Anything worth doing is worth doing well...

including Christian music festivals.

Yeah, you read that correctly.

I went to Creation Fest in Enumclaw last Friday. I barely know myself anymore. [In my defense, I went to help out a friend who needed a few female chaperones, but the fact remains that I willingly went to a Christian music festival.]

A few of the highlights:

• hearing "Jesus Freak" live
  
• Christian t-shirts... my favorite: "Virginity Rocks"
• the great nap I took during the sermonette (note to youth pastors: don't ask me to "chaperone" if you're counting on someone to stay awake)
• the petting zoo (this is not a joke, and there was a wallaby)
• owning some highschoolers in Egyptian Ratscrew
• the classic candlelit moment at the end of the night
• the 8th grade kid in our group who melted about 20 of those candles into his palm
• the awesome dance circle and train that our group started at the end of the music...

... which leads me to my point. Sometimes, I get caught up in moments, forget who I am, and do ridiculous things. The dancing circle did this to me. I felt the need to make all the students in our group break it down. I excitedly yelled, "Jesus on 3! 1...2...3... JESUS!!" Hey, if you're going to go to Creation Fest, better do it well. Go big or go home, people.

Random Wednesday Thoughts

I'm currently having a musical craving that I can't pinpoint. You know how sometimes you'll be hungry and want to eat something in particular but can't figure out what it is? You open the fridge and it all looks fine, but nothing really looks good. Well, that's how I feel when I open up iTunes, and it's been going on for the past week or so. I'll pick something to listen to, and it's fine, but something is missing. Maybe I need some new music, I don't know. Does anyone else experience these musical funks?

Today I went to the eye doctor, and he put that weird dye in my eyes. I got home and my nostrils were orange. At first, I thought something was very wrong with me, but then I realized that the dye had just traveled down. Nonetheless, it was strange (and sort of gross, too).

Today I feel like locking myself away with no phone or internet and just reading and writing for 4 days straight. Instead, I'm going to be studying Greek and working (which currently consists of skimming through a 1200-item listing of books to figure out which ones are appropriate for a bibliography I'm working on... painfully boring).

I just counted that I have 16 pens/pencils/highlighters/sharpies in my backpack. I am truly crazy. Granted, I only deem 7 of them necessary (but perhaps that should make me feel worse, and not better, about my problem).

I've been using the word "enigma" more than usual lately, but I'm not sure why. Does that make my use of the word enigmatic?

I love Seattle summer! A lot!

"Happy Ending"

I've only recently realized that not all people have conversations with strangers on a regular basis. I end up in conversations with people I don't know all the time. Maybe not every day, but it's usually multiple times a week.

Every once in a while I find myself in a weird situation that I'm dying to get out of... like the day the the strange man on the bus tilted his container of red vines towards me and said, "Want some candy, little girl?" Ummmm, no thank you. Number one-- I like real Twizzlers and am a little insulted by your knock-offs. Number two-- that's creepy as hell, mister.

But normally, my random interactions are great. I really love meeting new people and getting a glimpse of someone else's story-- even if it's only for 5 minutes. I don't know what causes these impromptu exchanges of mine, but I hope they never stop.

I had one of my all-time favorites about 3o minutes ago (well, I anticipate that it will be an all-time favorite). I'm housesitting this week and took the dog on a walk. A ten-year old boy was outside of his house and said to me, "Nice poodle." I said thanks, and then he just kept chattin it up. He was awesome. First, he started asking me all about poodles and the possibility of a pink poodle. Then he showed me what was on the piece of paper in his hand: the first song he's ever written. Adorable.

The song was typed, and he pointed out that he had used Times New Roman font (because it's the easiest to read, he explained). He even had guy/girl parts distinguished. It was called "Happy Ending" and was about him rescuing his princess. I made it about 3/4 of the way through reading the lyrics before he took the paper and started singing it for me so I could get the full effect. I felt a little uncomfortable (read: illegal) to have a 10 year-old boy singing me a love song he had written, but I went with it anyway.

The gist of the song was him falling in love with a girl who was his "princess." Then she gets taken away (tragic!), so he weeps. Then he takes up his weapons to fight for her (somebody call John and Stasi Eldridge... this number has Wild at Heart written all over it). Finally, he rescues her and they have their "Happy Ending." (Are you tearing up yet?) What a little romantic!

I hope this kid is famous someday so I can say, "Oh yeah, I knew about him long before he made it big," (because that's what cool people say). I love strange stranger conversations!

Random Day Resolution

I played trivia with some people a few weeks back and realized how behind I was with current events. It was embarrassing how few political world leaders I was able to name. I used to be great about checking the news, but life is busy, and sometimes I just don't have the time these days.

Yet... I have time to check Facebook and learn the happenings of people's lives that I don't really care about.

The truth is, we have time for the things we make time for. So I made a mid-June resolution to start keeping up with the news again. It wasn't a special day with significant reasoning behind it. I just realized that it was time to change what I was unhappy with, and mid-June was as good a time as ever.

It is seldom a perfect time to make a change; we can always come up with a thousand reasons not to do something. But I've found that it is very often a good time to make a change. So, do it! Make an early-July resolution, no matter how big or small it may be. You don't have to wait until January 1st. After all, if I had put off my resolution until the new year, I never would have discovered my obsession with the Russian spy ring.

Freedom

This 4th of July I've been thinking about freedom-- what it is and how we interpret it as Americans and Christians... and American Christians. I wouldn't really call myself a patriot, but I am grateful for the opportunities I have in America. I'm thankful that I don't have to fear for my life on a daily basis. I realize the blessing it is to be able to worship my God freely. I'm grateful for my education and the fact that I can choose what I want to do with my life. Many people might call these opportunities "freedom," and in a sense, I agree. But at the same time, I fear that we have twisted our freedom into something that isn't very freeing at all.

When I look around, I see a lot of Americans whose lives speak anything but freedom. People are trapped in unhealthy relationships that drain their being. People are tied to possessions that bring no real value or meaning to life. People are addicted to anything and everything. But we have the right to be trapped, because we're "free". It seems to me that a sad irony too often accompanies our freedom.

Frankly, I don't think we can't know true freedom apart from Christ. It is only by God's Spirit that we know what to do with freedom. We snuff out the gift when we hoard it. Our "freedom" becomes strangely tyrannical. We fool ourselves into thinking that freedom is a privilege to be protected instead of recognizing it as a gift to be shared. Is there anything truly free about a freedom that oppresses and tramples anyone that gets in its way?

Instead of "freedom" that crushes other people and ourselves, we've been offered a freedom in Christ that should be shared. We have been saved and freed for something, not just from something. It's a costly gift, but it's a beautiful one. There is freedom where the Spirit of God is, and we're invited to experience it and live it and give it and share it and hope for it.

So, anyway, I'm trying to figure out what it looks like to reject the tyrannical "freedom" of the world and embrace the freedom of God's Kingdom.

Being balanced... and being neurotic

I took my car to the dealership this morning (after the Netherlands vs. Brazil game, of course... Hup Holland Hup!). My check maintenance light was on, and I also needed them to check my tires. I keep having to fill up the back ones. Turns out there were nails in both.

One was pluggable, one wasn't. The tires there were super-expensive, so I decided I'd get the replacements elsewhere. On my way out, the service guy told me that since they plugged the one, I could just have the other replaced with the same brand tire.

What?! Only replace one of my back tires?!

The idea of replacing one and not the other is really disturbing for me. Why? Because I'm neurotic, and I hate things to be unbalanced. If I'm going to replace one back tire, I want to replace the other one. If I get one hand wet, the other's gonna need it too. Seriously, I'm a nut job about these kinds of things. But I also don't want to fork over $100 if I don't have to. So I guess I'll have an unbalanced car and try not to think about it.

So, now, my point...

My rad friend Annie often says, "All things in moderation, including moderation."

I think this applies to balance too... Balance is good, but you have to have balance with balance. I'm gonna work on this.