Power Outage at Houghton

Okay, so Allegany County when black tonight, for about 2 hours, and mass chaos broke out on the campus of Houghton College. Needless to say, it was nuts. I almost got hit by a car, WHILE ON THE QUAD!!! People were screaming, praise and worship started up on the chapel steps, and then a rave got started on the other side of the quad. Me? Well, I was trying to help some upper-admin people, because well, that's what I do all the time. It's my version of panic mode, I try to help in every way possible, and we decided the best way was just to get everyone illuminated so we (and others) could see where people were. This contributed to the rave, which I must say was an excellent idea. It kept people in one place, and kind of shut them up.

The one thing that we have learned from this experience is that Houghton needs a better emergency plan when something like this happens. Without the power, the students go wild. In this fact, it made me realize how much this campus relies on lights and electricity. Without it, the stars shine brightly for all to see, but when you look back down, you see headlights coming down the sidewalk. (the one cool thing though, was that the inside of the chapel was completely illuminated, because the emergency lights there are the side candelabras that light the entire room.) Anyways, it was nuts, and better plans need to be in effect for the future.

Relevant Worship show... TONIGHT

Okay, so I haven't written in like 3 weeks, I know, I've been busy, and tonight, everything will finally come to a close! The concert I have been planning for 4 months is TONIGHT! And I am so excited!!! Anyways, I have a lot of new ideas that I need to write about, and I will get to it soon!

Philippians 4

So, tonight I finally got to spend some time with God, something in college that is very valuable. Anyways, tonight, I turned to Philippians, and a verse in chapter 4 really spoke to me. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." -- Philippians 4:6

In college, there is a lot of stress, a lot of worrying, a lot of trying to figure out exactly who you are. It's taken me quite a while to learn that through all of this, you can't loose sight of God. He loves us so much, and wants to be a part of our lives. The least we can do is give up our fears, our worries, and our stress. Trust me, this makes our lives a lot happier.

If you haven't read it recently, I encourage you to read Philippians, just reading a few lines in will make you smile; the happiness in Paul's words are contagious!

Weight Watchers, Stealing Fruit, and RA News

Okay, I know it's been a really long time since I last wrote, so here is the update of my life.

I start weight watchers this morning, and I'm really excited! Lunch was good, and very healthy, and was only 10 points! YAY! So, if you don't know how Weight Watchers works, they give everything points, and so, you can only have a certain amount of points per day based on your current weight, and height. Anyways, today was a great start.

Onto stealing fruit.... There is a huge lack of fresh fruit at this school, so when you find it, you need to stock up on it. On my way out of the dining hall, I snagged 2 bananas and a couple of oranges. I'm not saying it's an accomplishment, it's actually really easy! But, it's exciting. It makes me feel adventurous!

Okay, so I didn't get picked to be an RA, and I'm okay with that. Less responsibilities for me! Actually, this gives me more time to devote to SGA, and I can actually run for Class President without going nuts!

Anyways, I promise to write more often!

(FLY WITH CHRIST!)

It's been a while

Hello all, I know it's been a while... Just a lot of work as a music major! Anyways, we've gotten snow up here, and it's been COLD, but what do you expect for living in Western NY?

It's strange, how it seems the days take forever, but the week flies by, and it has made me realize how important and valuable our time is. If there is anything in the world we don't want to waste, it's our time, because you can only give it, you will never gain back those precious seconds and minutes in your day.

Anyways, that's my quick little statement for today, I'll write more later!

URBANA 09

I've been meaning to post this for a while, mainly because I needed to write it out for my church's newsletter, but anywho...

I was talking to my roommate the other day about our experiences at Urbana, and what we learned we were called to do as Christians in today's society. We need to move into a foreign neighborhood, go where we are uncomfortable, be with people we don't know, and shine as a light for Christ. Rev. Brenda McNeil, the final speaker of the conference, talked about Jesus, going through Samaria (a land where few Jewish people go through, they would rather go around) and stopping in a village. There he met Samantha (Rev. McNeil's name for the Samaritan woman, she described how it gave her a personality), a woman who was basically shunned from the rest of the community. Jesus, being from Israel, was completely out of his neighborhood. He extended his grace to this woman, one whom would be despised if Jesus was any other Jewish person. Basically, He loved her, like all of us should love our brothers and sisters her on Earth. Missionary work is about being the change, but what we now know, is that the greatest change is on a personal level. After a few minutes of discussion, my roommate said the most profound thing to ever come out of his mouth, "You need to be a big picture person, with a tiny paint brush." We are called to be the change in people's lives, how are you making that change?

The Equality Ride at Houghton

Hello everyone!

Yesterday, a campus wide email was sent out about Soulforce's Equality Ride (link) is coming to our humble abode called Houghton. Soulforce is an organization founded by Mel White, a gay priest who has actually taken out parts of the Bible that he feels are unimportant and really do not have anything to do with our life today. (www.melwhite.org) They are coming to our school because and I quote, "your student guidelines maintain a policy that is unwelcoming to homosexual members of your student body, and creates a disparity between treatment of heterosexual and homosexual students.”

To say the least, we are trying to prepare for something we have no clue what is going to happen. So, stay tuned for updates in what's to come, and pray for the campus as we get ready.