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.

They say that more is caught than taught.
Having early grasped and understood this important concept, my three younger brothers decided to invest some quality time in the process of teaching Nephew Brock music appreciation and fashion sense today while I was at work...the poor child.

It started out, as always, with the innocent victim sitting unsuspectingly in the armchair with an elfish expression on his cute face...

...at which point, Unc Trevor whisks the little man away to the piano, and shows him the fine art of banging the ivories...the harder the better...

...sometimes it's better to put your WHOLE body into things. At least, as much of it as you can fit up there...

...ooo. Camera. Shiny. Distracting...

Posing...losing interest in the music enlightenment session...

Time for a class in career options and fashion design! Brock was apparently lovin' the idea...

Career options?

...well, there's always the super cool punk/bum/loser/rabid Brewer's fan thing...

...or the cop thing? They arrest punk losers, I think? But Brock seemed uncertain that this was the career path God had chosen for his life...

...there is also the slightly creepy drugged-up-hippy-having-a-gender-identity-crisis look...but Brock was apparently not so much into that one either? Possibly just because he knew he could never pull it off in quite the same way as a certain uncle of his...



Josiah is now ready to become a member of Mall Security here in Wausau. He'll fit right in.