It’s a new year.  There’s all kinds of newness going on in my life, but it’s still coming out as chaos.  So until the chaos calms down and becomes coherent, I can’t get anything out that would make sense.

But I do hope, in a few weeks’ time, that I will at least be able to attempt writing here again…

If you want some good reads, go check out Donald Miller.  And if you think of it, pray for me.

God is at work.

Aslan is on the move!

Took this one by putting my camera on the ground, just pointed to the sky.  30 second exposure at f3.5, ISO 1600.

Same settings, different angle.  No, that’s NOT haze.  That’s the Milky Way Galaxy!!!

A freight train going through.

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? (Psalm 8:3-4)

Decided I’m not ever going to let 25-degree weather ruin a good photo op…  Guess what I’m going to be doing tonight?!!

Most of them were the heartfelt, “I loved having you as my teacher and hope you’re learning a lot,” type of notes.  My favorite is definitely the one that said, “Miss you.  Watch out.  I’m coming.”  (He was serious, by the way – I know I can expect a surprise body-slam when I get back to church!).  Seriously cannot believe these kids are in fifth grade!!!!  Where did the time go?!

I can’t wait to see what they’ll do in the Kingdom…

(Thanks, Mom, for putting that surprise together!)

Several of us watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Tuesday night as it was beginning to snow – and then on Wednesday, I had Christmas with my growth group!  (Baked cookies, drank hot cocoa, listened to Christmas music, opened “stockings,” and sat around the fireplace and talked – we did a good job wasting time together!)

Last weekend I got to spend some time off-campus with others who are attending this training… we visited the Air Force Academy and Focus on the Family on Saturday.

"Whit" from Adventures in Odyssey - in the floor tiles in the REAL Odyssey at Focus on the Family's Headquarters!

I’ve done my fair share of sledding, cross fit, and sliding down 3-story slides as I spend time with the kids here (grown-up and otherwise).  And I’ve growled myself hoarse playing lion, run around with a passenger on my back as a horse, and just generally had some good fun. :-)  More pics, as always, can be found on Picasa!

But not everything here is fun and games; I’m doing some serious learning, too.  We’ve been looking at conflict (I’m a turtle), stress, the process of crossing cultures (settled-unsettling-chaos-resettling-new settled), and tomorrow we’ll be spending time on the concept of Sabbath.  Today our entire morning was devoted to “Who You Are Under Stress,” which is code for a simulation.  I survived intact, in case you were wondering…  (Though with some good things to ponder.)

Thanks for your continued prayers as I get ready to wrap up this training!  I’m excited to see what November holds…

If I speak with the tongue of a national, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or clanging cymbal.

If I wear the national dress and understand the culture and all forms of etiquette, and if I copy all mannerisms so that I could pass for a national, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I give all I possess to the poor, and if I spend my energy without reserve, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love endures long hours of language study and is kind to those who mock his accent; love does not envy those who stayed home; love does not exalt his home culture; love is not proud of his national reputation.

Love does not boast about the way we do it back home, does not seek his own way, is not easily provoked into telling about the beauty of his home country, does not think evil about this culture.

Love bears all criticism about his home culture, believes all good things about this new culture, confidently anticipates being at home in this place, and endures all inconveniences.

Love never fails.  But where there is cultural anthropology, it will fail; where there is contextualization, it will cease; where there is linguistic study, it will vanish.

For we know only part of the culture and we minister to only part.

But when Christ is reproduced in this culture, then our inadequacies will be insignificant.

When I was in America, I spoke as an American, I understood as an American, I thought as an American; but when I left America, I became a learner of a new culture!

Now we adapt to this culture awkwardly; but He will live in it intimately; now I speak with a strange accent, but He will speak to the heart.

And now these three remain: cultural adaptation, language study, and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

(I Corinthians 13, Cultural-Adaptation Style)

First off, without using Google, can you identify these quotes?  (And a new world for me!!!)  (I doubt you’ll need hints…)

“Very dangerous over short distances!”

“Certainty of death, small chance of success… what are we waiting for?!”

And then here are some spectacular aspens and views of Pike’s Peak…

On our 19-mile dirt-road drive through the mountains... GLORIOUS!

Under the aspens...

Pike's Peak! (From another summit)

LOVE the colors. And Pike's Peak isn't bad looking, either!

We’ll see what the rest of my time here brings – but I know one thing.  I’m going to miss Colorado when I leave…

First Saturday in Colorado... 6" of snow!!!

Apples to Apples says it all... MTI is "risky"! (But boy, are we learning a lot!)

In language class...

Most of the girls from the first two weeks of class... Saying goodbyes...

On the tracks I cross every day to run/jog/hike. :-)

To see more pics of OTHER people and THEIR craziness (such as lighting HANDS on fire!), check out Picasa. :-)

Here’s the view out my window yesterday morning:

The rock is called Elephant Rock, but unfortunately it’s on private property so I can’t go climb it.  However, what you can’t see in the picture (besides the freight rail line) is the New Santa Fe Regional Trail, which is where I’ve been running several miles each afternoon.  I’m pretty sure the running has helped acclimate to the altitude (I’m at 7200′) faster.

Anyway, today was supposed to be cold and rainy.  Good day to regroup and rest after a full week of learning…  Well, I woke up this morning and here’s what I saw:

Same view as yesterday, just with a little more weather mixed in. :-)  I don’t think I’ll be running outside today – the snow is coming down horizontally!  Like I said, I’ve decided I love it here…

But then September 8 was my last day of work.  Weird.  I mean, weird beyond not having a paycheck and not getting up at the same time everyday to do the same thing as I did yesterday.  I don’t think the reality has really set in yet.  Probably won’t for a while, given all the other transitions that are currently on the docket.

The very next day, my sister and I drove nine hours to North Carolina (passing through Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia on the way), where we spent the weekend with our wonderful aunt and uncle before heading to a week of training.  It was eerie, actually, because we drove back to summer that day.  Strange.  The weekend was spent out on the water – jet ski, boat, tube.  In that order.  It was restful but, well, weird.  Like a good vacation that wasn’t quite long enough.

We borrowed 13 Tim Keller sermons on CD from our aunt and uncle (because we thought maybe the 75 or so we had on our combined iPods/computers might not be enough) and drove two more hours to a lovely place in the mountains called Providence Farm.  The training was terrific, but more important – the silence gave me time to think (just a little) and feel (even less).  I journaled in the pasture and drank coffee at breakfast so I wouldn’t be completely anti-social (you know, introvert time and all that).  I’ve posted some pictures over on Picasa…

On our way home from NC, we detoured to visit Samaritan’s Purse headquarters in Boone and then took the long route home through Shenandoah National Park.  The weather changed our last day in NC, so it was cold, rainy, and foggy pretty much the whole way up Skyline Drive.  Still, the mountains were pretty, plus we saw a black bear in the wild (WAY up in a tree, eating lunch).

I had two short days at home before heading out on the next adventure – this time with a friend to New England.  We drove through New Jersey and New York on our way to the Long Island Ferry, which took us to New London, CT.  We stayed in Newport, RI for a few days (happiness equals the ocean, hiking, and sailing – all on the same day!), and then she headed back to Philly and I continued north through Massachusetts and New Hampshire to Maine.  (Pictures of the adventure are posted here, though they may not make a whole lot of sense.)

I’d always dreamed of visiting Maine, and I have to say I was not disappointed. :-)  Of course I visited the L.L. Bean flagship store in Freeport (there are some things about me that resemble “normal,” you know).  I had a lovely dinner with my California aunt and uncle (who were in Maine to visit their daughter), and then spent the night in Lewiston with my cousin.   I drove back to Philly the next day after spending an hour taking in the Portland waterfront.

Yes, September has been full.  12 states, over a thousand miles on my car (plus at least another thousand on my sister’s), too many Tim Keller sermons to count (listened to NINE different sermons – a whole series – on Ephesians 5:21-33 on my way to and from Maine), and now I’m in the midst of packing – for Colorado (I leave Monday for five weeks) and to move.

Hmmmm.

Anybody see a problem pattern here?

One of my mentors certainly did.  So Tuesday night she got me thinking – HARD – about a lot of things.  She asked me all sorts of unanswerable/difficult questions over dinner, which lasted about four hours.  Over the past few days, between packing boxes, cleaning, and sleeping, I’ve been doing a lot of journaling and reasoning.  I’ve realized a few things, and I’m sure more stuff is on the way.

Much as I would like to think my life is something of an open book, I’ve got to admit that the three things I think about most frequently (details of where I’m going, singleness, and recovering from ATI/IBLP) have almost never been discussed here.  I guess that means I’m going to have to go through at least two of them to actually process.  Ugh.  Oh well.  Better now than never…

So the next few posts (probably from Colorado) may be a little heavier than normal.  Pray for me as I work through stuff in my head – and eventually work it out on paper and here on the blog.  Pray also that I’ll learn well and continue to heed the Lord’s voice.  All I want is to glorify Him…

Stuff to think about.

Like Radical.

Lord, work in me!  Work through me!

(Thanks to a friend on Twitter – also headed overseas – for sharing this.)