On Friday, August 29, I attended an orientation session for my counseling program. As I was walking through Colonial Williamsburg on my way back to my car, I passed an African-American gentleman, well-advanced in years. I smiled and said hello. He responded, “Hi Missy. Come over here a minute.”

I moved closer. “Did you watch the convention last night?” he asked me.

Did I watch the convention last night? Are you kidding me? I watched about 5 minutes of Obama’s rhetoric and couldn’t stand it and turned the TV off. But, realizing who I was talking to, I kept those thoughts to myself.

“Actually, I had to miss it.”

“Oh, well, it was a very nice message.”

“Yes, Sir. I’m sure it was.”

Awkward silence for a few seconds. I wonder if I should say I’m voting for Obama just to make his day, but I can’t make myself do it.

“Well, then I guess you don’t know what Johnny McCain did this morning then, do you?”

Now I’ve decided this is the cutest old man ever. Johnny McCain? Really?

“No. What did he do?”

“He picked that governor from…what is that place? Alaska. Yeah, the governor of Alaska.”

Now I’m racking my brain. Who is the governor of Alaska? Surely I would have at least heard of the governor of Alaska…What in the world is he thinking?

“That’s very interesting,” I heard myself say.

“Yes. It sure is.” He paused. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

This is supposed to mean something? Oh, why did I choose to ignore politics the past several months? “No, what does it mean?”

The man leaned in as if he were sharing a secret that could ruin everything if the world were to know. ‘It means that come November, one of us will finally move up in this world.” He then started laughing. “So, good luck.”

I smiled and walked away, moving much more quickly now because I wanted to get home and turn on FoxNews and find out what this was all about.

Sarah Palin. That’s what it was about.

I’m going to be honest. I wasn’t all that thrilled the moment it became clear that John McCain (or “Johnny” according to my new friend or “J-Mac” according to Whoopi Goldberg – that one is my favorite) was going to be the Republican nominee. Who I preferred doesn’t really matter anymore. It’s not that I don’t respect and admire what this man has done for this country – he is a national hero. I just wish he had a different position on some “moral” issues that I consider extremely important….

Recap: was not in love with John McCain. Wished there was a better candidate. Wondered if any Republican even had a remote chance of being successful against Barack Obama (for an interesting read, click here). Side Note: I’m typing this in Word and I think we should elect the man whose name does not get underlined in red, indicating a spelling error. I’ll leave you to decide which one that is.

Enter Sarah Palin. I didn’t know anything about her until a week and a half ago, and, after reading a lot and watching WAY too much news coverage of the convention, all I have to say is wow. I don’t want to get into too many details, but I loved what Albert Mohler had to say about the Palin family a few months ago.

You know what’s strange? I’m starting to realize that I actually like John McCain, too. He is the epitome of what a “public servant” should be. He’s spent his life looking after what he believes are our nation’s best interests, and this has often come at a cost. The honor of being President of the United States should never be handed out as a Lifetime Achievement Award, but if one were ever deserving of such, it’s J-Mac (sorry, I couldn’t resist). When he gives a speech, the message I hear is, “I want to do whatever it takes to make this country better, even if I don’t win.” It’s a beautiful sound, compared to the more popular, “Vote for me because I want to be President because I am awesome and a lot of my friends agree. And if you don’t think I’m awesome, I have two things to say: (1) you’re wrong, and (2) you should still vote for me because if I lose I might pitch a fit.”

I find myself excited about politics again. Well, maybe not politics. I’m still pretty jaded. But I’m excited about this election, and about America. I can now proudly and enthusiastically say that I am voting for McCain-Palin on November 4.

After deleting several posts because I regretted writing them, I’m renewing my efforts to actually maintain a blog worth reading.

For today, I just want to share the passage I’ve been meditating on the past couple weeks.

2 Peter 1:3-8

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Greetings from Taiwan. We got around 6pm last night (Friday night).

It’s a 12 hour time difference, so that would have been 6am Friday morning for you people.

I’ll update again once we’ve done something

I ate bing last night. it was fabulous.

So I got that assistantship. Two days after the interview, even though on the phone they’d told me that I wouldn’t hear until at least mid-July.

And I was reminded again that my Father provides. Never exactly the way I plan it, but He still provides…abundantly, immeasurably more. 🙂

I was bored this afternoon and found myself reading some blogs. One of them blew me away. Check it out –> audreycaroline.blogspot.com. If I could summarize Angie’s posts in one paragraph, it would be this: in the kingdom of God, there is no such thing as a Plan B. Sure, I find myself coming up with a Plan B nearly every day, from those little daily occurrences to big life dreams. But I am a child of the Sovereign and Almighty God who numbered my days from before I was born and knows the number of hairs on my head. If my Plan A falls apart, it doesn’t mean that God is up there wringing His hands and saying, “Oh no! How did this happen? What are we going to do now?” Instead, it means that my plan was never part of God’s plan. He doesn’t have a Plan B because He doesn’t need it. The Lord’s purpose prevails. Whatever He decrees will come about.

When you think about it that way, I guess God doesn’t have a Plan A either. To call it “Plan A” implies some degree of uncertainty, since one should only use “A” if subsequent amendments known as “B”, “C”, etc, are bound to follow. Even the word plan is no good – the word itself suggests that no one’s really sure what’s happening, what will happen, or what should be done about it.

And so I choose to rest in knowing that what my God has ordained will come to pass. He shall perfect that which concerns me.

Dramatic? Perhaps.

But really.

I do.

I had an interview for an assistantship today, but won’t know if I get it until mid-July. Even then, that’s only $450 a month, which is not enough to live on. I will definitely be looking for a job in Williamsburg. It would be nice to find one at a restaurant where they serve alcohol or some night job where I can sit there and do my homework.

In other news: Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Chad Ashby on their marriage. It was a beautiful wedding this weekend.

“a time to embrace and a time to refrain…
…a time to be silent and a time to speak…”

The Lord has kept me in a bit of a holding pattern this past year. There is so much I could say to describe my situation, but He’s made it abundantly clear that for me, this is a time to refrain and be silent. Though this reserve regards a particular relationship, I hesitate to declare to the blogging sphere anything I have not been released to say to the one of which I speak.

It’s been difficult these past two weeks for two reasons. The first is that this friend and I are finally in the same place for more than a week for the first time in about nine months. The second is that in a few weeks’ time we will say goodbye again – this time for an indefinite, but lengthy, duration. I want a chance to finally speak. To freely share from my heart, even embrace, before I run out of opportunities.

Lately I’ve begun to wonder if Father will ever tell me, “Now’s the time.” I wrote about a month ago about my friend who has entered his own season of speaking freely, no matter the consequences. I both admire and envy his efforts. A large part of me wants to follow his example and just say what I’ve wanted to say since last summer.

Yet I simply cannot do that. Elisabeth Elliot’s Passion and Purity weighs heavily on my mind. A woman of God isn’t supposed to act that way. She is to wait silently and patiently for a man to say those things first. Even if she’s certain the young man wants the same things, she must wait for him to speak.

I’m not happy about this. I wish I could just speak my mind, say my piece, hold nothing back….

I have no idea what the outcome would be, but my guess is that I wouldn’t like it. In conclusion, I’m going to keep my mouth shut these next seven weeks, even if it kills me.

But if I didn’t, maybe then I would know with absolute certainty whether this season is “a time to keep” or a “time to throw away.”

Some high school kids I know had a bonfire Monday night. They burned nine couches, stacked on top of each other. Each couch was stuffed with firecrackers. The fire was lit with a flaming arrow.

This may make me a redneck, but I think it’s awesome.

I graduated from Grove City last weekend. Woohoo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grlylEdbz8Y

I Love ABT.

I learned something this week: there’s a fine line between being a sociologist and being a stalker.

Before I explain, I must make a few clarifications:

1. I believe I was being a sociologist

2. I don’t believe it counts as stalking if the one being observed is a friend

3. I wasn’t really a true sociologist because I was not an entirely objective observer

4. #3 makes #1 false, but I’m not taking it off. Maybe instead it should say, I definitely wasn’t being a stalker.

So here’s the situation. I have recently become friends with a young man here at Grove City. I’ll call him Jeff. Earlier this week, I overheard him talking with a friend about something called Operation Phi Beta Gamma. The mission included such phrases as “target engaged,” “we be bringin’ da house,” “WHO DEY! WHO DEY!” and “can a brother can an amen?” And I accurately determined they were talking about a girl.

On Monday and Tuesday, I watched as Jeff patrolled the lobby of HAL looking for this mystery target. He looked absolutely ridiculous…and even more so once I found out that he didn’t even know this girl…he just thinks she’s pretty. As you can imagine, I was very confused at this point. Several of my girlfriends were offended, saying that he was just being a typical shallow guy.

I was inclined to agree, until talking with Jeff later this week. He’s planning to ask this girl out on a date. Yes, he picked her because she’s pretty and hopes to find that there is more to her than that. “You know, it would definitely be annoying if I went through all this and found out she’s not that into Jesus.”

Then, slowly, the rationale for this absurdity became clear. Jeff’s going to ask this girl out in an effort to get to know her. He’s not particularly attached to her, making the threat of rejection less powerful. He chose a ridiculously pretty one for (in my opinion) two reasons: (1) he (like all guys) is visually stimulated and wouldn’t pick a girl he didn’t find attractive, and (2) he’s testing the waters to see just what he can get.

Ultimately, Jeff wants to be a man. He’s tired of living in fear, not taking risks, and always wondering what might have been. He doesn’t want to regret not taking every opportunity. By asking out “pretty random girl,” he’s proving to himself that he can put himself out there and be the assertive man of God that he is called to be. He said, “We’re not supposed to play it safe. We’re supposed to take risks and learn what it means to depend on God alone. It’s what we were made for. I don’t want a safe, easy life.”

So, in conclusion, I think there are other ways for Jeff to practice being a man. This whole “test” seems pretty stupid to me. I’m not sure he even knows this girl, and from what I know of her, I don’t think she’s the kind of wife that he’s trying to get. Yet I also don’t see much harm in it, as one of two things will happen. First, he may learn that she does have a steadfast faith and similar calling and they spend the rest of their lives together. Or, he spends time with her, realizes she’s none of the things he’s looking for, and that’s the end of it. He’s not emotionally invested in this – which, as an aside, is an incredibly refreshing state of mind because it’s so different from the typical GCC first date in which the whole relationship has already been decided by the time the date actually happens…but I digress.

In short, as silly as the whole thing sounds, the fact that Jeff is “practicing” being a man really impressed me. I don’t know how it turned out, or if he’s even asked her yet, and I probably won’t report it on this blog either way. The point it not to gossip about his personal life. However, I do want to say that I hope she at least agrees to go out on the date. Do I think this is the start of a great relationship? Probably not. Still, I hope she says yes when he takes this risk, so that he’s willing to do it again in the future. Maybe it will even encourage his friends to try it, too.

So, to all the “random pretty girls” out there, please say yes if a Jeff asks you out. It’s just one date, not a life-long commitment.