Get Out There: Another PAH-TAY

Psalms 115:16 - "The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men."

About a month ago, I found an e-invitation in my email e-asking e-me to come to an e-surprise birthday party. I mean, regular surprise birthday party.

This, of course, meant I needed to keep a secret from the friend for whom the party was being thrown. Don't get me wrong, I'm great at keeping secrets, but I'm so smug whenever anyone entrusts me with a secret, I find it amusing to waggle the secret in front of people's faces with increasingly less-obscure hints until I'm frankly blurting it outright.

... so, not so great at all.

Anyway, I made sure to carefully monitor all contact with the family to ensure I didn't spill the beans, which led to some of them wondering why I'd all but fallen off the earth. Regardless, I successfully failed to spill the beans right up until the party itself.

Upon my readying to journey out into the night, I found myself worrying about the deadly creature likely prowling around at the party itself, formally known as 'strangers.' I may be a good friend of the birthday girl, but our relationship was my sole connection to her other social circles. As I drove up to the rendezvous point, I found myself worrying, Oh man, what if they think I'm lame? What if I have nothing to add to the conversation? What if I just sit in a corner, painfully sipping root beer? What if they ask about my entomology collection? I don't even have one of those!

In the end, unsurprisingly, I had a good time, and was able to make some solid acquaintances before the night was over. I was even able to participate in an epic slow-motion video of someone chucking a gummy bear into someone's mouth from long-distance. It was great!

The point is, I think we're all sometimes scared to shove ourselves out in situations with which we're unfamiliar. But the other point is, think of all the opportunities you can miss out on if you allow yourself to be paralyzed with fear each and every time one arises! God didn't give us this world with all its pitfalls, risks, and dangers to stay inside and tremble. He gave us this world to breathe it in! So get out there! BREATHE! I promise you, you won't regret it.

Some of the PAH-TAY goers at their finest.