Orange Soup

I am a very easily irritated person.

Conversations sometimes irritate me. I like to say that I have a low tolerance for inanity, but perhaps I am just uninterested in other people.

Improper drivers irritate me. This is normal, of course, as I believe that I am the only capable driver on the road.

Squeals, screams, yells, and other loud noises (especially without proper warning) irritate me. This, again, is normal as I would appreciate not losing my hearing.

What irritates me perhaps more than anything else, though, is loud eating.

I know someone who has not yet learned to chew with their mouth closed. I glower at them until they notice, growl "chew with your mouth closed," then attempt to go on with my business.

I have had far too many experiences where people are eating normally, but there is no background noise available to drown out the sound. I want to scream "EAT QUIETER!" but I know that this is socially unacceptable.

Today, I had an experience with someone eating carrots. They were eating carrots relatively normally, but they were eating carrots. Many of them. Carrots piled up on the plate as though there was some kind of carrot eating contest and they are in training. I could not really leave the room, and neither could the perpetrator. For those infinite ten minutes (carrots take a long time to eat, especially twenty of them), I was near hyperventilating.

I am very easily irritated. I should work on that.

Unholiness in the holy land (Or Satan can suck it)

Sunday morning in Israel. Almost every one of the other people at Jerusalem University College went to church this morning. I didn't. I slept in. And believe me, it felt glorious. Sometimes I feel like being typically "unholy" is much better spiritual discipline than being typically "holy."

I don't usually like to go really deep into spiritual or theological matters here. However, something important happened to me this week that I want to discuss.

Those that know me well know that what is probably the most important thing to me is my family. I have a rather large family, and several people who count as family despite not being related by blood. Because my family is so important to me, I find it very difficult to do too many things without my family. When I first moved away for school, it was one of the most tumultuous times in my life. It has gotten better since then, but for several reasons I have found myself very eager to be at home in the past few months.

At the beginning of this week, I traveled for two full days from Minnesota to Grand Rapids to Chicago to Istanbul to Tel Aviv and finally to Jerusalem. Incredible opportunity as this is, I found myself terribly homesick. I didn't find this that unusual.

One day, though, it got really bad. I was able to skype with my mom, sister, cousin and nephews (which is an incredible blessing), and I found myself practically weeping due to my desperate wish to be with them instead of just talking with them.

I told my mom that I was unable to sleep and that when I should've been sleeping all I could think about was being at home. My mom told me that I was in a spiritual battle, and that she had spoken to several people that were going to be praying for me during the day and while I slept that night. I went to sleep that night, soon after I talked with my mom. Although I didn't sleep perfectly, I slept much better. I woke the next day with a much more optimistic attitude.

I truly believe that my mom was right, and that a spiritual battle was won that night. I have been much more excited about where I am and the opportunity I have in the past few days. Satan preys on our weaknesses, and one of mine is that I am perhaps too dependent upon those that I love. I thank Jesus and I thank so many prayer warriors for what happened that night as I slept. Due to my physical and emotional exhuastion, there is no way I would have been able to do that on my own.

I am excited to spend the next two weeks in the holy land. And I am excited to be able to say that I am actually excited.