Contrary to popular belief...

...I'm still alive. Friends, it's been a while!

All I have for today is this:

"Miss Heather Sullivan,

I have joy to greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus. I am fine and getting on well with my holiday of four weeks. I am getting on well with tuition there at school. My family is happy that you are communicating well with me your son, and God bless you so much. Pray for me and I will pray for you. Read Bible in Jeremiah 33:3. Thank you so much. Yours in love."

Jeremiah 33:3 says "Call to me, and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

That is a letter from Abdallah Shabani Kulule, an 11 yr. old from Tanzania that I've sponsored through Compassion Int'l for four years now. His letters are usually very long and include stories of soccer matches, his sisters, and schooling. This one just sounds so grown up. "Pray for me, and I will pray for you. Read Bible in Jeremiah 33:3." God is so good, and so providential, that He would use a young boy, half the world away, to bring me a timely word of encouragement. My heart is full of worship. How good is our God?! I can't wait to write him back...

Cabin Fever

Yes.  Today I got out and burned a whole tank of gas (you're welcome environment) because today is the first day I could drive more than 15 mph on most roads.  Two days of barely leaving my house is oh-so difficult for me.  I baked, I read, I texted, I was on facebook way too much, and I read some more.  Now I'm blah-ging some randomness.  The very first entry in my current journal is from August 22nd, 2007.  Here it is.

"Intro to twentysomething.

I bought this journal a week or two ago, and I've been waiting for just the right thought to enter my mind, sink to my heart, a verbalize through penwork.  It seems that in the midst of my waiting, I've had a few pretty decent thoughts come through, and I've done my best to retain them, but nothing worthy of the first page of this beautiful new journal I'm writing in.  I wanted my first words to be as exquisite and treasured as the decorated pages on which I write.  But the truth is, all of it is beautiful, even the messy stuff.  Especially the messy stuff.  I know right where stuff is in my mess.  

And at three months and nine days to 20, life is a little messy.  With college and career and love and loss and bills and wisdom bits, I'm thrown into life and deciphering through what I've heard, learned, and observed, and I'm expected to figure out who I am and where I'm going.  It's an impossible task if you ask me, but unavoidable.  So here it is, here's what I think and what I know and what I hope will be true.  Here's the wisdom I've been given by others, even if they don't believe it's profound, and even when they didn't know they were giving it.  Its a melange of something I'm making into life, and sharing with you, reader.  I invite you to dive into my twentysomething."

Weird, but I do write journals as if they'll be read one day, and almost in book form.  Sometimes I even write letters to grandchildren, especially of things I consider history, or of incredible ways God is moving me.  So here's my pearl of the day:  Write your life down, Christian.  It'll be worth reading about someday.

Battle

If there is one biblical truth I contend with the most, it is this: "...being confident in this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."  I have, many nights, wrestled here.  This is one of those nights.  

Where Paul is confident, I am not.  But Paul... I mean come on.  If Paul were around today, he'd be scaling Mt. Everest with a big velvet "P" on his pecs and his cape flapping in the wind, all the while preaching and proclaiming the gospel.  

No friends, I wrestle here, and I'm stubborn.  I mean really, really stubborn.  But contending with me is no match for a sovereign God.  Times like this are as frustrating as they are beautiful.  Chapter 2 of Hosea is on my heart; it is my favorite chapter in all of Scripture.  Verse 14 breaks my hard heart every time, and I am overwhelmed.  I suppose tonight will end with a little rest in those words.  All things are His.

Arrival

This post will be entirely dedicated to my love for the month of December, and in particular today, the pinnacle day of every year, which is December 1st.  I am perhaps slightly biased, since it is my birthday, but nonetheless, December 1st is epic.  If you don't share my sentiments, let me sway you with this entry.

  

Things I remember learning in school about December 1st:

*December 1st was the day Abraham Lincoln gave his famous State of the Union address ("Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history.  We of this Congress and this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves... We say we are for the Union; the world will not forget that we say this.")

*December 1st was the day that Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, an event leading to the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

*While sitting in Mrs. Scofield's 5th grade class in 1998, our principal interrupted class to talk about Exxon's acquisition of Mobil, thus creating Exxon-Mobil, the world's largest company.  Why talk about it to a bunch of cup-cake-faced 5th grader's, I have no idea, but it wasted an additional 20 minutes of class, so we were all for it.  (On a side note, why was it that you always supplied birthday fun for the whole class when it was your birthday?)

*Not really from school, but more from my friend Constantin Bosancianu of Romania, today is Romania's national day.

*From one of my bioengineering prof's in Fayetteville; today is World Aids Day.  We learned a little about the genetic tendencies of the virus, and we are, so I'm led to believe, within ten years of finding a prevention for AIDS (not curing or reversing, but developing immunizations.)  Apparently AIDS was officially recognized on December 1st, 1988.  Starbucks has chosen to highlight this, so get a cup of coffee every day for the entirety of December.

*Nine of my twenty-one December 1st's have marked the first snow of the year, and four of them have actually been snow-days, which is great when you're a kid, and even greater your freshman year of college.

*Today is also the birthday of the brilliant N.T. Wright.  Hm.

Yes friends, today is December 1st, 2008.  Today is my 21st birthday, and today, I have been baptized for 6 years.  Like I said, today is epic.  So let's relish together in the greatness of December, particularly this day, the pinnacle day of every year.  Convinced?

Dr. Frost. Okay, he's not really a doctor...

...But his words felt like a remedy.  

There is a nook among the alders

Still sleeping in the catbird's hush.

Below, a long stone-bridge is bending

Above the runnel's silent rush.

 

A dreamer hither often wanders

And gathers many a snow-white stone.

He weighs them, poised upon his finger

Divin'ng each one's silv'ry tone.

He drops them!  When the stream makes music

Fair visions with it's vault voiced-swell,

And so, for us, the future rises,

And thought-stones stir our hearts farewell.

-Robert Frost

I took an AP lit class my senior year, and towards the end (with graduation fast approaching), we had an assignment in which we were to pick a poet, delve into their work, and find a short, concise masterpiece to present.

I am a complete nerd, so stuff like this is tremendously enjoyable.  What's interesting to me two years later is not the paper I wrote (and recently found, which is why I'm taking this to blog world), but the process I went through, which comes back so vividly.  

With this sample, I did the glad work of breaking it apart, analyzing it, taking it on rabbit trails, testing it's malleability, stretching it, hating it (after I plateaued), wadding it up and throwing it out completely, picking it up again sometime later, smoothing it out, listing all the points of application, coming to great resolve, and then writing about the process. 

Interesting because one, I can now articulate that process, and two, because I am completely ridiculous.  I do this with just about everything.  Situations and stories are always 20-step mental processes for me.  My goal isn't to get over it, mostly because I don't think I can... it's how I'm wired.  But rather my goal is to be far less ridiculous in the future. :)   

I see a 10-step process on the horizon...

Lo! Tis found!

I FOUND MY JOURNAL!  So for those of you that have been keeping up, that doesn't mean I get to quit my stupid art journaling.  But it does mean that I am totally looking forward to the glorious cramped hand I'm sure I will have this afternoon.  

Other than that, I have nothing great for today.  So like the champ I am, when I have nothing to offer, I'll do the glad work of redirecting you to someone who has great things to say.  Check out Stuff Christians Like.  Usually full of hilariousness, but today, something great.  Go ahead, see for yourself.  

Lexicographical

I've always considered myself as a good-with-details kinda girl.  And then I watched Erin McKean's lecture at TED.  Take a few, watch it, then continue reading.

I can't think of a job more tedious than lexicography.  What I appreciate about Erin is her ability to take something as old as the hills (or at least the printing press) and twist it with a fresh perspective; an almost innovative idea.  What I appreciate too is that she's not pushing for avant-garde.  She says it best with, "I want him (her son) to think that this is what dictionaries used to look like... it's a format that died because it wasn't useful enough.  It wasn't really what people needed."  I also love that even though Erin is solely speaking of, oh let's call it communal lexicography, her words seem to transcend that topic alone, and hit points of application in almost every arena.  I've compiled some of my favorite quotes from the video, and added commentary.  Enjoy.

"When a guy who looks like that and has that hat is the face of modernity, you have a problem."

-Yes.  This conjures up that timeless debate of conventional vs. contemporary.  When does "tradition" go from being a legacy of something we are honored to be a part of, to becoming something that at best is ineffective and at worst is oppressive?  This carries over into family traditions, company traditions, ideological, religious, and cultural traditions, etc.  

"What a dictionary is, is it's Victorian design merged with a little bit of modern propulsion.  It's steampunk."  

-Absolutely!  In fact, when I think of a dictionary, encyclopedia, or thesaurus, the very first image I get is my grandmother Virginia's bookshelf in her Victorian-esque living room.  Even newer dictionaries often have a steampunk feel.  I think the important concept is, and yes I'm stealing this phrase, "timeless truth and timely methods."  The church, for instance, comes to mind.  Why is repackaging so important?  Not for the sake of being hip and trendy, but for the sake of being most effective.  That's just one.

"Online dictionaries replicate almost all the problems of print, except for searchability.  And when you improve searchability, you actually take away the one advantage of print, which is serendipity."

-I just like this because happenstance is one of my favorite pastimes.

"Lexicography is really more about material science.  We are studying the tolerances of materials that you use to build the structure of your expression; your speeches and your writing."

-It's odd to think that we all articulate the way we do because some detail-guy/lady cared enough to search a thing out and write it down.  A craftsman doesn't craft without tools built by another.  I don't compose without a lineage of lexicographers.  (Better yet, I don't alliterate well unless a lineage of lexicographers lead the way.  See how good I am?)

And kind of a tangent, but I like the concept of taking what you love into a science.  "The greats" (of anything really) always seemed to do this... to have nailed down their passions into a science; they know their forte inside and out so much so that  "a great" becomes "a great" by means of redefinition and innovation, whether that means bending the malleable parts, shaving corners, or adding to the existing.

"Lexicography is not rocket science, but even if it were, rocket science is being done by dedicated amateurs these days."

-Definitely.  I think a dedicated amateur can pull off a lot.  In fact, I think I'll begin to refer to myself as a dedicated amateur.

"I want him to think that this is what dictionaries used to look like... it's a format that died because it wasn't useful enough.  It wasn't really what people needed."

-I know it's already listed up there, but let's think it over.  What needs to die?  In your business, in your field of study, in your personal life.  What needs to begin to be looked at as history instead of modernity?

My final two cents about Erin... the last thing I appreciate is her enthusiasm.  I think I often underestimate the power of a passion.  When what you love exudes from you, you can't help but be contagious.  I gave lexicography a serious few seconds of thought as a career option after that lecture!  When I see someone talk about something they love, I want to love it too.  

You can find more from the quirky, lovable, thought-provoking Erin at: http://dictionaryevangelist.com.