within sight of the finish line. //

 

On a hot day last August, in the midst of the insane death-match of freshman orientation known as Prologus,

the newborn NSA freshman class sat in the uncomfortably warm Nuart Theatre,

our freshman advisor standing on the stage in front of us.

We were utterly terrified.

 

We had just been given our first assignment of the year,

and the 200 page book we had been told to read for our first lecture the following Tuesday stared at us like a bad omen.

I can almost guarantee that every single freshman, while furiously (but ineffectively) speed-reading was wondering what the heck they had gotten themselves into.

 

So there we sat, next to people who seemed weird and whom we never thought we'd learn the names of, let alone like.

Our freshman advisor, pacing back and forth on the stage, told us this:

 

Freshman Year is like a race.

It will be long and hard, and there will be many, many times when you want to give up.

There will be days when you feel like you can't do it any more.

 

Callings aren't easy to follow.

But if this is your calling, 

run the race,

and run it well.  

 

We're now two weeks away from the finish line.

 

We've been through four terms,

almost four finals weeks,

eight term papers

and more books than we care to count.

 

Nearing the end of the race,

we can look back on where we've been

and how far we've come,

and laugh and smile (and maybe cry) about everything that's happened.

 

That stage, the one our advisor stood on when he told us how hard it was going to be?

Each of us has gotten up there 27 separate times

and given stupid, funny, embarrassing, awkward speeches to our classmates,

speeches that turned us from classmates into friends

(sometimes friends that know more about each other than we'd like).

 

That freshman advisor, who also happens to be our Theology professor?

We know that he raises his eyebrows when he makes a point,

and that he loves cough drops,

and that he sees the love of God in everything,

and that he will throw students out of his office for not knowing

the bibliography format in Turabian.

 

The funny thing is,

at the beginning of the race,

we had no idea where we were going.

The path ahead of us was dark,

and filled with obstacles that we weren't sure we'd be able to overcome.

 

Thankfully, as we ran,

the Lord lit our way.

He lit lanterns for us late at night

while we read big books

and struggled through Latin.

 

In His grace,

He gave us respite,

and downhill slopes,

and time to breathe and appreciate the view.

 

There's one more slope ahead. Just one. And so much beauty and sweat and joy behind

that I almost want to run it all over again.

Almost.

 

"Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus,

 the Author & Finisher of our faith."

-Hebrews 12:1-2

 

 

 

 

 

 

filter

let me see the world, Lord,
through the filter of your love.

the days
and nights.
the clear, sun-infused summers
and the long, frozen winters.
the times of triumph
and the times of weakened despair

when the flowers bloom
and when they fade
for life
as well as death
are for your glory
and your purpose.

my cup runneth over
with the sweet water of your blessing
and  it will fill me
so that I am never empty.

culturing //

"Culture is an outworking of our most deeply-held beliefs. It is religion externalized."

-Joshua Appel

 

everybody wants to be a culture-shaper.

Everyone wants to leave their mark on the world and influence those around them. As Christians, we are especially encouraged toward this. We look at the Great Commission, or the Cultural Mandate, & we immediately see a grand opportunity before us.

This is our chance, we think, to shake up secularism.

This is our excuse to go into their world and take dominion.

 

but what if that's not the only way to shape culture?

What if we can shape it just by following our calling?

 

God calls us to live in this world in different ways. He gives us different paths, and different responsibilities. He created each of us with unique gifts, and He gives us those gifts so that we might use them.

 

He also gives us different loves. He gives us passions--

the things that make our eyes light up, the things that give us joy. The things that we can bestow upon the world as evidence of His faithfulness.

 

what if that's the best way to shape culture?

To live relationally in a relational world,

using our whole lives to shine the light of what we love and who God has made us to be on others?

What if we were to merely follow our calling, take the gifts and joys and delights God has given us

and give them, in turn, to everyone we meet?

 

"A man skilled in his work will stand before kings."

 

we are Christians. We are God's chosen people, living in His world.

Everything we do in Him, in His joy, in His love, is faithful culture-shaping.

If we do what He has called us to, what He has made our hearts sing for,

He will use it.

a sweet perfume

the world smelled incredible today.

amid weeks and weeks of sub-freezing temperatures (and even some single digits), I had forgotten what the earth actually smelled like. I had forgotten the fragrance of the dirt, and wet streets, and thawed air. Today, standing on a street corner, it was like a new awakening. All of a sudden, as the 5 o'clock setting sun shone warm on my face, I smelled it all. With 50 degree weather came everything I'd been missing for so long.

it's these little specks of grace that startle me sometimes. Here I was, waiting to cross a street, ready to get in my car and drive home, just like any other afternoon. But this time, God woke me up a little bit. He showered on me another remembrance of His love, reminding me that in this gift of a universe, there is not only sunshine and warmth and glistening snow and majestic clouds, but also a sweet perfume in everything- right down to the dirt from which we were created.

He is too good to me, to us. But I guess that's the point.

 

a good night.

When all is said and done, the things you remember from college are not the studies. The things you remember are the good times. The fellowship, the food, the people you love.

You remember beautiful, shining winter nights, as snow falls lightly from the skies. You remember slippery drives back & forth through town, and sitting pressed together in warm restaurant booths with your friends. You remember skating on clear ice, under fluorescent lights, and spinning in circles until you collapse in dizzy laughter. You remember Elizabeth taking pictures and Annie asking with smiling eyes "Am I doing this right?" as she shows you her spin. You remember cold fingers, and clouds of breath, and scrambling to turn the heat on in frozen cars. You remember going to sleep with a happy heart, thanking God for his gifts.

What a blessing this place & these people are.

a moment

a little bit of my own poetry. //

a moment

 

Let me stand here, a moment

Gazing with near-unseeing eyes

Let me imbibe the way you look

The way you feel, the way you smell

Let me memorize this flash of an instant

Because I know

With our lives moving forward at a light year’s pace

Even if we move together, which is doubtful

We’ll never be here, again

Implanted in the earth, immovable bodies

With the world spinning around us, love drunk.

 

 

Love Bade Me Welcome

love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back//
guilty of dust and sin.//
but quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack//
from my first entrance in,//
drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning//
if I lacked anything.

"a guest," I answered, "worthy to be here,"//
Love said, "you shall be he."//
"I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my dear//
I cannot look on Thee."//
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply//
"who made the eyes, but I?"

"truth Lord, but I have marred them; let my shame//
go where it doth deserve."//
:and know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"//
"my dear, then I will serve."//
"you must sit down," says Love, "and taste My meat."//
so I did sit and eat.

-Love Bade Me Welcome, by George Herbert

Herbert does such an incredible job of personifying the guilty, ashamed sinner in the presence of His God. Here we see the deep significance of Christ's redemption in bringing us to the Table, and reconciling us with our Lord, the ultimate Host. None of us is worthy, save that He Who created us make us once again fit to be with Him. It is the most perfect gift to be at the Feast of the Lamb, at which Christ is both Food and Feeder.