Do Not Be Afraid

"The man who doesn't relax and hoot a few hoots voluntarily, now and then, is in great danger of hooting hoots and standing on his head for the edification of the pathologist and trained nurse, a little later on. "~Elbert Hubbard

Amen to that Mr. Hubbard.

Week two of unemployment commences. Hootie Hoo!

I have decided to embrace summer (finally) - since technically everyone told me to do just that last week. I think I was still in such a state of shock, I had to go into "fix mode." Here's the thing, it's been one week. Sure, time is just a ticking into the future, but I have sent out over 20 resumes to some seriously - quality jobs. I actually got a call back for one - but after much debate with the egyptian, I am going to pass on this "possible" opportunity. With his Praxis coming up in a month, and school about to start back (his job,) the cost of relocating is just not worth it.

The sucky part - it was in Savannah. Yep... the city I have wanted to move to.

BUT - I think we have a plan we can both be satisfied with.. and that's what I am going with.

Instead of worrying about jobs this week (though I will spend 1 - 2 hours a day searching) - I plan to have a little fun this week. For instance, the pool. I live in a great apartment community. We have a racquet ball court, tennis courts, basketball courts, 2 pool, a gym, jacuzzi, a 1 -mile wooded trail and a movie theater (seriously.) There is no reason I don't take advantage of all of this crap I have been paying for.

So... beginning tomorrow - Vacation: Nicole will commence. There is food in the frig, gas in the car, and outside of one errand for a friend (picking her up from the train station) and one coffee "date" with another friend - I am a free agent.

You better believe I am going to embrace it.

I have to give all props to the big guy upstairs. I was feeling sort of.. well.. lonely, and a little worthless (one week with nothing to officially do other than clean house and drive the egyptian to work is a little disheartening.) I decided to go to mass. Except I tried another church -and guys - I LOVED IT. Everyone was so friendly (that's saying a lot for catholic churches... we tend to mind our own business..) and the priest was very nice, and it doesn't hurt that the message was dead on what I needed to hear.

The overall theme - "Do Not Be Afraid."  Remember when Pope John Paul II came out with his overall message to the world? It was those very words. Do Not Be Afraid. God is with you.

The gospel today was the story that involved Jesus walking on water. Don't remember that one? Well it goes a little something like this:

After feeding the 5000, Jesus sends his disciples ahead of him in a boat to cross the Sea of Galilee. Several hours later in the night, the disciples encounter a storm. Jesus comes to them, walking on the water. This terrifies the disciples and they think they are seeing a ghost. Jesus tells them in verse 27, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."

Peter replies, "Lord, if it's you, tell me to come to you on the water." So Jesus invites Peter to come. Peter gets out of the boat and begins walking on the water toward Jesus. But when Peter takes his eyes off Jesus and sees the wind and waves, he begins to sink. Peter cries out to the Lord and Jesus immediately reaches out his hand and catches Peter. As they climb into the boat together, the storm ceases. Then the disciples worship Jesus, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."

For me, the story says - concentrate on what's important, and "He's" got this. So I kneeled in the pew at mass and just asked Jesus to hold my hand through this. I mean, seriously... if Jesus were to come to Earth, and we all saw him.. and he walked around with me, holding my hand... I mean.. come on.. I would not be afraid of anything. So, I decided that would be my little thought process.

During the Homily, the priest was talking about how God will is what we need to focus on. I sort of smiled, thinking of how arabs, before they even speak of the future, they always say, "Inshallah." Which translates to God Willing. Soo... I will be okay, Inshallah.

As I was going to take the Eucharist (Communion for my Protestant friends..) the choir sang, "Do Not Be Afraid" and all I could think was - THAT'S IT. That's God's message to me this week.

So, my friends.. I will NOT be afraid. This too shall pass. I will concentrate on Jesus and God and not look at the choppy waters around me, and you better believe, I feel like I am in the eye of the Hurricane... it seems calm.. but I know I am surrounded on all sides. Maybe with trusting God to be on my side, I can weather this storm.

Inshallah.

I will leave you with a YouTube version of the song. The lyrics speak volumes.