Mind the Buggies

Hi all!
I am happily and safely in Europe. "I'll just carry on eating it" Floyd just said. Ahhh the English are so cute. And they have such fun accents. Anyhow, Allyn and I had a little mixup in Albuquerque, as Allyn was given Jenny's passport instead of hers, so she had to be put on a later flight so her dad could drive down with hers. So we had to fly to London on our own. I was just informed that "pulling with" here is what we call "french kissing." And it's also called "snogging." So much fun. So I flew to Zurich, and Allyn's was direct. When I got to London, they had put my bag on the direct flight, (but I didn't know that) so I couldn't find it on the carosel. About 20 minutes later I went to the lost baggage claim and the guy said "Are you Sarah Boyd?" and he had my bag. It was lovely.

So then I found my bag, and almost took my mom's advise (English spelling) to cry in the middle of the place cause I couldn't find Allyn for almost 45 minutes. I even had them call her name out on the overhead. But I had to end up taking a train to the train station and then found her. The train to Bedford cost us 40 pounds total, which is 40 dollars a person. But it was a fun train ride, and the countryside was just breathtaking. Will is going to love the architecture and countryside here. Yesterday I was tired enough from not sleeping that I didn't really care about the driving on the left side of the road, but today when I was more awake, every time we turned I thought we were going to run into the car coming the other direction.

Will's aunt, uncle and two cousins are darling. Nancy reminds me a lot of Will's dad (her brother), and their kids (Kelsey and Hannah) are really nice kids (15 and 12). Nancy, Hannah, Allyn and I went on a "walk" yesterday before dinner, and we walked for 7 miles in the countryside. It's absolutely fantastic. There's so much green and so much agriculture. I was informed by a Swiss gentleman on the plane next to me from Zurich that it rains every day in England. Crazy. And did you know that the Swiss speak "Swiss German," a dialect of German, so that they can understand the Germans but the Germans can't understand them. Fascinating.

Allyn and I slept 14 hours last night, we woke up at 1 in the afternoon. It was quite lovely. I've enjoyed listening and looking for all the English that varies from the American way of speaking and writing. Like the trash is called "rubbish" and they say "soory" instead of the American pronunciation of sorry as "sary." And the title is our "beware of the carts." So it's been fun. After we woke up, we went to Cambridge, where we saw several of the 33 Universities that make up Cambridge University. It's kinda of a silly system, if you ask me. But we went to a evening service in the King's College Chapel, which was built during Henry the VIII's reign. The architecture was beautiful and the space was magnificent. I didn't really like the service, as we had to stand for most of it. There was a choir of college men that sang most of it, and the "message" consisted of the reading of two passages of Scripture.

We also walked around the city, and the shops are great. There was a fish and chips shop that we stopped to buy "chips" in, and were originally planning on taking them "away," but then decided to sit down. There wasn't any more ketchup, so I went up and asked, but there wasn't anyone behind the counter. When the guy finally came out, he said there wasn't anymore, then he said that it was 20 p (40 cents) to sit in the place. So... we left.
Tomorrow we are thinking about going to Stonehenge or maybe to Sherwood Forest, which I would be stoked about because I always say we're in Sherwood Forest when we're in any kinds of woods. There's a Strawberry Fest on Saturday that we're going to (Kelsey and Bert are going to the London football (soccer) game). Then Sunday Kelsey has a cricket match that I'm quite excited about.

Love you all!
Sarah

The Trip Begins!

Europe, here we come! Allyn (Will's sister) and I leave tomorrow morning around 11 am for London. We'll fly to Dallas, then Zurich, then into London. We'll be there for a few days before Will joins us (the 4th), his dad the 7th, and then eventually his mom and Jenny (other sister) will join us in Italy the 28th. I'd like you to meet Kate the Excellent, my traveling companion:

You'll be seeing a lot of her in the coming weeks. That's the backpack that's got everything I'll need for two months in it. Heck yes I'll be buff when I get back :) Maybe just toned. Well, it's past midnight and I need to finish some scholarship paperwork before I leave in the morning.
Hasta pasta all.

Oh yes, Kate was a part of a set of toys with different shapes that fit into a little boat that I pulled around when I was a kid. My mom threw them away a few years back, but I salvaged Kate and the Lion. Thanks Mom. ;)

Much of You

How could I stand here
And watch the sun rise
Follow the mountains
Where they touch the sky
Ponder the vastness
And the depths of the sea
And think for a moment
The point of it all was to make much of me
Cause I'm just a whisper
And You are the thunder and

I want to make much of You, Jesus
I want to make much of Your love
I want to live today to give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used
To make much of You

And how can I kneel here
And think of the cross
The thorns and the whip
and the nails and the spear
The infinite cost
To purchase my pardon
And bear all my shame
To think I have anything worth boasting in
except for Your name
Cause I am a sinner
And You are the Savior

This is Your love, oh God
Not to make much of me
But to send Your own son
So that we could make much of You
For all eternity

I want to make much of You, Jesus
I want to make much of Your love
I want to live today to give You the praise
That You alone are so worthy of
I want to make much of Your mercy
I want to make much of Your cross
I give You my life
Take it and let it be used
To make much of You

Woah

the thought of being a mom totally freaks me out. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!??!!??! Carrying another human being in your insides, birthing them, and then being responsible for the care and well-being of that individual??? holy cow. I had a dream last night that I was pregnant (I wasn't married) and that I was so upset because I couldn't go to medical school... and I woke up and was seriously so happy that I wasn't pregnant. It's a weird feeling. Probably only girls get it. Lol, do guys ever feel relieved that they aren't pregnant? I think it's definitely a girl thing. Rachel has a picture of one of her highschool friends and her baby on her desktop (that I'm using since I broke my computer), and it just freaks me out.

I would love to be a surrogate mom though. I told my mom that, and she kind of freaked out on me, "No you wouldn't Sarah I know you and you wouldn't." I thought that was kinda funny. In all theoreticalness, I would love to do that. Give a couple the chance to have a child of their own flesh and blood who otherwise couldn't? It's the ultimate giving of yourself - your body. Of course the giving of your life would be a little more extreme. I don't know, it's a thought. Any one out there need a kid? Call me.

Another thought - any one know how one goes about paying off about 40,000 grand in debt?

I Hate Uncertainty

I hate not knowing things. I hate not knowing what I'm going to be doing for the rest of my life, what classes I should take next semester, how I should spend my spare time, what I think about Calvinism, whether or not I should cut my hair.... I hate the part about life where we have a choice. I know the opposite would of course be worse... and I'd hate the fact that we had no choice in that scenario, but I also hate know that because it's my choice, I could screw up a lot too. The decisions I make could be really bad decisions. I don't like that. I just want to know what's best and then I want to do that.
Gee wizz.

Life

Life is not about how much money you have in your 401K, what kind of car you drive, how you look, what you wear, what type of education you get, the size of the house you own, the people you associate with, the latest mac toy, the vacation trips you can take, the country club you belong to, or even the ring on your finger. How shallow are most of our understanding about life! Jesus says that those who hang tight (loose interpretation of the Greek) to their lives will lose it, but whoever gives his life to Jesus will indeed gain eternal life. Have you ever stopped to contemplate death? The idea of dying, departing from this world into the unknown, where only one man has returned from, never again living or breathing on earth? He who has the most toys does not win. I know most of us don't believe that in theory, but in practice I think we do. We think we need so much - a nicer car, just one more cute t-shirt, the latest great cd, that new videogame, etc. Why? What are the purposes of these things? "Only what's done for Christ will last eternally." And yet almost no one lives like this. We spend 30 dollars to get our nails done for Spring Banquet, after paying $40 for the ticket, $15 in gas to get there and back, and $50 on a dress. Are you kidding me? That $135 can buy a family out of slavery in Tibet and get them back on their feet. How do we sleep at night? How will we stand before the magnificent throne of God on Judgment Day, as part of the richest 4% in the world, and justify the use of the riches Christ gave us on hair products and new shoes when others were starving and suffering?? I don't think there will be any excuses. "I didn't know" won't work... there cannot be a single American that does not know that somewhere in the world there are "starving children in Africa" that would eat our leftovers when we don't like them. Our world is too quickly becoming globalized - we cannot help but hear about child slavery, tsunami devastation in Asia, earthquakes in South America, etc. We will be responsible for the wealth that we have!!

Murray said today in class, "If you need to get your nails done to feel better about yourself, get your nails done!" I think I disagree with that on many levels. If someone's self-worth is in their nails, they should be dealing with that. And then where does the line get drawn? "Oh well if you need a million dollar home with a three car garage, pool, and voiceless entry to feel good about yourself, go ahead!" No! At what point does the misuse of our wealth/blessings become a sin? There has to be a line. Murray says we should stay away from legalism and worry more about people's hearts and their attitudes of humility. I don't know. We should "live simply so that others can simply live." We are members of the human race and as such, we have a responsibility to the rest of the human race. The poverty line in America is $11 per day. Over half of the world lives on $2 per day. HALF OF THE WORLD! How do we feel about that $135 we just spent on Spring Banquet? I think we are responsible. Seriously, how we do justify our wealth and irresponsible spending of it?? Americans spend more on their dogs than they do giving to charities.

I think American Christians are missing the whole idea of what Christian living looks like. James 1 something talks about "religion that our Father accepts as pure and blameless is this: care for the orphans and widows." When was the last time you did this? On Judgment Day Christ will say "For when I was hungry, you gave me nothing to eat; when I was thirsty you gave me nothing to drink." and the reply will be "Lord! When did we see you hungry and thirsty?" "For what you did unto the least of these you did unto me." What are we doing for the least?!

Maybe I'm just a youngun in this line of thought and this wouldn't be appropriate for actually communicating to and changing people's minds, but I just want to take all of America by the neck and beat them silly! Don't you see, don't you realize?! The world is suffering and dying in lack of essentials to live and the Gospel of Christ right under our noses and we don't even see it! And we will be held accountable.

If the only things that have eternal significance are what is done for Christ, how are you going to live that out in your life? How will that affect what you do on Friday night and what your life goals are? Where will the majority of your earnings go and who will be your closest friends? What will you teach your children and how will your marriage function? What will your prayer life look like? Will you pray for blessings on your spaghetti or will you break down in awe and worship over the greatness of the Living God, begging Him to reveal His face to you, to accept your entire life as a sacrifice to Him who is worthy of nothing less, to pour out His Spirit on you so that you may know more and more of Him, to transform you each day to be more and more like Christ Jesus? Will you hurry through every day, somehow always not finding time to spend in prayer, or will you not be able to get through each day without spending time alone with the one who holds your world together? Will you be so impressed with yourself if you somehow manage to bring up God in one of your conversations to another already Christian friend, or will you try to find every opportunity to somehow communicate the love of Christ to someone who probably doesn't know Him? Will you be content living in Orange County, working as a business consultant, writing an occasional check to a needy cause, going to church on Sundays, or will you count everything in this life as a big pile of dung (that’s a literal Greek translation) and spend your training and expertise overseas furthering the Gospel to the farthest reaches of a dark world?

Oh Lord help us to focus more on You and let the rest of the world grow dim in the light of your glory and grace.

Hurray!

I've just learned two things about myself in the last 12 hours.

One: I do NOT do well with caffeine. I haven't drunk it in so long that when I did last night, I noticed an almost immediate change. I got jittery, my stomah felt like I was going to keel over, etc. So no more caffeine like that for Sarah. (except, of course, rare Red Bulls which are entirely a different story).

Two: I CAN DARN SOCKS!!! This is the more exciting of the two. I actually darned my sock this morning, and I basically feel like I just summited Mt. Everest. It's a good feeling.

Have a great day all.