Rise Again From Ashes

An excerpt from Jacob the Baker by Noah Benshea:

"...life is often heavy only because we attempt to carry it," said Jacob. "But, I do find strength in the ashes. [...] You see, Mr. Gold, each of us is alone. Each of us is in the great darkness of our ignorance. And, each of us is on a journey, we must bend to build a fire for light, and warmth and food. But when our fingers tear at the ground, hoping to find the coals of another's fire, what we often find are the ashes. And, in these ashes, which will not give us light or warmth, there may be sadness, but there is also testimony. Because these ashes tell us that somebody else has been in the night, somebody else has bent to build a fire, and somebody else carried on."

Strength AND hope in ashes.
Happy Lent.

Grace.

Grace is God's unmerited favor. That is, grace is God doing good for us that we do not deserve.

I've always believed that to be the definition of grace. And I am fully aware of God's grace in every aspect of my life.

It just wasn't until this week that I experienced that level of grace exchanged between myself and another human being.

So I messed up pretty bad this week. I admitted my guilt to the offended party, amid tears and sheer embarrassment. It was hard, but it was definitely the right thing to do. And you know what they did? They forgave me. Said it was okay. They didn't even hesitate. Seconds after the truth spilled from my mouth, they forgave me. Not even a minute, hour or day to let it sink it. Forgiveness--just like that.

Talk about being in awe of grace.

But I'm having one small problem. I can be pardoned from my sins by the people I committed them against. Because of God's mercy, I do not receive the judgment of God against my sins.

But I'm having trouble forgiving myself.

It's For Gina.

Today, from 5286 miles away, Gina Gailis made my day. By simply posting a well-timed quote on my facebook profile. I really miss my Gina G. She has been over in Spain for quite some time now. The other day I was trying to remember the last time I actually got to hug Gina. But instead of figuring out the last time we saw each other, I remembered all the other good times we had. April's Angels, SEARCH, Mission:Possible (oh geez--the memories there. That would need an entire post just to do it justice), Ultimate Bagel/Starbucks dates, Bloomsday......and on. And on. And on again.

Miss you Gina!

Young Alumni Weekend

This past weekend, I was able to head to the right side of the state to revisit my old stomping grounds. Jen Bachand and I hopped (but nearly missed) a plane to hang out with Melissa in Spokane for the weekend. It was 'Young Alumni Weekend' and we are proud to be alumni, and quite frankly, happy to be considered 'young'. Here are the pictures from the weekend. I am choosing not to discuss the game because it was horrible. Enjoy the pictures.

Jen and Melissa hanging out on 3rd floor of the Ad Building.
We stopped in Crosby and had to stop by good ol' Crosby cafe. Not for coffee. For steamed milks of course!
Jen and Jen having a good time like old times in Crosby.
The Gonzaga Class of 2006 gift to the school: a bronze bulldog!

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

I Can Be A Grace Seeker

Tonight I tagged along with a friend to Mars Hill to hear the dynamic Mark Driscoll speak. That man is an amazing speaker-truly is captivating.

So tonight, we were going over 1 Peter 1:13-21 and Pastor Mark was unpacking Peter's words. While many things really struck me, there is one thing that I wanted to blog about specifically:

God drops grace into our life as a sign of hope

And to be transparent, I must admit he changed what I thought my definition of hope was tonight. He defined hope as "a confident certainty". We must place our faith and hope in God (1 Peter 1:21) because if we put it elsewhere we will be disappointed.

Mark then asked the million dollar question: Where is God's grace in your life? The simple answer is everywhere. The harder part is thoughtfully examining and seeing where in my life God's good grace has truly touched me.

I don't have an answer tonight. Well, I could have some sort of thrown together answer. But this week, I am going to be a grace seeker. I am going to go through this week with 'grace goggles' on and truly see the grace in my life.

Whitney Week: Day II

Day Two began the way most good days begin: sleeping in! Now, as a person who usually wakes up quite early, every hour past 6 am is considered sleeping in, so today, when I opened my tired little eyes to see 9:48 on the clock, I was immediately in love with Wednesday, January 28th.

Our start slow start to the day began with a trip to Top Pot Doughnuts. As a 2-year veteran of this city I can say that I've certainly enjoyed the wonder that is a Top Pot Doughnut, but I had never been to one of their neighborhood stores. We each picked a doughnut of our choosing (a blueberry cake donut for Whitney and a cinnamon sugar old fashion for this girl) and then we split one recommended to us by the man behind the counter. Whitney's blueberry doughnut was fantastic--literally like a blueberry exploding in your mouth. And mine was delicious as well--afterall, I am the girl who has 2 shakers, like most people, on her stove. Unlike most people, one is filled with salt. The other is a mixture of cinnamon and sugar. Classy, I know. And then our third 'staff selected' doughnut was scrumptious as well. Their coffee was very enjoyable as well. Overall, I was definitely impressed with Top Pot!

After the overconsumption of sugar at Top Pot, we headed down to Pike Place Market to wander around. I've never been there during any other season than summer, so to be there when there wasn't a gazillion people walking the halls was quite enjoyable. Whitney had gotten a new camera, a Diana, and was using that to take some pictures of the flowers, veggies, fruits and whatnot that are all on display at the Market. We then hopped over for some gelato (yum!) and then walked on down to Fran's Chocolates to buy some salted caramels. Afterall, they are our new President's favorite candy! It's just being patriotic, people.

After that, we headed out to dinner at a restaurant called The Jones. It is owned by one of my regulars at Starbucks, Scott. He is a great guy and is restaurant is just as awesome as him! Whitney was able to meet my friends--it was pretty great to have 4 of my favorite people at the same table. It was great fun.

Tomorrow, Whitney is forcing me to the spa for a massage. I know..I know...what a terrible friend, eh? :)