Sock Shopping

OR: Why a Relationship With Jesus is Better Than Marriage

I was in an outfitting store today and saw the greatest pair of purple wool hiking socks, but I didn't buy them because they were like $16+. But I wanted them.

Imagine you are in a similar situation. Your feet are cold and you need socks to keep them toasty warm. So you're shopping and finally find a pair of World-Socks that, while maybe a little pricey, are worth your money. While there may still be a little chill in your bones with them on (after all, hiking in Alaska can get brisk), they will keep your feet pretty warm-ish. Plus they will help wick away the sweat when the hiking gets tough. Their sizing is the typical sock sizing (for foot sizes 4-10) so they're in your range. The World-Socks are pretty high quality so they will last you several years, but eventually you know that they will wear out and get holes and you will have to throw them away. They just won't last forever. The packaging is a little jostled and you wonder if previous shoppers have ever tried them on before. But, again, they're pretty high quality so you finally decide to buy them. Overall, you're satisfied with your purchase.

Later (five minutes, five years, whatever), you see a pair of Life-Socks in the same store. They are seriously the coolest socks you have ever seen. Not only do they keep your feet 100% toasty warm even in the snow, they keep them perfectly dry too. They're size 8.5 so it's like they're custom-made for your feet. The Life-Socks package (which has clearly never been opened) advertises a lifetime guarantee: they will literally never wear out. They seem too good to be true and you almost walk away, thinking they must be way out of your price range, when you notice that little orange sticker: FREE.

Of course you buy the Life-Socks even though you may have already invested in the World-Socks. You still want to keep the World-Socks because, after all, they were a pretty good find, but you know that they'll never compare to your Life-Socks. In fact, wearing them both together is the toasty warmness you were looking for, even though the Life-Socks would suffice on their own. One is clearly far better than the other, but they're both good socks.

That's all.


God bless.

Talking

Hey-o! I've been in Alaska for the last several weeks but have failed to post anything. Sometimes I'm just really busy, and when I'm not busy, writing is not something I've been super gung-ho about doing. I think a lot of that has to do with how much talking I'm doing.

Yesterday Tyler asked me my favorite part about Summer Project and after a moment of thinking, I responded, the community. Here is a place where 20 women (and 25 or so men) who don't know each other are thrown together and expected to work beside each other and grow in their faith together. I live in an apartment with three other women, I "disciple" the four girls that I lead a Bible study for, and the rest I simply want to get to know on my own accord.

It's more a stereotype than reality that women talk more than men, but there is some truth to it, and women do love to talk. We talk about everything from our faith to the men in our lives to our diet. Once you start letting walls down, the goofy side of everyone comes out too.

I've found that my apartment is always in either hysterical mode or super serious, potentially crying mode. There's almost no in-between, but I love it. Switching straight from one to the other can be a little disconcerting, though. The other day I was super excited about new hatchets Evan had gotten for the outfitting supplies, and I ran into the apartment with them hooting and hollering only to find one of my roommates on her bed crying and talking about a spiritual problem she'd been struggling with. Whoops. I had to transition from ax-wielding wildwoman to concerned, caring friend in an instant.

Then there's the discipleship. Every week I'm to sit down with four women individually to talk about life and God for at least an hour. And I'm the one leading the discussion, helping them grow, etc. I'm not complaining by any means, but it's just a lot of talking to be responsible for.

And every moment in between is socializing with the girls, calling and texting friends back home, trying to connect with and reach out to the locals, making time to talk to Tyler every day, and making time to talk to God every day.

Don't get me wrong. I love a good, deep conversation. I love lots of good, deep conversations. But being bombarded with them has definitely been a lifestyle adjustment. I'm finally getting used to having multiple super-in-depth conversations a day.

And with that, I'm off to another discipleship session.

God bless.