New Reminders of Old, Simple Joys

First, I would like to make known that I have been thoroughly annoyed beyond capacity by stinkbugs.

But that has nothing to do with this post.

Today in the TOV was something I like to refer to as the GREATEST day of the year. I look forward to today more than Christmas; it's so much fun! The Vinton Dogwood Festival has taken place every year (for the last 56 years) and I have gone every year I've lived here.

It's hard to describe it so that another person feels the same amount of joy and excitement and contentment that I do with this day, but I will try to put it in words because after all, it is the greatest day of the year.

This town embodies, to me, everything that is old fashioned and southern and humble and generous and inviting, and at the same time modern and busy and CRAZY. It's essentially my home town. And this one day of every year brings together every town's resident and then some so we can celebrate our history, our town, our lives, each other.
It starts with a 5k race whose proceeds go toward our youth choir's annual summer mission trip. It's so much fun to watch the runners because you have the ones who go hard and really want to win (first place this year got under 18 minutes) and then you have those who just did it to help raise money, and come in second to last with 55 minutes. Nevertheless, you cheer them all on because they are the town. They are you.

Then you've got all the vendors. You have probably close to 100 different vendors selling various homemade items ranging from necklaces and bags to marshmallow guns and baby tu-tus, who fill the church parking lot. The road behind the church is lined with all the different food (I had cotton candy for breakfast, and a philly cheesesteak for lunch). You've also got people setting up shop along the next street leading to the Farmers' Market where the Kidz Zone is located and a bunch of different music groups perform (like our school's jazz band). You get all this before noon!

Next is something that didn't really become important to me until this year: the Dogwood Queen. Each year 10 seniors from our school are nominated by teachers to be a Dogwood Princess (you know, the basic exemplary character and president of every single club? Yeah, those girls). I was very close to several of the girls this year, so I went up to the War Memorial to watch the crowning and to see who won. Alas, my favorite to win did not get the crown, but I'm quite pleased with the recipient and I'm really happy for her!

And then (dramatic pause...suspenseful music...) THE PARADE!

Goodness, I just love watching the parade. You've got it all. There are the Senators, the Town Council, over-sized heads of famous people, Chik-fil-A cow, clowns on stilts, baton twirlers, TWO marching bands, horses, dogs, the Dogwood Court, Manna Ministries, the Pooh Patrol (my personal favorite: they follow the horses in Pooh and Tigger costumes) and it's just great. Not to mention that sitting on the curb makes for some sick tan/burn lines!

Anyway, I would just like to give a shout out to our little slice of heaven in the TOV. It's the perfect little town, and I could not ask to be a part of a greater community!

Song of the day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Du-CWASm20 (:

Safe Travels

Recently I was told, "Don't pray for safe travels; pray for God's will to be done." I mean yeah, maybe it isn't God's will for us to be 'safe' as we travel, but it sure is nice, isn't it?

Well today, I got a taste of what it feels like to be right in the middle of God's ever-working plan.

A group of 4 friends and I went on our first 'grown-up' road trip this weekend to Carowinds in the Carolinas. We left at 5:30 a.m. on Friday and aimed to return Saturday afternoon. We had a great trip up there; we stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel, we got to the park only 30 minutes later than we'd planned to, Caleb only got us lost once, the lines in the park were pretty short because the weather wasn't so hot, so we were in good shape. We had a great time in the park. We rode EVERY roller coaster, and some of them we rode twice! We took pictures and played around and ate food and it was a great day.

Later we got to stay in a hotel suite all by ourselves (part of the 'grown-up' trip experience) and that was a blast! (Especially since we watched the 7th Harry Potter).

So everything's great, right?

Well...

Things were great as we stopped about 2 hours into our trip back to eat lunch at Subway/take a bathroom break at the gas station, and we were content, but tired and ready to be home. So we head back out onto I-77 and about 10 minutes in I feel Jasmine's car (which I'm driving at the time) start to shake and change gears all funny and the engine light starts blinking.

Fabulous.

So I put on the emergency blinkers and pull over. Caleb's ahead of us so he sees us stop so he stops too. Well, at first everyone just thought I was worrying too much, and I thought maybe I was too, but I just had to make sure because I'd rather have pulled over than have the car crap out in the middle of the interstate with cars flying past at 80 mph. Well we call a bunch of people, and turns out there's practically no oil in the car. Woo freaking hoo. We end up with just the one car left by ourselves because Caleb had to leave, and we were there for a good hour and a half easy. The parents were called (mine last because she didn't need to know anything until the problem had been resolved) and we had been ordered to get in our car with our seat belts on and the doors locked, just in case (cool mom, cool).

Finally, we were towed back home (about an hour away from where we currently were) and the 3 of us sat in the back of this guy's tow truck all the way back. Though, he did let us off at a rest stop to pee.

So all in all, we had a really fun experience on our first grown-up road trip! And I think we all made the official transition into the fact that we're almost college students. Weird.

Anyway, I'd like to take this opportunity to say that while our trip back may not have gone as planned, God clearly had a better idea for us than getting back home on time. After all, His plan is bigger than ours, so even if we don't understand why in the world we had to be stranded on a crazy interstate, it's comforting to know that God's bigger than all the things in the world that we understand. He's got a plan, and this was a part of it. His will was done, and I'm grateful that we were able to rely on Him to bless us and keep us.

Pray for God's will, not safe travels.

Jeremiah 29:11

Song of the day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WucHt6uno1o

Like Today Never Happened Before

Switchfoot is quite an inspiration.

I've had an awful last couple of weeks. Don't ask me why; it's not quite worth the explanation. When things suck, music fixes them. Only this time, it was a little further than what music could do for me. Today I listened to the song Dare You To Move by Switchfoot for what is probably close to my 200th time. No joke, it's probably in that neighborhood. Just Because.

But today it struck a different chord.

I began to think about what I was going to say to someone when recommending this song to them. I would say, "Listen to the song first by itself a couple of times and then watch the music video. It's very powerful." Well, luckily enough, I ended up speaking to myself instead. Sometimes life doesn't treat us the way we wish it would. But "the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair" (different song, look it up). I told myself yesterday that people will never notice what you're doing until you stop doing it. As I kept that in mind today and then heard this song again, I made a deal with myself: to try and act positively and flaunt the facade when I physically can, and to tell someone (ONE) when I emotionally can't. Fake it 'til you make it, right? Well, I suppose that's going to reign true for a while.

Now, I DARE you to listen to this song and drink in everything its lyrics, music, and video have to offer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOTcr9wKC-o
Remember, song first, video second.

Coffee, and Other Necessities

Two weeks. I have two weeks left. That's right, Easter is in two weeks and I will officially be able to break my fast of coffee and facebook. Just to clarify, that's because I gave them both up for Lent.

The last month or so that I and some of my close friends decided to make sacrifices to grow closer to God we've been able to experience a slew of different emotions and revelations and what not, and it's been pretty interesting. I've had a chance to reflect on that, and I realized that God is a heck of a more concerned with the condition of our hearts than He is with whether or not we do things to try to get on His good side. That probably doesn't make much sense.

I (fairly) recently became slightly addicted to coffee. More specifically, I became addicted to coffee when I participated in my first show with the William Byrd Players' Drama Department. Anyway, suffice it to say that I ended up needing coffee to survive (and it was helping me do better in physics, too). I originally decided to give it up because it was something I was dependent on instead of being fully, undividedly, devotedly dependent on God to provide and help me get through (and stay awake). This frightened me. However, now that I've gotten a chance to reflect, I feel like coffee can be okay. Granted, I haven't had it in over a month, and so I'm a little withdrawn, but nevertheless I feel that while this experience has certainly gotten me one step closer to being cured of coffee's unruly evil and deadly poison, it's not something I need to live without for the rest of my life.

Basically, that little rant about my experience with Lent was just to inform anyone who's interested that I have finally discovered for myself what it means to take everything for what it is and to "indulge in moderation". God and prayer and His Word are the only things we can never get too much of, and I love that I've been able to find that out for myself.

Plus, the 3rd and 4th graders who memorized the books of the Bible certainly helped encourage me to focus on what's important.

Here's my semi-relevant song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVlnHT8OkQQ

John 14:6

I Am Still Running

The inspiration for the name of the blog. This phrase pops into my head frequently because it comes from a song on one of Jon Foreman's EPs. Not only is it quite a catchy tune (well, kind of) but it's also quite relevant to my life as I continue to endlessly think upon and anticipate graduation/college. Weird, huh?

Besides the fact that the song mentions being '17 years young', it's a very nostalgic song for me. I came to realize not too long ago that high school is only a small part of life's journey. Now don't sit there and say "well duh, Katie, everyone knows that," because yeah everyone knows, but not everyone really KNOWS for themselves. You can't know 'til you know. You know?

I think what's most important is that this song reminds me of a passage in the book of Philippians:

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."
-Philippians 1:3-6

If nothing else, it reminds me of the hope I have in Jesus Christ. I went through my phase of freaking out about graduation, and ending this part of my life, and going to college, and never getting to see my friends again, and changing once I leave, and the list goes on. But listening to this song, and reading this passage remind me that because I have faith in the Lord that He will provide and take care of me, He will continue to work in me and through me in every stage of my life, no matter where I am.

It's hard to grasp, but it's comforting to know that He will always be working in my life, and that He has a plan greater than anything all of us put together could ever begin to fathom. It's a comfort indeed.

So, I am still running. "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 3:14.
God knows in which direction to point me. I just have to run and follow hard after Him.

p.s. here's a link to the song if you want to listen. (:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd3_nmwDlK4