Today in Paradise

As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.  A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him.  Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.   For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’   Then

“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!” and to the hills, “Cover us!”’ For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

 

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.  When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.  Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.  The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.” The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar  and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”

There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” 

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

-- Luke 23:26-43

Jesus went on to say, “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” At this, some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”  They kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.”

Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.  A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world.  So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.

-- John 16:16-22

Into Jubliant Psalm

Out of my bondage, sorrow and night,
Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;
Into Thy freedom, gladness, and light,
Jesus, I come to Thee;
Out of my sickness, into Thy health,
Out of my want and into Thy wealth, Out of my sin and into Thyself,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of my shameful failure and loss,
Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;
Into the glorious gain of Thy cross,
Jesus, I come to Thee;
Out of earth’s sorrows, into Thy balm,
Out of life’s storms and into Thy calm,
Out of distress to jubilant psalm,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of unrest and arrogant pride,
Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;
Into Thy blessed will to abide,
Jesus, I come to Thee;
Out of myself to dwell in Thy love,
Out of despair, into raptures above,
Upward for aye on wings like a dove,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

Out of the fear and dread of the tomb,
Jesus, I come, Jesus, I come;
Into the joy and light of Thy home,
Jesus, I come to Thee;
Out of the depths of ruin untold,
Into the peace of Thy sheltering fold,
Ever Thy glorious face to behold,
Jesus, I come to Thee.

 *  *  *  *

My prayer for my heart is for each day to be full of j u b i l a n t psalm for I know Whose face I will behold.

TWAMP: Exhibit A

More proof that William and Mary is the best college EVER

(and that twamps are the coolest people ever).

In case you needed more convincing.

(Photo courtesy of Overheard at William and Mary via Facebook)

Reasons Why I love My Alma Mater

A few years ago, a brilliant student at WM started an "Overheard at William and Mary" group on Facebook -- essentially a forum for students to post the ridiculous things things they hear students, faculty, employees, tourists, etc. say.  Context is usually irrelevant, and most posts are hysterical only because they are read out-of-context.  Anyways, I must admit that this site is one of my guilty pleasures.  It never ceases to amuse me, and each day always provides at least one or two memorable gems.  Plus, it is an amazing form of reassurance that the student body at WM hasn't changed -- that we are and will always continue to be TWAMPS (for the illiterate in WM lore: TWAMP=Typical William and Mary Person).  #TribePride now and forever.

Earlier this week, a friend of mine posted an Overheard that has since received 56 comments and 553 likes.  If something could be "trending" on Facebook, this would be.  And the gem that she posted and the resulting conversation made my heart so proud to be a 1. TWAMP and 2. an IR Major: 

In the marketplace: "Seriously, the botetourt complex is the Soviet Union of campus. They're the largest in number, they're bound together by mutual despair, and they'll crush anyone who gets in their way."

 Brilliant! Am, I right, or am I right? :) :)  And here are some of the gem comments other students posted:

• It is SO true! I live in Spotswood, & we were talking about how Spotswood is the District 12 of Botetourt. So, that makes us... Belarus? In this particular scenario?

• So does this make Barrett America?

• The Bryan Complex is the European Union. Subject to loud noise on weekends from football games coupled with excessive fire alarms. :)

• This probably means that Jamestown is China. They're big, new, and rising in power. It would appear that Jamestown also holds a massive amount of Barrett's debt...

• ^^Profound.

• Monroe should be Canada because its just as nice as Barrett but half as much fun.

• The coalition of Lodges accept any challenge posed by The Botetourt Complex

• The units are Australia because everything will kill you if given half a chance.

• Ludwell is could be England. Nice, friendly, but an island.

• Would that make Hunt North Korea? No one there knows anything about the rest of the dorms.

• ^ EXCUSE ME recant that~ Hunt's more like Easter Island or something...

• North Korea's not right - none of the rest of the dorms know Hunt exists! At least they see Taliferro on the way to the Marketplace. Also, Hunt isn't ambitious enough to form a serious military organization.So Hunt would be one of those small island nations in the Pacific or something? Like Fiji?

• Yes, it is. I quite like Fiji myself... and Brown can be a nearby island idk

• Hunt is sort of like one of those small tribes of undiscovered aboriginal tribes that haven't made contact with the outside world yet. I'm waiting for them to start worshipping airplanes.

• This might possibly be the best Overheard conversation ever. My inner history major sure came out today reading this.

• So is Yates like Mexico?

• ... and that's the reason why I love W&M. #TWAMP

• what about Dupont? china maybe since it has the largest number of people in the same building and is just south of botetourt.

• We've already got a China, though. If you're going by size/population density, maybe India? Except that DuPont has air conditioning, which means it's highly developed... Singapore, maybe? 

SO MUCH TRIBE PRIDE.  SAY IT LOUD, SAY IT PROUD.