Crazy Love

I'm reading a book by Fancis Chan called Crazy Love and there's a story in there about this actor. He was a small actor, in fact he only had 2/5ths of a seconds scene. Mr. Chan was comparing this 2/5ths of a second actor to our lives in God's world. He was referring to the verse, "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" James 4:13-14. Then he goes on to talk about how if our lives are only 2/5ths of a second in God's world, then wouldn't we want that percentage of a second to be filled with glorifying God? If we had one thing to show, wouldn't we want it to be completely revolved around God? This small actor playing in this large film is an extra... one in a thousand in a crowd of people. You see his hand, or the back of his head. He's playing in God's movie, yet he invites all of his friends to come watch him in "his" movie. Is this movie really about him? No, it's about God. He has 2/5ths of a second and he wants to make it about him, but really it's all about God.

I think Mr. Chan made an excellent point with this analogy. If you want to find out more about it, you should definitely get the book, Crazy Love. I've only read the first two chapters of it and as soon as I'm finished with this post, I'm going to read more. I just wanted to share this with you. We're only 2/5ths of a second in God's movie... why are we so concerned with how we look, what we wear, what we have... what should matter is whether we used those 2/5ths of a second to glorify God.

Tennis, Gilmore Girls, friends, late night drives, Sonic

I can't even remember how many times we went to Sonic this weekend... I think it was something like 5 or 6 times. Our first trip was Friday evening after we couldn't decide what to do. Apparently the cool place for CofO college students to hang out at is the Sonic patio. Anyway, we went there and I got my free birthday cream slush, Emma and Katie got drinks and mozarella sticks, and Nathan got something of which I can't remember. :-) Daniel had to work, so we didn't do much. He's the cool one in our group. Saturday night was even better. We all went to dinner together and Daniel got a piece of cake. It looked delicious so Emma and I got some as well. Daniel took a couple of bites and said that his cake is never as good as it looks. Emma agreed wholeheartedly. Then Daniel said, "I'm sure it would taste good, if I actually liked cake." I almost died of laughter. I hope the tables around us didn't think I was crazy. After dinner, we discoved our great love of tennis and our epic skills at serving tennis balls. After an explosion of laughter we made our way to Sonic, the third trip, and then preceded on a late night drive down a rode Emma insisted was fun to drive. There was one point on the trip when Daniel gasped and we made a quick, extremely sharp, left hand turn. Apparently Modot needs to work on their signs. Dan's gasp was followed by yelps from the rest of us. Then, Emma insisted on having her window open as she downed an oreo blast and shivered the entire time. She has this obsession with putting her head out the car window when we're out driving in nice weather.

That was enough adventure for one day. Emma and I went back to her room and watched Gilmore Girls. Emma is starting to talk like Lorali.

Sunday was a great day. We went to church, which was awesome. I love FBC Branson. Then we went to chapel. I'm trying to change my attitude about chapel. I have this idea in my head that I HAVE to go to chapel and therefore I don't really get anything out of it. The entire time I sit in chapel I think about how I'm glad that chapel is only 50 minutes long and that I only have to go 7 times a semester. That is horrible of me. I am constantly reminded of what a sinner I am. In otherwords, I fail. Thankfully my God is gracious and His mercies are new each morning. :-)

Sunday afternoon we played some more tennis and the boys made a Sonic run for us. Emma and I got major sunburns on our shoulders from our tenniss match. We were excited to be tennis players so we wore tank tops. We said we looked very "tennis-ish". It was fun though. We then watched a movie, "The Tourist", and everyone fell asleep and missed the entire middle. As soon as it was over Emma said, "Can we watch it again right now?". Thankfully it was suppertime. After dinner came another round of tennis and another Sonic run. Today my arm hurts from the many retries I took trying to serve the tennis ball and I feel fat from the Sonic food I consumed. It was a great weekend. Very humbling in many ways, yet very encouraging. I love my friends.

Summer Nights

My room is muggy... I think most of the cold air my air conditioner blows somehow escapes and goes outside because I don't feel anything cold in this little room.

I'm listening to Lecrae. I found a new song of theirs that I love. It's called "Far Away". He wrote it for Haiti.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rerU_NYwD8

"Far Away" ~ Lecrae

Far Far Away (You feel) Far Away. (You Seem) Far Away.. So So (x2)
Hopeless!
I can spell it
I can smell it in the air
Lotta people wonder if you still care
And are you still there
Cuz I dun lost it all
I keep calling your name
But do you hear my call
And are you still involved
Or am I left alone
I wander the streets
Cuz I no longer have a home
My brothers all GONE
My sisters all GONE
My families and my friends aint gonna be here in the Mornin
Ya see me hear mourning
They say you feel my pain
They say you went through it
Say to die is to gain
But I aint gain nothing
I lost everybody
Now Im losing my mind
And my faith is all Im counting
Im still holding on
Thats why Im still pray
Feelin empty inside
I cant make it through today
I dont know what else to do
I dont know what else to say
Im talking to ya now
But I promise you feel so far


Far Far Away (You feel) Far Away. (You Seem) Far Away.. So So (X4)

Dear hope: Been waitin on ya for a while now
Been cut so deep that I aint sure if I can smile now
Look at this devastation
Look at the pain and sorrow
Somebody fed me lies and promised me a bright tomorrow
I know the God I follow
Is bigger than disaster
Big enough to handle
Any evil that harasses us
But I feel like he passed us
Pain overtook us
Buildings tumble over head
As the ground shook us
God have you forsook us
Lord you still with me
I know you save souls
I trust you to forgive me
Relief can you hear me
Hey Rest can you get me
Hey Peace can you see me
Hey love can you heal me
I dont know what to do
I aint looking for answers
I just need you to hold my hand
Through this cancer
Tell me you never left
Even in the midst of death
Breathe on me I'll do anything to feel your Breath

Far Far Away (You feel) Far Away. (You Seem) Far Away.. So So (X4)
(PSALMS 62:5-8)
5. For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence,
for my hope is from him.
6. He only is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7. On God rests my salvation and my glory;
my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
8. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us.

(Far far away.) Hes not (Far Away) No hes not (Far Away) Our Gods not Even though he seems

I think of Joplin when I read the lyrics. And my oldest brother...

Tonight my friends and I are going to Vintage Paris to hear Nathan's friend play Jazz. I think it will be fun. I'm really looking forward to having some good coffee. I really miss my Daddy and his coffee. And my sister and her coffee. There isn't anything like it. :-)

I can hardly wait for the weekend. We're going to First Baptist Branson for church on Sunday. I've really missed going there. It kinda feels like home when I'm there. My sister and I usually go together and we're taking Nathan with us this time. Unfortunately Dan has to work at the dairy this weekend, but I know he would love it. Daniel is a new person. :-) I love saying that. I could say it all day long. It always brings tears to my eyes as I know what a 'new person' is. It's so evident and everytime I'm around Daniel I see the joy of the Lord shining through him. Especially his eyes. I remember praying for Dan and asking God for the day that I would be able to see his eyes fill with the precious Light. I want to tell everyone. MY BIG BROTHER IS A NEW PERSON!!!!!!!!!!

Another quilt? I think yes!

So last week I was bored and started looking through images on Google of quilts. And I found this one!



And I decided that I'm going to make. What do you think?

June 1st-"Little Did He Know"

I really want to watch that movie, which I just forgot the name of...oh yes "Stranger Than Fiction". Amy loved that movie.
I'm sitting at work contemplating whether to do some more Medical Terminology, read my motorcycle book, or write a letter. All of those options sound like work to me, but it's better than nothing.
Earlier my boss said that we could watch reruns of "House" later this afternoon if we don't have anything to do. :-) I love working at the clinic. And not just for that reason. I love being able to help people and do things for them.

Today is Amy's birthday. My sister and I bought a 6 pack of Mountain Dews and two bags of skittles to celebrate. :-) I think Amy would be happy with our choices. She'd be 30 today. I wonder if she'd be upset to be turning 30. Of course with her cancer, she would be writing another Bebo post about making it to another birthday. :-) She was great about doing that. Emma and I are going to go do something special tonight. Hopefully we can get Daniel to come along and our friend Nathan. This is definitely something to celebrate. Amy has been with Jesus for 3 years, 8 months, 3 weeks, and 1 day. That's pretty awesome. I bet these last few years have seemed like seconds to her.

I woke up at 5:30am this morning to my annoying alarm clock that sounds like a kitchen timer. I slipped on my sneakers, turned my mp3 player on and started running down the camp road, hoping Foster wasn't locked when I got back. It wasn't long before I was huffing (That's what I get for taking a 6 month break) and had to start walking. It was beautiful out this morning. Fog was rising from the river as the sun was coming up. It was the perfect time to run. I was thinking about Amy as I ran and thanking God for the 30 years we've had her in our hearts, even if she wasn't here for almost 4 of them. I sometimes wonder what it would be like if Amy were here. Would be all be the same people we are today? Would we be worse, or better? But that doesn't matter because God had it all planned out this way. The perfect plan...

Happy Birthday, Ame. I love you!

The first week of the Summer Work Program is...

Tiring. This week has been crazy busy. Monday night I moved half of my belongings across campus in a blue cart. Little did we know that the one of the wheels was about to have it's tread ripped off so Nathan, Eli, and I all have to push the cart a little harder. After that exhausting experience, Eli and I left Nathan with the cart to push back to Mabee dorm himself (he did volunteer, don't worry) while we lugged my things up 3 stories. Eli and I decided to reward ourselves with a sleepover,so we watched a movie, ate popcorn and cookies, and drank coffee.
Tuesday night was the same adventure. Except we didn't have popcorn...or cookies...
Wednesday I moved the rest of my things over to my new dorm, checked out of Mabee 516 and left it to be remodeled so that it can be beautiful when I move back into it in 11 weeks. Then we rewarded ourselves to a Sonic run and I got a milkshake that I later regretted.
Thursday night I worked for Dr. Williams and tonight Emma and I are driving home. I got up at 5:30am this morning so I could go play piano in the chapel before breakfast. But it was locked... so I went back and made myself a hot drink, checked my emails and then went back to the chapel to see if they had unlocked it. They hadn't. So now I'm here... waiting for 6:55am to hit so I can walk over to the cafeteria to meet my sister and Eli.

Now that you have that nice little summary of my life, I'll share with you what I've really been feeling. I keep getting stuck on Ecclesiastes 3 "For every thing there is a time and a purpose under the heavens". When I first found out that Emma and I wouldn't be roommates, I just wanted to cry. I was scared to share a room with a complete stranger, but really, I just didn't want things to change. I liked my quiet dorm room. It was just amazing to me that I got to be with Emma. But God wanted things to change, and so they have. My friend, who is an RA, said that they probably made a mistake when typing up the housing list. One mistake... it was kind of annoying at first, but now I realize how God is using this experience. My new roommate is a quiet, sweet girl. She works at the cafeteria and was off Wednesday and Thursday. I think she spent the entire time in our room. I hoping that I can be a good example to her and be a good friend to her while she's here. I don't know what God has in store but I'm sure it'll be amazing. :-)

My future home...