My Opus...

(A screenshot of the, so far, 120 page manual I'm working on.)

Here I sit. One final night in the Admissions office. One final all-nighter to give JBU. And my final opus. My final gift. My final repayment for all that JBU has done for me. One last way to say thank you. One final assignment to complete. One final challenge to overcome. One really big document.

I'm working to finish up my "Procedure Manual" for tomorrow. Tomorrow's my last day here (weird writing that - the end of a 6 year stay) and my final chance to finish this last assignment. Kim Eldridge, my director, when he began 10 months ago, let us all know that he wanted each of us to create a procedure manual for our position.

So, this is my last challenge and my last task. If I can leave at 5 o'clock tomorrow with this finished, I will feel like I accomplished all that I was given this year in either an excellent or, at the very least, good/satisfactory fashion. I will leave knowing, in spite of the mistakes I made and the things that I learned from, that I have completed what was given me to the best of my ability.

With that, I should return to this...my final opus for JBU (at least for a while). I'm at 120 pages, but still have to write about ERP, Scholarship Weekend, and the Ambassador program, so it likely has another 20 pages to go, we'll see.

I bid you adieu...

P.S. I also turn my cell phone in tomorrow, so, for the time being, I have no phone. The best way to get a hold of me is through email or facebook.

What a Wonderful Week

Tomorrow, I head back to Arkansas with my parents...17 hours of driving to wrap-up what has been a wonderful week. I need to head to bed, as I'm pretty exhausted, but here are the highlights:

*Visa - I got my application sent off and heard from the British Consulate this week. I've been approved for my visa! Woohoo! (The British Consulate was absolutely amazing at communicating)

*Tickets - I bought my tickets for N. Ireland - right around $500, not too shabby. I fly out Monday, Sept. 15 and get in to Belfast a couple of days before international orientation starts.

*Got to read a ton - read two essays by Francis Schaffer on "Art and the Bible," a 600 page novel (the Bourne Betrayal...eh, not amazing, but okay), and "The Language of God" by Francis Collins - head of the human genome project. I can't remember the last chance I got to read this much - it was wonderful! :-)

*People - I had lots of time to spend with my parents, my sister & brother-in-law and two nephews, and then all my extended cousins here in Charleston - we had a blast!!

*History - for the first time in the 25 years I've been coming to Charleston, I did touristy stuff this week. Had a blast on a carriage ride through downtown Charleston and then a great time out at Ft. Sumter with Uncle Wayne, Aunt Dee, and Krystan.

*Phone - I didn't answer my phone all week - and while I feel bad that two of my best friends from back home couldn't get a hold of me - it felt so good to cut the "leash" for a week.

On top of all that, lots of time spent in the hammock, on the beach, and in one of the rocking chairs on the porch (like the one above).

Tomorrow we drive back and Monday I'll head back to work. My last two days at JBU are Monday and Tuesday, then I'll be spending the rest of the week taking care of business in town before heading down to Little Rock on either Sunday, Aug. 3rd, or the following day.

It was a wonderful week and I'm ready to get back to Siloam for a great last week with friends!

Two Days...

Two days and counting and I'm really ready to head out. It's been a good week with some great time with friends, but I'm ready for a break. I'm going to end up spending a couple of hours today playing the mediator in a conflict with two of my staff, so that's pretty exhausting to think about - since I hate conflict - but I also know that it'll be a really good thing for both of them in growth - and for me, since life will be full of conflict.

I'm working on visa stuff. I don't have everything just as they asked (like my loans in place and I'm missing one pay stub), but I'm praying for a gracious visa reviewer and that everything will work out.
Well, I should get back to work.

Tony Snow's Commencement Speech: Worth a Read

Tony Snow, former Fox News staff member and former White House Press Secretary, delivered the following speech at The Catholic University of America. It's definitely worth reading in its entirety:

Your excellency Archbishop Wuerl, President O’Connell, members of the board of trustees, members of the administration, distinguished faculty and staff, graduating students — and families who paid for [their education] — honored guests, Dr. Williams, thank you one and all.

This is a wonderful thing, a graduation: And I hope your lives will be filled with many more – not in terms of diplomas, but in the sense that you will have escalating accomplishments throughout your days. I’ve been asked to aid in that quest by giving you some advice, so here it goes.

First, live boldly. Live a whole life. I have five tips for pulling this off and – let me warn you — they’ve all been road tested. I learned the old-fashioned way, through trial and error.

Number one, think. You’ve got a diploma now, you’ve got a brain. Put them to work.

Finish reading...

I've Never Been So Ready for a Vacation

(Courtesy of LightHouseGetaway.com)

I've never been more ready for a vacation then I am for this one next week on Sullivan's Island, just outside of Charleston, SC. I'm exhausted in so many senses of the word - emotionally, physically, spiritually - and can't wait to be able to sleep in late, sit around and talk with family, play cards, walk on the beach, or go net casting with my dad. Saturday morning I'll wake up at 5am to drive the 16 hour drive by myself, but it's going to be so worth it.

I'm so grateful to the Barkley's for letting us use their beach house - without them I probably wouldn't be having a vacation. As well, I haven't seen my aunts, uncles, and cousins in South Carolina in more than 2 or 3 years, so it'll be really, really good to see them again.

It's weird for me to have a week where one of the only things getting me through it is the reminder of next weeks vacation. I lay down at night or get up in the morning thinking to myself, "Where will I be this time next week?" and the answer usually involves sleeping in, walking around some of the old plantations in South Carolina, playing cards with family, swinging in the hammock on the porch, or playing in the water.

I'm so ready for a vacation and so thankful that one's coming.

Ironically Blessed

Friendships are a challenge for me. People are often surprised by that, if they don't know me well, since I come across as an extroverted, people-person. Truth be told, I'm an introvert that struggles to develop long-term friendships with people - functioning under the premise that I bug people by calling and intruding in their lives; so I wait until friends call me. It's a weird foundation to function from, I know. There's several reasons from it from childhood and part of it is I just need to retrain myself.

In light of that though, this weekend was ironically incredible as I got to connect with lots of friends.

Friday, the 4th of July
Friday afternoon I ran into Steven Sbanotto on a walk where he invited me over to an open-party at his parent's house, about 1/2 a mile from the airport, for dinner and fireworks. While I was there, I had an incredible chance to catch up with Melissa, Karey (sp?), Joy & Mark Stoner, Steven, David Burney...meet a gal named Holly and her brother David (who I got to spend a good bit of time talking to)...and then connect with Andrew Bolger at the end of the night, which was an AWESOME surprise. So good to see him - I have so much respect for him and it's great whenever we get to catch up. Talk about a man with a lot of wisdom and a solid character.

Saturday
I got to kick the day off with breakfast at Kathy's Corner with Andrew Bolger and Mr. Whitmore, which was a great time. Then Andrew and I hung out for another couple of hours, sitting, talking, and drinking chai. What a terrific time! Then Saturday night, Cody and Kara Beckman (who have been incredible to me this year, inviting me to join them for Razorback baseball games, graduation parties, etc.) and Kara's sister Maranda, invited me to joing them for a Professional Bull Riding (PBR) competition at the Rodeo of the Ozarks - what a cultural experience. Holy Cow! :-) On top of that, we had some awesome homemade pizza and watched "The Office". :-) Cody, Kara, and Maranda have been an incredible blessing this year. I hope we all get to connect again in the future.

Sunday
Then today, I went to church where it was great to see people who have been such a blessing in my life. The church just found out this last week that I'm headed to N. Ireland, so some really encouraging conversations about that (I found out that Seth Wrigth and his wife will be living in Belfast this next year - woohoo!). After church, the Jackson's invited me to their house for lunch. What an awesome family! It's been really good to get to know Dwight, a man I respect a whole lot. Travis Chaney and Ben Bergstrom were also there - which was a lot of fun. They're great story tellers and great at bringing humor to conversations. This afternoon/evening I then spent with Josh & Chelsea Deal out at New Life Ranch for 5 hours. We gathered black berries, went fishing (I caught a large mouth bass which was cool), and had an incredible spaghetti dinner. Josh and Chelsea have been so good to me. I'm really excited their moving to Little Rock - since it means that they'll be near my parents for the next two years, thus more likely that I'll get to see them and stay in touch.

Beyond...
Really, the blessings of my life have gone way beyond these examples. I got to talk to Dusty Johnston on the phone Thursday. He's a longtime friend who's wedding I have the joy of being in this next weekend - I can't wait for him and Anna. I got to talk with James Barnes, a best friend from college, on the phone a couple of times. Jason Hough came by tonight and I got to talk with him - he's such a huge encouragement in my life. I got to talk to a college friend, Lisa Repair, and hopefully will get to see her driving through Jackson, MS here in a couple of weeks. I got to connect with James Kuykendall and John Aoun on facebook this week (among a bunch of others).

Honestly, it's been an incredible week and I am so, so blessed by all the wonderful people the Lord has brought into my life. Mary Armstrong this morning was such an encouragement at church, letting me know she'd been praying for me and would continue to.

What would it look like if God had created a world that didn't function on relationships? What if God created a world where everyone functioned within relationships like I do? How different the world would be. How dreary it would be. This young boy who still struggles to build into relationships and develop them, is humbled by the ironic blessing of having wonderful people in his life. While my response likely should be something more, for what I have, I am thankful for it in way that I can't express...it strikes me to the core and humbles me like few things do.

A Jackson Pollack Week

In my undergrad, I did a project on Jackson Pollack. Fascinating artist, creator, and, on a psychological level, a fascinating man as well. Much of his art work is like the above, a "splattering" of different colored paints layer upon layer. My week seemed similar to this splattering of bright colors and dark colors, to the point where, just as I'm unsure of what to make of some of Pollack's paintings, I'm unsure of what to make of my week.

Queen's
I received word from a professor on Monday that I had been accepted to the Grad program. He mentioned that I should, shortly thereafter, hear from the admissions office, which I never did. The online status of my application still isn't updated...so, the questions begin: do I go ahead with a student visa? Do I wait with so little time left? Do I go ahead with buying a plane ticket that will just get more expensive the closer to Sept. it gets? What should I go ahead and do about loans? The week definitely had the high point of being accepted - an event that makes me ecstatic, when I stop and think about it.

Health
I haven't been feeling well for a week or more now and I couldn't put my finger on it. Was it spiritual? Was it physical? Was it simply that I wasn't sleeping enough or at good hours? Was I eating poorly? Was it stress from the house (I killed 45 gnats hovering over our sink yesterday morning...ugh)? Was it stress from work?

I still don't know for sure, but what I do know is that I got a physical on Wed. and my blood pressure is 150/90 (normal is 120/70). So, I'm elevated on both counts and it's a little scary when the doctor starts talking about putting you on blood pressure meds that 50 year olds usually take.

In the end, it was a good thing. The high blood pressure helps explain why I've been feeling heavy and lethargic and not on my "A game".

But while it's good to know what's wrong - it's still sobering to have such high blood pressure and know that one of the big ways to bring it down is to loose 20 pounds - yikes!

Work
Work has changed too. Thursday, I officially gave up my desk. Which is bitter sweet. Yes, it means that I'm nearly done with my commitment at JBU, but it's also weird to be looking at the end of 6 years working in the admissions office. So, I'm now back in the call intern area with a few projects to finish (procedure manual, AVC, etc.) up before I leave and 12 days of work left.

In Summary..."A Jackson Pollack Week" seemed to be the best description of this last week. In the midst, I still hold firmly to God's sovereignty. An unchanging God brings with him an unchanging perspective and resolve. A resolve and a perspective that all too often slips from my eyes. It's a marvelous thing, that an unchanging God created changing beings and understands them so fully, that their morphesus doesn't shake him. Perhaps, while my week seemed like a "Jackson Pollack" week, from the perspective of the Almighty, it was a small part of what might, in the end, look like a Thomas Cole or John Constable painting.

That seems true to the God of the Old and New Testament. The God above the circumstances, orchestrating, yet not controlling, the actions of man to create the symphony or the painting that tell of something great...that is a testimony, a testimony to Him.