Wow, it has been almost three months since I have done anything… Shame on me!

Well, updated design – Check!
More consistent with updates… I’ll have to check that one off later!

Is it possible to be too excited over one specific day in Chapel? I think not!

I am looking forward to Christmas Chapel this year which is coming up this Thursday. There has been a lot of thought and work put into it, I cant wait to see it all take place!

So, what is there to look forward to?
-Swanson reading the Christmas story.
-Res life team doing a skit.
-Christmas carol songs performed by the talented chapel band.
-Santa Hats?!
-Awesome new lights!
-Amazing new backgrounds!
-Fireplace backdrop!
-Oh yeah, falling SNOW!

Can you tell I am extra excited about those last four items? :)

So, if you are a student at Grace College, or just in the area, make sure you are there! It is going to be awesome!

Life, for me, is busy, and I am sure that many people can relate to that feeling. As each day passes by, it seems that more things get added to the ‘To-Do’ list than completed/erased. This is the typical lifestyle of our culture though!  However, I do not think it as being healthy, both physically or spiritually.

I attended Granger Community Church this evening. Pastor Mark Beeson spoke a great message on the topic of life and the busy-ness that consumes it. Why do we let life get so busy? Mark explained it like this. As we go about out daily activities, we start to feel guilt over not being able to get everything done. We feel guilt about not being able to please everyone, and feel guilt about not being able to keep up a good relationship with the many friends that we have. Due to this guilt, we work harder to accomplish more. We try harder than before. Since we are already working at full speed, we will soon experience fatigue. Once you get tired enough, you eventually quit. Quit your job, your friendships, and sometimes your religion. But then you feel guilty again because you quit, and the whole process starts over again.

When my days get really busy, and work keeps building up, I tend to not spend adequate time with God and in His Word. Because I do not involve God as much as I should in those ‘busy’ days, they are always more stressful and harder to get through.  

“In order to fully experience God, we need to carve time out of our daily live for Him” — Mark Beeson

What are you going to do with the increasing busy-ness in your life?  Let it keep building, or increase the time you spend daily with God?

The second week of school for the year is already over.  It seems like it is already flying by, yet at the same time, it has been very busy!  With taking 18 credit hours, plus homework, chapel, and special events, I tend to keep very busy. 

Something about this year already feels different though than last year…  Coming back this year as an upper classman changes my perspective on a lot of things.  I can remember last year not wanting to do certain things because I was ‘made’ to do them, like Growth Groups, Chapel, being in by curphew, and having to eat at Alpha for all my meals.  This year I now have the option about whether or not I do these certain activies (except Chapel, but I love it anyway!).  I now have the option of whether or not I go to Growth Groups, I get to change my meal plan to what is better fit for me, and I have curphew exemption.  There was just something about those limitations last year that would make me upset, even though I never needed to stay out past midnight, nor did I have a reason to NOT go to Growth Groups.  I now enjoy going to Growth Groups, even though I do not HAVE to go, I still want to.  Chapel has been amazing so far, and I look forward to a great year with the many different speakers and topics we will have.   

This year is different!  I can already feeling God working in ways that I do not remember last year!  I feel like more of a leader than I did last year.  I hope that, throughout the course of this school year, God will use me to change the lives of many people here on campus!  I also pray that God will continue to change me.