Today was absolutely marvelous- it was Cow Appreciation Day, which, in college-student-speak, means that if you dress up like a cow and go to Chick-Fil-A, they give you free food! Marvelous, I say! So that is what Sarah and I did! (Note the authenticity of the placement of my cow ears ;)).
I'm glad the guy in the cow suit wasn't out and about when I was there... I would have had a nervous breakdown. Haha.
Then, after that adventure, we babysat the Owenator before embarking on our next adventure, of the "enter-into-a-Greg-Byrne-contest-by-doing-something-ridiculous" variety!
So here's the sitch: I follow Greg Byrne, the Director of Athletics at the UA, on the Twitter, and he periodically has contests where he gives away free tickets and UA swag and such to the winner. Today, his contest was that whoever sent him the best picture wearing UA colors won four tickets to the football opener! So, being the true Wildcat football fans that we are, Sarah and I went all out and sent in this stupendous photograph, (for which Sarah had to chase down a random passersby to get so that we could be in the same picture):
In full face paint and under the Zona Zoo sign, take note! How we lost to some guy in a red UA polo who sent in his picture from Germany (big whoop), I have no idea, but I took serious offense.
Anyways, getting all decked out in full manner of Wildcat swag made me super excited for football season to start- Zona Zoo is gonna be insaaaaaaaaane! Bear Down.
But then, after the many other adventures of the day,
-babysitting
-watching a movie with our friend Kristen in celebration of her birthday month (I didn't think someone would be able to trump my own birthday week!)
-a visit to Pastor Dave's house to welcome the XA missionaries that are in town for VBS (and in true Italian form, he sent us home with enough leftovers to feed us for days! ha jk. But a lot!)
-a trip to Bookman's (where Sarah bought season 6 of Friends and I bought an Italian phrasebook!)
-watching said tv show and eating brownies
-teaching myself a page of Italian words out of my new book (Prima Lezione!)
I had a chance to have a little quiet time- much needed after such a hectic, people-filled, conversation-rich day.
And that brings me to the whole point of this post.
Our lives change so much over the course of one day. In just 24 hours, we talk and we go places and we interact with people and we make choices and we share who we are with the rest of the world. So much happens in such a short time, every single day- whether you think your life is boring or not.
And a lot of times - too many times, if your journey is anything like mine - we make the wrong choices and say the wrong things. All the bloody time. We're selfish and conceited and proud and loud and immature and we stumble. Just today, when I was at my pastor's house talking to him and a missionary from NAU XA, I realized Man, I talk about myself so much. Not that it's a bad thing to share who you are with others, but there needs to be a balance between that and being boastful or self-important. This is something I'm still learning, after struggling to understand the lesson for so long.
Which is the point I'm really trying to make- as humans, we struggle with hard lessons all the time. We spend our entire lives trying to learn what's right and wrong, really, but even at the end of a hundred years of trying to be good and pure and righteous, we don't even get close to being like Jesus was- wholly selfless and compassionate and merciful and gracious. But the beauty in those ashes is that our God, who is so utterly perfect that it's almost crippling to imagine, loves us anyways. His love is the same no matter how many times we repeat the same mistake, stumble down the wrong path, or fall short - in any way.
Paul Tripp tweeted last week or so that "The eternal rest of the Gospel is this- God's affection for you isn't rooted in your performance, but on Christ's performance on your behalf."
How amazing is this: that no matter what we do or how much we mess up, that even in our imperfection, He still loves us just as much as He did at the beginning of time. I marvel at this on a daily basis, and it never ceases to amaze me or comfort me.
"This wild God of mine, who knows my every thought and intention, who sees my every failure and sin, loves me." -Captivating
How marvelous.
