Eh, What are ya going to do?

    So, this past month has been a strange one for me.  After things have all been going my way for a while my luck began change.  It started when the client I normally work with at my job was hospitalized an has remained there for 3 weeks.  I have lost over 80 hours these past weeks and that adds up to quite a bit of money for a college kid who lives check to check.  Thankfully I had some money saved up which up until now has held me over.  I am still unsure as to when I will get all of my hours back.
    Then I had some things come up in my personal ministry and life that I had to deal with.  At that point I was getting pretty frustrated and down.  BUT I remembered about this guy named Paul who went through a lot more crap than I ever have and yet he remained faithful to the Lord.  So me of my frustrations were with myself and some poor decisions I made.  I realized this and dealt with them accordingly and tried hard to not dwell on things and stay upbeat.  I got to help my church serve our community by wrapping presents for free at the mall.  I am not a good wrapper and had a few shoppers that did not share the Christmas spirit very well but I still greatly enjoyed the time.  It was nice to get out of my comfort zone and serve people.  So this helped.
    I was excited to go home to Hamilton and see the family an friends.  I was driving down I-75 on Christmas Eve morning and I got literally to the half way marker and my car broke down.  At that instance I made a decision to not let it bother me.  It happens, no point in freaking out.  The Highway Patrol dude and tow truck driver all complimented me on how well I was handling the situation.  90 miles and a $184 tow bill later I made it home.  Found out I needed to help my mom move.  I didn't even realize she was moving, so that was fun.  Then my grandma informed me that my uncle, who has been in a hospital/ nursing home for a few months due to an accident at work, had a set back.  He had been doing great but then got an infection and had to go back to the hospital.
   So that just added to everything.  But, you know, I could have got all upset and let it ruin my time home and my past month but why?  My point to all this is that things happen and we have a choice to let it ruin us or to let is strengthen us.  My friends will tell you that I am not always the best at dealing with adversity but I kind of liked this recent approach.  I may be broke and a little frustrated with work but I have way to much to be thankful for and I know things will began to turn for the positive.
    Roll with the punches, get up, and keep going forward.  Always be a light for Christ as he himself tells us to. (Matthew 5:14-16)  We don't get to take breaks from this call.
   Hope your Christmas was good!
Opher

The Beginning

    This is the beginning of what could be a lot of useless, awkward, and weird thoughts from the brain of an Opher.  An Opher, that in itself could take quite a bit to define, but I will give a brief description.  Opher: born Christopher, block letters spelling Christopher hung above a bed.  The letters C, H, R, I, S, T all fell off of said wall.  (Yes, Christ fell off the wall.)  Opher was left and thus a legend was born at the age of 4.  
    An Opher tends to think differently than most.  Some day there may be a book tittled "The Book of Opherisms" In this book there will be hundreds of quotes and stories about an Opher.  They will depict an awkward, lacking of common sense, stereotyping, word vomiting man.  But I have come to embrace my inner Opher and realize that there really is no other way to better describe me than by saying "he is Opher."  
    I hope to post every week or so just some thoughts of mine.  I love to write and pretend that people read.  I don't really expect anyone other than myself to read these and that is OK.  If you do happen to read these I believe you will find some common themes: 1. Although Christ fell out my wall, he has definitely fallen into my life. 2. I am very impulsive and random. 3.  Most stories will be awkward or slightly strange. 4.  Underneath the Opher layer lies some intellectual ability (a tiny bit at least) and a lot of passion.  
   If you are still reading, I hope you continue to check back every now and then.  Whether you do or not I will keep writing.
Opher