Thoughts, Feelings, and Observations

You need to sit back and get comfortable, because this is going to be a long post.  I have lots of random thoughts and stories to share...

It's hard to keep a good thing to yourself, and this good thing I've shared with lots of students here, and now I'm sharing it with all of you, whoever you may be.  Last year when I was at Passion the Leaders community group was led by Ben Stuart.  Ben is the director and speaker for Breakaway Ministries, a campus ministry at Texas A & M.  It's kind of like The Well, but quite a bit larger.  I really liked Ben's teaching and at some point last spring, I started subscribing to his podcasts.  I started out just listening to the one new podcast each week, but over the summer I went through and listened to basically every message from the past two years.  And I just couldn't get enough of them.  First of all, Ben is hilarious.  It doesn't really matter what he says, he's just funny.  Second, he uses great illustrations and analogies.  I hate it when I hear a speaker tell a funny story, and I'm waiting for how it ties everything together, and then it never really does.  It's like they wanted an excuse to talk about their kids or make themselves sound funny; ugh, it bugs me so much!  But his stories make such good points.  It just clicks and I've often replayed a part several times in a row just to let it sink in.  And third, and most important, everything is straight from Scripture.  He doesn't pick a topic and then add a few verses.  He speaks straight from an entire passage and I have learned a lot about the Bible just from listening to him preach.  I would highly recommend that you check out the podcast!  And I said all of that to say that this morning I went back and listened to this one message I love,  for probably the fourth time!  It was such a challenging and encouraging way to start the day!

At work today I got to meet with three different girls, and it made for an amazing day.  After meetings like the ones I had today, I can get really overwhelmed - with good things.  I never ceased to be humbled by the fact that I get to do this kind of work at all, much less full time.  I am just so lucky and so blessed!  Today I was also very aware and moved by what I see the Lord doing in the lives of students.  I don't think I really started taking my faith seriously and pursuing the Lord until my junior year of college.  And it is amazing to walk alongside these freshmen and sophomores who are feasting on the Scriptures and fighting for their faith.  I get so excited thinking about where they're going to be and what they're going to be doing in five or six years.  The things that I'm witnessing in the lives of these students are completely the Lord and his power in people's lives.  I feel like I used to hear the phrase "The Lord is drawing students to Himself," but I never really knew what that meant or looked like.  And now I do.  I'm seeing the Lord draw students to Himself and I'm seeing them respond.  I see this lived out in front of me everyday!

Switching gears a little bit...I realized recently that I like shadows, or I like looking at them, especially on walls.  And I really like taking pictures of them.  It's almost like you get two pictures in one.  I had this awesome view of the porch this evening where the sun was streaming in behind the Adirondack chairs on the porch and making these sharp shadows on the porch with really drastic dark and light shades.  I loved looking at it and realized that a picture like that would be a royal pain to print in the darkroom; burning and dodging such contrasting shades can be a time consuming nightmare!  I think what we can do now with digital photography and photoshop is amazing, but if you've never rolled your own film in the pitch black, developed your own film, and printed in a darkroom, then you just can't appreciate it.  You can't.  And last year Jessica and I went shopping together to buy supplies to ship to Haiti, these shoes were on super discount for like $2 so we each bought a pair.  We call them our Moses sandals.  Well when I got home tonight her engagement pictures were up and guess what she was wearing in some of them?  Yep, her Moses sandals!

 

After my wonderfully overwhelming, full-of-shadows  day at work I headed out to run a bunch of errands.  I needed to go to the mall to pick up my shoes for Jessica's wedding and the closest entrance to Payless is through Dick's.  I walked in and right in front of me were the women's raincoats, so I headed over to take a look and there was a green one I liked.  And it was on sale.  Score!  Remember how I wanted a green raincoat so it would match my umbrella?  And this one matches perfectly.  Yay!  After I got the raincoat I went on to Payless to get the shoes.  This was actually the third time I'd gone to get them.  They never had the shoe I needed in a 6 1/2, and always told me to come back the next week and they would.  But of course tonight they still didn't have it.  That's when the girl actually got on the computer and realized that none of the stores in this area even carry it in a 6 1/2, I'd have to order it.  All that going back and forth for nothing.  Well, not completely nothing, I did get the raincoat while going to get the shoes, but still, it's frustrating.

After I left the mall I was all over the place running errands and then ended up at Panera Bread.  While I was out I noticed several people doing gross things.  The girl in line behind me at Walmart knew the cashier and was talking with her the whole time I was there.  Talking with her mouth open with large amounts of food inside.  Ugh.  Then after I left Walmart I was looking in my rear view mirror while at a stop light and saw the girl in the car behind me popping her pimples.  Eww.  Then at Panera Bread there was a girl in line who was probably 8 or 9 years old and she was picking her nose and eating it and then later I saw another guy in line picking a wedgie!  Come on people, that's ridiculous!

 

I feel odd leaving off on that note, but that's the end of my ramblings!  Congrats on finishing possibly my longest and definitely the most random of all my posts thus far!

Ok, to leave it on a slightly more upbeat note, new tires on the car!  The car is still scratched and dented and the hubcap is still busted, but the tire is new!  Now I don't have to drive around like an old person anymore, scared it would blow out if I hit a speed bump or pothole to fast.