Fourth Years.

Quote Love: "Once in a while it really hits people that they don't have to experience the world in the way they have been told to." - Alan Keightley

Last week at Agape, when Liz shared this prayer, they also showed a video of interviews with fourth years. I know this is probably not as meaningful to y'all as it is to me (seeing as these are basically my BFFs in this video), but I wanted to share it with you anyway, to give you a glimpse into my college community. And also because it's pretty awkward (that couch we are sitting on was not made for four people, let me tell you that) and kind of funny to watch.

(1:40 - 1:56 is my favorite part....that's my roommate, y'all!)

Also, I'll be telling you about the Ben Rector and NEEDTOBREATHE concert I went to last night soon! Teaser: it involved Panera and banjos and typewriter keys.

Venturing on Wilder Seas

At the end of the school year, Agape ends with letting fourth years (us!) share 'words of wisdom.' Last night, Liz (my housemate of three years, roommate of one year, friend since week one of college and fellow missionary kid) spoke, and she shared this prayer with us, written by Sir Francis Drake in 1577. It's pretty powerful, and not to mention nautical, so I wanted to share it with y'all!

 

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push back the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

 - Sir Francis Drake 

[image 1 | image 2]

This Time Next Week

...I'll be seeing this guy in concert:

Not to mention these guys:

Can't wait for a Monday-night roadtrip to Lynchburg with some of my favorite people!

Thought Of The Day

Currently Reading: The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner
Currently Listening To: Over You, Miranda Lambert. (yes, currently on a slight country kick. What can I say, it's getting on towards summer here..)

 Illustration by Katie Rodgers of Paper Fashion Blog.

Friday Five

Currently Listening To: Springsteen, Eric Church

Five things I have realized this week:

• If motivated by friends & wine-tasting, I can whip out an 8-page paper faster than I would've ever thought possible.
   
• I need God every hour. (This is by no means a new realization. I was just physically reminded of it this week while fasting with Agape. No food for 24 hours = hourly dependence on God to get through.)
   
• I am, surprisingly, a fan of The Sound and The Fury (by Faulkner) so far. Even though I have no idea what's going on in it yet.
   
• Reading before class can sometimes make class make a lot more sense.
   
• There are only two full weeks of class left in my undergraduate career. (SLOW DOWN.)

How bout you? 

[image via Whimsicalities]

Three Songs for Friday

Verse Love: "But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God's right hand. ...For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy." (Hebrews 10:12, 14)

If You'd Like: you can read about my family in Kenya here. 

Any day that begins with biking to Uganda and ends with a dance party is a good one -- especially if Cook-Out, a Good Friday service, s'mores, and Soularium are involved, too. But even though it's been a full day and I'm ready to sleep, I still wanted to check in because I'm going to be taking time off from the internet for the weekend. But don't worry, I'm going to leave you with three songs, though, to tide you over.

The first comes courtesy of Abigail Lee Lunsford.

The second was brought into my life by the Virginia Gentlemen.

And the third I've had in my head all day because sang it at Agape last night.

Enjoy. And I hope your Easter weekend is filled with awe and joy and friends and family. And some chocolate, too, for good measure.

The Principle of Graveyards

I’m taking a class on Faulkner and the Bible. Most of the time, I’m confused. Faulkner is very confusing, and connections between Faulkner and the Bible are also very confusing. But my professor is amazingly brilliant, and even though I’m not always completely following what he’s saying, I write it all down because oftentimes he’ll flippantly throw out deep and poetic sentences that I like to capture in their entirety.*

The week before last we read Jeremiah and this past week we read Matthew and Mark, looking at how Jesus is reconstituting Israel, and how he preserves his sinlessness for the people of Israel by standing in solidarity with sin**.  We talked about how the resurrection was not merely a resuscitation but a resurgence. And in the middle of that train of thought, Professor Wilson casually throws this sentence out there:

“Resurgence is forward motion into new life;
the whole principle of graveyards contradicted and canceled.”

What a wondrous way to say that, and what a glorious truth! I love that Professor Wilson is telling us the gospel in unconventional ways in this class, and I love that this thought can guide my thinking this Holy Week.

I know we still have Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and a lot of solemn and momentous things to stop and remember this weekend, but I love that, even so, we already know how it ends. We already know that there is Resurrection – resurgence! –  and that the whole principle of graveyards is contradicted and cancelled. And we get to celebrate that this Sunday!

Happy Holy Week, everyone.

*Well, I also write it down because I have to take notes (or doodle or something) to stay focused, and because it is class, after all, so notes are good…

**I copied this word-for-word from my notebook. It’s another one of those things that I wrote down because it sounds poetic and deep.

[image via We Heart It]