here and gone

another year has started, another summer passed. If I have one bad habit worse than the others (besides being obsessive compulsive and an annoying pacer) I am constantly thinking of the future. When I am sitting in class I often plan my afternoon. As far as classes are concerned, I already have as much of my college career planned as I possibly can. And I can't help but wonder what the future will hold after graduation. Mission trip overseas? Grad school at the Udot? There are many more possibilities that I can't wait to discover.

lifetime learning

Isn't it great that you can learn something when you least expect it? It might be just a person's change of actions, a sudden seriousness or kindness that helps you realize this person is not who they appeared to be. I think we need to be aware that something can be learned from every one of our experiences on this earth.

walk the walk

"It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God."
- 3 John 3-6

How great will it be to see lives being changed by God right before us this year? And I say will, as I know it will happen. After this year, some of the students we are trying to reach will transfer, some may drop out, some may hate us, some may be our best friends. The best thing we can do for them is to teach them who God is, and show them what He has done in our lives. I want to send them on their way, whether it be across campus or someday across the world, in a way that glorifies God in every way possible.

gotta love music

ok here is my list of the songs of the year. (yes, i am this bored)

right here - jeremy camp (Lifelight 04)
all I need - shawn mcdonald (concert in Omaha)
dare you to move - switchfoot (TCX 04)
blessed be your name - (church, cru, the vine, we heard this everywhere) (serveski 04)
as the deer - joy playing on the piano (prayer meetings) :]
take my hand - shawn mcdonald - why not another Shawny Mac song?

a simple plea

holy fire
burn away
my desire
for anything
that is not of you
and is of me-
I want more of you,
and less of me.

jeremy camp - empty me

He is building a palace

"I find I must borrow yet another parable from George MacDonald. Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently he starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cootage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself."

(CS Lewis - Mere Christianity)