Did you know that men are four times more likely to get struck by lightning than women?  Or that famed silent film star, Charlie Chaplin, once took third place in a “Charlie Chaplin Look-a-like” contest?  I’m just full of useless, random trivia.  Those two items are my favorite go-to facts, though I couldn’t tell you why.  Perhaps it’s because I just remember them the best..?

During my freshman year at Emmanuel College in the 2003-2004 school year, I learned in Mrs. Dixon’s public speaking class that you are supposed to begin a speech with some sort of hook to get the attention of the audience, then you need to establish credibility.  Well, this isn’t exactly a speech, but a blog is a public platform, so I guess it is similar enough.  I got the hook out of the way, so now the credibility.  Hmm… what to say on that?  What is this whole blog business about anyway?  I have been told by people over the years that I am pretty good with writing.  I have no idea what makes them say such, but people are entertained by all sorts of things, aren’t they?  Recently, I made a new friend who suggested I write a blog showcasing my random bits of trivia and suggested that I somehow relate it back to God.  Challenge accepted, new friend.

Ah yes.  Credibility.  Well, I’m afraid I don’t have very substantial credentials, but you can judge for yourself.  So far as my useless, random trivia goes… I’m one of those that if I like a movie or TV show or theatre production, I want to know everything there is to know about it. I’m that nerd who will watch every single special feature on a DVD (well, usually a Blu-ray as they have more special features these days), including sitting through all four commentaries.  I love the art of filmmaking, so I appreciate all aspects of the process.  A lot of people hate going to see a movie with me in the theater because I have a rule that we MUST watch the credits.  Not because there might be a little happy at the end, but because all those people worked hard on that film, and they deserve the respect of patrons watching the credits.  Anyway, I also get some random knowledge from reading books and articles, watching interviews, following social media accounts to get a little behind-the-scenes insider info, and I was an extra in a movie once, so I saw a few things up-close and first-hand. haha  And just like most of America.. IMDb.com (don’t pretend like you don’t use it.. you know you do).  Aside from just entertainment, any of my random trivia could come from conversations with people, classroom discussions from who-knows-how-long-ago, books, articles, “Nearly Impossible Question” segments on the radio, etc. etc.  You get the picture.

Now, for the God stuff… I accepted God’s gift of salvation and invitation into His family when I was very young.  I grew up in church, went to a Christian school in 8^th and 9^th grade, and attended a Christian college. I have an uncle, a brother, and a sister who are pastors, and tons of friends in various areas of ministry.  I know a whole lot of Jesus trivia, too.  But so what?  Knowledge and Spiritual disciplines (like Bible reading and church attendance) don’t make a person a good Christian, nor does the lack thereof make a person a bad one.  It’s not about what we do or don’t do… it’s about what HE did.  It took many, many, MANY years for that to take hold in my brain.  It’s only recently come about, as a matter of fact.  I had always been so focused on what I lack and how much I suck, that I couldn’t focus on how awesome it is that He knows I’m not perfect, and loves me anyway.  Part of being a Christian is always learning and growing.  I don’t claim to have all the answers; I don’t even claim to have all the questions.  I just love the Lord, want to show people His love, and am thankful every day that no matter how stupid, screwed up, sinful, and idiotic I am, He loves me just the same.  And His grace is there to cover me and get me back on track.  Romans 5:8 says that God showed His love for us by Jesus dying for us while we were still sinners.  I mean, wow… I suck so much, but even so, Jesus still loves me enough to have taken my punishment on Himself.  What amazing love!  Of course, I try to be on top of the Spiritual disciplines, and try not to intentionally do stupid things (Romans 6:1-2) because I love Him and want a better relationship with Him, but it’s comforting to know that when I fall short (and I will… probably several times a day—unfortunate side effect of being a human), He’s a loving Father ready to pick me up and lead me back on the right path.  So yeah, I am definitely not a golden source for all things Spiritual, but like the random trivia, you can judge for yourself.

Okay so Mrs. Dixon also said to sort of recap as you go along, so I’ve done the hook, and established “credibility” of sorts (ha!), but I have neglected a rather important element:  who am I?  My guess is that if you are reading this, we are either related somehow or are friends, but in that strange, off chance someone new may come across this… allow me to introduce myself.  

My name is Mary Beth.  Yeah, I know.  Stereotypical, obnoxious, Southern double name.  But if you just call me Mary, I’ll likely not realize you’re talking to me and may come across as being rude for ignoring you.  But my last name is Hale, so the whole last-name-comma-first-name bit of “Hale, Mary” can be entertaining at times.  🙂  I’m 33 years old and a teacher by trade.  I have a mom and dad, 2 brothers, 1 sister, 4 nieces, 2 great-nephews, and 35 friend-children where I carry an “honorary aunt” title.  I cannot have children of my own, but I am obviously not without children in my life.  I also have a little papillon dog named Winnifred—so named from the children’s Halloween film “Hocus Pocus” and the Broadway musical “Once Upon a Mattress” which is about the Princess and the Pea fairy tale.  I didn’t really have friends growing up.  I was a loser.  I was afraid of people.  People I went to high school with just thought I was crazy… and who’s to say I wasn’t?  There were people in my life who were nice to me, and looking back, I did have a friend; but I didn’t really fully understand what friends were until I went to Emmanuel College.  I came to life there.

If you know me, you’ve likely heard this story 500 times, but it is a rather important part of me.  I was a Music Education major at Emmanuel.  Choral track.  So my big deal on the music side was my senior recital (the big deal on the education side was student teaching).  I worked in the cafeteria at Emmanuel, so I pretty much knew everyone on campus. Even the folks I didn’t know so well knew me—I was the only goth person on campus.  Haha  Ah, those were the days.  Anyway, so back then, recitals were not scheduled for Fridays.  However, with my father’s work schedule, my recital had to be on a Friday, or he and my mom could not make the drive from NC to GA to attend.  The music department faculty said that no one attends Friday recitals.  They were trying to be kind and save me from disappointment, and I really appreciated that; but I didn’t care if my parents were the only people there, I wanted them there, so it had to be on a Friday.  So the music faculty eventually relented, and my recital was set for a Friday at 5pm.  There were 3 other events going on at the same time as my recital.  Not looking good for me, huh?  Whatever.. my parents and sister were there; that’s all that mattered.  I made a slideshow with pictures thanking my parents and sister (who is 15 years older than I am, and very much like an additional mom) for their constant support, and it played at the beginning of my event.  Quick side-note:  something I have done at every recital I have ever attended (and still do to this day), is take a sheet of printer paper and write, “I *heart* [performer’s name]” on it, and hold it up when he or she walks on stage.  End side-note.  Once the slideshow was over, it was time for me to walk on stage to begin my performance.  It is appropriate concert etiquette to applaud when the performer walks on stage, but when I walked out, there was this thunderous eruption of sound like I have never heard!  And about 20 “I *heart* Mary Beth” signs that went up.  There was even one whole row where like each person had a letter to spell it out!  There were so many people there, that there were literally people standing in the back.  No one’s going to come to a Friday recital, eh?  Haha  Unfortunately, I gave the worst performance in Emmanuel College history, but that’s not what I remember most about that night.  I remember it being the best night of my life so far.  God gave me tangible evidence of two specific promises that night.  He promises in Psalm 37:4 that if we delight in Him, He will give us the desires of our heart.  I heard someone recently give an interesting new insight on that verse.  So yeah He gives us the desire, as in gifting it to us, but He also gives it as in tells us what it is.  I don’t know what I want or need a lot of the time; I just know something is missing.  For me in this case, it was friends.  I delighted in Him, and he gave me (put in me/revealed) the desire in my heart for friends; then He gifted it to me through Emmanuel College.  He also promises that He is able to do exceedingly above and beyond what we can ask or even THINK (Ephesians 3:20).  How could I have ever imagined that this weird, loser, lonely, goth girl would have so many friends that there would be standing room only at her senior recital?  People were there to see only me perform, even with three other events going on at the same time, on a Friday, at 5pm.  There are over 7.5 BILLION people in the world, and God cared enough to do that just for me?  Wow!  I mean… seriously… wow… He is so awesome  🙂 

Well, I think that about covers it for a basic introduction.  Okay Mrs. Dixon… I brought them in with a bit of useless, random trivia, then I gave them a few reasons why they might be okay with what I have to say (yeah right), then I told a bit about myself.  Why anyone would actually be interested in anything I have to say is beyond my ability to comprehend, along with anyone being captivated by my writing “skill” that so many people have commented on over the years… but again, I’m responding to a bit of a challenge extended by a new friend, so we’ll see where this thing goes. If anywhere…