Phone Calls

I really love my job. Sometimes I answer the switchboarch calls when the receptionist is busy.

Phone calls I've received at work:

Call #1 - An elderly woman
Me: Good Morning, how may I direct your call?
Person: I was wondering if you help people with food.
Me: We don't have a food pantry here but we can refer you to the ROC.
Person: I don't eat rocks.
Me: The ROC is an organization that can help with food and clothes.
Person: I don't need clothes.
Me: Well let me give you their phone number. They can give you some food.
Person: I AM NOT IN A BAD MOOD.
Me: MA'AM THE ROC CAN GIVE YOU FOOD.

Call #2 - A man
Me: Student Ministries, this is Jaci.
Person: I'm trying to talk to a pastor. Are you a pastor?
Me: No I'm not a pastor. Our pastors are in a meeting right now. Can I help you though?
Person: I need someone to help me.
Me: Ok well how can I help.
Person: I'm not a Christian and I know I'm going to hell and I'm ok with that. I just need some quarters for the vending machine. I'm in the hospital and they won't let me out. They think I'm crazy. I just need a Dr. Pepper. Can you bring me some quarters?
Me: Well, let me pass this message on to one of our pastors and we'll see what we can do.
Person: You are an angel. Let me read you a poem. (The man proceeds to read me a 5 minute long poem he wrote about an angel named Jaci. I'm pretty sure he was making it up as he spoke.)
Me: Thank you. That was really nice.
Person #2: Who is this?
Me: This is Jaci from Bethany First Church. Who is this?
Person #2: I am his doctor. You are not allowed to call patients.
Me: I didn't call him, he called me.
Person #2: He is not allowed to call people.
Me: Um ok.
Person #2: Please don't call here again.
Me: Um ok.
Person #2: Goodbye.
Me: Bye?

Call #3 - A woman
Me: Good Afternoon, how may I direct your call?
Person: Can you help me find a Bible verse?
Me: Maybe, which one are you trying to find?
Person: It's about God.
Me: Ok. I'm going to need a little more detail.
Person: It's about God and his love.
Me: Ok. (I proceed to give her 4 verses about God and his love.)
Person: No it's not those. You work at a church shouldn't you know Bible verses.
Me: I guess I don't know them all.
Person: Let me talk to a pastor, hopefully they know the Bible better than you.

Call #4 - A woman
Me: Good afternoon, how may I direct your call?
Person: DO YOU KNOW THAT JESUS CHRIST, SON OF GOD, LOVES YOU AND DIED ON A CROSS FOR YOU?
Me: Um, yes I do.
Person: HAVE YOU GIVEN YOUR LIFE AND SOUL AND SPIRIT AND BODY TO HIM?
Me: Um, yes.
Person: HAVE YOU BEEN BAPTIZED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT, LORD GOD, ALMIGHTY SAVIOR?
Me: I think so. (I'm started to get confused...)
Person: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU THINK SO? YOU SHOULD KNOW!
Me: OH YES, YES I HAVE!
Person: GOOD! I CAN'T WAIT TO MEET YOU IN HEAVEN.

Call #5 - An elderly woman
Me: Student Ministries, this is Jaci
Person: Do you help with food?
Me: We can refer you to the ROC, they have a food pantry.
Person: Oh not for me, for my cat.
Me: Um, I don't know if they have cat food.
Person: I have 4 cats, they all need food.
Me: We don't have any cat food here. I'm not sure what else I can do.
Person: Do you need a cat?
Me: No I don't. I have a dog and she doesn' t like cats.
Person: If you need one I'll give you one.
Me: Oh ok thanks. I'll let you know.

Hi-Lo-Ha-La!!

Hi

Wednesday night I had the oppourtunity to speak to our middle school students. I talked about being a "Secret Survivor". We all have secrets. Some secrets are funny and some secrets are serious. I shared a few of my own "secrets" and then let them share their own. We have to talk about our secrets and our hurts to truly begin to heal. I love seeing God work in their lives as well as my own. Secret Survivors is a book that Megan Hutchinson (LHGH) and Jen Howver put together. It tells the stories of 7 individuals who found healing in sharing their secrets. It's a great book!

I also went to Cuppies & Joe with Stefanie, Holly and the kids! I love that place. It's such a great atmosphere and I always run into people I know. For those of you who don't know, Cuppies and Joe is a cupcake and coffee spot in an awesome bungalow house. It's about 1/2 a mile from my school so C&J & I will become great friends!
Lo

I'm in my second week of grad school and I'm already behind. Not by a lot....it's only one chapter of reading but I really want to be ahead. Stress is not my friend.

Ha
I think I'm going to have to stick with my previous post about my friend Justin and his girlfriend. I am a dork.

La

I love college football and I could careless about professional football, but I am looking forward to the Superbowl. I really like the commercials and the community of people!

Awkward Moment

Have you ever thought the word awkward is spelled awkward? I had to open up Word to make sure I was spelling it right. Typically, I'm a pretty good speller but thank goodness for spell check.

This Sunday I was walking into church and saw an old friend from high school. We had grown up at church together then after college he had moved to Chicago. He got married a couple years ago and we really haven't kept in touch at all. As soon as we saw each other we shared a huge hug. He was with him mom and wife. I couldn't remember her name so I just started saying, "Hi! We met a long-time ago at your shower. You look so good! How are you?" I'm a rambler, I often don't give people a chance to talk in situations like this. Justin finally interrupted me with, "Um this is actually my girlfriend, the whole marriage thing didn't quite workout." I was completely embarrassed. I started rambling again, "I'm so sorry, this is so awkward, oh my goodness, so sorry!" This is my most embarrassing moment of the year thus far. Feel free to share your own!

The Perfect Chair

Do somethings just feel wrong?  I'm not talking about dating relationships or bad decisions...I'm just talking about silly things that aren't really that important.  For instance, there are a couple roads in the OKC area that I just can't stand.  I'm not sure why.  It's not because there are busy or that I have a bad memory there...I just hate them.  I will drive 5 miles out of the way instead of going down that road.  

But just as there are something I don't like, for a reason I can't even begin to fathom, there are somethings that I love, for reasons I also cannot fathom.  I just found the perfect chair at the Oklahoma City University library.  The library has 5 floors and I went to all of them just to check them out today.  I started at 1 and it was too busy.  I went to 4 and it was too musty.  I went to 3 and it was just too loud.  I went to 5 and it was nasty.  Then I went to 2 and it was nice.  Good atmosphere, good noise level, I wandered through a few rows of books then I saw it....the perfect chair in the perfect corner of the perfect floor!  It's these little things that I really love!

First Night of Grad School

I started graduate school last night. My first class is called, Sociocultural Foundations in Counseling. I was really excited and had a lot of ideas of what it would be like. When I arrived I realized it would be nothing like I thought. It wasn't awful but it wasn't great either. I really thought there would be more people just like me...not that I think I'm wonderful or anything. I just assumed there would be several compassionate Christians. I live in pretty much a Christian bubble. I work at my church, I live 6 blocks away, I am next door to a Christian university...I honestly do not have any friends who are Christians and a large majority of them are Nazarenes! I've prayed over the last year that God would bring non-Christian friends into my life. I wasn't prepared for what that would look like.

One girl who cusses at least twice when she speaks, the one guy in my class that spoke about kissing another guy, a black girl who doesn't like other black people.....the list goes on and on. This will be a great experience for me, I'm sure of it. I know that it's good to be uncomfortable in these situations because it makes you grow...at least that's my prayer.

I do love the readings and my professor. She is very eccentric which makes it fun. She's probably in her early 50s and she has a streak of purple hair. She's not real organized and she's really laid back. She definitely wants us to come to our own understanding of Sociocultural backgrounds which I like.

Our first assignment was to write a one-page paper on who we are and where we've come from...what are our sociocultural foundations. I had never really thought about a lot of those things. My paper was about being a white, heterosexual, female in a middle-class family. I realized that I'm not a grateful for my privileges as I should be and I'm really looking forward to learning more about myself and why I am the way I am.

God, Use me at OCU. Teach me and give me your wisdom and discernment. I want to a light for YOU!