Greetings and happy holidays all who are reading this! I hope that the past week or so has been full of family and a very merry atmosphere. For all of my midwestern readers, I hope that you survived the winter weather that the weather channel could not stop covering (my family is absolutely obsessed with the weather channel. It’s all we watch when KU isn’t playing… and apparently there was some bad winter weather over the Christmas weekend). I was lucky and got to spend Christmas in Charlotte and not in Wichita this year, which basically means I got lucky because I would’ve probably lost my luggage and gotten stuck in an airport for a few days (Just a few days, no big deal). At least that’s what happened to a lot of people in the country. It was also nice to not fly into a snowstorm where the windchill was negative thirty degrees. All I gotta say is count your last second switch ups on the Christmas plan blessings sometimes y'all. I have a feeling that this blog is going to be a little shorter than my usual novel since we technically didn’t do anything program related for the past two weeks (still not an adult with a full time job yet so I can still have a winter break hehe >:)). I am also very aware that I have said that in the past many times and they honestly have somehow gotten longer. What’s up with that? Do I have a problem with lying? Unfortunately, we do not have any time to venture down this road because we must blog on! How lame is that, “blog on!”? Talk about cringe.
Anywho, my Christmas break was great. Thanks for asking! Seeing the Kuthan squadron was awesome. I missed my friends in the old ta town (that’s what we call Wichita sometimes), but was able to make some great memories in the old er town this weekend (my family I visited lives in Denver, NC so you can see what I did there. I know it was clever. Also, who knew Denver was in NC. Isn’t that so weird?) Honestly nothing huge happened. Santa come through, and time with the folks was quaint. Yep, that’s about it for this paragraph. Get ready to move a line down. Here we go… Waaait… Waaaaait… okay now!
As I am watching the CFB playoffs, (Can I get a “RIP” in the chat for KU football? And KSU football? Tough trotting troopers.) I will be honest with y'all. I have no idea what happened this month. I figured out I didn’t put any notes in my phone like I usually do. And this blog is due today??? time to put my college skills to the test of doing things extraordinarily last minute with great proficiency. That’s engineering school for y'all. Should I leave that last sentence in there? Eh, why not? I am feeling ~dangerous~ today (this is probably due to me watching TCU absolutely downgrade this Michigan football team at the moment. Let’s go frogs. They called me crazy for backing them today. (I really am just starting to share anything on my mind in this. I guess that’s what you get in these.) Can’t wait for them to choke and then me face the consequences of showboating before the clock hits zero.) Guys Look what I just figured out. Condiments are gross. You can strikethrough things. That is crazy. Might use that later, I guess we will see.
Okay, I promise I will be serious now. Y’all aren’t just reading this for me to goof around. This month was hard but also good. It is hard to realize how fast time can move. Somehow we have already hit the halfway point in this program. It feels in reality like it has been maybe a month or two. I know that is cliche, (anyone know how to add the accent over the e?) but it really is weird. There are some moments where time is slow and some where it is fast. It always seems like time is fast when reflecting on the past, doesn’t it? This is something I thought about during break. It was only a few months ago, I didn’t really know anyone who lived in this city. Now I know several amazing people and the many stories that come with knowing them. I mean this is the stuff you see in movies. Main character moving to the big new city and starting a new life there. You can get so comfortable where you are that you really do forget what the beginning was like. It has been a fruitful experience to have the remembrance of the beginning of this city not too far in the rearview mirror. It has helped me to remember the many other beginnings along the way to this point. There was a beginning that started in a random basement where they were attempting to preach about some guy named Jesus in Wichita, KS, one that started at a camp somewhere in Georgia, another beginning started in a different camp in Missouri (camp’s are crazy and very apparent in my life haha), another at a book club I found myself at, another beginning in my parent’s pit area in the winter with a few friends and a few Heineken 0%’s, another at a house that miraculously came on the market 10 days before a few guys and I needed to move in somewhere, and now a beginning in a city over 1,000 miles away from one I know so much about. That is a long, long run-on sentence. My deepest apologies. But these are some beginnings that mean a lot to me personally.
For anyone reading, it was not my original intention to lead us here, but I would encourage you to take a moment and reminisce on the past. What are some beginnings? Doesn’t have to necessarily be faith-related (although, those usually are pretty good beginnings), but what are some beginnings to a friendship, beginnings to a hobby, beginnings to a skill, beginnings to a career, etc., that mean a lot to you? Take a moment this holiday season and reflect. Isn’t that what the calendar turn of New Years is about… reflecting? Beats me, I don’t know. I am just on my soap box right now. I will go ahead and step off of it now though.
Thanks for reading this month’s update on my life and the thoughts that have spawned during the past few weeks. I know it wasn’t much but maybe that’s a good thing for y’all who are reading. I hope that you got something out of it or maybe laughed at my goofiness that took up over half of this collective text. In the spirit of the new year, here are some things that going into the new year that I would love to have prayers for if y’all would be so kind:
Confidence, confidence, confidence (will this one ever not be on here? Probably not, I think everyone can use a little prayer for confidence in this day and age.)
Eyes to see the little ways that God is working
Margin in the days to seek out the Lord
A heart to be present no matter where I am
Thank you again for reading this update. As I always say, if there are any ways that I can be praying for you guys or if you just want to chat, please do not be afraid to reach out. As a usual ending point, here are a few pictures from the past month that make me smile:
“Neil going horizontal Christmas edition”. This was taken at the Raleigh famous Angus Barn. People will really do a lot to be here during the holiday season.
This was fellows secret Santa. I had a double whammy experience of knowing who had me and the person I had, knowing I had them. Try not to get too lost in that sentence of a lot of “had”.
This is maybe the blurriest photo you will ever see (its giving “low quality photo, high quality people”), but I had to share that in a white elephant I went to, someone gave me a lizard and it sat on my shoulder. I had to give her back but that was crazy.
That is all for now. May He bless your month of December,
- Alec