lauren laughs

one of the lessons in church today reminded me of summer days at camp… paul tells the ephesians to put on the whole armor of God so they may stand firm against evil:

“stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. as shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. with all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” ephesians 6:14-17.

we can be deliberate and intentional about putting on the armor of God with the same visual aids i used with young campers. everyday we have an opportunity to meditate on these words as we get dressed and ready ourselves for what lies ahead. it may sound silly, but it’s worth a shot. when putting on your belt (or pants or skirt, etc) remember to arm yourself with truth. while buttoning your shirt, meditate on what it means to have a breastplate of righteousness. as you tie your laces (or in my case, slip on your flip-flops), consider what it means to be ready to proclaim the gospel. a shield of faith may be a bit tough to envision, but very important. i think of my face as my shield as i put on sunscreen, which is also important, kinda. as you comb your hair, think about what it means to wear a helmet of salvation. for me, the rings i wear symbolize the sword of the Spirit. my two rings remind me of different verses i repeat daily since the sword is the word of God.

note too that most of these items are used for protection from evil, but the word of God is a weapon against evil. we can guard ourselves with truth, righteousness, peace, faith and salvation, but to fight evil we must carry the sword of the Spirit. we need the word of God written on our hearts and minds, thus we meditate on the scriptures. reading God’s word regularly keeps our weapons sharp and our swords ready.

it is with this armor that paul encourages us to be bold.

isaiah 62:5 says, “as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God rejoices over you.” i’ve yet to be a bride so i can only imagine what it’s like to be rejoiced over by a bridegroom. i do think it’s something we all long for, though. who doesn’t want to be celebrated, desired, chosen, rejoiced over? and one day perhaps i’ll know this in an earthly relationship. but even that could not compare to being rejoiced over by God. people fail us. we fail each other. it’s part of learning, living and loving. but God never fails. His love is sure and constant and never mistaken. His heart for us never changes. in monty python’s words, “and there was much rejoicing… *yay*…”

so i’ve joined http://www.chicksspeak.com’s team for race for the cure. if you’re not familiar with chicksspeak, you should definitely check it out. my bold roomie christina founded this amazing website for college women and i’m super proud of her. and chicksspeak has started a team for race for the cure in baltimore, which will be held october 21. it’s a 5k event. nothing major, right? right. unless your personal trainer has sworn you off running after asking, “do you want to have any cartilage at age 40?” um, yes. so no running… but this is for a good cause! an exception must be made. of course, i can’t expect to be able to run a 5k right off the bat… so i decided to run 2 miles today and give it a shot. not bad. the view was definitely worth it. running along the harbor at 6:30am when no one else is out but other (far superior) runners is like a little slice of heaven to start your day. the nasty harbor water looks so pretty at sunrise. anyway, i made it. i survived. though i really wish they had water stops. being thirsty while standing next to a large body of water is not easy. i think i’ll only risk my poor little knees once a week till the race. that should be sufficient. if you want to support me and make a donation, click on the post title and it *should* take you to my site. muchas gracias.

the magnolia cupcakes were a force to be reckoned with last night. we weren’t sure what to expect at the beach volleyball play-offs after a season of ups and downs. i’m not sure the organizers had a clue what they were doing either. we played like crap our first game against a team we already had some history with (ie: full contact volleyball). but the cupcakes rallied to dominate the next 3 teams, putting us in the finals for next week. eric gets the mvp award. we celebrated like any magnolia cupcake would, with a trip to mcdonalds.

i’ve been mia for a week, but for good reason. lau’s birthday season is in full force. this calls for a break from the karachi chronicles, which will recommence shortly.

the birthday shenanigans began friday night with a federal hill style block party. tons of peeps joined in to celebrate 4 birthdays, an engagement, a housewarming… lots of reasons to party it up. i only got to see about 1/4 of the people there, so i’m sorry if you attended and i missed you. here’s a pic of me, tim and carolyn. note: i chopped my hair off.

the fun continued saturday with a retreat at northbay (on maryland/delaware border) complete with my first ropes course experience. even though i’m scared of heights, i totally got a kick out of playing in the trees way up off the ground. i did get some major rope burn that looks absolutely disgusting on the back of my leg, but i think i fared pretty well otherwise. i will say my arms felt like jello the following day. i wonder what happens when you fall…

sunday i went to lex for some emergency tlc (family is goooood) and some much needed time spent reading and napping in the hammock on dad’s porch. it rained monday and tuesday mornings. hammock + rain + book + mountains = heaven on earth. monday i was thrilled to spend some time with college mentor laura and college pastor bill. monday night my favorite prof eduardo and his lovely family joined us for birthday dinner. my bro pierce also dropped in after learning i had snuck into town. pictured is eduardo’s daughter eliana getting kisses from our puppy anna belle.

tuesday i made the trek back to b’more feeling a bit more like myself, though a year older of course. farhan and roohi are back stateside, so they took me to dinner… followed by yummy homemade birthday cake at brian and erin’s place. i know everyone thinks they have good friends, but mine are really the best.