Walking the road to freedom

The year is still young. 2010 just came in less than 3 months ago, but I already feel like this is going to be a year of journeys... for me at least. I'm continuing my journey as a first-time public high schooler, and going on some new endeavors in that. For example, I had to ride the bus to school, and chase it, all in one week! All thanks to the 3 feet of snow that is FINALLY melting away! I find it funny that while I'm focused on all of these firsts, my AP English teacher is focused on the lasts. Every couple of weeks she'll say something random to the senior AP class. Something like, "This is your last second day of February as high schoolers!" or something crazy like that. Did I mention getting called down to the Principal's office for the first time? Every morning I've heard the PA buzz at least once, but the person on the other end, whoever it may be, always asked for someone else (it's really funny when they call the wrong room, by the way). Then one morning, the system buzzed three times as always, the teacher said hello, and then the person on the other end asked, "Is Stacey Whitaker in class?" the response was a suspicious "Yes." I thought maybe I left my headlights on because... well... I do that a lot. I was wrong.

"We need her to come down to the office with her things."

My classmates broke out into the loudest collective "Ooooooooohhhhhhh!!!!" Really, it was hilarious. Walking through the hallways, I was almost hoping for it to be something interesting. Well, obviously, or else I'd be wasting life. I met with a few others who had been called down too for the exact same thing - some stupid Facebook dispute between our school and another. Me and my classmates only stepped in as voices of reason, for lack of better words. The principals of both schools got involved. The moral of this story is: don't think your principal doesn't have a Facebook. They do, and they probably keep pretty good tabs on what their students are posting.

....... That story has nothing to do with this post, really. And what's really sad is that this happened several weeks ago. But, hopefully it entertained you some. I'm still such a high school newbie. Ha! Anyway...

What was I talking about? Oh right. Journeys. Another journey was the 30/29 Days to Live thing, which recently concluded. It was very insightful, and left an impression on me so I am very thankful for it. :) A pending journey that's been on my mind a lot is actually more like a small but large step - a step out of childhood into the adult world. That's right, graduation and college are approaching! I'm so excited. Then there are two newer journeys (I promise, I'm getting as tired of using that word as you are of reading it by now), and the cool thing about them is that they could very well blend into one another. As I mentioned in the last post, I'm starting an extended Bible study using Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan. Then today, we started a new series at church that about 59 other churches are doing too. It's called Free.* That's right, with the asterisk and everything.

Pilgrim's Progress follows the story of a man named Christian who lives in the City of Destruction, and after acquiring a heavy burden on his back, flees the city and sets out on an adventure to enter the Kingdom of God. What's interesting is that the first several few chapters lead up to Christian coming to this place called Salvation. It's essentially a hill with the cross on top. When he comes to it, the burden on his back falls off and falls into Hell. Christian finally is freed from said burden and can continue his journey to enter the Kingdom of God. This just so happens to be where I left off last before starting this Free.* journey with church, and I guess, sort of sets the mark for where I'd like to be. Free.* involves a lot of private journaling, and so far, the journaling has set a huge burden on my back, kind of like Christian. I practically had a knot in my throat earlier while I was working through the prompts in the journal, because they made me realize some pretty harsh things about myself, things that no one else but God knew, and things that have me in bondage right now, even as I type this. I'll probably be doing more praying and thinking tonight than sleeping, which is probably a good thing.


"TOTAL FREEDOM MEANS LIVING COMPLETELY FEARLESSLY,
PAATIONATELY AND JOYFULLY - REGARDLESS
OF YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES, NOT BECAUSE OF THEM

Are you free?"

Not right now, but, I feel a change coming. :)

The white death... it's everywhere!!!

So the sky just dumped about 6 inches of white death over the area and is going to drop about 2 more overnight which means...... ANOTHER SNOW DAY!!! Oddly enough, I'm not entirely excited to say that, so ignore the caps and the last two exclamation points. Snow days are bittersweet to me. I love being temporarily freed from the stresses of school, but then I miss my friends. In these last months I've had the privilege to develop friendships with many of the kids at Winton Woods High. Because of them, I wouldn't trade the decision to go to public school for the world. :) Back to the snow day... I'm a little more excited this time around. There's this test coming up in Chemistry..... yeah. I want to go out and play in the snow tomorrow. I haven't done that since before high school. Maybe I grew up too fast.

Now that school is closed for another day I'm able to get on with something I've been wanting to do for a while. Read John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. I've read this book several times already, and loved it more each time. But the copy I have has Biblical references and lots of them on just about every page. Basically I'm going to do a Bible study using Pilgrim's Progress. Such a great book. I'd recommend to anyone who calls themselves a Christ follower. I'm really excited to read it again!

I've been mulling over a few options for the talent show at school. On that note, let me confess... that I am an American Idol junkie. Don't worry, this will all come together soon. Every season I find myself rooting for the contestants who choose to sing inspiring songs week after week after week. David Archuleta, for example. I'm really inspired by him and other contestants, so I've decided to sing an inspiring song at the talent show. I'm deciding between Better Days by Goo Goo Dolls, We Need Each Other by Sanctus Real, and a worship song. I want to sing something that will leave an impression on the people who watch/listen, or send a positive message to them. Music is a great way to send messages. :)

I'll be posting again soon. This Pilgrim's Progress inspired Bible study might give me some better things to talk about. Those are definitely some books you should pick up if you have the chance. The Bible and Pilgrim's Progress. Books for the soul. :)