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This week has probably been the craziest week of my life for a number of reasons. I have dated approximately 112 boys this week and given my phone number to at least fifty. I have sang to a boy I did not know in the student center. I participated in my first food fight, which was a combination of mustard, cottage cheese, baked beans, corn, and rice. I dressed like an absolute fool in all pink and green clothes, and loved every minute of it! I eat dinner at 1:15 AM, and I run around all of campus like a maniac from 8:00 in the morning until 11:55 in the evening. I have even written love letters to people I don't know. These are the joys of pledging a club, and I joyfully do it for Chi Omega Pi! Although there are some pretty crazy things about club week, there are so many parallels to our faith. Just like I do all these crazy things to bear the name of Chi Omega Pi, so we are called as Christians to be crazy for the name of Jesus Christ. Just like we ladies of Chi Omega Pi shout o...

If you pick up your Bible and open to the gospels, you will find stories of healing, miracles, and wonderful teaching. Turn to the Psalms and find poems of praise. Find words of wisdom in the Proverbs. In the historical books, you'll read epic stories of victory. Paul paints pictures of the armor of God, the body of Christ, and the fruits of the Spirit. Now flip your Bible over to Ezekiel and what do you find? Floating wheels, creepy creatures, edible scrolls, and a guy laying on his side for 390 says. Ezekiel could possible be one of the strangest books of the Bible. This week I have read Ezekiel 1-5, and many times I found myself putting down my Bible for an instant and literally saying out loud, " What in the world?" If you've never read it, I will warn you - it's weird. But just because Ezekiel is strange does not mean that it is void of truths and applications for our daily lives. I'll admit that some chapters absolutely baffle me, but I still want to s...

It won't be that cold at night. I'll be fine. That's what I told myself when I realized that I did not have a sleeping bag for the World Missions workshop this past weekend. I didn't have time to find one, so I shrugged my shoulders and grabbed some warm pajamas and a blanket. I'm tough, right? I'm used to sleeping in cold weather, right? No big deal. It won't even be that cold. Well, I'm not tough as I thought, and I am certainly not used to sleeping in a Cambodian hut in thirty degree temperatures with a blanket on a plywood floor. Our hut was a typical Asian house, made of bamboo, thatched with straw, and elevated about seven feet off the ground. Freezing night air blew in between the bamboo and into the hut, but it also drafted up from beneath the floor.When I layed down on that raised floor and felt the cool night air both above and below me, I was so ridiculously cold that all I could do was laugh. I was already shaking with chills, so it was ...

Monday morning, I woke up with a tender pain in my throat every time I swallowed, a slighty congested nose, and a heavy head. I wasn't sick yet, but I could tell it was coming. I thought about the week ahead of me: 4 tests, 2 quizzes, observation hours scheduled, and the World Mission Workshop this weekend. I could not afford to get sick, so I got out of bed, washed my face with warm water, jumped into my clothes, and told myself, y ou are NOT getting sick . I carried a water bottle with me all day and drank like a camel in the desert. I told my body over and over again, you are NOT getting sick! I could not afford to get sick, so I consistently thought, acted, and lived like it just wasn't going to happen. I even went to bed early, convincing my body that it would be perfectly fine when I woke up in the morning. Usually the day after you get that pre-sickness feeling, you wake up with a sore throat, fever, and headache because the illness has finally hit you hard....

One of the biggest newfound blessings of my semester thus far has been my community group. A community group is a small group, home Bible study that is a part of the church that I attend, Fellowship Bible Church. We meet almost every Sunday night for a time of fellowship by eating a meal together and studying together, whether that is a book study or a Bible study. It has been wonderful for me to not only get plugged into the church that I attend, but also to get to know people (other than college students) in the church and share a spiritual experience with them. When I first thought about joining a community group, I went to the community group kick-off at the beginning of the semester. At the kick-off, each community group had a table where you could meet the leaders and talk to them about their group, which would in turn help you decide which group to join. As I walked from table to table, I found it very hard to pick one group because they were all so good! But one table imm...

A worn-out, scratched-up wooden piano sat abandoned in the corner, like it had been pushed aside or left over from a garage sale. I tenderly opened up the lid, let my fingers rest on the yellow stained keys, and purposefully chose a song in my head. I placed my right hand on the high-pitched end of the piano, with my thumb resting on one A and my pinky barely reaching the next A an octave higher. As soon as I hit that octave to begin the delicate, peaceful song, I winced as the notes clashed so horrifically that I couldn't bring myself to hit the next note. Realizing that the piano had not been tuned in a century (or so it seemed), I quickly thought to myself, new song! This will never work! So I went to plan B, a jazz piece that dances around the lower octaves of the piano. I quietly and quickly tested the lower end of the piano, which was still not in-tune, but at least bareable. The plan B jazz song had a few higher chords that sqeaked with dissonance when I ...

I would venture to say that this week has been the craziest week of my life. If I am not sleeping, I am doing something on my feet. (And let me add that I haven't been doing much sleeping, which means I have been doing a lot of "doing something.") Yesterday, I believe I sat down in my dorm room for a grand total of...10 minutes? From 7:00 am until 12:00 am, I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. If I could show you my schedule from Monday to Friday, every block of time would be filled with classes, appointments, exams, or scheduled events. If I happen to have a block of open time, it is filled something else that is necessary, like homework, laundry, trips to the library, getting gas in the car, or making phone calls. Let me just say with enthusiasm that Friday has finally arrived which means that the weekend is right around the corner! I'm sure no one else ever has busy, jam-packed weeks like this, do they? (Can you sense the sacrcasm?!)...