two weeks

i have about two weeks until i migrate south for the last time, God willing. again, i leave the comfort of family, life-long friends, and seventy-degree weather for the world of academia and dry heat without air conditioning. my feelings are more mixed this year than every before, even though i have done this four times previously.

this summer has been incredible! i went to rwanda, africa to kick it off. i learned tons about what grace doesn't look like and what it means to serve God in rough times and areas. then, i went to palm springs for resolved, heard john piper preach and the Holy Spirit speak volumes into my life. next came alaska and washington on a cruise. lesson learned here was that i get sicker than i ever thought on boats, with no regard to size. then came a job working with an elderly jewish woman. i've learned about grace through this position and i hope i am, at long last, no longer afraid to give a bed bath. a trip up to the deteriorating grandma's, my first best-friend's wedding and off campus came next. the ideas of grace and a well-lived life for the cross were emphasized like never before. oregon came last in terms of adventure.

grace, grace, grace

what a theme of a summer! through leaking cars, plane and car rides, carpel tunnel/tendinitis, four states, dad troubles, a broken computer, and just plain ole' days, grace triumphed all. i'm almost scared to leave this fellowship because i don't want the centrality of Christ and the grace found only through Him to leave the for-front of my mind.

at school, i will hopefully, enter my last year (PTL!!). even getting to this point is a grace of God, but with the hardest year yet to complete, some strange and painful ailment, and a good chunk of my friends graduated and moved on, what does this year hold? what beginnings and endings does the Lord have in store? what trials will i endure for His namesake? what blessings will i have the privilege of having so that i may glorify Him? shoot, i have no clue!!! but with some anxoiusness, i'll admit, i pray and pack, remembering and praising God for this summer and longing to do so in the future!