st andrews + lady gaga

Okay. I love St Andrews. As you may or may not know, I studied abroad there for my junior year of uni*.

Also as you may or may not know I kind of like Lady Gaga**.

You can then imagine HOW FREAKING STOKED I was when I found this little gem of a video. It combines the beautiful setting of St Andrews with the melodic delights of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance". Oh. AND. It's a cappella***.



*That's short for university kids. It's British. Deal with it.

**That is an understatement.

***TOTAL nerd for some good a cappella. Isn't that right Lizzy?

guest post: good friday

I'm posting today over on my church's women's ministry blog, Imago Dei Women. It is a reflection on the separation between Jesus and God that we enter into on Good Friday. It has been interesting, even after writing it, to take time and consider that separation and what that sacrifice means for me, for us, as Christ followers.

thankful on a thursday

I am foregoing the introduction of today's Thankful on a Thursday because friends, I am exhausted. My entire body aches not just for sleep, but for rest. So here is my wee list of gratitude, although this week I feel I have failed miserably to share just how very thankful I am because this week has been full of His goodness in more ways than I can count.

1. A week full of sunshine.
2. My God is so big, so strong and so mighty. There is nothing my God cannot do.
3. I have the very best friends. I don't know what I would do without them.
4. Deer Hunter. Not the movie, but the game we played at youth group.
5. A high school production of Aida. The awkward ways those kids with only one line deliver that one line and the AMAZING voice of the girl who played Aida. Wow.
6. How could you not be thankful when movies like this exist?
7. The overwhelming sense of His faithfulness and His goodness, even in the midst of trial, that I have had all week long.
8. Dinner with mom at Mother's.
9. Johnny Cash. You sir were exactly what these ears needed to hear.*
10. Holy Week and the anticipation of the resurrection.
11. Honesty. Even when it is hard.

Two fantastic things about this song. First, we sang this in church on Sunday. Second, that's Scott and Seth Avett you hear playing the banjo and stomp their feet in the background.

prone to wander—a deeper story

I'm posting over at A Deeper Story today, wrestling through adultery...or at least attempting to.

As a single, Christian woman it would be false to say I do not spend time thinking about marriage, both the overarching concept of the sacred union and the specifics of daily life marked by private rituals that would go unnoticed by anyone but the husband and wife. And as that same single, Christian woman, it would be false to say that I do not spend time thinking about adultery.

Not committing it, but about its prevalence. About how it doesn’t discriminate. About how it. is. everywhere. Stories shared by women on blogs I read. Conversations across small tables in coffee shops and living rooms. And once in a tattoo parlor while my skin bled with words of do not worry, her skin bled the name of another woman’s husband.

Read the rest over at A Deeper Story.

psalm 27:13–14

I am still confident of this: that I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

He is so good

We sang this song in church yesterday. I love it.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

There are some big changes* going on around here folks. And I am finding myself wanting to write more, and also discovering that I have less and less time to do so. Part of that is because I've been blessed with the opportunity to participate in the community over at Deeper Story. Writing there has me thinking all month long about what my next post will be. Sometimes those posts are written sooner and they show up here. Other times they stew and simmer, much like April's post has been doing, and are served up, usually posting minutes before the midnight publish deadline, over at Deeper Story.

Point being, I feel a little like I'm neglecting my blog. I don't want to, and I don't want to write out of obligation. I write, and have always written, because I love it. Because it brings me joy and because of all the ways God's given me to express myself, I think He has gifted me most in my ability to express myself through words, both written and spoken.

I am hopeful that as these life changes become a little less fresh I will find more time to write. Thank you for stopping by and to read the words I do find the time to write. I am humbled that you want to read the crazy mess of thoughts that tumble from my head and out my fingers up onto this screen.

*One of the smallest of those changes will be a new look for this place I call my writing home. I AM STOKED.

procrastinate

I'm meeting with Ben, the youth pastor and one overseeing my internship at church, tomorrow and I'm supposed to have a paper for him on a book I just finished reading. The book, Almost Christian: What the Faith of our Teenagers is Telling the American Church, is fantastic. I loved it. It has changed the way I interact with my students and the way I think about high school ministry. But for the life of me I cannot sit down and write about it. Old procrastination habits die hard. Good thing I've still got that desire whole pleasing people thing to motivate me. And it's a good thing I've given up Facebook and Twitter.

Alright, alright, it's time to get down to it. Although come to think of it my room could used a good clean...

just thankful

I get this reminder every Wednesday afternoon that it's time to write my Thankful on a Thursday post. But here's the deal: I feel guilty just putting up a list of things I'm thankful for. I feel like I should be writing some sort of introduction, some preface to gratitude. Today I say, "No more!" I would rather put up a list, even if it lack explanation, and enter into the exercise of being thankful than skip it altogether.

From here on there will be a list, and sometimes maybe a little more.

With no further adieu...

1. Homemade scrabble tiles, the wonderful man who made them with me, and his indulgence of my obsession with speed scrabble.
2. My first homemade layer cake, a practice for my friend's birthday party next week.
3. Spring cleaning with my roommate.
4. An unbelievably gorgeous, sunny day that necessitated SUNGLASSES on my walk to work this morning.
5. A chance to meet with, and be encouraged by, other leaders at my church.
6. Friendships. The new ones and the old ones. How on earth did I get so blessed?
7. A job that pays me even when I am home sick.
8. The new life my friends are bringing into this world.
9. A weekend at the coast with my high schoolers. I never cease to be amazed at how much joy they bring into my life.
10. Sharing Sleepy Monk Coffee with my high schoolers and two of my favorite leaders.
11. The INCREDIBLE way my God answers prayer. He knows just what we need, when we need it, and exactly how to answer us.

blogging over at dailymile

Today I'm blogging over at dailymile. I wrote a post for their "This is How We Succeed" series. It looks at how the dailymile community has helped people overcome obstacles in life and in training. My post is all about my experience training for and running the Portland Marathon.

Ch-ch-ch-check it out.

shameless promotion of awesomeness

Alright. I don't know if you know this, but April Fool's Day is one of my favorite days as far is the internet is concerned. There are all these fantastic jokes going on on all your favorite websites. It's pretty great. And a terrible day to be productive.

And to make it even more challenging for you to be productive, I'm going to shamelessly promote The Mustachioed Woodsman's talents*. He's been designing the graphics for Urban Airship's April Fool's Day prank for the last few months, and I'm not going to lie, it's pretty awesome.** So if you're bored and looking for something to do today, or if you're just looking for something to do today, check out Urban Airship's website. Spacebar shoots, and your arrows do just what you think they do.***


*8-bit video game graphics are just the tip of the artistic iceberg.

**I may be a bit biased.

***Move you up, down, left and right.