There’s really not a lot going on today.  But there is something that’s been on my mind, and I can’t quite shake it.

First, a little background: I was brought up in a moderate Christian home.  I became a dedicated Jesus-follower at about the age of 25, and started doing in-depth studies to learn more about the religion I was now following.  That path led me to read and study a lot of strange things that I found absolutely amazing, but that I think a lot of Christians don’t openly discuss, or even know about.  Things like the existence of angels (both good and bad) and events and occurrences that most people would consider “super-natural.” 

In all my reading, it was clear that if something was “good” on the Christian side, then there probably was an equal “something” that was bad on the other side.  (Sorry…I’m not trying to be deliberately general; I just don’t want to have a post that is 3 miles long!)  An example that pertains especially to what has been on my mind lately is angels.  In everything I’ve ever read, it was a well-documented belief that angels exist both for good and evil uses.

Here’s what has happened: a few weeks ago, I met a woman that I’ll call Elaine in Galveston.  My friend Scott (whom you’ve read about over my last 3 years of blogging) had been hanging out with Elaine, but couldn’t make up his mind whether she was someone he wanted to date.  He felt like she was really cool, but that maybe she wasn’t exactly his type. 

When I met her, I realized almost immediately that I probably had never known someone like her before.  She is incredibly intelligent (she has a masters in Theology and is working on her PhD in something), is a recognized holistic doctor with her own practice, and was in the process of opening her own health food store.  As I got to know her, I began to realize that she was incredibly compassionate towards all living things, and was even going to be doing a stint in an orphanage in Peru this coming August.  She also had to easily be one of the most positive people I had ever been around.

But I felt like there was more to her than she was allowing us to see, and that bothered me.

This past Saturday night I made it down to the island later than I had planned; so things were crazier than usual when I first got to my house and started unpacking.  Scott showed up about 45 minutes after I got there and immediately started telling me that Elaine was the most wonderful thing that had ever happened to him, that strange and wondrous  things had been happening to him all week, and that he had decided he was going to spend the rest of his life with her.  I was floored.  Then I told him he needed to seriously stop smoking whatever he now had planted in his yard.  Just a few days before, he told me that he wasn’t sure that he was physically attracted to Elaine.  And he has always maintained that he would probably never get married.  Now, out of the blue, this man had done a complete turn around from the weekend before over a woman that those of us close to him barely knew.  I knew she was special; but there are women who would pay big bucks for whatever it was she used to turn a man like Scott into the energized human bunny that he had now become, banging on a drum and chanting this woman’s name.  Wow.

I stopped what I was doing and invited Scott to sit down and tell me the whole story.  Apparently, Elaine has had an angel since she was 3 years old that teaches her different things about healing.  That same angel had entered one of Scott’s chakras unexpectedly and cleansed him of his addictions.  He had actually glimpsed this angel in the form of a blue glowing sphere, and also had met his own angel under her guidance.  Scott said that he felt (and I have to admit that he looked) like a different man.  He believes that Elaine has a gift from God that needed to be shared with others.

Elaine came over later, and Scott asked her to explain herself to me.  She was embarrassed, but finally gave me a brief, and very general, overview of the things that had happened to her up to this point in her life.  She said that she generally didn’t discuss her life with others because they found her stories unbelievable.

Elaine says an angel came to her when she was 3 and started teaching her remarkable things about herself.  This same angel had appeared to her mother when Elaine was 18 months old to let her mom know that the bed Elaine was sleeping in one night had caught fire.  That angel saved her life that night.  Elaine can hear and feel things that others around her aren’t even aware of, including the presence of other angelic beings.  She said that she is an audio and physical clairvoyant, and that she can read people’s emotions.  Her practice includes healing people thru their emotions as well as dealing with any physical issues that they might have.  She has traveled world quite extensively, and the trip in August is happening at the invitation of a well-known doctor in Peru who wants to pass on her knowledge of helping cancer patients before she dies.  Elaine has also written a book that is being published in January.  AND did I mention that she has a celebrity clientele that she regularly does consultations with. 

So here’s the struggle for me:  I’ve been taught that everything that isn’t directly from God is wrong.  I feel like that would include the things that this woman not only believes in, but practices, although she has a degree in Theology and claims that there is a god. Also, angels, and the account of angels, have been around for a long time.  She seems to be loving, genuine, kind, smart, funny and not at all evil in any way.  In short, she is someone that I would welcome with open arms as a friend if it weren’t for…well, if it weren’t for my own personal Christian beliefs.

What would you do in my situation?

Where’s The Theologian’s Café when you need him around to give advice? 

Steffs_Confessions has asked her subscribers to put together a list of little known facts about themselves.  She loves memoirs and is looking for some fun summer reading. Not sure it's going to rock her world, but here goes:

1)  I'm adopted.  I don't look, act, smell, talk or even eat like any of my family members.  My mom tried for 5 years to get pregnant, adopted me, and then BAM!!, had two pregnancies after me.

2)  I play the flute professionally.  OOHH...AHHH!  Actually, I've turned down all gigs since my marriage came apart because of the emotion that's needed to play music and an instrument well.  Now that I'm in a better place, I'm thinking about getting back into it.  Alot of people have asked me why I stopped, and then give me weird looks when I tell them that I'm emotionally spent and haven't been able to do it.  But really, being a muscian is so much more than picking up a metal object and blowing!

3) I love surfing!  Duh!  Actually, it's a surprise to even me that I found something I love so much at such a late stage in life.  Most of my friends think it's just a mid-life crisis.  But the way the water makes me feel, and the way I feel in the water (two VERY different things) seem almost like a spiritual thing to me. Plus, I'm getting great exercise and there are very few 45 year old women that I know that can go out and surf with the boys (yes, I think I'm special in that regards).

4) I'm a hopeless romantic.  I can't believe that I'm even typing that because it's embarassing, but it's true.  I believe in true love that conquers all.

5) I stay on Xanga almost all day at work.  Hm. I'm addicted to reading people's blogs.  I haven't really gotten into any other on-line meet-and-greets, but Xanga feels safe to me.  For the most part, the people are friendly.  And reading the info that they put out there about their lives is truly incredible in some cases.  Thanks for reading mine.

This past fourth of July weekend was really over too quickly.  It was sand, surf, beer, fireworks and good friends all lumped together.  And the time flew by.  But in the middle of all the festivities,  a couple of my girlfriends decided, without the help of alcohol, that I had to be the whitest woman in America.

Actually, I received that title last year from my friend Marla, but that's another story.  The situations, however, resemble each other closely, leading me to believe that they are probably on to something here.

Apparently, I'm just not cool.  Or, more accurately, I'm not ghetto enough to be considered cool by the masses.  And this all happened because I didn't provide the correct answer to "Where you stay?"  When asked this seemingly innocent question by someone I had just met, I quickly surmised that they were either too drunk to ask the question correctly, or just didn't have a complete grasp of the English language, and therefore didn't need me to embarrass them further by pointing it out and not providing an answer.  So I quickly said "I'm staying at my beach house."  To which the person looked somewhat confused, and started talking to someone else.

I repeated this conversation to my girlfriends later, thinking they would think it was strange as well, but all they did was bust out laughing at me.  After wetting their proverbial panties from laughing so hard, my friend EBeth explained that the person was asking me "where do you live?"  She and my other friend Amy went on to explain several different phrases that are used, including "what it do?"  Their facial expressions, gestures and general attempt to make me more ghetto had the entire restaurant staring and laughing.   Well, "it" doesn't do anything as far as I'm concerned.  And where I stay is probably a long way from where I live.

Although, I am kind of starting to think that instead of calling my ex by his real name, it might make me laugh a little more just to refer to him as "my baby diddy."  Not sure that's going to make me sound any less white, though.

I think every muscle in my body aches, and I'm still worn out from yesterday. The surf was beautiful (for Texas), the waves were rolling and big, and I finally got to hit the outside for the first time this year (yeah me!!!!) on my new board.  I don't have a name for her yet (yeah, this one is a female), but after a few more times in the water, I'll come up with something.

Life is good.

This is the famous Eddie Jones on HIS new board!!

This picture always makes me feel peaceful. It was taken outside my hotel room, overlooking Tamarindo Beach, in Tamarindo, Costa Rica. If I close my eyes, I can still hear the surf.

Maya Angelou wrote:

Every woman should know whom she can trust, whom she can't, and why she shouldn't take it personally.

That quote is part of a longer piece that is posted above my computer.  It's ironic that my eyes rested on that particular sentence after my last post given that I seem to have a particularly hard time of picking the right people to trust, and just trust everyone in general.

But I think the most interesting part about that line is the last part: "why she shouldn't take it personally."  I've just gotten myself out of a situation with a former girlfriend that I've found to be just a little untrustworthy, and I did it all by setting my own hurt feelings aside and discussing the issues candidly.  I now don't trust the little wench any further than I can throw her, but by pushing her insulting comments aside, focusing on the real issues, and determindly (and more than a little bull-headedly) discussing the hurtful crap, we were able to work thru all the real problems. Will we be friends again?  Maybe. But only because I now know exactly who and what she is, and that she isn't to be trusted as a close friend. Weird. 

Lesson learned: accept people for who they are, and don't take it personally. It has nothing to do with you.