Literature Madness!

Wowsa I have so many things to say. Sometimes I think "I should write something on my blog but I don't have anything to say" and then ideas creep into my head so that when I have one thing to say, I have a zillion things to say and I can't type fast enough! Henceforth, this point will be disjointed and likely without transitions. Good luck.

This weekend was wonderful. My university hosted an event called Fusion where there was a speaker and a bunch of bands and high school students stayed Friday night and Saturday day. Heidi and I hosted three girls. It was pretty late when they were in our room but they seemed to have a good time. Jillian, Meagan, and Casey were all very sweet :)
Friday night and Saturday afternoon I sold Fusion t-shirts. When I signed up, I asked if the math was tough (I wanted to help but not if I was going to be a hindrance) but it turns out they were only $5. Super easy math- yay!

While I worked the table, it was my intention to read Aldous Huxley's "The Island." It has been on my shelf since the beginning of the year and I never got around to reading it. I started, got confused, and put it down. I am now 50 pages in and enjoying it thus far. I loved "Brave New World" and actually read it for 2 different classes in high school. I lent it to Jessica, scribbled margins and all. I write in all my books. I underline key things and circle and make notes to myself, especially in things that are hard to read. It keeps me focused and it makes me feel like I have read it. If we get a hand out in class, when I look back at it later I have no memory of reading it unless I have written on it. My freshman year of high school I took Freshman Literature Honors. It was probably the hardest class I took in high school. We started the year with Homer's "The Odyssey" and Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" which were higher brow than anything I had read. We were required to annotate like CRAZY and, as much as I resented it at the time, it really did help me.

I had the urge to listen to Ingrid Michaleson's "The Chain" so I searched chain in my iTunes. It also brought up Chris Tomlin's "Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)". Part of the song says "The earth will soon dissolve like snow" and I started thinking about 2012 and how the world is supposedly going to end.  I don't really believe it. 1 Thessalonians 5:2 says that Jesus will return like a thief in the night, which is why every time there's someone yelling about the date the world will end, I can pretty much mark that off as the day that Jesus will not come back.

On Sunday, I went to Mt. Etna Wesleyan Church. My suite mate Jessica's dad is the senior pastor there. This Sunday, my R.A. Danielle gave the message. She is studying to be a youth minister and needs experience in a church. Mt. Etna is old. It has orange carpet, a small, smile shaped sanctuary, a bell tower, a creepy basement room, and stained glass. It is totally different than the Evangelical Free Church of Libertyville where I grew up. It's strange going into another church when you don't know how things go. I hate that feeling. When I walked in, I saw Jessica's dad and he showed me where I needed to go. I sat with Lauren's mom and she is so sweet. After church, a bunch of us went back to Jessica's house where her mom made lunch for us. Her mom is sweet too!
We ate outside and played in the yard. When Lauren and her family were leaving, Jessica took me on a little tour where I saw her high school and elementary school.
It was a great Sunday.

As one of the announcements in church, Lauren's dad talked about this mission trip he is going on to Australia. Their ministry is teaching troubled teens to produce videos to tell their story. I don't understand all of it but the use of technology to reach the hearts of youth sounds really cool.
He asked us to pray for these kids by name. Lauren's family are missionaries and when they traveled years ago to New Zealand, the people in that church had been praying for them by name. It's cool to pray for people generically, but I think it much more personal to pray for them by name.
If you get the chance or are willing to make the time, please pray for these kids in Australia that their hearts will be open to this ministry in a place that is spiritually dark.
Daniel, Mitch, Jess, Edin, Ryleigh, Cindy, Fergus, Gabby, Raphael, Erin, Teresa, and Michelle are all going to be apart of this AV project. It was heart breaking to hear Lauren's dad saying some of these kids have never heard "I love you" or "good job." Wow. I can't imagine.

I'm working on setting up a YouVersion account that will work on my phone and my computer. The website is sometimes wonky and tells me "502 bad connection" which is a bummer. I've never read The Message version of the Bible and I like the way it is phrased. I realize it's not a direct translation, but it's nice to get another perspective on it. 2 Corinthians 5:17 is my favorite verse so I started with 2 Corinthians. I'm reading out loud (UGH!) because I am bad at it and I want to get better. I don't want to ask God for an Aaron one day because I'm too chicken!
Do you remember The Donut Man? We had VHS tapes when I was little of his show and it's a kids ministry thing. Anyway, that's where I learned the verse 2 Corinthians 5:17. Watch it here!
Also, since I have been reading 2 Corinthians, I have learned the words glib, voluble, inaugural, and goaded. I know the president gives the inaugural address, but I never really knew what it meant. Silly.