Passion and Purity

I don’t have time (or energy!) to write a lot but i guess some news is better then no news at all so here goes. We made it through orientation week–thank goodness. It was really hard for me because i had just started settling into the way things were when all these new kids showed up and things changed again. Anyway, now we are settling back into a routine again and it is good. Let’s see, among interesting things I have done today–well, not much really–vaccuming, cleaning toilets, sinks, etc.

We did have a wrangler rodeo yesterday and that was lots of fun. My favorite event was bareback tag where the wranglers all ride around in the ring bareback and try to tag each other–mostly the new guys just fall off but they just get right back on. Other interesting events included some steer lasso-ing which always got more interesting when the wranglers had to attempt to get the rope off of whichever part of the calf had happened to be lasso-ed. Anyway it was lots and lots of fun to watch and added something new to the day. Last night we played flag football on the field using car headlights and duct tape flags (my proud invention).

I have been memorizing Phillipians 2–a good verse for the type of work I’m doing this summer. I especially like this part:

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but in humility consider others better then yourselves. Each of you should look not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others… Do everything without grumbling or complaining that you may be blames and pure children of God in a crooked and depraved generation.”

The grumbling and complaining part is always good to hear and here at the ranch it is vital for everyone that we look to each other’s interests. It is definitely an expanding experience.

Also, on an almost totally separate topic, but still one very close to my heart, I have been reading Elisabeth Elliot’s Passion and Purity . It is a beautiful book dealing mainly with following God’s will as opposed to your own. Elisabeth talks about her relationship with Jim and how, although they knew they loved each other they decided not to get married in order to follow the will of God. Although nothing remotely in this nature has happened to me it has still been influential in bringing my thoughts into line in terms of putting God first in my life.  I especially liked her discussion of staying “asleep”  in Christ until He calls you to come “awake”  to a boy.

That’s all for now, hopefully I will update you all sooner rather then later!

Filed under: Uncategorized , Elisabeth Elliot, Flag Football, Jim Elliot, Passion and Purity, Phillipians, Rodeo, Wranglers

First news from CO

God has been good to me my first couple of days here at the ranch. It has been a “vertical learning curve” for sure but each new thing is a pleasure to conquer. I was sure after my first day that I wasn’t cut out for this. After my second I thought I could. The  vista of the mountains is beautiful. I can’t think of a more gorgeous view to wake up to in the morning.

There is a mountain called Sawtooth across from our porch that lights up in the morning with the gentle rising of the sun. Then my day begins. The first thing I learned here is that everything has a different name. There are make-ups, turn-downs, thoros, etc. Even the vacuums have different names: Grog (the most reliable), or Hilda, for instance. Apparently a lot of people have nicknames as well—Moose, one of the kitchen workers, or Biff a cowboy. Back to the routine—the day starts out with A.M.’s (another term) wherein we simply clean and straighten the public areas.

There are four major jobs (if this is going too in depth for you too bad—just skim. I want to remember this later.) Baby-O (see what I mean about the terms) which is the spaceman like vacuum you wear on your back and with which you simply go around the edges of the room; LOC—our organic cleaner for everthing that isn’t wood and might collect dust. Then there is the Buff up for all the wood and finally bathroom which is exactly what it sounds like. After that breakfast—yum. And then we head back to the Comm which is basically the room where all the cabin girls hang out. Then begins the folding—the never ending folding—mountains and mountains of sheets and pink-ish towels seem to congregate there in poor pathetic lumps! Later in the day we might have thoros—which is the term for cleaning cabins between the guests visits—we load up a kit (with all the chemicals and rags and trash bags) and a vacuum and then we load up into Mona (a white van with no seats in the back, no door on one side and, most unfortunately, no power steering!) and drive the routes between cabins, unloading like a S.W.A.T team with all our equipment. Driving the routes sounds easier than it is because it is all dirt roads here and all one way so it involves a lot of backing up and turning and backing up again. Once you’re in a cabin for thoro’s I feel like it is a race against time. Each cabin is only supposed to last about 30-45 minutes which is easy depending on the number of people on your team.

The people here have been delightful and fun. I have especially enjoyed our morning devotion with our team of cabin girls. I will tell you more later but it is late now (10:20!!! Which doesn’t seem bad but our days start at 6:45). I will say I went to my first square dance tonight. I loved it! How’s that for a teaser? More later, I promise.

Filed under: Uncategorized , Cleaning, Colorado, Lost Valley Ranch, Mountains, Ranch, Square Dance

Fresh Year

The sun was vigorously illuminating the landscape as I drove home today but it still felt somewhat like driving off into the sunset. My freshman year is basically over now. I will be returning for one quick day of finals and that’s all. Overall it has been an excellent year, better even than I anticipated at the start of it. It’s sad, really, that it’s over. It was a new refreshing start the likes of which I won’t get again. It indicates youth and freedom and the passing thereof and I feel a little older and tired-er to know the year’s at its end.

At the beginning of this year I talked to a lot of people who said that these would be the best years of my life, or at least that these had been the best of theirs. I was skeptical and I didn’t like the pressure of the situation. “Best” is a lot to live up to. My childhood years were wonderful. I would even say some of my high-school years were great. And yet, this has indeed been one of the best years of my life. I have been lonely and sad and bored and tired. But I have loved it. I have drawn closer to many friends and made new friends that feel like old friends. I have experienced long lazy lectures and late night cramming, dining hall food and football games and intimate fellowship. I have missed my family while at school and gone home and missed my friends.

Now, standing at the precipice before another new adventure, I find myself looking back on this old year with fond and comfortable reassurance. Change will come but the human soul is stronger and more adaptable than we would guess. You think you have become molded perfectly into one little shape but if you squeeze enough you will soon find that you can shape yourself into other places just as comfortably. Thank God for flexibility and for providing joy and comfort and fellow human beings in the throes of similar struggles to our own.

Now that I can say without any pressure that this HAS been one of the best years of my life I may also say that without that title to live up to I just expect them to keep getting better. No pressure.

Filed under: Uncategorized , best years, change, freshman, human soul, sunset