Saying "Hello" to what's behind me

My grandfather died of cancer on November 24, 2008, the monday before Thanksgiving. That's what I've been telling people since November 25, 2008, the tuesday before Thanksgiving. I didn't realize just how wrong I was until today, November 8, 2011, 16 days before November 24, 2011, and Thanksgiving. A year or two ago my grandmother gave me his Bible for my birthday. My own Bible has been M.I.A. for about a month now so today I turned to his. My Papa was the greatest man I've ever known, here's why. In the front he had taped two different sticky notes with the same thing written on them: the Methodist/Wesleyan Quadrilateral. It's a way of discerning truth or the answer to a question. Along side the sticky notes was a piece of paper with a poem typed on it called "One." It says "I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do somethings. That which I need to do, but the grace God I will do." That was his attitude toward life. Everyday I spent with him, I watched him live this conviction of his out. The last treasure I found was in the placement of one of the markers he had placed in various spots throughout the text. I found one of the ribbons at Hebrews 11. It's the chapter about faith. A dying man specifically marked a passage about not losing faith in the Lord. To me this doesn't say that he never faltered in his belief, but that he knew where to turn when he did. So today, November 8, 2011, is the day I found my way again. I realized that my Papa isn't dead, but that he is alive and well with the Lord he clung to until the bitter end.

NaNoWriMo

November 1. It's a good day. We got our class rings, I turned in this project that had been KILLING me, and...it NaNoWriMo started! National Novel Writing Month is something I've been looking forward to for a while but had forgotten about lately. This morning it occurred to me that it begins today so I started. I'm pretty excited about my story! As far as my quest over fall break, well our laptop died on day one of the trip so I didn't really write a whole lot. I did get a quick journal entry in though. That was probably one of the most helpful things that's happened for my walk with Christ lately. Well this post sucks. I hope your day doesn't, though! I hope you're having a fantastic day. I love you and Jesus does even more!

Short-term Goal

Sumner County's fall break officially started at 3:00 today! While we're out of school my family and I are going to Virginia to visit Sweet Briar College and Mary Baldwin College and then on down to Atlanta because my Uncle David will be there. Needless to say, I'm pretty pumped. Just the thought of not having to attend a math class for 11 days is enough to evoke happy tears. These next several days will also include an awful lot of car time and I'd like to do something productive with all that time. So my goal for the next 11 days is to write something that means something, if not to someone else then to myself. I'll check back later to post how my endeavor has gone. :) I hope you're having a fantastic day, week, month, year, and life. Jesus loves you, plain and simple.

A lesson from Longfellow

Socially awkward. Quirky. Tall. Loud. Quiet. Geeky. All things that could describe me I guess. All things that could be seen as negative or positive. There's something missing from that list, though, something more important than any of those attributes: Christ. I call myself a Christian, a word that means 'little Christ'. Today in my English class we read a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called A Psalm of Life. The poem talks about leaving footprints in the sands of time so one of the response questions my teacher asked us was what footprint we want to leave. I wrote down that if I can say or do one thing that makes someone's day/life a little better then I'll have left the footprint I can be happy with. But as I thought about it a little more I realized that I don't want to leave a footprint. I don't want to be remembered. If I am truly living as a 'little Christ' then who I am won't matter, his kingdom will. I don't want people to look at me and see Maggie, I want the image of a savior who would go to the cross for them to flash across their eyes. I want the bright light of that same man walking out of the tomb to grab hold of their souls. I want my words to be the words the Lord wants said. I want my actions to be what he needs done. My prayer lately has been for God to make me a pawn on his chess board. I know that I won't be here long, but I can do something for him while I am here.

"Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait."

Talking to Strangers

I wrote this at school yesterday/today so it's still pretty fresh on my mind. I'm not totally sure how much sense it makes so let me know what you think! Please be critical!

There goes the alarm clock. I’m awake now. A few moments later I’m standing at my closet, groggily searching for something suitable to wear, when suddenly there is a voice behind me. Its familiarity puts me at ease and for a moment or two we are lost in casual conversation. “How’s the weather been?” I ask? “Hot, as always,” he replies. That alone should give away his true identity, but blinded by charm I don’t see it. He’s handsome, so very very handsome. Just then, there is a tap on my shoulder. A turn of my head reveals a simple looking fellow with a neatly trimmed beard. There is nothing special about his appearance, but I can’t seem to keep my eyes off of him. When I turn back to m original conversation, I see out of the corner of my eye his previously upturned mouth swoop downward in an instant. What fault does he see in my first acquaintance? He calls me to him and I go. “Look,” he says, “not at him, but at his heart. His words may be passionate, but his soul will deceive you.” So once again I face my original company. This time when I take him in, however, I see someone else. Suddenly it is clear to me who this man is. I am sickened by own inability to recognize the evil before me. My heart beating fast, I cling to this new man, my savior. That is when I realize why he has captivated me so: He is breathing. His face is flushing and there is a pounding in his chest. This man is alive. He is alive and well and has vanquished his predecessor from his sights. He is alive and there is life with him. This man is the one I want, and it is with this man I will remain.

Never Forgotten

Yesterday. Yesterday was 9/11. Yesterday was a day we never saw coming. Yesterday was a day we'll never forget. Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of the event that rocked our country more than anything in the last 50 years. Yesterday the significance of that event really sank in for me. Last night I watched a special on CBS about two French film makers who were following around a rookie fire fighter in New York City (seven blocks from WTC) at the time. These were to the two guys who have the only known footage of the first plane hitting and the inside of the World Trade Centers. What I was most in awe of was the realness of it. The scene looked like an apocalypse straight out of Hollywood, yet those firefighters walked into it anyway. Here are a few quotes that I think seem to describe them well.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important." - Ambrose Redmoon

"Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow." - Dan Rather

"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer."  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 See the resemblence?

"Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve."- President G.W. Bush

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" - John 15:13

Beautifully Broken

I've written before about Camp Hollymont, where I go in the summertime. It's a truly amazing place. I could just rant forever and ever about how crazy awesome it is, but I won't bore you with that. Instead I'll bore you with one reason why it rocks. One of the first nights I was there this year I was hanging out with a couple of counselors talking about God and such (another reason this place is cool). While I was listening to one girl tell her story it hit me that every single person there is a mess in some form or fashion. Every one of them is broken or screwed up or insecure in one way or another, and they all seem to be so okay with it. Hearing these wonderful ladies talk about their trials and the things they struggle with, always going back to God and what he's done/is doing through that is so uplifting. Witnessing that kind of faith and glory-be-to-God attitude has really stuck with me. The Lord is working through that camp, FO SHO.

How about another camp story?
I was a CIT on what we call Cardinal Hall, which is 11-12 year old girls. One night we were on the bus going to the brother camp, Rockmont, and the girls were singing. We had been singing Our God by Chris Tomlin in Morning Watch (Chapel) so they started on that one. They kept getting louder and louder so by the time they had gotten to "And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us..." I had to turn around and look. My view at that point = AMAZING. 11 and 12 year old girls had their hands in the air and their eyes shut worshiping their God...on a school bus!!! That's incredible to me. I want to be as cool as them someday.

There's my stories for the night. Jesus rocks. The end.