Shaky Ground

Well the earthquake hit while I was at work. There was a noise and a sudden movement feeling like a bus or truck hit the building. But the building didn't stop moving, it began to sway more. I looked out the window and the trees were moving. Everyone stood up and kind of looked at each other torn between the decision to bolt out the door or wait around and see what kind of an earthquake it was. What a strange feeling....it didn't last long and it wasn't very violent. Nothing crashed or fell down. Afterwards I felt a little weird, kinda sick. Other people in the office felt sick too. I'm told this is due to gravity and your equilibrium (or whatever that thing is), apparently it makes you feel like you have motion sickness after an earthquake. I guess our bodies aren't used to the counter movement of the earth. I found out a few people in our building ran outside once the ground started moving. These are the same people who were around in 1994 when an earthquake devastated the LA area, including the flattening of the mall and office buildings in which our building is located. Since then our building has been re-built with state of the art earthquake stuff, hence the swaying feeling of the building in the earthquake. I can't help but wonder what being in the world trade center must have felt like on 911. To feel the building move underneath you with you inside, knowing it could collapse at any minute. It must have been strange and scary. I now know that when an earthquake hits you are supposed to hide under a door frame or a desk, though I think I would probably want to run outside too. James thought the earthquake was really neat, he was at work too when it happened.

Along with earthquakes, I feel like in life right now I've been on shaky ground too. Being new at work I'm constantly trying to figure out my role, and what that means. I hate being new and having to sift through everything. I love it when I can get down to business and cross things off my list. I know this comes with time so I'm just praying that as I continue to plow ahead, that I'm able to meet the expectations laid out before me by others and myself. I also pray that I would continue to adapt well in my new surroundings. James and I are also still getting used to the LA area and learning our way around. We don't have the friend base here that we had in VA to turn to for help, or our families to assist us in close proximity. There is something to be said for knowing your local area and where to go to for what. I hate googling everything, but I love that technology has made getting to know a new area easier. All in all we're making our way through doing the best that we can with adapting to life in southern CA. So far there have been some shaky times, but we're diggin in and learning a lot in the process. I can't wait for everything to feel like an old hat!

Today James fixed our car, so its currently running again yay!!!

All of the earthquake news reminds me of how important foundations are:
Matthew 7:24-25
24"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."