Update

Well, classes have begun.
I am officially a sophomore. (yay wise fools!)
Which is weird, because I find myself giving people advice on classes and ways to get to class and where to eat and everything else.

I had to pack away my life again. I'm not a fan. I can't wait til I can settle somewhere and not have to pack up everything all the time. Eventually...

I wasn't able to read all those books, sadly. But I did finish:
How to Stay Christian in College - J. Budziszewski
I Once Was Lost - Don Everts & Doug Schaupp
Who You Are When No One is Looking - Bill Hybels
Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller

and hopefully I'll be able to read the rest in the near future.

I miss my family immensely, but that was to be expected.

Leadership is exhausting. But so rewarding.

I got a job at a coffee house on campus. (Perfect job... Fuels the habit. hahaha). I'll start sometime in the next week I think.

I think that's all for now...

Book List

The books I'm trying to read before school starts (I have another month):

How to Stay Christian in College - J. Budziszewski
I Once Was Lost - Don Everts & Doug Schaupp (Required)
Who You Are When No One is Looking - Bill Hybels (Required)
Blue Like Jazz - Donald Miller
SexGod - Rob Bell
The Transitive Vampire - Karen Elizabeth Gordon
Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia - C.S. Lewis
The Ragamuffin Gospel - Brennan Manning
Woe is I - Patricia T. O'Conner


I'm sure there are more. One down, and I've read portions of a couple of them.

Footprints

(two blogs in one day... amazing I know)

So one of my junior highers brought up this poem/story in Bible study today...

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.

This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,

“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”

The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”

It made me think about how amazing this is. The times when you feel like God isn't there, the times you feel the most seperated from God... that's when He's the most present. He's carrying you. Not just holding your hand, not just helping you walk.

So, the past week I've been reading "How to Stay Christian in College." Sounds corny, I know. I wasn't expecting much from it. But it turned out to be a really good book, it clears stuff up about life as a Christian in general. It has helped me realize (along with reflection throughout the summer of the past 5 years of my life) the times where I felt completely seperate from God. And it was my choice, my decision. But, He brought me back, somehow I realized His presence, He set me down and we began to walk together again.