A Thousand Tomorrows

Well, Thanksgiving is over. Back to the grunt and grind of normal activities added with the stress of finals, buying Christmas presents, and any last-minute projects professors want to shove into the semester. Yoinks!

As I sit here back to class on a Monday morning, I can't help but wonder if anything has changed since I sat in this same place and the same time last week Monday. Sure, I got three days off classes, traveled 800 miles (twice), spent time with my family, and Christmas-treed (verb-it!).

Yet still. What has changed? The temperature is the same. It's still overcast and rainy. It's still crunch time.

Something has changed. My rule of thumb is if I'm going on an airplane, the textbooks aren't coming with me. One of my textbooks made its way into my "to take home" heap last week but I left it here and turned in a project that was not done to the best of my ability, but I don't regret it. Instead of stressing out during break, I literally took a break. I read a book. A tradition started last Christmas when I had a 13-hour travel day to get home and I read a whole book in that time. Ever since then, it's been my goal to read one book every break. This Thanksgiving, I made it! (Fall Break I didn't...).

I read A Thousand Tomorrows by Karen Kingsbury. It's an interesting novel about a horse racer who struggles with Cystic Fibrosis and a cowboy who has anger issues. An unlikely pair who both learn to love. While Kingsbury's grammar is less than something to be desired, the book is a good read. It doesn't get added to my "must read" list that I recommend to everyone but I definitely don't regret it. I'd give it a 4 out of 5.

A thousand tomorrows. We aren't promised that. We aren't even promised to see today to completion. A thousand tomorrows. Tomorrow may bring tragedy, disaster, or final exams(or all of the above) but today is still today. Today--although gloomy and rainy--is a day the Lord has made therefore something in it is beautiful.

I think that's my theme for this semester: Today is still a day the Lord made therefore it is beautiful.

A thousand tomorrows. Gloom. Sun. Rain. Shine. Snow. Clouds. Tomorrow.

Today. The day the Lord has made. Smile.

<>< Katie

Come Alive

"What are you doing?"
"My spirit is praising."
"Well your spirit needs to tell your body to come alive because the two are not communicating very well."

Mark Schultz said this to his wife one day after she'd worked 30 hours. She came home, and Mark was playing piano. Standing there she lifted her arms just a little bit and looked half dead.

How often do we do the same? Look half dead but are still praising? It's much easier to be physically and spiritually dead and go to bed. Nope. Come alive; come alive.

"Bring your broken unto Me lift it up and you will see that a love can make a heart that's been defeated come alive; come alive. My love is stronger than your weakest moment my grace is greater than your worst mistake no matter where you've been I'm waiting at the end of your weakest road." - God (Through Mark Schultz's "Come Alive")

<>< Katie

Change

Sorry! I've been a slacker blogger. I get paid to blog twice a week on a different site, so it's hard to keep both blogs up to date. That's not to say that I haven't thought about stuff to put here... I just haven't developed thoughts enough to put them into writing. The "good thoughts" or "thoughts worth pondering more" have been few and far between. Perhaps it's because I'm stressed to the max. Perhaps it's because this book review is consuming my life (read Social Construction: Entering the Dialogue by Ken and Mary Gergen and expect to have your world turned on its head). Perhaps it's that I've grown lazy. Perhaps it's because a lot of my friends have put amazing thoughts into words that I don't feel like mine compare. Perhaps it's a combination of them all.

With that said, here are some rough thoughts to ponder. I'm developing this blog as I write it, so don't expect me to have all of the answers figured out and the loose ends tied in a pretty bow.

Theological debates aside, I'm not a big fan of altar calls primarily because it leaves those of us who already know Christ sitting there uncomfortably while those "new believers" head to the front of the congregation. Sometimes I also feel like preachers who end with altar call are just pushing an agenda: get people into heaven. Just a reminder, the Bible doesn't say "make converts;" it says, "Make disciples." Sorry, I said theological debates aside so I'll stay focused here even though I've seen three or four different tangents peruse.

Last night, I was at a worship service with an altar call. Yes, I felt like the preacher was pushing his goal of making converts. As he stood on stage, he made every single one of us in the congregation nod or shake our heads to simple questions such as: do you know Christ? Does Christ have control of your life? And stuff like that. By the time he got to where I was sitting in the back, I was starting to get annoyed. That's when it hit me. Perhaps I'm not giving me life to Christ for the first time (or second or fifteenth) but that doesn't mean He and I have everything right. When the speaker said to the new believers, "Are you willing to change?" It hit me. As we say in ASL, HEART PIERCE! Are you willing to change? Really, it's not a one-time change. It's a continuous, life-long process. Change. Not fun. Not easy. Not avoidable. Change. It must happen.

Are you willing to change? Maybe you're not throwing off the ways of this world and submitting your life to Christ, but that doesn't mean you can't change. Are you willing to change? Are you willing to spend more time with Him? Are you willing to wait? Are you willing to unite with your brothers and sisters in Christ around the world? Are you willing to change?

I am.
<>< Katie

Happy Veterans Day

Thank you, veterans!

Thank you for doing what I am not brave enough to do.
Thank you for giving of your time... and your life.
Thank you for giving up all of your tomorrows so that we can be here today.

Thank you.

We love you,
America