The Beauty in waking up at 4:55 AM

I was up far too early this morning. Had to be ready to go for the day and on the road by 6 am. A few things you may not know about that time of the morning.1. MTV actually plays music at 5 am in the morning! Amazing.....

2. The city is quiet. No traffic.....no traffic jams...just a sunrise. 

3. Gas station attendants are actually friendly. I guess its early enough in their days where they aren't grumpy. 

But now I am stinking tired and sun burnt. Enjoy your days.....regardless of when they start.

Easter......exactly as it should be.

Today was Easter. Churches were packed and stomachs were full from meals with loved ones.  

This year, I spent my Easter a little differently than most. I wasn't able to be with my family.....so I adopted a few kids! 

A few of my volleyball players were not able to go home for the holiday, so I adopted them and we had our own Easter dinner.  I was able to do what I love......prepare a meal for people, music blaring because everyone knows that food is always better when you dance while you cook and mashed potatoes splattered everywhere.....oooops.  But in the end, six college students had a place to eat Easter dinner and they had a new family for the day. 

This is how Easter should be. How, in my opinion, it was meant to be.  Easter is about the empty tomb and a Risen Lord. It is about the sacrifice that Jesus made for us and the intense love that He continues to have for us, even in our broken form.  It is about family. And even when we don't have anywhere to go, we are always welcome at the foot of the cross. 

Easter isn't about bunnies. It isn't about plastic eggs or little duck stuffed animals. 

It is about the relationship. It is about love.  It is about family. 

People Come and People Go

People come in and out of our lives. Some show up in the most divine circumstances. And unfortunately some leave in the most painful of circumstances.  What matters the most though is not how they came into your life or how they left, but that they were in your life. 

Whether or not we like to admit it, those who are in our lives have a profound affect on it; both in good and bad ways. Recently, there has been many people showing up in my life, leaving my life and making an encore appearance in it. 

Being my logical, analytical self, I try and figure it out. What is it exactly.... What do they want? Why are they there? blah, blah, blah.......

And heaven forbid, I even commit one of the typical female errors....overthinking EVERYTHING!

So I am taking a new approach.....I am trying not to have expectations of people that I am in relationship with.  But rather, just enjoying the actual relationship.   Cause isn't this what Christ does? Christ doesn't expect us to call every night, hang out every weekend and be perfect. Let's face it......we aren't perfect and we would never fulfill Christ's expectations.  That is the beauty of grace and Christ dying on the cross for us broken humans.  Christ wants to be in relationship with us. He doesn't want to be at the top of our priority list and the number one thing on our to do list. He wants to be at the center of all of our lists and our entire life.  

On a more somber note, too many people have left my life lately. All before it was there time. The most recent, Pavel, was a friend of mine and football player while I was at Northwestern.  He was from the Czech Republic and came to Iowa to play football for the Red Raiders.  I don't think he played in a single game all year.  But he was at every practice and took some hard hits. And yet...knowing that his chances of playing were slim to none....he came back day after day.   I feel privileged to have had Pavel in my life for a short time. And in that short time he taught me to do what I love, to do what I am passionate about. There may be days where you take some hard hits and want to quit. But I keep showing up because I love what I do. 

Rest in Peace Pavel!  May you rest in the presence of the Lord...and even throw a football around with the big guy too.