quote of the day

You had to be there...

Erica: "I caught a cricket in this bag."

I just dont know what's so appealing about a jacket. I mean fall is colorful and chilly and crisp air and whatever, but I don't want it if it's going to rain like this. I think it's been raining like 13 out of the 14 days in October. I'm probably offending all 1% of you who read this, but pumpkins and crunchy leaves just aren't cool enough for me to give up my allegiance to summer. I might change my mind if south carolina wasn't so weather challenged, and seasons actually existed. Oh but we try to make them exist when it turns 65 and we bust out our flip-flops in march and our jackets in september. But that's enough about the weather. Have a good fall break, peeps. Don't drown.

These are my people

It is far too late for me to be awake and putting thought into anything, but I just want to say how much I love people. Sometimes I get in this mood where I feel like I'm too "mature" (whatever the heck that means) to hang out past 11:00 with freshman and be completely silly and walk around campus meeting new faces, but that thinking is wrong. I'm not cool. And speaking of cool, Brittany S. and Rebecca (2 newish friends) came over to our house tonight for pancakes and straight up did the dishes that were piled up in the sink! Just walked in, had a pancake, and started doing the dishes for no reason. Doesn't that make you want to thank Jesus for life and be in a musical while wearing yellow? It makes me want to do all those things, man. I looked around our front porch tonight and realized (not that this is anything new to me) that I hang out with some truly beautiful people. Adorable people. People who have some good good hearts inside of them. Flawed people. A type of community that I know I just can't go without. We weren't created to go without it I don't think. Yes lord, tear it up.

Don't Stop Believin'

True story: Almost every night since I started grad school, I've had trouble going to sleep becuase im excited about something that the next day is about to bring. I know that's completely cheesey, but it's the truth. I've been having a great time and every single day of this semester so far has been fantastic. And then this week happened. I knew it was going to come. The week where everything about the world sucks and I want to just pull my hair out. I'm really not trying to be dramatic here. I talked to an atheist last night. Well, it was more like an atheist talked to me last night. He asked all the questions that I should be able to answer as a Christian, and I'm pretty sure my responses sounded like I'd never read the Bible in my life. I had no idea what I was talking about really. To give me an ounce of credibility, he was a bit on the rude side and just wasn't open to anything I said. So that made life tough. But after leaving that conversation, I immediately started feeling like I have my entire life whenever I lost a soccer game. In soccer I was constantly frustrated with myself for not playing well, not scoring a goal, for letting my team down. I had that exact feeling and I HATE it, I've always hated it. Evangelism isn't some competition where I'm the team captain. Unlike soccer, it shouldn't be based on how I perform. It should push me to be convinced of what I believe. To understand more than the feel-good parts of the Bible. To learn a bit about how to talk to an atheist because I have to know. The grace that He gives is so good. To know that the Kingdom doesn't start or stop with me is good.

In other news, I'm completely in love with the new tv show, Glee. There's singin and dancin and loser high school kids and everything I could want in a new tv show. Like I have any time left to devote to watching more trash tv. Oh well.

Party in the U.S.A

I sometimes hate admitting (but not so much) that I keep up with the pop cultural parts of the world. I'm able to hold quite an extensive conversation with you about new movies, hot actors, new tunes, and the disney channel. I also like to have my opinion on all of these topics and share them with fine folks such as you. For example, my patient roomie Grace and I watched several movies this weekend. It was raining, what else are we supposed to do? My first movie review is FAME. Good Lord, go see it. Mostly females, go see it. It was a musical type of flick so of course I was in love. Like I need to be in love with one more male who can sing and wear plaid. I just totally dig talent, and when a boy named Marco sings and plays the piano to a song he wrote, I just can't help but fall in love. So yes, it was a great movie. The second movie review is for LOVE HAPPENS, and that review is a little different. I liked it. I love Aaron Eckhart and Jennifer Aniston, but the movie was quite depressing until the end. I reckon that's what I get for seeing Fame the day before.

Music review: currently playing in my ipod is of course the Fame soundtrack and David Crowder's newest called Church Music. There are only a small handful of songs I like on Crowder's album, but that man's lyrics just tear it up.

Oh and The Hills starts back this week. Trash TV Monday, it's good to have you back.

And it's quite enough that we are loved

Myself and a lot of my homies seem to be struggling with this topic it seems, so sit back and let's chat about it. It's fun for Christians to figure out how much time we are giving to God and ask how much is "too much" or "too little". I don't have the answer for each and every person, but I've looked at my own life and schedule lately and I've come up with the notion that it's a heart issue. With Jesus, it's always a heart issue. He cares more about our hearts than our watches, our wallets, or the dirt on our hands. I took on the task of leading a bible study and discipling a girl before I knew what grad school had in store for me this year. Now that I'm a month into it with work piled to my ceiling, I wouldn't have said no to those things even if I had known. Sunday night bible study is my favorite part of the week. I love playing the guitar for cru even though I'm technically not some cool "leader" and I'm not as involved as I used to be. This outlook on it all is of absolutely no credit to myself. What I've learned is that what Jesus requires of me is my life, and this includes ministry in some form. It means being a part of and involved in a community through a church. It means doing well in school. It means working as hard as I can at my job. It means serving my roommates. It means having my own time with Him each day. And anything else I can think of. All of this takes energy and time. But as Tim Keller so awesomely put it, "...we won't mind the cost of following after Christ when we compare it to the price he paid to rescue us."

Does all this mean I have to be "Super Christian" walking around all the time, sharing the gospel with every squirrel that I pass on campus? Nope. It means simply living for Jesus, in the most real sense of the phrase. Not counting up the hours spent on ministry activities, because I can promise you Jesus does not care. Besides, I'm aware that I'm a screw-up and nothing I ever DO will impress Him anyways. I reckon that's the reason He cares more about my heart.

quote of the day

Me: "If I could rid the world of one thing it would be Clemson. It's just too much orange."
Amanda: "Yea, Stacey and Clinton would not approve."

Laura(referring to the football game): "That guy just hit that guy."