To: High Sierra Spring '12
Love, DJ
The semester's begun, you're finally here
Some thought that day wouldn't come
You're all geared up, boots broke in
The adventure & thrill you want some
A few came back, you know what's ahead
You're braced to repeat the gain
To see if there's something you perhaps missed
Force your soul to embrace the pain
So far it's been easy & loads of fun
the food might make you fat!
Maybe, you think, the rumors aren't true
But alas, it's much worse than that.
Someday real soon, when you're all alone
You'll put your head down, maybe cry
You'll look at the books you're supposed to read
& think it'd be easy to lie
Here's the point, you see, of my plenary today
in this place I describe you will sit
Both weak & tired & unfit you'll feel
& some might be ready to quit
But stop lads & lassies, listen a bit
a truth I'm here to tell thee
Alone a weakness will plague & torment
But alone you aren't s'posed to be
Two things about you I've thus declared
Hold in tension you can see
Both Lion & Lamb, willfull & not,
Weak & Strong you must be.
On one hand a servant is all you are
Your delight is Another's will.
On the other hand Lord & Queen & King
At your voice all others are still
In the place you live, the lord you must be
the chaos you must control
But the Life of your space is He who made you
& He must own your soul
In days to come, not too far away
all alone & weak you'll feel
With too much to do & not enough time
you'll want to escape the deal
Return then to this, remember, reflect
Sit down with Him who loves you
Be quite & still-renew your vow
Say again what you know to be true
"Without you my Lord, I tremble & fear
Say again what you want me to do
With you by my side, I'm made of stone
my Lordship then I'll renew."
(Another reminder for more notes later)
Right after, I had Christian Classics....again with DJ. We're going to have a lot of reading & a lot of creative writing assignments & I'm actually excited for it! Then DJ told us his life story (since our first assignment is to write ours). ***Disclaimer: I am not the biggest cryer ever. Even during a sad movie, or a sad life story, or sad anything...I feel...but I don't usually cry.*** Listening to his story, the tears would not stop flowing...I think it's because he told it with such love & reflection. We're talking about my professor here people...and his story is making me cry. That alone screams that this place is unlike anywhere else. He truly loves his students...in a very genuine way...I've never been hugged so tight & greeted so warmly by a teacher. (He is also the professor who made us zucchini soup last week during training!)
Once again, after class, it was time to play! We had 2 more orientation activities: rock wall/tower of power & a trip into Oakhurst. The rock wall was so fun! I went up it so fast! I have no idea how! haha....& of course I belayed people too (being certified & all...hehe) I also convinced Jess (who is terrified of heights) to conquer the wall as well. Needless to say...after some coaxing...she did for her first time ever! (and she's even a returner from last semester!) After, we hopped in a van and took the 15 minute drive into Oakhurst for some various school supplies, necessities, etc. I had a 2 hour break when we returned...and tried to work on ordering my dang books (it is turning out to be such a difficult & frustrating process...boo).
After dinner, me & Caity wrote encouraging notes to the boys on our SLT (since we had bought them their favorite...sweet iced tea...on our Oakhurst run) & secretly delivered them to their rooms. So sneaky! We wrote "Just a little sweet tea for our 'sweeties'"...get it?! props to Caity. They loved them! We then all met together to discuss our "Community Charter..." aka an agreement of how we want to live life with each other for the next 4 months. We started out with writing our expectations/what we wanted to get out of this community on notecards. We then proceeded to tell everyone to burn them. The point being: Expectations have the capability of limiting us....they stop us from many greater or more things that the Lord might have in store for us this semester. Another point being...we shouldn't be asking what we want out of this community...but rather...what we can put in. Because community doesn't just happen...it takes people willing to work at it. We reflected on what we could all put in & sparked some good conversation & came up with our charter. Our last little fun add in: to have spontaneous dance parties all the time! And yes...immediately after....the lights turned off, the music started blaring, & we danced the night away! So fun! (although...I may have neck whip lash tomorrow...too much dub step) A group of us decided to go to the dining hall (everywhere minus dorms are 24 hour rooms!) & we sat around telling embarrassing/funny stories late into the night! It's so great getting to know everyone up here! I am way too late...but if I don't get in the habit of this blogging thing now...there's no way I'll be able to catch up later!
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