push 'play' to pause

It is good to be back.

This first week after coming back stateside has been nothing but hectic, running back and forth from classes and seeing familiar faces, standing in the longest caff lines you ever clapped your eyes on, and just the kind of fellowship that is characterized by both bellyaching laughter and moments of deep sincere care that I have grown to love and miss of the tribe over the summer.

The freshmen are taking over the campus! From filling up the chapel to the brim and over, to making it a well-meaning fight in the caff over the last banana, the freshmen are truly everywhere. Praise the Lord! He is indeed using this school to reach more and more young men and women to prepare them from being unworthy vessels, to be still unworthy vessels, but now consecrated and aligned to hearing the Word of God.

Chapel is something that i have missed sorely. The opportunity to be in a hot gym packed with students with one accord praising our Heavenly Father does not present itself every day, and I cherish each moment.

This year, I am a junior! my my, how time passes quickly. I don't know about you, but after hitting junior year, school suddenly seems to speed up. The brevity of 15 weeks is suddenly glaring one in the eye, while the list of tasks that demand attention and completion seems to grow longer than the hotchkiss stairs.

I have found that the sweetest moments in my day are not when I'm walking with friends to class, or even enjoying a decent meal at the caff, but they are in the morning when all is still and i have a moment to spend with my Savior. It may seem tempting to sleep that extra 10-15 minutes, then lazily lumber over to the restroom to get cleaned up for school, then let one's thoughts wander as we get ready for the day, however it is crucial to take time out of the day to spend with the One who by far loves us the most. Indeed, this is the only way that we can truly enjoy our day: by pausing before it begins, to spend but a brief moment with the Lord.

just doing the dishes

How is everybody doing? Running to and fro, barely keeping tabs on the numerous things begging for attention, or fighting off boredom as we eagerly look forward to what the fall semester will bring, along with longings for the next vacation? Alas, I find myself in that boat--just counting days left, till I can be with you all again. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love being with my dad, and am looking forward to being reunited with my mom with great anticipation, however I do miss having human interaction during the day, and find that although the days pass quickly, sometimes an hour can stretch for a near-infinity when there is nothing productive to do.

I would like to encourage all of us, those who are bemoaning the lack of the 25 hr day and those who just can't wait to get back to a regular routine as dictated by the rigor of schoolwork: let us not grow weary of running the race! We must not forget that we are in a spiritual battle right now--the Earth is the war-zone. I speak not of the sadness and atrocities that occur all around the world as we speak, but of the many hundreds of souls who are leaving this world for the next and not knowing where they are going. We must be vigilant in prayer, as we keep ourselves accountable to the Lord.

I have several duties that I must perform at home. One of them, surprisingly, is making rice. (who woulda thunk it) The others are doing the dishes and taking out the trash. As I do the dishes, i frequently wash the same pot multiple times a week, sometimes even twice a day. I don't know about you guys, but sometimes that gets downright frustrating--'seriously? i just washed you! how'd you get so filthy again so soon!' But then I am reminded of the analogy that our Savior used, comparing us to vessels of clay. This is such an apt comparison; we are fragile, and we have a tendency to get dirty fast. The hands of the Father are so kind, so soft as he gently takes each one of us and washes us again, again and yet again of our sins. How sweet is forgiveness! We would be in a truly despicable predicament if the Father ever got exasperated with us, impatient that we have sinned and are stained yet once more--He patiently soaks us in hot water and cleanses us. Doesn't it want to make you burst out with song, praising God for who He is and for what He's done? I'm no good at singing or making up words for tunes, its a blessing that someone has gone ahead and made a song :)

'there is a fountain filled with blood/drawn from Emmanuel's veins/and sinners plunged beneath that flood/loose all their guilty stains...

oh how i look forward to the promise of the last verse:

'Then in a nobler, sweeter song/I'll sing Thy power to save/when this poor lisping, stammering tongue/lies silent in the grave...I'll sing Thy power to save.

Friends, let us be filled with praise for The Lord, and His power to save!