lauren laughs

these steelers fans are sad. loss of game and loss of colly. 😦

two things about atl:
1. transportation sucks
2. people are lovely

so my flight landed at 7pm last night and i took the marta into town, flagged a cab, and asked the guy to take me to clifton apartments. “at emory?” yeah. great conversation… super friendly guy. talked all about benin and learned a lot. but once we got to emory he looks at me for some direction. uh, you’re the cab driver that lives here and knows where to go, right? wrong. luckily some super friendly freshmen said they could point me in the right direction and give me a map! yay! oh, silly frosh. unintentionally misleading. they eagerly take me back to the dorm, hand me a map and highlight the path i should take. so efficient. i get to my supposed destination only to find that they’ve sent me to clifton tower, which is not apartments… it’s the student health center. shoot. i recall learning at an early age that when you’re lost it’s best to stay put. so i called my friend and host graham (who was busy playing/coaching in a very important softball game, hence my need for a cab in the first place) and left a message saying “i’m on a bench outside the public health building… come find me when the game is over.” luckily it was a nice night. kinda well lit. safe enough. i came home and crashed.

next morning (this morning) graham dropped me off at candler (by the way i’m in atlanta looking at divinity schools, forgot to mention that) at 6:45 on his way to work at the hospital. my appointment was at 8:15. did i mention i was tired? but actually it was cool watching the sun come up and i felt pretty good about life over all.

great visit. great class. love the school.

part 2 was a visit at columbia theological seminary, which is only 5 miles from candler. no biggie. i take the emory shuttle to the bus station and call a cab. after about 15 minutes (at least i got some sun) i called columbia to say i was waiting for a cab, and didn’t think it would show. what is it with cabs in atl?!?! a sweet little lady in the admissions office came and picked me up (like i said, lovely people) and i had yet another great visit.

luckily, the guy in columbia’s development office is a wlu grad (and thus a gentleman, of course) and offered to drive me home after my interview… so no travel woes there.

and now i’m ready for a nap. and some time to actually catch up with my dear friend.

come to atl. enjoy the people. avoid the cabs.

ps emily saliers’ (of indigo girls) dad taught my class this morning, and opened it in prayer. how cool is that?

i read henri nouwen’s “life of the beloved” again recently. i could say a lot on this, but for now i just want to highlight two passages.

the foundation for nouwen’s premise is found in matthew 3:16-17, mark 1:10-11 and luke 3:21-22: “you are my Son, the Beloved; my favor rests on you.” i absolutely love to think about the fact that i am God’s beloved. it’s similar to contemplating the fact that i’m created in God’s image. i think i big part of that “image” is the desire to be in communion with each other, as i’ve mentioned before. i think God desires that we communicate with Him and each other in love. God communicates to me that i’m His beloved. at any point in time that i doubt myself, this is one unshakeable truth.

part of realizing one’s own belovedness translates into a desire to share that with other people. nouwen writes to his friend, “the greatest gift my friendship can give to you is the gift of your Belovedness. i can give that gift only insofar as i have claimed it for myself.” this rings so true for me. when i think about the people i love, of all the things i want to communicate to those people, their own belovedness is supreme. i’m often known to say, “i just want to love on people,” or, “i just want to make people feel special…” i realize i risk sounding like the ultimate cheese ball, but it’s so exciting to claim God’s love for myself… how could i not share it with others? especially with those i love?

benin west africa is a small country (42,710 sq miles) on the coast next to togo. it has a population of 7,400,000 people who speak french (officially), fon, yoruba and other languages. religions practiced include animism and voodoo (50%), christianity (30%) and islam (20%). check out this house… it’s like a castle hut. sign me up.

every once in a while, i get to assist with communion. i think this is one of the coolest things i can do at church. it’s such an active and tangible way of blessing people, many whom i don’t even know. last night was one of those nights, and it was especially cool because people were wearing name tags so i could say, “this is the blood of Christ shed for you, cathy.” so personal. here is some of the liturgy used in communion…

“in the night in which He was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread and gave thanks; broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying: take and eat; this is my body, given for you. do this for the remembrance of Me. again, after supper, He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: this cup is the new covenant in My blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. do this for the remembrance of Me. as we recall the one, perfect sacrifice for our redemption, Father, by your Holy Spirit, lead us to accept these gifts of your creation, that we as the body of Christ, may be united in love and charity.”

and then, all these people with different lives and who knows what going on in their heads and hearts come forward to receive communion. to take the bread and drink the wine, to hear the words, “this is the body of Christ, broken for you… the blood of Christ, shed for you.” it really is a unifying moment. not just in that small chapel, but everywhere people remember Christ in this way. the communion we take reminds us not only of our communion with one another, but most importantly our communion with God.

after receiving the communion, the pastor blesses the people saying, “the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in His grace. amen.” for me, this is a very real reminder that God is in me and God’s light shines through me. so, yeah. i think communion is cool.

it’s a little belated… but i didn’t blog on labor day, and yesterday i was clearly preoccupied. i did sing on monday, though. this def deserves a posting since my littlest bro is now 20… holy crap!

happy birthday little bro!
happy birthday hermanito!
happy birthday mr. pierce!!!!
happy birthday toooo yooouuuu!!!!

i’m reading in ezra about the rebuilding of the temple in jerusalem, and i’m struck by one verse that says, “no one could distinguish the sound of shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise.” this is because while some rejoiced in the building of a new temple, others wept over the loss of that which came before. my footnote remarks that a babylonian cornerstone reads: “i started the work weeping, i finished it rejoicing.” how applicable is that cornerstone to so many foundations in our lives. much of our work begins in tears and struggle, yet God completes work in us that both glorifies Him and causes us to rejoice. a rough start is not a bad thing. the end result and the journey therein bless the struggle that came before.

it’s been about two weeks, but i didn’t post the news because i was waiting on a pic to show you the latest object of my affection. meet lucinda. (that would be the guitar… the guy hiding behind the guitar would be adam… you can’t hide from the blog, dude.)

i shopped for a guitar earlier this summer, but nothing clicked. after returning from karachi, the need for my own instrument grew ever pressing. i was a woman on a mission. mike came along for moral support, which i really needed. we walked in and spotted a few options, though i was too intimidated to play while some old guy rocked out on slide guitar close by. i was off to a rough start. then a sales clerk walked up and offered to play for me so i could listen for the tone i was looking for. i explained that i wanted a small body guitar, but not so small that it sounded brassy. he was very helpful and found several that i was okay with. then, he handed me lucinda. she was beautiful. she fit in my arms perfectly. her deep tone went straight to my heart. reluctantly, i looked at the price. totally in my range… on the lower end of my range, even. that’s when i took a closer look and found she looked pretty worn on the back and neck. just love marks. nothing that would jeopardize the musicality of the instrument. i asked the handy sales clerk if he could throw in a case? yes. strap? yes. chord? yes. picks? yes. can i choose my own color of picks? yes. can mike have one too? yes. can i have a moment alone? okay. we called erin and brian for back-up, who checked online to confirm this was indeed a good deal. fully confident, i handed the sales clerk my card and brought lucinda home. no buyer’s remorse. just true love. one step closer to being on stage… kidding. or not.

i left my camera at home, so you’ll have to wait for weekend pics and updates. but i’m sitting at work and just watched this huge cicada get caught in a spider web. it’s amazing how something 5 times the size of a spider can get stuck in something thinner than hair. ooh ooh! the spider just tried to jump onto the bug! it’s like discovery channel live.