"The Last"

With the end of the semester looming in the near future, I've begun to hear a certain word quite frequently: "last." Next week is the last week of classes. The ending of my last final the week after will be the termination of my freshman year. Next week will also be my last service project with my Leadership Journey group that I've been with since day one of arriving at Cornerstone.

Monday night was the Leadership Journey banquet/dessert reception. It was an exciting and entertaining time for which preparations have been made since the beginning of the semester by our LJ group leaders, the Sherpas. What I loved most was that it enabled my group to be together outside our service project one last time during the frenzied end of the semester. It was held at the nearby Resurrection Life Church's youth center, where concerts and other events often take place. There were several amazing desserts, awards, videos of the year's service projects, speakers, and professional photographers to document the occasion. My favorite part, though, was the presentations that were done by three separate sets of students. Ironically, each involved a humorous form of singing that left the audience laughing hysterically.

Most of the evening was bittersweet. It was the culmination of two semesters of getting to know the ten people from my LJ group who have become like family to me. At the same time, since I and three others from my group will continue on to be Sherpas next year, it only marked the halfway point of our participation in LJ (or Terra Firma, the new name by which it will be called in forthcoming years). In that sense, a great deal of enthusiasm about a new year of new students and new possibilities was generated that presented me, to my delight, with an extensive list of "firsts" to look forward to.

Following the banquet, the my group was invited to the house of our CUF, Pete--a faculty member of Cornerstone who oversees the group--for even more dessert. We ended up playing an intense game of Scene It where we learned that although we all love movies, we really don't know that much about them. Still, we all had great time cheering for each other and celebrating the rare occasion when we would know the answer to a question.

A year ago, I was mulling over all the lasts of high school: graduation, the last chance I had to be with my friends on a daily basis, my last couple months of living at home before school, and the last time I would simply have to return my loaned textbooks to the school rather than search for someone to buy them. If I could've seen myself now, it would've been completely incomprehensible. The wonderful blessings I've had in my first two semesters at college make last year's "lasts" seem so insignificant that I look back and laugh. Even though I'm sad about this year coming to a close, I trust that I will never cease to be amazed when I discover the awesome opportunities in the future.

Happy Easter part 1

Yes, I know, Easter was yesterday. However, as long as I'm still not back at school, it's Easter weekend. With the combination of the 40 or so days of Passover, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday (since when is that a holiday?), Easter is more a period of time than a holiday. Just like there's the Christmas season, there is also the Easter season. I find it odd that two weeks before Christmas, you can tell someone merry Christmas and it's perfectly acceptable. If you did the same with Easter, the recipient of the well-intended wishes would most likely look at you quite strangely. But nevertheless, happy Easter.

These past two Easters have been significantly different from all those in the past. For me, Easter is usually nothing more than a normal Sunday with a couple extra choir pieces in the church service and an especially good dinner. Last year, I spent Easter in Romania, where my missions team held a service in a gypsy church. Even though their Easter was on a different date, they had a special meal for us that included a cake in the shape of a lamb and chocolate bunnies for our leaders. The hospitality of the Romanian people amazes me. This Easter was supposed to be back to normal until my parents decided they were going to desert me and visit my grandparents in Florida. One of the great things about Cornerstone is that there is always someone who is willing to adopt a student who has been estranged from their family for the weekend. Mandie's family was thrilled to take me in. Since Mandie is in choir and had a performance Friday night, we weren't able to leave after classes on Thursday like most people did. The general population thought that was really unfortunate, but we didn't mind. It gave us extra time to clean, pack, relax, and just enjoy the quiet atmosphere before driving home.


My Easter break actually started late Thursday night. Since I didn't have to worry about packing until Friday, I used Thursday afternoon and night as an intense time of homework and got a ridiculous amount accomplished. Following that, Liz (my suitemate, friend, and RA) and I had our weekly night of watching Asian TV shows. The love for all things Asian is so widespread in Cook that it could almost be considered an epidemic. It has initiated many relationships and Asian show-related craft projects that include but are not limited to cards, posters, pillow cases, calendars, and teddy bears. The poster that was made for Jenna, a girl in my section, is pictured. Anyway, on Thursday night we finished our third show of the semester then had one of our regularly occurring spiritual/theological discussions. I was finally in bed around 5:30 Friday morning.

Needless to say, I did not want to wake up Friday. I've learned, though, that what I remember most about college won't be the few mornings where I was exhausted. I'll remember the awesome nights that I enjoy staying up with friends, investing in those relationships, and having thought provoking conversations of which some have greatly changed me. It's times like this that I live for, along with a couple other times--when I see God in a totally new way and when I have the opportunity to show people how much I care about them. They are definitely worth the lack of energy that comes with the next day.

Not much of Friday is worth noting, with the exception of Cornerstone's choir. They never cease to amaze me. Their Good Friday performance was absolutely magnificent. They joined with two other small choir groups to make a total of 106 people with eight different music parts. If I could describe it in one word, it would be awesome--not in the loose sense in which it is frequently used, but in the true sense of "awe."


Despite how tired we were, our drive to Detroit was filled with stories and ridiculously loud singing along to Disney songs. "A Whole New World" will always be my favorite.


To be continued...

Cinderella Night

Last Wednesday night, my section, C1W, teamed up with C2W for a section activity. Unlike any other activities we've done, this one incorporated a service project along with going out afterward. We spent an hour cleaning various places around Cook Hall, then dressed up and went to Applebees--hence the title, "Cinderella Night." I'll admit I was somewhat apprehensive about the cleaning part at first; cleaning my own messes doesn't bother me whatsoever, but cleaning other peoples' messes can be a bit overwhelming. Fortunately, Cornerstone Housekeeping has been doing an excellent job, which greatly reduced the difficulty of our chores. Liz, my ever-prepared RA, made a list and assigned two to four people to each job. Two girls from C2W and I cleaned the 2nd floor lounge's kitchen. Initially it seemed like a daunting task, but it ended up being highly enjoyable and inspiring both humorous and serious conversations about everything from celebrities to our futures.

With the immense satisfaction of having a clean dorm building, we proceeded to change out of our nasty cleaning clothes and look as nice as we possibly could in about 20 minutes. Everyone's transformation was sufficient proof that no more than half an hour should be necessary to get ready for class in the morning. Upon our arrival to Applebees, a considerable amount of time was spent debating whether the place we parked was a handicapped space or not. While it was somewhat of a frustrating discussion, it inspired jokes that kept us entertained all night. We took full advantage of the 1/2 off appetizers, I was forced to try artichoke dip, many photos were taken, and some of us gave the others an anatomy lesson on how everyone's palate is different and what that entails as far as food textures. After we finished eating, took a couple group pictures, and wished everyone a great Easter break, we piled once again into our cars and returned to school.

Further In

"Further in." That is what the Mr. Beaver told Peter, Susan, and Lucy in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. At least it was in the movie--I haven't read the book in about ten years. Anyway, he says this before leading them to a place that was warm and comfortable, apparently hardly worth noting, yet it was an integral part of their journey. It was there a few words would be uttered that would seal their fate. Now I expect nothing so profound from a blog. I hope, though, that it can be an accurate account of some of the many aspects of my life in the wonderful place to which I have been summoned that has and I'm sure will continue to drastically change me.