Q & A Time: Part # Who Knows.

Won't you join me for another edition of answering Bloggerotsky questions?



Deanna asks:
Hi Lauren. Would love to hear more about you and Seth.... how you met, etc.!!! If it's already on your blog, maybe you could just post the links?!!! :)



Deanna, I am so happy that you asked that particular question for a number of reasons. First of all, I love talking about Seth and if you give me an excuse to discuss him, it's even better!
Secondly, today, June 9, 2009 is the second anniversary of our very first date! So I'd be happy to fill you in on the details! Allow me the privilege of waxing nostalgic for a moment as I tell the story.


The short story is:
I baked him a pie.

The Long Story is:

I met Seth for the first time at Mi Pueblo, my very favorite restaurant. I was eating with my BFF Ashley. She knew SEth and he and his friend came to sit with us. I was in high school at the time. After that meal I told Ashley wasn't too sure what I thought about that guy. She assured me that he was awesome. I raised my eyebrows.


I left Mi Pueblo that afternoon not knowing what God had in store a few years down the road.



My friendship with Ashley continued and every once in a while she would mention something about her friend Seth and how nice he was. Her mom would also make comments. We were both active in the same Emmaus community and had a few mutual friends so I would hear his name. I can't explain how but I would think about him from time to time. "I wonder what he is up to these days." Perhaps a desire to get a new opinion of him since my friends all had such respect for him.
I didn't date at all in High School, which ended up being a very good thing for me. My freshman year at OCU, I got an email from a lady who attended FBC saying she had a guy she wanted me to meet.
Sweet! So I began emailing back and forth with the guy. After several emails, he asked me out. Turns out, he was the music director at FBC, where Seth was still serving as the youth pastor. While Brian made plans for our blind date, he solicited advice from his friends, including (you guessed it) Seth.
(I know I have a crazy life but what are the odds, people?)
I went out with Brian that night, and as life would so ironically have it, we saw Seth and a friend of mine walking down the street. Brian pulled over and we talked with them, and I remember thinking that his eyes looked very kind--I know, pass the cheese-- and he was very nice to me. I remember thinking that maybe I had "that guy" pegged wrong.

After my one and only date with Brian, I knew it wasn't the right fit. He loved the Lord but we were in very different stages of life. As life would again hand out the irony, Brian went on to meet a great girl named Summer and they lived happily ever after as SETH performed their wedding ceremony.

haha.

Why yes, I am That Girl.

Fast forward through a few more years, one heartbreak, missions, more school, a call to ministry, and a cancer diagnosis. In April of 2007 Seth and I were asked to work the same retreat. At the first meeting, we did a 'get-to-know-you' game. I really had a desire to know him better, so I walked over and he then was my partner. We each had to talk for a minute about ourselves. I told him about K, H, and E and he told me about his dog, Angie. He seemed really nice! We had a delightful little conversation and I was sure he was a good man. I ended up in Seth's prayer group. We all shared prayer concerns (he may sell my new domain name and kill me for this, but) and Seth asked us to pray because he wanted to find someone with whom to share his life-someone who would have a passion for serving people and ministry.

I died and went to Heaven right there.

Later that week I discussed with my BFF Jami how cute I thought he was and what he had said. Then I got out the directory and paced back and forth trying to figure out a way to call him. I decided I would call "ALL" the people in my prayer group and see how they were doing. I had never done that before or since. I was SO NERVOUS when I called him because I didn't want to sound like a freak (like every other moment of my life--he's QUITE used to it now, I think), and I just asked him how I could keep him in prayer this week and just to see how things were going. Utterly lame, I know. He was like, "Well, just what I told you this week pretty much." It took every ounce of self-control I had not to say, "Honey, I have heard you preach and I would like to be the answer to your prayers."

I got off the phone, looked at Jami who was there for moral support and said, "Welp, I blew that. He thinks I am a total whackjob."

Little did I know that Seth asked his roommate that night about me. Including if I was single.

During the retreat he always came to talk to me or to see if I needed any help. We bonded over funny stuff and ministry and Caedmon's Call's best album ever. Most of all we bonded over Jesus and His love for us.

Ashley and I schemed after the retreat, and we invited him to Mi Pueblo-where else, no wonder Mexican soap operas are so popular- with a bunch of other "friends" for no reason in particular we said. He showed up and said that he thought women could do anything men could do in ministry. I think that song "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight" may have come on my mental jukebox. We started texting that night and I became That Girl to the people in the church community where he served. They desperately wanted to figure out who That Girl Seth is always texting was.

Through our "conversations" I learned that Seth is a big fan of pie. One morning I got up DETERMINED to bless him. So I got out the recipes and I whipped up a pretty fantastic strawberry pie. I called him up, drove to Office Max where he was, and said this AWESOME line.
"Um. Hi. Umm, I brought, I made you this pie. HERE!" I basically threw it into his arms.

He liked the pie. The next week I happened to have a roommate working at the camp the same week as Seth, so I drove up to see her (haha) and happened to run into Seth. Then I happened to give him a bag of Chex Mix. I am such a believer of winning the heart through the stomach. Can you tell?

It paid off. Seth invited me to a friend's barbecue (it may or may not have been on facebook if you want to know the truth...).
We sat on this sweet little swing and talked until we looked up finally and realized we were the last ones there. That was two years ago today.



And that was the end of the beginning.



Now that Deanna and everyone else who reads this blog is so incredibly glad she asked that question (i just didn't want to leave anything out!), let's go to the cyber-mailbag for another question.

Savannah asks:
How are you always so positive? It's....so hard for me to do! Any advice or verses you use?

Savannah, I am certainly not "ALWAYS" so positive. Just like everyone else on earth, I have my moments when I feast on the anxiety and negativity that this world has to offer. I have always been a person who enjoys life, and I think it's hard to have fun in the water if you are always looking around for who peed in the pool, so to speak. Honestly, since my mom's death I have realized how important it is to live every moment completely and not to waste it dwelling on what I DON'T have or what I am NOT. Instead I can count my blessings and focus on what God HAS given me.
That's a double-edged sword because since her death, although I understand the importance, I have found it hard to be as positive as I was before. I am not making excuses. I am only saying I want to get back to the place where my mind does not go to the negative immediately. Even if I don't voice that and give off the air of remaining positive, the battle is lost in my mind.

Negativity steals the joy God has so richly given us. I have made up my mind that I don't have time to lose or throw away, and having a negative attitude does both. God's word tells us in Ecclesiastes:

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

If that's the case, and eternity has been set in my heart, does this light and momentary affliction really affect me that greatly in the light of forever?
Probably not.
And has He not suffered and endured in greater things for me than I will ever face in this life?

John 16:33 convinces me that there is nothing that can get in my way of living and loving if I put Jesus as the center of my life. Furthermore, if He is for me, who can be against me? Plus, what does complaining and pining for what I don't have get me except a lot less friends and an ulcer? It doesn't change anything. It only makes me miserable.

A line from Martina McBride says it best:
I've come to know/that the world won't change just 'cause I complain/let the axis twirl/I'm a happy girl.
Hope that answers your question a little bit!


Jenn wants to know about my jamz.
I love your playlist! I even have some of the same songs on my playlist. You seem to have quite a diverse mix...what is your favorite kind of music?

Oh girl. First of all let me just say a great big thank you for noticing because I lurve me some music. My favorite musician is Dave Barnes. My favorite genre is definitely singer-songwriter acoustic stuff. Is that even a genre, you may ask? Yes. It is because I just decided it was just now. I also love Sandra McCracken and Derek Webb. Give me some U2 and a Coca-Cola Classic and I'm one gleeful chick. Bring on the Patty Griffin with a side of Bebo Norman and for dessert, Bethany Dillon and Shane and Shane. Let's not forget the Taylor Swift with a twist of Watermark (christy nockels--that girl can SAAANG) as well as a hint of Hillsong United and let's add some Abba for good measure. While we're at it, why don't we add a little Johnny and June and some TobyMac to the party? Let's keep it real with Charlie Hall and Tenth Avenue North. I am groovin' to Jimmy Needham and Aretha. Throw a little old-school Point of Grace (they're still pure awesomeness after all these years) and some Leeland and you've got yourself a heck of a playlist.

As you can see, I really enjoy almost all genres of music. I always keep in mind that just because it may not have the label Christian on it does not limit God's use of it in my life. Truth and beauty can be found in lots of unexpected places.




Thanks for sticking around to the end and for all of your questions, faithful ones. I love you more than I love The Goonies and hot tamales.