Hello! My name is Kayla. I’m a senior here at PBU (a place that has totally changed my life), and I am studying the Bible
and preparing to be an elementary school teacher. I am the Student Senate President and I’m beyond excited about serving
the student body in the year ahead. I like white daisies, I love to travel, my favorite color is pink, and I enjoy making purchases
at the dollar store.
... going to the Thanksgiving Eve service at my church with my family & listening to people in the congregation share the many things for which they're thankful.
... giggling with friends from home and family over coffee & pumpkin pie late into the night.
... falling asleep by 10 o'clock at night and sleeping in until 11 o'clock in the morning, because the busy semester simply doesn't allow me to do so. Ever.
... reading through the Psalms to consider the different ways of expressing thanksgiving to God for His blessings, provision, deliverance, and loving kindness.
... flipping back and forth between the New York City & Philadelphia Thanksgiving Day Parades with my family, while drinking eggnog and eating cinnamon buns.
... the many traditional "I'm thankful for..." conversations that take place around my family's table.
... my whole extended family gathered around the table with everything from jellied cranberry sauce to sweet potato casserole... and of course, turkey.
... waiting in lines at the Mall to purchase Christmas presents with my Mom. I think there is something refreshingly joyful about purchasing presents for other people.
... sitting at the hometown high school football game (in the freezing cold) with my best friend from high school and my family. "And we've got a NORTH PENN FIRST DOWN!!!"
... relaxing, reading, enjoying a break, and taking time off.
- Jesus.
- grace, that Jesus gives us daily.
- a warm apartment.
- my parents.
- my sisters.
- friends: the old & new.
- family.
- PBU.
- warm pecan & pumpkin pie.
- cool whip, naturally.
- cousins.
- forgiveness & learning to forgive.
- my amazing roommates.
- the opportunity to tutor the cutest 4th grader all semester.
- Denny, my Oldsmobile.
- jellied cranberry sauce.
- professors who know, teach, & integrate the Bible in all subject areas.
- financial provision.
- holiday traditions.
- memories.
- coffee.
- the incredible people on Student Senate.
- family vacations.
- laughter.
- melanie, who reads my blog & makes amazing pie.
- all that God is doing in the local churches I attend.
- the opportunity to write a doctrinal statement, really... i am.
- skype.
- home cooked meals by my amazing Mom.
- sarah, who is more than an adviser but a true friend.
- holiday parties.
I could go on & on...
This Thanksgiving I'm reminded of the many things (many more than are listed here) that I am thankful to God for.
I love weekends. I especially love weekend at school, as they are never without some sort of adventure. Whether it is driving into Philly to hang out at South Street and grab cheese steaks or hitting up the late night menu at Applebee's, my friends and I typically have no problem enjoying the weekends.
This weekend a few of my friends and I went to a local coffee house at Oxford Valley Chapel to hear the band Sight Unseen perform. A few of the band members are friends of ours from PBU. The band performs covers of local Christian bands and original songs.
Coffee + music + friends + laughter = a lovely night.
Each year the PBU community- students, faculty, and staff members alike- comes together to fill shoe boxes with Christmas gifts with the international OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD organized by Samaritan's Purse.
Growing up, the annual trip to Walmart to buy presents for another girl or boy became a tradition for my family. It's so neat to do the same things with friends now that I'm in college. This morning members of the Senate Cabinet woke up on our Saturday morning to head to Walmart and fill shoe boxes together. It is so incredibly joyful to spend $20 on someone else. Walking through the aisles picking out crayons, rainbow colored hair ties, and cute stuffed animals, it's hard not to imagine the smiles on the faces of the kids who will receive our boxes.
[Derek, Stephen, & Becky- who recently sprained her ankle in an Indoor Soccer Intramural game.]
Today, I simply want to challenge & encourage you
with a song that has been my heart's prayer lately.
"Heal my heart and make it clean.
Open up my eyes to the things unseen.
Show me how to love like You have loved me.
Break my heart for what breaks Yours."
One of my best friends (who also happens to be my roommate) is getting married to the love of her life in December. Laura and I have been friends since our freshman year at PBU. It's been such a joy to watch Laura and Dave meet, fall in love over the past few years, and plan a wedding- that is now less that 40 days away!! This weekend we celebrated at Laura's (not-so) surprise Bridal Shower. :-)
(SIDE NOTE: Watching two people who LOVE God, desire to serve Him, and love one another in light of Christ's love for us is a truly beautiful, pure thing.)
[The Bridal Party.]
[Laura & me.]
[College friends: Karah, Laura, Sarah, Dallas, and me.]
Today, I attended PBU's annual Worldview Conference, hosted by the Center for University Studies. This year, the conference aimed to answer this question: how does technology impact a biblical worldview?
The session that impacted my biblical worldview- and, in turn, my thoughts on daily Christian living- the most was Dr. Gary E. Schnittjer's session titled, "The Movies: Manufacturing New 'Realities'." http://www.pbu.edu/academic/faculty/gary_schnittjer.htm
I'd like to share with you a portion of his notes: "The movie is a powerful technology. Movies reflect culture as well as shape and generate culture. The close relation between culture and the moviegoer's perception of reality supplies one part of the power of film. This workshop will illustrate how movies created/create new qualities within genres of 'reality'. The purpose is for Christians to raise questions regarding if and how the manufactured realities of the movies bear on their own perceptions of reality."
I was challenged more than I thought possible at 3:00 in the afternoon on a Saturday, and just want to share with you some of the questions I was forced to wrestle through:
1. Has Hollywood captured my imagination? Do I form my expectations for life based upon the false perception of reality that film portrays?
Do scenes like this one- the infamous proposal scene between Patrick Dempsey and Reese Witherspoon in the 2002 film Sweet Home Alabama- capture our imagination and give us unrealistic expectations based on a false reality? I'm asking you.
2. Does film confuse our concept of reality? Does film thwart our ability to grasp it? Movies such as the Matrix present such a complex version of reality and false realities that affect our perception and thought processes in a way we all too often dismiss.
3. Is it appropriate to use film to escape reality- good or bad? Is that not our purpose in settling down on the couch or heading to the movie theater some (if not, MOST) of the time?
4. How does film portray America and how does it affect our view of America? Dr. Schnittjer asserted that the reality of America portrayed in movies is so far from the true reality that is overshadows actual reality, is understood as much more popular, and thus, we come to associate actual reality with the fake, shallow version. The films created during the latter half of the 20th century and into the start of the 21st century have presented radically different pictures of life in America than what is real. How have musicals, as a genre, affected this as well?
Do scenes like this one from the 1950's Singing in the Rain paint a false reality of American life?
5. How have Disney films falsified our expectations, blurred the lines between imaginations and reality, and meshed or juxtaposed the real and the impossible to such an indistinguishable point that we are uncertain what to believe as real... and that we often live in light of the unreal instead of the real?
Does this scene and others from Disney's Enchanted display such a confusion between what is real and what is imaginable that our perceptions of reality become deeply conflicted?
I ask these questions not because I have all the answers, but because I am struggling through them myself. I wrote these thoughts in my notes at the end of the workshop- I hope they challenge you.
At the height of false reality that is often presented in film, I find a way to feel the most reality. I allow myself to empathize with the characters, to imagine myself in that setting, to pretend as though those experiences and emotions are my own. I allow myself to live, think, relate, and feel in a false reality presented on a screen. Why?
How does film- and technology- affect my life as a believer in Jesus Christ, a believer in ultimate truth and reality?
