exercise and other matters.

Maybe it's because I'm car-less, but I've been walking a LOT lately. Walking to the bus stop, from the stop to school... today Molly and I even put on the running shorts and tennis shoes to go to Wal*Mart! I remarked today that I'm glad that we don't have cars because even though it would be more convenient, now we HAVE to walk when we want to get places. We'd waste money because we could get to the store more often, and we'd buy more and we'd become insanely huge in no time (Me? I am NOT as conscious of what I eat as I ought to be...). So anyway, I noticed this morning that the recent walking and running have paid off because things just fit better. It was a nice realization.

Hm, I thought, not trying to relate this to something spiritual but having trouble NOT. We talk about walking by faith and walking by the Spirit and walking in the Word and all these things... but how often are we out there exercising them? Not too often, I'm afraid. Wonder what kind of results we'd get if we got out there and used those things just a little more frequently (because, trust me, I don't have time and am not in shape to run even 2 miles each day!). I imagine my relationships with God and with other people would be just so much more amazing. I wouldn't be so "out of breath" and unfamiliar with how to relate in God's word if I were just in it more.

Exercise takes discipline, not just in the physical realm but also spiritually. I need to take the things I've learned and relate them to my spiritual "walk".

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We've made some friends! There's a girl named Becky in four of my classes who has taken me home after class a couple times and we're planning on hanging out with all our roomies soon. She lives in the apartment complex right across the street. Yay!

Today we also spent some time with Erica and Maila at Green Bluff, basically a little agricultural community on top of the mountain. They were fun to talk to and they only live down the road. They may come over tonight for a movie and popcorn too!

[me, amanda, maila, erica, molly and madeline at green bluff]

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Exploration: When we decided to stop relying on others for the use of their vehicles and start using our bus passes, Molly and I became adventurous! We took the bus downtown on Wednesday to explore that area. It's really neat! I put some pictures on Facebook and more on Picasa for those who are interested. We went to the mall, the library (HUGE compared to ours in Beaufort), Spokane Falls, Riverfront Park (contains the clock tower you'll see pictures of if you Google "Photos of Spokane clock tower") and this really crazy iron goat that sucks up trash (video on Facebook) that I found to be the most amazing thing ever. It was a fun day and we're glad we decided to take the bus.

[the roommate and i at spokane falls]

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School: I'm liking it for the most part. It's really really nice to not be self sufficient when it comes to doing work. Glad to not feel like I was still homeschooling while in college :) My favorite class right now is Acts. Dr. McMath is great. He reminds me of my pastor because in our three hour class on Wednesday, he progressed through only the first eight verses of the book. Wow.

Psychology and Lifetime Fitness aren't the best. LF because we have to record fun things like BMI and current weight and how long it takes you to run a mile. And just joyful things like that. And psychology because it's way over my head at this point. It's basically anatomy of the brain for now and it's completely not something I understand. I take notes but don't get it. And I think we have a quiz next Friday for it... won't that be fun?

One really neat thing is that every prof opens with prayer and even if we're talking about College Writing or Lifetime Fitness, we talk about those things as they relate back to our future ministries (which is what this school is all about). I like that part of it because it doesn't seem like I'm "wasting my time" with these required classes. They become applicational. I like application very much.

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I'm still not homesick but I DEFINITELY miss people. Here's one of the ones I miss the most, most of the time:

[saying goodbye to my favorite person in the airport]

And that's what I have for you today. Goodbye! It's been nice "talking" to you!