Biola Centennial Birthday

Biola's 100th birthday was this past Monday. We have been celebrating this entire year with fun events. My next few posts will be about some of the amazing things Biola's centennial staff has put on and the great events I have been able to be a part of. Until then, read this.

2:28 a.m. & Nate Mitchell

Journalism had lost it's magic for me until tonight. I love journalism, but for some reason I have not felt that love for the past few months. I lost interest in wanting to be a reporter. However, tonight refueled my fire. I hadn't written an article in months for news which also means I hadn't interviewed anyone in months either. Interviewing Nate tonight was fantastic. Read below. :)




Nate Mitchell, Biola junior, is running for assemblyman of the 60th District in the State of California.

Crazy, right?

I found this information out at 6 p.m. tonight and interviewed Nate at 9 p.m. I got myself a cup of coffee after the interview and wrote until 1 a.m. The cup of joe is what is keeping me from sleeping at the moment.

However, more than that, I am stoked! This is breaking news. And it's real news that could affect more than Biola - something that hardly washes up onto the shores of the small university in La Mirada. The excitement is still in me - the magic is back.

Surprise Me

At RockHarbor this morning, a new series started. It is called The last week of Jesus. Each week the pastor will be discussing one of the days in the week before Jesus' crucifixion.

Today started with the day Jesus rode into the city from the East on a donkey.

Palm fronds. I always thought when we reenacted the scene in sunday school that we were keeping Jesus cool by fanning him with palm fronds. Somehow I got this far through Biola without hearing different. Palm fronds were essentially a demand from the Jews on Jesus for him to be the savior they wanted him to be, to give them their freedom. To release them from the reigns of Ceasar and Pontius Pilate. The Jews had an expectation. An image. A picture they expected the man on the donkey to fulfill. When he didn't and through a series of events, Jesus was crucified.

Do I have a picture of a Jesus that I want? Do I expect Jesus to do certain things in my life? Do I demand expectations from God?

Yes. I do.

Today I am praying. I am praying to throw the puzzle pieces from the image I want my life to look like away. I am praying for God to surprise me. I don't want the life I picture. I want the life God has planned for me. I want His purpose in my life and that alone. He has an image - a perfect image - of my life and what it will look like. It may not look like the puzzle lid image I had in mind, but it will be better.

So. God, Surprise me!

Paris

Finally, I am shedding some light on my Paris travels. Before I begin, here is my favorite photo of the entire trip and it is one of the first I took. I was extremely lucky because less than five minutes later the lighting was completely different.



I decided the best way to begin the stories would be to share my first journal entries. Enjoy.

30. December. 6:08 a.m.

I've been dreaming of the day I would take my first steps off a plane into Paris. I am now approximately 16 minutes away from those steps and I think it finally hit me that I made it! I will be in Paris fulfilling the dream I had in fourth grade and held onto until now and forever. I only hope my time here is as good, no amazing, marvelous, wonderful as I have always imagined that city of lights to be.

9:30 a.m.

The moment we didn't have to wait long for while here, but I have been waiting for years to have - my first glimpse of le tour d'eiffel. It was absolutely beautiful. The sun was just rising and the lighting was perfect. See the photo above. :)