I love my lips. Gusta(v)!!!

So, yeah, this whole tropical storm/hurricane Gustav business is concerning. Please pray for those along the Southeast United States this coming week as this hurricane is to hit. Pray that Sarah and I and our families will be safe, and that my campus will not be blown away like Union University.

Proud Mary

I have officially eliminated internet and television from my home. No, I'm not typing this at home, I'm in the safety of a university owned and operated computer lab. With this new "free time" I will be able to more fully devote myself to self-awareness and exploration, soul spelunking, reading, prayer, background music, and piles of school assignments.

This change has been really telling. I find when I get home that I immediately want to turn on the television to see what is playing. I had no idea I was so hard wired. Several times a day I question what am I going to do with my time not watching TV (for there is much of it). The answer is everything that I should have been doing the past 3 semesters when I was watching TV. Tasks and devotions that result in growth and development rather than simple time swallowing.

I would really appreciate it if you would join me in praying for clarity and direction from the Lord in a couple of specific, unsaid areas.

New Beginnings

Welp, here I am again. The start of a new semester. I am incredibly certain and uncertain of what it will bring. I know that it will bring the future closer, our wedding date closer, my master's degree closer, my future job(s) closer, etc. In the same hand I am uncertain that this semester will bring relief and not added anxiety instead, that my plans will align with the Lord's plans, etc.

Still, I love new beginnings. I love the idea of newness; all is gone from the past and only possibilities and choices lie ahead. I remember when I first went to college that I decided I was going to change who I had been for 18 years to someone new. I had a chance to leave behind (so I thought) everything that I did not like from the past and could recreate myself. I found truth in that and found that the past is right there behind me when I turn around to look at it. I feel similar with this school semester. I am certain that the Lord is renewing me and definitely allowing challenges along the way to test me in that newness. I pray that I would not be like Lot's wife and turn for the past that only bears death, fire, sin, and lost hope. I pray that I would fix my eyes on the unchanging and that I would be in constant change to be fully refined in His likeness.

(I hate that the computer lab on campus is only open until midnight tonight instead of the usual 2am closing time.)

I am reading The Picture of Dorian Gray currently as a bedtime story. I am not sure yet what I think of this work. I think I would be wiser to read books like this in one big sitting so that I could soak up as many details at one time as I could like a sea sponge. However, this will not be so as bedtime stories are meant to help one fall asleep (I assume).

I miss all of you who know my heart so well, regardless of the physical and/or metaphysical distance between us. peace friends.