Enter Wedding Weekend 2.0
Not upgraded...just a different version of the same general thing. But really, only the name is the same...a wedding is all about the participants so, at least in theory, the only thing one wedding share with the next is that it's called a wedding...everything in a wedding is the imprint of the people...even if they are in essence, essentially, basically or exactly the same...that item is the same for a reason reflected in those that chose it.
That and culture, of course...but culture varies, person to person, family to family, ethnicity to ethnicity...nothing new there.
Even though I'm a lot less important at this wedding, I feel a lot less prepared. And by that, I just mean I was all packed and ready to go by now on Thursday before the last wedding, while I'm doing the bulk of things tomorrow for this one....which might actually have to do with my slight importance to the procedures. In a way, by not being invited, I became more important...well, I'm not "important" at all...but I'm the date of someone that is and therefore sort of am by osmosis?
Whatever....It's going to be a great time!
Sometimes I feel like a total failure at Fund Development...
It's not my fault, at least not totally....but the progress is so excrutiatingly slow, I just feel like I'm not doing something right...and maybe not doing something good enough.
But I've got to remember a few key things:
1. Ultimately, it's in God's hands. He's not going to let me down even if the FD process/adventure is longer than I want it to be. It's about patience now...it's about patience tomorrow, it's about patience forever.
2. I can't change the fact that a lot (really, a ton) of potential donors aren't in the best financial shape to give...no jobs/bad portfolio/slow business...whatever it may be, the economy is hurting me a lot more than I had hoped it would because even who would be my most faithful givers just can't give at all right now...my own parents, friends that graduated that can't find jobs, other people...there's just a lot of economic downness right now...and while it's not helping me raise the money any faster to acknowledge it, it helps me not feel like such a failure to do so.
3. I haven't failed yet. There is still time, and it's not even the end of the world if I can't be on campus when school starts.
4.I can't change hearts or minds of people that don't want to contribute. That's ultimately their call. God's going to provide whether those that don't want to give wanted to or not...really, there aren't even that many of them as far as I can tell
5. Ultimately, it's all in God's hands. I know I listed this..but it all begins and ends with what he does.
Ten things to pray: 1. That I remember, ultimately, it's all in God's hands. 2. That those friends, family, and etc. potential donors that aren't financially capable would be financially capable...meaning that my parents would find jobs, that everyone else would find jobs, et al. That does mean praying for an economic turnaround probably...but people that pray small prayers expect small results, and friends, we are not expecting small results. "Bring your Umbrella" so to speak.... 3. That God's provision continues.
4. Patience, patience, patience...I know it's learned...and sometimes, it's given.....I need it to be both right now.
5,6,7,8,9,10: Praise the Lord for all he has done already, and all he will do. "Praise Him in advance"
Something I might always say as part of my staff routine...if you can call it that, though, is that you cannot pray and be opposed to being an answer to prayer requests. Think on that...it changed how I look at everything...from politics to the gospel to everything in between....
If I believed in polar opposites, I think politics and the gospel are that....if there ever was one, and that's either a total shame or exactly how it should be. I'm going to Hillsdale, so it's probably a total shame officially, but I have a feeling that deep down, I know it's exactly how it should be.
I was playing a card game about Zombies today (Zombie Fluxx....fluxx is awesome, by the way) and it was the first time I had an idea for an I.S. that I actually do wish I had did instead...a lot of my I.S. afterthoughts aren't really what I would have preferred...just other options I never explored. But this one was genuine: I wish I had critically examined the Zombie Movie Genre...it's not really been explored as such, at least not too critically that I know of...it's usually lumped into horror, which becomes something totally different because "scaring" is at the forefront of that analysis, while I would be supremely interested in the sexual politics, undertones, and social commentary of the zombie genre and conventions...that's why I love Westerns even though they aren't that good most of the time...and it's why I would have loved to do that I.S.....maybe if I ever go to Grad School.....if I ever go to Grad School, I'm probably going to go to Syracuse for Film...just because. Well...not counting seminary...I'll probably eventually do that...probably somewhere around Chicago, since that's apparently what people do, but it might be anywhere, and I might be anywhere by then too....it's not like there aren't a few decent spots in Michigan.
But first, Hillsdale. And first, funding.
And before all of that...prayer...and patience...and hard work.
I think John might be the best writer in the New Testament...just like, naturally. Of course it's hard to tell in translation...if nothing else, his words translate best. Matthew is probably second, then Paul, then Peter, then Luke. James has potential for fourth, but there's so little, I'll probably go with Mark next, followed by James in fifth. The author of Hebrews might be second too....but he might be any of those guys too, so it's hard to say. I once heard it might be Apollos, and I like that theory, but that's conjecture....
As I've been writing this, I've been listening to music, as I always do, and I finally realized what "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Deep Blue Something is actually about...wow. Not wow like "that's deep" or wow like "So incredible" but wow like "it's been like, most of my life since I've been listening to that song from time to time and I just now get it" He's just saying they do have something in common...so she should give him a chance. I either never listened to the lyrics well enough, or it was meant to happen, right now, for a reason. And it's probably both of those things...
I'm a little sad that the common grounds reunion is this fall at homecoming...both because I don't know if I can make it and because it's not removed enough to make it that awesome, and by the time another rolls around, if there is one, it will probably be too removed...Oh well...I still hope to go to homecoming.
This blog is Wooster and InterVarsity centric....sorry about that. Well, maybe you don't mind. But someone might.
-Zack
"Take your skin off when you listen to me"
-The Killers
No comments:
Post a Comment