Rain in Georgia

Today is a rainy day, which means a day that me and my little sis went to the movies and saw Wall-e. It is great to get to spend time with family.

Also lately I have been thinking again about the idea of sabbath and resting. I am not a person who is always that good and simply being present. Usually there are things in my head that I am scheming or sorting or things that I should do. But what a joy and help to just stop. I am all about enjoying coffees and meals and chats. What does stopping look like for you? How do you let go of the responsibility of everyday?

Prayer week

We had a week of prayer last week. It took place in a coffee shop and was open 24-7. Exciting stuff for sure. Think about many people over the course of the week going to the same space to pray and chill and be with God. My favorite piece of a prayer room is that is it such a corporate exercise, even if you spend your time there alone. The fact that each person is coming to the same space changes the dynamic of the space. Plus there are usually walls for writing and drawing on and the room grows over the week. Ideally the prayer is continuous, where you go for your time and then prayer for the next person as you leave. What a great thing, like each hour just adds to the one before it. Very sweet.

I really don't know how full the prayer week was or if it was impactful and this info may never really be known. I suppose it is just a trust thing, having the faith that people interacted and experienced God. And hopefully I'll hear some of the stories. Either way it is good to get people together to pray. My hope is that people know more and more the peace and love of God and are able to pray in a new way too. Maybe your time in the prayer room is talking to God, maybe it is painting, maybe reading something, maybe sitting and listening or playing music, maybe writing or drawing, maybe scheming some amazing dream. May it be sweet and sacred time.

oh yes

So life is a strange one in that you have soooo many decisions to make. Why? Ha. In reality it is a good thing that we have choices in life. That things happen to present opportunities and changes, options if you will. But then on the flip side, because there are options, there are choices to make. And the sad part about that is that you get to do one thing at a time and so saying yes to one thing says no to something else. In essence this is a good thing because it lets you commit to something and enjoy and interact with it and with the people involved. But there are always things that you don't get to do. But by committing to something, you really get to engage and experience it, frustrations, excitements and all.

I am not used to being in the same spot for more than 9 or ten months, so around the sixth month mark means that I am looking for the next place to go. So guess how long I've been in Madison now, and how strange the idea is that I don't have plans to leave. That instead there is a group of people that I have committed to for two years. What would happen if I left now and what would be the point?

Most exciting news, I get to go and see Dad, Diane, and Alissa! How sweet is to to get to see family. So exciting! I have a wonderful family and love them dearly.

summer is coming

Perhaps summer is here. The weather is nice and more people are outside.

We are going to be having 24-3. (praying 24 hours for three days) next week, then again in the middle of July and August. I'm excited about this because it is so great for people to get together and pray. Also having the space and the time set aside for it is profound. How wonderful to be able to come into the room and join in with your hour of prayer, then pass it off to the next person for their time. I get worried that people won't come or that they will sign up and not show up, but I guess that all of that is up to God and will get sorted. Also prayer is so fundamental to building any sort of community, so should be put into place at the beginning.

Today I am going to have lunch with a girl that I went to Calvin with. I search the alumni site a week ago for people in Madison and found people that I knew. Great.

today

Last weekend I got to go to Kansas and join with other people around the country for 24-7 prayer's national gathering. Yeah! It was great to see people again and to meet some new people as well, always a good time. Plus I took a road trip with people from Madison for the weekend, was great bonding time with people from here. (including getting stuck in Dubuque, Iowa cause there was the threat of tornadoes on the road that we were to be driving on. We spent almost 2 hours in Dairy Queen to wait for the storms to pass. And then there was amazing sideways type lightning on the way home.)

I really enjoy people and I love how small the world becomes when this person has met this person and knows that one and you know those other people too, great fun. And crazy how many people are interconnected. Like I met a girl in Kansas who met people that I know who are swedish, but she met them in England.

I get to pick up my new car on Friday I think. Crazy that I am getting a car, what a grown-up thing to do. Exciting and scary at the same time. I am proud of my skills with talking to the people at the dealerships and I had fun driving cars. Scary though, cause a car is a big deal. And I need to make sure that I will be able to pay for it in the long term. Grown-up decisions for sure.

I don't know that I will ever feel like a grown-up really, especially cause I get mistaken for being 18 nearly daily.

the beautiful sun

So it really is hard to get anything productive done when it is so nice outside. Like today I went for a run and then was needing to get some work done, so clearly the thing to do was to go to the park and fall asleep in the sunshine. Good for the soul for sure, not so good for productivity, but I didn't sleep that long and perhaps my brain was coming up with some amazing ideas for the projects that I am supposed to be working on.

Once the sun came out, the bikers did too. There are so many bike paths around here and it is great! Anywhere you go, you are very close to a bike path which makes a great place to go for a walk or run. Fantastic.

distraction

So I am supposed to be sitting down and making a draft of this community house vision and what that means and looks like and what it would mean for people to move in, what are they committing to? And so I got up this morning with the goal of getting it done today. And now it's 7:00 pm. Why is it hard to focus and why do I find all these other things to do? Things that needed to get done by the way. It is exciting to think about what a community house could look like, just a chilled out place where people live and can have fun and rest well, a place to get to know people. I don't wanna be too specific cause I don't even know who will move in and surely it has to fit the people who are there. Also I don't want to make up rules for the sake of it or make it a burden or heavy thing to live there. And yet there needs to be some intention to it, some commitment to each other and some practical things, like cleaning. So therein lies the balance. So yep, that will get done tonight.......

So this is what I forgot to say for my grandma's funeral. She bought me a computer, a really nice one that I love. I thought that it didn't need to be included in how she affected me, yet it does. I got a nice computer when before I didn't wanna be "too flash." It's like she believed in me and my graphic design abilities more than I did. I about cried when I found out that she was going to buy me a computer, I couldn't talk. I was in an office with some others who were wondering why I was squeaking and flapping my arms. And I couldn't tell them. I remember that she told me that she wanted to be able to give it to me then cause it would mean more to me when I couldn't afford it myself and when she would get to see me enjoy it. Thanks Gram. It is strange to think that an object, a machine can impact your life, and it is almost a little scary, yet that's the way that it is. This computer helps me in so many ways and now serves as a reminder to me about the generosity of my grandma and of how I would like to be. I can't even tell you how many people asked if my grandma wanted any more grandkids to buy computers for. Sorry, she was mine.