much needed time with a favorite.

{disclaimer: this is a way overdue post, but we moved across town last week (more on that later), and i started yet another job this week (again, more later), so it's been a little on the crazy side around here.}

one of my favorites came to norman a couple weekends ago. katelyn and i were inseparable, basically living the same life, for 3 years. we were roommates for 2 of those years, both pursuing the missions concentration mdiv at truett, and we were in the same covenant group -- which we just found out means we can call each other "covenant sisters"... how did we miss that?! we tried never to take ourselves too seriously -- and decided no one else should either -- so you could typically find us having dance parties in the halls trying to liven everybody up (top 2 song choices: "god is enough" and "days of elijah" -- totally normal, right?). needless to say, the professors loved us. {of all our pics together, these 3 below are super random, but they make me laugh the most.}

then... we got engaged 2 weeks apart from each other -- to two guys that were also roommates. this, of course, led to lots and lots and lots of wedding planning together. then, we got married two weeks apart...

... and unfortunately, we hadn't seen each other since. 10 1/2 months without seeing each other, y'all. so what finally made us break the fast? none other than whitney houston herself. we had talked about planning a time to get together, but when we heard whitney's final movie, "sparkle," was coming out (also starring my girl, jordin sparks), it was game over. we had to see it together. so katelyn drove her little self all the way from lufkin to norman for a weekend of sparkle, tlc shows, long walks, and good food -- duh. (she did a much better job of detailing our #normannanigans weekend on her blog.)

we still live similar lives, just not in the same place. we're both trying to figure out the wife life, manage newlywed budgets, and work part-time jobs. we're both living in new places and making new friends. we're both wrestling with calling and gifts and ministry and how all this stuff we studied for 3 years actually plays out in real life.

thanks for coming, katelyn. i may or may not have cried a little when you left. i promise it won't be 10 1/2 months until chris and i come visit you, walker, and baby opal!

roots.

it's no secret: i love trees. no, i'm not a crazy tree-hugger (although sometimes i wish i could be more of one), but i just think trees are such a perfect picture of spiritual life.

so needless to say, when jeremy started his sermon last night by reading passages like luke 6.43-45 and john 15.5, i knew it was going to be a good one. just start saying words like "roots," "branches," "trees," and "fruit," and my heart starts freaking out.

i could write a million blog posts on trees and spiritual life. it's an analogy used all over scripture, and i love it every single time.

last night, jeremy talked about how what we desire is essentially the core of who we are... or following the analogy, we are rooted in what we desire.

luke quotes jesus like this: "For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit... The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

and john like this: "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

what am i rooted in? what is the treasure of my heart? what am i abiding in? what kind of fruit am i producing?

when the husband and i were honeymooning in hawaii, we went to a botanical garden one morning. the tree above was one of my favorites -- i mean, just look at that beauty!! what you can't tell from the above picture is how unbelievably massive it is... which is why we took this picture:

look at those roots, y'all. they're taller than we are!!! i was absolutely in awe. that tree isn't going anywhere any time soon.

i want the roots of my heart to be big and strong like that so that my faith might be unwavering. i want to be "rooted and grounded in love" (ephesians 3.17)... his steadfast, unconditional, boundless love... his higher and wider and deeper and longer than i could imagine love. i want the treasure of my heart, my ultimate desire, to be christ alone. i want to abide in him, dwell in him, make my home in him.

so why is it that as much as i want these things, they are SO easy to forget? all too quickly i find myself desiring things of this world more than i desire christ, but as ann voskamp says in a recent must-read post, "When you lose your First Love, you don't just lose your way -- you lose your mind." i wish i didn't know that to be true from experience.

but thanks be to god that when i realize i've lost my first love, my way, and for sure my mind, when i realize that apart from him i am absolutely nothing, when i realize my life is completely disoriented when not rooted in him, he graciously and mercifully wants me back. he takes me in and gives me "a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit," and he calls me an "oak of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified" (isaiah 61.3). 

i love the olympics.

i'm already having olympic withdrawals. the husband and i literally watched olympic coverage every single day it was on -- and most nights (missing only 2 i think) we watched all four hours of prime time coverage. i have no idea what we're going to do tonight without bob costas and his way-too-dark hair... and jen hatmaker's hilarious twitter commentary... and nbc's back stories that rip my heart out and make me cheer for people even if they aren't on team usa. i just LOVE the olympics.

how can you not love these people?!

the fab five (or fierce five? whatev.) won team gold -- being only the second american team to do so (and if you don't know that the magnificent seven of '96 won the first one, i'm not sure if we're friends) -- not to mention that they picked up medals in the all-around (get it, gabs) and individual events, too. i may or may not follow all five of them on twitter now.

missy franklin DOMINATED the pool. she seemed so genuinely humble and excited every time she won. i love that this girl would rather swim for her high school team than turn pro.

then for week 2, we turned to the track, and it was game over for china's medal count. i became such a fan of allyson felix. she never missed an opportunity to be super open about her faith and source of strength -- which would've been cool no matter what, but was even more cool since she set a world record and walked away with three gold medals.

i could easily go on, but i'll stop there since those were my stand out favorites. so i'll ask it again -- how can you not love these people?! here's the answer -- you can't. you can't not love them (sorry, grandmother, for the double negative). and that, my friends, is why i love the olympics.

i love the beautiful shows and the incredible displays of talent. i love when a tiny country like grenada wins their very first olympic medal. i love when records get broken and people cross the finish line with utter shock on their faces. i love, love, LOVE hearing the athletes' stories. but i think what i love most of all is the feeling that all of us are cheering for the same team.

think about it -- whether you went to chickfila on august 1st or not, you were cheering for gabby douglas in the all-around final. whether you think john calvin is a hero or a heretic, you were pulling for michael phelps to become the most decorated olympian of all time. whether you're a republican or a democrat, you were hoping for a miracle in the men's 4x100 relay. at the risk of sounding like a naive, airhead beauty pageant contestant wishing for world peace, i wish we could all cheer for the same team more often.

i realize congress will probably never agree on anything ever, but what about the church? i read this tertullian quote recently (thank you, @early_church): "what marks us in the eyes of our enemies is our loving kindness... they say, 'look how they love one another!'" i literally laughed when i read that on my twitter feed. i wonder what he would think of us now. i WISH people would describe us as a loving bunch. i WISH the random american would think of loving kindess when he thought of christians.

all of this to say, while watching the olympics this year, i realized how fun it is for all of us to be FOR the same thing. i'm so tired of the blog posts and tweets and status updates of people being against things. what if we all realized we're actually all on the same team? we're all hopefully on the same mission and working toward the same end, right? i think there's a lot of time and energy being wasted by christians being against other christians when we could all be for loving people that don't know the grace and mercy of jesus. i know, i know... i sound like the kid that says, "can't we all just get along?" ... but seriously, can't we?

big news & a big request.

it's a big week at the brister house (ehh... apartment). aside from literally never turning off the olympics and developing a possibly unhealthy obsession with team usa's fab five, we've been busy with some new things we want to fill y'all in on.

1. today marks 10 MONTHS since we said our "I Dos." double digits, baby! i seriously can't believe we're so close to the one year mark. these months have flown. (okay, okay, this isn't really a new thing, but i couldn't help myself.)

photo credit: whenitclicks

2. i started a new part-time job yesterday! yeah employment! i'll be writing and editing for an international sports ministry called uttermost sports. i'm excited to use those skills and to feel like i'm doing something with an international flare to it (if you know me, you know i need that).

and finally... drumroll please....

3. chris and i are officially starting part-time with providence road today! to say we're excited would be an understatement. we'll be developing the college ministry, organizing the "for the city" work, maintaining the social media accounts, and helping with the administrative/organizational side of things. yeah!!

we've been raising support since may in order for us to be able to come on as part-time staff at prov road, and we're close to our goal, but not quite there yet. would you consider helping us reach our goal? whether you're able to give $10 or $100, any and everything will be GREATLY appreciated!! you can do a one-time or monthly gift; you can give online or mail in a check. seriously, every little bit helps!

to give online, click here, fill out the super easy form, then LET ME KNOW so that i can make sure it gets designated for our account. to mail a check, please contact me and i'll give you an address (sorry, i didn't feel comfortable posting it on here). to contact me, you can leave a comment on this post, send me a facebook message, or DM me on twitter (@cjbrister). thank you for considering supporting us and our ministry in this way!

"I thank my God for your fellowship --

your sympathetic cooperation, contributions, and partnership --

in advancing the good news -- the Gospel..."

-- philippians 1.5 (amp)