is comfortable or seems good from past experience.  What if Jesus is turning the steering wheel a different and new direction?  Especially when it comes to teams, families, churches, or other groups who say they have the same goal, all the people have to respond to the direction and turn the same way or no one is going anywhere.  Resisting or being stubborn can cause the whole endeavor to come to a swerving, smelling-like-hot-rubber halt or at least make it a hundred times more difficult for the other “tires” trying to move along.

Our daughter Krissy was a little like our wayward tire when we first started talking about moving a few months ago.  It’s understandable – it wasn’t in her plan, wasn’t her first choice, and didn’t seem comfortable.  Over time, however, I’ve watched as God made needed repairs and adjustments and helped her see that following His lead was the best plan.  Sunday, before John officially accepted the offer to move to another state to pastor a church, we asked her once more how she was feeling and what she was thinking.  She said it would be hard and we agreed with her.  Then she said, with some emotion, “But I feel like God has plans for me there.”  Our hearts swelled.  Our little tire was facing the same way as us again!  Now we can move forward as a family, letting Jesus steer.

If you’re facing changes and feeling resistant, ask God to repair your heart and attitude and help you not be the wayward tire.  You don’t want to hold up what God has in mind for your family, your church, your friends, do you?

A gooder good?

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I heard it a few times throughout the weekend, God telling me that my definition of “good” wasn’t good enough.  I feel like He has been showing me and wants to keep showing me a deeper good than I’ve known in the past.  A different good.  A good not based on warm fuzzies or happy emotion, but on truth and purpose.  A good based on the peace and profound satisfaction that comes from knowing you’re in the place where the way God made you fits the need before you….just right.  No square pegs in round holes here.   Happiness is not necessarily the manifestation of this type of good, not always anyway.

I heard Him telling me most clearly as I sat in the room where the church council and leaders had gathered to hear John’s philosophy of ministry and ask him questions.  Throughout the day I had felt awkward at times, a little out-of-place at times, the typical stuff that happens when you’re in a group of complete strangers Continue reading →

From the inside out

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Snowpocalypse 2011, as it’s been called, is just about over it seems.  Two days and nights of a gigantic winter storm crossing more than 20 states with crazy sleet, freezing rain, snow and gusty winds have left everything outside covered in hard, icy white domes.  It took me about 45 minutes yesterday  morning to free my car’s windshield and windows enough to drive, about 30 minutes today.  Thankfully our little Ford Escort has a great heater/defroster and so once that started heating up my job started getting easier.  I can’t even imagine how long it would take to scrape the ice off without that warm air blowing on the glass from the inside.  I would probably give up and just go inside to wait for spring.

I had plenty of time to think as I scraped and thought about the cold that pelts us sometimes and how if we don’t have the warmth of God’s love inside it could become a tough-to-breakthrough shell all over our hearts.  Even though it still takes some time to be free of hurts, mistakes, troubles, etc. with God’s love and strength keeping the embers glowing inside we won’t be covered over forever.  It will most likely take some chipping away, scraping and sharp jabs, but it soon all falls away and we’re free to drive on.

God’s done that for me this year: freed me from some faulty thinking, hurts, questions, times of doubt, and even just plain tiredness that built up and coated my heart, making me feel trapped and unable to move.  Sometimes the warmth inside wasn’t really noticeable but I know it was always there, deep down.  I can see the last pieces starting to melt and little fissures appearing.  I’m free.  Let’s go!

Church is like Zumba

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My husband and daughters bought me the most thoughtful gift for Christmas.  They went above and beyond what we all agreed to do, chipped in and got me a set of Zumba DVDs because they know I love it so much.  I hadn’t been able to go to class for several months.  I’ve done a few of the workouts and they’re great, the guy who came up with it is one of the teachers and he’s a lot of fun.  I’m really glad to have them because if I can’t go to class, I can still shake the blues and chub away in our own family room.  Thanks to a surprise from a few of my Zumba buddies, I now have some free classes to use up so I went back this week, Tuesday and tonight.  I have to admit that nothing beats dancing off calories with about 125 other women in a big room with really loud music and fun live teachers.  Just being there with all of them energizes me.  No one is a pro.  Everyone is sweaty.  We all want to have fun, get fit and burn fat.  It’s awesome.

It got me thinking – that’s why I love church.  Not for sweat and burning fat, but for the camaraderie, the energy from being with others who are after the same thing, who love the same God, who want to be healthy and whole not only in their bodies, but mind and soul.  I’ve heard people say they don’t need church.   Continue reading →

The pursuit of truth…unless it hurts feelings

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I admit, now that I think about it, maybe I should have replied only to the gentleman who sent the email instead of clicking “reply all” and sending my message to everyone. I was attempting, in the kindest way possible, to tell him that the email he had sent was false. The reason I included everyone else was because I thought they would want to know that, too. The email he sent certainly wasn’t about a life and death issue but he was getting a bit up in arms over it and it’s the kind of political email that can get others really upset. He, himself, referenced a snopes.com article, inferring that’s where he got his information. I went to that article to see for myself and found that it said just the opposite, so I wanted to let him know.

Today I got a few replies from people Continue reading →