No one ever tells me ANYTHING!

Alright, seriously.

It took me nearly 45 minutes to get to class today. It SHOULD only take me 25 minutes to drive from my house to the college where I have my blasted 7:30am class. 30 minutes if it’s a red light day. So then, one has to wonder, why so much longer today?
Did I take the scenic route? Nope.
Car trouble? Nope.
Get lost? Valid concern, but also no.

Apparently, no one bothered to inform me that today is National Garbage Truck Drivers Gone Wild Day. I mean, c’mon, people. It would have been nice if I had had at least a little bit of warning, don’t you think? Because seriously, EVERYONE seemed to be in on this little ruse -- everyone except me and the little old lady in the car behind me. *fumes*

FIVE BLASTED GARBAGE TRUCKS. FIVE. Not one. One would be normal. If I ended up behind a slow garbage truck, I’d think nothing of it. Daily occurrence. No big deal. How about two? Still not so strange. I would have figured it’s garbage collection day in this town today and shrugged it off. The third garbage truck was a little strange. I began to wonder if I was hallucinating. The fourth garbage truck was enough to generate the wild conspiracy theories about garbage trucks taking over the world. But it was the FIFTH one on my way to school this morning that really clued me in to what must be going on. National Garbage Truck Drivers Gone Wild Day. It’s so obvious, now that I think about it. The Head Garbage Truck Driver Boss must have sent out a memo to the secret Garbage Truck Drivers Society and let them know that even if they don’t have a route today, they should just commandeer any garbage truck they could get their hands on and drive it around the city, at no more then 20 mph, max. And, just for fun, Head Garbage Truck Driver Boss must have told all the little minions that they can stop at random places in the middle of the road even if there is no trash to collect. Because really. Why else would they ALL be stopping for NO reason??

And it wasn’t just on the way TO school, either! My 10 minute drive AFTER class from college to preschool turned into a 21minutes because I encountered -- you guessed it -- FOUR MORE GARBAGE TRUCKS. FOUR!!!!!

Now, I have been driving this exact same route at this exact same time every Monday and Wednesday morning for the last 7.5 weeks. Never before have I had any sort of altercation with garbage trucks, until today. In fact, I don't know that I've ever even ENCOUNTERED another garbage truck before today!!! Which is what led to my conclusion that today must be something special. Like, say, National Garbage Truck Drivers Gone Wild Day.

See?!? See?!? Now do you see what I mean??!?! Nine SEPARATE garbage trucks??! In ONE MORNING?! That’s just not normal, people!And I’m sure you’re all thinking, “Yeah? So? What’s so bad about garbage trucks?” Typically, nothing. In fact, I’m a HUGE advocate for garbage collector appreciation. I’ve made cookies for my garbage people already, OK? They’re great people. They do a great service to the world. No question there.

But would it really be so hard to just drive well??! C’mon, people!! It’s not that tough of a concept. Just because you’re in a big smelly tank-like vehicle with monstrous dumpster-picker-upper-claw-like things on the front does NOT give you the right to drive however you want. You are NOT allowed to accelarate hard, whip out in front of me from a side street, and then slow down to 15 mph on a 40 mph road. You’re just not. I don’t care how big and intimidating you think you are!

THIS was where the problem was -- every single one of these garbage truckers was driving erratically or terribly. Thus the “Gone Mad” portion of my rant.

SO! To all the garbage truck drivers out there, I only have two things to say:
1. Get over your "I-have-a-big-powerful-smelly-truck-so-don't-mess-with-me" attitudes and drive nicely. Please. I'll make you more cookies if you do...!!!
2. DO NOT make me late for class again or you will FEEL MY WRATH. Just wait. IPCA will get you. I have connections.

*trademarked menacing glare*

Safe or Stuck?

First of all, I invite you all to check out a brand new fantastic blog, Somnium of Sarcalogos. (The Latin student in me is just loooooooving that name!!)

Yes, I've been rather lax this month with posts. I'm sorry...there's just been too much going on!! Hopefully things will settle down (at least a little!) now and I can post more in February. We shall see :)

Now....

For the past two weeks in Sunday School, we've been discussing fences. We began by discussing the many purposes and functions of fences. Because really, fences are pretty extraordinary things, when you think about it!

At the preschool I work at, we have a fence around the playground -- to keep the kids in and away from the parking lot and busy road.

My friend has a fence to keep her dogs in their yard.

Fences can be used to create boundaries -- they say, "This is MINE. That is YOURS." Fences can be used as an unquestionable, visual reminder of property. Our neighbors have a fence between their yard and ours. There's never a question of who needs to mow what grass -- we know exactly where our boundaries end and theirs begin.

My youth leader then went on to state, "God's laws are like fences -- do you agree?"

Well, that was an intresting question. God's laws are like fences??

Maybe they are. God certainly lays out boundaries for us. He makes it quite clear in the Bible what He expects of us and what He expects us to stay away from. There's no question about that.

And just like that fence that keeps preschoolers safe...God's laws keep us safe too.

Do we like it? Not usually. It's easy to get so focused on the fence or the blockade in front of you that you miss what's beyond it. You might be so busy lamenting your lack of freedom that you don't see the danger beyond.
Fences do more then keep us IN. They keep danger OUT.

Take my preschoolers -- there are many days when they complain, "There's not enough room! I want to go run out there!" Every single day kids try to climb over the fence, under the fence, or run out past the gate. There is one child who seems to think that running into the fence at top speed will eventually cause it to break and let him out!

The kids don't realize that there are cars in the parking lot and a busy, dangerous road out there -- they are too focused on getting their freedom. They don't know any better -- they need that fence to keep them safe, because they don't understand that danger lurks beyond the fence. Left to their own devices, they would make dangerous choices.

We're an awful lot like those preschoolers, aren't we? God puts up fences in our lives and we spend a good amount of energy trying to climb over them, crawl under them or even run right through them. We don't pause to think about WHY the fences are there -- we're too busy complaining about them.

The fact is, God gives us laws to live by, because without them, we'd just make a big mess of things. We'd make the same dangerous choice as a preschooler running out on a busy road. Quite plainly, we just don't know enough about what's out there, beyond our fences and boundaries.

But God does. God sees everything we will ever encounter, and He builds up fences in the exact places we need them most. Not to trap us. Not to hold us hostage or make our lives miserable or deny us our freedom or be a big old meanie. It's exactly the opposite -- God gives us laws and rules to live by because He loves us, and He knows what's best for us, and He wants to prevent us from blindly running out in the middle of a road.

Often, we teachers find that when we ask the kids why they want to get out of the fence, they can't really come up with answer. They seem to want it simply because it's something new and interesting -- they just want to do something different. Maybe they're just bored. It usually just takes a few suggestions about new things they can do INSIDE the fences, new ideas and new ways to play, and suddenly they lose interest in climbing fences and running away.

Is that how it is with us? Do we just want to break God's laws to test our boundaries, to see what will happen, to try something new and intresting? Is there any good reason for our disobedience beyond boredom?

Next time you find yourself attempting to climb over a fence, pause and think for a minute. What might be beyond this fence that God's trying to protect me from? Is it really that important for me to be out there, instead of in here? Am I just testing my boundaries with God?

Make it a habit to look at your fences as God's wall of protection rather then a big cruel cage. Maybe you'll even find you like the view better from inside the fence.