more picture memories

(Emily, the lovely lady in the middle, and her husband open their home to me at least two or three nights a week.  They’re basically my school parents.)

(My CM chicas:)

(Definitely a garbage picture, but I like it anyway.  If you look closely, you can see where I have a butterfly bandage on my finger, where I lost a fight with a squash knife.)

Keepsake

I took sometime this afternoon to tuck some sweet notes of encouragement away in my journal.  This school never ceases to amaze me with the amount of people that go out of their way to show love to others.  The body of Christ is alive and active and I am blessed to be on the receiving end of its care so often. 

We’re half way through with semester numero dos, so I thought I might just take a minute to be fired up about some of the truth we’ve been talking about in class lately.  This week closes out nine-week studies on both Life of Christ and Prophets (mainly Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel), and a three-week study on Man and Sin.  Man! I could spend forever ranting about how much sense Ezekiel makes when your perspective is to be in awe of and enamored with God’s radical glory.  Or about how comforted we can be in the reality that we’re all born dead and only once Christ is alive in us, that’s life!  The feelings of shame, fear, and guilt are signs of spiritual death and once alive, we are free from those chains! Can I get an amen?!

Have you ever heard the phrase, “To whom much has been given, much will be required”? Actually, I’m pretty sure that’s a verse in one of the Gospels. But either way it’s true!  I’ve been on the receiving end of so much care, and God has definitely been desirous to pour me out in return.  My introverted self has been taxed almost to the max.  I can’t remember the last time I was left alone to recharge for more than an hour in the gym before sunrise.  And yet, I have joy and the ability to continue to show love to the girls I live in community with on campus.  

praise

YAHWEH

He is as He is.

I AM.

Unfathomable.

Beyond the edge of the universe yet intimately breathing life into every cell of creation: God.

 THE God

(note the big “G” God,

and no

lower case nonsense),

outside of linear thinking and movement yet working within those confines for my sake. YAHWEH

God Who sees, hears, knows—

holy;

God above and below.

He’s an enigma, out of reach like a seed in water, unattainable and yet! He abides.

Constant

as twenty-four-hour days

so God

chooses to remain.

He meets me where I’m at and stays there

until I say, “Here I am, send me.”

“Abide

in me and I in you.”

His Word—

alive, speaking truth.

From age to age, He doesn’t change;

outside of time, so He is unaffected by seconds ticking by.

YAHWEH

He is as He is.

I AM.

Unfathomable.

red wagon naps

Monday:

I’m supposed to be writing a praise psalm right now and instead I’m sitting at work, staring into the gloomy October void.  Circumstancially, my heart has very little praise in it right now.  Long term, my heart is good... Short term, I’m self conscious, over thinking, and maybe a little down.  And that’s fine.  Really fine.

Let me explain how this particular Monday feels: One of the fourth graders in our after school program came up front to sit with me because of a headache.  For the first fifteen minutes, the poor guy was a Tasmanian devil—1,000% out of sorts.  Like, he sat on a wagon and incessantly rammed himself into the brick wall.  Now, he’s curled up in the same red wagon, snoring for at least half an hour.  

Like my nine-year-old friend, I feel like I’m bashing my face into a wall, antsy and irritated.  And, if I had to guess, once I take a deep breath, I’m going to find myself in a similar, much needed comatose as well.

lately in photographs

(All my dorm girls out for tacos)

(After school kids prepping me for Halloween)

(Jo and I enjoying the last sunny/hot day)

this is for the best

I think I need to admit this to myself, as much as I should confess it publicly: it's all been a lie.  Autumn can't possibly be my favorite season  I mean, the crisp air is great, the color scheme is flawless, squash is in season and hot lattes are officially cozy.  You'd think--scratch that!  I thought it was my favorite season, hands down.  It should be!  But the sun is slowly spending more time wrapped in clouds and the days are growing shorter and cooler and I just want to be a hermit, wrapped in blankets like a human burrito.  Actual favorite season: July (also known as summer, but let's be real, they're basically synonymous in the northern midwest.)  Anyway, the weather is still nice enough for a morning/early afternoon walk and Lord knows I'll be taking one of those every day till snow sticks.

Shifting seasons aside, the past two weeks of class have been good.  Great, really.  Two weeks ago, it seemed like everyone was follow a theme of walking through trials, rather than trying to just get rid of them.  This exhortation was ridiculously timely.  1,000% honesty, there was (and continues to be) increasingly turbulent emotional situations in my dorm, to the extent that has us all asking, "When is it going to stop?"  The encouragement, though, is to walk through this.  So that's what we're going to do.  Everything I'm walking through, publicly or privately, is literally God's best for me and His glory.  And it's good.

Then, this week, the resounding note for me, at any rate, was, "Be who you are."  Now, I know that sounds very 21st century, but hang with me for a minute.  First, we were in 1 Peter during leadership chapel.  The challenge was to obey Christ's call to "be holy as I am holy," the point being that this is only possible because we, as believers, are literally dead except that Christ is alive in us.  All holiness is possible and even expected, if we're truly living our faith because every action will be dictated by who is truly alive in us: the great JC Himself.  Later, in Prophets class, we were finishing the book of Isaiah.  In the final chapters, Isaiah describes Messiah's armor WHICH IS THE SAME AS THE ARMOR WE ARE CALLED TO WEAR IN EPHESIANS 6.  Bros!  Be who you are!  Not only is Christ alive in you, but he's equipped you for battle, son!

I'm still fired up about it.

gluten-full or gluten-free

Brief prelude: I love food.  I also have a sweet tooth. Also, there’s a bakery twenty minutes away that makes vegan, cane sugar-less scones.  And I have some really great friends that went to experience that with me. (With the promise we’d go to a second bakery for them afterward.) Life is good.

(The first bite of a chunky monkey scone 😍)

(Marty, Acacia, Jenny, and me)

(Too many choices. Also, I dress like a hobo. It’s fine.)