Lessons from the 3 hour layover at Birmingham International Airport

Maybe it is the new thing called 'sunshine' being re-introduced into my life, or the fact that the hub-cap and I have been doing some very necessary 'spring cleaning' but my soul feels revived and I am lovin it.

Jordan and I have asked ourselves countless times- "Why has God been so good to us?" "Why have we been so richly blessed?"  And as many times as we might ask Him, I think we both know better than to think we will be given a simple one-word answer. Oxford is bursting with brilliant people.  Everyone we have relationships with, interact with, or meet, is passionate, and it is infectious.  For the first time in my life, I am reading the New York Times on a daily basis just so I can keep up in conversations.  One of Jordan's first purchases when we moved here was the fabled Oxford English Dictionary to broaden his vocabulary.  We realized within seconds of arriving that we were little fish in a big pond of intellect. As many of you know, Jordan is the brains of this duo.  I often pass along all confusing, tough, hard, questions over to him because, you would too.  But God has really put it on my heart lately that I am selling myself and my capacity for knowledge short if I surrender to the fact that I am not in school currently and should therefore cease all learning.  How much more wrong could I be?

In light of dusting off my personal syllabus, God has given me some things to think about, and I couldn't help but share them.  The book Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity by Mark Batterson was lent to me by a sweet friend here in Oxford, Lindsay, and it has rocked me.  It's been one of those books that I can't go 5 pages without being so excited by whatever I just read that I have to tell/text/call Jordan ASAP or write it down so I don't forget and can share with him later.  Love those kind of books!

There is this incredible part in Primal (you should zariously read it) where Mark references Leonardo da Vinci.  Batterson's favorite description of da Vinci has nothing to do with his art or his many accomplishments, but simply as, "The man who wouldn't take yes for an answer." Meaning, da Vinci didn't like one word, simple answers.  He wanted to know why, how, where, etc. I couldn't help but stop and ponder that.  If I approach every twist, every bump, every challenge with that kind of curiosity it automatically undercuts any self made successes or failures, any self proclaimed good or bad things.... and instead becomes what did I learn from this?  I was challenged to focus less on getting out of situations and stay more focused on what I can gain from situations. Less means to an end perspective and more means to a means perspective.  Or becoming more focused on what I am learning rather than what I am experiencing (Of course not to make little of experiences, but to try and not lose sight of the lessons embedded in them)  One things for sure, God and Jordan would have to deal a lot less with 'frustrated, messy, self-obsessed Katie'.  Mark Batterson speaks on this mindset stating, "Everyone and everything becomes part of my education.  God redeems them and uses them to shape me into the person He wants me to become.  And the learning process never ends."

Moving over here has been more kinds of wonderful than I can express.  But all of you who know us well, know that is has also been very trying.  Being plucked out of our cozy comfort zones, missing our families, being too far from our friends, not having good pizza has- to put it bluntly- been like cold wet socks on a January Tuesday.

Yet, God has been so faithful to grant us new friendships here with people who have challenged us immensely.  We have been blessed to travel to new places and see things we never dreamed.  And not to answer our own question, but maybe God has blessed us with all of this so we may see the world He created in a new light.  Being in a new geographical location cannot help but change you spiritually.  I know so many of our friends who have recently made the transition out of their beloved college towns and into a new cities where they are starting a new phase of life. This is a hard time and it has been for us as well.  I wanted to share these thoughts with you because I hoped maybe it would encourage you as much as it encouraged me.  Throughout all the strange twist and turns we will face in life, we will experience a wide array of emotions.  Some probably won't go as planned, or turn out like you have hoped.  Maybe we should stop taking yes for an answer.