mi navidad dominicana

My first Christmas away from home has passed. I cried a lot (like 3 times, which is a lot) on Friday and Saturday. Thankfully, we do normal holiday things here like carolling, decorating, a candlelight service, etc. Christmas morning it took two hours for the girls to open all their gifts, so that was fun and festive. Today was Boxing Day where every staff member was paired up with one student to shop for the whole day with $25 that the parents sent down. I've been especially exhausted lately, and am looking forward to the hectic schedule to slow down come January...or probably February.
New business:
I've been training a new groupleader for the past few weeks. This isn't new since I've quasi-trained the last two new groupleaders, but this time I'm also helping develop a new training program. Things with my houseparents still go up and down. I talked to my brother for the first time in 8 months. I've been experiencing some pain that two doctors haven't been able to give me a satisfactory answer to. I'm on QR duty. The power just went out. It's pouring down rain outside. And I'm confused about a boy.
How's that for a quick summary? Pray for my heart and my mind and my body - to love the Lord God wholly.

Jesus trend

I'm almost finished reading a book I started a few days ago. That hasn't happened in a long time - a quick read, I mean. I assumed it was because of my schedule, but now I have figured that I just haven't had something that captures my interest in a long time. I am kind of irritated with myself for enjoying this book, however. It's a book by Donald Miller titled Blue Like Jazz. It is the trendy, Christian post-modern thing to be reading, I guess, but I don't like thinking of myself as a trendy Christian. I want to be an authentic, passionate disciple of Christ, which through the centuries hasn't won a lot of popularity points in the "modern world". Yet, I know the world thirsts for authenticity, reality, and brokenness...because if everyone is honest the reality of our life is that of brokenness. We are all broken, and it is comforting to identify with the brokenness of others. I want to strive however, not just to be real about being broken for the comfort of others, but for the abandonment of my heart. The grace that is showered on the humble in heart is a beautiful display to anyone, spiritual or not. But this is where I have to watch my step to not boast in anything, save the Lord Jesus Christ. It would be trendy and attractive to talk about grace upon grace upon grace (which is an awesome thing), but to leave out the Giver of that grace would be to turn a blessing into an idol and not worship the Author of the blessing. Grace, love, charity, community are all trendy to talk about with non-believers, but Jesus is the radical that rocks a person's boat, and the conversation topic we usually avoid. He doesn't need us to talk Him up in order to make a "sale", His very life, actions and words are as realistic and authentic as they come. And if reality and authenticity is the trend, then why are we not proclaiming His name, Jesus, more?
Thoughts?

waiting

There is a pine forest up the mountain above our campus that offers a steep, but quick 20 minute hike. I've never done it by myself, but, on a whim, went right before work yesterday. I did some praying and singing and felt all better about myself that I was exercising and getting in some good time with God (I'm a multi-tasking addict), until the Lord shut me up on my way down with "hey! you haven't met with me yet!" It's so easy for me to get in Martha-mode and not just rest and wait for God to minister to me through His Spirit. He brought to mind Exodus 33 (which is a goodie) - where Moses is telling God that He better be with His people and show Moses His glory. And the Father leads him to the cleft of the mountain to wait for His presence. It was a good reminder that God promises to shower many good things on those that wait for Him. Where you're waiting, what you're waiting about, or how long you have to wait isn't as important as the surrendering process of trusting His sovereignty.