Lindsay

One week ago today, a very good family friend passed away from Hodgkin's lymphoma. Her name was Lindsay, and she just turned 22 years old.

She fought the battle with cancer for nearly three years, and she just never could get better. I don't care who you are, there is NO justice in a 22-year-old dying of cancer. It's so weird thinking of a girl with whom I have childhood memories and inside jokes with, dead.

When we were younger, she and her brother would play often with me and my sister. Our families are great friends. I just can't believe that she's gone.

My mom called me with the news on Tuesday, and it was the weirdest timing ever: I was on my way home, and then I was going to pick up a friend from work. We were headed to the hospital to see a new baby that our friend at church had had in the early morning hours. How strange that I get a phone call about death when I am on my way to witness a new life. My friend and I talked about Lindsay's death on the way to the hospital. She said, "You know, you always assume that you're going to live to be 90 years old, and all your friends will live to be that long too. But, that's not a guarantee." No, indeed.

It's not that I have any grandiose ideas about "not taking life for granted," but Lindsay was the first person from my childhood to die, that I know about anyway. NOTHING is certain, that's for sure.

You Say You Want a Revolution

I finished watching "Revolutionary Road" just a while ago, and I think it's one of those films that's going to stick with me for a while. I don't know how many of you have seen it, but it's definitely worth a viewing (unless you REALLY don't like things that are exceptionally depressing...)

The film is about a couple living in the 1950s (Kate and Leo!) who become frustrated with their ho-hum suburban life and make plans to take off and move to Paris. The movie chronicles their emotional journey of essentially being bored with life and attempting to live "above" everyone else who is caught in mind-numbing suburbia. The movie gets more and more depressing as Leo's character begins to question leaving his job and his life, while Kate's character never wavers in her intense desire to move to Paris (which, somehow, will automatically make her life more fulfilled).

While the film is a hyperbole of the extremes that people pursue in order to change their lives, I think that this is something that lots of people struggle with as they start "settling down." When you're young, you can literally do anything, go anywhere, make your life into whatever you want it to be. I think that most people realize that once they get married, have kids, etc., it won't be like that anymore, but I don't think people are prepared for what that actually feels like. Once you make a choice, you are essentially saying "no" to every other option. In my generation, we are used to having everything we want, when we want it. It's a huge adjustment to go from a mindset of total and complete freedom to one of commitment, safe regularities, complacency. Contrary to the characters in the film, I DON'T think that these things necessarily mean monotony or a zombie-like existence.

But that's just life, isn't it? We can't be young and idealistic forever, or else nothing would ever get done.

Depressing? Perhaps. But I like to think of it as "comfortable," which excites me very much.

Happy Halloween.

John Piper on Facebook

"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time."

Gulp.

Mixed Bag....ie, Lack of Recent Posting

Lots has been on my mind tonight.

For starters, I was pondering how ironic it is that I obsessive check certain blogs every single day, and rarely update my own. I'll try to get better about that...

I've also been reading about and admiring from afar my very good friend and personal hero, Sara. Sara is a dear dear friend from high school with whom I have stayed in touch with since then. Starting this summer, Sara has embarked on a wild adventure called Mission Year in which she lives in a house with five others on the South Side of Chicago. Their mission for the year is to build relationships with those around them in the neighborhood while they live there. Now, I know that most of you don't even know Sara, but I hope you can still appreciate the great simplicity and complexity of this calling. The stories that have come out of her journey, even in just a few short months, have been absolutely incredible. Can you imagine waking up every day and simply living out the mission of Jesus, literally? That's pretty much what she and her team are doing. If you want to read more about her, here's a link:.

In other news, I have semi-begun the job search. It's soooo incredibly weird to think that I'll be gainfully employed in just a few short months. Like, someone PAYS me money to work. Not only work, but do what I love. You will notice how I sound very sure that this is going to happen. That is because I have not allowed my mind to entertain the alternative. At this point in my education and training, I'm pretty much doing genetic counseling sessions all by myself and I love every minute of it. How sweet is that?!

Also, my friend Leslie saw Star Wars In Concert this weekend. Apparently, Anthony Daniels was there narrating the entire thing. I'm not even going to go into how horribly, disgustingly jealous I am.

It's a nice weekend for a wedding

So, as many of you probably know, this past weekend was the wedding of two good friends, Brittany and Ryan.

Man. It was so nice to see everyone.

I mean, I love all of my Clemson/DCF buds so much, and I hardly ever get to see them any more. It was great to laugh and catch up and eat some fabulous cake.

As most of you know too, it was the first time that I got to see David since January. It was beyond amazing to see him. I am so sad that our situation keeps us apart so much. Actually, to be honest, it just flat out sucks. We've been dating for almost four years, and it's hard to see wedding after wedding pass us by, and it's still not us. I know I should be thankful, because I'm doing what I love and I'll be finished very soon, and we love each other. It WILL happen eventually, but the waiting really is a bummer.

It's all God's timing, I really believe that. I have felt all along that this season of waiting has a purpose that we may not be able to see right away. It doesn't necessarily make it easier, but it keeps me from going insane.

:)

I Am Second

Last Sunday, they showed a video clip from this website I had never heard of before called "I Am Second." It was a clip of Stephen Baldwin telling his story about how Christ changed his life, and it intrigued me. So went I went home, I looked up more.

The site is a collection of videos of different people who have been changed by Jesus. Some are famous, some are not, but each story I watched was amazing. I couldn't stop watching the videos! These stories were incredible and it was so exciting to see how different people from every facet and level of our society have something in common that is so radical, it's life-altering.

It was such a good reminder to me of the power of the Gospel. So often I take these sacred words and Jesus' mission for grated. But here, before me, is living proof that Jesus can literally swoop down and make things new.

I hope glean as much from it as I did.

Sweep the Leg

So! I was introduced to this awesome group on Pandora (love it!!) called No More Kings. Their songs are mostly sort of silly thematically (think They Might Be Giants) and my new favorite song is called "Sweep the Leg." The story: it's a tribute to "The Karate Kid" by telling the story of the defeat of Johnny (the bad guy) from the movie, but from his perspective! What's even funnier is the video features all of the original movie cast playing themselves as has-beens. It's the cleverist thing I've seen in a long time. And the song is catchy!

Watch it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFlQNtL8F9s