Houston

Until today, the biggest city I'd ever driven in was Abilene. Today, however, I successfully navigated my way through Houston. Woohoo! Is it bad that I'm proud of myself for driving through Houston? Because I am. My awesome mom drove down with me, so I must admit that I did have help navigating. Tomorrow I'll drive all around Houston by myself, so we'll see how that goes. We ate dinner at T-Bone Tom's, a fun little steakhouse. It was featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. The "armadillo eggs" were particularly tasty!

I'll be interning here in Houston for the next three months. My internship is with Lifeline Chaplaincy and I begin tomorrow. While I am still somewhat unclear on what this summer will look like, I do know that I will be in classes in the morning and doing visitations in the afternoons.

This weekend begins a crazy 17-hour intensive workshop. I think it will be really good and very helpful. However, I also think they call it "intensive" for a reason. I'm looking forward to getting to know my host family and the other interns. To be honest, I'm completely terrified about this summer. It's no secret that I'm a homebody who doesn't really like change and prefers small towns. This will be an adventure, and I suppose I'm not exactly unfamiliar with those. I know that I will grow so much and I am excited to see how I am transformed these next few months.

Anticipating the 2010 Kentucky Derby

It's the first Saturday in May, so I'm naturally in front of my television and tuned in to coverage of the 136th Kentucky Derby. Other than the Breeder's Cup, the Triple Crown races are the only horse races that I get to see each year. Like every year before, my dream is still to witness a the winning of the Triple Crown. It's been an awfully long time. In fact, this is the longest it's been between wins since Sir Barton won the three races back in 1919.

This year, there's no horse that stands out from the rest of the field. I think my money right now is on Sidney's Candy. He has a good record, including his win in the Santa Anita Handicap. Pedigree's not too shabby either, with names like Northern Dancer and Bold Ruler and Secretariat on his sire's side. Unfortunately Sidney's Candy may struggle to overcome a poor post position, especially on today's incredibly sloppy track. And of course, any horse guided by Calvin Borel shouldn't be discounted.

My other dream is to someday attend the Kentucky Derby myself. Last summer I made it to the Lonestar Horse Park in the metroplex and attended my first race with one of my best friends. It was a fantastic experience. The grace, beauty, power and majesty of those powerful thoroughbreds is awe-inspiring. I am ready attend another race, perhaps a graded stakes race this time.

This is Where I Belong

Sadly, today was my last day of horseback riding this semester. I'm in the Horses and Horsemanship class and we go out and ride for two hours every week. Because of our abnormally wet and cold winter, our lab was cancelled more than I would have liked for it be. Nevertheless, I have thoroughly enjoyed this class. We were each assigned a horse for the semester and I have been riding a sorrel mare named Hissy.

Today was incredibly windy, at least out at the barn. The ride was beautiful and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron came to my head. As the wind whipped across the plain, I truly felt that I could hear it calling my name, as this Bryan Adam's song so beautifully depicts.

I hear the wind across the plain

A sound so strong - that calls my name

It's wild like the river - it's warm like the sun

Ya it's here - this is where I belong

Under the starry skies - where eagles have flown

This place is paradise - it's the place I call home

The moon on the mountains

The whisper through the trees

The waves on the water

Let nothing come between this and me

Cause everything I want - is everything that's here

And when we're all together - there's nothing to fear

And wherever I wander - the one thing I've learned

It's to here - I will always ... always return

I think God breaks through at the most interesting times and places. I never expected to meet him so concretely this afternoon out on the windblown trails outside of Abilene. I felt as if I was exactly where I was supposed to be at that particular moment. I had such an incredible feeling of peace and contentment. This is where I belong. Of course, part of this feeling is my simple joy at being on a horse. Another part is the fact that I was out in nature, the place where God is always most visible to me. Most profoundly, however, I was struck by the truth that where I belong is in the presence of God.

I Wonder...

Sometimes I wonder how you can tell the difference between God shutting doors and Satan putting up roadblocks.

Spring Break 2010

I spent Spring Break in Colorado with three amazing young women. We headed to Paonia, CO, and stayed with one of the girl's family. It was a fantastic trip and we made it even more fantastic by creating a video of our week.

I call it "Dancing Across Colorado".

In the Face Of ...

In class on Sunday morning we had an interesting discussion about Michael Sattler. He was an Anabaptist leader who was eventually martyred for his beliefs. He believed certain truths and practices to be so core to the Christian faith that he would not abandon them in the face of death.

Of course, the question was raised: what practices would you refuse to give up, even when faced with persecution and death. A multitude of answers were given: communing with the church, evangelism, service to the poor, baptism, the Lord's Supper, prayer, and the list goes on, slightly different for different people.

In the face of death, I will not recant.

And yet.

What will we give up, so easily, in the face of busyness and stress?

In the face of schoolwork, I have witnessed a multitude of people give up church. In the face of essays I give up meditation. In the face of so many of these sorts of things, we give up Christ. And we say we would rather die than turn our backs on our faith?

We must follow Jesus regardless of the circumstances. For many of us in North America, this does not mean in the face of death and torturous persecution. Rather, we must practice the way of the Kingdom in the face of busyness, schoolwork, friends and stress. It is interesting, and perhaps telling, how difficult that seems to be.

All Woods Must Fail

"O! Wanderers in the shadowed land

despair not! For though dark they stand,

all woods there be must end at last,

and see the open sun go past:

the setting sun, the rising sun,

the day's end or the day begun.

For east or west all woods must fail ..."

and light shine through the wooded vale.

Sometimes I cannot see beyond.

It's dark ahead, the journey long,

but even in the darkest night

the stars are high and shine so bright.

For beauty stretches on and on.

The Shadow cannot touch the sun.

For east or west all woods must fail

and light shine through the wooded vale.

For your King shall come again.

You will dwell with him and then,

the everlasting songs you'll sing

forever, always with the King.

For he has made the Shadow naught

and triumphed o'er the dark it wrought.

For east or west all woods must fail

and light shine through the wooded vale.

So when you wander near or far,

look up to the Evening Star.

And if you're lost among the trees,

remember that beyond the leaves

open sky and open fields

will forever be revealed.

For east or west all woods must fail

and light shine through the wooded vale.

I wrote this for my Tolkien colloquium. The first part of the first stanza, in quotes, is Tolkien's. I was inspired by that portion of the song and another quote from ROTK.

"There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."

It's just so easy to look around me and see the darkness that fills this world. But there is light too. And this Light will overcome the darkness.