Sunday, May 2, 2010

One Week Left...


wow.

I can't believe I'm at this point. I have exactly one week until I turn 22, board a plane, and head home to Texas for good. It's been 5 months, but feels like 2. It went by so fast.

Going home is SUCH a good thing though. As much as I love it here, I miss Texas. It's where I belong. I'm so excited to get back to the Hill Country, back to the Tex Mex, back to the Jones family craziness, back to my friends, Pudge and Franklin, of coarse. Texas is my home.

As much as I'm ready to get home, there are somethings I'm going to really miss about NYC...

1. I'll miss being a part of the real world. It'll be hard going back to a classroom. If anything, I'm more ready now than ever to go out there and kick some behind! The saying really is true about this city, "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere."


2. I'll miss my small group girls. I've grown so close to the girls in my small group, specifically Nicole and Kristi. These girls have made such an impact on my life and made living here so much easier. They are incredible, Christian girls who have truly shown me what a Christ-centered friendship can truly be!!

3. The food. Yep, that's right... I've had every single type of food known to man at my fingertips. Plus, there are a million gluten-free options and everywhere delivers to your door... I'll definitely miss that!!

4. Although this is a double-edged sword, I'll miss the pace. I love that everywhere you walk, you feel like you're walking to somewhere important--like you're walking to DO something important. That's what makes this city magical... the feeling that whatever it is you're doing, you're doing something BIG.

5. I'll miss my church here... I haven't missed a Sunday, and today was my last one. I cried a little.

6. Oh, and I forgot to mention, I'll miss the shopping, the celebrity sightings and working on a live, national, network broadcast morning show... those too.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have come up here... My parents are incredible. I owe them so much more than I will ever be able to repay them, but I'm ready to come home.

So... In the next 7 days, I have to finish writing my Spanish paper/book, pack everything up, do the last few things I've been wanting to do, celebrate my birthday and head home... busy, but SO fun!!! I am SO BLESSED!!!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

He Loves us ALL

How He Loves Us-David Crowder

Today I got some news that broke my heart. It literally made me so sick to my stomach that I couldn't eat, which is rare.

Last night, my sweet, beautiful friend, who is African American, was the target of unprovoked, unnecessary racist comments. The words were so mean that the girl who told me the story had cried, herself, in the pain that she felt for our mutual friend.

What hit me the most hard, was that someone was capable of coming to the conclusion that my friend was beneath her, and deserving of the verbal abuse simply because of her skin color... I felt it to the bone. I was so upset.

But it wasn't an hour later that I went to sort the mail at The Early Show and an interesting postcard (simply sent to The Early Show--no one in particular) came into my hands... Searching for a name, I saw a sentence that said this, "The hispanics have already ruined Mexico, now they are trying to ruin our country with their drug wars!"

I was blown away. The next sentence said this, "The Hispanics and the Homos are ruining our country and need to be banished!!"

The feeling in my stomach was turned from anger to sadness... How can this world be so ignorant to the fact that people are people, NO MATTER WHAT?! I went to run an errand for a producer and as the cab drove through Times Square, I looked out the window. I saw almost every nationality, ever skin tone, every type of person possible in that ten minute cab ride. And I realized something, and this might be weird, but I realized this:

Every single person out there began the same way. Born from a woman. Fed, bathed, diaper changed... etc.

We all began the same way... A gift from God.

I am a Christian. That means I follow Christ. No denomination. No religion. A faith. I FOLLOW CHRIST, or I try to. And he LOVED. That's what he did. WHY can't the we all understand that there is something to love in EVERY SINGLE PERSON?!

... I can't always understand it either, but it's true.

These are the lyrics to a song by David Crowder in the video above:
Notice that he doesn't say How He loves some of us... It's "oh how he loves us ALL."

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

And oh, how He loves us oh,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.

And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

That He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.