The Unhygienic Journey: Day 2

48 hours has passed friends and to be honest, I am starting to enter the "gross" phase of The Unhygienic Journey. But two quick, funny stories for you from today:

1. I was emailed today by University Housing's video producer asking me if I would be a part of a promotion video that Housing is doing for residence hall living. But when did she want to film it? THIS WEEK. I thought to myself, "You've got to be kidding me! Of all the weeks to do this she has to pick the one week of my entire life that I am not showering?!" Fortunately for me though, the times that she gave me I were unavailable for, so I conveniently rescheduled with her for next Wednesday. Conveniently, one day after this challenge is over. Praise God. :)

2. My boss walks into my office today at work and turns to one of our coworkers and says, "What smells?" Immediately I thought, "Oh my gosh, I don't smell that bad yet!" Our coworker replies, "Yeah...it smells like garlic or eggs or something." If you can picture my eyes growing to the size of saucers--that's what happened. I also discretely tried to catch a whiff of myself just to make sure. But then my boss says, "They need to get rid of that in the hallway, it's traveling through the whole building." Whew. She wasn't talking about me...yet. That did raise an idea in my head though today--should I tell my boss what I'm doing? Should I explain my semi-disheveled appearance when I'm at work next? What do you think?

My hair no longer feels light, nor does it look shiny. It has started to feel thicker and is limp, clinging to my head. It has taken on more brown hues than blonde. Ew.

My skin feels itchy. I've noticed that my scalp has been starting to itch, but the skin on my face is quite oily which I think is from all of the oils in my hair.

I smell like my vanilla scented moisturizer that I used this morning. I think this lotion is going to be the cure to my smelliness in the future. I should get another bottle...or two.

My mood is still optimistic. I haven't reached my breaking point yet, and I am praying that I continue to feel this way for at least 5 more days. :)

As I meditated on the scripture in Numbers today, I noticed that in other translations, it reads that God's love is steadfast. That word really stuck out to me. I started asking myself, what does it mean to have steadfast love? And I think God put this picture in my head of a tree bending in the wind, or a big rock at the bottom of a moving river. The tree and the rock both stand firm despite all of the movement going on around them. What a cool picture of God's steadfast love for us! His love for us stands as firm as that tree or that rock even when we doubt, when we fear, when we fail. All of our humanity can be in that wind, or in that moving river but God's love stands firm and anchored in the midst of us being human.

Tomorrow's scripture is taken from the book of Deuteronomy.

"If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you." -Deuteronomy 7:12, 13

The Lord loves me and you and He wants to bless everything He promised He would give to us. Amen!

The Unhygienic Journey: Day 1

It's been a full 24 hours, friends! Despite negative comments from Mike Zientara, Amanda Manning and a few others who will remain nameless, it's been an encouraging start to The Unhygienic Journey! Most of the credit goes to the sunshine and beautiful weather we had today, but also because of the knowledge we have of being created in the image of God! I spent a little time today thinking and trying to grasp the depth of that idea and you know what? I can't! My limited human understanding cannot fathom how God who hand-crafted me and you still did so with all the knowledge of our faults and limitations. And not only made us, but made us to be like Him! That is what we have to look forward to, friends! God is working to make us to be the people who He intended us to be all along. He wants to cast away our false selves, erase our facades and take down the walls that we have built around our hearts so that we will reflect all of Him and all of His glory! Praise Jesus!

My hair feels like its been through a days worth of life. It feels pretty light and still looks a bit shiny, but it is quite disheveled after today!

My skin feels a little dry, I think I might have to hydrate it with some lotion tomorrow morning!

I smell like half a dozen roses. :)

My mood is a little nervous! The morning is when I would normally get up to take a shower, but I don't have to do that tomorrow--AH! I'm a little anxious to see how I feel after my normal routine is broken, it should be exciting!

Tomorrow is when things are going to start to get a bit difficult, friends! Pray for me if you remember and if you see me, I'd love a hug. :) Tomorrow I'm going to meditate on this section of Scripture:

"The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation. In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt until now." -Numbers 14: 18, 19

The God we serve is full of love and justice for us whom He created in His image. Amen!

The Unhygienic Journey: The Before

The time is here, friends! The day that you have been eagerly awaiting and the day that I have been semi-dreading has dawned! Take a good long look at this picture, because I'm pretty sure that this is not how I will look 9 days from now. I am taking my last shower tonight at 11pm. Currently,

My hair feels light and feathery and looks shiny in all of its blonde-ness.

My skin feels as smooth as a baby's bottom.
(That's a bit of an exaggeration, but it really does feel nice and smooth)

I smell like a dozen roses. :)

My mood can best be described as eager anticipation!

I'm excited friends, I hope you are too! I appreciate all of your support as I begin this journey into the unhygienic world of...myself. If you see me this week, give me a hug and tell me I smell like roses. :) I thought it would be good to start meditating on when God first decided to make us as His dearly beloved creation, so tonight's scripture is found in the first book of the Bible.

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them...And God saw everything that he had made and behold, it was very good." -Genesis 1: 26, 27, 31

I was made in God's image regardless of how clean I am. Amen. :)

The Unhygienic Journey Begins

Hello friends!

Many of you have waited in anticipation for this day. Others may have waited in silent horror. But the time has now come. The hour has drawn near. The sound that water makes as it pours out of the shower head will soon be a distant memory.

For those of you who aren't aware of what I'm talking about, let me fill you in. Before the semester started, I had gotten into a conversation with friend and fellow journalism major, Mike Zientara regarding laundry. Titillating conversation, I know. I told him that I bet he couldn't go from January 19th, the first day of spring semester, to March 19th, the first day of spring break, without doing laundry. He bet he could. And as much as it pains me to write this friends, he bet right. My payment? To abstain from showering 9 days.

That's right. Now, I know what you're thinking. After the, "How stupid is she?" thought, you thought, "How in the world can she do this?" Honestly friends, your thoughts aren't too different than mine. But I see the next 9 days not only as a challenge, but as an opportunity. An opportunity to learn about the body and one's inner strength that can only come from God. And so I embark upon this journey starting this Sunday, March 28, 2010. Will you come along for the ride?

So here is how this is going to work. Every day, I will blog something new, along with posting a photo of how clean I'm going to look. I will also include a "My hair feels like...", "My skin feels like...", "I smell like..." along with my current mood. I also am committing myself to meditate on a new bible verse every day about how much the Lord loves me. I feel that this will be an encouragement to me when I'm feeling rather...well, nasty. :)

My first official post will be this Sunday as my "before" look and attitude. Watch out for it and tell your friends if you think they're up for a new kind of entertainment. But be sure to tell them that this isn't "The Real World" or some other reality show. This is real life. My life.

And so the journey begins! Friends, don't try this at home.

Redeeming Worship

Have you ever had one of those moments when you’re completely overwhelmed?

Tonight was one of those nights.

As I entered into Jesus’ presence at All Campus Worship in Foellinger Auditorium, surrounded by a thousand other people, God spoke to me. We weren’t even into the third song, but God met me. As I stood in my aisle seat toward the front, I took in the people who were surrounding me. My gaze was met with an African-American man sweating as he sang and danced on stage. I saw Asian-Americans standing in front of me, their eyes closed and bodies erect worshipping God. In the front row I noticed a red-headed girl using her hands to sign American Sign Language accompanying the words she was already singing from her mouth. Two rows back from her, a white girl with dark hair held both of her hands above her head, making big sweeping motions as she sang to her Savior. To the right of me, several students in wheelchairs sang with their heads tilted back in worship.

And God said to me, “Brittany, this is who I am.”

Tonight I realized that I was experiencing my last All Campus Worship as a college student. With that realization, it caused me to think back to when I was a freshman experiencing All Campus Worship for the first time. Three and a half years ago, I would have looked out on the crowd that I saw tonight and I would have thought that the African-American man was too enthusiastic in his worship. I would have seen those Asian-Americans as too solemn in their worship of God. The white girl waving her arms I would have thought was just trying to draw attention to herself while I was trying to focus on Jesus.

My attitude in these judgments reflected my attitude towards God. Then, I saw Him as a Creator who demanded worship in a particular way—my way, to be exact—in order for Him to receive the worship that we gave. Now, that critical, legalistic perspective which limited my own worship of God in so many ways has been replaced with humility, joy and love. As I took in the variety of expressions of worship tonight, I was reminded of God’s redeeming work in me.

Earlier this week I read in the book of Luke when Jesus is addressing the Pharisees and His disciples, “For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” I was struck tonight by this idea of how the kingdom of God lives within each of us—within each of our own expressions of worship even though it manifests itself in so many different, beautiful ways. The truth found in the message of the kingdom of God is the same, but how it displays itself in each of us is completely different. But each expression of worship that I experienced tonight is uniquely, handcrafted by our Savior. We were created to glorify and to worship God and the ways in which we do that reflect how He has designed us. There is no right way. There is only God’s way.

God desires to bring all of His creation back to Himself. He has redeemed my judgmental heart and He is still redeeming it and will continue to do so until every piece of it is under the full authority and reign of Jesus. In the same way that God is redeeming us, He is redeeming our worship. He desires our worship to reflect what He originally intended it to be—glimpses of how He has designed us. African-American, Asian-American, Caucasian. Hands raised, eyes closed, feet dancing. We are made in the image of God and we reflect His glory. For indeed, the kingdom of God lives within us. Amen.

The Power of Words

I’ve been doing some thinking lately on the power of words. I’m a writer, but even if you’re not, you still use words and have experienced the variety of ways they can make you feel. You’ve been told, “I love you” by close family and friends, maybe even a significant other. Someone may have said to you firmly (or possibly yelled), “I don’t want to talk about this right now!” You may have even heard, “I’m so, so sorry” that has come in the form of an apology. Words. Emotions. Together, they make us feel happy, sad, doubtful, angry, excited. All of these things I’m sure, you already know.

This morning though, I was reading in Matthew 22. If you’re unfamiliar with this passage of scripture, three groups of people, the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes, all throw questions at Jesus trying to trap him in his answers. I was looking at Jesus’ responses to these rather annoying groups of people, and the way Jesus answers their questions—the way he uses words—astounds me. Jesus doesn’t get angry; he is calm and collected. He answers their questions and then makes them marvel at what he just said. Now that is power. Jesus was one talented wordsmith.

I’ve been learning lately that I have to be careful with the words that I use—whether it’s in my writing or in the way that I speak. Sometimes I forget the power that they hold. With one sarcastic comment, I can make someone feel incredibly self-conscious. With a carefully placed witty comment, I can have people laughing until they cry. With an honest admission of how I really feel about something, I can make someone reevaluate an entire situation. I have the power to make people marvel at what I say, just like Jesus did. But is that how I really use my words? Is that how you use yours?

I think sometimes we’re more like the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes instead of Jesus with the way we talk or write. I know that I purposefully have tried to manipulate or control situations around me by the way that I use my words. I have said things to make me look better. I have written down all the things I would like to say to someone, but haven’t found the right time to say it in person. I have said things to keep myself protected. I’m not any better than the Pharisees. Are you?

No matter what situation we find ourselves in, we need to take responsibility for the things that we say and we need to mean it. Once something is said, or even written, we can’t take it back. It has already reached the other person’s heart. Now that’s power. How are we going to use it?

Lasting Fruit

When you think of something "bearing fruit," what do you think of? For me, I picture a huge, luscious tree; it's leaves a rich, dark green. It's full and healthy and the fruit hanging from it is just the same. Gravity pulls the tree's branches toward the ground due to the ripe fruit that has matured on its ends. I don't picture a single tree either--I picture a whole grove of trees, all growing together to produce more of what they were created to produce.

This concept of bearing fruit has been a central theme in the processing that I have done in regards to my future this summer. In several of my own quiet times these last few months, God has brought several verses about bearing fruit across my path. The first of which is found in the 15th chapter of the gospel of John: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name."

A good portion of John 15 deals with bearing fruit, but verse 16 (above) grabbed my attention. God appointed us to go and bear fruit that will last. The biggest difference between this idea and the picture I painted above is that the literal fruit on the literal trees don't last. They either will be picked or fall off and both fates don't lead to bearing more fruit. The verse in John, however, says that we have been chosen by God to do just the opposite--we have been called to bear fruit that will last.

Well, that's all well and good but what does that mean? What does it mean for us, in our present day, to bear fruit that will last? These were some of the questions that I tackled this summer as I took time to really seek God about what He may have for me in the future. What I found came in two parts as I spent some time in John 15. Earlier in the chapter, Jesus says that we need to remain in Him because apart from Him we can do nothing--no branch (us) can bear fruit apart from its vine (Jesus).

So if I try to do anything in the future apart from Jesus, it would only be in vain. I have to resist my human tendency to take my future into my own hands and pursue the option that is most comfortable. Instead, I have to continually be on my knees, asking God to reveal His will to me and to take my desire to control under His sovereign authority. I have to resist the urge to be swept up in the tides of what the world tells me is acceptable to do with my degree. Instead, I have to be willing to be moved and shaken in the direction that God wants me to go. This is what it means to remain in Jesus--and if I choose to be the branch that stays attached to the Vine, I will bear much fruit.

This leads me back to verse 16: "...but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last." Alright, alright we get that we're supposed to bear fruit, but what is this fruit that will last? This took me back to the end of the book of Matthew to what is known as the Great Commission: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." I think this is where bearing fruit that will last starts. Jesus commanded the disciples (and us!) to go and make disciples of all nations--talk about something that will last! With any person that you can share Jesus with, whether they decide to become a Christ-follower or not at that moment, you have planted a seed. And that will stay with them until it is time to be harvested.

But how does this tie into my processing about my future? Well, if I have been appointed and chosen by God to bear this fruit that will last, whatever I choose to do with my life must allow me to do that. Now, this doesn't mean that the only way to bear this lasting fruit is to go into ministry--it could mean that, however, it also could mean that God wants you to use your specific gifts and talents in an industry where He has plans for you to bear lasting fruit there. I think the question ultimately is this: What is the best way that I can I bear fruit that will last, using all of the gifts and talents that God has blessed me with? When we can answer this question honestly friends, I think we will begin to live in the freedom of knowing where God is calling us.

I spent time this summer trying to answer that question honestly and it was hard. What made it so difficult was that I began to hear God speaking to me that where I can best bear lasting fruit cannot be found in the journalism world. It is true that God has given me many talents that make me cut out for the printed media, but as I began to think about all of my other gifts and passions, it became rather clear. When I'm honest with myself friends, I'm not really passionate about journalism. I love how the profession can use good reporting and writing to right wrongs and bring justice to unjust situations, but that is only where a small corner of my heart lies. I have discovered this summer that the majority of my heart beats with passion at the thought of working with students and empowering them to accomplish big things for the kingdom of God. I'm going to be honest with you, this is the last place I thought I would ever find myself. It has been a little over a year that I was asked to consider going on staff with InterVarsity, and one year ago I had laughed at the possibility. But alas, here I am.

I'm scared. I'm ecstatic. I'm carefully choosing my words for when I talk to the members of my family about this abrupt change in careers. But it is in this crazy chasm where I must trust God, that I am confident I have been appointed and called to this line of work where I can bear fruit--fruit that will last.