shout-out

A couple things:
1 - I am still here, and I will write again. Just rethinking what the blog is, what I want to write, and how I'm going to find time to write it.
2 - I got really tired of the ugly blog design. I'm aware this isn't all that much better, but I wanted to just simplify it for now. Someday I'll do that extreme makeover I promised.
3 - Thanks for your patience. See you again soon.

Something to think about until next time:

O Love that Will Not Let Me Go

O Love that wilt 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.

O light that foll’west all my way,
I yield my flick’ring torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

Currently Reading...

Inferno by Dante
That Old Time Religion: Evangelical Protestantism in the Twentieth Century by DG Hart
What's So Great About Christianity? by Dinesh D'Souza
One Thousand Gifts by Anne Voskamp
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

It makes for an interesting combination of thoughts running around inside my head.

Where have we come from as Christians?
Where have we come from as American Christians?
What role does Christianity play in the world today?
How should I live each day as a Christian?
How does my faith help me understand the harsh realities of the world?

mhm. fascinating.

On Change

inevitable. exciting. painful. necessary. frightening. just some of the words that come to mind when I think about the change in life.

I've experienced a lot of change. But never more than I have in the last six months to a year. It's very odd to think back to a year ago.

A year ago, I was in the height of my debating career. I was in the middle of my year of staffing TeenPact. I was living at home when I wasn't traveling all over the country.

A year ago, almost to the day, I was visiting Patrick Henry College.

I knew my life would be different by the end of the year, but I don't know if I ever stopped to think about how different it would be. Sometimes, in the middle of my day, I will stop for a moment and reflect on the drastic changes I've seen in the last six months. I can't think about it for too long - it's too overwhelming to process. Not all bad. Not necessarily all good either. Sometimes slow - a two steps forward and one step back at times. Sometimes far too fast - precious moments slipped through my fingers before I even had a chance to fully understand them.

We've been reading Augustine's Confessions in Western Literature. In class yesterday, Dr. Libby asked us to think over our lives, and briefly write a mini confessions. Write down some experiences we had had that impacted us, people we had met, or things we had learned.

I stared at the blank paper in front of me. A mini confessions? There would be nothing mini about my confessions. There were too many experiences that all built up into each other. Too many people. And certainly too many lessons.

I will say this - I had a very difficult time concentrating for the rest of class.

But, if I had to summarize all the change, all the lessons and experiences, into one small package, it would be this.

God is faithful and constant. God loves me and has beautiful plans for us. God is strong, and we can trust Him.

That is my confession. And all the change this world has to throw at me cannot change that.