Adieu to 2009

It's officially the turning of a new year. As we stand at the close of the first decade of a new century, there is much to reflect upon, many yet-unanswered questions hanging in the balances, much uncertainty, much pessimism, and yet...SO much for which we can be thankful.

As I sat tonight in our warm living room, surrounded by the impish little faces of a lot of smallish Kulps and a few rather biggish Beatys, I was made mindful yet again of how much meaning, security, and satisfaction is given to us through relationships--first and foremost that which we have with our Heavenly Father, but secondarily, through those which we have with the hundreds and thousands of people whom God places in our lives for us to pour into and learn from.

In looking back over this year, I realize that over and over again, in those times when I was really struggling, wrestling with big questions, or just feeling overwhelmed by the unknownness of life, it was often through relationships--through people--that the faithfulness and love of God was poured into my life when I least expected but most needed it.

Plus, life would be so much less interesting if there were no other humanoids--for real.
Tonight, for example, as our lovely guests were packing up and getting ready to head out the door, we noticed that the youngest little dude was MIA.

We found him upstairs...dribbling finger nail polish onto the floor with a fascinated expression on his wee face. There was something so delightfully comical about the whole thing--he'd given himself a bright pink goatee, was standing uncertainly in a large puddle of pinkness, of which still more was dripping from the upturned bottle in his chubby hand, and every few seconds he would gingerly lift one tiny sneaker, his mouth shaped into a wonder-filled "O" as he set his foot down in a different spot, gazing in amazement at the small pink print left behind on the linoleum behind him. It'd been approximately three minutes since we'd lost sight of him--these little people are ridiculously efficient in their uses of time, I'm telling you...

It was sort of a unique idea...I mean, it's a new year, so why not change the interior decorating a little, right? If splotches are in for the walls, why not carry it over to the floors? Think outside the box. Or the bottle. Whatever works for you.

So yeah. I'm excited about 2010. Cuz while I don't have all the answers, and I really have no clue what might happen during the next twelve months, life's an adventure that's pretty much out of my hands, and nothing takes our God by surprise.

Therefore, I wish you all a marvelous New Year, and hope the next twelve months are filled with unexpected blessings and plenty of growing experiences. In the meantime, I'll be upstairs in my bedroom slippers decorating the floor with blue fingernail polish...

Two Heads are...Better than One?

Somewhere in her many global trottings, my lovely sister picked up some new games. And one of them was sort of a He Said/She said type of thing, where one person writes down a name, folds down the top of the slip of paper, and passes it to the next person, who writes down another name, and then repeats the process until the little epistle contains the name of a boy, the name of a girl, the location in which they encounter each other, what he said, and what she said, and finally, what happened as a result.

We had the better part of the Beaty family playing this lovely game during the past two days on several different occasions, and some of the results were most remarkable.

For example:

Joel Flage

and Susan B. Anthony

met in Athens, Greece

and he said, "Well, am I ever pleased to meet you!"

she said "Touch me and I'll bite you!"

So they just sat pondering their wonderful new relationship.

Santa Claus

met Liv Tyler

on top of Old Smoky

he said, "How about a date?!"

She said, "you have got to be kidding!"

So he flanged her down 70 times 7...

Ben Beaty (my brother)

and Laura Kulp (his mother-in-law)

met at a computer store

and he said, "Darling, I have an important question!"

and she said, "Can it, Bucky!"

so they went dancing on the roof of someone's house.

An old German farmer

and Taylor Swift

met in her grandfather's safe

and he said, "Turn on the lights! I can't see."

and she said, "Oh! You have a wonderful smile."

and then they had to spend five years in counseling.

Al Capone

and Cinderella

met while scuba diving

and he said, "I need a beer."

and she said, "Oh boy, I'm not sure what to think!"

so they stepped on a mine and were blown to a beautiful alien planet.

You never realize how many inside family jokes exist until you start playing a game like this with your siblings...heh. Think what we'd be missing if we all truly could only live in the moment and there were no such thing as short-term or long-term memory...

There are so very many things to love about Christmas breaks!

Not the least of these would be a small nephew, who, in his rapid march towards an antiquated state, will be attaining the impressive age of 12 months two days from today.

This charming young individual adds huge amounts of interest to life in general, and he's mostly a joy to be around. Except for when one happens to be unfortunate enough as to upset the little man...he has a rather interesting habit of roaring indignantly with mouth opened to approximately the size of a small hippopotamus as he lunges forward to bite the nose of the offending relative/former friend. Typically this results only from a food-related offense, though, so--we just don't take his cookies away from him, and then it's all good.

On another note, though, the days at home have been a lovely break from the routine of academia. It's been an opportunity to step back, to take stock and evaluate, and to see some things from a new perspective. And sometimes that's a really humbling experience, because more often than I care to admit, I'm guilty of things that I can't exactly look back at with pride. This whole growing-up-and-taking-responsibility-for-my-own-actions thing is sometimes painful, sometimes embarrassing, and other times just plain ol' overwhelming...but I am every day more thankful for the grace of a God who loves unconditionally and is not only capable but willing to redeem my mistakes.

Today I read a really well-written article by Nathan Zacharias that dealt with the topic of failure and our Biblical response to it, and he said a couple of things that particularly resonated with me this week. He writes:

"...when faced with failure, the road to recovery can't be taken until I first recognize that I need to recover in the first place. So in those painful moments of realizing what I've just done, it's important that I take heart in the fact that feeling that emotion of regret in the first place is a major part of the battle in overcoming my failure.

After some of life's breakdowns, it's tempting to throw in the towel on what the future holds. Sometimes I think that we've messed up so badly that God will never be able to use me to do any good. That thought, though, warns me that I'm seriously underestimating the redemptive power of Christ."

It's the thought of the redemptive power of Christ that gives me hope even on the days when I feel a little overwhelmed by the sad lack of Christ-like character which appears to plague many of us who call ourselves Christians.

So as I finish out 2009, surrounded by those I love best (who are exceptionally special simply because they know what a dork I am and choose to still love me anyway!), my prayer is that God would give each of us the grace and the strength to live by the truth that we know, the humility to admit that we don't know it all, the strength to face our mistakes, own them, and allow God to redeem them, and the character to accept, cherish, and forgive those who are at different places in their journey than we are.

May God bring about a revival, and may He begin it in my heart...

I distinctly remember beginning this year with the honorable aspiration to update my blog at least once every two weeks. Which does not explain why, nearly an entire semester later, I have only managed to update the aforementioned blog a grand total of…two times. Shameful.

Virginia is blissfully warm compared to the weather that those of you in the northern states must be experiencing on a regular basis. I do not apologize for this fact, but I do extend my heartfelt sympathies to those of you who live with snow out of necessity rather than love. ;-)

During the past several weeks, I have been continually reminded of how blessed I am to a) live in a warm state, b) have amazing family and friends both near and far, and c) be serving such an awesomely faithful and gracious God.

One day last week in my Economics class, our teacher was solemnly discussing with us the most recent statistics on divorce in the United States. He and his lovely wife have been involved in pre-marital counseling for almost two decades, and they have a great deal of conglomerate wisdom. He was explaining to us the importance of a couple discussing their money matters together as a couple, and he told us all in a very solemn tone indeed that if we were considering marrying someone, and that person happened to refuse to discuss their finances, we should most definitely seek a new potential spouse and drop that girl/guy like a hot potato. We all nodded dutifully, very much impressed by his profound wisdom and experience in this matter.

We then began to discuss then the struggles of relationships in general, and he made the comment to our class that out of the five girls in our class, one of us would most likely not marry, statistically speaking. Ashley’s hand shot up: “That’ll be me!” she blurted. “I just want to live alone in a house with my fish forever.”

We rolled our eyes, knowing that it had been only a few months since she ended her last dating relationship. The teacher smiled, and shook his head, bemused by the impetuosity of college women.

Then he turned to the class, and asked very slowly, “But really, guys, what do you think the number one cause of divorce is in the United States?”

Ashley’s hand shot up again: “Marriage!” she announced energetically.

We laughed. Very hard. For a very long time. But she’s kinda right. And so, I thought to myself of how grateful I am that my parents were willing to take that risk…and to make it work! Woohoo!

I love you, Mom and Dad!

In our Evangelism class this afternoon, we took a look at Joshua chapter 7, and spent some time thinking about how this passage applies to the lives of college students. And I came away thinking, for the umpteenth time, ‘Wow. There is SOO much hidden in each and every passage of Scripture…how do I keep forgetting that?!’

Joshua 7 is chronicling the story of Achan, and takes place directly after Joshua 6 (no duh, eh?! oh, how exciting…numerical order is such a beautiful thing) where Jericho falls to the Israelites…and so the Israelites have just come off of this tremendous, amazing victory…and they get comfortable, and maybe a little cocky. And there’s this little town called Ai, and they think, pht, we’ll just send a few guys up there to wipe these dudes out, and we’re all good…sweet thing we’re such a powerful, imposing military force, right, Joshua? Woot, woot! And maybe there were a few congratulatory chest thumps…and then they were off. Only they didn’t wipe Ai off the map. And at the end of the day, thirty-six Israelite men had been killed in a battle where they probably didn’t expect to have even a single casualty. What happened?!

As we discussed the passage, there were a few (ok, maybe more than a few...I am SO far from succint on these things, alas!) key take-away questions that we came up with…things that we need to be asking ourselves every single day, and questions which, if unasked, can lead to Ai situations in our own lives. And because these questions made me think critically about who I am today, where I’m headed, and what God’s plan might be for my future, I’m posting them for you…and hoping that at least one of them challenges you to sit back and think about your purpose on this quirky planet, and about how awesome our God is.

So here we go, with additional blonde commentary in red italics, which does not mean it was divinely inspired:

1. Have you relaxed and let down your guard? Are you vigilant even in the “easy” times…when everything is going well? And what do you do in your free time? What does/should that tell you about where your heart is?

2. Have you underestimated or failed to recognize the “real” enemy? Am I willfully mislabeling sin in my life in order to pretend everything is all good? Or am I “fighting the good fight” on the forefront while allowing an ungodly friend or unhealthy relationship to sabotage me from behind?

A poignant demonstration of the phrase "Unequally yoked." Sorry. I really couldn't resist when I found this photo...

3. Have you lost track of your vision and purpose in life—to follow Him regardless of the cost? Am I so sidetracked by “ministry opportunities” or so busy flitting from here to there socializing that I’m drifting all over in my spiritual life? Am I living with vision?

4. Have you focused too much on pleasing yourself rather than God? When I hear myself speak, how often does the word “me” or “I” come into that conversation?!

5. Have you passed the buck of responsibility by playing the “Blame Game”? Am I owning up to my problems, and am I willing to take responsibility for my faults and make things right when I’ve blown it?

6. Have you forgotten the seriousness of sin? Do I grieve when I’m confronted with my own sin? Can I say with the broken-hearted humility of King David, after Samuel came to him regarding Bathsheba, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!”

7. Like Achan, have you chosen to disobey with no regard as to consequences? And do you care? Am I rebellious? Do I stubbornly live in the sinful pleasure of the moment in the face of Biblical mandate rather than requiring myself to live up to God’s standards?

8. Like Achan, have you forgotten the importance of accountability? Deified your own desires? Remember: you are hurting others. The correct question is not “is it hurting anyone?” but rather, “is it helping anyone?” You never sin in a vacuum…when you sin, you ALWAYS hurt other people, and there are ALWAYS eternal consequences. When I’m in a situation where my will and God’s will conflict…who wins?

9. Closing charge: If you do not want to become a statistic, if you want your life to count, you must seek purity and obedience. That is, dig the foundations for the pillars of your character deep. Protect your heart! Make up your mind to follow Christ—and then do it.

So yeah! That’s probably not any new information for most of you, but sometimes we forget—or at least, I forget—so this post was for me. Because it’s so imperative that we remember. :-)

Today was officially the last day before classes start for the fall semester! We're not sure if we're ready, but ready or not, here we come.

These two beautiful young women beside me in the photo below are my roommates, as we appeared two nights ago on an emergency ice-cream run to Coldstone at midnight: Gabriella, from Argentina, and Gina, from New York. What a hoot! I'm so blessed to have these two as my housemates for the next several months!

Gabriella and Gina again--amazing smiles, amazing women!

Shortly before our impromptu photo session, we were amusing ourselves by launching ice cubes across the parking lot with our straws...er, I was amusing myself. They were watching, and pretending I was mentally stable, which was nice of them.

You know how those nifty round ice cubes that you get in an iced coffee from Coldstone have holes in the middle? Yeah. They do. And if you stick a drinking straw through the hole, and flick your wrist just right, you can really make those ice cubes fly.

However, when I launched my last one, it landed next to a yellow jeep which was parked some 30 feet away from us. At the precise moment that my icecube hit the pavement beside the left front tire, all of its lights started flashing like crazy, and it started making odd grunting sounds, as though having some sort of gastrointestinal difficulties which are apparently experienced only by jeeps.

Gabby and Gina's jaws hit the pavement, and I confess I was more than a little flabbergasted myself. Seriously? An ice cube sets off that thing's security alarms?!

It was then that we noticed the portly little man emerging from the shadows, wielding an ice cream cone in one pudgy hand and a car remote in the other...

Today was officially the last Sunday I will spend in Central Wisconsin for a long while, and I'm not precisely sure how I feel about this fact. However, it appears that my feelings don't really factor into the equation at the moment, because plans have been laid, and Lord willing, aforementioned plans shall be executed in due fashion, meaning that Thea and Assorted Junk will be moving out of Beaty House and into Possibly Messy Dorm Room in rather short order...Liberty U, here we come.

This afternoon, however, as part of the home-leaving grieving process otherwise known as "bemoaning this rather soon departure in the company of friends," I found myself sitting at a corner table in Wausau's illustrious King Buffet, eating soggy sushi and lovely white rice in the company of two friendly little Mexican dudes. One of them was moodily informing me that he would be so depressed after I left that he would probably kill himself...to which I replied that that would be a tragic and rather pointless waste of his perfectly good life, and that I could think of better things to die about...although I'm not sure how well that last point translated into Spanish. Oscar looked slightly mystified after I said it, but he didn't say anything in reply.

Instead, he looked down at his plate for a second just to make sure the lamb chops hadn't suddenly come to life, and then he leaned over and whispered,

"Thea, ¿sabes quien es San Pedro?" (Do you know who Saint Peter is?)

I looked at him blankly. "Sabes quien es San Pedro? ¿Qué clase de pregunta es esto? Um, yo sé que él está considerado ser un santo..." (What kind of a question is that? I know he's considered to be a saint...?)

He winked, and nodded towards the other side of the room.

"He's sitting right over there," he hissed to me in rapid Spanish.

I looked where Oscar had indicated with one eyebrow, and saw a veritable old sage of a chap with a long flowing gray beard and vacant light blue eyes, picking absent-mindedly at his sesame chicken and dribbling egg-drop soup down his whiskers as he conversed thoughtfully with his female companion.

"Oh my word, Oscar," I thought to myself, "I do believe you're right...we've found Saint Peter."

The waitress couldn't for the life of her figure out what we found so funny...

I think we all came home feeling full of soggy sushi...and vastly more socially well-rounded.