18 October 2008

follow the leader

Last night I joined several of my dormmates in various hilarious & fun activities including a corn maze, a "trick-or-treat" scavanger hunt, & pumpkin decorating. For each of the activities I had to follow the leader in order to understand & enjoy the activity to its fullest.

The first activity was a corn maze. This is only my second time in a corn maze, & I have to say, this one was soo much fun! The maze was split into 8 pieces. Before starting, each group was given a full map of the maze stapled shut (only to be used in an emergency), a grid for 8 pieces, & the first piece of the map. A star was located on each piece, leading to a mailbox with the next map piece: the 8th piece leading to the exit. Jessica, Brittney, Amanda, Mandy, & I started off together. Running through a corn maze, one should always choose to follow a leader: but it took us getting lost a few times before we chose leaders. Before we knew it we were somewhat lost (we had a general idea of where we were). Mandy & Jess just started running, paying no attention to the map--would you believe that we almost ran into the first marker?! After that we tried to follow the map more closely, but found ourselves confused again. I looked at the girls & said, "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe, someone choose a way to go." Mandy Jo took license to lead us & after just two turns we found ourselves at the second marker! Jessica & I decided we did NOT want to lost again, so we began counting turns & quickly arrived at the other 4 markers & finally to the exit. We were the first group to finish by correctly following the markers (another group finished 10 minutes before we did having only reached 4 markers). Mandy Jo joked that Jessica & I should be Lewis & Clark, for leading the other three through the maze. I flipped the joke on her, saying that Britt, Amanda, & she were Lewis, And, Clark, & Jess & I were Saca & Jeweah, because Sacajeweah was the true leader of the Lewis & Clark expedition. It was so much fun to play "follow the leader" thru the corn maze!

Back on campus, we started the second portion of the evening with a devotional from Miss Heather Erickson. She spoke on the beauty of a woman who follows the Leader: Christ. A beautiful woman does not look on evil, is quick to hear & slow to speak, does what she knows to be right, sings songs, hymns, & spiritual songs, walks looking to spread the Gospel, & radiates God's holy fragrance. The devotion was perfect, encouraging each of us to follow our Leader everyday of our lives.

After the devotional, we were split into four groups: Creepy Crawlers, Wacky Werewolves, Vicious Vampires, & the Ghosts. The first game was a "trick-or-treat" scavanger hunt. 10 pumkins with candy were hidden around campus: some buckets had 10-12 pieces of candy, others only had 4 pieces. The goal was to find as many different buckets as possible. Each group was encouraged to split into smaller groups & then sent out to find the candy. Jess & I took off for the darkest places on campus--the most probable hiding places for candy! What we didn't know was that several of the guys in our brother dorm were dressed in all black & were to scare us. I was startled the first time, but then, I just laughed...until I found Jason, then I screamed! The crazieness of running around the campus looking for candy was hilarious!

At 11:30 all the groups returned to the dorm & enjoyed an hour of food, fellowship, & games. We were again asked to work together as a team & follow a leader. The night, though late, was filled with fun. I can't wait to do it again!

11 October 2008

these are my people

Spirit week has once again come & gone. I love all the excitement & craziness that accompanies the week: looking completely ridiculous is fun! Maranatha has made some changes concerning societies: they are now led by brother & sister dorms. To encourage unity within the dorm societies, the brother & sister dorms worked together to win spirit week (in the past, spirit week is fought between the classes). I loved walking around the dorm & classes, realizing that no matter how crazily they were dressed, these are my people.


Monday: Redneck Day
It was soo much fun to dress up for this day! The campus was covered in camo & hunter orange, beer-bellied boys, flannel, & blacked out teeth. The student body went out of their way to look as terrible as possible. A point was made that a "redneck" differs depending on the region of the country. We had them all: Southern NASCAR fans, East & West Coast trailer trash, & the mid-western farmer.


Tuesday: Clash Casual/Fashion Fauxpas
What a scary group we all made! Our mothers would have cried (mine laughed) to see us dressed so atrociously! As much as I love to be put together, I remember a time when fashion did not matter to me at all (I can see Momlady smiling as she reads this): as long as there was a stripe of the color in a part of my wardrobe, it matched. I remember dressing in all green when I was five telling Momlady that I matched because I was being monochromatic. I am proud to say that on Tuesday, I was able to wear a little of every color in my wardrobe, except orange. Tuesday was also Kat's 22nd birthday. Several of us went out to eat together in our spirit week garb. We received many odd glances from the other patrons at the Chinese buffet. A red-hat club was also meeting at the restraurant that afternoon & it was a blessing to talk to them. Though we were dressed rather oddly, those who found out we were from Maranatha only had good comments to say & encouraged us all to enjoy the remainder of spirit week.

Wednesday: Dynamic Duo/This & That/Famous Groups
Some very famous & some very uncheckable groups visited campus on Wednesday. There were several Superman & Lois duos, the Beatles, Sonny & Cher, the Bible staff dress as Bible referees, more than a few Thing 1 & Thing 2s showed up to stir up trouble. Jarid & I were part of two seperate Mystery Gangs. I loved being Velma & making ears for my roommate who graciously volunteered to be Scooby-Doo.

Thursday: 1968 Maranatha/Blue & Gold Day
Thursday was...interesting. Some did a great job dressing like they were students of 1968 Maranatha: Jarid & Korrine & Rachel (they dressed up like the original president & his wife, Mr. & Mrs. Cederholm). Others were floating between decades & majority of the student body donned blue & gold.

Friday: Dorm Society
Crazy chapel is held the Friday of spirit week. The dorm societies were sectioned off around the gym. Melford & Carey (Jarid is in Carey) wore black & silver, Hilsen & Leland wore green & white (rather confusing), Day & Armitage wore red & black, Gould & Spurgeon wore blue & white, & Weeks & Judson wore green & black. The student body officers put together games that provided hilarious competition between the dorms: a juggling contest, spelling with ping-pongs, a replica of Old Main out of chewed gum, & other games. My dorm society placed last, but nothing could have ruined such an awesome week.

As interesting as everyone looked this past week, I still proudly say, "These are my people."


09 October 2008

i wanna be like you

On Saturday I had the opportunity to spend a little extra time with the 1st-6th graders of Windsor--we visited the Madison Zoo! It was so much fun to take a little time to relax & get away from my normal routine while getting to know the future of Windsor Baptist Church.

Abby & I drove to Madison from the school. After a slight delay (we got a little lost in Madison) we met the church group by the seals.I loved watching the monkeys swing from tree to tree, then press their faces to the glass because they knew they were being watched. I loved watching the polar bears, one swam laps almost the entire time we were there; they are such beautiful creatures. I loved the African animals: the rhinos, giraffes, & lions; the American prairie: bison, prairie dogs, &, of course, a badger (we were in Madison, WI, home of the UW Badgers). Abby & I felt like the kids from the church that we came to meet. Those kids, & their parents, were so excited to be at the zoo! Some of the kids, along with Abby, had never been to the zoo before. Their excitement was easily spread to their parents & workers. Shane & I & some of the kids bought animal masks to wear. I am so glad to be a human, but I felt like saying "I wanna be like you!" to some of the animals.

At church on Sunday & in AWANA on Wednesday, the kids were still excited to share about their time at the zoo. The AWANA lesson for Cubbies last night was Creation. It was hard to quiet them down after asking what their favorite animal was: they loved them all! One of the girls kept saying, "Me want to be a monkey. Me want to be a bird!" The feeling was mutual. In Disney's The Jungle Book, Louie wishes to be like man, but sometimes I think that we humans "wanna be like you."

03 October 2008

under construction

"CAUTION: Life Under Construction"

Things are constantly under construction. Houses are being built, new stores set up in the mall, road construction that never seems to end (which can be rather frustrating during rush hour), the list goes on & on. It seems that wherever I turn, work is being done & things are being improved.

Change, though sometimes difficult to handle, is usually good. New houses replace burnt out shells or other unfit homes, new stores bring new styles & offer the public more variety, & new roads, as frustrating as the traffic may be, allow traffic to more smoothly from one place to another (until the road is under construction again, of course).

The difficulty with change, is that change is a continuous cycle. Things can never be fixed to perfection in this world. We will always have a need for new homes, stores, & roads (sorry, but somewhere out there, there will always be a construction related traffic jam). Though this cycle is generally viewed as a negative, it should be seen as a possitive: job opportunities, fun new fashions, & something to save up for.

I have mentioned several times that the Lord has changed me in several ways this summer: it's true! I learned so much about myself & my awesome God through the circumstances & people that He placed me in this summer. This summer, I realized that a life too, can be under construction & that this construction is a continuous cycle. I am continuing to learn areas where I fail, where I can improve, & how to fully rely on the God who was gracious enough to save me. Psalm 119:73 says, "Thy hands have made me & fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments." The less I focus on me, the more I realize that I have much more to change in order to become more like Christ. When you see me, be warned, I am a life under construction.