First Week Back

So.. what has been new in my life? Well, God is faithful, but that's not really new. He always is.
The first week of classes has almost been completed.

What has occurred/is occurring during this momentous time in my life?
1. I am twenty. Crazy happening on my birthday? The girl I "happened" to sit next to in my Desktop Publishing class not only "happens" to have the same birthday as me, but she too turned twenty. But wait, there's more! Not only does she "happen" to share the exact same birthday with me, but we came to find out that we both are Journalism majors and BOTH from the same state (the state that no one knows exists). That's not all. She lives in the dorm next door to me, and she too is a prayer leader. Coincidence? I think not, hence all of the quotation marks. God is cool, but that's an understatement.

2. I have realized that I am Mac illiterate. Thankfully, this will soon change due to my forced use of them in my Copy Editing and Desktop Publishing classes. I suppose I must learn the Apple jargon sooner or later, or I may be the only Journalism major on the planet who remains totally clueless to such shenanigans.

 3. I may be in love with Gatorade. Is that normal? I hope so, because it is a reality in my life right now. Who needs a man? (That was a joke.)

4. Two interviews for two different writing-related work studies. As my dad said after I told him about the interviews, "When it rains, it pours." Whether I get either of these jobs or not, I am thankful to have been given the opportunities either way. It sparks a tab of hope within my heart, which of course, God knows I needed.

5. Stuck on The Hunger Games. Yes, I am one of those people (and quite proud of it). Some say they are the new Twilight, but I beg to differ. This trilogy has substance, plot and style. I'm only on the second book of the trilogy, but so far I highly recommend the series, especially if you are a fan of fantasy/action books (with a little romance thrown in there). Readers, get to it!

6. I am going to be involved as a script-writer for a short television segment that is shown weekly at my school's chapel service. I am pretty excited about this. Not much else to say about this except that I hope they don't throw me into videography.. or there may be much commotion.

7. Surprisingly, I am enjoying Philosophy class so far. Wow. All things are possible indeed. We shall see how long this lasts. Give it two weeks. Maybe less.

8. I realize daily that I love my major and feel completely at peace with it. I suppose that means, as far as the will of God is concerned, I am where I should be. Cannot wait to see where God leads me with all of this. My life is but an enigma.

9. The Patriots play the Ravens on Sunday. Pats, if you do not win, my many social media outlets will spammed with obnoxious comments which make me sad, therefore, please win. Also, I do not feel like watching other teams play in the Superbowl. Boring, lame and forcing me to solely watch the game for the commercials and Super Bowl parties.

10. My room has a rug! and curtains! While this may seem like a simple and slightly ridiculous truth to be excited about, one cannot imagine how much homier a dorm room becomes with such luxuries as these. The floor is no longer a pasty white color with blotchy marks that resemble the stains from chalk used for pool sticks. It has abandoned it's cold, uncomfortable feel when in bare feet. We now may sit on the floor comfortably. The window is no longer covered by simply awkward plastic shades which get stuck in strange positions. Color. Life. Comfort. Home. You name it.


So there you have it. My week.

Creative Juice Drought

I have been having the most difficult time writing in this blog lately. Somehow the time between home and school creates an awkward limbo land filled with newness, adjustment and lack of creativity. I believe the lack of creativity stems from my intense focus on these new adjustments. Therefore, my creativity has currently been suffocated.

What does one even write about when their creative juices are dried up? I guess one just reads a lot, hoping the large mass of vocabulary will seep into her brain, infiltrating her thoughts into colorful descriptions and concepts. Unfortunately, when one is a college student who must solely read textbooks involving dryly presented material, one's mind is still stifled. And by "one," I mean me (and probably other students). It's amazing how education can either smother one's sense of adventure or greatly enhance it.

This genuinely is all nonsense, yet somehow I believe there to be some underlying meaning that I cannot quite figure out. I am truly sorry for this rant, but I've been told that when you just write, thoughts will come out. Well, thoughts have certainly come out, but that definitely does not mean they're logical. Or maybe they are. I'm going to stop now before I pop a brain cell.

Second semester of sophomore year- here I come.

Reminiscing the Ranch

I wrote this article on the train ride back from camp this summer, but as usual forgot to finish it. Thankfully, I stumbled upon it when looking through my documents.

Here's a little summary of my El Rancho de Paz experiences. Enjoy!

What were my feelings coming into camp? Extreme fear. With no idea of what to expect, no prior experience, and a rush of the unknown, my entire being told me that I wouldn’t be able to handle being a counselor at El Rancho de Paz. Yet, while the physical told me I would be unable, the spiritual assured me that God was bringing me here for a reason, and He wouldn’t leave me to face the summer alone (which would be a recurring theme in my life this summer).
            What are my feelings now that the summer has come to a close? Absolute awe. In the words of one of our favorite camp songs, “I stand to praise You as I fall on my knees.” God proves faithful over and over, and this summer God’s faithfulness exceeded my expectations beyond the imagination.
            As the summer began, staff training definitely broke off a lot of the initial fears of camp regarding staff unity and camp dynamics. I was immediately comforted by the fact that the rest of the staff was just as crazy and weird as I was, and that their passion for God and people went above and beyond my expectations. The summer continued, and I never ceased to learn, though much of the time I did not willingly volunteer the lessons upon myself. I was forced to try some camp activities that I would normally avoid in a day in the life of Lena (such as paintball, climbing the tower, and fire building), and by the end of the summer, I can venture to say, I even enjoyed these activities.

            Many of the occurrences that I assured myself would be the death of me ended up being the most outrageously fun experiences I have had since I was little tyke, or maybe even ever. Although many of my fellow staff members may have started off with the assumption that many of the activities weren’t a big deal for me, my family and friends from back home were shocked, and maybe even appalled at the fact that I would, God forbid, stomp through a pond of mud with middle school girls, or go on a “toad hike” in the woods with junior-aged campers, catching toads like warriors and singing to them like friends.

One of my favorite memories from LIT week was our “rebellious” attempt to sneak out after lights out and go for a late night swim, mysteriously sifting through the bunkhouse doors two at a time, crawling behind the bunkhouse like secret agents, and darting towards the pool like we were to have the last swim of our lives. Wonderfully enough, since my campers had no idea that I’m not a natural rule-breaker, I convinced the girls that if we were caught, I would most definitely, without-a-doubt get fired; this of course added an extra measure of fear and intensity to the situation. As Mr. Steve “caught” us in the pool, I will never forget the girls’ reactions which started out as expressions of fear and remorse, slowly transforming to laughter and the beauty of the fact that they had been “punk’d.” This was definitely an incident I will always remember, as I’m sure will all the LIT ladies.

            While I enjoyed most of the camp activities, the experiences which I will remember and re-tell for the rest of my life are the ones involving the spiritual growth in campers, staff, and myself, which I was blessed enough to witness and sometimes be used in. While at El Rancho de Paz, I saw campers open up their hearts to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I saw teenaged girls, broken in their insecurities and past experiences, pouring out their hearts and breaking through their self-built barriers (myself included). I witnessed the sanctuary that El Rancho acts as in the lives of many, and the impact one camp can have in the hearts and souls of children, teenagers, and young adults of all different backgrounds, experiences, personalities, and ages.  

            All throughout the summer, each week seemed to bring different trials and life-lessons to the table, growing both the campers and the staff as a whole. The last week in particular (junior-middle), I was blessed enough to experience first-hand three middle school girls in my group accepting Christ and two rededicating their lives to Christ. To the rest of the world, five exists as a minor number in comparison to the millions of teenagers in the world, or even to the hundreds of campers El Rancho de Paz receives every summer, but to me, these five girls’ decisions may very well have been the most incredible, beautiful experiences I have ever witnessed in my own personal life.

            I thank God for the people I got to know, the lessons I got to learn, and the situations I got to experience. El Rancho de Paz opened a new window in my mind, not only teaching me about God’s creation but also about life through the drastically diverse people I came in contact with. I do believe that The Ranch has left a permanent mark on my life, and I know that I will carry with me every moment experienced during the summer of 2011 at El Rancho. God is good, and that is all there is to it.

316 yards

I can't help myself. I must jump on the social media band wagon and write my heart out about Tim Tebow. What difference will one blog post make among a sea of "TIM TEBOW!!!!" facebook statuses and tweets. (That little "caps moment" was not only necessary to reverberate the emotion of twitter and facebook tonight, but also to release a little pent up excitement within me. I suppose I must just come clean with the blogging world.)

He has his haters. He has his adoring fans. Why?
Because he's a man of conviction.
Tim Tebow believes something and stands for it openly.
Tebow knows the immeasurable value of his faith (which is not just some eery magical good luck charm, as most declare it to be).
He realizes the influence he can have on the world through his humble testimony, pointing any victory to God. He rightfully declares his gifts to be God-given, providing the world with live footage of God's grace and a human's ability to recognize this grace.

Gentlemen, Tim Tebow knows where it's at, so please take notes.
This is a man to be admired. Tebow is what I would consider an example of a godly man who knows how to use his God-given talents to proclaim God's glory, taking advantage of the opportunities and situations he has fallen into.
Tebow is not ashamed of his faith- he relishes in it.
Tebow does not bask in his talent or fame- he turns it into Christ's fame.
Tebow does not cower in fear- he stands strong in joy of his Savior.

While he may be a rarety of a man, these men do exist. They may not all be football superstar quarterbacks, but they exist. Tebow has simply been blessed with the means to easily proclaim his Savior publicly.

To the individuals out there who also produce these qualities in their every day lives, no matter your profession, situational means, background, talents or whatever:
Keep living your life for God's glory- unashamed, excited, passionate, with perseverance.
The world notices, whether on a big screen T.V. or just among a small group of acquaintances.
They notice. They wonder. They're searching.

Let us show them how great our God is.

That is all.

The truth is...

The truth is, life is not ideal.
We dream of true love. We dream of wealth. We dream of picture-perfect picket fences outside three bedroom houses which beckon us into a perfect life.
Dreams are swell. Dreams are what keep us going... we think.

The superficial requirements of every day life slap us across the face every time we begin to ponder our meaning- our purpose. Stuff. What is stuff? Stuff is what consumes us in our digital age of materialism. The newest itouch. The fanciest car. The craziest gaming system. The most efficient product.

Sorry to break it to you, 2011, but this seemingly flawless society we live in is not so perfect after all.

As we come into 2012, I think.
This very well could be dangerous, especially in the world we live in.

We strive so desperately to fit into the ever-developing place we call earth. We long to find purpose within the circles of people surrounding us. We wish to be able to fully rely on a human being for our entire lives, never having to experience failure or disappointment. No mistakes. No arguments. Just perfection.

The truth is, human beings contain no perfection. Products contain no perfection, no fulfillment.
Jesus Christ is perfection. He is fulfillment.
The truth is, we may not get our picket fence, but who needs it? Who needs the clutter of materialism... who needs the burden of finding meaning?

Search no more for meaning, because it is here. Jesus Christ.
He has provided us with imperfect relationships, amplifying His beauty, perfection and complete love.
He has created us to grow, to form friendships, to learn how to love, to progress, to discover.
He has designed us to be able to fail and try again so that when we succeed, we may appreciate it.
He has fashioned us to step out of the box- beyond the superficial cookie-cutter desires, past the typical dreams of selfish fulfillment, and into the arms of our Lord- striving for HIS desires.

The truth is, life isn't ideal. God is. HE is.