Tonight, I got to spend the night with an old roommate and a load of her friends from Covenant Church. It started with an out-of-the-blue mass e-mail from my ol’ roomie, Katie, letting everyone know she’s going to Tanzania. For two months. And will live with the bushmen. What?!
So we all came together to celebrate the awesomeness of this little Asian girl and her willingness to obey God’s will, even if it means sacrificing her five-year plans. We had good times, good food, and Katie and I even snuck in some good conversation. It was almost like God knew I needed a pick-me-up and knew that hearing about what my friends are doing would do just the trick. I definitely benefited from her sharing her fears, her dreams, and her desire to follow hard after the Lord.
To my ex-roommate who is one of the few people I can call “Shorty,” thanks for being a light and I hope you continue to be a fire as you live at 900 Round Bush road, ha!
(To those of you who have never seen the above image, that was created for our Christian sorority’s web site that I managed. From L to R: Me - worship team, Katie - Treasurer, Nikki - Intramurals. The reason I listed our positions was that it never failed… People would hand me their dues, ask Katie about the next football game, and tell Nikki she did a good job playing the guitar. Even though that was almost four years ago and we’ve moved out of Lubbock, it’s still the case - Tonight, my brother said, “My friends say, ‘Your sister is good at sports!’ and I say, ‘Uh, no. That’s Nikki.”)
In efforts to clear my mind of all the muck that’s been stuck in it lately, I’ve changed up my days a little during my 3.5 day break. I turned both of my phones off Thursday, turning my personal one on occasions to check my voicemail. I turned into a little hermit, somewhat similar to the hermit I was a few years back in college while I was in a crazy transition.
Knowing I wouldn’t be bothered by others, I proceeded to listen to a lot of music and yes, I reverted back to my video game playing self. Yes, once upon a time, I was slightly addicted, skipping class to sit around and play these games… but I think as your regular college student, I used anything as a good excuse to skip class. This time, I know I’m nowhere close to be addicted, in fact, I somewhat feel like I’m forcing myself to play. I think it’s because I can space out and not think about diddly squat.
To compensate, I took my lazy butt to the gym. After months and months of saying I’d sign up, I finally drove down to LA fitness with the little seven day pass and walked out feeling quite tired, a little sweaty, and having $160 less in my bank account. I felt like the ol’ bait-and-switch had been pulled on me, but hey… gotta make money somehow, right? I had to trade my seven day pass to get some money knocked off my activation fee. But now that I’m paying money to run around and sweat in someone else’s facilities, I feel like I HAVE to work out every day or else I’m wasting money. So I think that’ll work out pretty well.
I got to hang out with a few Phi Lamb friends tonight and it was refreshing. I laughed ’til I cried, ate so much food that I’m sure I cancelled out any working out I’ll do all week, and just had some good clean fun. It was an excellent way to return to civilization after my mini-hiatus.
Anyway, besides avoiding the inevitable sleepytime, I think I meant to say, it’s good to have some time to yourself. I forget that too often.
The past few weeks I’ve been thinking about the past. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I am not-so-much loving the now and not exactly ecstatic about the future as things are going. Or maybe it is just because I’m starting to realize how much I miss certain people and what they all brought to my life.
I can’t deny it, I’ve seen better days and the best days were spent one fine year in Lubbock, Texas with some of the sweetest, loving Godly women I am honored to have called friends. The best summer was “Bible study summer” when our “Bible study” was really short for “a couple of girls who wanted to love God and others more and had a great time helping each other do so.” I loved eating spaghetti and sleeping on Amy and Magen’s couch - sweet, sweet Magen who came to my rescue after my accident and Amy who decided we should chase bunnies in her Jeep. There were gentle, compassionate Adrienne and Catherine who never hesitated to give me a ride when I had no car and feed me when I was low on money. And, Miss Amelia Doty. Everything she ever said to me was either extremely funny or made me feel beautiful… two extremes, yes, but she is an extreme girl. She randomly called me last night to share something funny with me. I hadn’t talked to her since the summer!
Anyway, I am really just rambling on about things I haven’t forget and don’t want to forget. There are many other of my Phi Lamb girls I failed to mention, like my handful of roommates at 303 that never saw each other but managed to learn how to live and love in an apartment of four girls and moldy strawberries. But after one of the roughest years of my life, I asked God to help me out and for some crazy reason I joined Sigma Phi Lambda. Well, it’s not so much a crazy reason as it was the answer to my plea as God blessed me with a huge group of full of encouragement, love, and just good ol’ fun.
I miss it. Not just those girls, but knowing I had that kind of love completely surround me. Or maybe I just need to open my eyes a little wider and not be so afraid to love as those girls loved me. Or as He first loved us.
My pledge verse:
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39
