Weekend Fun

I totally meant to take my camera along to the retreat over the weekend. However, it wasn't until we were halfway there that I remembered it. So, no pictures of the retreat...

However, I will tell you about it. :)

Friday night to Sunday noon we had a bro/sis retreat at the home of the guys RA, near Gary, Indiana.

It was such a great weekend!

We spent lots of time hanging out, laughing, playing games of all kinds (from Capture the Flag to Corn Hole to Mafia to Catch Phrase), watching the entire Bourne trilogy and generally just getting to know each other better, and on a different level. 

And, we had a beautiful Saturday in between days and days of rainy weather.

We have our last ultimate game tonight, and we're at 2-4 for the season. We almost won last Thursday and in fact went into double overtime trying to get the win. It was so much fun, because we were all really sharp, and played well together, finally! Maybe tonight we'll win and insha'allah make the tournament. 

Otherwise, I'm still looking for a job and working on schoolwork and hanging out with friends, and making new connections. 

Conversation on the "El"

Mondays are my PCM days. 

PCM stands for Practical Christian Ministry, by the way.

Back to the story...so this past Monday I was on the "el" riding home from PCM, reading and the guy sitting next to me leans over and asks if I'm a religious Jew. 

Now, granted, I was wearing a floor length skirt that I bought in the Middle East, but...that was because I wanted to culturally sensitive to that culture. It never had occurred to me that it could also be culturally appropriate for Orthodox Jews.

Anyway, the guy goes on to explain that his parents are religious Jews, but that he just loves everyone, and doesn't hold to any religion. He asked if I was religious and I said I was a Christian, and he asked what that meant and I told him that I just really love Jesus and want to follow Him. He told me that he really respects Jesus as a person, but doesn't believe He was God. So we talked some more, and he said he has a lot of respect for me for living out my beliefs. 

It definitely was an interesting conversation, and one I wasn't particularly prepared for. I don't think I'll ever be a person who comes on very strong about challenging someone's beliefs and arguing about apologetics, but I do want to be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about my beliefs. I don't think I did a horrible job explaining my faith to this guy, but I didn't have any really impressive answers either. I think for me, to think through some of those things and to know how to respond to people from various background would be good, and I know now, needed. I know how to respond to a Muslim's inquiry, but not really to people from other backgrounds.

So, God is good, and is teaching me things and giving me opportunities to talk about the faith that I possess and my love for Jesus.

All because I wore a skirt.

Rhythms of Life

Life has started to find a rhythm here at Moody, which I'm grateful for. This week seems to be going a bit better, but maybe that's because I'm not sick anymore. :)

On Saturday intramural football started, and while it's just flag football, you wouldn't be able to tell that from the intensity some of the bro floor guys have for it. 

They are so into it that the floor has an A team and a B team. The B team basically is just there to have fun, but the A team is out to win it all. So far (all of one week) they've won, but they have two game this Saturday so we'll see how it goes. 

A bunch of us girls went to cheer them on, so here are some pictures from the day...

Sarah and Carley (my RA)

Lining up on D "to kill, kill, kill!" (their words, not mine)

The girls who went with the signs we made. 

Everyone's tagged on Facebook, so if you really want to know who they are, check there first. :)

Sunday we hosted the guys for an Open House type thing, when the dorms are opened to the opposite gender for a few hours one night. We played mafia and had lots of really good food.

And this weekend I have a rather intense (supposedly) paper to write for OT Survey. 

Speaking of which....I should go and get started reading. :)

Week 3

Wow. Week 3. Who knew it would creep up so fast?

I don't have a lot of profound things to write about weeks 2 and 3. They went by, sometimes at lightning speed and sometimes at a turtle crawl.

I went home for Labor Day weekend. My first of what I'm sure will be many, many trips on the Megabus. It was good to be home. I'm still adjusting my mind to the fact that I am close enough for easy weekend trips. Always before when I lived away from home, visiting was a luxury. :)

I spent a lot of time with my dad's side of the family. My aunt was in town and there was a funeral and a reunion of sorts for my Grandma's family, so that kept us busy. But it was so interesting to hear my great-aunts and uncles talk about my great-grandparents and life as it was a hundred years ago. And these same great-aunts and uncles blow me away with their interest in my life. They pray for me! I maybe see them once every few years and yet they pray for me. It humbles and blesses me.

I also got to watch a lot of college football. :) One of the reasons I love fall. I know it might sound strange for a girl to be so into football, but really, it's great fun to cheer on my favorite team. (go Hawkeyes!!!!)

This week hasn't been as easy as the previous two, mainly because a head cold has hit. I'm doing my best to fend it off, but this morning it felt like it was winning. Hopefully with a bit more Dayquil and a lot more rest my body can recover...insha'allah. 

Beyond that I'm really enjoying life here. I have amazing girls on my floor, and some amazing guys on our brother floor. This is the season for intramural ultimate frisbee and it's been fun to get to know some of the guys a bit better through that, since our team consists of us and the bro floor. We finally notched a win tonight (we are now 1-3), although I did not contribute because of my cold.

Anyway, that's a bit about my life at the moment...the Lord has been good to me, and I am filled with joy. :)

Pictures And An Ah-hah Moment

First, some pictures! 

I haven't taken many of my own pictures yet, but some friends have, so I'll get those on here soon.

The Chicago skyline from the roof of my dorm building. The tall one is the Hancock Building.

My roommate (in blue) and some other freshman girls from my floor. :) I think we're going to have fun together the next four years!

Second, the ah-hah moment.

I'm taking a class this semester called Church and It's Doctrines. Basically, it's Theology 101. Anyway, I was doing the required reading and I read something that was pretty interesting, at least to me. 

So...

In Ephesians 2:12 it says, "remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world." That phrase "without God"? In the Greek it's atheist. 

That's all.

I just thought it was cool to see the way the word was used in the original Greek, which gives it a different meaning/connotation than what we would think of today.