Service/Mission/Leadership Blog

• You’ve spent time discussing theology with your campus minister while building a bridge in Perry Lakes Park with the Earth team.
   
• You spend more time coloring and making signs for your big or little sister than you do studying.
   
•  Field hockey is your favorite sport.
  
•     Sitting on a bench with your college president just to catch up is completely normal!.
  
•  You find yourself driving down the road singing step sing songs.
  
• Getting a sign or other gift from your “big sis” makes a normal Thursday feel like Christmas morning.
  
• You’ve spent enough time with MMI cadets to speak the military language as fluently as a commanding officer.
  
• You’re proud to be a pig, cow, or octopus.
  
•  Missions are a defining part of who you are.
  
• You’re genuinely afraid of Anne Kirtley.
  
• The term “pageant” has nothing to do with frilly dresses and world peace.

There are definitely some things in life that only a Judson student could understand. Making cute little signs or posters for other students, especially for a big/little sister, is a common practice at Judson. We have “families” here, all named after a different animal, that every student has the opportunity to join during the second semester of their freshman year. You just ask a sophomore to be your “big sister” at the end of your first semester and later join whatever family she’s in. I’m in the “pig family,” so my dorm room is filled with signs, stuffed animals, and other pig-related items that my big sis and other people in my family have given me.

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After the endless hours of step sing rehearsals during Welcome Week of a Judson girl’s freshman year, it’s hard not to have songs like “Marion” or the famous “Judson Chant” pop into your head during a long road trip. Step sings are one of my favorite Judson traditions. During different times throughout the year, almost the entire student population gathers on the front steps of Jewett Hall to sing beautiful songs passed down through the many generations of Judson women. It’s so much fun, especially when alumni come back and sing with us.

Of course there are other, better-known, traditions like pageant and Hockey Day at Judson College. Then there are secret things that people only warn you about, such as the ghost of Anne Kirtley haunting the freshman dorm, but they all only make Judson more unique and exciting in a way that only a Judson girl could appreciate.

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More importantly, Judson is a place where a young woman can grow spiritually. I have never had so many opportunities to serve my community and participate in missions, nor have I ever been surrounded by so many encouraging and influential Christian people. Traditions may be exciting and they definitely add to the “flair” of this wonderful college for women, but faith and service are truly the heart of Judson.

The answer is five.

It takes five Judson girls to build a fire in the old grill behind the clubhouse.

       I’m not sure how it all started, or whose idea it was to begin with, but my friends and I have a tradition of making s’mores and watching a movie…usually a chick flick. We used to just make the s’mores in the microwave, but after the marshmallow explosion incident we’ve had to resort to more extreme measures to uphold this tradition.

       So last Friday night Kezia, Beth, Kaitlin, Ashley, and I bundled up for a “cold” October night in Marion, Alabama, and headed outdoors to try and construct something resembling a campfire. There’s a grill behind the “clubhouse” at Judson, which is really just an old log cabin-type building used for different social events throughout the year, and the girls went to work gathering sticks, branches, and leaves to get a fire going. Fortunately, there had been a pretty big storm a few days before that had blown down a lot of the firewood we needed. Unfortunately, this storm had also included a good bit of rain, and most of the kindling was still damp. Because our reputation of being relentless, and at times, ridiculous, young women, we didn’t let the soggy firewood stop our fun.

       The other girls looked all over campus for something dry to put on the grill while I raided my dorm room for old magazines and paper to help the process, and I even brought out some hairspray and hand sanitizer to get the flames blazing. Kaitlin played around with the mechanics of my lighter, and it ended up looking more like a giant torch than something you pick up in the checkout aisle of Wal-Mart as an afterthought on the way out of the store, which turned out to be very helpful. After the unyielding efforts of “Camp master Kezia” and Kaitlin Bailey, who I now suspect is a pyromaniac, the fire was going and the fun began! We spent the rest of the night outside…watching the stars, listening to music, and just talking.

       I guess it may sound pretty silly to an outsider, but we have so much fun doing simple things and just spending time together. I think we all ate more s’mores than is humanly possible. We should have counted…we probably could have sent it in to the Guinness Book of World Records or something. Now that I think about it, I don’t even remember what movie we watched…maybe we didn’t watch one that night, but I’m sure the tradition will still live on.

 ^“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work.”

          -Genesis 2:2

            Recovering from surgery, late night traditions, make-up work, and midterms...what a week! Now that the weekend is finally here and I have time to think about it all, I have no idea how I survived last week. I feel like I’ve been going non-stop at full speed since I got back to school after having missed a week because of back surgery. It’s so easy to get caught up in the “Judson bubble,” becoming obsessed with exams, homework, and studying, but the topic spoken on at Judson’s weekly student worship service, the Core, reminded me of something that is very close to the heart of God.

     Resting is not a foreign concept to the Bible. In Matthew 11:28-30, we read, “ Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light,” and even the LORD himself takes an entire day to rest after creating the world in Genesis 2.

     Christina, Judson’s Campus Ministries president, focused on the verse in Genesis 2, along with other passages, and reminded us, during the best possible time, (midterm week) that God longs for us to rest. He enjoys it when we simply spend time in His presence and enjoy Him. Although doing our best and working hard at our studies is important, sometimes all of the multi-tasking and extra workloads college students take on can be hazardous to a healthy relationship with the Creator. As Christina said, we often find ourselves working out, while talking to a family member on the phone, while studying for a class, or joining three small groups and learning to tango during a semester when we’re taking eighteen or more hours of classes and working part-time. Yet there are times when it’s just too much trouble to walk a block to church on Wednesday evening because of all the “important” things we have to do. Or there enough aren't enough hours in the day to spend time in God’s word because studying for that chemistry test coming up will have a much greater effect on life in the long run, right?

     I feel so thankful to have this community of believers and people like Christina to remind me of what’s important, to remind me to go away with God, spend time with Him, and actually get some sleep every once in a while! It reminds me of a verse to a song we sang in communion once:

     “If your heart needs mending, come away

       If your soul needs tending, come away

       Come away with me, to a place where you can be

       In a quiet, slower time, in a simple state of mind

     Come away with me and rest now, come away”

Oh my! I don’t even know where to begin. I know I promised updates and more information on pageant in one of my previous blogs, but I haven’t been able to supply just yet.  Unfortunately, I had to give up my part in pageant to have last minute back surgery. I missed way too many practices because of doctor’s appointments, and I needed the last full week of rehearsals off to recover from the surgery. I did finally get back to school yesterday afternoon after spending a week at home on the couch, and I loved actually being able to watch the production. I left school when the main characters couldn’t remember their lines, there were no props or set, and the musical selections were a bit off, and I came back Saturday night to a masterpiece! Pageant was incredible. Into the Woods was the chosen production, and many of my friends were main characters. Holly Beth, my roommate, played the wicked old witch, and I definitely saw a side of her I’ve never seen before. Kezia, a fellow Judson blogger, took over my part as Little Red Ridinghood. She was cute, sneaky, witty, and perfect for the part! Of course there were too many other characters, back-stage workers, girls on tech crew, and directors to mention everyone…but they all did a fabulous job. I have no doubt that the class of 2012 put on the best pageant yet!