Time to Breathe

The past few weeks have been. . .well normal. I've completely failed my goal of keeping a disciplined sleep schedule...I've completely failed at keeping a sleep at all in some moments. I have just gotten very frustrated with the lack of time.

There's not enough time to do all my school work, take care of my "jobs" on campus, and also be an encourager to those whom I serve in CCF, a student ministry I'm in on campus.

And this semester I've made a different choice. I've chosen to spend more time with people than with my books. I know it just sounds like Senioritis, but really--this has been a sacrifice for me. My pride of being perfect in my grades has been very hard to swallow. Now, I'm not saying that I'm going to flunk out of college to make a bunch of friends. But, as someone once told me, the only two eternal investments are in God's Word (and Himself) and in man's soul.

More lunches talking with new students on campus and less in cubicles hiding in the library. More meetings with small group leaders, and more time in prayer for our student ministry than sitting watching online TV shows in my room.

(Now, with that said--I'm learning my lesson on the need for rest and renewal. There is no more important thing that being continually Filled in order to pour into others. I can't keep this up much longer without seeking the One who can give me the energy, and the patience, and the will to continue.)

A rundown of my Friday:

I woke up at 4:45AM to get ready and check-out of a hotel in Orlando. I began working at 6 that morning for the firm that I interned with this summer. They invited me back to staff a non profit conference for around 300 CFOs & CEOs of ministries, charities, schools, and other non profits. They had various guest speakers come in and they shut down the office so I got to see all my staff family from the summer.

Little did I know I was going to have to sit at the front of the main lecture room to hold up signs with the "5 Minute/1 Minute" warning signs for the speakers. I guess, being the lowest on the totem pole, it makes sense.

I wrap all of that up around 4:30, head back through Friday Orlando Traffic, grab some dinner and get back to Stetson at around 7pm. I don't even remember putting my PJs on or getting in my bed (the previous two nights I got about 4 hours sleep)...my friends came and woke me up around 8:30pm because there was a hangout night downstairs.

Groggy, Dazed, and Confused I stumbled downstairs...not really sure if I should have just stayed in the bed.

Last night was my favorite night in the past two years (at least) at school. Nothing had really been planned for the night, just get people together and hang out. We ended up doing a ton of things--starting with man-hunt in a pitch black building. Awesome. Then we switched to indoor frisbee/basketball and finally Mafia. It was around 10:30-11 when we finished our final game of Mafia and I thought that people would be heading out...

But people just naturally moved on to a new thing. We ended up pulling out some pots and pans and a foam ball and then playing a pretty roudy game of indoor baseball. I served as a mascot halfway through with my ghettofabulous dance moves included.

Again, after the game was over it was nearing midnight and I was sure that people would need to be heading out.

But my new friend Mike pulled out his guitar and a sing-along ensued. Oh man, between the dim lighting the acoustics of the room, the friends surrounding me, and the awesome choice of song...i just got the shivers. I'm going to miss moments like that so much after graduation.

We ended up sitting around in a circle just talking about random things...funny how funny things are at 2am. I love how at 8pm I barely knew some of the people and then I felt so close to everyone just a few hours later. The Lord is so faithful in allowing us relationships. I am all too often a poor steward of the blessing of them.

We decided that since most of us had to be up a few hours later we should wrap things up...but no one wanted to be the first one to leave. We all knew how special the night had been. How rare it is that, in life, we will get to have a time like that again.

So---tomorrow I will be a hermit in the library. I will stress about getting all my projects done and not failing out of college my senior year. But today I am thankful for time. I am thankful for a time to sit and sing and laugh and learn and be silly and be serious.