My Optimistic Odyssey

I think there’s a lot of truth to this…

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:47:32 -0600

I think there’s a lot of truth to this…

We Win!

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 01:51:56 -0500

Have you ever watched a movie that you knew what the ending was? Tonight I watched The Hunger Games for the first time. I’ve had friends who watched the movie and read the book tell me before that Katniss and Peeta both win in the end. I knew this the entire time while I was watching the movie, and yet I still found myself tense and needing reassurance that they were both still alive every time the movie got suspenseful. I think this is kind of like life. We have had someone trustworthy tell us what it’s going to be like in the end. Yet so often we get tense and need reassurance when we look at what is going on now. Even when we know what the end is like, sometimes the now is scary. It’s only when we remind ourselves of the end that we can be at peace when our lives seem crazy now. My friends told me that Katniss and Peeta would both win in the end. They were right. We have someone who is even more trustworthy tell us how to win in the end of life. If we do what he tells us to, we can live confidently knowing that in the end we too will win. So when you are tense, needing reassurance, and afraid, don’t forget: We win!

…Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. (Revelation 2:10)

"But you cannot go on ‘explaining away’ forever: you will find that you have explained..."

Sat, 14 Jul 2012 10:55:46 -0500

“But you cannot go on ‘explaining away’ forever: you will find that you have explained explanation itself away. You cannot go on ‘seeing through’ things forever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it. It is good that the window should be transparent, because the street or garden beyond it is opaque. How if you saw through the garden too? It is no use trying to ‘see through’ first principles. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To ‘see through’ all things is the same as not to see.”

- C.S. Lewis

Lessons From VBS (Part 2)

Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:55:18 -0500

Young Girl: One of my boyfriends gave roses and chocolate to me.

Me: You just have one at a time right?

Young Girl: Yes. I’m famous at my school.

Me: How did you become famous?

Young Girl: I do all of my work, I’m nice to everyone, and I look cute.

Me: So, Is that how you get your boyfriends?

Young Girl: Yes.

Lessons From VBS (Part 1)

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 21:43:57 -0500

We studied about creation this week at VBS. Here’s an excerpt from one of the prayers led by a boy in class:

…Thank you for day 1 and day 2 and day 3 and day 4 and day 5 and day 6 and day 7…

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

"Isn’t it nice to know we have assurance for today through Christ and not just insurance..."

Sat, 26 May 2012 10:54:26 -0500

“Isn’t it nice to know we have assurance for today through Christ and not just insurance against the what-ifs of tomorrow?”

- Katherine Walden

"Faith is not a storm cellar to which men and women can flee for refuge from the storms of life. It..."

Fri, 25 May 2012 21:12:05 -0500

“Faith is not a storm cellar to which men and women can flee for refuge from the storms of life. It is, instead, an inner force that gives them the strength to face those storms and their consequences with serenity of spirit.”

- Sam J. Ervin, Jr.

Today I leaned how to download new fonts to my computer....

Tue, 15 May 2012 23:03:41 -0500

Today I leaned how to download new fonts to my computer. Sometimes the smallest things fill me with great joy.

Why I love Kids - Makin' Music 2012 Edition

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:44:15 -0500

Every year at the Makin’ Music kids show I am reminded of just how much I love children. Here are a few of the thinks I love:

The piercing and excited screams about everything that could possibly come on stage
The crazy glow necklace waving
The screams for Big Bird before he/she even started singing
How the host and hoses songs become sing alongs
The look of sheer delight when I’m walking around during intermission and when the kids say things like “Look! A fairy!,” “You’re SO pretty..” etc.
The times I catch kids trying to touch my wings without me noticing
How all of the kids treat the costumed Freedies like celebrities and cheer when we just walk by them
How I get to see my practicum students and they rush up and give me hugs and talk to me
The nonjudgemental way that the children watch the shows
The joy that is just exuberating and filling up the whole building and our hearts

One of the reasons for racial bias is moral laziness. It thrives on the idea that I don’t have...

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:01:38 -0500

One of the reasons for racial bias is moral laziness. It thrives on the idea that I don’t have to know this person and instead can judge a whole group.

-Jim Gardner

"I’ve decided that I’m going to do battle for my philosophy. You ought to believe something in life,..."

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 13:07:23 -0600

“I’ve decided that I’m going to do battle for my philosophy. You ought to believe something in life, believe that thing so fervently that you will stand up with it till the end of your days. I can’t make myself believe that God wants me to hate. I’m tired of violence. And I’m not going to let my oppressor dictate to me what method I must use. We have a power, power that can’t be found in Molotov cocktails, but we do have a power. Power that cannot be found in bullets and guns, but we have a power. It is a power as old as the insights of Jesus of Nazareth and as modern as the techniques of Mahatma Gandhi.”

- Martin Luther King Jr.

Dare Night

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 02:03:16 -0600

Do you ever hear that voice in your head that asks you why in the world you agreed to do something? You know, the voice that sometimes asks “Are you crazy?” Well, that voice was talking to me throughout the day today. Tonight I participated in a Fear Factor meeting at school. I got marbles out of ice water with my toes; ate things like baby food, hot sauce, cinnamon, lemon juice, and milk; ran a dog biscuit relay; put my face in pasta to get olives; and attempted to drink a “shake” made of ingredients from the fast food places in town. Perhaps I am a little crazy, because now that voice is saying “You know, I’m really glad you did that.” In a weird kind of way, I really enjoyed the Fear Factor meeting tonight. Here’s a few things I learned tonight:

Sometimes you find marbles by loosing them.
Baby Food is NASTY! When I was looking at all of the foods before we tried it, I thought that surely the baby food would be one of the easier foods the eat. I mean, it’s what people feed to their children whom they love dearly. If parents knew what it tasted like, I think they might find something else to feed their kids. Perhaps we should establish a mandatory baby food tasting program for all new parents to weed out the foods that make people feel like gagging. All I’ve got to say is that the next time a baby spits up on me, I’ll probably feel more compassionate about it.
Dog treat relays are FUN! The thing that scared me the most about this one was the fact that we were running while we felt like throwing up what we just ate. Thankfully, all of us kept our food down while we had the dog treats in our mouths. This also leads to thought # 3.
You never know how things you do today might help you tomorrow. When I was in Jr. High and High School, I had a love affair with my dog. Because of this, I decided to taste his treats one day. (See thoughts on parents and baby food.) Thanks to this experience, the idea of having dog treats in my mouth but not having to eat them didn’t really faze me.
Although I can’t always see how I’ve grown since college, things like tonight help me to see how I’ve changed much more clearly. As a freshman, I would have been mortified to try most of these things or to be in front of my whole club for a whole meeting. If you had asked me to do it last year, I would have wanted to, but there is no way I would have done it. This year, I may have doubted myself at times, but there was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity. As I ate the baby food, ran like a dog, and tasted the killer shake, I realized that I am a different person than I was when I watched Fear Factor for the first time as a freshman. This realization was worth facing any of the fears I did tonight.
I really, really love the people in Chi Beta. If that includes you, this is your reminder that you are awesome. I love every one of you.

You are called to impact this world as only you can.

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:48:40 -0600

God is Faithful

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:02:29 -0600

I heard a lesson today about how God never stops loving. In this lesson, the speaker mentioned how God could at any moment pinch off our oxygen. He continued to say that with every breath we take, we count on God being faithful and that we can plant a garden and expect it to grow in the spring because God is faithful.

This thought really struck me because these are some of the things that I completely trust will continue to be the way I expect them to be. My first thought about the pinching off the oxygen statement was “Sure he could, but He won’t - at least not in an unnatural way.” It was after this thought that I realized this was precisely the point. We are so confident that God will continue to have the earth follow the “laws of nature.” We trust so deeply that things on earth will be consistant that we base science on it. It is so much a part of our reality that we set our clocks by it and plan our lives around it. We can count on His faithfulness in the physical world. We can also count on His faithfulness in the spiritual world.

Do we trust Him just as much with His spiritual promises? Let’s put all of our faith in the faithful One.

The View Out My Window

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:42:00 -0600

A little over a year ago, I sat at a desk admiring the Tuscan Landscape. It was absolutely beautiful. I could see rolling hills covered with vineyards, olive trees, villas that have been around for centuries, and trees that looked like they were reaching up towards Heaven. This year I sit at my old desk in Bradfield and I see something just as beautiful. At this desk, I can see most of Freed-Hardeman’s campus. I can see memories from the past and hope for the future. I can also see the beauty and opportunities of today. I see stability and changes, the old and the new, blessings and hope. I see the rolling hills and treetops beyond. I don’t know what’s on the hills and in the trees, but if I ever need to go there, the God who has been with me at Freed will go with me there too. Because of Him, I won’t fear the beyond. I can’t see everything, but I can see everything that I need to now. When I look, I see. When we look together, I can only imagine the beautiful things we will see.

"Purity is not a line we cross, it’s a path we take."

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:24:43 -0600

““Purity is not a line we cross, it’s a path we take.””

"God loves us not because of who we are, but because of who He is."

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:48:25 -0600

“God loves us not because of who we are, but because of who He is.”

Modern Day Orphans

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:32:06 -0600

I found this entry that I wrote a few years ago in one of my journals. It still makes me think.

What is an orphan? Usually we put it simply: a child whose parents have died. But what have they really lost? They lack a stable provider, caretaker, and lover. They’re missing the people who give them life and help them find reasons to live. They don’t have stable people who they can depend on all their life to provide them with the material, emotional, and spiritual things that they need to be healthy and strong. The simple definition hints at these things, but what if a child is lacking all of these things yet has a parent or two who they live with. What if a child has someone who is physically there, but doesn’t supply the child with the things that orphans lack? Is this kind of child as in need of our help as an orphan? In some ways, in the United States this kind of child is more stuck than a child whose parents have died. If a child loses his or her parents, the child has the hope of being adopted or provided for by charity. But, if a child lives with a negligent parent, the child is likely to live with his or her parent while seeking the things that orphans lack. If God has called us to help the orphans, shouldn’t we also strive to help the children who are missing what orphans have lost?

"Following Christ isn’t something that can be done halfheartedly or on the side. It is not a..."

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 11:32:05 -0600

“Following Christ isn’t something that can be done halfheartedly or on the side. It is not a label we can display when it is useful. It must be central to everything we do and are.
If life is a river, then pursuing Christ requires swimming upstream. When we stop swimming, or actively following Him, we automatically begin to be swept downstream.
Or, to use another metaphor more familiar to city people, we are on a never-ending downward escalator. In order to grow, we have to turn around and sprint up the escalator, putting up with perturbed looks from everyone else who is gradually moving downward.”

- Francis Chan in Crazy Love

"How we live our lives is how we live our days."

Sat, 24 Dec 2011 01:20:20 -0600

“How we live our lives is how we live our days.”

- Annie Dillard