Why this weekend was good

Wow...even though I did a ton of work this weekend, I had a lot of fun, too. It's amazing how much fun you can have with good friends who share your sense of adventure, joy, and, well, dorkiness. The highlights include:

• Not going to formal, and instead eating cereal and sandwiches while working on homework. (It felt like a flash to our futures at seminary!)
• Venturing off the proverbial (and literal) beaten path. We crossed the other side of the creek in the Trinity Trail, explored the new territory...and probably trespassed.
• Making friends with some ducks. They have names now. :-)
• Having a spaz when trying to cross the creek on the way back...ended up knee-deep in water. (Yeah...that one was only me!)
• Creeping into the classroom building at 9:00 on a Sunday night, did some imagining and dreaming, and had an unexpected but welcome glimpse of our futures.

In conclusion, I love life and Amanda. Amen. ;-)

I won't be mistaken for a high schooler anymore...

Back in November, on a trip with our high school students from church, one of the freshman girls who I was responsible for thought, the whole first day of the trip, that I was a high school freshman as well. I thought it was hilarious...for some reason, I really get a kick out of it! (And that's definitely not the only time something like that has happened!)

Now, though, all that is about to change...

I got braces today...now I can be mistaken for a jr. higher. ;-)

(In all seriousness, though, I'm very grateful for being able to begin the final step in my years of dental troubles and treatment; I really appreciate God taking care of me and getting everything all fixed!)

Witnessing transformation

I've been getting up early every morning this week to take a walk, think, and pray before I enter the busyness of the day. There's a little trail behind the parking lots that runs the length of the campus. There are a lot of trees, a little creek, and a bridge near the end of the trail that's good to rest on. It's not a very long walk, but I enjoy the Trinity Trail because, even though I can see campus through the trees, I feel like I'm in a hidden world. In the mornings birds and bugs and an occasional duck are my company while I sit on the bridge and watch the sun rise.

What's been especially striking to me this week, though, is how much the scenery of the trail has changed in just a few days. On Monday morning, though it was a sunny day, the trail was mostly gray. I was excited about the little sprouts of grass I saw, and was even happy to see the green of the weeds, because that's about all the green there was. Every morning since then, there's been a noticeable difference, even from one day to the next. New trees would begin to sprout leaves, and new plants would begin to bud. Monday morning I saw mostly gray; today it was mostly green. I feel like it all happened right before my eyes.

I think we take pleasure in growth because it's a sign of the presence of God. Whether it's a tree blooming, a baby growing up (or us continuing to grow up!), or anything else, we can see His hand. While we can certainly help produce good conditions for growth, the process itself is a mystery that is beyond us. He alone does the work, and we are left watching in thankful amazement.

Maybe we take pleasure in growth, too, because it's a reminder of a promise that's been made to us. What we are now is not the fullness of what we'll someday be. Like Paul says in one of his letters to the church in Corinth, whether we're alive or dead when Jesus returns, we'll all be changed. With all the beauty and dignity and evidence of God that fills our bodies and our very lives right now, we see only a seed that's about to burst with more vibrance and life and purity than we could ever imagine. Like the trees in the Trinity Trail, we'll still be recognizable - we'll still be us. But we will have blossomed.

I'm excited to see it...and for us to see it in each other. What a hope that is promised, and what a God that will surely make it happen!

Yes, I am truly a nerd...

I think it's time to go back to school. Spring break is doing funny things to my mind. All day today I've been walking around the house singing my own version of the song Kip sings at his wedding in Napoleon Dynamite:

"I love theology
But not as much as food, you see
But still, I love theology
Always and forever."

My mom told me several times today that I'm a dork. :)