Christianity: Moderately Important?

Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.

C.S. Lewis

A Prayer

God, I want to know you.

God, I want to follow you.

Show me the way, oh God.

Even as I look upon the uncertainty of the future, open my eyes to your path.

Oh God, set in my heart a burning fire. Emblazon passion upon my heart. Set a fire inside of me, a fire that cannot be tamed.

Alight in me a desire for prayer. Let me not shrink from constant prayer, but embrace you more and more. Let my prayers be pleasing to you, a fragrant offering.

I pray for the persecuted church, the persecution I cannot even begin to understand, and I ask that you bestow your love and provision over them.

Betsie ten Boom said, “The only safety is in the center of God’s will.”

And let that be true for your persecuted church.

Grant them courage and patient endurance.

I cannot begin to understand what they suffer. But you know.

And rescue those in poverty. Bless them. Move in them. Show yourself to them.

I love you, God. I love you I love you I love you.

You answered my prayer from yesterday, my desire to yearn for you over school. Now as my physics is sprawled out before me, all I want to do is pray.

I resort to my blog to focus on prayer because I don’t have my journal. I have wifi, yet I am not even vaguely tempted to visit Facebook.

Train me to keep my eyes upon you in this manner.

I love you.

Read the Bible

Source

I’ll pretend I haven’t read the Harry Potter series at least three times. I’ll pretend I’ve read the Bible more than four times.

And I’ll go roll into a ball because I am so unmotivated.

xoxo

Joy

My Life: an update

Today was a selfie day. Read: an unproductive, slightly disappointing day.

I spent all my breaks at school working on my formal lab report for physics.

I didn’t understand physics at all.

I have four Calc. III homework sections to do this weekend, a quiz, and a group project.

I need to write four and a half more essays and memorize them by Monday for Western Civ.

I got an email that I wasn’t elected Student Government Treasurer. I didn’t expect to get it. The other lady was far more qualified, and honestly, I only applied because the I know the president and he invited me. I wasn’t even that excited about the time commitment, which would have been extensive.

However, I feel a little more disappointed than I expected. I think I’m primarily worried about what Student Government meetings will be like in the future. Will everyone else make it awkward that I wasn’t elected?

Maybe I should gain another commitment on Fridays. But I do really like the people on StuGov.

I’m on the Social Media Committee, though, as a condolence for loosing, I suppose. This is probably far more suited to my personality, honestly, but I’m still worried.

So selfies it is.

I discussed the possibility of becoming an officer in Phi Theta Kappa with the advisor today, before the news about Treasurer.

Before the meeting, I was excited about the idea of becoming president. But now I’m uncertain about my leadership skills. Also, Phi Theta Kappa is involved in a lot of time-intensive projects, and honestly, I don’t know if I could handle being a leader.

On top of all these things, though, I’ve been realizing how little I move outside my comfort zone.

And I do need to move outside my comfort zone.

I’m glad I ran for treasurer. I got a ton of experience just by applying for the position, which shows how woefully unprepared I am for the real world.

That’s me, Joy, comfortable with group projects and calculus exams, but terrified of giving a little talk to six people or ask for a letter of recommendation.

I need to learn, to stretch, to fail, even.

It’s so scary. I’m so terrified.

It’s a big world out there, and I have almost no skills.

On the upside, I’ve recently moved beyond the desire to participate in things just for the sake of college applications. That’s a small consideration, of course, but now I’m more interested in growing.

Which is what Dr. [Retracted Name] said Phi Theta Kappa is all about. Perhaps I should apply for president.

Argh, I’m so confused.

And I have SO MUCH HOMEWORK!

I apologize for the ramble.

xoxo,

Joy

p.s. please don’t tell anyone that I posted a picture of my face, and in addition to that, a selfie. *gasp*

Twos

In kindergarten, my mom taught me to write the number two without a loop.

In first grade, my teacher taught me to write the number two with a loop. “That way it won’t look like a z,” she explained.

I am thoroughly mad at my first grade teacher right now. It turns out, partial derivatives use “cursive d’s”, which means they look exactly like twos with loops. Perfect.

So now I have to reteach myself to write twos without loops.

Ms. First Grade teacher (whose name I’ve forgotten): please note that there is no confusion if you write your twos without a loop. In math, you just stick a vertical cross hatch onto the z to make it distinctly different from twos.

Student Government Treasurer?

I’m “running” for Student Government treasurer. The previous treasurer stepped down, and since elections aren’t until April, the current Student Government body votes on the next treasurer. I’m running against a lady who has been at ACC for three years and is a business major.

I don’t have much of a chance. 🙂

It makes me feel really vulnerable to put myself out there like this, to run for something at the risk of publicly losing.

Nevertheless, I stuck my head under this chopping block, so I need to walk to my defeat cheerfully.

Boiler Room Prayer

Have you heard the story about the Boiler Room Prayer? I’ve heard it a few times now, and I have absolutely no idea if it’s historically accurate or not, but I do find it thought-provoking.

Five students were waiting outside Charles Spurgeon’s church for the doors to open. A man approached them and asked if they’d like a tour of the church before the service. They consented. The man inquired about whether or not they’d like to see the boiler room specifically. It was the hottest time of July, but not willing to be rude, the students agreed. The man opened a door and revealed 700 people praying for the coming service. “That is the boiler room of this church,” the man said. He introduced himself as Charles Spurgeon.

The point of that (rather poorly) retold story is that a church should run off of constant prayer. Oh, I should pray more. So much more.

Let us pray constantly. Oh Lord, teach us to pray constantly. Teach us to continually seek your face. Oh God, oh God, you are so merciful and supreme, and yet we do not pray. Teach me to pray.

Air Force Football Game

My parents went to the Air Force Academy, but we haven’t gone to an Air Force Football game in several years. Even when we lived in Colorado Springs, we rarely went. My grandparents, however, are avid Air Force fans. They go to every single home game and at least one away game each season. Also, my parents’ really good friends from the Air Force Academy have a son who is a fourth degree (freshman) cadet this year.

After tailgating with my this cadet’s parents last weekend (Parents’ Weekend), we decided we needed to start going to some of the games.

The Air Force Academy Football Stadium is nestled right into the Rocky Mountains. It’s incredibly gorgeous.

We tailgated with my grandparents, who (of course) always arrive like two hours before the game. This particular game was at 8:15, so we saw a nice sunset and headed into the stadium when it was getting dark.

Twenty minutes before the game, a bunch of cadet squadrons march onto the field. It makes me feel patriotic.

University of Colorado College Tour

Gasp. I posted a picture of my face.

Don’t tell anyone. I was too lazy to blur faces out. Let’s just keep this post quiet.

My dad an I toured CU when I was a freshman, but now that I’m actually considering college as a senior, we went back to get another look.

The rec center was finished since we were last there. Not a bad view while you play, basketball, huh?

The pool is a buffalo. And it’s got some pretty darn nice seating.

And the library. Because I love libraries. I don’t understand the quote completely, but it sounds pretty nice and profound. I like it the more I read it.

Did you know there’s such a thing as a professional lego builder? Me either.

The CU students picked the name for this restaurant. They’ve never been allowed to name another campus building.

Alferd Packer. The first convicted cannibal in Colorado.

The restaurant slogan? “Bring your friend for lunch.”

My daddy and I find that hilarious.

We toured the Leeds School of Business. My daddy really liked the whole Business school. I liked the balcony.

Organized

I started my week poorly. My room was a mess, I kept putting off homework I’d meant to do on Friday, and I spend hours on YouTube.

But on Monday afternoon, I decided to get my life a little more organized.

I cleaned my room thoroughly.

I sat down with my planner and wrote new, realistic goals. I included the things I wanted to do. For instance, today I wanted to write a blog post, so I wrote that on my list. Usually, this blog is a guilty pleasure that I indulge in when I’m supposed to be doing homework. Today I planned enough that I decided I could write a blog post.

Indeed, I’ve finished everything on my list today besides the post, so we’re doing really well, people!

And it’s only 12:46.

Speaking of which, I need to go to Microeconomics. Wouldn’t that be awkward if I was late?

I’m trying to be on top of my work, but also plan in free time. I’m determined to keep Sunday’s homework free this year, so that means I may have to work more during the week. I think it’ll be essential not to be lazy on Fridays and Saturdays. That’s when I usually crash.

I have a schedule from before the semester started.

Perhaps I’ll try to stick to this schedule. Who knows. 🙂

I started the week off weirdly with Labor Day, but come tomorrow we should be normal again.

Okay, dear readers, I’m heading off to class. Just need to change the HTML names on the pictures (which Khan Academy assures me is necessary for any blind readers) and add categories.

xoxo

Joy