For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

Friday, July 13, 2012

Friday the 13th...Then and Now

What do we usually think of when someone says, "It's Friday the 13th?"  Honestly, my first thoughts go to the movie series "Friday the 13th" and that image of Jason wearing a hockey mask and carrying around a chainsaw.  The summer after my freshman year in college I decided to be a camp counselor at a Christian camp.  One of my older brothers reminded me of "Friday the 13th."  He said, "Remember, Jason killed most of his victims at the camp where he died as a kid."  He then proceeded to tell me that if I listened closely the sound of the chainsaw said, "Chh chh ha ha...chh chh ha ha." Interpreted: "Camp camp blood blood."  Well, that wasn't a deterrent to keep me from going to camp and I lived to share the experience .  

If our mind doesn't immediately go to the movies it will probably go to some very familiar superstitions, fears, phobias, rituals to overcome the superstitions, etc.  Once again, I am a girl with many fears: spiders, bugs, snakes, butterflies, dogs (you should see me on church visitation), rodents, even rabbits... (okay, basically if it has the ability to breathe, crawl, or creep I am probably going to be afraid of it), storms, darkness unless I'm asleep, large social gatherings, and the list goes on. 

Although my favorite number is 7 I am not afraid of the number 13.  With my many fears I am not afraid of dying.  I'm not afraid of black cats either...I'm allergic to cats but I love them.  I grew up in a home in which my dad thought it was bad luck not to have a black cat.  When a catastrophe took place he was always quick to mention we didn't have a black cat.

With all that said, Friday the 13th  isn't something I fear or try to avoid.  For me it's more like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy.  None of them exist but at some point in my life I "believed" in them and I celebrated the traditions associated with those beliefs.  I celebrate Friday the 13th as a fun day and yes, I'm more aware of all the bad things happening and as many of my Twitter followers will see, I blamed a lot on #Friday13th today!


My "belief" that Friday the 13th was all about bad luck happened my Senior year in high school.  I was invited to the youth Valentine Banquet at my church by the love of my life.  I had a crush on Ben since the 4th grade.  He was everything a girl wanted and at that time he was a professional model.  It was like a dream come true to be asked out by him.  The banquet fell on Friday the 13th.  I remember borrowing a formal from a friend because my dad had just purchased me one for Homecoming and was going to have to get me another one for the Junior/Senior (Christian school's version of the prom without dancing).  Ben picked me up in a convertible and we were off to the church.  So, what could possibly be bad about this?

The banquet tables were picturesque with wishing wells in the center and inside the wishing wells were votive candles.  The youth ministry staff didn't use the church dinnerware or silverware.  They opted for an easy clean-up method and one that could also be coordinated with the decor.  We had bright red napkins, clear plastic looking goblets, and plastic plates and flatware.  The key word here is plastic.  One of our friends starting playing with his fork, got a little too close to the wishing well and caught the fork on fire.  He drops it on the table which is covered in those paper-like covers.  Yep, our table catches fire!  Another guy thinking he is going to be the hero runs for the fire extinguisher but before you know it he has haphazardly sprayed white foam everywhere...it got on several of the girls' dresses, not mine.  We made it through the dinner and then my circle of friends were off to a late night stroll around the capitol.  We rode off into the night with the top of the convertible down because we were no longer concerned about our hair getting messed up.  We were living large...I was 17 and having the time of my life!

Ben's younger sister was with us.  Keep in mind we are still all in formals and parading around the downtown area around 10:00 at night.  We decide to climb the capitol stairs and Ben's sister trips and falls down the stairs.  While getting in the car Ben slams my dress in the door and rips it!  I didn't care because I was madly in love with this boy but I started thinking it wasn't a good day.

Fast forward to present day.  I woke up this morning and didn't think much about it being the 13th.  My day was off to a good start, all was going well.  Then I go to download some music and while looking over the downloads I see an album I don't recognize so I decide to delete it.  Well, when I was asked if I wanted to delete it from the Windows Media Player Library or the Library and Computer I opted for the latter.  It begins to delete and then I see this message "All files have been deleted." ALL files? Say what?  I go back to my WMP and there is nothing there.  I click on the album covers and nothing.  All my playlists have been deleted...all the music I ripped to my office PC during the past year are now gone.  I was posting comments on Twitter freaking out about where my music went. 

I left the case with all my Khameleon pop-it stones/gems at my office.  I went to Walmart to return something I had ordered Site-To-Store and it took the CSR at least 30 minutes to locate the item in their database even while holding my pick-up receipt and invoice.  I ran into some friends from church while there or should I say she ran into me.  Yes, she didn't see me stop to look at a display and she plowed right into me with the shopping cart and knocked me into the display.  As she's apologizing I turn around and she realizes she knows me.  Finally, at checkout while the cashier is scanning my stuff she pokes her finger through a pack of chicken and I have to go back and get another pack.

Like Alexander said, "It was a terrible horrible no good very bad day...I think I'll go to bed."

But as a Christian how would we interpret all the events I talked about. I tell people I don't believe in luck, I believe in hope and faith.  I once heard it said that coincidence is just God doing something anonymously. 

So, was my Valentine Banquet bad luck?  No, it turned into a 16-year on again, off again love story for Ben and me.  For 16 years I got to be with the man of my dreams and every date, I mean EVERY single date we went on he presented me with a single red rose to commemorate that first date.

Today wasn't about bad luck either.  It was about me being more mindful of the little things that went wrong.  Would I have considered it bad luck if it happened yesterday or last week?  No, it would have just been a misfortune.  Today was just a series of unfortunate events.  I was on a mental path of destruction when I lost all that music because I can't live without music but in the course of my frustration I figured out how to download some songs I bought from the Amazon MP3 Player store and so for the rest of the afternoon I got to enjoy the 5 new songs I had purchased.  God is in the middle of it all...the good, the bad, and the ugly.  He got me through the series of mishaps and at the time I'm writing this all is well.

Six months ago today I had breast surgery to remove a mass. My surgery was done on January, Friday the 13th.  It wasn't cancerous but I have Atypical Hyperplasia, a precancerous condition.  This week I had my 6-month check-up and all is well!  Luck?  No, God's hand of providence was upon me.

God works in strange and mysterious ways but nothing is done by accident or luck.  God's plan for us is well-orchestrated.  He knows every fiber of our being and everything that happens to us is part of His plan.  I love Jeremiah 29

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.


I'm a person with many fears but I also know that God is and has always been in control of my life.  He makes no mistakes.  My philosophy is: Life is hard but God is good and if He brings you to it He will also bring you through it.  Today was just another day...Just as yesterday was Thursday the 12th and tomorrow is Saturday the 14th...today was Friday the 13th.   By the way: Any time the 1st day of the month falls on a Sunday you will have a Friday the 13th that month!

Rejoice in the Lord for He is good and give Him all the praise and glory!!  Take care and God bless now and forever plus one more day!

3 comments:

  1. Great blog post for Friday the 13th, Gigi! I was born on a Friday. Friday is my favorite day even if it is the 13th.

    God Bless,
    Krista

    “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” ~1 Corinthians 13:13

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    1. Thanks for reading! I thought I was going to have another Friday the 13th "episode" just trying to access my blog to write. I was born on Mother's Day so I'm a "Sunday's child is full of grace" and my name does mean graceful white one :+) Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Take care and God bless!

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    2. I am going to setup a blog on my website soon! You have a lovely weekend! God Bless!

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