Reflections on Tour

Tour. 

Lessons, laughter, life, learning…it was a wonderful 10 days.

Here's what I learned:

-Singing for 2-3 hours a day wears out your voice, rapidly.

-I love singing, no matter how worn out my voice is.

-Isaiah 40 never ever gets old.

-Staying with strangers will always be a bit odd, and if you find them sitting in the dark in the morning drinking coffee, just join in and pretend it's normal. 

-You are bound to embarrass yourself, or at least openly reveal the child in you, when you play with the toys that are in your 'bedroom' at your host home.

-Toys these days are scary.  They make noises. And jump at you.  And you can never be too careful.

-Churches and 'host homes' feed you incessently, but you keep eating because their food is so. good. 

-I will never be comfortable in a city, but the barrage of coffee shops sure is marvelous.

-The lake effect from Lake Michigan will freeze your toes when you're only wearing flipflops, and it's 39 degrees out, in April.

-On that same note, umbrellas are useless when crossing bridges over said lake in the middle of a windy day.

-They were serious when they nicknamed Chicago the "Windy City".

-Corner Bakery Café is a cute little shop that gives out free cookies when you take a survey. Yes, please.

-Stubborn pride will get in the way of healing.

**This is literal.  Read: Emily was too stubborn to move positions in the choir so that she wouldn't have to hold music, so now her arm still hurts. Dumb.

-The best way to get people to open up to you and share with you, is to listen. Sounds simple enough, doesn't it?

-Staying up late will make you tired.  But you can learn things about people and hear their stories much easier when you do. And gain a few new friends.

-Amish people are everywhere. And while they (and their religion) confuse me, we as Christians should learn from their sense of community.

-When you ask God to teach you, He will.  Maybe not in your timing, or what you think you need to learn, but He will definitely teach you.

-God is so creative and also humorous and one of the best places to learn this is the Zoo!

-Time changes will always confuse me.  And I constantly forget that I'm in a different time zone than my family and friends and so I text them and try to talk to them at ridiculous hours.

-When you kick stationary metal objects, you will be hurt and the stationary object will remain unaffected.

-It is possible to take an interest too far: it becomes an obssesion which will take over your house and your life.

-These interests include, but aren't limited to: M&M's, football teams, pets, dolls and figurines.

-God is faithful.

-Jesus is Alive!