The Boy

I was skimming through my few posts over the past year...one was when my six year old nephew said, "you need to find someone to get married with."

Haha!

Well, as you can see from my new blog picture, I have found myself a man.

His name is Matt.

He is from Georgia.

He lived in Nepal for two years and speaks Nepali.

He is also getting an mDiv here.

We met in January, when he and his roommate helped my roommate move in. She said she would cook dinner for them as a way of saying thank you. I was super excited about meeting boys, so of course I was all for it. Then on the first day of class she introduced them to me. He was so talkative and friendly, and at the end of our first conversation, he told me that I was "very interesting."

Then we went to chapel and he sat next to me.

He sang really loudly.

It was out of key and absolutely adorable.

A week later we had them over for taco soup. After dinner, we played a game of Spades in which he and my roommate were partners and lost terribly.

Our roommates say that was when they saw the sparks begin to fly.

We started hanging out every single day - chapel, class, gym - he even came to Starbucks, despite the fact that he hates coffee, to "study" with us.

One evening the guys had "Pancake Night" at their house. After we ate, we all watched "Seven Years in Tibet." Near the end of the movie, he held my hand.

The next day we had a "discussion."

We didn't start dating right away (but I wouldn't let him hold my hand until he was ready to commit!), but a week or two later. He wanted to "take some time" to think about it and get to know me better, since it all happened so quickly (we met early January, started dating Feb 12), but just couldn't seem to wait, so we decided we either needed to make it official or stop spending so much time together.

So we made it official. :)

And now we've been official for seven and a half months.

Yikes!

I like Matthew quite a lot. :)


Any questions?

Why Do I Always Do This?

So far this semester, I've had five quizzes in Greek, if you include the one I'm about to take tomorrow.

With the exception of one of the quizzes, I realized I had a quiz the night before, about 9 or 10pm...

Why do I always do this?

Thankfully, they're all review quizzes from what we learned last year, but still - yikes!

Back to studying participles...

I'm Back!!

Well, sort of.


I can't promise my bi-weekly (and sometimes more) blog posts that I used to make, but I am determined to get back in the swing of blogging.

"Where have you been?" you might be asking.

Well, you're not the only one asking such a question. It's filled my email in-box, my facebook wall, and the minds and hearts of all my faithful blog readers. All two of you.

For one thing, I don't have internet. That makes blogging kind of difficult.

Also, life has been busy.

Each semester for the past 13 months I've been taking 12-13 hours of grad school, as well as working about 25-30 hours a week. Now, in college that would have been an overabundant load of work, but seminary is a different ballgame. 9 hours is considered "full time", and I understand completely why. It's quite a challenge staying on top of things!

Also, I have a boyfriend. :)

His name is Matt, he's from Georgia, he used to live in Nepal (during the same time that I was in Spain), and he likes sports and Coca-Cola a lot.

I'm rather fond of him. Tee hee.

So that's another reason for my mysterious absence from the blogging world. Too much time studying, working, and attempting to date my boyfriend.

We've been dating 7 1/2 months now. WOW! I can hardly believe it!

You may be wondering where I've been working: Pappadeaux!! Google it. It's tasty. If there's one in your area, you should go there for dinner tonight. It's a Cajun seafood restaurant, and while a little bit pricey (I may work there, but I can't quite afford to eat there...), it's definitely worth it if you can squeeze it into your budget every now and then.

You may be wondering what I'm studying: Jesus! Well, sort of. I'm getting a Master of Divinity (mDiv) at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. It's been a GREAT (but challenging) experience so far. I'm learning so much, and really enjoy my classes, professors, and classmates.

To give you an idea of what kinds of classes I take at seminary, here's what last year looked like:

Fall:
Church History 1 (33AD-crusades)
Elementary Greek 1
Old Testament 1 (Genesis-Esther)
Hermeneutics (interpretation)
Spiritual Formation (chapel, Scripture memory, Spiritual disciplines, etc)

Spring:
Church History 2 (Reformation-current)
Elementary Greek 2
Old Testament 2
Spiritual Formation

Fall (right now):
Missiology (the study of missions)
Systematic Theology 1
New Testament Greek 1 (we're translating Colossians!)
Ishmael/Arabs in Biblical History

It's been quite an experience!

I also have the greatest roommate of all time.

Her name is Emily, and she was a journeyman in Spain, also. She lived in the Canary Islands and we met in Seville, became friends in the Algarve (Portugal), and hung out lots and lots in Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Frankfurt, and Munich. Now we live together! She's been one of the greatest blessings to me. I was so lonely before she came, and having her as a friend and roommate has turned everything around. We cry together, laugh together, sing together, make crazy noises together, live, work, study, and go to church together...you would think we'd get sick of each other, but instead, it's quite the opposite! I can't get enough of her!

Surely you're getting bored now.

Now that both of my faithful readers know that I still exist, I can get back to blogging as usual.

Come back soon!

Bruner

Growing Up

Today was full of responsible, adult-like activities.

I opened a new bank account, bought a mattress, began applying for a job for which I need a Ft. Worth phone number, so I then set up an 817 phone number through Skype and had all calls forwarded to my non-817 cell phone, and I began packing to move in to my first apartment that I personally will pay for, with no help from my mother and no company to pay for it.

Starting last month I began paying for my own car insurance, choosing health insurance, paying my own rent and bills, and generally partaking in responsible, adult-like activities.

It's not that I didn't do any of those things in Spain, but it was so much easier there. I walked into a job situation in which my health insurance, housing, and travel was all provided for me. I had no car, so I didn't have to worry about car insurance, gas, repairs, etc. Now, after a little help from my family who got me set up (thank you!!), I'm a responsible, independent, single adult.

It feels...

exciting.

terrifying.

exhilarating.

overwhelming.

empowering.

This is my first time being an adult, so I'm still trying to figure it all out.

I think I like it. But it scares me. Suddenly there's so much...

responsibility.

That's a big word.

Yet I'm not worried. Scared, yes, but worried, no. :)

Last semester God provided for all of my needs.

Sometimes it was "natural" - through my savings, a little help from my mom, a few babysitting gigs - and sometimes it was "supernatural" - somebody offering a rent-free living situation, a man at church who felt he needed to give me some cash, a fellow student who did the same, $5 in the mail from a friend, an invitation to dinner; God provided through both expected and unexpected means.

I never went hungry - in fact, I ate quite nicely.

When my shoes fell apart (literally), I had money to buy new ones.

I even had the funds for a few clothing splurges (I may be on a budget, but I'm still a girl!).

I have no doubt that God will provide abundantly this Spring as well.

So join me on my blog as I begin this new adventure in life called "adulthood," full of responsibility, adventure and bills.

Still Single

My six year old nephew just told me, "You need to find someone to get married with."

From the mouths of babes, right?

Is this you?

Right now I'm reading Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It's all the rage right now in the Christian bookstores, and while I usually don't care about what's "all the rage" anywhere, enough friends have told me how great it is that I figured it might make some good Christmas break reading. After all, it's not a very long book.

I'm in the fourth chapter, People of the Lukewarm, and was struck by this paragraph. Read this, and examine your heart. Could he be talking about you??

"Lukewarm people don't really want to be saved from their sin; they only want to be saved from the penalty of their sin. They don't genuinely hate sin and aren't truly sorry for it; they're merely sorry because God is going to punish them. Lukewarm people don't really believe that this new life Jesus offers is better than the old sinful one."

I confess, that has been me before.

But not anymore.

The more we learn about God - His holiness, righteousness, goodness, mercy, grace, and so much more, the more we will begin to hate what God hates, and love what God loves. And then we see how all our supposed goodness is merely "filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6 - literally, those "filthy rags" are used menstrual cloths) in comparison with God's goodness.

That's not pessimistic. It's realistic.

God is good.

We are not.

I am not.

And yet God chooses to love us.

He seeks a relationship with us.

He saves us, not only from the penalty of our sin, but sin itself.

Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10:10).

And yet so many of us are lukewarm.

We want to be saved from the penalty of our sin, but we don't want to be saved from sin itself.

Sin is fun.

We want to play by our own rules.

Who is God to tell us what we can and can't do??

Therein lies the problem: WHO IS GOD??

We don't understand WHO this great God is.

If we saw him like Isaiah did (Is 6), or as John described in the book of Revelation, we also would fall to our knees and exclaim "Woe is me!" as we recognize our filth in light of His holiness.

And yet,

He loves us, with a love beyond comprehension, a crazy love, you could say.


So I recommend to you Crazy Love. Not even because the book is so spectacular. While it is a great book, it's true value lies in the fact that it directs you the Scriptures. The Bible tells us who God is, and how we should respond to Him. Crazy Love will remind you of what you already know, or maybe what you didn't already know. It will point you to the Scriptures, to the Word direct from God Himself. To the love of God, direct from Himself.

"Spreading Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!

Remember that quote from Elf?

"Spreading Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!"

Yeah, that one.

Well, maybe you can't sing.

Let me tell you about someone who can!

My brother-in-law, Toby Baxley, is selling his Christmas album, Worship the Newborn King, on his website www.tobybaxley.com for only $10.

And even better, $2 of every album goes to Sweet Sleep. Sweet Sleep is an organization that provides beds for orphanages around the world.

So when you buy my brother-in-law's Christmas album, you're helping little children in Africa, Moldova, and Haiti sleep well on clean beds this Christmas.

So go to www.tobybaxley.com and buy his album ASAP! You have to buy the physical copy of the album on his website in order for the $2 to go to Sweet Sleep, so while iTunes is great for other music, buying this album direct from him will be providing for precious children around the world.

Thanks!