God-Reliant vs. Self-Reliant

     Once in a while, I have an spiritual experience that sticks with me.  
     Last week a very good friend of mine, Christy, shared the story of her life in Chapel.  It's an amazing story where it is so obvious that God pursued her and helped save her from her previous lifestyle.  Here is someone who hit rock bottom and God has turned her life completely around.  
     I'm sitting in the audience unsure what to think.  I realize that if anyone else said what Christy did about her conversion experience, I wouldn't have believed them.  I would have brushed it off.  Life doesn't work that way.  But coming from my good friend, I have to take it seriously.  Which leads to hard questions.  Why are miracles so hard to believe?  Why am I skeptical?  Am I growing blind to what God can do?
     Christy has seen Jesus.  Actually seen him.  Does that sound hard to believe?  Does it make you cringe just a little bit?  Too good to be true?  Yeah, me too.  
     That's why I'm scared.  Because I don't think about God often enough.  Usually, I know what I want, I have my plans, and I work to get them done.  I succeed at school because I work.  If I'm feeling burnt out, I'll continue to be burnt out until I change something.  I'll sometimes take my life to God and ask for help, but then I act as though I still need to solve everything.
     Some people would praise this as being self-reliant and self-responsible.  But if I'm self-reliant, how can I be drawing closer to God?  If I have the answers, what is there left for God to do?  Will God help someone who doesn't always think he needs help?

Why I'm Not Leaving Yet

Being a student allows you to have fun experiences you can't  otherwise have!

     Last week, I made a very important decision.  It took me months of thinking, but I've decided that I will not be graduating in April.  It also took a fair amount of convincing to get my parents on board.  They've always encouraged me to move fast, and finish my degree quickly.  And that is what I did for my first two years.  But last semester I took only three courses and a choir, because that's all I needed to take for my program.  Last semester was also my best ever.  Coincidence?  Nope!  
     Taking three courses allows me to balance my time and actually make time for other people.  Three courses allows me to make time for exercise and the other stuff I'm involved in.  Three courses allows me to actually do all of the readings and dig into my courses instead of sprinting all semester.  And most importantly, three courses makes all of the above more fun.
     Here's the thing: finding at the end of your university experience that you've sprinted through it sucks.  This period of your life can be some of the most important years you will have.  That's not meant to pressure or guilt you, but rather to get you to focus on the now rather than the "four-years-from-now-when-I-finally-become-an-adult".  The last is an illusion: four years from now you will still be you.  Perhaps the question is whether you will have sprinted through this time and ended up with a degree (which is good) or whether you will have taken your time, invested in the people around you, worked interesting student jobs that build your skill set, and generally had a blast (which is great).  Some people can take a full-course load and still do all those things.  Many can't.  
     What will be more important when you're looking for a job?  A younger person will excellent marks?  Or a slightly older person with excellent marks but who also has spent their time in university growing in many, many ways that can't be found in the classroom?  I know who I'd hire.
     My epiphany was that I don't necessarily need to speed through this time.  So I'll be around for a while longer.  


(PS: Now is the time to apply for summer student jobs if you're already in university or high school!  Check out my post here.)
     

Wisdom from the Heart

1.  There are some movies that just should never be watched.  Take the original Pink Panther movie.  It'll be good right?  Watching it with your friends is a good idea right?  No.  Never watch it.

2.  Realize that if you're signing up for both a chorus and an opera, you're going to be doing a lot of singing.  While the last might appear fairly obvious, I didn't quite realize how intense this would be!  Last weekend - 15 hours.  This weekend - 12 hours.  Phew!

3.  Grade 12 students: now is the time to apply for CMU's scholarships.  Are you a leader?  Don't think too hard.  Apply!

What Fifteen Hours of Singing in Three Days Does to a Student (the lab experiment)

Four REAL gongs guaranteed.

    This past weekend has given "intensity" a whole new meaning for the Men's and Women's Chorus.  We are preparing to sing Krzysztof Penderecki's "Seven Gates of Jerusalem" with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.  The piece is an hour long - to give you an idea of scale, the WSO is bringing no less than four gongs to the performance (along with a plethora of other instruments!)  The piece was originally commissioned for the city of Jerusalem, consists entirely of bible verses spoken in Latin, and sounds like a bomb going off (the music, not the Latin.  The Latin is just confusing!)
     For anyone who is also involved in the Mikado opera, this makes the entire weekend intense.  I sung for fifteen hours last weekend, which pretty much makes me a temporary music student.  Joining us are a number of volunteers, bringing the entire number up to something monstrous and ensuring that we really will destroy something (or someone) when we perform it on February 4th.

                     

           Our fearless leaders.

    Rudy Schellenberg and Janet Brenneman are our fearless leaders, and they are doing their jobs well.  But you must understand what we are up against - the choir is divided at times to twelve separate parts, so basically everyone is singing something different, and no amount of cookies can disguise the fact that aren't always sure what these Latin words mean (despite the translations).  
    Never fear - it's challenging, but we are working hard and we shall prevail!  The performance will be something to remember - I can guarantee it.  I'd suggest that you book Friday February 4th off, and get to the Centennial Concert Hall for 8pm.
     Oh, and what does fifteen hours of singing do to a student over the weekend?  At least one person I talked to told me she couldn't sleep because "one-two-tee, one-two tee, one-two-tee" was stuck in her head all night.  In fact, some of the only people who were just fine (and even found the entire experience enjoyable) were music students.  
     Figures, doesn't it?

what did you do over christmas holidays?

    It's funny how after two and a half years at CMU, my hometown seems like a bit of a dream.  When I got back to Niverville in late December, it felt kinda weird.  Friends I hadn't seen in far too long.  Family who I dearly missed.  I kept very busy this Christmas.  Some of my highlights:


1.  Playing an all-day board game with my friends (seriously, from 10am-6pm).


2.  Midnight trip to a really sketchy Winnipeg McDonald's.

Sketch restaurant, great people!

3.  Attending a really cool Christmas service at my church with a jazz rendition of the Christmas story.

4.  Lots of eating!

5.  Skiing and almost getting caught on the lift for 45 mins.

6.  Watching all the Pirates of the Caribbean movies with my sister, and then realizing that they are making another one (it's due out May 20th!)

7.  Going to a large water park in the US overnight.

     I had a good time.  At the same time, I'm really excited to be back at CMU - I started missing people almost as soon as I left!  Most schools in the Winnipeg area begin today or tomorrow, but classes started for us yesterday.
     Welcome to 2011!