Student Life Blog

            It seems lately the theme of all the church services, bible studies, group discussions with friends, chapel services, and even my own devotional time has been basically the same. Everyone seems to be centralizing on time management and purpose. The probing question of "What are you doing with the time God has given you?" has been on the minds of many Judson employees and students as well as church leaders. It has been comforting to know that I am not alone in my concern.

            Every semester around mid-term I start to get "Spring Fever," if you will. It is especially hard here at Judson because I am hundreds of miles from my home. I get fed up with things the way they are, I begin to get discouraged, and I lose focus and heart to muddle through. I begin to disconnect and I have doubts. My Judson sisters have been pretty good at helping me combat this in the past but this time I refused to let satan get a foothold. God began preparing me for the battle long before it came this time. My devotions and all the God-centered gatherings began to convict me about what I was focusing on, what I was doing with my time, my goals, and my motivations. I realized somehow along my way here at Judson I had become selfish. I was simply getting by and not giving my all in any aspect of my life. I had become somewhat stagnant. My "big picture" was correct but my path was not.

            I know I am called into ministry so it is often frustrating having to sit through General Education classes to do exactly what I have been doing all my life, serve God. I was, once again, asking God why he put me here, though I knew the answer and did not want to hear it again.

            I decided to begin this week differently, with my focus and motives corrected. I poured over my videos and Bible to encourage myself. I have stayed up super late every night and just had "Jesus time" like I used to. I feel refreshed and ready to go. I am focus on God and his purpose and I am in it for him. I have a new energy and zest.

            I leave you with these questions: What is your focus? What are your motives? And most importantly: What are you doing with the time God has given you?

            January ended with a bang here at Judson. It was pretty busy for everyone but especially for my class, the Jr. /Sophs. We had so many ideas and situations running through our heads trying to plan one of the most important parties of the year here at Judson. This year we were in charge of the Big/Little Sister banquet and ceremony. We basically live by the saying, "Go big or go home" and I was head of the Big/Little committee so everything had to be amazing. It was not exactly what we had envisioned but it was really great and it kept the great tradition alive. There were many mishaps and setbacks that threatened our evening but we powered through anyways.

            The Big/Little Sister banquet and ceremony was on January 28^th. We decided on a luau theme for our food and main decorations, and each of the families decorated their own tables in their own fun ways. Bethany and I are both in the Pig Family and we are in the same branch, too, so we decided to decorate our tables together. We decided that simplicity was best because we remembered being crowded by decorations and such at OUR banquet last year. We went with some ivy, drip bottles, bows, streamers, and Hawaiian flowers. It looked great!

            The situation ended up being that we had to have our ceremony in the dining hall instead of in the auditorium like usual. We were not very enthused by that when the problem first presented itself but, we took it in stride and everything worked out fine. We had three large banners for our little sisters and they turned out even better than expected. I was so glad that my big sister, Christina, was able to come back for the special occasion.

            Once everyone was seated and began their meal, the ceremony began. Laney Jolley called the names of the Big/Little Sister pairs and they signed their names in "the book." There were pictures and lots of laughter as usual. It was a joyous occasion not just because we were having a party but because the new students were finally becoming our official Judson sisters. The night was great for me because I got to see our planning work out well and everyone having so much fun but, most of all because I got my beautiful little sister, Kaylee Crenshaw!

            When we were done with karaoke night at J&R's Saturday, January 9^th, we decided we were hungry so we headed to Selma's Sonic. We had not been there in a while. Holly Beth, Ashley, and I were in Holly Beth's car. Bethany, Audra, and Brittany were in Brittany's car. Our car, I must say, had the most fun. It was the most musically crazy, no one can argue that. There was nothing worth listening to on the radio so Holly Beth and I decided to make our own words to the songs that came on. We sang about Sonic and Selma. When we got our food and started to leave Holly Beth's car would not start. We figured out the battery was dead. There was a sinking feeling coming over us because of the circumstances. We decided to pray before we did anything so we hollered over to the other car and asked them to pray too. The essence of our prayer was that God would fix the car quickly so we could get out of Selma without having to leave the car or anything like that. Ashley quickly switched cars after we were done.

            Of course, neither of the girls had jumper cables, tools, or emergency kits in their cars. Three things that EVERYONE should have in their cars at all times, they did not have. I always tell my friends that I cannot fix anything if they are not prepared to offer me the tools to do so. This had happened at school once before, with a different car but basically the same people and no tools to fix the situation. It was slightly frustrating because I am one that HATES to ask for help of any kind.

God had us covered, though...  We had been faithful and prayed for his help and trusted him to deliver what we needed. He brought us, ironically, some of Judson's own: Director of Student Life Mrs. Sandra Fowler's family members from Texas. They jumped the car for us and we were able to make it back to school safely. Holly Beth and I had a doubly fun ride back and we talked about how amazing it is that, even when we do not quite pray the right words or are even on the right subject, God knows exactly what we need and he will provide it, in his time, if we will just be faithful and trust him to do so.

            In my September 29^th blog I talked about Holly Beth, Audra, and myself making a Single Ladies music video at Judson, it seems that the three of us will never live that down, at least until we make something even better. Everyone we run into talks about it and it has become our song in a way so of course we were going to sing it at karaoke night. You have to understand this crowd of people, most 30 or older and the karaoke mostly has a country theme. The three of us got up to sing, the song started, and everyone's faces were priceless. One of the owners, Joyce, got so excited. We apparently made her night. Everyone was laughing and clapping. It was phenomenal. We were laughing but we did a little bit of our dance too. When we finished the place erupted in applause.

            Holly Beth, Audra, Bethany, Ashley, Brittany, and I decided to return to J&R's karaoke night Saturday night January 9^th and we received a loud welcome when we entered. It was a slightly different crowd but the same basic theme. After we had been there for a while Joyce came over and asked if we were going to sing "her song" again for her so we said yes. We figured why not. She was so excited. It was not as fun as the night before because we did not want to sing all the same songs and there were more singers so we did not get to sing as much but it was still great. Holly Beth, Audra, and I were one of the final "acts" if you will of the night. We got up to sing and Joyce was already on the edge of her seat; laughing and clapping. The song started and we got about the same response as the night before. It was twice as fun though, to me anyways. When we finished the song and were walking to sit down the karaoke guy said, "Put a ring on it or someone else will!" and then Joyce asked us if we were going to keep coming back at least to sing that song. Everyone agreed that we should come back every Friday and Saturday night if just to sing that song for them. It was hilarious and then the karaoke guy said, "Every Friday and Saturday night, put a ring on it."