all you ever wanted to know

just some engagement pictures...compliments of cary norton (www.theordinary.org)

well, guys...this blog is not dead...do not worry. i will still be posting here occasionally. but in addition we all now have staff blogs at gracecampus.net...

my own personal one is www.gracecampus.net/rebekah

come and read me there!

peace.

this is really just an update for the sake of an update. things have been kind of crazy lately with getting things ready for the first encounter...which, praise the Lord, was more outrageous than anything we could have ever imagined. we are so blessed!...right now i'm sitting on the couch on a saturday morning (which really feels like sunday because i have friday off) staring at the tv cause i can't find the tivo remote (i could watch live tv...but honestly, who does that?).

me and david are traveling to the 'ham today to take engagement pictures. i'm pretty much ecstatic because we have the coolest photographer known to man...you can check him out at www.theordinary.org. some of liz's wedding pictures are actually up there as well. anyways, that's about all i got for now. peace!

so God has been showing me some really cool stuff lately - and i'm not even going to pretend it is because i have been dilligent in spending time with him. i have been struggling this summer amidst david being gone and trying to get time with him whenever, planning a wedding, starting a new job and trying to move to have quality time with my Jesus. but needless to say, He has once again made perfectly evident His never-tiring pursuit of me.

the most evident theme is God just revealing to me who He is (which leaves you with no other choice than to praise His name). He is huge. He is not like us. He chooses us when he does not even have to. He was perfect. He took our sin. He had heaven. He chose our earth. He was immortal. He chose the most despicable, painful death.

tuesday night at girls' bible study, april took us through the passover/sedar meal. it was so amazing to see how thousands of years before Christ, God gave His people a meal that was perfectly symbolic of Jesus who would fulfill it in His timing. it is amazing how this meal is designed. the coolest part to me was the three pieces of matzah bread that were taken out of a special wrapping, the middle piece is broken and half of it hidden. the children would later go find the hidden piece and bring it back for a great reward. this is so evident that the three pieces are: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. the middle piece (the Son) was broken. He was buried and resurrected and whoever finds Him will have a great reward. also, probably one of the most interesting things was that there was a special dipped bread that was given to a loved one at the meal. this is the very same peice of bread that Jesus dipped and gave to judas when He told him to go and do what he was going to do. even at the end Jesus wanted judas to know that He loved him. even as He told him to go and betray Him. and then, at the end of the meal, Jesus started a new tradition - what we know as communion. he took the piece of bread that was hidden and broke it giving it to each of his disciples telling them that that was His body that would be broken for them. and then He poured out a pitcher and poured out the wine and said that just as He was pouring out the wine so would He pour Himself out. He poured Himself out...emptied Himself. He took our cup of sorrow and gave us a cup of redemption. and even though the disciples have been learning this, now they know that "this is the one we've been waiting for...this is our God!" (thank you, chris tomling). i get chills when i just think about it. about what He did and what it all meant and how He didn't even have to do it.

and then we are given this thing called grace. which blows my mind in a whole other way. grace so that we can live lives to completely reflect Him. and we have twisted it into a free pass to live in whatever kind of sin we can think of and use the "grace" card to say it is ok. well, i'm just going to say it, its not. its not to say that we won't all struggle with something, but to just claim defeat and know that God will forgive us is not how He has called us to live. that's why i'm so glad i work for a campus ministry who claims that with every ounce of its being. our banner: by grace. for glory. that's what we're here for and if we aren't claiming that and praying for that to be true in our own lives, we are just filling space and falling short of what we could be. and i'm saying this coming from that place where i have been knowing that but not praying for it, and if i have happened to reflect Jesus its been through His faithfulness, not because of my desperate pursuit of Him. but He is it for me. He is all we ever need. the rest is just a bonus.

anyways, i wish i could explain the wonder that is bethany beach, mi. it started in 1906 as a christian resort with most of the homes owned by swedish baptist families. over the past 100 years those properties and traditions have been passed down within the same families. recently, there have been a few german and scottish families that have moved in, but for the most part, it is overrun with ytterbergs, nybergs, carlsons, and mathisons. you can't turn around without seeing the blue and yellow of the swedish flag somewhere. its really out of control. this year, it was taken to a whole new level being the 100th anniversary of bethany beach. there were festivities every day. we spent most of our time on the beach though which was nice and relaxing. and the mild weather of lake michigan was a welcomed escape from the blazing 100 degree heat of auburn.

all i know is that i am SO excited to be in houston right now. i haven't seen david all summer, and it has been the best 10 hours of my life!!!!!!

whoever came up with the saying "its just like riding a bike...you can't forget how" picked a very bad constant in the bike riding analogy. you CAN forget how to ride a bike after approximately 10 years of not practicing. today me and courtney got it in our heads that we were going to try to ride our bikes to the office. now for those of you who can't quite grasp this picture, we live on magnolia, between gay street and ross...for those of you not from auburn, i'm sorry...point is, its not even a block to the office. so off we go about 15 minutes apart from each other. i pull out of the driveway (and when i say "pull out" i mean i walked the bike down the driveway because i was scared) and onto our side street. next comes the task to cross magnolia...very scary. i'm switching gears because they're too tight and i feel like my chain is about to fly out into the middle of the street. i also have my computer bag on whith my macbook in it, which added a whole new level of stress to this situation. so i make it onto the sidewalk safely and have to immediately switch gears again because it is way too easy now (i forgot about coasting) and i'm weaving all over the sidewalk like a fool. finally i make it to the office 12 minutes late. and courtney meets me at the door like "did you almost die, too?" basically we had similar experiences. mine was so bad i ditched the bike at the office and courtney (who had gone home for lunch and picked up her car) took me home.

but, if you think we decided to let this get the best of us, you are sadly mistaken. we were inspired by a guy riding his bike and holding a cup of tea (thank you brave stranger). we decided we had to become such good riders we could hold a drink, talk on our cell phones and switch gears all at the same time. so tonight after girls bible study we head up to the auburn bank parking lot. me and courtney walked her bike up there so i could pick mine up at the office. then we proceeded to practice riding around the office. we actually got brave enough to take on some speed bumps. we were so proud of ourselves. there we were at the ripe ages of 22 and 23 relearning how to stand up and pedal at the same time. it was great!

i love these words....mostly because they were written half a millenium ago...

"o eternal Father! o fiery abyss of charity! o eternal beauty, o eternal wisdom, o eternal goodness, o eternal mercy! o hope and refuge of sinners! o immeasurable generosity! o eternal infinite good! o mad lover! and you have need of your creature? it seems so to me, for you act as if You could not live without her, in spite of the fact that You are Life itself and everything has life from You and nothing can have life without You. why then are You so mad? Because You have fallen in love with what You have made! You are pleased and delighted over her within Yourself, as if You were drunk for her salvation. she runs away from You and You go looking for her. she strays and You draw closer to her. You clothed Yourself in our humanity and nearer than that You could not have come.
"and what shall i say? i will stutter, 'a-a' because there is nothing else i know how to say. finite language cannot express the emotion of the soul that longs for You infinitely. i think i could echo paul's words; the tongue cannot speak nor the ear hear nor the eye see nor the heart imagine what i have seen! what have you seen? 'I have seen the hidden things of God!' and i - what do i say? i have nothing to add from these clumsy emotions of mine. i say only, my soul, that You have tasted and seen the abyss of supreme eternal providence."
st. catherine of sienna

catherine was considered, to the medieval historian, a mystic - one who is able through some mysterious power to have direct communication with the Lord outside the walls of a church and intercession of a priest. i just think she was a girl who loved and knew her Savior in a passionate way.