I Found...

....some poems by George Herbert that spoke to me long ago:

The Pulley

When God at first made man,
Having a glass of blessings standing by,
"Let us", said he, "pour on him all we can:
Let the world's riches, which dispersed lie,
Contract into a span."

So strength first made a way;
then beauty flowed, then wisdom, honor, pleasure.
When almost all was out, God made a stay,
Perceiving that, alone of all his treasure,
Rest in the bottom lay.

"For if I should," said He,
"Bestow this jewel also on my creature,
He would adore my gifts instead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature;
So both should losers be.

"Yet let him keep the rest,
But keep them with repining restlessness:
Let him be rich and weary, that at least,
If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
May toss him to my breast."


Love

Love bade me welcome: yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lacked anything

"A guest," I answered, "worthy to be here":
Love said, "You shall be he."
"I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on thee."
Love took my hand, and smiling did reply,
"Who made the eyes but I?"

"Truth, Lord: but I have marred them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve."
"And know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"
"My dear, then I will serve."
"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."
So I did sit and eat.

My Obsession of Late

Many people ask what I've been doing. Well, while I'm in school there's usually a small, scheduled list (boring to most people, I'm sure) of things I do every day. However the thing that has really caught my interest is a 180-year old song by my favorite composer. Along with this song, I'm working on a few other pieces this semester. But this is my jewel :) Enjoy!

Hello Again...

Well, its been a while...

For those of you who don't know I will quickly update you on the summer's events since England. A week after I got back from England, I left with a group to SE Asia. A lot of work and preparation had gone into this trip, but unfortunately it wasn't in God's plan for me to stay there long. Due to some health issues, I was sent back home and arrived exactly one week after I left. It was a fun few days though :) For those of you who don't know the specifics, if you want you can email me and I'll be glad to respond...everything is okay now, we got all of it taken care of.

In other news, school has started and I'm very happy about that. I have a full schedule (as always). It seems that my schedule always manages to be heavier than needed. I'm taking more upper division biology classes than I need, but I figure why not while I'm here right? Anyway, it makes for a fun semester.

Fall is coming! It is starting to cool down and my favorite type of morning is here: overcast, damp, and cool! Praise God for Fall :)

Keep me in your prayers. Yeah, I'll keep it at that.

I don't know how much I'll be updating...or what I even should put on here, but I will try my best. A good friend has a great blog that has given me ideas (thank you to one of the best artists out there, Shane) so we'll see how that goes.

Until then

More Fun in England

Ok, I'm sorry that I haven't updated in a while. I tried posting a few days ago but for some reason the blogger wasn't updating any of my photos. And who wants a post without photos? :) And another thing, the images go from most recent to least recent. Another thing I have yet to learn about blogger. Anyway, I've been having the time of my life. London is by far the best place I've ever been and I want to stay so badly. I would live here if I could! Everything about it is amazing....the transportation, the accents (yum), nightlife, the business, etc.! I never thought I'd like a busy city so much. I thought I'd be in love with the outdoors, calm, pretty, etc. and although that would be amazing, I feel like I'm actually living when I'm here.






















Me in front of the National Art Museum. Lots and lots of paintings! Too many in fact, it was so overwhelming. I appreciated all the art, but since I'm not very educated when it comes to that, I felt I wasn't able to appreciate it :( Shane, you would have loved it!















Stonehenge...had to see it! :)















Only the best for the Zylstras!















Another one we had to go to.
















St. Paul's Cathedral. I'm missing the dome which is the most famous part, but the whole building is so massive its impossible to get from up close. Inside, where we were not able to take pictures, was even more impressive. The entire ceiling is enlaid with gold and the most gorgeous art. Pillars and such gave a very cathedral feeling to it. We also went to the service on Sunday and heard the choir sing. My God, the most amazingly perfect acoustic building ever!















Big Ben, Parliment, and The Eye....more on that later















Shakespeare's Globe...aka his theater















Buckingham Palace. It was huge. The queen was in residence as they had a procession or something in the early morning. Later when we were walking in what seemed to be the aristocratic neighborhood around the palace, we saw Prince Charles, his brother (andrew?), and Camilla drive out in three separate cars. It was pretty cool



















Windsor Castle...Queen something had a cool doll collection

Alison and me in the lift at The Commodore Hotel in London. The capacity said 4 but we could barely fit us two and Aunt Rhoda.

So, I'm enjoying myself thoroughly. Tomorrow we're doing Stratford and Saturday we'll be taking the train to Oxford. Back to London on Sunday, yeah! I wish I didn't have to leave London :( Maybe I'll just stay and see how long it takes them to find me...

A Tiring Few Days

Well, here I am in London! It's been really great thus far, a lot better than I was really thinking it was going to be. We had a 3 hour flight to Vancoover, Canada with a 3.5 hour layover, then almost a 10 hour flight from there to Heathrow Int'l. Needless to say, I was ready for food, shower, and bed! Its hard to believe that Heathrow was only half way last year. I don't think I could have made that again! Anyway, I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. I really love the city...its so huge and complex with so many people, but has a great feeling to it.















Me on the plane from Vancoover to Heathrow. Still not excited though!
















The first park we walked. Kensington Park...the biggest park I've been in (that probably tells you of my exposures to parks) Its right by our hotel so it makes for easy access



















Prince Albert in all his glory. Word cannot describe how huge this thing was. You really have to see it to gauge the magnitude. There was so much detail in every carving...with so much gold, the pillars being marble, and the stone so lifelike, it was a nice first monument.
















The city of London. Its so easy to get lost because most of the buildings looks like this - perhaps natives can distinguish between them all but they all look the same to us :)
















In front of the Tower Bridge...

England Bound

Well, it seems the thrust of all my plans is coming to realization and my trips around the world are starting very soon. I'm very excited to see parts of the world I've never seen before and meet people I've never met before :) But most of all, I'm anticipating a new, global mindset and a renewed zeal for whatever God might have for me in those terms. However, keeping with the mindset of a content servant of Christ, I won't let my thoughts get ahead of the present. 

I will try to update while I am in England with pictures and such, but I can't promise anything. I'm not too sure about the computer situation so

 we'll see about that. A few things that, if you're reading this, you can keep me in prayer for:

• Even though England is a "vacation", pray that I would continue to keep the mindset of a bondservant of Christ to keep the flesh in submission and be ready to preach the gospel in season and out of season.
• For Team SE Asia that I will be traveling with when I get back, that God would continue to shape our hearts as a team and that we would work as a body for the body there :)
• Sanity of mind with things going on at home...

I will write soon I hope, if I can't...I'll be in jolly ol' 

Remembering His Works

"I will remember the deeds of the Lord;

yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

I will ponder all your work,

and meditate on your mighty deeds." Psalm 77:11-12

Today I was able to share my trip to Rwanda with some good friends with pictures and stories, and I was again reminded of the faithfulness of the Lord. Its funny looking back at something so significant and remembering the lessons and experiences as if they were far removed from me, sort of an objective teaching lesson. But today God graciously brought back many vivid memories of people in Rwanda that affected my life more than they will know. 

I was also incredibly blessed by a sister in the Lord who shall remain nameless :) And most who read this will not know who I am speaking of, but this sister acted in such a way that showed Christ to me so profoundly. Praise God :)

This is a picture Candy took while a few students and I were worshipping the Lord. An amazing experience of cross culture/language/country giving glory to the same God

My evening class. I love this picture because we all fell right after the picture was taken:)

On the last day of classes, my student wrote and read a poem in front of the whole class for me. It meant so much that he read it to everyone and sharing it with my friends today brought back so much appreciation for it. God was so gracious for using me in others' lives. Praise Him!

No matter where, no matter when

We are together

In spite of space, in spite of time

We are together

You leave our country, not our mind

You leave our sight, not our heart

We are together!

Just we will cry, when you take a fly

For its hard to leave the people you love

That's right you'll make everyone cry

Anywhere you leave because you're irreplaceable

Best at work we liked you most

Let us this time tell you all our thanks

You've done a lot

May God bless your plans

May you have a wonderful fly

Bye-bye