Spring Break 2008

I went skydiving with Sarah and her roommates and friend on Saturday. On Sunday I went to church, took a hike, and returned to Chattanooga. Monday was spent catching up with my pastors from home and spending time with my family. Today I am up at my mom's house reading and waiting for everyone to get home so that we can go eat some mongolian bbq. Tomorrow - church and East Brainerd friends. Thursday with the dad, aquarium maybe? friday or saturday going to the circus I hope. I get to see my baby niece on saturday as well. Good times. That is spring break. Much needed.
Skydiving was an amazing experience. I got to see all of the land at 12,000 feet and balance on a step outside of an airplane and do a barrel roll (got sick from it) and parachute to safety.
I think I will actually be ready and energized to go back to school, work hard, and head toward the summer now.

grace for the moment

Lately I have realized that I need to wake up each morning praying for grace for that day to make it through. Today I realized that I need to pray for grace for each action and each moment. I needed God to help me stand up from lying down on the ground after lunch and staring at the ceiling. I needed him to help me get ready. I needed him to help me stop dragging my feet on my way to work. God is good and I praise him for his glorious grace.
Today has been hard. There is no other way to put it. It was difficult to pay attention or even sit through my classes. I had to get up and leave once. I am tired, but I pray for energy. I am sad, but I pray for joy. I am drained, but I pray that I can pour out. God will hold me up against the flood. I love him and am thankful for that.
I am going to Memphis tonight and I am excited about that. It will be a good time away and I think it will be refreshing. I am dressed up, which is more frequent now but still quite infrequent. My shoes each have a blue spot of paint on them from guatemala almost four years ago. Some things never change.

A long absence

After a long absence I will continue to write. The past month and a half has been more hectic, more demanding, and more heart-changing than any time since I became a Christian. I praise God for the way that he has worked through sadness and disaster to bring glory to his name. He has been good to me, good to my church, and good to my campus. The Lord is faithful and good. All of his words are true. Scripture is powerful. The gospel can change hearts. Praise God.
This semester only has two more months and then I will face an undecided summer. Centrifuge and the nine dollars an hour for forty hours a week that I was looking at was cancelled. I feel free to do whatever I want and that is a good feeling. Money will not be as good anywhere else. Oh well.
Friends have been very good to me during this time and they deserve thanks. I need to write thank you letters. Someone paid for my van window which was blown out by the pressure of the tornado. I did not need it more than others but they wouldn't let me give it back to them and I was thankful for their kindness. Other friends have sent their encouragement throughout everything and I treasure those words.
I will have more to write I am sure. I have needed to write for a while and been too tired or too drained to do so. Soon. Now it is time to go to that old joke of a class Fitness for Health, where half the time we don't meet, and the other half we meet for five minutes. Maybe today we will play kickball! or dodgeball! or...highschool...