Sterling Wildlife

So... right now I'm writing to you from the campus library... because wireless internet is down campus-wide. We recieved an email today that said it should be restored by tomorrow at 5pm. WOOT WOOT! As Switchfoot says "You never know what you got until it's gone." :)

Today I had my first encounter with Sterling wildlife. It was night... and I had just come outside to take some friends back to the lake where they had left their car,

WHEN SUDDENLY...

A BIG HAIRY THING WITH A LONG PINK TAIL RAN UNDERNEATH MY CAR.

I gasped.

Never had I seen such a hideous looking thing.

My friends screamed.

One of them shouted "It's an opposum!"

Grossness. First the rat named Stewart, and now this.

After scaring it out from underneath my car we chased it from car to car... and finally abandoned the thing because it was getting late.

Poor thing.

Perhaps we should have named him McHairy. Then my dorm, McCreery, can have it's very own mascot.

Perhaps not.

Can you say GROSS?

I'm sitting at my house... wait. No I'm not. I'm sitting in my DORM ROOM... underneath my loft bed. How weird is that!?

Hi friends! For those of you that don't know already, I transferred to an amazing little college in an amazing little town in the middle of an amazing little state. Okay, that's not completely true. Kansas isn't really THAT little... but it's smaller than Texas. :)

I am absolutely loving the campus, the people, the atmosphere of my dorm (McCreery Girls ROCK! WOOT!), my R.A. Candice, my professors, my awesome advisers, and the administration that has been so helpful to me. It's a lot cooler today, which is really nice. I enjoyed going to a variety show that the college staff and R.A's put on last night. It was entertaining... and white shirts - you guys were TOO FUNNY! HA... some of you people back home might not understand, but that's okay. I don't really know how to explain it other than by saying that is was basically like a mime act with high-pitched screaming and running around like wild banshees. So anyway, that was a lot of fun.

I almost ate a rat.

That too, is something that you people back home won't understand. I was selected out of the audience (THANKS KAYLA AND SALIMA!) and blindfolded. Then I was told to grab things out of a cup and eat them, while identifying them as fast as I could. At one point I reached in and grabbed a handful of fur... and then the fur moved. I screamed and when they took the blindfold off, I saw a white mouse (That was ALIVE) in the cup that I had just put my hand in. Can somebody say GROSS? Yes... gross. That's what it was. Then, rumors started flying that I was crying when I walked off of the stage ... because I was laughing so hard that tears were coming out of my eyes.

Ha. What a night.

Classes started today too. I took Intro to Children With Special Needs this morning, as well as Fundamentals of Teaching Reading. Then, this afternoon, I took Language Arts for Elementary Teachers. They were all very interesting and reaffirmed the fact that Elementary Education is exactly the major that God wants me in.

Well, thanks for reading all this randomness... come visit again soon!

By His Grace,

A Call to Arms...NOW

How many times have you said to yourself "When I finally reach ____________, THEN my life will really start,". When I finally reach graduation, marriage, the milestone of starting a family... then I will be totally content. But until that time, I can't really serve Christ in an effective way.

What a lie.

An amazing battle is won by the enemy when we are convinced that the stuff we do right now is just "filling the time" until true life begins. How much more effective could we be if we decided:

Right now.

Today.

To take up that spiritual armor and fight the battles of God. Whether it's fighting to have a good attitude when things don't go as planned, fighting to get out of bed again in the morning, fighting to forgive someone, fighting for joy in the midst of a busy life, fighting for purity in a world of filth, fighting the temptation to judge others, fighting anxiety and fear..................fighting.

And yet, I'm so guilty to play the part of a bystander on the sidelines of a combat zone. Believing lies that I am not qualified to fight... not qualified to put on that shining breastplate of righteousness, that powerful belt of truth, that victorious sword of the spirit, I stand... imaginging one day being "worthy" enough to take up that armor.

Weapons are handed to me by fellow bystanders. They offer me everything. From self-help books to chocolate to companionship... each minute assuring me that these things are strong enough to fight my battles for me. An easy fix... but in the end they are only a string of distractions and leave me empty.

Jesus. He calls to me... pleads with me to gird myself in the spiritual armor that He offers. He promises that it will be strong enough to thwart the schemes of my greatest fear and enemy: satan and his lies.

Not only that, but he says "Emily, take up the armor right NOW. Quit waiting until you're good enough, because that day will never come. In the meantime, you could be winning mighty battles in your own heart and in MY Kingdom."

Friends, now is the time. What are you waiting for? None of us are promised even another day on this earth. Take up the spiritual armor that is discussed in Ephesians 6 and start fighting your battles! If God is for us, WHO can be against us? How much more could you and I be accomplishing for the kingdom if we laid aside the thought that we'll do it tomorrow! Life doesn't start when we finally reach that perfect salary earning, marry that perfect person, or have a perfect family. Life is NOW. Don't miss what God has for you now because you're so busy looking behind you or in front of you. Look at what you have right here before you and thank God for the opportunity to serve Him NOW.

Don't wait. :)

Blog Facelift... And a Very Un-inspiring Post.

Is it raining where you are at right now? It was raining and storming here this evening. I haven't felt like writing in quite awhile, but the rain seemed to trigger something deep within my heart and I felt inspired. So inspired in fact, that I pulled up my blog... only to discover that the background that I used was removed from the web! SO... not only did my blog not have a background and looked horribly messy... it didn't look like an inspiring place to write... or read for that matter.

What goes without telling is the fact that I spent the last few hours making over my blog. Hopefully you all like it! It needed a face-lift anyways...

SO.... now that it's done... I'm feeling very UN-inspired to write. Very tired. And I have church in the morning. I hope you all don't mind too terribly much! Hopefully soon I'll have time to catch you up on what's been happening in my life lately.... because it's CRAZY EXCITING!