Senior Moments #1

The day I arrived on campus for my senior year seems so long ago. In reality it was just a few short months ago or 2 seasons ago. Freshmen year I dreaded enrolling in school. Junior year I still wasn't so sure about committing to another year. Senior year I was pretty much pumped that I was back at school and this time to graduate! I couldn't believe that this was my very last year of college and I had made it thus far. I hadn't made it yet though and there was nine months of school to complete.

The first few weeks of school were a blur of basking in the glow of being a senior and getting used to my new responsibility as a Resident Assistant. When just before school started I got a e-mail asking me to be a RA. I was terrified and excited. I wasn't sure if the dean of students really knew who they were asking to take the job:). Some moments of being an RA have been funny. Like the time the fire alarm went off after curfew because of a overly popped bag of popcorn. FYI 5 minutes is just a bit too long for microwave popcorn.
No fire, but our eardrums were in serious danger of being permanently damaged from the shrieking alarm. Myself and the other RA found ourselves trying to calmly display our crisis skills as we woke up the school president to turn off the alarm. Then we ushered the girls out of the freezing cold (most were in their pjs) into the dinning hall and out of sight of the gawking guys who were peering out of their dorm windows. It was a night that has probably gone down in the school history forever.

Being a RA had its hard moments too. Sometimes you had to say the words that you rather not say. There were things we did when we rather probably would have been drinking cups of vinegar then talking about "RA stuff". Sometimes I seriously wanted to quite and run home to my mommy, but every step of the way God was giving grace.

Senior year will not be remembered for its papers, but for its tests. We had 3 pitiful papers total of the whole year, but believe me I'm not complaining :).  The tests though were well let describe it this in not graphic terms. They were excruciating. One test some members of the class showed up wearing all black. Already in pre mourning for they grade they anticipated receiving. Study Guides for some tests made me want to throw those dreadful study guides away and pretend the test didn't exist. Unfortunately doing such a exercise would not have helped my grade. Thankfully my friends came to the rescue quizzing me and finding places to study where no one else was, so we could of course fully consecrate on our study guides. Ahem.
 God was gracious as always to gently remind me to lean upon His grace alone and not on great academic accomplishments. Grace was learned in the classroom and grace was also learned in my personal life.

This year I felt a pain that I had never felt before. The hurt of pain that was not my own but of other people. It was pain of wanting to do something for someone, but realizing there was little you could do tangibly. Only pray and encourage. You could see the pain in their eyes. You know their actions aren't normal and this is what gives pain of watching hurt that cannot be removed. There again is how you learn grace as you watch God give it to others and you yourself learn you must entrust people to the Lord.

I'm sorry to end this on a bleak note, but I'm afraid that if I give you all too big of a dose of the gory chronicles you will skim it. So stay tuned. Believe me there is plenty more coming.