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8.23.2010

goodbye, summer.

top 10 things i'm going to miss about summer 2010:
(in no particular order and not including india. clearly.)

  • swimming pool. i'm seriously considering investing in a kiddie pool for our backyard here in waco.
  • baseball games with the fam. at least now i can cheer on the rangers from air conditioning.
  • longview restaurants. pizza king's queen's delight. dudley's banana pudding. butcher shop's burgers (and cookies, of course). newk's favorite salad. carlito's zelda. friday lunches at willie g's.
  • bike rides with drewby. well, really, just drew in general. i kinda got spoiled living in the same state with him again.
  • spontaneous road trips. let's be honest. i'll still be on the road a lot, but much less spontaneously. planning ahead = not as fun.
  • sweet family time. lots of packing and moving and crazy schedules, but always good to be together.
  • first baptist church, longview. i'm a big fan of my home church and haven't really found one i'm as crazy about in waco.
  • wearing shorts and tshirts everyday. people in grad school think they need to dress up for some reason... something about being professional or presentable or serious or something...
  • pleasure reading. hello, syllabi.
  • arnold palmers. the official drink of summer.

8.17.2010

shameless plugs.

the most recent edition of the baptist standard featured a couple articles about some of my favorite people... so, of course, i think you should read them.

1. dr. mike stroope. if you've followed my blog at all, you should be familiar with this name. he's the professor i traveled around india with, and he's the mission guru at truett seminary. the article discusses his thoughts on mission strategies that he presented at the baptist world alliance meeting a couple weeks ago. i like the way he thinks.


2. the bristers. chris' dad is the pastor at first baptist church, duncanville, texas, and this article is about the relationship being built between their church and a community in east india. i may or may not be just a little bit proud.


enjoy!

8.16.2010

fix you.

my mom is wrapping up a study on the book of john in her ladies' sunday school class. this morning she was in chapter 19... the cross. it was both heavy and refreshing to sit in on her class today. i realized that, as a believer, i don't think i reflect on/think about/study the cross enough--and maybe there's never a point of "enough" in this area, but surely my focus needs to be there more than it typically is. i want to be more constantly aware of the weight of my sinful nature and the depth of his love and grace.

at the end of her lesson, she showed this video of clips from "the passion of the christ" set to coldplay's "fix you." this song has been a favorite of mine for a while. in the last three years, the words of this song have usually driven me to feelings of grief (almost in a therapeutic way--is that weird?), but today, hearing it while watching the passion unfold, i was driven to feelings of hope and redemption.

"he made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of god in him." 2 corinthians 5.21 (nasb)

"we know that when jesus was raised from the dead it was a signal of the end of death-as-the-end. never again will death have the last word." romans 6. (the message)

watch the video here: