Prayer and Fasting

Tomorrow is an important day...and I'm not referring to the Georgia v. South Carolina game.  Syria's civil war has been in the news, but has elevated in the last few weeks with the allegations of chemical warfare.  I've tried to educate myself on the situation, but frankly there are too many voices and opinions and it's hard to separate the truth.  Regardless, the United States and other countries have been discussing their potential involvement.  It appears many countries want someone to step in, but none are eager to enter a war.  As countries rally and discuss options, Pope Francis has called for a day of prayer and fasting on Saturday, September 7th for peace in Syria.

As Rachel Held Evans said
When it's just to big...
All that's left is prayer and fasting.
Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.
All that's left are tears and ash.
Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.
All that's left is to acknowledge your smallness.
Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.
All that's left is to sit in quiet with the world and beg for peace, wisdom, and clear paths.
Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.

Please consider joining in prayer and fasting for peace in Syria and for wisdom and direction for our leaders.

Thoughts on Community & the Ecklunds

I spent the evening with the lovely Ecklund women! Gianna is 2, Selah a few months, and Em...well, older than me (but not by much). Emily, Adam (her husband), and I met at Azusa Pacific, during undergrad. I also had the privilege of going through graduation school with them! One of our professors, John Hoffman, on the first day of class said, 'you won't be able to do this program alone.' How true I found that statement to be. The three of us (and a few others) quickly became good friends.

So when I came out to Baylor in 2005, they soon followed, but not for me of course. :) Anyway, it has been a pleasure having them here. I've been blessed by their friendship through the years and it's a joy to walk life with them! For me, it's nice to have people who know me, who I don't have to 'get to know', and who have seen me in different stages/phases of life. Additionally, I get to walk life with them. They now have two beautiful daughters and I find such delight in both of them!

Tonight it was just Em, the girls (Adam joined later), and myself. What fun (and trying at times). I get the pleasure of watching, helping, and being able to leave discipline to the 'parent'. At one point, after G was ready for bed, I had Selah in one arm and G next to me on the couch reading her a book about dinosaurs. They are great girls, and I love spending time with them.

After they went to bed and Adam came home, the three of us caught up on life, talked about PhDs, and other oddities.

Now stay with me for a bit. Last Sunday, my pastor was talking about Psalm 133. This is 14 of 15 Psalms about the ascension of Israel. These 15 Psalms represent the 15 steps that lead to the top of the mountain where the Holy of Holies was kept. As the Israelites (in community) would travel the journey to and up the mountain, they would recite these 15 Psalms on the last 15 step leading directly to the Holy of Holies. So Psalm 133 is the last step before the Holy of Holies and it says in short, how good and pleasant it is when brother & sisters live together in unity. Symbolically, the last step before they reached the Holy of Holies, God's dwelling place, is about community. Maybe it's suppose to represent the idea the one cannot make it to God alone. Maybe it's suppose to represent the journey is meant to be lived in community. Or maybe it's that the closest thing to Gods dwelling place, his heart, and essentially himself is community. And not just surface level community but community in which one lives, suffers, shares joys, and caries one another's burdens...true kiononia (Christian community).

I've been thinking this week about community and what it means for me. Tonight was a great opportunity to bless Emily. And yet, I received more than I probably gave. I am so grateful for Adam & Em's friendship and the joy they and their children bring to my life.

way overdue!

I have a problem. My dilemma is this, this blog. I realize this is a great way to keep people up to speed with the happenings of my life, and yet, I can't seem to do it. Maybe it's because I feel I need to have witty, or cleaver things to post. Maybe it's because it's time consuming. Maybe it's because I am a communicator and feel everything I write needs to truly reflect me. Maybe it's because I'm a perfectionist and can't let something just be (especially when writing/designing/etc). Maybe it's all of the above.

Needless to say, I realize it's a good idea, and I'm going to attempt it...again.

:)

here goes!

so I labeled this 'new beginnings' because it is a new beginning for me. It's the beginning of a blog and the beginning of another year (academic year, yeah training starts in less than a month!). I can't believe how quickly time flies. Two years ago, I was moving across the country to start a new job, and here I find myself, going into my third year as a hall director (and still enjoying it)! I never, in my craziest dreams would have thought I would have ended up in small town Texas, never. But God has quiet the sense of humor! I can't believe it was two years ago I was moving in, and now I look back and realized I've learned so much from this experience. I thought I had done a lot of growing prior to this change, boy was I wrong! :) I look back on myself and who I was two years ago, and I'm different. Yes, I'm the same person with the same strong will, stubbornness, perfectionist, determination, and spirit, but I've grown, and I've changed. My character has been tested, my patience tried, my heart broken, my body bruised, my thoughts challenged, and my strength stretched. Yet I am stronger, smarter (hopefully), more content, more joyful, and more determined to be and make the most of this life that God has given me. And not all of these last two years have been difficult, I've had tremendous times of joy, laughter, hysteria, and memories that will travel with me wherever I may go. God has been faithful in bringing me through the difficult times and I know and trust he will be with me as I continue through this next year and the many years to come!

so, speaking of laughter and memories, I just returned back home from a trip to Colorado, South Dakota, and Wyoming. I flew into Colorado, met up with my old roommate and a couple other friends and drove to see Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons. Two less states to visit. Oh, I've decided I would like to see all 50 states (I had yet to visit South Dakota and Wyoming). Below are a few pictures from the trip! It was a wonderful trip full of so many laughs, such beauty, and Gods handy work! :)

This picture is the group of us girls who traveled from Colorado to Wyoming together. Two of them (Kristel (to my rt) and Jenny (below me)) actually started out in California, Britney (left) and I met up with them in CO. Ps, I just love this picture of us 1. we are so cute, and 2. it was just us goofing around with the camera. :) Here is part of Mt Rushmore, it's suppose to be this grandiose thing, and it is (but look, I could squish his little head!) :)Look at us! You think they'll carve a mountain with our faces on it next? Ha! For Britney, Jenny, Shannon, and Kristel, you think?

so this may look random, and, it is! Remember those laughs and memories?! We drove through a city called Chugwater, and we just had to pull over and take a picture of us...chugging water! :) We also came across a sign that said Crazy Woman Creek, we regrettably, don't have a picture from that place. :(

Here is the picture of us at Old Faithful, which really is both, old, and faithful. They (someone, somewhere) predicted that she would go off at 12:21 and sure enough, 12:22 came and she was off! Just a really cute picture of us :)

So after seeing Mt Rushmore and Yellowstone we headed to the Grand Tetons. This was probably my favorite stop on the trip! This Mt range in incredible! I wish I lived closer b/c I would visit frequently. This picture if from our hike. We stopped at Jenny Lake and took a boat from one side of the lake to the other. They let us off near the bottom of a trail to 'hidden falls'. It's a short hike but a magnificent view of the falls (the picture to the left is not the magnificent view, just me very happy that we got to do more hiking!)

And lastly, here is a picture of the Grand Tetons themselves! Aren't they incredible, and what a beautiful day we had!

Other things we saw included: Bears (both Brown and Grizzly), Deer, Elk, a man playing in a band with two female manikins (it's a long story), Bison (walking in the middle of the two lane road), and so many other fun and 'interesting' things. Well, I hope you our adventure, we sure did! :)

ps I have had a difficult time with picture alignment and such. I ended up deleting them b/c they were left justified and having to start over, rearrange again and again. If anyone knows what I did wrong, or how to help, please let me know for future postings, thanks!