Lots of Random Things

As of today, and more officially tomorrow, my life as a university student at Western Washington University is over. It's really weird. I don't think it hit me until after this morning. I spent this morning helping some INN folk pack up the office into a box. Seeing that place emptied out of all familiarity made me realize that all familiarity of how I function at the INN, as a person, and as a "professional" are all about to take a dramatic change. It hit me again as I walked up the stairs of my house looking at the enormous yellow beast as I have so many times, but this time realizing that I don't get to be a part of living here again next year. I think both these changes are for better, but I'll absolutely miss everything that came with the last three or so years.

Our weather has been terrible this month. I'd like to think it could be Bellingham's way of saying goodbye to a lot of friends who are graduating and heading off into the distance, but in reality, its just a continuation of more weird weather. I should expect it by now.

To celebrate this change that happens every year, the last few weeks have been littered with fires near the beach. It's been a fantastic way to see friends before leaving.

Finally, in the last few days of this week the weather has gotten nicer and we've been able to go outside as roommates for a few last times to experience the landscape that Bellingham has to offer. I love it. So good.

The end of this quarter also marks the end of the "Sunshine Experiment". This was a challenge between our house, Fred's "house" and Mara's house to prepare cheap meals entirely from components from Sunshine Liquidators and live to see the next day. Well, we're all still here, so I suppose it was a success. It was a great way to get our houses together and have some fun times as we shared in wet dough balls, nacho cheese soup, and crunchy mexican surprise.

Zach introduced us to a new dice game called Greed. It's excellent. I hope to play a lot in Alaska(where I'll be on Monday!). I've won 2/2 of the games I've played, so we'll see if that record gets broken. I'm pretty excited about that!

Ski to Sea 2008

Well, at the last minute I had just a bit of time to finish up with the Ski to Sea video for the youtube video contest. It turned out better than I thought it would, but there are some things that I would much rather be different. Anyway, check it out and enjoy!

End of some things, starts of others!

I've started the process of packing up all my stuff to get it moved home, or get it ready to go to Alaska. It's kinda sad, because I've lived in the same house for the last two years, and definitely have some great memories here. It's also weird to see my room being much cleaner than it previously was. Oh well. Packing up and leaving is essential though. It's making room for new people to move into this house that will bring a fresh view and an excitement to live in a great place that is both close to campus, FPC, and has cheap rent. If all goes according to plan, all three floors of this building will be filled with INN students. Actually 10 total to be precise. 10 students, 8 bedrooms. It'll be an adventure to say the least!

Moving also makes a space for my new, graduated, life. I've heard it'll be different, and I'm already starting to see some of the changes. I'm okay with it, and getting more excited as each day goes by about what next year will be like. Until then though, its pretty sad to have to box up all this stuff and pack it out. It's been a great time!

Fantastic Retreat

I love eastern Washington. It's a good place. When a great place like that is combined with a purpose, like a youth retreat, things just can't get any better. Three of us took a few students over to bridgeport state park for the weekend. Last year we went to Chelan. Bridgeport is nearby, just a little east. It's near the town of Bridgeport(woah, I know), which is near the town of Brewster, neither of which are large.

The retreat started with us leaving the church in two shifts. I headed out with the first load in parent's van while Kyle stayed back. One of the students that thought about coming on the retreat couldn't make it till a little later, so Kyle had one car wait for him while my van left to set up the tents. This is a huge advantage of a small youth group/small retreat. While we would have hoped for a few more kids to come, I think the kids that were there were there for a reason.

We ate dinner on the road, and after an enormous trek of near 300 miles, we landed in Bridgeport. Our group site was beyond huge. It could have slept 60, but we had 8. Awesome. The grass provided a great space for running, climbing on rocks, playing kickball, and all things good.

At youth group, I can easily (and often!) get frustrated with how little it seems that the kids listen to anything that is said, being either directions or (more importantly) a message. We had individual devotions, small groups, and one talk on acceptance by Kyle.

Kyle gave us three biblical examples of acceptance. All were very powerful, and I think the guys in my small group grasped their meaning later that night when we sat up on a huge rock and discussed what it means to be accepted, chosen, loved, and wanted by God. We dug pretty deep with both the questions that kyle gave us, as well as some that I brought up that flowed from where our discussion was going. At that point, God took my doubt about the students' growth and listening to the message and shook it upside down. As I neared the end of the list of questions and any discussion that was related and flowing, I expected to climb down the rock and continue my night of smores and games. Instead, the guys started asking questions... tough questions about doubts, acceptance, God, and all other things related. It felt like an "a-ha!" moment right then. I could see on their faces their desire for acceptance, and also their begining of understanding of what God has done for them. It was the most beautiful moment of the retreat, and maybe even my entire year.

I think in youth ministry I get too often bogged down with the number of attendees at our events, what activities we have planned, or even what I think that God working in these students' lives should look like. When these expectations are missed, we feel let down, disappointed, and at times worthless. We begin to question why we're doing what we're doing. It's in these moments we need to remember to turn to God and trust that he's placed these students in our care for a reason that only He knows. We need to trust that He's doing something inside the hearts of these students, just like he did inside of us years ago, that we can't always see. When I think in worldly ways, this waiting for what feels like forever is the worst thing about youth ministry. When I remember to ask God for wisdom about this challenge is when I see that this is the best part of youth ministry: getting to experience God changing lives firsthand, having the opportunity to support and play a role in this, and the beauty of the wait while God does something to their hearts that I can neither see or understand.

Campus Day!

So, I planned to be on campus all day to finish my environmental assignment, but I didn't need nearly that much time. I've spent the last hour or so sitting in the lawn outside of old main with SJ and a friend from my auditing class. Various people have come by and said Hi, and I can't help but get excited about this being a part of my job next year. I'm relaxed, gotten a little work done, enjoyed conversation with passing friends, and its fantastic!

The weather is nice, which makes this absolutely perfect. Sarah just related reading A.W. Tozer to trying to read hot chocolate because every word is so thick. How fantastic! What a day.

With such a great day at hand, I can't help but reflect on the BibleGateway Verse of the day:
“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.”- Romans 12:15

It seems that all things have their time. The tricky part is figuring out which time is for what. How often have I made a joke with someone who was mourning when I thought they were rejoicing? How often have I been "debbie downer" when friends are trying to celebrate around me? In some ways, this verse is almost a "go with the flow" sort of feeling.

Of course, we can't take that too far and think that we need to go with the flow all the time. There are definitely times we are called to be counter-cultural, and sometimes be sad when we're supposed to be sad. I still think this verse is a good reminder that sometimes our attitudes need adjusting.

Woo hoo! Good day!

Sweet afternoon in the library. A sabbath of sorts. I started an intern book and relaxed. Good times!

Sweet afternoon in the library. A sabbath of sorts. I started an intern book and relaxed. Good times!