miss to the issippi

there is no particular insight or spiritual application to this blog- just bored and about to pack up to head to the hizzy tomorrow. i cant express how much i love my family. so much happens that i miss being over here, and some great things are happening in the family (i only have 10 members-- no direct cousins or anything) but we are all really close. i do have some extended family but not that i see much around the holidays. not really looking forward to the 9-hour drive though. especially after work; however, a nice layover in jackson will suffice for the endless boredom. i think i am going to get an audiobook from the library tomorrow morning.- try to keep me awake, so if anyone is bored tomorrow and as much as i despise talking on the phone, i would enjoy any jabber you have to offer. have a good one and happy thanksgiving

all the king's men

by now you must realized that school is taking a lull when i publish twice in one week- hallaleujah! ok, so my friends kati and chris and i were watching some chick flick last night about mandy moore and her father, the US president and her troubles as the president's daughter. The thought crosses our minds of how much it would stink to be the child of the president and have your whole life under a magnifying glass-- how much pressure it would be to live up to so many expectations. Then, the thought crosses my mind- not only are we the children of a king and our life is likewise under a microscope- the manner in which people perceive our lives as they look into the magnifying glass is crucial. It is literally a matter of life and death according to what they see. We have ultimate expectations- God wants nothing less than perfection. However, of course, we can not live up to this, but Christ can- and did! Nonetheless, we are to have the attitude and mind of Christ as the representation of his bride- his church in this world. So, just a prince william and harry or the bush girls, our lives as children of the king of kings is likewise examined by a skeptical world-- to carry a phrase from Dave Busby- live a life worthy of imitation

It's all greeek to me

So I am once again sitting at the YMCA, the Lord uses these precious little ones and their innocence to touch my life. Yesterday, as we do every Monday, I had a quiz in my greek class and about 30 minutes before the quiz (12 minutes before i leave work) I start looking over the words and learning the grammar in order to push though the quiz. Sometimes, in order to help me, I will ask one or two of the kids to repeat the Greek word back to me, and I try to memorize it instantly. This usually works. However, there is Mason. Mason is in first grade and he is all boy. Lego ship-making, dirt-eating, plan-crashing boy. Yesterday, Mason was making a ship, that they called Zodiac- i think it was the mother ship- and I asked him to repeat a word after me. We went through a couple of words until we came to the word apokrinomai (i answer) When I asked Mason to repeat the word, he smiled really big and looked up and me and with all confidence, he said "apple-creamo pie!" My little heart inside of me churned. He never asked what the word meant, or if he even said it right. He merely did the best he could say and was happy when he thought he was close to the mark. He was so proud as he looked away, I could not help but start to tear up. Mason did not care that the other kids looked at him strage for yelling out "Apple creamo pie" He did not question why i was asking him to say the words, following my example, he merely followed. Although he was a little off the mark, after all, asking a five-year-old to say greek can be quite a challenge, he did not stop when he messed up. He kept following my lead and saying the words as best he could. He never questioned my authority, he never asked why or how, he just followed and did it. I think this may be an example of the child-like faith that we have with our Father in heaven. Too many times we ask why or how when we really need to quit asking questions and do what he did-- follow Him. He has given us the example. With all confidence, we can grin up at the Father and try to dp exactly what He has done-- no questions asked. Sometimes we can foul it up, seeming like as hard as we try, we scream "apple creamo pie" but I think when this happends, the Father is heaven is tearing up and laughing inside as I did. He knows the real answer, but he wants obedience.