Lakeside

One thing I love about CUW and will miss a lot next year is the lake and bluff area. The past two days I have taken Trevor's camera (that will be another post soon I am sure) and sat down there for over three hours total.
As the school year is winding down, and the papers and projects are stacking up, I'm beginning to feel incredibly stressed. Going for a walk out by the bluff has been a tremendous stress reliever to say the least.

Birthday Weekend

Not only did I celebrate Easter this past weekend, but it was also Trevor's 20th Birthday! I had an amazing time being home with him and am hoping this last month apart goes by quickly.

What better way to celebrate his birthday than by watching his YouTube video cover of "Birthday" by Katy Perry! (I like this version more than the original..but I may be slightly biased!)

Enjoy :)

Faith, Hope, Love

1 Corinthians 13:13,

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

I'm currently attempting to study for my New Testament test I have tomorrow morning, it isn't going to well. I'm rereading the materials and came across a page from our booklet discussing this verse. Not many verses get a whole page dedicated to them, that's one way you know they should be important to you.
The page digests each component: faith, hope, and love.

Faith

• the trust which takes us beyond ourselves
• focuses on someone else and though everything in our life rides upon it, it rests this load on another
• is content with the wisdom, power, and strength of that other One
• lets Him think and act, He plans and protects, and we're content
• our tie with God which moves us to Him and accepts His view of us

Hope

• the never conquered virtue
• is elastic
• knows no time limit to its hopefulness
• never says, "I was wrong to hope. There is nothing good, no time left, no way out, nothing that can be done."
• always has time yet to come
• always believes that tomorrow may come with good, a good built even on the ruins of today
• believes that there is a way out, even when we can't see it
• our tie with God by which we agree with Him that the world was good in its beginning and that its end will be better still

Love

• the one which defies all expectations
• laughs at all explanations
• can't answer why it loves, and never feels it has to
• accepts what it has been given to love
• the breath of God into lifeless clay
• His desire to make someone who is like Him and to love Him when He is far away
• accepts being loved and knows there is no good reason
• laughs when others try to find cause and knows He had none
• our tie with God because love is faith and love is hope

It doesn't get much deeper than this.

If I were half the person Paul was, I would be beyond happy with my life. I only hope that God may use me in the way He has planned, and that my own goals do not interfere with His design.

Students for Life

Tonight was the first evening I attended a Students for Life meeting since last semester.
Why?
I'm not exactly sure.
Next year, when I am at Concordia St. Paul, there won't be a Students for Life for me to be apart of, and my mom is pushing me to try to start one there. That's probably the exact reason I had decided earlier this semester that I would most definitely not start it.

Tonight, a lady that works for Eyewitness for Life, Ltd. came in and spoke to the group. A friend of mine is the president of Students for Life and was panicking that no one was going to show up, so I thought I better go.

I almost cried about four times, and then a tear finally did make its way out.
I finally did realize why I had not been back since the end of winter break.
I know someone who has had an abortion and it has changed how I hear any little detail about these things. It moves me to tears just thinking about it, let alone discussing it.
I haven't told my mom, but now I'm reconsidering starting a group in St. Paul. I want to talk with students about this vital issue.

Tonight I learned that 80% of women that go into this center and see the ultrasound of their baby, change their minds and won't have an abortion. 80%! I would love to be able to start something that's even just an ounce as influential as the center here in Milwaukee.
This is definitely going to be something I spend a lot of time praying about before next school year rolls around.