New Names and White Stones

¹⁷ “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.”’ Rev. 2:17


That was my reading this morning. It was one of those times when part of a verse jumps out at me, and I keep thinking about it. I like the personalization that is implied here; God will give me a stone that has my name on it, and I'll be the only one who understands what it says. That part is a little confusing. What could possibly be written on my stone? But at the same time it's exciting to get a glimpse of how much more personal I can get with my Lord. There are some things I only share with Him, and I need to work on building more of those special things into our conversations. 


The other neat thing about this verse is what I learned from the footnotes (thank you Grandpa John, aka John MacArthur :D ) Here's what it says: When an athlete won in the games, he was often given, as a part of his prize, a white stone which was an admission pass to the winner's celebration afterwards. This may picture the moment when the overcomer will receive his ticket to the  eternal victory celebration in heaven. (The MacArthur Study Bible, c1997 by Word Publishing, a div. of Thomas Nelson, Inc.)


So that's what I discovered today. 


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This week was....amazing. My professors are great, everything I'm learning is pertinent and interesting, and to top it all off, I'm surrounded by music and people my age 24/7. I love it.


Today I need to do all my homework that's leftover, go shopping with my friends (yay!), and practiiiiiiice. A lot. 


First up is lunch. I love the food here. It's really good and there's plenty of variety. Thank goodness, because it's expensive. 


Over and out!

Everything Is New Again

Things I love:

My room, my roommate
       My classes, my teachers
   My instruments, my life

I can't wait to get my schedule set in stone and start classes. It all feels so unreal, yet so comfortable. I love this campus and all my new friends. I'm so happy!!!! Soli deo gloria, definitely. Amen and amen, again and again.

"Enough rhyming. I mean it!"
"Anybody want a peanut?" - Princess Bride

That was the quote of the week. Stay tuned for the song of the week. : )

So here I am, reclining on my new bedspread, typing on my new computer, listening to some new music. Today I thought I had to take a music theory test, but that didn't happen. I thought I was going to have to audition on the viola, which would have been really bad because I didn't prepare the excerpt. But that isn't the case either. The cafeteria had spinach, kale and fruit tonight. Life is good!

I'm skipping out on the laser tag because I haven't had much down time. I did get to practice for an hour today, which was w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l. (Yay for alliteration!) The only downer is that my English AP credit isn't here, which makes things a little tricky. Nevertheless, my advisors are super helpful so I'm sure everything will work out.

My roommate is amazing. I can't believe how similar we are, still. I have the best quadmates and RA, too. Everyone is very considerate and mild-mannered and lighthearted. We're going to have sooooo much fun.

Tomorrow at 8:30am I have to report to vocal auditions. Yeah, I know, it's not even in my top three instruments, but I have to do it since there is no piano ensemble and I can't be in orchestra yet. Just watch. I'll get in that orchestra.

Time for some stats. There are about 35 freshman music therapy majors, 650 freshman total, and 3,500 students total.

Random: I like how we can see what's going on between the dorms from our window. Nice.

And now I will share my favorite lyrics of the week with you. Here we go:

It was love that set this fragile planet rolling
Tilting at our perfect twenty-three
Molecules and men infused with holy
Finding our way around the galaxy
And Paradise has up and flown away for now
But hope still breathes and truth is always true
And just when we think it's almost over
Love has the final move
Love has the final move  -Chris Rice, The Final Move
                

Enough of That

Now that I have all that journalistic, self-centered stuff out of the way, I shall post something interesting and profound.

Ummmmm....I'm in a bit of a doldrums. Weeeeelll, I met my goal yesterday of running for 30 minutes! *throws a party*

Yeah. That's about it. And that was just as self-centered as before, so I'm just going to leave now. Bye!

Standing on the Edge, Unfolding Wings

College really doesn't seem all that scary. Still, I don't want to brush it off. It's a big step.

So here I am, getting ready to move into my new life. It will take a while to get adjusted to everything, but I'm looking forward to it. I will bask in the joy of a consistent schedule, which has not been my lot this summer, or even this year. People are constantly changing the time they want me to come to babysit or teach, which means I have to change anything else that might be in the way that day. Unpredictability is the bane of a musician. I can't lug my viola with me everywhere, let alone the piano! Thankfully I had The Magic Flute rehearsals, otherwise I might have become stagnant. I shudder at the thought.

The Magic Flute ended the last week of July. That week was a little tricky, what with three houses, two pools, a dog, a cat, and three gardens to water. My circadian rhythm was set back because of the late night rehearsals we had for Flute, so I'd bike over to the houses around 10 am. I'd be done by 11:30, when my family showed up to go swimming. I love that glorious pool. That week the high was always above 95, so you can imagine how rewarding it was to bike there, get all sweaty walking the dog, cleaning the pools and watering plants, and then have a pool to jump into. It was the perfect scenario, and a great workout regimen. I hope I get to do that again next year. The only problem was how tired I was before the four-hour rehearsals. My arms weren't quite up to the challenge, but I made it. I really enjoyed getting to play with my teacher and her husband and the kids I know from youth orchestra.

It was bittersweet, ending my time under the direction of Mr. Wirth. He's the conductor I had for the last two years. I'll miss orchestra, but hopefully I can get into the one at SU next year. I'm going to miss you especially, Mrs. Tung. I couldn't ask for a better viola teacher. I love you!

In short, I'm looking forward to school, and I'm very thankful for all I've been given.

Thanks, Lord.