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May 18, 2006 

Freefallin'

Sixteen hours to and from a wedding. Almost learning the song. Thirteen concerts in seven days. Losing a college President. Joining a new eight-member family. Moving that family into a fifteen by six foot trailer. Learning the names of the thirty other people I've lived with in the last five days. Planning events I don't know anything about. Smiling.

I was happily cruising along in the fast lane when I smacked into life's windshield a week ago today. Now I'm just hanging on for the ride. I'm not complaining. Actually, I'm having a great time. And it's not just the fact that I'm traveling with seven great friends and being treated like a celebrity every night. I'm actually learning to enjoy the loss of control. I've been hanging on to the steering wheel for the past few months, and I just found out it's not connected to anything.

I stumbled across Luke 9 the other day in my devotions, and God used it to teach me something important—Christ is all I need. I learned that in first grade. And again in second. I was teaching it by high school and writing papers about it in college. I'm finally starting to get a grip on the concept. It's a good feeling.

The only problem is that I know I have an emergency chute. It's called introversion. People expect it from socially challenged, analytical people like me. I can whip it out whenever I feel threatened, confuse everyone, and hang out with myself for a while. I've discovered I'm kind of boring, though, so I'm trying to just enjoy the ride. I'll do my best to keep you posted.


At 4:49 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said,   

i'm pretty sure God lets us have those fake steering wheels just so we have something to focus our minds on. like the kid in the grocery cart with the 'car' seat in front, there needs to be a wheel of some sort, otherwise we'd go nuts. it's not natural for us to just trust somebody else to do everything, but we can grow into it.


At 5:15 PM, Blogger Katiebug said,   

I don't know about anyone else, but I know it's a huge battle for me. Thank you for your openness. We can all just continue to keep one another in our prayers as we seek to let go and let God.

Don't spend too much time hanging out with yourself, you'll miss some really great people along the way. People that just might enjoy you for you (have I heard that somewhere before?;-)


At 5:21 PM, Blogger Heather said,   

Except for the mixed metaphor, :-) I understand exactly. Interesting how those basic truths, once thought simple, or even mastered, come back with increasing need. So perhaps the chute (or can we call it an airbag for sake of the analogy?) is our dependency on Him. Introversion is merely the view. Just don’t let it distract you from where you’re going.


At 5:25 PM, Blogger kathryn said,   

This isn't about your post but your random quote. i don't understand your saxon quote about "there is no grace that cannot be counterfeited by perseverance." i'm assuming you understand it since you put it on--if you get a chance would you mind explaining? thanks :)


At 11:58 PM, Blogger justinic9 said,   

Everyone, thanks for your thoughts.

Joelle, thanks for checking. At the moment, life is great. I'll try to explain more as I have time.

Heather, the mixed metaphor was more of a combination of separate metaphors. For more information on the emergency chute, see the post title.

Kate, the beauty of such a quote is that you can't appreciate it until you identify with it. So, sorry, I refuse to explain.

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  • I'm justinic9 .
  • Currently calling Changchun, Jilin, China home.
  • You'll really find out the most about me by reading my posts, but a little background never hurt. I just graduated from Maranatha Baptist Bible College with a B.S. in Humanities. I plan to go to grad school eventually, but I'm taking a few years to teach English in China before I go back to school. And, um, you should just go read the blog now.

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