is the theme of my life transition?

the other day i was in line in back of a guy whose shirt read "the only constant in life is change". my two immediate reactions were:

1. that's not true. the only constant in life is God. bam!
2. that feels so true in my life.

last night i was driving back to my parents' house from my home church (which i will leave when i move to the city) and felt a familiar emptiness in the pit of my stomach. i'm saying goodbye again. later this week i'll be saying goodbye to an incredible sister in Christ, former roommate, and best friend as she moves to east asia for (at least?) a year.

in times like these my mind flashes back to the drive home from traverse city summer project. the walk to my plane on the way back from rome. my high school friends sitting in a circle crying the night before college. holding hands with my roommates and singing "friends are friends forever" on the way to our last Cru meeting. i remember that i haven't lived in the same place for two years in a row since 2002. saying goodbye causes a pretty deep sorrow in my heart, a sorrow i've felt often these past few years.

all the while on this car ride home i was anticipating my move in a couple weeks. that means even more transition. a new city, new church, new internship, new apartment, lots of "new"ness. my train of thought was interrupted by a cd i just bought from my church's bookstore.

Majesty, You fashioned the heavens
Your decrees can never be changed
Over all the plans of the nations
Your judgments reign

these lyrics struck me deeply and brought tears to my eyes. GOD is eternal and He is constant. i have moved a lot. i have felt rootless and homeless for a long time. in view of eternity these are light and momentary troubles.

Majesty, we’ll sing with creation
When You come again in the clouds
Every knee will bow down and worship
The one true God

whenever i feel the sting of transition i LONG for permanence, for home. i even start to believe that once i get "settled" somewhere things won't be so hard. in His mercy and wisdom God hasn't let me get settled, He's challenged me to find my home in Him, to long for my home in heaven. tonight i'm thanking God for transition. it's making me long for eternity. lets hope that thankfulness is still there when i'm moving boxes up to my second story apartment. :)

[ht:jb]

i just love this j.j. heller song right now.

(also, ht:bw for sharing how to embed a youtube video without the video. i just edited html, world!)

[wo]man vs. wild

me and the raccoons have had a good thing going on. and by "a good thing" i mean that i've been generally unaware of their existence. this was true until a few weeks ago, when they suddenly and egregiously violated their half of the deal. in FULL daylight nonetheless.



i left the apartment around 8pm to see that face staring up at me. it was all i could do to keep my composure and run back to grab my camera. when i came back somehow it had multiplied.



cripes. at this point i was half excited (after all, how often do i see so much nature so up close?) and half freaked-out. i mean, it is BROAD(ish) daylight! the only time i've seen a raccoon in the broad daylight was the time a rabid one was wandering around our neighborhood when i was in third grade. my mom told us to stay inside while animal control came and "took him away". (i'm assuming to a nice farm with a kind raccoon-loving family, right mom?) anyway, as i'm forumlating my plan of escape if, in fact, i'm dealing with some kind of raccoon army, they start climbing back UP THE STAIRS!



after taking that picture i RAN back into my apartment and slammed the door. now i had a real predicament on my hands. these raccoons were blocking my one and only exit. (those of you who know me well might know about how i occasionally try to plan my escape from unlikely life-threatening situations. NONE of my planning ever involved a possibly rabid family of raccoons holding me hostage in a one room apartment.) after a couple minutes i summoned up my courage, cracked the door open, and started crazily stomping and yelling my way to the stairs.



(note how they're running away in obvious defeat. holly-1, rodents-0)

needless to say, i was pretty darn terrified when i returned to my apartment later that night. i'm pretty sure i heard some scratching and growling from the tree they had escaped into.

this is unrelated to the overall story, but in the raccoons' hurried scurrying the smallest one wasn't able to get over the concrete wall they climbed.



aw, look at that little buddy.

consider yourselves warned, trinity dwellers. the campus raccoons mean business.