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Showing posts from September, 2011

The Church and Scripture

"No interpretive tool, no advanced training, can substitute for active participation in a community concerned with the reading and performing of Scripture." "[There is an] assumption that the Bible is a resource book for life in this world- a kind of "owner's manual," indexed for troubleshooting when life goes wrong. . . biblical accounts are formed into a collage of the teacher's making, with Bible verses plugged in where they seem best to fit. In such contexts, the considerable resources of the Bible are being shaped in the form of Scripture. In such contexts, the church is shaping the Bible and not the Bible shaping the church."  - Seized By Truth: Reading the Bible as Scripture

The First Day of School

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Ah the first day of school. I never thought I would have one of these again, yet here I find myself, as excited as I was to start the 3rd grade. I have my outfit planned out, my books in a neat pile, and my homework done (apparently in grad school you get homework before you even start). And I never thought I would feel this way, but I do. I'm excited.  I really am. After vowing to the world that I would never set foot in graduate school (let alone seminary) I sit before you now  excited. It hit me yesterday when I was thinking about my upcoming classes. Tomorrow I start with New Testament Introduction (which sadly I keep spelling test a ment wrong...might need to work on that..) and all of a sudden I realized, I get to take a class  on the New Testament. I get to study the books of the Bible with a professor.  Matthew, Mark, Hebrews, all of them! How cool is that? In preparation I was reading supplemental books on reading the Bible as Scripture. It spoke of having to balance

Georgia on my mind.

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Here are today's random thoughts: 1. I cannot believe how many people I meet from Georgia here in Pasadena. I babysat tonight for a family who have parents and siblings living in PTC and Fayetteville, then I get in the elevator of my building and I meet a couple who are from Atlanta and not only have heard of Milledgeville but their cousins own the Japanese restaurant downtown! On the other side of the country I meet someone who has been to Milledgeville! (Generally I just get the confused look of why does your school have so many names? ) God, You are so cool. 2. Speaking of elevators, this seems like the best place to meet people. This is where I met friends that helped in my transition, got me a babysitting job, AND had me over for dinner. I have also met people from Atlanta and other new friends in the elevator. Heck, next week I might just get a chair and sit in there for a while. 3. Speaking of babysitting...I got payed 70 bucks for babysitting 5 hours tonight. 70 buck

A Snapshot of My Life

 I have been meaning to take pictures of Pasadena to post for everyone to see but I have yet to find the time to do that. So I thought I would give you a snapshot of what I saw as I went walking downtown today. My apartment:                               Tall, square and mauve              The box-like buildings lie against a backdrop of perfectly blue sky. Like a speckled robin's egg the blue is punctuated with storybook clouds, fluffy and round.                      Behind the buildings and sky are the mountains.                           They look close enough to touch.           Desert mountains looming into the sky, so defined and caring,                                                                      the guards on watch over the city. The mountains are always what strike me with awe. I have never seen such mountains sitting contentedly on the edge of a city. The city: My goodness, am I in Spain? City hall rises above the skyline like a cathedral of Europe.

My Only Hope

I realized something tonight for the first time. I realized that for the first time in my life, I have no life plan. You may ask me my five year plan, but in all truth, I have no five day plan. Its not irresponsibility that brings me to this point. Its not even a lack of looking forward. Its just a simple fact. The fact is that all I have is You. I literally have nothing else to follow or walk towards. I have no plan and no expectations, for I have been brought into the unknown. Yes, I have my desires, my wants, my hopes, but all of this is worthless without You in my life. I desire marriage, I desire a fulfilling career, I desire family, but You alone know and understand the desires of my heart. You formed me from dust and raised me into the woman I am today and You alone will carry me forward. For the first time in my life I am giving over control because I have no choice. I am following You into the unknown because You are all I have. 

I Give Myself Away

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I give myself away,  I give myself away,  So You can use me Here I am, Here I stand Lord my life is in Your hands Lord I'm longing to see  Your desires revealed in me Take my heart, take my life As a living sacrifice All my dreams, All my plans, Lord I place them in Your hands My life is not my own To You I belong I give myself, I give myself to You

The Inescapable Truth

It is my one week anniversary with the town of Pasadena. *Initiate celebration* Woohoo I made it! Only two more years to go! In being forced to meet people and make friends here (because let's face it, when I am alone too long I start to have long conversations with myself in Spanish and make up new dance moves) I have found myself able to see how others perceive me. Perception is always interesting to me. They say "perception is reality," and this really seems to be true when one is thrown together with a lot of people who have no idea who you were before you got here. I listen to myself as I talk and I start to judge myself by what I say. For example, here is the image I think I am giving here so far: 1. I am kind of a wuss. I have stated that I don't like hiking, bugs, dirt, sweat, camping, salt water, or eating fish that look like fish. 2. I really believe anything I am told and I use some reallllly creative adjectives. 3. I like to talk, a lot. 4. I am pre

Things that confuse me.

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1. The stairwells. I live in a very well-secured apartment complex with two stairwells. Each time I try to use the stairs I end up getting locked out because the door to every floor is locked. I don't understand! Is it a ploy to get us all a little fatter by using the elevator? Or maybe everyone riding the elevator builds community? Why do I have a college education but I can't figure out how to use the stairs?? 2. The trash chute. This does not confuse me but freaks me out. Next to my apartment is a little dungeon room with a small door. We throw our trash down and it goes into the dumpster in the basement parking garage. I don't know what I fear: falling in? dropping in something valuable? a trash monster? I don't know, but I am telling you, that trash chute is scary! 3. How much I love my apartment. Guys, seriously, it is so cute. I feel like such a grown-up. BUT I wish all of you Georgia College folks were here with me. I can only think that I wish you guys coul

Pasadena!

I love Pasadena. And internet. I just got internet which is why I have not updated you all on the past few days. So in the light of new experiences I have compiled a list of things that are great. 1. The fact that we made it to Pasadena. The last stretch of the trip was brutal. If you know someone on the brink of insanity and you want to drive them over the edge (haha, drive, what a pun!), then drive them through New Mexico and into California. The route to Pasadena once you enter CA is about four hours of desert and beautiful mountains, but that is it. Two towns and literally nothing in between. The purple mountains majesty start to look more like angry mountains get-out-of-my-state after a while. So yay, we made it! 2. The location of my apartment. It is is perfecto. I am two blocks from campus, a few blocks from all the best shops (Gap, J. Crew, Anthropologie, food), about a ten minute walk from Old Town Pasadena, and there is a Trader Joes within a four minute drive...need I s

Almost...There...

Spent the morning at the Grand Canyon then drove more endless land to California. We stopped for the night and will be in Pasadena by morning. Sorry not to write a more interesting and witty post but I am so tired of this road trip! haha, I will post stories and things tomorrow night after I get into my apartment and get things mildly settled. I am getting a little nervous so if you remember pray for my heart that I will trust the Lord even in the midst of an unknown place! 

Kickapoo to Navajo

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The sun setting in Oklahoma  Oklahoma City Last night we stopped near Oklahoma City. When we woke up we realized that we had been in Kickapoo Nation, which obviously was awesome because it was called Kickapoo. We began the long trek across Oklahoma towards New Mexico. Here is the thing about this road trip. Each state we go through I think, man, there is literally nothing by these roads! , yet every time we get to the next state I realize that the state before actually had a lot  compared to the next one! Basically Oklahoma-Texas-New Mexico was one of the longest roads of my life. In Oklahoma we got a lesson on Native American tribe names as we passed through each "nation." We also passed Lake Meredith in one state (who knew I had my own lake!?). There were these big wind energy farms in Oklahoma as well which were so cool. Then we hit Texas. Welcome to Texas! Endless nothingness, or in other words, New Mexico.  Oh Texas. There is really nothing to report from T

Did We Just Time Travel To 1943?

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So we kind of accidentally made it to the outskirts of Oklahoma City today. How far did we drive? Oh you know, only around 850 miles. We started our trip out with a stop in Birmingham to see this kid: My brother! (and a really packed car) Then came Memphis, which I would show you a picture but we kind of had a miscommunication or snafu of some sort and missed stopping in Memphis altogether. I was disappointed (and hungry) but that was all made up for later. The longest part of our day was Arkansas.  Oh how witty! I found a little rock in Little Rock! (In my head I keep saying pronouncing it Ar-Kansas. I must be tired.) This is a really beautiful state if you like fields and grass (which I do.) After many hours of plains we decided we would stop in the seemingly big town of Fort Smith on the Arkansas/Oklahoma border and rest there for the night. By the direction of the internet we set out to find a diner that was supposedly famous. Dad and I made a couple of turns in Fort Smith and

I Might Bleed Blue and Green..

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"Adventure is worthwhile in itself." Amelia Earhart So last week I was here:  Pretty amazing right?  And this week I was here:  Ahhh Blackbird Coffee in Milledgeville. How I love thee.  I have been so blessed to have a week at home before I leave again for my next adventure. Yesterday I went back to my Alma Mater for a 24 hour whirlwind marathon of friendship. From the hours I spent in Blackbird Coffee, to dinner with close friends, to the Intramural Fields and Bell Hall, it was wonderful to be back at Georgia College. I think I might have GC blood running through my veins. It was really bittersweet to be back, because it made me realize how much I really love  everyone there. At the end of the day I was exhausted (because let's face it, I haven't really talked to many people in a month!) but it was in a way like when you have eaten a really great meal and feel perfectly tired, full and content. I was kind of remorseful that I did not have unlimited time to spend

A Picture Speaks at Least 200 Words Apiece

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For those of you that were at church today I wanted to post some pictures related to the stories I told to you all. For those who were not there I thought you might enjoy some pictures from my trip! This is the group of children I taught in Aleppy at Prince John's church. They were my second program and a great encouragement! This is my family in India (minus Cindy's husband Martin because he had to take the picture, and Cindy's son Jaden because he was at school.) I could not have done anything without them and I am so grateful! I need to fix up this picture a bit, but you can get the idea. This is Timothy and Graceful. Notice the height difference between me and Grace! We look so strange next to each other! So glad to have been blessed with these friends. This is a beautiful mountain I visited. Amazing, right? I will post more pictures as I pick out the best ones. This will have to satisfy your appetites for now! 

From the Taj Mahal to Home Sweet Home

Some Sights of Delhi:  Monkeys crossing the road, a camel walking down the road, a woman carrying a large pot on her head, the Taj Mahal, McDonalds, and a sign greeting me at the airport that spelled my first name as two words with a "k" in there somewhere...? My oh my, what a few days it has been. Shall I start at the beginning? This past Wednesday I got up at 3am to drive to the airport in Kochin and catch my flight to Delhi. As we arrived we found out that my 6:30am flight had been delayed to 10:30. Later the flight was delayed until 11:10, then 11:40, then 12:00, and finally we left at 12:50 in the afternoon. Needless to say that was a long morning! I started off spending the first few hours watching people pay a guy to saran wrap their suitcases. Its a strange thing people in foreign countries do so people won't pilfer with their suitcases. Very strange. Then God answered a prayer! At approximately 10:15 I met a sweet girl named Teresa from Bath. I was so bored an