The Sunday 7
I survived the auction . . . barely . . . But let's go in chronological order.
1. The election. What a doozy. Justin and I voted in person on election day, and I don't think I've ever seen our polling place so busy. The parking lot was full, there was a line winding down the hallway, I even had to wait in line to put my ballot in the box after I finished it. Pic or it didn't happen . . .
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| I'd vote for that! |
2. On a more serious note, the election did not particularly go my way. I don't think it will come as a shock to any of my readers that I'm a republican, and republicans did not fare well anywhere in the nation on Tuesday. I understand politics a little more after watching the West Wing. Haha. Not sure I should admit that. But I enjoyed the election coverage more this year because it made more sense! And yet, it wasn't very enjoyable to watch historically republican districts turn blue. Right here in Michigan, "we" elected a senator named Abdul El Sayed who is a practicing Muslim and extremely liberal. (I'm not really sure how the two coincide, but the same could be said of James Talarico and Christianity so . . .) So Tuesday wasn't a great day for conservatives in the U.S., but I'm not freaking out.
But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.
I mean, I would prefer not to be here when God's judgment is unleashed. But if he decides that's it time, it doesn't matter who I vote for. He is sovereign and will do what he wants. Here's the good news, though: Christians have hope outside of the here and now. This world is not all there is. God's sovereignty is not arbitrary. He has a plan that includes the destruction of the world, but it also includes the rescue of his people. He wants us to be with him like we were in the garden before sin. Ever since that fatal day, he has been making it possible for us to be near him, from the tabernacle to the temple, to the cross itself. Jesus died to protect us from God's wrath and make a way for us to be together again. What more could we ask of him? That he lets our candidate win every year? God isn't interested in our material security and comfort. His concern is eliminating the idols we lean on so that we'll learn to depend on him and long for him. And any minor suffering we Americans will experience as a result of a democratic majority will be nothing compared to an eternity with Christ. If you don't have that hope, reach out to me or someone else who loves Jesus. His rescue is not exclusive. It's offered to anyone who will take it.
3. On to the auction . . . as you know, it's been consuming my every waking moment. I've been preparing since last May, and have devoted every minute of my life to it for the past few weeks. So imagine my dismay when I woke up Wednesday with a sore throat. By Thursday, that ominous film had started coating the back of my throat, reducing my voice to almost nothing. On Friday, my voice was almost completely gone. I spent nearly 8 hours working with a team of people to set up on Friday, and literally wore a name tag that said, "I have no voice. I'm sorry!" I did a lot of writing, gesturing, and whispering. But we got it done!
4. By Saturday - the day of the auction - my cough started. That was both a blessing and a curse. Once my cough breaks through the throat film, my voice starts coming back, but I'm also coughing all over everyone and everything. Ugh. It was fine. I survived. The actual auction itself went well. We ran out of bottled water, the food line took too long, and people got antsy waiting for the raffle winners to be drawn, but those were all pretty minor issues. The countless hours of preparation did their job and allowed the auction to proceed smoothly. Sadly, we did not raise as much as we hoped to. In fact, we raised the lowest amount we ever have in 24 years of doing this auction. So that's a little demoralizing! But I'm not too torn up about it. I truly think I did everything I could to solicit donations, create an online and live auction, and advertise it. The fact that people didn't show up in droves or get in crazy bidding wars isn't on me. In truth, I did more than I should have, considering the state of my health, my house, and my sanity. But we did raise some money, and it was good for me to work through something hard. I also got 11,000 steps on Friday and almost 14,000 on Saturday. I usually average around 3,000 so that's good for my weight loss goals, right?? 😂 I'm pretty sure the ball of my right foot is bruised, and I'll probably be coughing for 3-6 more weeks, but maybe I'll lose a few pounds! #priorities
5. One change I made when I took over as a director was a perk for businesses who sponsor the auction. We've done the same thing for years, and it's been working. The sponsors probably don't actually care that much about the perks. They give what they want to give. But I like to make things harder than necessary flex my creative muscles sometimes, so this year I added a "branded centerpiece" to the list of sponsor benefits. Anyone who gave over a certain amount got a personalized centerpiece made for one of the meal tables. I ended up with some tricky businesses to represent visually, but I enjoyed the challenge. I've been scouring my house, Niki's house, my parents' house, and thrift stores for weeks. I did buy a few new things - but mostly from dollar stores. Here are the final results . . .
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| Reasonable acts of graffiti |
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