God bless you, gentle friends and lurkers. God bless any of you who endure chronic disappointment and loss every time you check my quiet blog. Behold, I live, yea I thrive! That's the problem. Thriving seems to bring with it few hours to spend on the information superhighway, or if an opportunity arises it is only long enough for a brief lurk on the sites of others. Anyway, enough with the excuses! Enough, I say! Sorry, it seems to be a night for exclamatory sentences. Yipe!
I sit here this fine Friday evening in my Chair of Power in the Dean of Women's office. The lounge has quieted since most of the student body rushed off campus to enjoy the hours of freedom that the weekend affords. Close to 11pm it will once again ring with the sounds of their merry voices. Then we shall make our way to the gym for some late night volleyball and basketball as is the Friday night custom. *oh, goody* Somehow, late night volleyball just doesn't do for me what it once did. I would much rather be in my jammies. *I love my jammies* However, due to our dress code, jammies and the gym don't mix. So, I shall have to wait until after the evening frolic is over. I am loathe to recall that it sometimes lasts until 1am. *loathe, loathe* Anyway, all loathing aside, it is a good evening in the office and has provided me this wonderful opportunity to reconnect with you, my faithful and forebearing friends.
The big news of the week was my privilege to speak at our annual Student Development Day. My "sermon" was on sexual purity. I have been so incredibly burdened lately at the skewed view our society and even our churches have regarding sex. Society thrives on the twisted, marred image of sex that it accepts as reality. Every day we are pounded with these lies by the culture around us. As a result, the church reacts by categorizing sex as "dirty". If they mention sex at all it is with negative connotations. If there is any dialogue with their youth, it is simply, "Don't have sex until you're married!" They often neglect to mention the fact that God thought the whole thing up, that He created it to feel good, that His rules about timing bring incredible blessing, that sexual desire is God given but must be saved for the proper time, that sex God's way is the absolute best. It is as if the church believes that Satan created sex, and God somehow redeemed it enough for children to be born - certainly not enough for it to be enjoyed. Now, I realize that I'm making HORRID generalizations. I know there are ministries out there that are doing a fabulous job, that good books have been written, and that some parents are instilling incredible values into their kids. But I also see lots of kids here on the Hilltop that simply don't have a clue. They know they shouldn't have sex, but a simple "shouldn't" doesn't carry much weight when your hormones are raging and you are completely, blissfully "in love". I've seen too many young people with major regrets and too many lives sidetracked to believe that we are doing an adequate job of educating our youth. As you may well imagine, I was pretty blunt (as is my wont). We went everywhere from male/female differences to STD's to the "stupidest forms of birth control" to the beauty of doing it God's way. It was incredible to sense the blessing and help of God as I delivered my heart, and I don't know when I've received more positive feedback. Maybe it seems weird that a single female is lecturing on sex, but one does what one must when it is needed. :) And when God gives a task, He is incredibly adept at preparing us for it.
Anyway, life is good. The evening is quickly waning, and volleyball fun awaits. *whee* My prayer for all who read this blog is that we may truly learn to listen to our heavenly Father. I've been reading Jeremiah lately, and I have been struck as over and over the Almighty God foretells the destruction of His people because they "did not listen". Over and over He tried to wake them, offered them opportunities to repent but they "did not listen". I have been asking God to help me to listen with a willing heart; a heart that is ready to obey the moment it hears. May that be true for all of us!
