My couch may be extremely comfy, but it is also faulty. If you lay too long on it, you begin to develop back pain

I've learned a lot of things about life during my time in college.
I have learned what it means to make your money work for you, what it looks like to glorify God through mundane things like doing homework for a class, I have learned that it actually isn't possible to stay awake until 4am every night and still function properly.

I have learned a lot of things.

And of all these lessons, the one I have not quite learned yet but am constantly improving on is this:
Don't get comfortable.

It is when we get comfy that we miss out on so many opportunities to grow more in the understanding that God is the supporter of all, that Christ is at the center of all.

So, when we begin to settle into a satisfying posture, whether that be a situation, a relationship, a place, a state of mind, one of two things happen:

1. We become complacent. We slowly ween off of our trust in God and begin trusting in ourselves and relying on our own humanly understanding and ability to get by, ignoring the movement of God in our lives.
or
2. Something happens to disturb the cushion; a lump forms in the couch cover or you realize you left the book you needed on the other side of the room and you have to get up. In other words, God provides an event or occurrence to help upset the comfort that we have managed to achieve and settle for through our own meek abilities.

I know people who are fine placing themselves in the first category, maybe not admitting totally to the terms, but still accepting the comfort and desiring to stay there.
I'd like to think that I'm a person who desires the second category, one who can notice the moving of God as a sign that something about my life or actions or faith needs to change. Of course it is hard in that moment of upset to say, "yes! I want this!" but if we can be prepared for those moments to come, maybe it will be more possible to be open to the Spirit in that.

Currently, I am experiencing a time of discomfort. I had come up with a plan, a wonderful amazing humanly plan, for how the next few years of my life would look, exactly how certain events would work out. However, at the beginning of last semester, I began to feel the tiniest hint of discomfort.

You know like when you have a tag on your shirt that just starts rubbing you the wrong way, but not enough to do something about it.. it was kinda like that.

Anyways, to make a really long and drawn out story short, I have come up against a difficult financial situation that affects my last semester of college, which will be this coming Fall.
In the past, I would have freaked out at this and immediately begin to worry myself crazy about how it would all work out.
But because of the great glory of God that I have experienced thus far in my academic career, I feel much more at ease in the present situation. While I'm not slacking in figuring things out, I am no where near as devastated as I would have been in the past. I know that God is good and that He works all things out for the good of those who trust in Him, whether or not that means my idea of good or His.

I would definitely appreciate prayer for this time, that things will be sorted out and that I will, of course, by the grace of God be able to complete my final semester here at Biola.

On Christ the solid rock I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand.

Monday Morning Beauty

I watched a music video by a guy named Jonsi who was previously a member of an Icelandic rock band called Sigur Rós.

I think it's safe to say that English was probably not this guys first language. So, I'm watching this video, assuming he's singing in Icelandic, but every now and then I think I hear a word in English. I decided to look up the lyrics, and to my surprise, they were in English.

But you can definitely see some of the carryover that is common among non-native English speakers, the syntax just isn't always quite right.

And that's what I LOVED about his lyrics! They are purely his feelings, passions, translated the best he knows how so that they can be shared with the world!

Go Do
by Jonsi

Go sing too loud
Make your voice break - Sing it out
Go scream do shout
Make an earthquake...

You wish fire would die and turn colder
You wish your love could see you grow older
We should always know that we can do anything

Go drum do go out
Make your hands ache - Play it out
Go march through crowds
Make your day break...

You wish silence released noise in tremors
You wish I know it surrender to summer
We should always know that we can do everything

Go do you´ll know how to
Just let yourself fall into landslide

Go do you´ll know how to
Just let yourself give into low tide

Go do!

Tie strings to clouds
Make your own lake - Let it flow
Throw seeds to sprout
Make your own break - Let them grow

Let them grow (Endless summers)
Let them grow (Endless summers)

(Go do endless summers)

You will survive we´ll never stop wonders
You and sunrise will never fall under

You will survive we´ll never stop wonders
You and sunrise will never fall under
We should always know that we can do anything

Go do!

And we don't care about the old folks, talkin' bout the old style too

Aside from my grandparents, I've never particularly enjoyed old people.
You know how most people, when walking by an old couple or seeing that one elderly lady walking down the street will say, "aww they're so cute!"... that's not exactly my reaction.

To be honest, the elderly kinda freak me out. They are basically a demonstration of what we are to become x# of years down the road (and when I say "old" people, I'm referring to those of 60+ years.. although I am aware most people would not classify that as old). They are sometimes senile, smelly, slow, alone, lost and basically nearing the end of the journey, so seeing them as they are right then, I feel that it makes sense to be kinda offset about them.

However, this morning, my original paradigm received a little bit of a challenge and a push.

It started last night around 11:30pm when Meghan and I were checking to see who would be speaking in chapel this morning. The previous speaker had been ok, but her message was definitely intended for an audience of hormonal high school students and I just didn't think I could take another day of that. Luckily, this speaker was not going to be there, but in her place was a man named Dick Foth, age 68, Minister-at-Large; Washington, D.C. and he was going to speak on politics.

ehh...

I resolved that I would make sure to bring my most recent crochet project (ha, speaking of old people...) and go anyways. I was really just expecting a guy with a cane, perhaps, to hobble up to the podium and rattle off terms and names and ideas that were way over my head and before my time.

To my surprise, the person that stepped up to the podium looked exactly like the man in the photo online, but once he began speaking, he sounded completely different than what I was expecting.

This man spoke with passion, wisdom, love, experience, yearning and joy. Very different from the old people I so often envision as decrepit.

He shared stories of his life and continually related it all back to how we are to be like children before God. During his message, it hit me: old folks have lived a lot more life than I have and they are going to have way more wisdom than I could ever expect. Why hadn't I ever thought of this before?

Probably due to my lack of wisdom.