Jesus and NUMB3RS

Holly: About four and a half years ago (ish) I came across a Facebook note I wrote after I watched one of my favorite episodes of ER.  I tied in the plight of the episode to that of Christ's sacrifice on the cross.  You can read the whole thing here...and if you can't for some reason...well, sorry about your luck :P

Fast forward to last night.  I still binge on ER every now and then, but last night I was watching another one of my favorites, NUMB3RS.  Kelly and I have mentioned it on here a few times.  I was watching one of my favorites, "Friendly Fire", and again, I couldn't help but notice a parallel between my faith and this show that I really enjoy.  I jotted this down not long after.  Every day I'm learning that God really is in all things :) Enjoy, and happy Easter!


Good Friday, 2015.  Sometimes it’s hard for me to see the “good” in it.  This is the day that Christ gave up His life.  To sit and watch Christ die a most terrible death is something I don’t think I’ll ever be able to wrap my head around.  So much heartbreak.  Thank goodness that this particular story has a happy ending!  I am so thankful that because of Jesus, death doesn’t have the last word! 

I think so many of us, myself included, forget that Jesus walked this earth as a human.  He was human! I think there’s such a strong sense of fragility and vulnerability in this.  I was reminded of just that- the fragility of being human- this evening, while watching one of my favorite episodes of Numb3rs.  I think I’ve seen it half a dozen times by now.  A longtime mentor of Don’s, Fox, is under suspicion after a bank robbery that ends up with two federal agent fatalities.  Don backs him and defends him 100%...until the end, when the data Charlie has drawn up becomes too overwhelming to ignore- things are stacking up against Fox, and definitely not for the better.  In a stand-off between Don and Fox, Fox’s true colors come forth and the complete truth behind the robbery is revealed.  For the first time in years, we see Don’s guard drop and his coming to grips with reality- is someone he’s looked up to for so long really capable of such things?  As Fox reloads his firearm, he says that he can’t and won’t go down for this, this that would most assuredly end his career as he knew it, and he would rather take matters into his own hands than allow Don to turn him in.  I won’t reveal what happens next, but let me just say that it destroys Don (And me too!).  The armor finally cracks.  For five seasons we’ve seen Don shouldering the weight of his team stoically and effectively, burying any and all emotion for the sake of justice and doing his job.  But the end of this particular episode, maybe the last 5-10 minutes, it really does something to me.  It’s so powerful, yet there’s a moment subtle enough to miss if you’re not paying attention.  It’s a heart-wrenching reminder that we are human.  We fall.  We break.  We are rattled and moved by events in our lives and sometimes there isn’t anything else to do but let our guard down.  That moment just stops my heart.

The truth is that we are broken people, much like Don at the end of “Friendly Fire”.  We are not immune to tragedies that may occur in our lives, and we are not immune to how we may deal with said tragedies.  However, I’m thankful that I can run to God when life becomes too much.   I’m thankful that He understands the humanity within us.  He knows!  There are plenty of circumstances in this world that warrant apologies, but you should never have to apologize for being human.  Like I said, God understands, and He can handle it.  Newsflash: No one expects you to hold it together all the time.  I need that reminder often.  And that includes you too, Don!  (Anyone else felt like giving him a hug at the end there, or was it just me?) 

 

Cats and children: one and the same?

Holly and Kelly: So it's true. They really are similar. At least we think they are. I mean come on, look at those faces? Aren't they cute?!

So the two of us have conjured some thoughts in which our cats and having children are the same. Not that either of us have children, but we've babysat before and many of our friends are mothers of young children and share their children stories...which we are always delighted to hear about! Having said that, here's some of the things we came up with.

No privacy
If you are a guest in our house, please remember to shut the door. Otherwise you might get a nice lap while you're in the bathroom taking care of things. (Yeah...may be a too much TMI, but it's true). In our house when we want a moment's peace, we shut doors....until the screaming and clawing begins. Until the sweeping of feet under the doors start too.

No personal space
None. At all. Pretty self explanatory. The two of us have had computer notes corrupted by random kitty text, or a sudden lap interruption during that really good part in that book or the running of the cats over the couch, furniture, house, laps, etc, causing the occasional spilled beverage or mild heart attack. Or the sometimes tampering of the book, DVD set, or laptop (See below). Get used to bum in the face and swatting your hair/scarf/necklace/any dangling object within their reach.

Wiley's into the Eppes brothers, too. 

Being awakened all hours of the night

Can't remember when either of us had a night of UNINTERRUPTED sleep. Oh, by the way, ever get the feeling someone's watching you? Yeah, it's probably one of them.

Yelling/disciplining/breaking up fights
"GET OFF THE TABLE!" "STOP IT!" "HEY, KNOCK IT OFF!" "PLEASE STOP BODY SLAMMING EACH OTHER INTO THE FURNITURE!" "NO, YOU'RE NOT GOING IN THE GARAGE!" "BE QUIET!" Kitty discipline in our house involves forced cuddling for at least 2 minutes. They hate it.

The teenage years
Cats exhibit blatant passivity concerning your arriving/departing.
"Oh.............................hi.  See you later.  Let's destroy the house while they're gone."

Traveling
2 options. Either take them with you or find someone to stay at the house and take care of them. Lest we forget the Great Traumatic Move of May 2013.  Completely amazed the cops/animal control/the FBI were not called on us due to the excessive wailing coming from Wiley's cat carrier.  We're fairly certain he did not recover.
One last thing: You definitely cannot make last-minute plans.  "Oh wait, the cats..."

Messes
Litter on the other side of the living room.  Yes...the other side.  Downed Christmas trees.  Poo on the floor.  THE BIRD.  A mini-flood in the kitchen.  You name it.

Food 
You were finished with that, right? Because sticking their faces in water glasses/cleaned off dinner plates is the norm. Yoda especially likes eggs, while Wiley is ga-ga for ham. See "personal space"; dinner sometimes gets uncomfortable. Would you like a set of yellow eyes watching with your bowl of soup? Make that 2 sets of yellow eyes...

There you have it! Yet despite the grievances they sometimes bring us, we love our pet babies and we wouldn't have it any other way! And sometimes we use the good times to our advantage in which we get the opportunity to have a little bit of fun.

Your someplace

Holly: Lately Kelly and I have been on a bit of a Numb3rs binge.  If you're not sure what that means, you can read more about it here.  Anyway, we watched an episode earlier today, "The Running Man", and one of the side stories is that Charlie and Don discover their late mother was a closeted, and gifted, musical composer.  Their father feels some resentment because he felt as if he was kept in the dark about this.  At the end of the episode, Charlie and Alan (their father) are having a conversation about this discovery; Alan still feels as if she was hiding something, Charlie believes she wasn't.  Charlie states that people go to their own places to be alone, and he puts it this way:

It's just part of being human, you know?  To want to find someplace solely for yourself, whether it be out in the world or deep inside your head.  

Got me thinking about alone time.  As many of you know I am a very happy and exuberant person by nature.  I love to laugh and I do it often.  Most of all, I love people.  However, after taking several personality tests over the past year or so, and just based on my own experiences in that time as well, I have discovered that I do lean towards being an introvert.  Like I said earlier, I love people, but after being around people for an extended period of time, I need time by myself to unwind and detox.  No, that doesn't mean I'm shy.  Quite the opposite, actually.  In fact, I was surprised by these findings because when I was in college, I was waaaayyyyy more of an extrovert (Probably because I didn't have any time to be alone in!).  Back to alone time:  I think Charlie is dead on.  I greatly look forward to my alone time, even though, given my current schedule, my alone time comes in bursts throughout the day: walking to work each morning with my iPod on and a cup of coffee in tow, at home; writing a blog, in my room writing in my journal, reading a book, binging on a Netflix series, sometimes mindlessly surfing the net.  Despite all those, I do find a lot of my solace in writing.  If home doesn't suit me, you can usually find me at Berea Coffee and Tea with a book :)

Alone time is essential.  Yes, we humans are designed to be social, but there is a time for that, and there is a time for retreat as well.  We all need our "someplaces"; to reflect, unwind, or just simply exist.  To me, it's that very time where I learn the most about myself.  What is your someplace?

Kelly: I consider myself to be a people person. Heck, I'm around them so often that it's just second nature to me. But I think that even the one who loves people the most yearn for quiet and solitude at times. Even Jesus needed times of stillness. On my days off, when I wake up in the morning and the house is quiet, sometimes I just gather in all that is around me. My house, the smell of coffee, the cats either sleeping or running around manically. Even now as I'm looking outside, it's gray but the air is somewhat still with the occasional leave blowing. Very gently. Usually days off are spent in where I say very little, and it's ok for me. I've had Holly ask me how I can just stay at home for days on end and not go anywhere. Other than the fact that I'm used to it, but to be honest it's nice. With a job like mine, I look forward to those quiet days where I sometimes get lost in myself.

For me, I like being outside when the weather is nice. When I take in all that's around me I wonder how people can't believe in God? I write my own blog about my nursing endeavors; it's good for me. I can look back and read about those who have touched me deeply, and also reflect on my growth not only as a nurse but as a person as well. My mom discovered my blog and said "Kelly, I feel like I know you so much more." Often when I write a post I'm at home, alone, reflecting on what I am writing about. My favorite someplace is alone, in my bedroom, with my Bible, journal and iPod. I just let all my guards down and I write. God I truly believes sees what I write, and sometimes I just sit, think and pray. Either in my head or sometimes out loud. And I love my music; music is one of the ways I feel that God speaks to me. So I will close with this; take some time for yourself in your someplace. Wherever that is; we get so busy and wrapped up in taking care of other people that sometimes I think we forget that we need a little taking care of too.