today, i received a grad program brochure with a quote from dan allender. i've read several of his books and have considered going to mars hill graduate school for a masters in counseling, which he is president of. one of his books in particular completely changed my life.
as one who is planning to return to mission work (very soon, see previous post), i have tacked this to my refrigerator: "If you don't need the Gospel more than the people you're sharing it with, you ought not to be sharing it with them." Amen!
side note: after all these years, i still spell refrigerator wrong! not good.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
one.
oh dear Lord. many, many people will be quite surprised that i am starting a blog. the real reason for my previous (and current) distaste for blogs is that sooo many of them are used to just toot personal horns. not to, as they should, keep people in touch and further discuss the "facts of life" for individuals. recently, i've been reading blogs of friends of mine and because theirs go where my own, personal writing often goes, yet without being too personal or too tooting horn-like, i've decided to finally jump on the bandwagon. that, and i thought it would be good to get used to blogging, since i most likely won't be in the country this time next year. (i just really, really hope i don't end up sounding too pretentious.)
NB: my blog title is a line from ethan hawke's character in "reality bites" that i always found entertaining.
and away we go!
hello friends of mine. how are you? i'm currently waiting for the comcast dude to visit and install all of FOURTEEN channels on my television. YES! limited cable here i come! i will once again (after 4 months) be connected to the real world of television. yippee. and perfect timing, since the office starts on thursday. i keep thinking of an experience a friend of mine had when the comcast dude last stopped by the house she shares with her husband. very scary story. he nearly attacked her with a knife. (!!!) fortunately, my knives are terribly dull and i live in an apartment complex. hopefully someone would come to my rescue. reminder: leave door unlocked while he is here.
sigh... i really love fall. i'm currently sitting on my bed, listening to corinne bailey rae and looking at the window at lake union. i've finally forgiven seattle for the disgrace that was summer and have welcomed this city, and the next season, with open arms.
and yet, while seattle and i have been lovers for years, i still wake up every morning planning where i'll move... once i finally do move. official update alert: yes, i am applying for several grad programs (none of them in washington!), but i've also finally finished my application for the peace corps (it only took 4 years). i may not be quite granola enough to do the corps, but, it's the perfect opportunity to get in-country experience, which is required for any overseas missionary position with the organizations i want to work with. plus, i'll walk with $6000. fingers crossed that i'll get placed in africa. or, better yet, near lilongwe, malawi, so i can finally see the kids again.
regarding mission work: i've known for years (8? 10?) that i would end up in missionary work. i wanted to wait at least a couple years after malawi to work, get my head on straight and really prepare myself emotionally, spiritually, intellectually for what could be a lifetime of mission work. (at least in one way or another.) i've felt a bit like a phony over the past several months because whenever anyone would ask me if i was still planning to go back to africa i would skate over the question with bland comments and change the subject because going back was the last thing on my mind. 2007 will go down in the books as the hardest year of my life (so far) and also the most faithless. i followed my faith in cycles. it came and went in rapid cycles, hopeful that none would notice its disappearance, even though i acutely threw it out with the trash over and over again.
INCREDIBLY, the handy and hopeful thing about Christ is grace. plain and simple. and the fact that He gives it over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. how blessed we are to call Him our Father and ourselves His children. and so, thanks to a whole lot of prayer and grace, i begin fall refreshed & i finally feel like myself again.
ooh... phone.
NB: my blog title is a line from ethan hawke's character in "reality bites" that i always found entertaining.
and away we go!
hello friends of mine. how are you? i'm currently waiting for the comcast dude to visit and install all of FOURTEEN channels on my television. YES! limited cable here i come! i will once again (after 4 months) be connected to the real world of television. yippee. and perfect timing, since the office starts on thursday. i keep thinking of an experience a friend of mine had when the comcast dude last stopped by the house she shares with her husband. very scary story. he nearly attacked her with a knife. (!!!) fortunately, my knives are terribly dull and i live in an apartment complex. hopefully someone would come to my rescue. reminder: leave door unlocked while he is here.
sigh... i really love fall. i'm currently sitting on my bed, listening to corinne bailey rae and looking at the window at lake union. i've finally forgiven seattle for the disgrace that was summer and have welcomed this city, and the next season, with open arms.
and yet, while seattle and i have been lovers for years, i still wake up every morning planning where i'll move... once i finally do move. official update alert: yes, i am applying for several grad programs (none of them in washington!), but i've also finally finished my application for the peace corps (it only took 4 years). i may not be quite granola enough to do the corps, but, it's the perfect opportunity to get in-country experience, which is required for any overseas missionary position with the organizations i want to work with. plus, i'll walk with $6000. fingers crossed that i'll get placed in africa. or, better yet, near lilongwe, malawi, so i can finally see the kids again.
regarding mission work: i've known for years (8? 10?) that i would end up in missionary work. i wanted to wait at least a couple years after malawi to work, get my head on straight and really prepare myself emotionally, spiritually, intellectually for what could be a lifetime of mission work. (at least in one way or another.) i've felt a bit like a phony over the past several months because whenever anyone would ask me if i was still planning to go back to africa i would skate over the question with bland comments and change the subject because going back was the last thing on my mind. 2007 will go down in the books as the hardest year of my life (so far) and also the most faithless. i followed my faith in cycles. it came and went in rapid cycles, hopeful that none would notice its disappearance, even though i acutely threw it out with the trash over and over again.
INCREDIBLY, the handy and hopeful thing about Christ is grace. plain and simple. and the fact that He gives it over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. how blessed we are to call Him our Father and ourselves His children. and so, thanks to a whole lot of prayer and grace, i begin fall refreshed & i finally feel like myself again.
ooh... phone.
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