no, i have not fallen off the face of the earth.  yes, i am still alive.  life has been incredibly busy lately!  my Christmas break was amazing!  it was great to be back working at Steak n Shake and hangin out with my family--especially my brother!  i am really excited about my classes this semester!  i am not so excited to be back at school though. *sigh*  anyway, i think this semester is going to be easier than last semester so maybe i'll post more. 

whats this?!?!?!?!?  i posted twice in the same month not to mention the same week?!?!?!?  amazing!  anyway, i had to do a survery because i am on the ministry team for my floor.  i figured i'd post it here because...who doesn't want to know random facts about my life?

Name:  Emily Bender

Major:  Bible with a music emphasis

Position/responsibilities:  i’m the birthday rep!!  woohoo!  bring me your wish list!  *wink, wink*

Favorite verse:  my current favorite verse is Is. 66:2  “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.”

Hidden Talent:  i have tons of hidden talents like:  making up random holidays like National Meaningful Touch Day, stalking people and i can do this weird trick with my eye.  it’s wild.  ask me about it sometime.

If you could marry any prof, who would you marry and why????  i’d definitely have to say Dr. McDuffee because Oh my WORD, saints!!!! who wouldn’t?

Stuff i want to do before i’m 30:  go skydiving, swing from a chandelier, eat grubs…etc.

Weirdest job:  hmmm…ya know, i haven’t really had very many jobs. hmmm…*thinking*…oh yeah!  this one time when i was like 8 i decided that i wanted to earn some money so i drew up a chart that had all kinds of random tasks on it like: 1 back scratch $.20, bring you a can of pop $.25, walk the dog for you $1.00, etc.  then i showed the chart to my little brother and told him that i would do any of the jobs listed for him if he agreed to the price.  the little sucker fell for it.  i made 5 bucks being his personal assistant for a day.  after that he decided he’d do his own work.  *sigh*

When I grew up I wanted to be:  i wanted to be so many things as a child.  i really wanted to be an archeologist, but one day when i was playing sardines i discovered that i was mildly claustrophobic—no crawling into tombs for me.  i also wanted to be an author.  when i was 8, i began the arduous task of writing the sequel to C.S. Lewis’s The Horse and His Boy.  but when i was 12 i looked back on those early manuscripts and realized that i not only had the two main characters getting married when they were 13, but i also consistently spelled the word “said” siad.  then i decided to be a nurse.  unfortunately that all changed when i began chemistry in high school.  when i realized that i wasn’t going to be able to do any other job, i decided to pursue the only other alternative to homelessness—fulltime Christian ministry.  yeeehaw! 

i hope you enjoyed that!

if you are reading this right now, you are probably falling off your chair in wonder and amazement that i am actually posting.  i myself can hardly believe it! 

life is good.  God is good!  the past few weeks have been such a gift.  i am getting plenty of sleep.  my school work isn't too bad right now.  yesterday it was sunny and 70 outside!  i don't think we'll have another day like that until may.

i would really appreciate your prayers.  i have decide to apply to become an RA.  its something that i would really love to do!  it would be great preparation for future ministry and i think it is something i would be good at.  i love talking and relating to people and mentoring and encouraging!  i'm the happiest when my room is full of girls and we are all talking, laughing, sometimes crying together.  i would love being an RA!  but...

i have to go through a long application process.  plus i know many girls who are applying to be RAs who would be much better than me.  i guess i would appreciate it if you would pray that if this is something that God wants me to do that i he would give me favor in the eyes of those who are selecting the RAs, but if its not what he wants that i would be content to follow him.

this is really nice.  i can actually say life his good!  this semester has been wild.  i've never experienced a time in my life like this before.  it's been painful, tiring, stressful, but i've been able to see God at work.  that's exciting!  i think i've made it through the fire...at least for a season. 

i have to say that yesterday's chapel was amazing!  the focus of the sermon was on setting things in motion.  the speaker preached from John 6 (the feeding of the 5,000).  he said that in ministry there are 2 different mind sets we can have--Philip's mind set or Andrew's mind set.  Philip's mind set was based on natural power, abilities, organization.  but Andrew's mind set was "let's see what God can do!"  it was all about taking what he had, giving it to God, then Jesus touched it and look what happened!  the speaker said that when we are ministering or doing anything in life for that matter that we need to keep reminding ourselves, "I can't; God can."  he said that it's the broken, humble and desperate who are going to set things in motion.  yay!  being broken, humble and desperate is ok!!!  yay!!! 

ok parting thought from yesterday's chapel.  "if you think there is something that God is calling you to do, but it's something that you can accomplish then it's probably not God calling you."  hmmmmmmm...