Playlist Prompt #25: "In My Life"

Hello, friends! Today's prompt, courtesy of Lindsey, is the song "In My Life" by the Beatles.

This song makes me think of Heaven.

It starts out talking about nouns. Just kidding, but it's true all the same: the song talks about people, places, and things that the singer loves. There's a lot of nostalgia in this song, and I'm here for it! I can list some of my favorite places:

• The bluff at Concordia University Wisconsin
• The Chapel of Christ Triumphant, also at CUW
• University Lutheran's sanctuary
• Lake Okoboji
• Walker Johnston Park in Urbandale

And I can list some of the things I associate with those places:

• Many, many walks up and down the switchbacks with Lindsey
• Many, many chapel services with my college friends
• The joy-filled Vespers nights with the UL crowd
• Swimming in the lake with my camp friends growing up
• Playing at the park with my neighbors as a kid

I don't get to those places very much anymore. I see some of those places very differently now than I did as a child. But the memories will always be there, and they'll always make me smile.

But as the song says:

"But of all those friends and lovers / there is no one compares with you / and those memories lose their meaning / when I think of love as something new"

"Though I know I'll never lose affection / for people and things that went before / I know I'll often stop and think about them / In my life, I love you more"

When we get to Heaven, it will be so insanely wonderful beyond all of our imaginations. It'll be like all of our favorite places combined and so much more than that. Our memories of the old Earth will be nice, but they'll lose their meaning to us in the light of the wonderful new Earth we're now experiencing. Isn't that an interesting thought - a place that has no dark side, that will never lose its hold on us, that we'll never need to feel nostalgic for because we'll never lose it? 

Playlist Prompt #11: "Me, Who Am I?"

Hello, friends! Today's prompt, courtesy of me, is the song "Me, Who Am I?" from the Broadway musical "Cinderella."

I ask myself that question a lot. Who am I? The answer is certainly a little different than it was when I started this blog, six years and two hundred posts ago. Back then, I was a recent college grad on my first big adventure. Florida wasn't where I wanted to be, but I was following my ministry dreams where they led me. I knew what I was meant to do. I was shaky sometimes - my anxiety was alive and well - but I was usually able to overcome it.

I feel like six-years-ago me was the bright-eyed bushy-tailed rookie. In contrast, right-now me is the seasoned, disillusioned veteran. I'm where I want to be, but I've seen some things. I don't have the same sunny outlook I once did. My anxiety's through the roof, and I can't control it.

In the song "Me, Who Am I?", Prince Topher has a vastly lower opinion of himself than his knights and subjects do. Here's how he describes himself:

"Me, who am I? A far from perfect guy / a bum who wants to do what's right but often does what's wrong / a kid who's voice is way off key but loves to sing a song / a guy who dreams like a lion but wakes up like a lamb"

Meanwhile, his knights and subjects describe him with these glowing reviews:

"His Royal Highness, Christopher Rupert, slayer of dragons, pitiless to ogres, destroyer of griffins and giants, no friend to gargoyles, nice to the needy, sportsman and poet"

So who is right - Prince Topher, or his knights and subjects?

I have similar questions sometimes. How I describe myself is very different from how other people describe me. My friends call me caring, funny, inspiring. My coworkers call me hardworking, dedicated, a self-starter. Those aren't the words I use to describe myself. Does that mean they're wrong? Who am I, really? Why does it feel like I'm not the same person I was six years ago?

Here's what I know about anxiety: it lies. I can't trust it, and therefore, I can't usually trust my own thoughts about myself. That doesn't mean they're all wrong. It just means that my thoughts - the ones that stem from my anxiety - aren't painting an accurate, full picture of myself.

I can trust my friends. If I couldn't, they wouldn't be my friends, now would they?

I can trust my family. I can trust my coworkers. 

For the most part, when the people in my life tell me something about myself, I can trust that what they say is true.

I can also trust that God's Word is true. Here's just a snippet of what the Bible tells me about who I am:

I was created in the image of God. (Genesis 1:27)

God knew me and chose me before I was even born. (Jeremiah 1:5)

I am one with Christ in my baptism. (Galatians 3:27-29)

I am forgiven of all of my sins. I do not need to be afraid. (Isaiah 43:1)

I was created and saved for specific good works. (Ephesians 2:8-10)

I will have eternal life. (John 3:16)

When I can't trust my own thoughts, I can go to the people I love and trust theirs instead. God, my family, my friends - they will tell me who I am. That hasn't changed in the last six years. 

So who am I?

Here's me, trusting you all out there to tell me, because I need it tonight.

October Writing Prompt #1: Fall

Hello, friends! Great news: Tanner Olsen's writing prompts are back! Today's prompt is Fall.

Fall has always been my favorite season. I love the weather and the colors and the clothes. My birthday is in the fall. During high school, cross country and Homecoming were in the fall. I always loved dressing up for Halloween. District Youth Gatherings were in the fall. I have so many delightful fall memories. Just to name a few...

Because our vicar decided to take us swimming in the middle of the night during the junior high Gathering, the Gathering group as a whole got banned from the pool. 

I dressed up as Super Goldfish during Homecoming week once. 

Speaking of dressing up, I was Laura Ingalls Wilder for Halloween once, but everyone thought I was Little Bo Peep.

I loved being/having secret buddies during cross country season. We got each other small silly gifts for every meet. My personal favorite gift was a frisbee ball. It entertained the whole team for half an hour one day.

One of my all-time best birthdays was this year, when my friends provided me with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, and then proceeded to crush me in Uno Attack.

I didn't cut my hair for years, and then chopped it off the day of the Homecoming dance one year. Between that and wearing a dress, hardly anyone recognized me!

So many of my high school friends were in band that I was a loyal fan at marching band competitions, and went to football games solely for the halftime show.

Speaking of football, fall was a busy, busy time when I was at University Lutheran. Tailgate days were crazy fun!

It's hard for me to think about Oklahoma, but I had some good fall memories there, too. The Board of Ed came up with a new tradition a few years ago that I hope they're still continuing: dress up Sundays during the month of October. Purple for LWML Sunday was an easy one; we'd do red for Reformation Day; and in between we'd do everything from Sunday best to cowboy gear.

Fall is fun. Caramel apples and colorful leaves and sweater weather... I'm glad to be on God's Earth this time of year!

Stay tuned for October 4th: Prayer.

5 Years Ago, and 5 Years from Now

Hello, friends! I'm back with another blog post inspired by you guys. Today I'm responding to the prompt: "a letter to myself 5 years ago and 5 years from now." Thanks, Sarah!

...

Dear Mary from 5 years ago,

Remember University Lutheran? You left it just 9 days ago, but after 5 years, it's still a place I long to return to. Hold those memories close to you. Hold those people close to you. They're precious.

I know it seems like waiting for a call is the most painful thing that can happen to you. Trust me - it's not. I'm not saying this to scare you; I just want you to savor the time you have right now to just be. Spend time with your friends. Cuddle your new nephew. Pray. Read. Study. God's got a plan, and it's okay that you don't right now. It's going to be awhile before you're able to "just be" again. So as much as you can with an unknown future hanging over you... enjoy it.

You have big dreams. That's a good thing. Dreams are healthy. But you could use a healthy dose of caution, too. When that call comes - and I promise, it will come - jump in feet first, but keep your eyes wide open. Don't assume you can do everything, or fix everything, or be everything. You can't. You're not supposed to be able to. Don't let anyone tell you differently, including yourself.

I'm not going to tell you details, but I will tell you this: things will get bad for awhile. Your friends will see you through. Nothing will happen as you expect it to, but you can trust that God knows what he's doing.

Never stop dreaming.

Never stop caring.

Remember you're never truly alone.

Love,

Mary

...

Dear Mary 5 years in the future,

I have so many questions.

Where are you?

What are you doing?

Do you have a husband? More kids? A dog? A house?

Honestly, right now, the question that would fulfill my dreams is: Are you no longer worried about making enough money to pay rent? Because that would be fantastic.

As I'm sure you remember, 2020 has been insane thus far. We're only halfway through the year! Dare I hope that the second half of the year is calmer?

Insane as it's been, though, I'm so glad I've spent it in Milwaukee. Maybe 5 years from now, you're emotionally stable enough to be okay more than 30 minutes from your friends, but I am certainly not right now. And that's okay. I need them. They need me. And Tammy needs them, and they need Tammy. There's nothing quite like the support system my little family unit has right now.

Here's what I think is important for you to know 5 years from now:

Nothing bad is ever the end of the story. Something good is always around the corner. You might be in a hallway that's miles long, but the corner's coming. Have faith in God, in yourself, and in the people who care about you.

I desperately want to know where I'll be in 5 years. I really can't even begin to guess. But wherever it is... give yourself a pat on the back. You made it. Here's to another 5 years.

Please write back,

Mary

 

 

Writing Prompt #13: Anxiety

Tanner's prompt for today is Anxiety.

I write about anxiety a lot. You guys know this. So instead of doing that, I'm going to write about the opposite of anxiety. According to Google, the opposite of anxiety is "calmness" or "serenity."

Calmness = the state or quality of being free from agitation or strong emotion.

Serenity = the state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled.

I tend to associate calmness and serenity with places. The bluff at CUW. University Lutheran's sanctuary. My balcony. Melissa's living room. Lindsey's backyard. These are places where I feel no pressure to succeed, no fear of judgement, only the opportunity for peace and joy. I can go to these places, even in my mind if I can't be there in person, and feel okay.

Any of you have places like this?

Stay tuned for June 1st: Breathe.

Writing Prompt #11: Coffee

Tanner's prompt for today is Coffee.

Shortly after arriving in Tallahassee, I remember having this conversation with Pastor Jay.

PJ: "Do you drink coffee?"
Me: "I do not."
PJ: "What do you have to drink with breakfast?"
Me: "I drink a lot of milk."

And I remember Jay writing that detail into his Moleskin notebook and chuckling to himself.

It's true! Coffee has never held any attraction for me whatsoever. It smells weird, it tastes terrible, and it makes you jittery. What's there to like?

Okay, there must be something to like. I haven't read Tanner's blog post from this morning yet, but I assume he didn't choose this prompt just to talk about how awful coffee is.

Let's just say, coffee's not the way I like to start my morning. I like something cold (usually cereal and milk, because childhood habits die hard), a good book, and a hot shower. If I'm able to insert some kind of exercise, even better. That was walking the dog, but now that I no longer have a dog, I am considering taking up running again.

What's your morning routine? Let me know. Just don't try to convince me to drink coffee, because gross.

Stay tuned for May 28th: Compassion.

The End of the Decade

Hello, friends.

I'm going to do the stereotypical "it's the end of a decade" post here. Because it is! And it's interesting and informative to reflect back on what the last ten years have been.

In 2010, I turned 18 years old. I graduated high school in Iowa and moved to Wisconsin to begin my first year of college.

Since then, holy cow, a lot has happened.

I graduated college in 3 years.
I've had 9 different jobs and lived in 4 states.
I made a lot of new friends and lost touch with some old ones.
I've gained a sister-in-law and seriously cute godchildren.
I became a dog-mom, and then a foster mom, and then an adoptive mom.

The end of 2019 finds me recovering from following my dreams to Oklahoma. My recovery has led me to Milwaukee, with my wallet a little tighter than before, but my heart much fuller.

Looking back at who I was in 2010, I doubt I ever would have guessed what the next ten years would hold. I never thought my first church work job would be campus ministry in Florida. I would have been aghast to think that my first call would end so painfully. I hoped I'd find my husband by now.

So many things are different than I thought they would be, but that doesn't mean they're bad. I'm ending the decade on a good note, in a good place, with good friends. It may be a note I never would have predicted ten years ago, but it's a good note nonetheless.

Along the same lines, I have no guesses as to where I'll be in 2030. I'd like to see myself in a stable job, with a husband and maybe a few more kids (biological, adoptive, foster, whatever). That's as specific as I want to get. God will fill in the blanks. After all, He certainly did in the last ten years. I have faith that whatever He's got planned for the next ten will be equally surprising and ultimately good.

Uncomfortable

Hello, friends! You may have caught on to the fact that last week was a rather uncomfortable one for me. I'd rank it in my Top 5 of the worst weeks of my life. The blows just kept coming. I was searching for something to put my week into perspective when I came across this on my computer. It's the last devotion I wrote as a Lutheran Campus Initiative missionary. It applies so well to my situation that I know it has to be a God thing. I hope it can bring some inspiration to your life as well.

Have you ever been caught out in a storm? It’s rather uncomfortable, isn’t it? It’s dark, the rain is coming down so hard that you can’t see a thing, the water is pooling up around your ankles, you’re cold and wet and starting to feel the sniffles coming on before you even get inside. Now, picture that happening on a small boat in the middle of a lake, and you’re picturing the situation the disciples were in in Mark 4. “A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling” (verse 37).

We have all felt that way in life, too. Whether we’ve lost our job, we’re overwhelmed in our current job, we’ve taken on too many responsibilities, whatever it might be, we have felt drenched and about to be flooded and overturned. God tends to put us in uncomfortable situations. He always has a purpose, but in the midst of the situations, we’re calling out, “God, please rescue us!” And although God never fails to rescue us, he does even that in uncomfortable ways.

For example, in Mark 4:38-40, Jesus is in the boat that’s flooding… and he’s asleep. “They woke him and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’”

Now, I don't know about you, but when I'm overwhelmed by something - be it professional or personal - I'm not terribly interested in hearing about my faith. I'm interested in riding out the storm and getting safely to shore. But Jesus doesn't think like that. He is focused on what's important, and in the end, that is our faith. He rescues us in uncomfortable ways to force us to focus on what's important, and after we are rescued, he thrusts us into a new uncomfortable situation with our newfound faith. It's a never-ending cycle, and that's okay. That's the way God intends it. We are not meant to be comfortable, but we are meant to have faith in the uncomfortable.

On the Road

Hello, friends! I'm writing to you from "out there on the highway, out there on the open road," to quote Holly Williams, one of the artists my mother and I heard last night at the Grand Ole Opry. How did I end up in Nashville, you might ask? I'll tell you if you'll "roll with me, roll with me."

I'll return to song lyrics later, no doubt, but before I get there, let me tell you about my last few days in Tallahassee. I spent most of my Saturday packing, except for the few minutes I spent helping Anna jump start her car. I also took my pastels upstairs and drew some University Lutheran art. My favorite was this one, which is a symbol on the stained glass windows.

Sunday was my last official day as a Lutheran Campus Initiative missionary. I led the Bible study and ushered during the worship service. I was glad to be able to witness the baptisms off Wyatt and Alexa Paul, and doubly glad that the baptismal font and Christ candle survived the day. Wyatt and Alexa's two older sisters were a little too excited. :P After eating lunch at Jim & Milt's, I spent my afternoon hanging out with PJ, Liz, and Cricket. Cricket and I played with blocks for awhile before they all went home.

On Monday, I said goodbye to a few people and a few places. I volunteered for the last time at the Children's Home Society and said goodbye to Veronica and Annalise. I also visited the top of the capitol building and got some frozen yogurt from Yogurt Mountain. I did quite a bit of writing on Monday; some very nice person roasted me last week and gave me a journal, and I figured I'd start it off by recording my last few Tallahassee thoughts.

I'm going to miss that capitol view.

On Tuesday, well... I packed and packed and cleaned and packed some more. I took frequent breaks to go upstairs and say to PJ or Matt, "Hey, I don't want to pack this. Do you want this?" Around 6 o'clock we had planned to start packing up my car, but some hurricane-force wind and rain came at just that time, so we waited it out in PJ's office. I didn't mind, as this gave me the opportunity to play with my best friend Bear-dog. When the weather cleared up, PJ, Sarah, Evan, Corey and I managed to fit my giant pile of stuff into my little car. (We're now considering starting a moving company called "Five Lutherans and a Focus.") We had dinner at Cantina's, and then we had to say goodbye.

Can you believe that all fit?

On Wednesday, I said a very sad goodbye to University Lutheran and set my sights toward the Midwest. I drove my very full car to Montgomery, switching into God's time (commonly known as Central time). I picked up my mom from the Montgomery airport and we continued on to Nashville, where we caught a show at the Grand Ole Opry. Our favorite artists were Holly Williams, the Willis Clan, and Thompson Square. 

This morning, we visited the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Ryman Auditorium. Now we're out there on the highway, out there on the open road. Tonight we'll stop in St. Louis and visit my friend Megan, and tomorrow, I get to meet my nephew in person. If you don't hear from me after that, it probably means I've died from excitement. 

What a Week!

Hello, friends! Wow, I missed my Thursday deadline twice in a row. I feel like I'm tripping at the finish line here. But in my defense, it's been a very strange week. Let me tell you all about it.

Last Friday... my nephew was born! Since this will go on the Internet, I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to post pictures. Suffice it to say, my nephew Kylen was born two weeks early and I was incredibly surprised when I got the phone call. I've proceeded to talk about nothing other than my adorable nephew since then. Just ask Sarah; she was with me all day on Saturday.

Speaking of Saturday, Sarah and I went to DISNEY! And I'm definitely allowed to post pictures of that, so here you go. Pictures say a thousand words!

 

  

Last Sunday -- wow, it really was a crazy weekend -- University Lutheran had a sending-off for me during the worship service. They said a prayer over me, and then after church there was a delicious cake and a card signed by a lot of UL people. I felt so special and loved. (Also, if you like cake... we have a lot left. Please eat my cake.)

This week, we did some tabling (joy) and handed out all of the magnets we possessed (non-sarcastic joy). We had quite the crowd yesterday, with Julie, Anna, Liz and Cricket all joining PJ and I. Wednesday I had my last-ever staff meeting with PJ and Matt, which made me sad. I've really enjoyed our meetings. At least we came out of it with one more inside joke. (Maybe you are the one person who really wants a squirrel sweater.)

On Wednesday evening, the inevitable happened... I got roasted. In the picture, you can see all of the random items I acquired. (There might no longer be room for my mom in my car.) My personal favorite moment was Pastor Jay describing my attempt at lizard herding and giving me an inflatable lizard to remember it by. Among all the funny memories was also a serious moment: Pastor Jay gave me a memory book with notes from several of my favorite Florida people (including Cricket and Bear). He also is having a plaque made with my personal meaning statement: "Helping others find their place in God's story."

Yesterday, I had to say a sad good-bye to some more of my favorite Florida people: the Damayan gardening crew. There were many sweaty hugs exchanged and I promised that I would have a garden of my own someday, which I do fully intend to do. I've learned so much from Mark and Burgen especially about gardening, and from Maddie about pretty much everything else! Thank you so much for an incredible year, guys.

Today I had lunch with Rina and she told me all about engagement rings and wedding dresses, which are the two things on her mind right now. So exciting! Other than that, this morning I finished up church calls and now I'm blogging to avoid packing, packing, and more packing. Tonight I'll be having a laundry party at Anna's, tomorrow I'll probably pack (and pack and pack) and Sunday will be my last worship service at University Lutheran. I'm excited to see the Paul twins get baptized, but I'm not excited to leave UL. It's such a wonderful place and I will miss it so much!

When I write in this blog next, I'll no longer be in the Sunshine State. Ahhhh!

Catching Up and Looking Ahead

Hello, friends! I apologize for not writing a blog last week. I'm not sure, but I think I forgot. So now I have two weeks to catch up on! However, they were very similar weeks in a lot of ways.

For example, I had the delightful opportunity to hand out football schedules to incoming freshmen during orientation. PJ wasn't around last week, so I bribed Matt to help me out on Tuesday and Julie joined us again on Thursday. This week, PJ has returned and we've gotten back into our regular, very exciting routine.

Last week, per the usual except for the lack of PJ, Matt and I had a staff meeting. We picked through this Sunday's readings to find the gift of God, how we can give ourselves as gifts, and how we can celebrate the gifts we've been given. What we came up with had the general theme of "growth." Then we saw the newsletter article Pastor Jay had written up, and we were very excited because our theme was right on target.

Perhaps one reason I didn't think about writing a blog last week was because Pastor Jay had given Matt and I some reflection questions to write about. My personal favorite was: "What is next for University Lutheran?" This question was tricky for me, because I, personally, will not be around for what's next for University Lutheran. (In fact, one thing that's next for University Lutheran is me leaving!) But Matt and I both enjoyed playing around with the possibilities, and it was interesting to learn that we came up with pretty similar ideas.

(One thing I wrote about was inspired by worship on June 7th, when Cricket, Eva, Becca, Ava, Wyatt, and Alexa all came up at communion one after another. I said, "I imagine that UL will have to become more child-friendly when all of these kids (so many girls!) become Sunday school age.")

Last Friday night, I went contra dancing for my friend Elm's birthday, which was great fun! We also went to a barbershop quartet performance over at Tallahassee Community College on Saturday. And I have more fun plans coming up this weekend -- Sarah and I are going to Disney!

That's all the news for today. It's strange to think that in two weeks, I'll be moved out and gone. Soon this Iowa Girl will be returning to Iowa. In case you're wondering about what comes next for me, the answer is that I don't know yet, but I have a few possibilities. However, if you ask me the question "What is next for Mary?" I'll answer it like this: "My niece or nephew is due in 15 days!!" :D

Happy June!

Hello, friends! Happy June! The time of year has been on my mind a lot lately, because now that it's June, I officially have less than a month left of my time in Florida. Gah! Where has the year gone? My fun stuff in Florida bucket list is still mostly un-checked-off, but work-wise I feel like I'm at a good place. This week in particular has been interesting.

Last Friday PJ gave me the daunting task of creating the curriculum for Vespers next year. In his words, this is a way I can "leave my legacy" on University Lutheran. I've been enjoying this far more than is probably healthy. First, I reviewed what we did this year. Then I set the major goal for next year's curriculum. Then I divided it into goals for first and second semester. Then I divided the semesters into units, and the units into weeks... And now I'm almost finished writing an outline for each week. It's fun! I like having the opportunity to do something as  overarching as this.

Last night, we played host to a bunch of 7th graders from Stuart, Florida. They were on their class trip to the Capitol and came to us to learn what college is like. We fed them spaghetti, meatballs, garlic bread, and Publix cookies, and then talked about their impressions of college and how Jesus can fit into their life during college. I enjoyed the conversations we were able to have (and I was reassured that a year of college students hasn't made me forget how to deal with middle schoolers). The highlight of the night for PJ was learning that someone who came to this night 5 years ago is coming to FSU because of it. Again, in his words, his "heart just swelled." You don't often get to see the results when you plant seeds, so this was incredibly special for him.

Per the usual for summer, we handed out magnets on Tuesday and Thursday. Tabling was... well, tabling. PJ is leaving me all alone next week, so I'm glad that some of the church members have decided to help us! Anesu came out on Tuesday, and Julie was there today.

This afternoon I went out to the Frenchtown garden. We weeded around the watermelon plants, picked tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans, and played limbo with the water hose. Elm came today, which was great! We had some really good conversations in the van on our way to and from the garden. One of the facilitators, Maddie, is a religion major. She's excellent at coming up with in-depth questions to get us talking.

Then, this evening, Sarah and I went out to Food Truck Thursday. I've never seen so many ducklings and goslings in my life. We would be in the middle of a serious conversation, and then a duck would waddle by and do something funny and we would just give up. To round out my blog for the day, here's a picture of some ducks.

Order in the Chaos

Hello, friends! I'm writing to you from my living room couch, and I'm surrounded by a variety of interesting objects: a hammer, my Bible, my work notebook, some white ribbon, a pincushion, my favorite baseball cap, a synopsis of the Gospels, an iron, a hot glue gun, a list of all the LCMS churches in Florida, and the back of a picture frame. Let me tell you how all of these things came to be in my living room!

The hammer, ribbon, pincushion, iron, hot glue gun, and back of a picture frame are all ingredients for my long weekend activity: crafting. I made a few items for all of the babies in my life, although from that list of things I bet you'll never guess what I made (and I can't tell you, or it would spoil the surprise for the babies). I also made a craft apron for myself, because when I start making crafts, cleanliness is not my priority. I bet you couldn't tell that from my description of my living room!

My Bible and my work notebook are normally seen together. As usual, this week I wrote four devotions. My favorite one was probably the devotion for Tuesday. It involved the Ezekiel story about prophesying to dry bones. When I searched for a picture of dry bones, it came up with this:

Naturally, I thought this was hilarious and used it as the illustration.

My favorite baseball cap, which is a Harry Potter cap from Universal, is in my living room for two reasons. One, I wear it during our delightful hours spent in the Union handing out football magnets. Two, I wear it when I go to the Frenchtown community garden. Today the five of us (Maddie, Burgen, Megan, Mark and I) weeded one of the beds. With all of us working, we were able to clean it out pretty much completely. We also hunted down caterpillars in the tomato plants and ate some cucumbers and green beans. I brought back a small pile of green beans for myself.

The highlight, however, was watching the kids play a game of basketball and several of the girls perform a steps routine during their halftime.

The synopsis of the Gospels is the topic for this summer's Bible study, which I get to help teach. I led our discussion for the first time this Sunday, and I think it went pretty well! Luke 1 and 2 were on the agenda. We tend to overlook those passages because we hear them so much, but it was nice to take the time and examine them more closely.

And lastly, the list of all the LCMS churches in Florida. Tomorrow, I get to (read: have to) continue to work my way down the list, calling churches to ask if they have students heading to college in the fall. Last Friday, I knocked out 48 churches. Hopefully I get through at least that many again tomorrow. 

There you are, a sum-up of my week based on my messy living room. Until next week, farewell! 

Football schedule? Football schedule?

Hello, friends! It's so nice to sit down in a nice, quiet, shaded, air-conditioned room and write after a few hours spent saying nothing but "Football schedule?" in a sunny, hot, crowded student union.

(I really shouldn't complain -- we were in the shade today. However, it's Florida, and I reserve the right to say "It's too hot" basically every day!)

Anyway, Tuesday started our twice-a-week orientation schedule. We stand outside in the heat and hand out football magnets to people walking by. Sometimes that's new students, sometimes that's the new students' parents. Sometimes it's random staff people and other campus ministers! It gets a little tedious, but we've found ways to amuse ourselves. We chat with the people tabling next to us, who have included a pre-med group, an acapella group, and a Jewish group. Today Liz and Cricket came to visit us, and of course, Cricket was immediately the star of the show.

In other news, I volunteered to help with the Sunday morning Bible study for the summer. This Sunday will be the first one I get to lead. We're going through a synopsis of the four Gospels, discovering which writer included what and why. So far, it's pretty interesting!

And since it's summer, I get to do my favorite job: church calls. Tomorrow I'll start on the nice long list of all the churches in Florida, letting them know about LCMS-U and University Lutheran. I just can't wait. I'm very, very excited.

This Sunday I'll be doing a church swap with my friend Emily. She'll come to our worship service, and I'll go to hers over at the Mormon church. It should be very educational for both of us! I'm looking forward to it.

That's all for today -- I need to go dunk my head in cold water or something. Have I mentioned it's hot in Florida? ;)

My Shiny New Phone

Hello, friends! Today I've decided to write my blog from my shiny new phone. This gives me the opportunity to mourn my old phone, which died tragically in an accident yesterday. It fell out of my pocket as I got out of Pastor Jay's car and subsequently got slammed in the car door. This blog also gives me the opportunity to beg for your phone numbers, as I lost quite a few of my contacts because of this sad incident. (If you text me in order to give me your number, please identify yourself, otherwise I will have your number but not know who it belongs to!)

Moving on from my phone woes... On Friday I went to Yogurt Mountain with Evan to celebrate his new summer internship. It's a good thing for him my phone broke, because the embarrassing picture of him devouring delicious yogurt is now inaccessible. Friday night I spent at a going-away party for Gary and Jessica. Gary recently got a job in Washington, D.C., and they started their move today. On Saturday, Anna, her roommate Hillary, and I went to the Tallahassee Museum to do the zip line course, which was super fun!

I haven't done too much this week- volunteered at the Children's Home Society on Monday, had lunch with Justin on Tuesday, went to a circuit meeting with Pastor Jay yesterday, and had lunch with Laura today. I've also written my normal number of devotions and worked on some young adult ministry network stuff. Hopefully there will be some joint young adult stuff happening before I leave!

During our drive to and from Tifton yesterday, Pastor Jay and I decided to forego regular Vespers this summer. Instead, we're going to do trivia night at Brooklyn Water on Thursday nights, starting tonight. If you're in the area, feel free to join us! (I'll need all the help I can get...)

That's all the news from Tallahassee, except for this great story: http://m.wtxl.com/mobile/news/man-wearing-only-underwear-claims-to-be-god-tased-at/article_f623444a-fa49-11e4-8094-fb59da6c07a1.html

Until next week, friends!

New Friends

Hello, friends! As it so happens, I had the opportunity to make some new friends this week. Monday afternoon through yesterday afternoon I attended the Youth and Family Ministry Association retreat at Luther Springs camp in Hawthorne, FL. Let me tell you what I learned: youth ministers are crazy.

I did learn more than that, but that was the most amusing revelation of the retreat! By default, youth ministers are certifiably insane (myself included). No one else would willingly go into the profession. We had great fun together as we ate junk food and swapped ministry horror stories. I would tell you some of them, but you might require counseling afterwards and I don't have that kind of money.

In all seriousness, the retreat was a blessing. Our theme was "Detox." We talked about identifying the toxic things in our lives (words, thoughts, relationships, and culture), guarding our hearts against those things, and replacing them with life-giving, life-affirming, and life-changing things. Our small group discussions were wonderful and insightful. We were able to listen to, support and encourage one another in our various struggles. I appreciated the opportunity to learn from youth ministers who have been in the field a bit longer than my 10 months.

The retreat also gave me a new appreciation for prayer. I have, of course, always known that prayer is a powerful thing -- but it's one thing to know that, and another thing to see it in action. Simply the act of one youth minister saying to another, "I'll continue praying for you, and I want to know when your prayer needs change," is life-affirming. It gives validity to a youth minister's needs, which often go overlooked in favor of the needs of the congregation.

On the way back from the retreat, I gave myself a brief driving tour of the University of Florida, just to say I'd been there. If you're worried about me becoming a Gator fan, remember that my boss is a Gator fan, and therefore I must placate him until July (when I can return to not caring).

I've included two pictures for you this week. One is the YFMA crowd during one of our sessions; the other is the best picture I could get at UF without getting out of my car.

Good-Byes Are Hard to Do

Hello, friends! It's finals week here at Florida State, and that means that I have a lot of good-byes to say. All week I've been getting together with the students who won't be around during the summer. It's a rather odd feeling, because I'm not going anywhere yet, and most of them will be back next year, but by the time they get back, I'll be gone.

I like to make this joke when I'm with a student: "I don't have favorites, but you're my favorite." In reality, of course I have favorites (everyone has favorites) but I love all of my students. I've interacted with such an incredible mixture of students this year, from freshmen to grad students, from physics majors to art majors, from Quidditch players to museum enthusiasts. I love the variety. I love knowing that each student meet-up will be completely different from the next.

I didn't anticipate getting so emotional this week, but the good-byes I've already had to say have been hard. I wish I could stick around and see all of my students graduate and be with them in the next chapters of their lives. I'm looking forward to moving on in my own life, but it's definitely bittersweet. It'd be great if all of my students could come with me so I wouldn't have to say good-bye.

As PJ reminded me earlier this week, it's probably exaggerating to say I'll never see my students again. In all likelihood, in our small Lutheran world, I'll encounter them again before too long. They'll be at a Gathering or convention or camp, and we'll have a wonderful reunion. I have to keep reminding myself of that this week. This is not the end. It's only good-bye for now, not forever -- for even if I don't encounter them again in this life, we'll be reunited in the next.

I can't think of how to end this well, because I've said enough good-byes this week. I don't need to say it in my blog, too! So until next week, friends.

Roasted

Hello, friends! I hope you are all enjoying your week. Mine has been pretty fun. I met with a couple of people, planted tomatoes at Lichgate garden, went out to Madison Social and played Disney trivia with Rina, and attended our last session of Vespers for the semester -- but the most significant event (based on fun) was Sunday afternoon, when we had our senior roast.

As PJ likes to explain it, the senior roast is when we gather all of our graduating seniors who are leaving us soon and make fun of them enough that they never want to come back. Pastor Jay and I both purchased a number of Dollar Tree items for this event and presented them to the seniors in the most humorous way possible. And Justin was kind enough to have Zoe capture this on video, so I was able to review it before writing this post! Here are a few of my favorite moments.

-Evan got rickrolled, as he has insisted on doing to us for basically forever.
-Edson and Austin received many items they can use in their future careers, such as plastic medical equipment, ninja knives, inflatable hammers, and open/closed signs.
-Justin, our token Presbyterian, received a "YOLO" ring, which in this case means "You're Only Lutheran Once."
-Anna received a cat toy that can double as a conducting baton.
-Caroline is first in many things, including being first to the food line, so she received some first place ribbons to signify this.
-Justin and Anna both received a baby bottle and some blocks because they have baby fever (as evidenced by their extreme interest in Cricket).
-Evan is now an official Pro Usher, with the certificate to prove it.
-I reminisced about Caroline saying "Just go crazy!" to Larry as he was pouring her wine at the Seder meal, and got her six plastic wine glasses to make sure she had enough to go crazy again.

My favorite moment, however, was one that lasted the whole week leading up to the roast. I was telling Anna for several days in a row that she needed to be very worried about what I was going to say about her, to the point that when Sunday arrived, she was terrified... and I purposely left her until the very last minute, just to draw it out as long as possible. I enjoy being cruel far too much.

I wish I could experience many more senior roasts to come -- I may have to incorporate this idea into my future vocation somehow! Before I finish, here's the picture I stole from Justin's video of the roast. There are our graduates, looking very scholarly in their party hats.

A Baskin Robbins Blog

Hello, friends! I'm writing this from Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins while enjoying a delicious chocolate milkshake. I hope you are equally well set up! I apologize for my blog being a day late. I would give you an excuse, but I have none...

Anyway, here I am! Let me tell you about my week. It's been a fairly slow one compared to last week. I met up with a few students, had a lesson with my Mormon missionary friends, went to Elm's chamber choir concert, and led Vespers on Wednesday night. I didn't get out to either garden this week; I missed Tuesday because of Elm's concert and yesterday because it was raining. I did, however, get out to the food bank last Friday afternoon to volunteer with Rina! Coming up soon is the senior roast on Sunday (where I get to make fun of my students, woohoo!) and the end of the semester, when 40,000 people will leave town just as suddenly as they arrived in August.

"The future" in general has been on my mind a lot lately. Although I have a few job possibilities, I'm still looking for more places to apply, so feel free to fill me in if you see a likely position! I feel like I'm in limbo again, much like when I graduated from college. People keep asking me, "So what are you going to do after you're done here?", and I reply with, "That is an excellent question!" I'm looking forward to a time when I don't have to shrug my shoulders and say, "I have no idea."

I'll end on a more cheerful note - over Easter, my old roommate Lindsey came to visit me! We went to the FSU circus and Wakulla Springs in between watching excessive hours of tv shows and playing Castle: The Detective Card Game. She was surprised to see (as some of you might be, if you didn't see this picture before) that I cut off 10 inches of my hair to donate to Locks of Love! :)

The Urgent Easter Message

Hello, friends! I hope you all had exciting Easter celebrations last weekend and that you will continue celebrating Easter all year round. After all, every Sunday is a little Easter!

This evening has been an interesting one for me. It started out at the Frenchtown community garden, where we planted seeds with the kids and had a great time. I returned and left again with Pastor Jay for the Go Week Kick-Off at Moore Auditorium, where we sang and prayed and generally prepared ourselves for Go Week. When it was over, I did as my Mormon missionary friends had requested: I listened to one of their "General Conference" sessions from last weekend. Now, here I am, writing a blog. What should I say about today?

Here's what today (and most days here in Tallahassee) has taught me: our message is urgent. The kids and volunteers at the garden need to hear the Easter message. The freshmen that Go Week seeks to reach need to hear the Easter message. My Mormon missionary friends need to hear the Easter message. Every person in every place needs to hear the Easter message. This isn't something I can put off until tomorrow. Jesus might come back tomorrow. I need to share the Easter message today.

I can't reach everyone, but if we all reach one person, we can reach everyone. This blog is a challenge to all of my Christian friends and family who read this. Share the Easter message. It's urgent, and it is a matter of life and death. Identify your one person and tell them about the saving hope and new life that we find in Jesus Christ. The means will look different for all of you, but the message will remain the same.

And when you share the Easter message, remember that it may be your task, but it is also your treasure. The Easter message is yours. Savor it. Remember it. Thank God for it. Remind yourself of it. And share it.