I mean, sometimes you just have to laugh, really. When what you do without thinking isn't a good thing, well, you either laugh or cry. Or both. I'll explain shortly.....

This week has been crazy, folks, and just about as crazy as last week. Last week, I got to go see David Crowder Band with some of my friends, attend a fun evening at church, rehearse, and do Christmas boxes for Operation Christmas Child. (125, by the way!) This week, I got to do an entire week worth of work in three days, have dinner out on Tuesday with one of my best buddies, go hear Rob Bell speak up in Raleigh on Wednesday (followed by craziness at Chili's with my buddies), and didn't do much past eat and sleep for long hours FOR MOST OF FOUR DAYS! Oh, God is soooooooo GOOD! Even my birthday was a wonderful day, and I thought I had gotten past liking birthdays when I hit forty, you know?

So, what am I laughing about, you might ask?

Well, I tend to get excited easily. Yeah, you could say it's confession time here. If you've never been around me in person, you might not really understand how I am. When I'm happy, I'm HAPPY. And I can make others feel happy and laugh, and it makes me a bit, well, bubbly? You can ask my buddy Denny, who has literally seen me jump up and down in the middle of a WalMart because I had found several dozen pencil sharpeners I needed for Christmas boxes! Or my pastor, who has seen me just about do a high jump with enthusiasm, when God saw to it that all 125 of our church's Christmas boxes this year were funded, with $200 donated to spare! I radiate my feelings, for the most part, shall we say?

And sometimes I radiate worry. I tend to lose things, like my keys, wallet, work equipment, papers I need, and most of all, my cell phone. And when I can't find it, I start thinking "Now what? What am I going to do? Can I afford to replace this? What if I (pick one: can't find it, someone else finds it and uses it, can't afford to replace it)? I obsess about finishing assignments, making enough money to pay the bills, losing weight, getting to the gym, finding time to study, not praying enough, doing enough, saying the right things....the list goes on and on. Need I say more?

So, after a marvelous two weeks, you guessed it, my cell phone went missing.

I did the usual things. I called the restaurant I last used it in. I called the friends I had lunch with to see if they had seen it. I dumped out my purse. And of course, I worried. What if I had to replace the phone? What if I needed it for work? What if, what if, what if? And of course, no sign of the phone.

When I got up with one of my friends, she told me that she had seen me put it in my purse. After I rolled my eyes and told her I HAD, she suggested I call my phone and see if it was in my truck, and even gave me my own number. (Before you chuckle, how often do YOU call yourself?) So, I hung up, and dialed my number. Which rang right next to me. The purse? But I'd LOOKED in my purse! So, I start patting down my purse, and lo and behold.....there it was! In the one pocket on the side of the purse that I NEVER had used before!

Talk about embarrassing.....

But this is where it gets good, people. After giving a sigh of relief, I sat down at my computer to check my e-mail, and to see if my daily devotional had made it into my inbox yet. Yep, there it was. And this is what it said.....don't tell me that God doesn't have a sense of humor.....

Matthew 6:25-34 (NRSV)

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat
or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not
life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds
of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet
your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?

And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon
in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so
clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown
into the oven, will he not much more clothe you--you of little faith?
Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we
drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all
these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all
these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

"So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its
own. Today's trouble is enough for today."

Talk about timing? I literally put my head down on the keyboard and laughed till I cried! As usual, God heard me, and had an answer for my overly anxious self...

Okay....time to take a deep breath here. For the thousandth time, I am hearing "don't worry." DON'T WORRY. Your worry won't make things better. Your worry won't make your problems go away. It just makes you tense and tired and sad and angry.

God loves you. He knows how to take care of you. You are His, and everything that happens to you is for His glory and your good. It's going to be alright.

Trust. Obey. And don't worry. It's going to be alright.