Sunday, January 28, 2007

Week of Bad Wheat

This has been a very interesting week. We had exams this week so that threw off things at school. (Read more here.) I was in this little anti-people funk this week. Those of you that know me, know that is very abnormal. It wasn't a bad funk per say. I think it was more of a step and away and be thing. The only bad thing is that I’ve felt pretty disconnected from some close friends the last few weeks and this didn’t help that. Whatever you want to call this funk it was kind of refreshing.

Thursday night my friends Kelli and Amy helped me grade papers as we ate amazing food at Applebee's. I just met Kelli this year and have enjoyed getting to know her. We have a lot in common. We went to Wendy's this week and as she shared some things that were going on in her life, I saw myself as a sophomore at Bethel dealing with some of the same things. Together she and I are going to conquer the music therapy world. Just you wait and see!!!

Most of you know I’m allergic to wheat and some of you know that at the beginning of the school year I had some tests done to make sure things were still going well. All the tests came back clean and so the question was raised if I could eat wheat again. I’ve been too scared to try but decided over spring break I would. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it that far. I spent all of last week eating a salad dressing that had wheat in it and have been suffering since then. Today the pain is a little worse than it has been. DARN WHEAT!!!

Well that was pretty random.

Friday, January 05, 2007

Evening with God and Friends

Last night at New Community my friend Jason lead us through the story of the adulterous women found in John 8:1-11. He did a fantastic job of sharing his story and the changes God can make in our lives as he heals us. And finally after hearing the lyrics to one of his songs several time I got the chance to hear it. It was one of those great corporate worship times where you recognize you are in a room full of people who are broken and looking to God for healing.

Afterwards as I was talking to Jeffrey , I looked up and saw my friend Michael walking down the aisle. Both Jason and Jeff had failed to tell me he was going to be in town. It was such a great surprise. After catching up with lots of different people the four of us went to IHOP to grab something to eat. As we were sitting there laughing and causing a ruckus, Jason made the comment that one of his favorite times of hanging out with friends is when if anyone on the outside were to look in they would think, “Those people are weird.” Of course we all laughed and I’m not sure I could have smiled any wider. Here I was having dinner with three of my closest friends! I was so thankful I didn’t even know what to say.

I love being with friends. It doesn’t really matter what we are doing I just love being with friends. These three guys are some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met and I’m blessed because I can call them good friends. It isn’t very often that all of us are in the same place at the same time. I know I say this a lot but thank you God for these amazing friends!

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Lessons from this week's journey

Over the last week I’ve been able to spend time with friends I normally don’t get the chance to see. It has been a blast and I’ve loved every minute of it. During all of this God has been showing me some interesting things.

While enjoying a fantastic cup of coffee with a good friend, I started thinking about how much our friendship had changed over the years and what a blessing that friendship has been. We talked about Christmas and how our family will be having our Christmas after a memorial service. I walked away from the conversation being reminded that God places people in our lives at just the right time and, in the same way, takes people out of our lives. As people cross our paths, we have a chance to love them and see the image of God in them. And when we lose people in our live, we have the chance to praise God for the time we had with them and thank him for the opportunity to worship him through that relationship.

It isn’t uncommon to hear our lives described as a book that God is writing. Just like a book our lives have different chapters. Each chapter represents a different time or season in our lives. The character and settings in one chapter may carry on to the next. They may only be in that chapter or they may show up again several chapters later. Each chapter tells the story of what God is doing in our lives, the things he is teaching us, and the ministry he has entrusted to us. The problem is too often we forget God is the one writing the story not us. He closes one chapter and opens another one in his timing, not ours. I think the greatest way to glorify God is to live in the chapter he is writing for us right now. When we dwell in a previous chapter or try to skip ahead before God gives the go, we miss opportunities to bless and be blessed.

I think this is the struggle I’ve been facing. I am confident of the call God has placed on my life but God seems to keep saying the time isn’t right. Because of that I think I’ve spent the last year trying keep the last chapter going because it was comfortable. The reality is there is very little comfort when you hold on to tightly to the past or try to control things. Comfort comes in surrender and following God where he is moving. Chapters of transition may not be easy but I have a feeling when I get to the end I’ll see more growth and lessons learned in that one chapter then several others put together. So I’m going to live in the chapter I’m in right now. I’m looking forward to where God is going to take me and learning to be obedient in the here and now.