All Together Now: Roooad Trrrip!

My friends and I have just returned from a ten day roadtrip to Yellowstone and back. We went through the North Dakotan Badlands, and hopped-skipped-and-jumped over to Yellowstone; and dove into the Tetons, and escaped via the South Dakotan Badlands. Back to home sweet home - in Bemidji, that is. (All that talk of heading home in the car, raised emotions about my home country, Malaysia. And I was quiet for awhile to think on that too.) ANYWAY,

It was superbly amazing! None of the pictures have been uploaded yet. Soon you'll see me being tagged on 'em on Facebook. I have no camera of my own, I used to loan my school's Cannon-pro cameras for personal projects or assignments. However, now that school is still out and summer is on (though almost over), I have no picture capturing device. Of my own, that is.

One of the highlights of the trip is and will always be our conversations. We had two bible studies between, talking about the same chapter I Corinthians 13.

That's right, LOVE.

We participated in Bible Study at Rob's a couple of weeks ago, about the same chapter and decided to do our own on the same one. There were so many things that we felt we still needed to understand. And today, I doubt I have fully grasped the full meaning of God's love.

I remember asking God in yesteryears to "teach me to love the way you love". I REALLY, TRULY did not know what I was asking for. And till today, God is still teaching me to love people: the types of people I don't necessarily jive with, that don't necessarily share my wavelength - and still; there is much to learn.

Question to self: Why is it so hard?

One of my dear friends had many questions too. Not the regular questions; some really provocative ones that made me think a lot about how i was conveying love (not any love, God's love) to the people around me. Even if it boils down to simple chores like dish-washing. How do I show love? Why can't there be expectations? Should we expect people to do something? Or should we do it out of love without resent? How can we not resent? Do we strive to be God-like in that way? Or are we allowing people spelunk on the very nook and crevices of our soft head? Another dear friend of mine shared about her fears and how she's dealing with them. Another shared about struggles.

It was amazing to hear all of us share our true stories, how it affects us. And I joke not, the stories shared are not for the faint of heart. Many tied to death.

And you wonder. And I wonder.

Will God be pleased with the final outcome of our race? Read I Corinthians 13 again with us too.

Oh, and..

I love you.

p/s I got invited for dinner tonight! Yay for progress!
p/p/s I leave you with a soundtrack for the day:

Gone
Like yesterday is
Gone
Like history is
Gone
The world keeps spinning on
You're going, going
Gone
Like Summer Break is
Gone
Like Saturday is
Gone
Just tryin' to prove me wrong
You pretend like you're immortal

-Switchfoot, for the win.
(Got to touch Jon Foreman again at Sonshine, by the way. *Laughs the hysterics down*)