I'm off on an Adventure ...

I am off on an adventure. No, I am not sailing the Atlantic on a 36-gun frigate, scurrying up the main mast. I not roaming the wilds of Africa with naught but my gun and my dog; nor tramping the highlands of Scotland under an assumed alias. (Though those have often been the adventures of my dreams.)

I have begun my graduate studies in Art History. Yes, I’m terrified of all the unknowns but most of all I dreaded leaving behind all that is so familiar: my crazy-wonderful-noisy-loving-family, 

 

my motley crew of sheep, 

my little trio-pack of doggies, 

the walk down to the barn, 

 our land, small town, and going to every football/basketball/baseball game.

 

I know it’s not like I am leaving these forever, in fact it will be for quite a short time in light of eternity, but I am used to having those things daily or weekly. This home is “my Shire.” 

It is not perfect (as nothing in this fallen-sin-wrought-world can be) but it is a glimmer or a shadow of our true home. Our hearts long for home. We were made to be home, to be home with Christ. Here in this world we only know taste of what home is. We have a vague reflection of our true home with God.  But the reality is we are not home yet and we are all just sojourning strangers traveling through this world. 

But I am not sojourning through this world without a mission or purpose. I have a high calling from the King of the universe and that is to bring glory to Christ by enjoying him. At this moment in time, I feel the Lord is calling me to pursue the study of Art History for his greater purpose. He has filled me with a desire to teach art and its history for his glory. 

I’ve been thinking about how Frodo spent his childhood pretending he was off on one of Bilbo’s adventures but when it can time for his own adventure it was quite different from Bilbo’s. This is how I feel now. Not that my adventure is less important but it is quite different from the ones I imagined in childhood. The reality is I have no clue what this next year(s) holds. But I know I can trust in Lord. I know can rest in him. I know that at this moment this is the next step. It is so easy for me to become anxious. The well known words of truth automatically fill my mind, “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” I Peter 5:7. But it is one thing to know these words and say them and know them to be true; But how does one live it?

At times, I am a perfectionist; especially when it comes to school. This often causes me great fear and anxiety. How can I live up to perfection? Well I can’t. Christ is our only perfection.

I’ve started watching a BBC detective series called Whitechapel (which I highly recommend if you love a good murder mystery, but do not watch it alone because it is terrifying). D.S. Miles says to the main character,

     “Nobody said you had to be the greatest detective that ever lived, only the best detective that you can be. And so, sometimes you’ll fail. That’s OK, we all fail sometimes. But it’s not OK to give up.”

 (walking to class)

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanks giving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4 -7

“Why can't things just stay as they are?” Jo from little women

“To the end of his days Bilbo could never remember how he found himself outside, without a hat, a walking-stick or any money, or anything that he usually took when he went out;” (The Hobbit, page 33)

“Bother burgling and everything to do with it! I wish I was at home in my nice hole by the fire, with the kettle just beginning to sing!” (The Hobbit, page 35)

(my art building)

“’Is that The Mountain?’ asked Bilbo in a solemn voice, looking at it with round eyes. He had never seen a thing that looked so big before. ‘Of course not!’ said Balin. ‘That is only the beginning of the Misty Mountains.” (The Hobbit, page 46)

 

“Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.” -Samwise

Summer skies

This summer I worked outside in the early hours of morning. I saw some pretty awesome looking skies. And though I tried to capture some of the magnificence with my iPod, these images fall far short of the vast and glorious reality God displays in his sky.

 

I think I will put a quote from Lord of the Rings with these photos

 "So it is true. In a dream, I saw the Eastern sky grow dark. But in the West, a pale light lingered. A voice was crying, 'The doom is near at hand, Isildur's Bane is found.'" –Boromir

"A light from the shadow shall spring."  –Arwen

 

 

 

“May it be a light for you in dark places, when all other lights go out. “ –Galadriel

 

"Far over the Misty Mountains cold/ To dungeons deep and caverns old/

We must away ere break of day/ to find our long forgotten gold."

"The pines were roaring on the height / The winds were moaning in the night / 

The fire was red, it flame spread / The trees like torches blazed with light..."

Bilbo Baggins: Good morning.

Gandalf: What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it to be or not or that you feel good this morning or that it is a morning to be good on?

Bilbo Baggins: All of them at once.

“A red sun rises, blood has been spilled this night.” Legolas

“ Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the east.” –Gandalf

This next series I took a photo every few minutes (I was watering so it did not interfere with my work ;)

 

"We Ents cannot hold back this storm. We must weather such things as we have always done." –Treebeard

 

“Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.”  -Samwise

Each morning the sunrise reminds us of how God's mercies are new each and every morning. Each morning the sun rises foreshadowing the day when God will be our sun and light and darkness will be now more.

"And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light." -Revelation 22:5