Anna’s Blog

Now, this is historic... this is epic. PBU sponsored a DANCE. A hoedown, but a dance nonetheless. SQUARE DANCING!!!!! Pigtails! Plaid shirts! Overalls and cowboy boots! Cowboy hats! Calling all things country!

Again, a massive circus-type tent was set up in Parking Lot C, complete with hay bails, other 'western' memorabilia, and a professional caller!

The caller assembled us into squares (four pairs of partners) and began hollering the calls at us. After a few tries, everyone seemed to get the hang of the square dancing thing. Crazy exercise: do si do, swing your partner, grand square, right hand and a left hand... I loved it all! Such an awesome workout, and fun way to meet people and not be ashamed to sweat on them a bit... luckily, it was raining as well, so it was hard to tell the drips of rain from drips of...well, whatever.

I went with a group, but my dance partner for all four dances was my friend Derek. He, being a farmer from Lancaster, was the ideal parter... we had so much fun!

The Hoedown was an incredible hit, and I think we should have one every weekend!

Posted by Anna at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Literature and Arts of the Western World course requires students to have two 'cultural experiences' per semester. Although I'm not currently enrolled in this class, many of my friends are and they decided to visit the Museum of Art in downtown Philly... I, naturally, tagged along. (It's donation only on Sundays! We each paid a quarter!)

I appreciate art, but much depends on how one defines 'art'. We toured through the European art collection, saw many beautiful portrayals of the death of Christ and settings of beautiful families and portraits of women-- all beauty, all things romantic and real.

Then, though, we migrated to the Modern Art section. I understand how Modern Art reflects the philosophy of the age... What is real? What is necessary? Why are we here? ...The Modern Era, especially on into the Postmodern Era, has removed religion completely from all aspects of life. And without the Divine, apart from Christ, there is no hope, no beauty, no purpose to art or in life as a whole. And this saddens me.

Maybe I'm reading too much into things... But I believe Art for Art's sake is, to borrow from Oscar Wilde, quite useless.

Just a few thoughts I had whilst at the museum. Visit, if you ever have the chance!

Posted by Anna at 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Lately, I've been stressed. This is nothing new for a college student such as myself, midterms are rearing their ugly heads and the change in season doesn't necessarily warm my heart...

In all honesty, though, finances stress me out more than anything...ever. This past summer, I accidentally overdrew my checking account... and since then, I've been more careful than ever with keeping my checkbook balanced and accurate. But this past week, I received notification from my bank that I had once again emptied my account, and was charged through the nose in overdraft fees. It's a long story, but the moral at the end is: the bank made a mistake and refunded my money.

Through the week before I spoke with my bank and they assured me all was well, my world was shaken. I was so concerned with paying the enormous debt on my plate, I forgot that the Lord is in control over every situation. He has always provided, and will always continue to do so. He is Jehovah Jirah. He IS. And He cares about every aspect of my life, from my spiritual wellbeing and physical health to my finances, and things that seem like they may not be as important to the LORD God Almighty. But they are. Crazy.

And this is the Scripture He has given me through it all:

Philippians 4:4-7 "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Posted by Anna at 2:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For fall break this year, my lovely friends Katie and Bethany accompanied me back home to good ol' Michigan!

The trip took us about 14 hours when it really ought to have only taken 12...but, knowing us, we were having too much fun to really care about time. On the drive, we jammed to the Beatles, random rap, movie soundtracks, and some others of our favorites. Katie and I being current Old Testament students, we were given the assignment to read through the Twelve Minor Prophets--some of which I read aloud on the trip. Needless to say, interesting and in-depth Biblical discussions ensued. We never got lost (praise the LORD), but that's mostly thanks to a GPS system our friend let us borrow. (Mostly, we used it to locate rest stops and gas stations along the way...we seemed to have trouble reading road signs....)

Finally, though, we made it to my home in Allegan, Michigan! My family was so happy to see us...from what I hear, it's been quiet there without me...Katie and I definitely made up for that period of silence. :)

The weekend was really just laid-back and relaxing. We went shopping at the mall twice, and spent more than we ought to have buying jackets and movie tickets and food court Chinese. I took them to the beach at Lake Michigan, just as the sun was setting. It was glorious.

On Monday night, camp had its annual fall banquet. My dad is the director, he emceed the event, and asked me to be the special music. I sang a set of three songs, accompanied by my friend Jonathan: In Christ Alone, Before the Throne of God Above, and Be Thou My Vision. I had a lot of fun, and enjoyed reconnecting with some of the staff from this summer. Katie and Beth worked the punch bowls and did an awesome job conversing and schmoozing with people they had never before seen in their lives.

The journey back to school on Tuesday was much like the journey home. What was awesome, though, was that such close quarters with my two already good friends throughout the weekend (and especially the car ride) helped to develop our relationships even more. And it's nice to get home and reconnect...and relax.

Back to school.

Posted by Anna at 3:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two weekends ago, PBU students and faculty alike experienced a phenomenon known simply as Crimson Celebration. During this Homecoming weekend, there was much to do: inflatable games up on the walkway to soccer games to homemade cotton candy and popcorn to boat races in the pond (Crystal Lake?) to...the Blast from the Past.

During this portion of the festivities, on Saturday night, students performed songs and dances from the our good ol' days back in elementary school and earlier childhood: anything and every good thing from the '80s and '90s!

The student body watched and laughed as Rapper Dave (our student body chaplain) walked up to the stage set up in the tent in Lot B wearing a purple sweatsuit regaling us with the theme from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. One performer spun glow sticks (tough to explain, but it was incredible) to "I'm blue daba dee daba die". Our student body president and another student did the famed Evolution of Dance: the Mashed Potato and the Hustle to N'Sync and MC Hammer... and after about eight minutes of total and complete voluntary public humiliation, the audience died. The Spice Girls made an appearance. "Jump On It" was heard - and danced to - more than once.

Two of my friends and I were participants as well... we sang and danced to Hairspray's New Girl In Town (the original movie was made in the '80s, so it worked), and we had a great time. Although we experienced some mic trouble at the beginning, and by the end we were a little flustered and too busy having fun, it wasn't a bad performance!

Everyone enjoyed being reminded of those days... And all of the sudden, I had an intense hankering to listen to Britney Spears and watch Forrest Gump. And the Goonies.

Posted by Anna at 8:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(To be read light-heartedly...)

As I've mentioned before, I work as a Nexus Team Member in the Admissions Office. This requires working closely with the Enrollment Counselors... and this can be both good and bad.

Mostly, I enjoy working with these people...they're all fun and kind and quirky, making the office a pleasant work environment, but some have more personality than others.

I've worked extensively with Tim; sometimes I ask him for additional work once my ordinary tasks are completed for the day, and we listen to music and talk politics and random stuff like that. It's a good time.

Today, though, he decided to be incredibly mean to me. Maybe it was because I commented on the recent stain on his shirt...or maybe it was because I made fun of his girly candle in his office...or maybe it was because I responded sharply to a question he asked of me... I'm not sure. But either way, his meanness was definitely unwarranted.

He got everyone in the office to call me the forbidden name: Anna Banana. I hate it. I HATE it. And now I'm on his bad list. This could be interesting....

But I'm not afraid of him. He doesn't know what I'm made of.

This is how rough I am.

Posted by Anna at 2:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I realize how impassioned my last post was...
and I just wanted to follow that up by saying that I hadn't had any intentions whatsoever of coming across as preachy or one of those irritating political pushers in any way... I was just speaking my mind. And I certainly do think involvement and awareness of the political world is essential and important to the life of Christians.

However, I want to supplement that by commenting on the way people talk about politics. I understand that each individual has his or her individual beliefs and convictions, and too often, we get to thinking that WE have the only right way of thinking/believing. When speaking with people who happen to have different or opposing beliefs from yourself or myself, we have to remember to represent the love of Jesus. It says in 1 Corinthians that if we speak in the tongues of angels, but have not love, I am nothing more than a clanging cymbal or gong. Without love, all we're making is noise. Even if we're speaking truth to them -- the Truth of the Gospel, or what have you -- your listener cannot hear it if you speak without love.

Again, I'm going to stop before I get 'preachy'... But I'm speaking to myself as much as anyone else... so...

LOVE!

Posted by Anna at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

http://www.rockthevote.com/

Election Day is looming... and I realized a month ago that I still was not registered to vote.

How can I consider myself a responsible citizen of the United States if I'm not voicing my opinion?

Dr Williams recently spoke in chapel on this very topic. It was Constitution Day, in fact...so, appropriately, he discussed our role as Christians in politics and the state of our nation as a whole. Needless to say, the message was all very enlightening, and even inspiring. But even beyond that, the Holy Spirit was convicting me (and I hope I'm not the only one).

Jesus very clearly expresses that Christians are to respect and pay dues to their earthy authorities. By honoring them, we are honoring the Lord (Who holds them in their positions of leadership - Romans 13:1). We ought to be in prayer for those in authority, that they will make wise decisions.

As Christians, we cannot remove ourselves from the secular world - we are to be in the world yet not OF the world (John 17:13-16). The political realm, though corrupt, demands our immediate attention. Certainly, the very fact that it IS corrupt demands that we as Christians rise up and infiltrate the system! I'm not in any way supporting an overthrow of our government, whether we agree with it or not. Rather, I suggest that Christians are such vital players in politics that we refuse to be ignored!

If Christians lived the way we are meant to, our values and morals and beliefs will be evident - and not only that! - they will be the norm! The Gospel is to be sent to all corners of the world, and believe it or not, that includes the world of government. Missionaries need to be sent in the form of politicians: senators and representatives and legislators and judges and lawyers all the way down to us, common voters! (Yes, I know I'm being idealistic, but we are called to believe in and strive toward the Ideal!)

The fate of our nation is at stake, and if we refuse to take note, if we refuse to be involved, if we refuse to pay attention, if we refuse to care, it is America that will suffer - WE will suffer for our own decisions of apathy. The Lord didn't call us to apathy, He calls us to involvement! To living out our faiths! We as Americans are in such a position - the freedoms we have, the resources at our disposal, and the ability to partake in the decision making of our ruling body - if we are not taking advantage of this time and this place in which we live, we are living selfishly. The Lord is not honored by self-induced ignorance and apathy.

Be aware! Get involved! "...For such a time as this!" (Esther 4:14).

Wow... I digress. I had originally intended to tell you a frank story about my journey to being registered to vote... But, the moral of the story is I was finally able to contact my county clerk to register and obtain an absentee ballot and it took foreverrrrr... with much phone tag and snail mail confusion...

But yes! Praise the LORD! And God bless America!

Posted by Anna at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)