Wednesday, December 10, 2008

random

http://www.eso.org/public/outreach/press-rel/pr-2008/pr-46-08.html

We-- spirit and breath, dust and blood--are sitting on a giant rock hurtling through space amongst flaming balls of gas, all orbiting around a gigantic ball of absolute nothingness.

This is profound to me.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Thought of the Day (Week?)

"Justice is what love looks like in public."

(I might alter it with "mercy" instead of "justice"... but they are both true.)

Monday, June 30, 2008

World Next Door Market

Hey friends. I don't really know who reads this thing, but for those of you who do-- I want to tell you about something cool. 

A very dear friend of mine, Nathan, and his wife Jency work for a shop in downtown Chattanooga called the World Next Door Market. Their story is a very cool one, as God put them together and then basically orchestrated their work simultaneously--but what I want to talk about is the store. 

The mission of the store, from what I gather, is basically twofold: to help relieve poverty around the world by establishing a fair-trade outlet for artisans, with whom they work to build relationships, AND to spread the Gospel to those who haven't heard, by way of this work. The shop carries goods from all over the world, ranging from coffee to clothing to canoes to dishes to stationary... you name it. It's all hand-crafted in some way or another, and it's all very much cooler than what you can buy at Target. And when you buy it, you're saving somebody from hunger rather than supporting the corporate machine. Interested yet?

Ryan and I got to sit down with Nate and Jency the other night and talk to them about their work, and I was really struck by how straightforward and effective it is. They are really interested in providing fair revenue to people, but they are also simultaneously very interested in the people. The Shirais seek out people who are helping their own communities with their business, and they are also very intentional about taking the love of Christ with them to wherever they provide business. And both of those things get done. It works. And as the business grows, it makes both missions more possible, as they'll be able to visit some of the places themselves and meet the people, love on them, and share Jesus with them. 

Pretty awesome. Forgive the long-winded post, but this is where you come in: Buy stuff. ;) Or if you don't want to buy stuff, just spread the word, because it's definitely a word worth spreading, and word of mouth is by far the best advertisement. Go take a look around their website, look at their merch, check out their mission and their blog... and then link to them on your blog or website. You can even just copy and paste what you've found here to make it easy. If you have friends who are shopping, point them that way- I guarantee you they'll find something cool. And if you're shopping, same story! 

Thanks for reading guys. It really is a cool thing. Helping people is fantastic; giving them Jesus while you do it is the end-all of fabulous.
If you want to hear more about it from one of them, I know they'd love to talk to you about it so contact them through the blog or the website. Otherwise, shop it up and spread the word!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Hopeful.

I applied for my dream job, last weekend. I didn't know I had a dream job, but when I saw it-- for this season in my life, oh, it's perfect. The only problem being that 500 other people will probably apply for it, too, and many of them will have more years of qualifications than I do. But I am hoping that passion counts, too, and that it will come through in the application and cover letter. And, of course, that God has a plan, and that He might convievably even care about this recent little dream of mine!

The job is with Compassion International, as a Church Relations Director for the South/Southeast region of the U.S. Basically, my job would be to establish and maintain relationships with 100+ churches in the region on behalf of Compassion, convincing them to partner with us to work at relieving the extreme situations of thousands upon thousands of children internationally. I'd also be doing some international travel. 
This job is perfect because:
 1. I discovered about 3 years ago that a huge portion of my heart desires to be a motivator to the [American] Church; to help her get over any stagnation or prejudice and act on behalf of world relief, because that is [at least a large part of] what she is here to do. And that would be my job. My job would be to do what I am passionate about doing. Are you kidding?
2. I love, love, love to travel. This job is 40% travel. Does not require further explanation.
3. My job would make a difference in the world. A big one. I would get to work with Christians, build relationships, and help people reach out to make a difference. This means that on the best days, I'd be a fireball of energy, but also that even on the worst ones-- you know, when it's raining outside and you're exhausted I don't want to get out of bed--I'd know that what I am going to do that day is going to change somebody's life, somewhere. And that's worth getting up for.

I just checked the status of my application online and it says, "being reviewed." I'm so antsy, so hopeful.. that kind of hope that feels ridiculous (what are my chances?) but is also so very possible that I just can't help but hang on to it. I want to call Compassion and tell them: I know I can do this job well! I know I can get people fired up; get them involved; help you reach your goals, make a difference in the world! That's what I was made to do!
But I'm refraining. So right now, and until I hear something, there is just a constant undercurrent of prayer to my days of, "Please, oh please, please, please..." And a hope that God, for whatever reason, has favor in mind with me on this one! 

If you wanted to do the same, I wouldn't stop you. :) 




Wednesday, April 30, 2008

you drink the cup to the bottom, but it burns in your hands. the cup was poured out on the Maker instead.

when i have nothing left, there is this one line of burning, wondrous truth that fills my cup up. and i am full. 

out on the green plains, i am but a ghost, bound up with all that i call 'mine'... but still the Light grows. 



Thursday, April 17, 2008

the flaming lips



oh to fight is to defend;
if it's not now then tell me when 
would be the time that you would stand up and be a man?

for to lose i could accept
but to surrender, i just wept
and regretted this moment, that i, i played the fool

'cause i'm a man, not a boy
and there are things you can't avoid
you have to face them when you're not prepared to face them

i can't tell where the sunbeams end and the starlight begins
it's all a mystery

lots of lyrics lately. yes, i know they're ambiguous to everyone but me. it's okay.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

it would be a lie

and heaven knows, heaven knows
i've tried to find a cure for the pain
oh my lord, to suffer like you do
it would be a lie to run away

it would be a lie to run away




Friday, April 4, 2008

oh love that will not let me go
i rest my weary soul in Thee
i give Thee back the life i owe
that in Thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be!

oh joy that seekest me through pain
i cannot close my heart to Thee
i trace the rainbow through the rain
and trust the promise is not vain, that morn shall tearless be!

oh cross that liftest up my head
i dare not ask to fly from thee
i lay in last life's glory dead
and from the ground there blossoms red life that shall endless be!


Wednesday, April 2, 2008

I like updating from the airport. It makes me feel sophisticated and world-traveling. 

;) I'M GOING TO THE BEACH! 

See you when I get back. 

Monday, March 31, 2008

till the darkness bleeds daylight

Things happening in Cape Town

I just like knowing things like this that are going on in the world. (P.S. You can be a part of it... www.mochaclub.org). wonder if there's a possibility of doing some sort of practicum at the Living Hope Center. Holy cooooooow, that would be incredible.


Saturday, March 22, 2008

Happy Easter

Praise to the One who paid my debt, Who raises life up from the dead!

Thursday, March 13, 2008

tell them that the house is not for sale

friends are not just friends. they are also concepts, ways of life, aspects of your personality. sometimes they are entire eras.

that is why one afternoon can make you feel both strange and at home, why something you thought was so very specific feels like it alters your whole world. because in some way, it does. 

and it is good. 


Monday, February 18, 2008

talking crazy on the driver's side

i should be studying for a microbiology midterm. i really should. but i am reverting to old habits, and so instead, i'm not studying. i am doing anything else i can find to do but study. this is not good. 

i just keep thinking about how beautiful my life has been. the last few days, i have been thinking of college, particularly, at belmont.  what a phenomenal, heartbreaking, soul-forming, joyful, fun, hilarious, tragic, breathtaking and beautiful time that was. today i found myself almost in tears with the longing to go back there and watch it all over again.. not live it, necessarily, but just watch it all happen so i could appreciate it more. 
i kept thinking of freshman year, of being so.. fresh.. and so scared and so excited all at once. of the incredible thing that happens when you go to a place where you know no one, and make all these friends from all over the country, people who will eventually or sometimes immediately change your life. i remember meeting some of them precisely; i remember the first words they said to me. others i have no idea how friendship happened; i just know that it did. 
i keep in touch with none of them the way that i should, and many of them probably don't even have any idea how much they mean to me. i should fix that.
there was laura from chicago, fallon from arizona, sheila from california, erin from florida, sara from pennsylvania, becky from indiana, tiffany wharton from.. i have no idea where she's from, but i really liked her. (later. at first i did not. i can't remember why. i think she complained because our music was too loud.). kristine from virginia/maryland. beth from pennsylvania, collett from georgia, bridget from pennsylvania. justin tam from california, tripp from nashville, matt from.. somewhere. emmy from nashville.  and later, lucy from tennessee, lauren from new jersey, nathan and cliff from my hometown, caleb from... california? i know you lived there for a while.. people from just everywhere, is my point, and a hundred more i've left out, and somehow we all got along and some of us even came to love each other. amazing. 
do you know, i used to walk around campus and hear some of the best music you'd hear anywhere? obviously, some of you do know. you were there. but in case you weren't. people would sit outside and just play and sing.. the guitar, the cello, the violin, the bongos (does anybody else remember bongo girl?), the mandolin, the steel guitar. just sit, outside the music building or in the middle of the quad or smack in the middle of a hallway, for that matter, and play their hearts out. it was amazing. i sat in the lobby of my dorm with chris rice, backstage at a charity showcase with kathy mattea and mike-y smith, in a young life christmas party with most or all of jars. not that those things matter, really, but come on. it was awesome for us, and it should have been. 

anyway. the late nights, the filthy rooms, the birth of nicknames (that have stuck), heartbreak, lasting love, good and bad music, first drinks, surgeries, deaths. impromptu cafeteria songs (thank you, pat gann, why did you have to leave?), road trips, professors you could learn from AND talk to, professors you couldn't (no thanks are offered to you, 'professor' real-estate-whose-name-i-cannot-even-remember). some REALLY awkward conversations, often thanks to me.. hahahaha. and some wonderful ones. sitting with two of my best friends' heads in my lap with tears in their eyes, hating that they were hurting but being so very glad they trusted me enough to do that.
 people got speeding tickets in my car. people peed in it. not intentionally. actually, that may have been the same person. people went 38 hours without any sleep and got captured on video.people went on road trips with insane people who happen to be the boyfriends of other insane people (jackie, why WERE you sitting with your nose in the corner under your bed that time i walked into your room?). people came home with me and lived at my house for the weekend. we sat and sang in stairwells, we prayed for each other, we went to doctor's appointments with each other. we lived together. functionally. (sometimes.). we bought a trampoline. i gained 15 pounds of pure wendy's by halfway through the first semester. weekly time with laura dudich, now grant, from first semester to last. she is still the only person i know who understands some parts of me. the opening concert of senior year, tim wildsmith, standing next to erin and knowing this is it. london. graduation. 

i just cannot get over it. it was phenomenal. i do not want to forget, or to completely lose the people i came to know. i am thankful to remember so much. i wish i remembered more. 

anyway. i guess maybe now i will go study. maybe. 

as you go your own way, remember do not be afraid. because you're right where you should be: in capital city. 

i will always love you, like a long goodbye.





Friday, February 15, 2008

august and everything after


It was Valentine's Day yesterday, and for some reason I am picking this occasion to start posting again. At least, posting again once. Who knows if it'll continue. 

It was a long day today, but I am tired in a pleasant sort of way (and not trying to rhyme, really). It has been a long couple of months, but I am happy. And yeah.. there WAS growth. 

Anyway, I love Valentine's Day and always have. It's just a sweet day. All the way back to second grade when we decorated shoeboxes to bring in (I think I still have mine) to keep all our Valentines in, to taking part in friends' Valentines through the years (so sweet) to yesterday's beautiful bouquet of tulips and roses from SPHV (Super Punk Hooker Valentine) who I love so much it hurts, and heart-shaped container of my favorite chocolate (ferrero rocher) from Carson, my sweet little 3 year old friend. Awwww. Any day dedicated to love is all right with me. 

I am studying for midterms and applying for scholarship this weekend, and I am going to the beach in 2 weeks. Praise. God. I can't wait. Lazy drives on Gulf Blvd, sand, ocean, slurpees, books, sushi, cuban sandwiches in bathing suits, and fabulous boyfriend with his fabulous parents. Oh, joy, please come faster. 

Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day! I hope yours was as good as mine.