Changes Ahead

A New Adventure

As I alluded to in my first post, change is on the horizon.  In the middle of June, I leave my Admissions Counselor post at Hillsdale - 6 years and many happy memories later.  Here's the quick and dirty of life for the next year.  More details will come later.

After leaving Hillsdale, I will be a global traveler for the summer - Ohio, New Zealand, Washington, Oregon, California and driving halfway across the country from the Midwest to the DC area.  Summer goals include: reconnecting with family and friends, running a marathon, working on a book, backpacking, boating and reading. 

The summer travels end in a tiny town called Royal Oak in Maryland and begin a 9-month fellowship program with 11 other young people who are there seeking the answer to some of life's most pressing questions - "Who am I?  Who is God?  What is my calling?  How can I best serve Christ in the area to which He has called me?"  The program seeks to bring in students with all types of vocational aspirations and callings, pour into them for the year through reading, writing, lectures, community and service, and send them out well-equipped to integrate faith with vocation.

So, thank you Hillsdale for forming nearly every part of me.  And more importantly, thank You God for giving me the gift of Hillsdale six years ago.



"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." ~James 1:17

Trending with J.Crew

Men's Fashion

My housemates and I get the monthly J.Crew Style Guide Magazine.  Each month when the magazine arrives, one of our favorite activities is analyzing each outfit on each page and then letting every person who enters our home analyze each outfit on each page. 

I guess that's what we get for not having TV to amuse ourselves.

For quite some time, J.Crew has been featuring BOLD AND BRIGHT COLORS in their magazine.  The sultry models are seen standing with bright yellow skirts and neon green tops or checkered pink and orange shorts with "Vibrant Flame" red shirts.  Sometimes, the bright pages hurt my eyes, but it has been growing on me, slowly but surely.  (I actually just bought a pair of neon yellow shorts - guilty).

I was surprised by the newest male trends in the "Men's Style Guide".  Bright colors are going viral.  Green, purple, orange and yellow pants overtake the men's section of the website.

So far, every male I have shown this picture to has given it a definite thumbs down.  They are also all from the Midwest.

Any thoughts?





Spotlight: Dietrich Bonhoeffer

For the past few days, I have been seriously thinking about the formation of this blog.  Should it have a theme?  Should it be theological?  Should it be just personal life stories?  Should it be strictly hilarious?  Should it be completely random?

Well, I'm not quite sure yet, but I do want to write weekly spotlights of people who have impacted my life and thinking.  These will be authors, theologians, family members, friends and those I admire.  My ultimate goal is to encourage depth of relationships with those we already know and suggest impactful reading material.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

For anyone who knows anything about me, it is fitting that this is the first spotlight.  I probably get more excited when talking about Bonhoeffer than any other theologian, or maybe even person.  Bonhoeffer was a Christian during World War II who spearheaded the assassination plots against Hitler and led the largest network (and one of the only) of underground churches in Germany that opposed the acts of the Nazis.  While most Christians  in Germany blindly followed Hitler from the beginning, Bonhoeffer sensed an urgency that he needed to be stopped.

What impresses me most is that Bonhoeffer was a pacifist his whole life.  For many years, he struggled with his call to put an end to Hitler's reign.  I will leave you with a quote that changed the way I view my life's call.  In his essay After Ten Years, Bonhoeffer analyzes the relationship between public responsibility and private virtue.  He writes,

Who stands fast? Only the man whose final standard is not his reason, his principles, his conscience, his freedom, or his virtue, but who is ready to sacrifice all this when he is called to obedient and responsible action in faith and in exclusive allegiance to God — the responsible man, who tries to make his whole life an answer to the question and call of God. Where are these responsible people?

Bonhoeffer made his final standard allegiance to God, and so he was able to follow the call that directly led to Hiler's demise.  An incredible challenge for me.

Suggested reading: 

Life Together by Bonhoeffer

Cost of Discipleship by Bonhoeffer

Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy by Eric Metaxas



Becoming a Blogger

I admit it.  I've been thinking about this for a long while - going back and forth with the question, "Should I become a blogger?"  Here's what I would like not to happen with this blog, and these are the main reasons I chose not to start one for so long:

1.) I do not want this to be boring.  I hate boring things.  No one wants to read boring things.  No one wants to do boring things.  No one likes to be around boring people.  Please call me out if this gets boring.
2.) I do not want this to be a fad that fades in a few months.  If you're a blogger, for goodness sakes, be a good one.  In my mind, good blogging is equivalent to consistent blogging.  The "once a year" blogger is not a blogger.  That person just needs to vent every year, and the blog happens to be a opportune opportunity (to use a horrible repetition).
3.) I do not want this to be self-centric.  How does a person not become more self-centric when blogging about themself?  I don't think I have an answer to this...yet.

So, now that you have the run-down of what I don't want, let me end with the positives.  Why am I blogging?  Let me explain my thought process:

1.) I love to write and share stories.  I love to read good writing and listen to good stories.  Ultimately, I would like to get better at writing.  Receiving public critique excites me just as much as false praise disgusts me.
2.) My life is about to change drastically, and very few people know.  Honestly, the best way to inform people is to just write it for all to see.  As opposed to writing email updates, only those who want to know what's going on can read.  Everyone else can just pass on by.
3.) I have benefited greatly from reading good blogs.  I read theological blogs, daily life blogs, friends' blogs, book blogs and professor's blogs.  If this just encourages or challenges one person in a positive way, this endeavor will be worth it.

And the decision has been made.  I am a blogger.