My Haiku for you

Haikus confuse me,
Often random in topic,
Frozen oatmeal smells.

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Church today was awesome because one of my favorite authors/writing hero was the speaker for today... Donald Miller! I have read a couple of his books, and about to start another one, so i was super excited to hear him speak. He is an awesome speaker and spoke today on how the elements of story can apply to our lives... a really interesting idea. if you are interested in hearing it, go on itunes, probably tomorrow, and search "Mars Hill Bible Church" and their podcast will come up. i am guessing todays service will be on sometime soon... i highly recommend listening to this!

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have you ever found yourself in the middle of the most random conversation and then wondering how in the world you ended up with that topic? when you notice this, more than likely you and whoever you are conversing with will probably take a sec and try to retrace your steps in your conversation... and after a couple minutes work of connecting the dots, you realize that although the conversation started with squirrels, because of resemblance you ended up talking about your dog, leading to the fact that he doesn't like corn, then to corn fields in iowa, then to Knight's Inn in Altoona, IA, eventually leading up to your current topic of the proper way to make an omlette because the knight's cafe here at calvin makes excellent omlettes. you're bound to miss a few minor connections, making the trail of topics a bit more confusing to begin with, but nonetheless a bit more hilarious... i mean, from squirrels to omlettes?

as i was sitting in my bed last night, i kind of had that same feeling and found myself asking the question that so many have asked me in the past few months... how in the world did i end up here? i mean, to make reference to the example above, this conversation started with redondo beach, california and now it's about grand rapids, michigan... how in the world? okay, so when you put the word "bellflower" in the mix, a lot of people find a satisfactory connection that explains the topic change. however last night, i traced back in a bit more detail as to how exactly i ended up here, and i was pleased to find a better reason, basically coming down to a decision i made in 2nd grade... but i will start a bit further back to make a point that i will get to in a bit.
we'll start with where i was born (although if i had some more time, i would love to go back a few generations on both sides of the family)... redondo beach, ca. so how did we end up in bellflower? well, actually lakewood first... and we ended up there because i believe my parents worked with someone who lived in lakewood or something. so, they checked it out and liked it, so we moved. the move from lakewood to bellflower wasn't huge--not even a mile away as the crow flies. so that's how we ended up in bellflower.
second grade, though, is where it all happened. being an energetic and involved kid, i was in the process of testing out dance (as in ballet--pink tutus, ballet slippers, leotards...which i always managed to put on backwards..., and pirouettes... the whole shebang), brownies (as in girl scout cookies, troop meetings, brown vests, and making new friends but keeping the old), and soccer (as in AYSO, oranges at half time, and occasionally scoring in the wrong goal). dance, girl scouts, and soccer... all at once, while enduring the work load of second grade! i know, and i was worried about taking 16 credits while participating in a sport?
anyway, there came a point where i needed to make a decision... although i was perfectly willing to (and had enough energy to) do all of the above, there was this problem of being in three places at once (which apparently is impossible, although not to a 9-year-old) and the matter of having a means of getting there. so, as any 9-year-old would do, i observed the pros and cons, benefits and costs, logistics and statistics of all three options in order to make a well-thought and logical decision.
whatever
this is how it went... dance-- i suck, i hate pink, and i always get dizzy when i spin. that was easy to kick to the curb. brownie-- i hate singing those stupid songs, and, does anyone know, what exactly goes on between cookie sales... although i enjoy my brown and blue uniform and the free food at troop meetings, i think i can deal with out it. soccer-- running around kicking things, oranges at halftime, treats at the end... sweet uniforms... playing in rain and mud...and running around kicking things??? well, DUH, i choose soccer!!!
now, not to limit God's many ways he can open doors in a life, but i think this is the moment he opened the door for me to end up here in grand rapids, mi.
lets make a quick trip to show how... through the many years of soccer, i was asked to be on a club team lead by stan lopez who's daughters (who i quickly became friends with) went to bellflower christian elementary (which i had no idea even existed... i am a lindstrom lion all the way :) anyway, my family and the lopez family became close, so when middle school came around, my parents were curious about the school system then known as bellflower christian schools... through a series of events, i ended up at VCMS... and that, i think, is where the rest is history. the line between valley and calvin isn't too hard to make.
kind of funny, eh?
it's kind of crazy to look back in life and realize all the forks in the road that you come across, and how if you chose another way, it is very possible that things would be different. again, i am not trying to limit God in the sense that had not all that stuff happened i wouldn't be here, because God could have very easily chosen a different way to put Calvin on my radar.
the point is, it's pretty trippy to go back and retrace steps, and find out how you've ended up here (i LOVE going back generations and generations to how we ended up in America... one of my favorite stories)... and although most of the time we don't often think about how we got here, i think it is important to remember that we are only where we are because of where we've been. and i think that stands for all aspects of life... geographically, personally, spiritually, academically, career-ally???
so it might be a fun thing for you to go back and retrace your own steps, cause i already know a few people who probably have some fun stories... and after retracing your own, maybe hear someone else's path to where they are now... i love hearing these kinds of stories, so if you'd like to share, please, do tell!

have a good day :)