Yearly Archives: 2014

In four seconds, my schedule got full.

Yep, it’s that time of year again. School.

I love it. School is my favorite. Always has, always will. Add in the fact that I have the blessed privilege of living life with other Christians in the greatest community I have ever known….well, it’s pretty awesome. 

As I methodically recorded syllabuses, coffee dates, weekly meetings, and Gospel Choir rehearsals into my planner, I realized that a lot is coming. It’s almost the weekend, and so far, I’ve had plenty of time. But that commodity is about to come at a high price. Cue the 12-page papers, overlapping ministry events, and forgetting I had planned to meet someone for lunch today.

When a lot is coming, or a lot is here, we

The hazy skyline reappeared as a jumbled assortment of lights. A siren, no, make it TWO sirens, screeched in the distance. I walked onto campus. I was back for another round of Chicago, Bible college, and life lessons.

Since arriving on Sunday night, I’ve been caught in a weird sort of limbo. Let me put it this way: it’s going to take a lot longer than I originally thought to become familiar with the unfamiliarity. 

The average college turnover rate is minimum 25% because of graduating seniors, let alone the people who transfer, take time off, or don’t return at all. Things have to change; that’s life and growth and moving forward. It’s exciting, it’s weird, it’s hard to like, it’s great….

It’s difficult, but in the best way.

So there’s this thing about living and working in the Northwoods. It’s called “meeting Canadians.” Now, to be honest, my Northwoods are still a few hours from the Great White North, but it’s still close. Once in a while, the following happens at the toy store:

“Hi there, all set?”

(nods)

(scanning items)

“Alrighty, your total is $7.54.”

(customer fishing around in wallet and/or pockets)

(silence)

“Uh, do you accept Canadian quarters?”

The hard thing is that these people (Canadians or otherwise…don’t get me wrong, this isn’t just something Canadians do. Also, I have some dear Canadian friends back at school, so nothing against anyone here) are sincerely

I don’t frequently spend time alone. I love to be with people too much, BUT yesterday night I was really needing some Kaitlyn time. (Translation: half watching a movie on my computer and half watching my brother play video games.) So, I was feeling an old favorite–you know, a “classic,” so I started watching the movie “Grease.” You know, that great movie with John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, with the great music, and the great ’50s stuff.

I got mistaken for a twelve-year-old today. Kind of a weird deal, seeing that I’m nowhere close.

I celebrated my birthday this past week, It was awesome; I love birthdays. However, it’s strange to really sit down and think about time. Have you ever done it? I mean, really: we cannot stop it. We cannot control it. It just…goes. Time flies, passes, moves, and rolls on. We cannot feel it, but we are all encased by it and it affects everyone. The fourth dimension. Attempts have been made in vain to slow it down, to control it, to manipulate it, but answers don’t lie in our hands.

As a matter of fact, they lie in a Book. They lie in the hands of the Master.

I find it comforting and yet also astounding

It’s the one possession of mine that I value the most, yet it’s the one I think about the least. I take it for granted, I forget it exists, but I absolutely require it every day. I cannot function without it. 

Living in the Northwoods, there is a constant expectation that your day will, at some point, be rudely interrupted by a grotesque and hideous monster known formally as Ixodes Scapularis. In laymen’s terms, you may know them as ticks. My count this summer is seven, one being a deer tick (known for carrying Lyme disease) and one deciding to show up on the back of my neck at 11:37pm in the middle of my shower.

Gross gross gross gross gross.

A lot about life is gross. People can leave a sour taste in our mouths. Memories can disgust us and the news can make us want to throw up or run away. When the ticks of our days invade our carefully cultivated comfortable spaces, we are faced with the decision on how we’re going to handle them.

Conflict resolution, anyone?

I believe there are three ways to

Life literature goal accomplished: today, I officially completed the Lord of the Rings series. I thoroughly enjoyed them, and was surprised at how much better the books were than the films. Of course, my heart will always belong to the Battle of Gondor scene when Orlando Bloom dispatches an oliphaunt in six seconds. 

Did you fall more in love with Jesus today?

That’s heavy, Doc.

Is that not the chief end of man? Something about enjoying God and glorifying him forever? (Westminster Catechism, *cough cough*). 

Behold me, amateur, as I wake up in the morning with a bleary mumbled greeting of thanks to my Lord. Then, I somehow manage by his grace to get out of bed and mumble more thanks and eat my breakfast. As I involve myself in the lives of my family, my own musings, books, movies, I “amen” to something someone else says. Watch carefully as I “fall more in love with Jesus” as I subsequently forget to pray the entire day and haphazardly return to Colossians 1 two minutes before I crash into sleep. Did you take notes? 

How easy is it to skip reading the Bible? Prayer? Accountability? Fellowship with other members of the Church?

I believe the answer to these questions can show us a lot about ourselves and our walk in Christ. The seduction of self, of others, and of the world is great. Not often do the powers of this world storm into our lives with guns blazing; we would notice right away if something was up. Instead, in a more deceptive and cunning pattern, we are slowly-but-surely drawn away from the narrow path of the Lord’s truth.

Just like in Eden, it all begins with entertaining a thought: “What if…?” Then, we mull over it and think of ways to act it out. “Maybe if I…” Soon, we justify our behavior to ourselves and our thoughts become reality. We already have