A Social Experiment.

I stepped back in time for a day at the Berntsen Libray last Thursday.  Well, it was present day - new students, new inside jokes (that i'm outside of!), etc... - but being there brings back so many memories!  Mini-golf behind the circulation desk, scooter races, ridiculous requests from faculty... oh, it was good times.

This time, at the libes, it was a social experiment with Pegs.  It hatched out of a large lunch at the mid-town global market.  We sat in Becky's office with our "food baby bellies" and reminisced about the poems we'd written at the library, the concerned customer letters from deceased alumni, the hilarious proposals to supposedly streamline the circulation process.  And, lo and behold, a new scheme... what would people say to a pregnant woman wandering amongst the stacks of the main collection?  At a smallish private Christian college?! Let's try it. By the way, Peggy will make an adorable pregnant woman someday! (She even had the "waddle" down!)  The original plan was to convince one of our old co-workers of her pregnancy, but we got a lot of other great data in the process.  People stared, smiled, did double takes at Peg as we walked about the library.  I don't recognize that girl... oh look, she's pregnant.

How we all giggled and snickered in the confines of Becky's office after those walks!!  And then, we had good conversations about "judgment" and "disappointment."  Is "being disappointed" in someone's behavior a nice way to say that you are "judging" them?

Retreats. Jobs. Adventures. Life.

Whew. It's just been so full of bustle!  I don't want to bombard you with the details of everything, but I do want to uncover some stories and thoughts about my last couple of weeks.  My next several posts may be to that end.

Just one story tonight and then a preview of the next few to come...

Bowling with frozen poultry.  It was a sight to behold!  The winter retreat at Riverside was in full swing.  I had two "talks" under my belt.  I was half-way through the four I had prepared.  It was going well.  I was surprised that the urgency of what I was sharing came out between the shakes and nerves.  Being a first time speaker, I thought that I would come out dry and unfeeling.  Anyway, the bowling.  It was magnificent.  There is nothing quite like holding a smallish frozen turkey and looking across the ice rink at 10 2-liter bottles set up like pins.  The strategies you come up with to knock down the most pins (on the knees, granny-style, side arm) are just hilarious to watch fail or succeed in their turn.  As I heaved the turkey forward in the first frame for my team, I had visions of getting a strike on my first time and impressing everyone.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I missed completely. Not. A. Pin. Down. 

Thankfully, everyone else was having similar luck.  Half-filled  with water and frozen, those bottles were difficult to totter over.  Getting two or more down brought huge hoots and hollers from your team.  Toward the end of the game, Jake gets a brilliant idea.  He begins running from outside of the rink, on the snow, to gain momentum.  He plans to launch himself on the ice and propel the turkey forward from the line.  Anyone else would have biffed it and broken a bone (as someone did that day).   But Jake's middle names are "gracefully athletic" so, of course, he nails the landing and the release.  He knocked down 6 pins.  This guy is my hero.

And then somehow, potentially by a mathematical error, our team (TEAM STRIKE!) went from last to first in the second half of the game.  We don't ask questions at that point.  We just go crazy bananas on the ice, screaming and slapping backs.  This is what I love about camp.  It's a place where you can tell a person about Jesus and then be utterly silly with that person in the very next moment.  What a lovely mix!

Stay tuned for...

A bit of pregnancy in the library at Northwestern (A social experiment)

Fluent in Flatulence (A look inside a fish-house full of Sherfs)

The New Job (on the effects of growing up with only brothers and then working with only women.)

Infuse. Ignited for Christ

I've been working like a mad woman on a set of talks that I will be presenting this weekend at Riverside's winter retreat for youth.  The theme for the week is Infuse: Ignited for Christ.  After getting over the hump of completely blank thoughts, I have hammered out some thoughts on our lives, God's plan for things, darkness and light and various other topics.  

I've learned so much in my preparation.  By far, the biggest thing is that if this goes off without hitch, it will be because of the Lord.  If this goes off with a hitch or two, the Lord will use it in His way.

Pray that God's purposes might stand.  Pray that all hearts would be open to understand.  Pray that God would let us see Him and ignite our hearts!