Sign of the Times

Do you have a ton of rewards cards in your wallet? Every last one of them is for a good cause, but... there are too many of them! Every store has their own card that you have to carry around. Which ends up taking loads of space in your wallet and has a tendency to be a little more frustrating than helpful. Money savings or not, there has to be a better way!

This is exactly the conversation I had with a customer this week. She had just signed up for my store's customer rewards card, adding yet another card to her already bulging wallet. Then she said something that totally threw me.

This normal lady said, "I would take a chip in my arm if it meant I didn't have to carry these cards around."

Wow!

So I was thinking an app on my phone or a single loadable card... not a chip in anyone's arm!

Talk about a sign of the times! Here is a lady who would gladly take a chip just to lighten her wallet load.

I mentioned to her that then anyone could track you at any time, if you had a chip in your arm. (Not to be argumentative, but as part of the discussion... that had now grown to include several employees.) She suggested that you can be tracked through your phone. But let's be honest, you can turn your phone off, destroy it, leave it behind. It is not permanently attached inside you!

For anyone who has grown up in church and studied the Bible, you know the impact of this woman's mindset really means. I assumed that this was something that the "evil" in the world had on their minds. This was the first time I encountered someone normal, who was just as for this as the presumed evil.

It was mind blowing to say the least.

For the record - I had continued to conversation with my fellow store employees. Several of the ladies I work with agree that an app or card would be awesome, but under no circumstances would they be implanting any microchips into any part of their body. One of the teenagers said that she could see this being something that is required, but she said that she is going to fight it, because she thought that it was wrong. Well, at least that was encouraging.

Being a Northerner

My life has been changing so rapidly over the last two months. It was a totally unexpected change and parts of me totally did not want it, but then part of me knew that it necessary for me to keep growing. So God brought some serious changes into my life. My job situation changed, my location changed, my apartment is changing. As difficult as it all seemed at the beginning, it has been so worth it! God brought such wonderful and necessary changes.

So I have a little bit of time on my hands, so I signed up for a free trial on ancestry.com. You know that family history website?

It has been so much fun! I just had to share. My husband's family immigrated to the US within the last 100 years. My dad's family has been really hard to track. I haven't gotten very far. But mom's family apparently has tons of records! Like, way too much information!! 

Interesting things about my mom's family - they were all faithful in church. They all worked hard. They weren't rich or famous or especially important to an American history book, but they lived and that makes them important! I am a true Northerner. My family is exclusively from the Northern colonies - we landed here shortly after the Mayflower and helped settle all of the major colonial cities. 

Prior to that I have traced the family back to the 1400s. It got easier when I found John the 9th, still carrying the family name. I have only tracked back to John the 5th so far. 

Before we landed in the colonies and became as Northern as Northern gets, we were about as European as European gets. I have at least one family member from every European country. 

But at least now I understand why I sometimes have such difficulty adjusting to the South. I am a Northerner to the core! 

Fellowship Required

"No man is an island."

We have heard that before, and we know that is the truth. But how many times does it feel like we are an island - totally alone, surrounded by a sea of people??

Far too often.

For a painfully long period of time in my life, I went to a church where the people all thought that they were their own little islands. Fellowship was not a necessary part of their lives. They didn't need friends. The lifestyle that resulted was very foreign to me, and I really struggled with it. Keep in mind I am the friendly girl from Big City, Northeast, settling into the vastly different culture of Small Town, South.

I felt like I was alone in life, in my spiritual life, even at church. It was painful and lonely. In fact that isolation that I felt was what inspired me to write a blog. I just wanted to fellowship with someone.

After many months of that lonely, isolated lifestyle, our situation has changed a little, and let me tell you...

Fellowship is required!!!

It's a necessary part of life. Now I know that some people require less fellowship than others, but it is still important. There needs to be people in your life whom you can speak with about serious matters, about fun matters, and about spiritual matters.

In the last two weeks, I have had more fellowship with such precious fellow Christians, than I have had in the last year. It has been so refreshing!

An older lady and spiritual mentor simply encouraged me to stay faithful to the Lord and shared some of her life experiences and how God has worked in her life. I was able to laugh a friend, catch up with another. Share burdens and trials, what I have learned and how I have grown, with another friend.

I have been spiritually encouraged and challenged. The fellowship has made an impact on my life in a way that I have not experienced for months. If there is anything that I have learned...

Fellowship is required.