It's okay to be sad & bumps

So this past Sunday, my mom and I drove to Wilmington to go to a bridal show with my sister and my sister-in-law.  My dad was supposed to go with us so he could hang out with my brothers while the girls were doing wedding stuff, but he was really sick so he couldn't go.  I wish he would have been able to, but it was nice to spend some alone time just me and my mom on the road.  Since I'm at school we don't get to hang out just the two of us as often. 


My mom is one of my favorite people - she is a Godly woman and a great Christian influence and she loves me & my siblings no matter what.  Pretty amazing if you ask me.  She is also very smart and funny and encourages me all the time.  I could write and entire blog post about her (i think i will - one about every member of my family maybe.... family friday? we'll see)

Anyways, my mom and I are driving down to Wilmington, and we already had an adventure under out belt just from leaving church. (a lady parked behind me and I was in a driveway so I had to drive in the grass and over a curb in order to leave).  For those of you who don't know, to get to Wilmington from Garner you get on Highway 40 and drive until you're there.  40 turns into college road in wilmington and the exit for my brother's house is the last exit, 420.  So as I'm going down 40 my mom and I are talking and I see two huge orange caution signs that say BUMP

So what do my mom and I do?  Well we brace ourselves for a bump (we're thinking speed bump) because you're not exactly going really slow on 40 and I also tried to slow down a little.  Let me tell you - it was no bump.  It was like going 1/2 an inch higher on newly paved road.  If I would not have seen the signs I wouldn't have even noticed that we went over a "bump".  Sure enough, a few miles down the road there are two more signs saying "bump" letting us know of the bump ahead and it was just going down the 1/2 an inch back to the old not newly paved road.  This thought came to my mind and I asked my mom - how much do you think those signs cost?  How much does it cost to put those signs in those locations?  It probably costs a lot more than we think it would, and our lovely tax dollars pay for it.  I think it's a  huge waste of money.  While caution and warning signs like this are needed at some times, these 4 signs that I saw were not.

Still driving to Wilmington my mom and I start talking about emotions & the bible.  Sometimes society tells us it's not okay to be sad or cry.  A lot of times this is told to young boys who need to be "men" or even girls when they are over dramatic.  While I do not like to cry in public, I think it is A OKAY to cry and be sad for a little while.  We are only human - if we were happy all the time we wouldn't appreciate it.  We have to be sad to understand how wonderful it is to be happy.  Jesus was sad.  In the bible there are plenty of stories of him being happy and even some of him being angry, but most people probably have to think a little bit of a story where Jesus was sad. The story of Lazarus's death, John 11, is a good place to find it.  John 11:35 is the shortest verse in the bible - "Jesus wept".  My mom and I want to add to all the bibles "Jesus wept because he was sad".  See?  Jesus was sad too!  He wasn't a robot - he had feelings too, he just never sinned.

I will update my blog again (hopefully this week) with pictures from the Wedding Show that we went to while we were in Wilmington. 

Everybody have a great week!
mb