It's here

The Seattle weather is officially here. The past month has been filled with sunshine and warm weather, but this weekend it all changed! Today, the high is 46 degrees, with lots of rain :) Even though my Southern California body is feeling a bit shocked, it's also fun because it feels like stereotypical Seattle. Welcome to it!

Happy Birthday Katie!

Yesterday was such a fun day! It was Katie Hill's 21st birthday and we had a wonderful time celebrating. The festivities included:

-brunch at Julia's in Wallingford...delicious omelette and blueberry/chocolate chip pancakes

-a trip to the Fremont Market and Theo Chocolate, just to get some free samples :)

-going to Macrina for a birthday latte

-trip to Metropolitan Market so Katie could buy a bottle of wine...she was sure to inform the cashier that it was her 21st birthday, and proudly handed over her I.D.

-church at Bethany

-dinner at Conkling. We had some friends over and made cheese and chocolate fondue, and had all sorts of fun things to dip in them! Bread, broccoli, pretzels, apples, strawberries...delicious.

It was such a wonderful night, and so fun celebrate such a precious person in my life. Katie has been such a great friend to me for years and it's exciting to be in this new phase of life together. Roommates! :) Love you Katie! 21!!!!!!

We're All In This Together

My friend Josh just posted this on his blog and it really resonated with me. So many things in our world aren't fair. I think everyone would agree that. But so many of us do nothing. We aren't moved to action. And that's not fair to the slave, the orphan, and the poor.

What is the Point?

“I am so happy to be here! This is something I have been dreaming about for 5 years and now it’s actually happening! I have been praying about this for so long, and I just feel so confident that this is where God wants me to be right now.”

I have said those three sentences more times than I can count in the last month. People ask how I like it up here, if I’m adjusting okay, if I get homesick at all or if I still feel like it was the right decision. All of those statements are true. I do absolutely love it here. It’s completely surreal that this dream is coming true. I do feel confident that this is exactly where God wants me.

But then tonight, I hit this rut. I realized that I keep saying this is where God has me…but what am I doing with that? I have been so consumed with excitement about finally being here, that I have forgotten to pursue why the Lord wants me here. What relationships does He have waiting for me? What ways does He want to grow me through this newfound independence? How will I need to pursue Him more in order to fulfill the plans He has?

I want to be where the Lord has planned for me, but I also want to do what He has planned for me in that place. I don’t want to just rest in the fact that I’m finally here, and then do nothing differently. What is the purpose of me being here? What does God have in store for me in Seattle that couldn’t be accomplished in Azusa or Ventura?

What is the point of all this?

I hate to admit that this the first time I’ve really thought about any of this since moving here.

Hopefully now that the Lord has opened my eyes to it, He’ll continue to shape my heart. When this season is over in two years, I hope to look back and know that I pursued Christ and His plan for me with every ounce of myself. That my main goal wasn’t getting good grades or making a lot of friends, but truly embracing this unique time of growth and opportunity that He has provided.

The Wonderful Cross

I wrote this after church on Sunday:

I was floored by the message of the cross tonight.

To be painfully honest, this doesn’t happen often. At least, not as often as it should. Growing up in the church has created an immunity to the majesty of that selfless act, but tonight, it amazed me.

The pastor was talking about taking steps toward Christ, and how He wants disciples & followers, not just admirers. I want to be a disciple so badly. I feel like this past year has been a huge pursuit of that discipleship and the desire for it just seems to intensify every day.

We took communion afterwards and I was praising the Lord for His mercy. For His amazing love that would suffer on the cross in my place. And it just hit me: He was broken for my sin, punished for a crime He didn’t commit. He was mocked, ridiculed, rejected and abused.

Because. Of. Me.

Because of my sin and stubbornness. Because I too often choose to be only an admirer instead of a committed follower.

I once heard a pastor say, “Whenever you are hurt as a result of someone else’s sin, think of Christ.” He was hurt physically and emotionally because of us. Yet He willingly did it. Tonight, I started to think of the most painful things in my life (which still don’t equate to the cross, or even come close, but it’s all I’ve got) and wondering if I would willingly endure it again, fully knowing how painful it was, in order to save someone else. Ah. It’s a brutal question when you honestly try to answer it. Praise Jesus, He is making me into a more selfless person but that process is nowhere near complete and the selfish facet of my heart still seems to dominate most of my decisions.

The truth is, I’m a mess. And the only reason I can even have a shot at becoming a holy, committed disciple is because of the cross.

I was floored.

We ended the service singing “Oh the Wonderful Cross” and the words completely resonated with my heart. Resonated with the deep thankfulness and awe I felt tonight.

“Were the whole realm of nature mine

That were an offering far too small

Love so amazing, so divine

Demands my soul my life, my all

Oh the wonderful cross, oh the wonderful cross

Bids me come and die and find

That I may truly live.”

First week done!

Well, my first week as a Falcon is over. It flew by! Here is what my week consisted of:

-walks around Green Lake

-a quick visit to Molly Moons :)

-runs to Gas Works, and then taking a break to just sit and enjoy how beautiful it is

-impulsive day trip to Mount Rainier with Katie. It was GORGEOUS

-introduction to “group” which is a worship night on campus

-more laughs with the roommates

-hung out at the Fremont Market, and stumbled upon Oktoberfest nearby…oh, Fremont.

-skyping with Lauren Klapp and Katie Hahn

Oh yeah, and class :) My classes this quarter seem like they will be really good! My favorite is my Intro to Global and Urban Ministry class. We’ve already had some really interesting discussions, and I even got a jump start on the reading (which I never do) because it was just so exciting to me. My Argumentation class (aka: debate) is one I was actually pretty nervous about. I mean, let’s be honest…I am not argumentative. But the teacher is amazing and is making it so I actually kind of enjoy it, which is great! Then I have a history class that is rather boring, but I have it with Katie and our teacher is the sweetest lady ever. So it’s shaping up to be a good quarter!

I’ve also been on the job hunt for about a month, and this is the week of answered prayers! I sent out an email about babysitting to a few families on the street, and they all forwarded it to a bunch of other people and I’ve gotten about 5 families ask to babysit for them! Most of them are just casual, once-in-awhile kind of jobs, but one family needs me weekly, so praise God for that!!! I also had an interview today for a job on campus so fingers crossed! :)

I had another “I can’t believe I actually live here” moment on Tuesday. I went on a run to Gas Works and was sitting on the lawn, just admiring the view, and I thought, “This is home now.” In the past year, I’ve had a lot of homes: Azusa, Ventura, South Africa, Ventura again, and now here I am. Home.

I still love it up here, in case there was any question in your mind. I’m sure eventually the honeymoon phase of it all will fade away and I’ll learn to blog about things besides Seattle and how happy I am to be here. But seeing as how the leaves are starting to change and I’m mildly obsessed with fall leaves, this phase probably won’t end any time soon ;)

With love from Seattle.