Plaza Observation 3301

Okay guys, its time for the semester picture real! So grap some popcorn and get comfy, here it comes:

Coming back into the city via CTA - brown line over the river: best view ever. 

Later summer nights playing volleyball on Oak Street beach. 

I was blessed to spend my semester with these amazing women! 

Dodeka - my RA small group.

On top of being in Dodeka, the Lord blessed me with a dear friend and sister RA, Tabitha. The Lord knew I needed to know her this semester.

Began my first year as an RA to half of these girls (the right side) 4North - and have LITERALLY loved every minute of it.

I found the importance of waking up early on Saturday to buy fresh berries, flowers, and cheese at the Farmers Market

This is my beloved Ministry Team on 4North - I couldn't have lived this semester without them. I am so overwhelmingly blessed to know these girls.

And then I spent too much time in the library with these books...never regretted a single moment.

Made many a trip to Elly's for much needed fellowship, and pancakes.

Had another beautiful season of watching Fall make its way through Chicago

I had my two favorite parents visit me in Chicago - a perfect vacation.

Had fall break with some of the best goons on earth

 #nailedthatcrap #tooeasy #buddies

Found solitude in Michigan with the best floor on earth! 4North!

Enjoyed the first Holiday cups with these girls

Made up classes, like Plaza Observation 3301

and Imaginative Thinking 1101

Ushered in my 21st year like a boss.

Hung out in the Impressionist Wing for hours at the Art Institute - so much we brought it too life.

I spent my thanksgiving hiking a mountain or two, far away from the city.

Had breakfast at Elly's

Held hands at the Zoo so as not to get lost, proceded to take pictures with igloos. 

Wore festive pants, with friends, in front of Christmas trees.

Wore ugly sweaters, at Taco restaurants, and sang Karaoke.

Pulled all-nighters during finals week. 

Had these girls shape a lot of my character.

I have rewritten the ending paragraph too many times, there is no way to write out the emotions in my heart accurately. I hate open endings, but this one will have to end openly. Because there is another semester, another season, and another lesson I must learn. #praiseHIM

Made for relationship

Okay guys, seriously I couldn’t have kept up on blogging this semester. But since it is Christmas break, I thought I would catch ya’ll up on my semester....buckle up.

"yet His blessings were nothing to her in comparison with knowing Jesus Himself."

• Oswald Chambers on Mary Magdalene 

     At the start of the semester I gave my floor this verse - Philippians 3:10 “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death,”  Becoming like Him was the theme of our floor this year, and ironically to ‘become like Him” we first must “know Him.” I can’t believe how much God has revealed Himself to me this semester. He has walked with me through an incredible amount of trials, mentally, emotionally, physically, in Chicago, at home; every part of my life went under surgery. 

     To what end will God not go to bring me to Him? I quickly learned that answer, none. He will purge me of everything that is not of Him, He will cast light upon the darkest corners of my soul, and no matter how much it hurts He will mold me into the image of His Son. 

*jump ahead 4 months*

     As my semester came to a close, I wrote a paper on the doctrine of sin. Woof, I know. But, it was probably one of my favorite papers I have written thus far. I used this quote towards the end by N.T. Wright

“Made for spirituality, we wallow in introspection. Made for joy, we settle for pleasure. Made for justice, we clamor for vengeance. Made for relationship, we insist on our own way. Made for beauty, we are satisfied with sentiment.” 

To know Christ, I must first know how much I needed Him - I needed to grasp my depravity. I needed to reveal my sins to Him, I needed to tell Him my true name, confess who I am when no one is around. Suddenly, it all came full circle. I love those moments. My whole semester was grasped in one large photograph. God must be my everything. I must know Him intimately. Larry Crabb writes, 

“So much of our everyday living is designed to disguise the horror of living apart from God. The ache in our soul that doesn’t go away and calls us to a new awareness of our deep spiritual thirst, an ache that can’t be ignored, disguised, mislabeled, or submerged by a torrent of activity. One that will not disappear because we were designed to enjoy a better world that this.” 

I have learned that knowing God is the epitome of my life, the very purpose to my journey. I endure these trials, I feel this pain, I walk through the valley because I know that God is drawing me closer to Him. He is drawing me into a deeper intimacy of who He is, of a stronger knowledge of God. There is a purpose, there is a goal, there is a hope - God. 

γινώσκω

I’ve been praying for an extra day in the week, actually to be honest I’ve been praying for three extra days in the week. Not like, three open days in my schedule. I’m talking like a ten day week. But those three extra days with serve the purpose of 1. Having time to do my homework in leisure so I can take in all of it, 2. To have more coffee dates with people, 3. To sleep more, 4. To have more solitude. Yes, a ten day week. That is how busy my life is right now. I had to schedule time to clean out the receipts from my wallet because I didn’t have 5 extra minutes to spare. Slight exaggeration...not really...but seriously...now, unto the real blog...

I sat in my room, with my “where is my RA” sign blank so I could get some reading done. Systematic Theology reading to be exact - I was reading about general and special revelation, pretty light reading :) I came across the Greek verb γινώσκω [ginosko] and like a good Greek student I knew that that was the present, active, indicative, singular, 1st person form of the word “to know” - showing off, sorry.

In that context it meant “to perceive with the sense and to grasp with the mind.” I was struck with the depth of that revelation on revelation. And then came across this quote two lines down,

“Scripture teaches that when confronted with the truth-content of general revelation, sinners consistently dismiss it from consciousness. Thus, instead of worshipping and obeying God, the unregenerate assert their own autonomy and fashion lifeless idols which they then venerate.”

I was shocked at the stark contrast between these two assertions about how we accept or decline truth. On one hand, we are perceiving who God is, and grasping with our minds of who God reveals himself to be; but on the other hand we dismiss truth as if it was a whimsical rumor. Winston Churchill once related uncovering truth to ‘stumbling over it.’ It is like those divots and lips of cement in the plaza at Moody, we catch our toe and trip, but act as if it never happened. We don’t even look down to acknowledge what tripped us up, we simply continue walking. General revelation surrounds us, we are literally drowning in theology; and yet we refuse to acknowledge the truth. We refuse to drink in the wonder and awe of God and choose instead to suffocate ourselves with our handmade idols that barely suffice and do not reproduce any life in us. I was astonished at our - mainly my own - ignorance of the truth. God is there, God is everywhere, the image of the Creator is still on everything that He created. I need to open my eyes and grasp what He has laid out in front of me. I need to know Him.