a place of rest and vision.

i got to spend this weekend up in the Appalachian foothills on Chandler Mountain, which is home to Gallant, Alabama and the one and only Camp Sumatanga. it was nice to see plenty of old friends, most of which i only see once (or twice, now) a year. the best part about the weekend was that we didn't really DO anything. it involved a lot of board games, random conversation topics, and a ton of laughter. 

one thing i did DO this weekend was take some pictures with a good camera. dugger brought her canon SLR and i, once again, was reminded how much i love taking pictures with a good camera. it seems as though everyone and their mom is a photographer these days, and i don't think i can really afford to spend $500+ on a camera right now, but i really enjoy it a lot. i posted some on facebook...most of those were taken by dugger herself, but i took a few and edited them all. 

so after a weekend of rest and vision (and laughter), i am home in birmingham for a week. normally these trips home are good in ways, and not so good in others. i usually get bored easily, which causes me to think too much (see boy meets girl post). but this break will be filled to the brim. i have those three papers i mentioned, a new nephew to see, thanksgiving with my family (and special guest chase fergy-ferg), and other friends i want to spend some time with. i'm thankful for this break, and thankful for birmingham. it really is a great city. and having some college friends move back here makes me feel like, if i had too, i could live her for some amount of time after college and not be absolutely miserable. 

but boston is looking like a real possibility.

i just found out chris thile's band punch brothers is playing at the OPAC in january. that's huge news. if you're in auburn, you should go with me.

i hope everyone has a great thanksgiving break, whatever that means for you. may it be filled with rest, vision, laughter, and good food. and be thankful for what we have. we are blessed beyond measure. 

updates.

i don't have any elaborate post planned out tonight, but just wanted to update on a few things:

-sam, my 4 day old nephew, was put in the ICU today for some type of breathing problem. i don't know a whole lot about what's going on, other than my mom said that it happens a lot with babies. but still, scary. if you pray, please do so.

-today, i received my early christmas present that i bought for myself. a new macbook. i'm obviously extremely excited about it. that's really all there is to say. once you go mac, you never go back.

-today was, thank goodness, the last speech i have to give in public speaking. i know i shouldn't care at all about a stupid freshman core class, but i honestly think i got more stressed about that class this semester than any others.

-i'm really looking forward to the upcoming break, but unfortunately it will be filled with a good bit of school work, including papers for drs. johnson and widell on books that have yet to be read. but i am also excited to get to spend time with some of my auburn friends who now call birmingham home. 

-the situation discussed in "sunday storytime" has been somewhat resolved in practice, but it doesn't feel resolved in my soul. something is still off there, and i guess only time will fully heal that very real and very open wound. 

-recently i've been feeling drawn towards wanting to teach next year. maybe at a charter school or something similar. i know i don't really want to teach somewhere where it isn't appreciated. thoughts? 

i haven't done this in a while, but thanks for reading, those of you who consistently do. it means a lot when i hear that you guys read and enjoy this. it makes me want to keep writing, even though sometimes posts are lame like this one. you are all appreciated. 

third.

this morning, my brother and his wife gave birth to a new baby boy. sam bennett skellie. i don't have a weight or a picture yet, but i'll update when i know more. all i know is that mother and baby are doing fine, and that he looks like his brother and sister! 

exciting times. 

into the storehouse.

malachi 3: 9-12

"you are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. and thereby, PUT ME TO THE TEST, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing UNTIL THERE IS NO MORE NEED."

just as God tells Israel that they are robbing Him of His tithe in this story, we do it 2,000 years later. not just of our tithe, but of our hearts. we owe Him all of us, and we fail to sufficiently give ourselves to Him daily. as i heard it put tonight in a song, He is JEALOUS for us. that is beautiful. and in that verse above, He DARES Israel to not trust Him. it's the same way with us. He dares us to surrender to Him, just so He can be completely sufficient for our every need, desire, care, want, and fear. He's saying, "you have all this truth at your fingertips. all this knowledge about who I am. you know I am Good. you know I am the Giver of life, the Beginning and the End. I am in all things. all things happen and are because of ME. yet you do not trust Me. I DARE you to trust me. just try Me. see what happens. go ahead. I will bless you and lead you and help you so greatly and so sufficiently and so completely and so perfectly that you will have NO MORE NEED. None. try Me."

try Him. go ahead. pray, wait, and EXPECT Him to work. He will. He dares us to not believe that. 

disappointed.

tuesday night, a historic thing happened in our country. november 4th, 2008 will go down in the annals of history as the night that america changed, hopefully for the better. some have even said it was the day that the civil rights movement really "ended". or the real beginning of race reconciliation in the US. who knows if any of these bold statements are true, or will turn out to be true, but i think we can all agree, regardless of party lines or beliefs, that history was made, and it really was a beautiful thing. i thought BO gave an excellent acceptance speech, and i thought JM gave an equally impressive concession speech. i was impressed with the way he put down those who were booing and yelling in his less-than-impressive crowd of supporters. my disappointment in these JM supporters leads me to the real point of this post.

facebook statuses. regardless of whether we want to admit it or not, 99.9% of us have facebook accounts that we check pretty regularly, some more regularly than others. on tuesday night, as history was being made, it was tough to enjoy it after seeing the things people were saying on ol' FB. i was embarrassed to live in the south, and embarassed for a lot of these so-called facebook "friends". i wrote down many of these statuses and comments, so let me share just a few with you, as examples (imagine names behind each of these. i'm obviously not going to use names...that's not the point of this). on some, i will follow with a little bit of commentary, and maybe that will ruffle some feathers. we'll see. i'm not trying to, but this is just how i see things. i am a flawed, wretched sinner just as we all are):

"...can't wait for the socialist takeover."

          -i realize that BO's potential policies of "redistribution of wealth" may seem really scary to some. but to say that our country is going to become "socialist" is a reach. and guess what? campaign "promises" often do not come to fruition without serious and major overhaul. 

"...is scared for the country! i would leave and go somewhere else but i am going to have the shit taxed out of me now."

-i don't follow. is there a new "leave the country" tax in BO's plan? if there is, please correct me, and i'll also make sure not to leave the country.

"...says goodbye checks and balances."

-does a dem majority in the senate and house and a dem president REALLY mean the END of checks and balances? relax.

"...HIS MIDDLE NAME IS HUSSEIN!!"

-um, yes. our current president's last name is "bush". and i had no idea that presidential prowess was based on one's middle name. i mean, we've had presidents named millard and grover too. 

"...is moving to Europe because I refuse to live in a country run by the Anti-Christ."

-i'm still looking for BO's ten horns on his head, etc. if you still believe he's the anti-christ (or ever did, for that matter), then you have real problems. 

"...can I leave the country for the next four years?"

-sure. bye. watch out for that new "leave the country" tax though.

"...President is a muslem. his religion believes in doing away with the infadels. U have to be kidding me. This is America?"

-first off, the fact that you can't spell "Muslim" completely discredits your opinion. but, you obviously have a very small understanding of Islam. and BO as far as i can tell is a christian. he's allowed to have muslim friends. he's also allowed to have crazy friends with wild ideas (because we all have friends who are crazy), but that doesn't apply here. and america is not technically only a "christian" nation. yes, i'm a christian and i'm still allowed to say and think that. 

"...PALIN 2012!"

-do you really want a GOP elected in 2012? if so, then there couldn't be a worse choice. this must have been a democrat in disguise.

"...is wondering why am i going to struggle in school, work hard and become a nurse, if all the money I make is going to be taxed to randoms who don't deserve it?"

-stop listening to your daddy. it doesn't work that way. and while we're talking about the "randoms who dont deserve it", i'm pretty sure this person who wrote this is a believer. therefore, go read psalm 82:3 and acts 2:42-47 and get back to me. god's word doesn't teach capitalism. 

"...how much do you wanna bet obamma dosnt make it to the white house!"

-again, the spelling rules apply. but honestly, i think he could possibly be right, and i think that would be absolutely awful. and if you would think that were a good thing, i don't even know what to say to you. and don't say "no one would want our president to be killed!" i've heard it uttered, trust me. 

"...Get ready for a country dominated by illegal immigrants, homosexuals, rampant abortion, and oh yeah...people steal your hard earned money."

-i think i've covered all of this. i don't want to get into abortion. 

"...is hoping for a crazy white man with a rifle...where is Dick Cheney when you need him?"

-wow.

"...read Revalation 13."

-i did, and i don't get it.

"...he's going to reverse segregation. back of the bus, whitey."

-you've got to be kidding me.

i'll stop there, but there were more. oh, and just to address the many others that mentioned moving to europe or canada to avoid the "socialist takeover", do a little research and realize that THESE COUNTRIES ALREADY HAVE THESE "SOCIALIST" ECONOMIES! so, for the life of me, i can't figure out why you would want to move from our country which has a small chance of developing this system to a country that has already had this in place!?!

i think most of these comments stem from a lack of knowledge of the issues. they don't have any idea what the real policies are or any real understanding of our situation. they also need a HUGE dose of perspective. 95% of these people list themselves as christians on their facebook pages (yes, i checked). and i would direct them towards this video. john piper states perfectly how ridiculous it is that a christian would put so much hope in ANY candidate. in ANY human being. our Hope is in Christ alone. He is Sovereign, and He is GOOD. i love piper's point around the 5:10 mark in the clip. just watch it.

everyone just calm down. 

one thing i was not disappointed in this week was my roomie dan's choirs last night at their choir concert. i was incredibly impressed by his choirs, and also by eron's auburn high choirs. it's so great to see these men who are my friends, former classmates, and brothers in Christ up on stage doing what they love. being successful and affecting the lives of so many kids. great work kids, and great work friends. can't wait until the spring.

sunday storytime

boy meets girl. 

boy unexpectedly falls for girl.

boy has an incredible senior year of high school with girl (and others), falling in love with girl in the process.

boy and girl go to different colleges, and break up.

boy is miserable without girl, begs for her back, and gets his wish.

boy and girl have many more bumps in the road, but are generally happy and in love.

boy and girl are best friends.

boy gets to the point where he sees himself marrying girl.

boy and girl, however, have some issues between them that have been issues since the beginning.

boy tries to ignore them, but both boy and girl are what we like to call "strong-willed", and neither boy nor girl are easily swayed from their positions on the issues.

boy and girl are both immature.

boy finally realizes that, although he loves girl very much, and although he and girl are best friends, and although he can never see himself being so close to a person again, the relationship is not going to work.

boy breaks up with girl.

boy loves being single for a while, but soon realizes he might have made a mistake.

boy again tries to communicate with girl, but soon it is affirmed to him that he made the right choice by ending things, and communication ceases.

boy is very happy with being just "boy", living his life, preparing for his future, etc.

boy sometimes thinks about girl, wonders what she's doing, who she's dating, and how she is.

boy often wonders if girl has grown up yet. 

boy also knows he has a lot of growing up to do.

boy then finds out some information that makes him think less of girl, and more than anything, it upsets him, because he still has much love for girl, although he knows that girl is not THE girl for him.

boy wishes he never would have found out this information, because he's been thinking about it constantly, and wants these thoughts to go away, because he knows he made the right decision and that things are not going to change.

boy also somewhat desires to be friends with girl, but knows this is next to impossible.

boy wants girl to be happy, but also to grow up some and realize some things.

boy wonders sometimes if he is the reason that girl might still be making questionable decisions.

boy just wants to move on from the "girl" chapter of his life, but seems to still be having trouble. 

(to be continued...)