Remember When. . .

So I look exactly the same. . . but everyone else looks so young here! They've all grown up so much. This was taken May 2007, at our youth group float trip. The Hickles were gracious enough to organize it, and a great time was had by all. Oh, the carefree days we used to pass! Back when we wore crocs. . . Sigh. :)

Mid-Term, Sunshine, and Fall Leaves

Well folks, it's mid-term. Do you know what that means? I'm 1/16 of the way through my college adventure! (I'm also currently taking the last math class of my life, so these next 8 weeks may be your last chance to see me use fractions in a blog post.)

Life is truly good - today, I've had a grin on my face ever since waking up. I am happy because. . .

1. I wasn't sad coming back to Truman. The last time I was home, and coming back up here was really hard emotionally. But this time, I'm actually glad to be here. I'm slowly beginning to genuinely enjoy my life here, and it's good, really good.

2. I locked my keys in my room today. I laughed at myself so much - I can't believe only 4 days home got me out of routine that much!

3. My friends Virginia, Laurel, and I have a date to go on a walk tonight. Always a fun time - and on a related note. . .

4. It isn't freezing outside! In fact, it's a beautiful fall day and I think I may break out the roller blades and skate around the neighborhoods behind our dorm this afternoon.

5. My math teacher was sick on Wednesday, and because we missed a class, he has postponed our test until next week. I would have had 3 tests this week if he hadn't, so that definitely made my day brighter. Did I mention this is the last math class I'll ever take?

6. I had such a fantastic, refreshing time home, during Fall Break. It's funny, because even though I definitely didn't catch up on sleep at all, I feel so rested now, and much more ready to face the day-to-day challenges that come my way. There is something to be said for spending time with friends and family - I think God uses those special moments of comfort and security to refresh us emotionally and spiritually, and I'm ever so thankful for that.

7. Um, fall leaves. Is there any person in the world that isn't made happy by fall leaves? Amyoplasts, I love thee so much.

8. I had a fun office hour at SAB this morning. Normally, I don't do much, since I have an office partner, and there isn't really enough work for two people. But today, I got to help cut handbills, and run things back and forth between the Mall and the office. So yes - it was a good time.

9. I won $50 extra in "Dining Dollars" in a drawing last week, which can be used at any food place on campus. I already have quite a few extra block meals in my account, just because I don't eat 3 meals a day every day, so I'm not going to have to worry at all about food this semester! I'm so excited - especially because it means I can use the dining dollars towards warm coffee drinks in the SUB. Yay!

10. God is good, and His love does endure forever . . . I have so many friends, real friends, and several best friends, all of whom care for me and show it in so many ways. My family is incredibly supportive (and functioning healthfully without me at home, a testimony to the great structure my parents have worked to create), and so very loving. My classes and teachers are tolerable, and the weather outside makes me feel like there is sunshine bursting in my soul (which Colin claims I don't have). My heart is rather full of feelings, and for the first time in my life, they aren't just dreams of what could be. And most importanly, He is working in my heart - slowly, but surely, He continually points out inconsistencies, and brings along people in my life to encourage me as I strive to live for Him. What more could a girl ask for? Except maybe lunch. Which I shall now go eat.

Pining for Photographs

Now you all know me (presumably). You are probably aware of my aversion to cameras. Or rather, cameras being pointed directly at my face. I've developed amazing reflexes relating to this (See Exhibits A-D).






Now, do not in any way imagine that this aversion has been altered in my 7 weeks here at college. Not by a long shot. (I'm afraid the title of this post may have mislead you into believing this, so a brief clarification was in order.)

I want a camera. I want to make my blog posts interesting and fun and exciting! But alas, I have not a camera. So I am pining - pining for a camera, pining for pictures to post. And this post has absolutely no value whatsoever. IF I had a camera, I would have posted something relevant to my life, something inspiring or amazing, or wonderfully beautiful.

That's all.

The Fruits of Laziness

“We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith
and patience inherit what was promised.” Hebrews 6:12

The following are thoughts or attitudes that create a lazy spirit

I am not very careful to what I expose myself.
I often quit too soon.
I often revert to entertainment in order to put my mind in neutral.
I often choose activities that require no mental exercise.
I often choose activities that require no physical exercise.
I often feel that there is no value in hard or difficult work.
I hate disciplining myself and I often make excuses not to do it
I make very little effort to control my thought life.
It is way too difficult to “take captive every thought.”
I put more value on activities with people than solitude with God.
I normally reward myself with food or sleep.
I have convinced myself that spiritual disciplines are not needed in my life.
I often do not complete things on time or at all.
I “date” procrastination regularly.
I often waste precious time on meaningless things.
I strongly dislike “character building” situations.
The “snooze” button on my alarm clock is in danger of wearing out.
I take shortcuts when no one is looking.
My lifestyle shouts, “I do as little as I can to get by.”
I hate being held accountable for work.
I blame my undisciplined lifestyle on my work or schedule.
I hate being stretched or challenged.
I tend to hang around people who are “just as” or “more” undisciplined as I am.
I consider disciplined people extremists.
I tend to avoid activities that require diligence and perseverance.
I normally allow my schedule to control me instead of me controlling my schedule.
Most of the time, I make excuses not changes.
Compared to some people, I am really disciplined.
Much of the reading I do does not require me to think.
I normally take the easy way out.
When given the choice of neatness or messiness, I normally slide to messiness.
I normally allow “not making a decision” to be my decision.
I think that my undisciplined lifestyle is really cute or attractive.
I have often thought or said, “I don’t have to perform for God.”
I am counting on God’s grace to cover over my undisciplined lifestyle.

Dean Trune – Impact Ministries International – 4642 Arrowhead Road, Okemos, MI 48864 – 517-349-7783 dtrune@impactingtheworld.com

Prayer Request

As many of you know, our family has been involved in some mission work down in the country of Ecuador, where my grandparents were missionaries when my mom was a kid. One of the missionaries names is Dr. Manuel, and he has asked for prayer, reagarding regarding road closings that have occurred in at least seven of the Ecuadorian provinces.

The road closings, demonstrations and marches are being undertaken by the indigenous nationals in protest to the government and concern water rights, etc. They are setting up roadblocks with burning tires and other means of blocking the highways. You can check this out on www.OSAC.gov. Because Dr. Manuel works as a traveling doctor/missionary, he heavily relies on being able to travel to the areas in which he works. He was in Tombo yesterday where the International Church Planters (ICP) from Arkansas are about to complete the pastors six weeks of training. The main road (rt. 35) was closed so he had to travel very dangerous roads to reach Tombo and back. This coming weekend a team of 24 will be arriving in Ecuador to do evangelism and medical care. I believe they will be based in Tomba and will need to be traveling in some of the provinces where roads have been closed. Dr. M. will need to travel back and forth between Cuenca and Tombo several times, over these very dangerous roads.

Please pray for the safety of Dr. Manuel, Juan, Pastor Lucas, and mission team who will be working and traveling. Dr. Manuel and his work are very near to my heart, because of the connection with medicine - I'm hoping that one day, God will decide to use me and my nursing skills to help him in some way down there in Ecuador. :)

Confessions of a College Student

I have poor time-management skills, and a bad habit of over-committing myself.

Phew. Glad that's off my chest!

In our Bible study, we were talking about priorities in life, and asked ourselves what we really put first in our life. Our leaders presented a way for us to honestly evaluate this - we were given a sheet with a chart that had all the hours in a day. They suggested that we pick any typical day of the week, and fill out how we spent each hour, then bring it back to Bible study next week and talk about it.

I was too busy to fill it out.

Sigh.

The Little Things

I've been feeling rather under the weather since Sunday. Just normal cold stuff, and by this morning, I felt a lot better. However, by the time Math class came around, and after nearly 4 hours of classes, I started feeling feverish. I figured it was the room, or the clothes I'd chosen - after all, in this transition from warm to cold weather, buildings can have trouble adjusting! But an hour and a half later, as Chemistry Lab had just gotten started, I finally admitted that it was a legit fever.

Normally, this wouldn't be that big of a deal to me. I act like a baby when I'm sick, but it typically isn't nearly as rough as I portray it, and I would have been just fine on any typical day. But, when I got back from Chem at 3:30, I knew that the number one priority in my life wasn't R&R and getting over my fever. . . it was studying like crazy for my Math exam at 7:30. I hadn't studied yet, and had been stressing all week about how challenging it was going to be. (I've discovered anew this semester that Math is not my strong suit, in any sense of the word. Basically - this class is kicking my butt.) So I put on my pjs, curled up on the floor, and studied. And studied. I only lasted about 2 hours before falling asleep on my floor. When I fell asleep, I was still feverish, feeling overall horrible, and pretty darn sure that I was going to fail this rather important exam.

I woke up shortly before test time, got ready, and walked over to the room. I sat down, and realized that I was totally at peace. No stress. No worry. Just ready for the test, and whatever would come of it. As I sat in my hoody and jeans, I also noticed that I didn't feel weirdly chilly or warm anymore. Hmm. . . then I got the test. And what would you know - I got through it with very little trouble! I worked slowly, but felt like I know what I was doing every step of the way, and even caught myself on a few little mistakes that normally would have goen unnoticed. I walked out of that classroom fever-free, confident about my test, and feeling on top of the world.

I've been a child of God for a long time now, and yet, it still amazes me how much He cares about the little things. A math test, a little fever and exhaustion. . . what are these things, that they would concern the God of Creation? And yet, He loves us so much that He reaches down and shows us grace each and every day, and grants His peace to our weary souls. A shout out to those dear friends who have been praying for me lately - even with the little things, the Lord hears us! Thank you so much for you prayers! And thank you Jesus, for you attentiveness to our lives, and our worries - you are my everything.