Planes Beat Oceans

Fun Facts about Stef for the Day:
1) Apparently she and Michaelangelo have one very impressive thing in common: they both have photographic memory, according to Stef at least.
2) Stef's life ambition is to be the first female Pope.

So its pretty hard to believe we are flying back to the U.S. of A. tomorrow.

Europe is awesome but I could totally go for Upland flavored Starbucks right now.

If you were wondering if those classic friars still exist, the ones that look kind of like Friar Tuck from Robin Hood, well the answer is yes, yes they do.

Florence was hands down the most beautiful city we have visited thus far.

I was starting to get annoyed about being reminded about my tallness on a daily basis on this trip, but when I tried to run up some stairs yesterday, hit my head, and knocked myself out briefly, I realized that the reminders are only in my best interest.

If I was the Pope I would have slumber parties in the Cistein (sp?) chapel all the time, because that ceiling is awesome.

The statue of David, yeah, its pretty much as impressive as you would imagine, although very innacurrate in one way: I highly doubt the king of the jews was uncircumcised...Just sayin.

Number one cause of knee bruising for tall people: Lengthy plane rides.

Number one cause of stewardesses tripping: Tall people with their legs in the aisles.

Its a lose-lose situation.

Songs of the Day: Hummingbird and Thanks I Get but Wilco, as well as and awesome cover of Ain't No Sunshine by Will Hoge

The Pope Lives Next Door

Stef Quote of the Day: (Premise: its 8:00 in the morning and we are on the bus heading to our drop off point. Everyone is really tired except for Stef and its cold so she wants the sun to come out so this is what she sings, multiple times) "Sun, Sun, please come out. Please come out or I will pout."

So here we are Rome, literally a quarter of a mile from a completely different country, the Vatican.

We drove through snow covered mountains on the way in. It made me mountain sick for snowboarding. Being a poor college student is overrated.

Maybe seeing Iron & Wine in Holland with Mario and Reid when we get back stateside. Yeah, Jim, I mean, Sam Beam.

Got what was probably the most well put invitation to a pub crawl today that I have ever received. Actually, who am I kidding, I've never been invited to a pub crawl. But he was actually a pretty cool guy. He grew up in Canada, then came to Italy to work for the UN but hated it, so for the last three years heàs made money advertising these huge drinking parties to tourists. In two and a half weeks he is moving to Brazil to start his own travel agency. People are awesome.

Rome is classy, but people were nicer in Greece I think. Also, the food was better.

I miss the Silver Fox.

Song of the Day: Ballad of Love and Hate by the Avett Brothers

A Roman Holiday

Tonight=Last night in Athens
Tomorrow=15 hour cruise from Greece to Rome
Greece=Amazing food, amazing views, and super shady kiosks
Rome=Land of mystery just waiting to be explored
Me=Blessed, and definitely coming back to Greece to hike the mountains before I die
Stef=A hideous secondhand crewneck sweater that is epitome of tourist
Margee=The most Greek looking person in our group
Mario=Street performer extraordinaire
Reid=Angel
Zach=Italian

God is good, all the time

Athens

Before I got on here I was flipping through a Greek boating magazine. It was entirely in Greek, but the pictures were awesome. It reminded me of my life goal to buy a boat and live on it for year. Life goal renewed.

We've spent a lot of time in the bus the past few days driving from northern greece to Athens (in the south). Besides the complete absence of leg room, I actually don't mind the long bus rides at all. The Greek countryside is beautiful. I'm not quite sure I've stopped being in awe of God's creation since I've been here.

I've come to the conclusion that gyros should replace hamburgers as the go to fast good in America.

Song of Day: Flightless Bird, American Mouth by Iron and Wine

From Greece With Love

Stef Quote of the Trip thus far: "I don't need a compass. I just pretend every way I'm facing is north."

Random Thoughts from the Flight:
~Watched Five Hundred Days of summer. Loved it as a movie. Not sure whether I loved its point. We'll see. I'll have to watch it again.
~Everything you do on an airplane is weird when you think about the fact you are doing it at thousands of feet above the ground.

Highlights of the Trip thus far:
~Jetlag...just kidding
~Really amazing Greek coffee
~Climbing to the Doors of Mt. Olympus. Probably the best part of the trip so far. Absolutely beautiful. Could have spent a week hiking it and backpacking, but a day was good too.
~Quality time with the Lord. Learning so many amazing things about joy, beauty, sanctification, and community just to name a few.
~An amazing group of people!
~Walking downtown Thessaloniki, observing the nightlife, getting gelato and gyros.
~ And of course, walking in the footsteps of Paul.

Current Song of the trip: A Day in the Kingdom by J. Tillman

JOY

The whole fall semester my theme was joy. Joy in all circumstances. Yet as the semester began to wind I started to realize that I really didn't have a functioning definition of "joy" beyond it being some vague sense of happiness/contentment/conf

idence. Then it struck me that maybe part of the reason that I struggle so much to have joy is because I really have no idea what "having joy" looks like biblically. It makes sense that to take part in true, lasting joy I must have at least some sense of what joy truly is.

So, I decided to pull out my trusty ESV concordance and go through each usage of the word "joy" in the Bible and try to figure out what joy meant or looked like in different contexts. Here are some things that really stood out and were helpful to me through the first few instances (more to come):

1) Joy is not the same as happiness. Although joy often entails happiness or excitement (especially in the Old Testament), there is far more to joy than just feeling good.

2) There are basically two types of joy: eternal (lasting) joy and finite (temporal) joy. It seems that it is almost impossible for temporal joy to transcend happiness and is a product of common grace, but lasting joy comes from God, who does not change. Thus, lasting joy is not dependent on "life being good" to be present. (Job 8:19, Job 20:5, Job 33:26)

3) Lasting joy, the kind I want, comes directly from God (Psalm 4:7).

4) Joy is inextricably tied to trust in God. If true, lasting joy is based in God then those who find their constant refuge in him will have the most intimate access to that lasting joy (Psalm 5:11).

5) Joy is found in the promises of God. Much lasting joy can be found in this life if we stay focused on the fact that God has promised to lead us on the paths of life and will never abandon us. Even when, in our eyes, we do not feel like we are anywhere close to the path of life, God in his sovereignty is directing our footsteps and will never abandon his children (Psalm 16:11).

6) The sun takes joy in carrying out God's commands. How much more should we, who are much more like God than the sun (since we are created in his image), rejoice at the unique opportunity we have as Christians to freely obey the creator of universe (Psalm 19:5)!

My Top Three Albums of the Year

I realize that "Best of" lists are completely subjective, so as a disclaimer, these are simply MY personal favorites:

Top Three Albums of 2009:


1) The Avett Brothers- I and Love and You

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• Reason: The explanation of the album title in the liner notes alone indicates the thought and creativity that went into this record. The Avett Bros. use amazingly catchy, and often beautiful country-tinged melodies, to explore the many different ways that love is expressed and defined in our culture. The results are honest, thought provoking songs, none of which disappoint. Basically, go buy this album if you haven't already.
• Key Tracks: I and Love and You, The Perfect Space, and Laundry Room

2) Noah and the Whale- The First Days of Spring

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• Reason: The emo/screamo fads of recent years have effectively mined the depths of every possible break-up cliche that exists. With The First Days of Spring, Noah and the Whale jettison all the cliches in regards to painful break-ups and attack the subject with raw honesty that is refreshing. The First Days of Spring doesn't avoid the paradox of conflicting emotions that accompanies a broken relationship by dwelling solely on love/depression or hate/anger. Instead the songs touch on both. Basically, I love this album because it is honest, in touch with reality, and resonates with real life.
• Key Tracks: My Broken Heart, Blue Skies, My Door Is Always Open

3) Wilco- Wilco [The Album]

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• Reason: I'll be the first to admit that this is certaintly not Wilco's best album, probably not even in the top three. Yet, to Wilco's credit it is pretty impressive that they can be off their game and still make one of the best albums of the year. [The Album] effectively summarizes the different sounds the Wilco has evolved through during their existence as a band. As I listened to the album I could point to different albums in their back-catalog that individual songs could have been on. Jeff Tweedy's to-hell-and-back-voice and Nels Cline's guitar carry the album. The album itself is slightly fractured due to lack of unity in sound, yet when you take the songs individually there is not a bad one in the lot.
• Key Tracks: One Wing, You and I, I'll Fight