It is a week of lasts...

This marks my final week of classes. (unless you count bar-prep classes and I am obviously not. They are in a league all their own.) I already finished one class up last week. Two more will be over today. And I am not feeling particularly nostalgic--it will just be weird to not be here.

In a very short amount of time this place becomes your home away from home (especially first year). You eat here. You study here. You occasionally fall asleep on the couches in the student lounge. You make friends quickly. You pride yourself on finding the secret bathrooms. You fall into routines.

Second and third years, I wasn't here as much. But it is still part of my daily existence. I have identified myself as a law student for the last three years, and in a few short weeks I will be a graduate. In a few short months I will be an attorney (hopefully one that is licensed to practice). And the friends that I have made will scatter. The walls I am accustomed to will just be a part of the last chapter. It's weird. (ok so I guess I am being somewhat nostalgic--it will only get worse :) Endings bring it out in me...

PS-found these bookends on Pinterest and I LOVE 

Currently...

I haven't done a "currently" post in a while. I like these posts because I can look back over them and remember all the stuff I've been doing in the periphery of real life.

Listening to... 

Andrew Bird's "Break it Yourself"

find the review here.  It is a really wonderful album! He is soooo talented. 

Reading... 

A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God

it's available free on the Kindle-I highly recommend grabbing it!

Watching...

I am fine to admit that we watch too many shows that have very little redeeming qualities. Our evenings together generally consist of us both collapsing in recliners after the kids go to bed and watching TV for another hour or so.

The most exciting thing is that Mad Men started back up - and that is something I would recommend. Also just watched "Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey"-a documentary about Kevin Clash. It was AWESOME. (It's on Netflix Instant, so go watch if you have a free hour)

Cooking...

Family Friendly dishes 

sweet potato chili mac

tempeh and broccoli stir fry

I also signed up to review a fellow-blogger's cookbook called Real {Fast} Food by Trina Holden. You can find her blog here. I am so excited to be a part of it! Plus I get a free e-book for one of my readers--stay tuned for that! 

The most current thing I am doing is AVOIDING preparing for my oral argument this afternoon.  I am not an oral advocate. I stumble over my words. I get nervous. My feet shake. It is not pretty. So the thought of having to deliver a 15-20 minute argument this afternoon is enough to make me want to clean every bathroom all day rather than prepare. ALAS. I will have to get through it. And preparing is probably the best bet. 

I'm starting to think this graduation thing is actually happening...

Today I picked up my cap and gown (and hood and tassel). It is sinking in that in a few short weeks, I will graduate. I am wrapping up all the loose ends of this semester now. I have an oral argument on Thursday and two final classes on Monday. All that is left after that is ONE final exam.

(I don't know why this bird looks so perturbed...but he is right. The tassel is worth the hassle!)
the pic is from pinterest

The last three years have been spent working toward this day and now it is so close...

It feels weird. 

It has been a long journey-and somehow it feels like a small blip on the radar of my life.  

And I want to finish strong. I started following some new people on the old Twitter, and one of them posted a photo that I really like (his handle is @jonacuff and he writes about Stuff Christians like. It's a lot of fun!).  It is a reminder as I go through the next few weeks...the long months of prepping for the bar exam...and the rest of my life.

It also makes me a little happy that other people also have terrible handwriting. If you can't read it, it says, "I dare you to launch the adventure of this week from the truth of knowing that your successes and failures will not determine how much God loves you."  I LOVE this idea--to launch into the adventures of this week--to believe that God's love for me is not determined by whether I succeed at a task or fail miserably. I only have a few more law school adventures, but I can't wait to see all that God has in store.

Why this Friday is so Good...

I am not a theologian. I am far from a bible scholar. But I always thought that it was odd to call the day Jesus died "Good Friday."  Good doesn't seem to capture the amazing, awe-inspiring, gracious, precious, (insert applicable adjectives) that this day is. The day Jesus died on the cross for my sins and in my place; for the sins of the whole world; in the place of every person. But then I think back to Genesis.  When God created the world and everything in it, "He saw all that he had made, and it was very good." (Gen 1:31).  So I guess that it makes sense that the day His Son fulfilled the law and the prophets, we would call it good.

Last night at our group, we talked about James chapter 2. The second half of the chapter deals with faith and deeds. And I think that today, in light of the amazing sacrifice of my Savior, it is worth trying to articulate what has impacted me most. The sections begins, "What good is it, my brothers, if someone says that he has faith but does not have works?" (James 2:14).  I have heard that statement in my head so much this last week "What good is it??"  What good is it to say that Jesus died for my sins on this GOOD Friday if I don't live like it?

As mentioned in a previous post, I am reading A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit of God and he has this amazing chapter called "Removing the Veil". [Brief background: Jesus was arrested; handed over to Pontius Pilate; sentenced to crucifixation; beaten; hung on the cross. When he breathed his last, Matthew captured this moment in chapter 27 "Jesus cried out again in a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom." (Matt 27: 50-51).  This curtain was what separated God from people. Only once a year could the high priest enter to offer sacrifices--and someone once told me that they tied a rope around his waist in case he died in there, they could drag him out without having to go in after him.  It separated the world from the "Holy of Holies."] Jesus death made a way for every person to enter into the presence of God--a real, intimate relationship with the Creator of the world. Tozer posed a question in his chapter "With the veil removed by the rending of Jesus' flesh, with nothing on God's side to prevent us from entering, why do we tarry without?"  His explanation is that we have a veil of SELF (self-righteousness, self-pity, self-confidence, self-sufficiency, self-admiration, self-love...) that keeps us from entering into his presence.

Going back to James--what good is it that Jesus died if I won't enter into the Holy of Holies? What good is it that he gave up everything for my sake if I am not willing to do the same for him?  Tozer continued the chapter talking about how we have to crucify the self-life. It is a veil that must be torn in two just like the one that was torn when Jesus died. "We must confess, forsake, repudiate the self-life, and then reckon it crucified."  He ends the chapter with this...

The cross is rough, and it is deadly, but it is effective. 

It does not keep its victim hanging there forever.

There comes a moment when its work is finished and the suffering victim dies.

After that is resurrection glory and power, and the pain is forgotten for joy that the veil is taken away and we have entered into actual spiritual experience the Presence of the living God.

I don't share any of this because I have it figured out. I share it because I hope it excites someone as much as it excited me. That I get to take part in this day. I can share in this Good Friday--crucifying this self-life that I have hid behind for so long. Enter into the Holy of Holies and experience the Presence of God more and more everyday.  I'll end with a couple verses from Hebrews 10 that I LOVE..."[S]ince we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart with full assurance of faith.." (Hebrews 10:19-22)

The Countdown Begins

I am 21 days away from my last final....

I am 38 days away from graduation...

WHOA! 

The next few weeks are full of finishing touches; I am wrapping up the last three years of my life. It has been an incredible ride. Law school is a unique experience--well for me it has been a unique experience. It is a stretching. I imagine the next month of the blog will likely be very intro/retrospective since I am finishing a chapter of my life--and I want to make it count.

(love this print I found on Pinterest--very appropriate for this post)

Also, I started reading A.W. Tozer's "The Pursuit of God"-it is incredible, and convicting, and amazing. So I imagine some of his words will pop up here too.

The day I love the best.

I love Sundays.

It is the day that I get to sleep in - and Corey gets up with the kiddos.

It is the day I get to plan our meals and get our grocery list all ready.

It is the day that I am privileged to go and worship with our Church and dig into the Word together.

It is the day that I prep for meals throughout the week.

I am currently listening to the new Andrew Bird album, making baked oatmeal muffins, and bread and hummus. Sundays are a day of rest. While it seems that my list of activities is anything but rest, I beg to differ. This is my rest. I can relax and knead the dough; the smells of the pumpkin oatmeal puts me in a happy place. Creating yummy and healthy food puts me at ease.  Rest can have all kinds of different manifestations. Mine are here in the kitchen.

In a bit I will have to bite the bullet and do school work, but for right now, I am in my element.

PS--this is an especially special Sunday. It is my dad's birthday. And while we won't be celebrating it until next weekend, I cannot leave him out of this post. Love you Dad!