He Believes in Me...

I'm sitting comfortably in my little black folding chair in the college lecture theater. This morning's joy: Music Appreciation class. My professor just said something in German, I know I should listen, but my brain doesn't work before 10:00. Too bad this class ends at 9:45 a.m, eh? (Yes, I'm sorry, I did just say eh) A soprano voice is singing out opera now. The guy in front of me is chewing on his pen. The blonde girl across the room has fallen asleep. There is a leak in the ceiling, and a persistent dripping is directly behind my head. Oh the joys of college life.

Youth Encounter, the big Christian conference that my school puts on for teenagers ever year, is exactly one week away. I am freakishly excited. The school is beginning to take shape for the event, and everyone seems to be doing something. I'm part of the team that will be praying with/counseling teens who come forward for the altar call. So we had a training session for that. I'm starting to feel really nervous about it. What if I pray wrong? What if I say the wrong thing? I'm probably just paranoid, but what if I'm bad at this. It's what I love to do, but what if I'm bad at what I love to do. Eeeep, now that is a frightening thought.

Love, or something like it, is blossoming in the lives of my friends. I stayed awake until 2:00 in the morning talking with a friend who had just had a DTR. Translation: Defining The Relationship. What every girl wants and doesn't want. There were a couple of other instances last night of my friends falling in love, but I promised to keep mute about them. I love seeing them so happy, seeing their dreams become a reality. Even though I have spent a large part of my 2 weeks here at school bemoaning the cruelity of certain young men, my silly little girlish heart still was excited to hear of all the happy things happening to my girls. I wish them all the best.

This coming Sunday, my touring drama ministry group, the Prov. Players will be performing in Winnipeg. It will be our first big show. We're performing and touring with Prov's "plugged in" worship band, Aslan's Child. It's going to be really exciting I'm sure.

Finally, it's time for Emily's Cool God Lesson of the Week. Last night, I worked at my Jr. High youth group in Stienbach as I do every week. And we watched a video by Rob Bell. For those of you who don't know, Rob Bell is a rather amazing pastor who producing video sermon type things. My friend Allie described it as "very post-modern". The most striking feature is how conversational Mr. Bell is in these videos. In this video he talked about how we may believe in God, but God also believes in us. He wouldn't have calles us to be Christians if he didn't believe that we could do it. He has faith in me as much, probably more, than I have in him. In so many things in my life, I shrink away from them with the all too familiar words, "I can't do that" But if the God of the Universe believes I can, why am I afraid. He believed that tax collecters, fishermen, and prostitutes had the power to impact the world for Christ. He believed in those that others had turned away. And I know that he believes in me.

May you be covered in the dust of your Rabbi