quote of the day

Kevin: "I think I wanna sky dive on my wedding day."
Laura: "but what if you like, died?"

a goat

While eating quesdillas, a good friend asked me, "what do you want to accomplish this year?" I don't remember what I told her. But in the interest of your time spent reading this, I'll share what I think is the answer. I'll first share about the fact that the parable of the prodigal son has come up close to every single day for about 3 weeks. Both speakers at FCA have talked on it, and my Bible study is going through the book, the Prodigal God by Tim Keller. One of the guys at FCA made a good point about it, something different that I hadn't heard. He focused in on the line said by the older brother,"Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends." You never gave me. The Father gives us literally EVERYTHING, yet we respond in selfishness. It circles back around to what I want to accomplish this year, that being a decrease of myself. Having more of a servant attitude in particular. My problem of too much ME comes from my focus, and routinely my focus is not on serving. But like so many other things Jesus calls us to do, its not simple. Serving as an action focuses on Me, but serving as an act of worship focuses on Christ and that's the one I'm going after. This humbling thing has been a theme lately and I know exactly why. I dig it.

quote of the day

Erica: "Describe one way life is different from today."

what?

quote of the day

Brandi (text message): "I have decided to become a Panthers fan. Since I know nothing I will need assistance."

Friendses

Labor day is stupid here at Winthrop because they beleive in labor. But in the spirit of fighting crime, Laura came up to visit for the afternoon and brought her wonderful pet maycee! This, folks, made my heart the happiest it could be. I do love the company of Laura and Erica while getting a free chicken sandwich, but mostly i love walking a dog around campus on a lovely day. I get all pumped when Laura or Erin or Erica is around because I still can't get over how completely rad our friendship is. I don't think that feeling will ever go away and that is ok. The Lord is beautiful and I see it through those 3 girls often. Sorry to get all sisterhood up in here, but I just had to give props in the area of rediculous friendships. We're cute, too.

Come Down to the River

A lot of times I want to grab Christians by the face and tell them that what Jesus did was and still is enough. Tell them to stop worrying about relationships that are or aren't happening, the money that they do or don't have. I want to tell people that the gifts they haven't earned aren't for them anyways. That the church isn't about them. That participation in the good things doesn't get you even a step closer to salvation. If you ask me one thing that I've learned within the past year, it is definetly the thing that I guess I was "supposed" to have learned a long time ago. I've spent quite a bit of time in Luke over the past year. I've noticed that the Pharisees tried too hard, the disciples just didn't get it, and that what's at God's heart is usually different than what's at mine. I've also noticed that God is in control of you and me and everything else and nothing will ever ever change that. I'm pretty sure that the main reason I didn't go into full-time ministry like I had considered several times is because we rarely get it right. Not saying that people who are in full-time ministry are lacking something, cause they definetly are not. I reckon ministry, to me, is a Tuesday. It should be a normal everyday occurance that's not perfectly thought out or planned or carefully evaluated at the end. Nor should it have a hint of ourselves in it. It took me leaving college, where ministry was at its peak, to realize that. I've really looked at how Jesus hung out with the people on the other side of the tracks, the sinners, the people who seem to be lost and messed up. I noticed how that is me. For all the moral things I've accomplished in my life, I see that it's gained me nothing. And that, my friends, if anything should be a burden to me. After learning that I suck at just about everything as a Christian, I see that that's just the point! Jesus and what he did is enough. Nothing else required. Maybe real maturity comes when you wake up everyday still realizing that you're thirsty. We can't accept His grace if we never believe that we need it. cool.

Something Beautiful

If you are one of those people who lies awake at night asking yourself, "what should i do with my life?" or "what should i be when i grow up?" then boy (or girl) stay tuned because I, as usual, have the answer. The answer is simple and uncomplex. It is the thing that makes your heart swell up. It's the thing that for whatever reason your insides were wired for. It's the thing that God points at and says "Do this! Because I made you this way and it will make me happy when you do." I realized this my freshman year in my sport management 101 class. I realized it for the second time with intensity tuesday night in my finance class. I got my first assignment of the semester, and I have to create a sports organization. We have to create the mission statement, the facility layout, the budget, the organizational chart, the whole gig. I set out to be different in the one I selected, so when I asked my totally wonderful professor about the topic of surfing, he threw his hands up in the air and told me that he surfs in Ireland. First of all, no one on earth is that cool and second of all, what other bit of education requires that you write papers on surfing or golf or soccer? Every other major sucks compared to mine. Sorry about the bad taste that truth leaves in your mouth, but thats just how it is, people. Just this whole idea of what my major entails thrills me. Now that you, faithful reader, have figured out what makes your heart beat at night, go out and graduate into life with a grin.

Also made friends with 3 of our neighbors today. community rules!