Just a Thought - Happy and Sad Together

Our world is saturated with happy and sad. Some days are happier, some more sad. We live inside a conundrum. The world is a mixed-up place. It exists with hope in a God whose love is a part of who He is. It also exists as a playing ground for Evil for now. And, even some things that are good, desires of our hearts that are never met, are out of our reach for now. Like I said, intensely mixed-up. I watched this play out today. I watched as a Truman graduate was prayed out of the CCF ministry and on to 'real life' in between of all of the prayers for a new school year and new freshmen coming in. The tears were a beautiful and horrible reminder of how things here are so often really sad and exciting at the same time. Were we really meant to live this mixed up? No - if we had only not messed up in the garden, right? The story is a messy one. Jesus had to die for us. But think about it...without that, without hope, it wouldn't be a mixed up world. It would just be sad, lonely, murderous and extremely ugly. Because of His sacrifice, we get to live mixed-up. We get to experience grief with the hope of a better tomorrow. We get to have peace inside, even when our world is crumbling. We get to do both. We get to be happy and sad together.

It's time for school to start. Again?

I don't foresee this blog post turning into much, so don't get your hopes up. I just keep thinking about how I want to sit down and actually write something in this blog that's been sitting wordless for over a year. I have even started keeping a list entitled "blog topics." I guess that just means that I spend too many hours doing too many other things.

Well, anyway, here we go. Here are a few aimless words about summers and school years. This is the first summer in many years where I have not traveled overseas for some sort of missions project. I did travel to many states for visits, but it was not quite the same. I miss being in places where I don't understand the prominent language. I miss being in places where I am the minority. I don't like being the normal one, remember?

One of my favorite moments of the summer actually took place in a Starbucks in Houston. I walked into the line for my Iced Passion Tea and overheard a conversation in what I believe was one of the Eastern European languages or possibly Russian. I felt like I was home. I've never been to Russia, and even though I have been to Bulgaria, that's the only Eastern European country I've stepped foot in. How is it that I felt at home by hearing a language other than my own? Weird, yet it still makes me smile and sigh. I miss it.

I'll talk about my ideas of home in another blog post. For now, it's time to get ready for the school year. It's time for Truman State to begin bustling with students again. It's time to be overwhelmed with too much to do. I'm excited about new students coming and "old" ones returning. I'm excited to start a new school year.

Well, I told you this wouldn't be too long or too interesting. I'm rambling. I've written something, though, and that's a great jump start for me. Like the new year, I hope this is a new start to a blog-habit. I miss it!