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Bible College Fight Club

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When I was twelve years old, I fell in love with Fight Club.  The plot blew my teenage brain, Brad Pitt was overwhelmingly attractive, and the anarchist violence appealed to something some dark part of me.  I watched the movie four times in a week before my mom realized the content of my latest obsession, and she forbade me from seeing it again.  It was too late.  The movie was deeply ingrained in my psyche.

Fourteen years later, I sat on my bed at a Bible College in Greece when my American roommate said she was going downstairs to a fight club.  Continue reading →

No April Fool’s Prank Here

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I thought about pulling some kind of April Fool’s Prank on my blog.  Maybe I would reveal that Greece wasn’t happening or Surprise:  I’m Pregnant with Triplets or this whole time I’ve been a robot posing as a confused human female.

But no.

I don’t really like April Fool’s.  Partly because the holiday often devolves into “I Just Wanted an Excuse to Lie to You” or “Why Aren’t You Laughing at this Mean Prank?”  But mostly because I’m so gullible.  I fall for everything all the time.  I like to think this means I’m very trusting, but I think it also means I’m a little bit dumb.  So in the spirit of do-to-others-what-you-want-them-to-do-to-you, I won’t be playing any pranks today.  Enjoy a totally normal first day of April.

Okay, but there’s totally a dark side of me that loves pranks–got any good ones?  Either pulled by OR on you?  Leave a comment and let me know!

A Greek Husband

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Before I left for Athens, my grandparents called to say goodbye.  “Just don’t marry a Greek man!” my grandma said.

“But that’s my plan!” I answered.

“Tricia can marry whoever she wants,” my grandpa said.

I knew what my grandma was worried about.  “If I do marry a Greek man,” I assured her.  “I’ll make sure he is okay with frequent trips to Peoria so we can see you often.”

“Okay,” she said.  “Just make sure he’s a Christian.”  Continue reading →

The Joy of Being Known

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At my birthday dinner, Lindsay passed me gift bag.  I gleefully tore away the crinkly paper to pull out a red t-shirt.  I gasped.  “Gryffindor Quidditch?  Team Captain!?”  Lindsay nodded proudly.  She had just returned from a vacation in Harry Potter World.

IMG_3959“How did you know she was Gryffindor?” another of my birthday guests asked.

“I wrestled with it a lot, actually,” Lindsay explained.  “I think you’re 50% Gryffindor, 50% Ravenclaw.”

“That’s exactly how I describe myself!” I agreed.

“So I couldn’t decide which shirt to buy, but eventually my mom told me to choose whichever house you would most want to be in.  And I thought, Tricia is both smart and brave, but I think she wants to be more brave, so she would choose Gryffindor.”  Continue reading →

Happy Birthday to Me

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Today I turn 27!

This is one of those ages that seems absolutely perfect.  I like being an odd number, because 27 feels more significant and mature than 26 or even 28.  And being 27 puts me in the exact middle of my late-20s, and which is the time of life where everything (supposedly) starts falling into place.

Has everything in my life fallen into place?  Yes and no.

I started my 26th year with no clue where I would wind up after graduating from DTS.  I start my 27th year knowing I’ll be in Greece.  For how long?  I don’t know that part, but the uncertainty no longer feels so scary.  Before, it felt like there were twenty paths laid out before me, but I didn’t know which one to take.  Now, I’m walking on a path, and although it grows dark a few steps away from where I am, I have the safety of knowing I’m going somewhere.

So much of my 27th year is a mystery.  But an exciting one!  I can’t wait to settle into a new home, make new friends, and create new memories.  I’m excited to stretch myself, to learn new skills and grow deeper in my faith in God.  I’ve grown into a person who accepts challenges and says yes to adventures.  I’m so glad to be alive, and I’m so grateful that God continues to keep my life interesting.  I love who I am, and today, on my 27th birthday, I’m ready to love who I will become.

The Thing That Sucks About Being Single

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I like to defend singleness.  I like to become very defensive, really, and point out all the people, groups, and institutions that are not doing a good enough job at validating me.  I stand by my observations and my exhortations.  But there’s an elephant in the room that I always pointedly ignore during those kinds of blog posts.

Because the thing I skirt around is painful.  It is far easier to focus on what I like about singleness (the freedom!).  And it’s easier to focus on fear, and how being single means I get to avoid the potential heartbreak of loving someone so deeply that I accept the inevitability of being hurt by them.  It’s easier to pretend that that is the whole picture, thank you, please walk away now.  Continue reading →

The End of an Internship

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In December 2013, I was freaking out.  At DTS, we have to spend two semesters working at a counseling facility, and so far, I’d been ignored or rejected by all the places where I’d applied.  Then one day, I received a school-wide email suggesting people apply to The Vale, so I put in my application as a last-ditch effort to secure a position in the spring semester.  When I arrived at the private practice, I immediately loved the calm atmosphere and the counseling philosophy of the man who interviewed me.

Fourteen months later, I am finishing my internship.  I wound up staying there three semesters instead of two and spending an extra two months bringing my clients to a healthy close.  I stayed because I absolutely loved it.  Lois is a phenomenal secretary.  Tyler was the best supervisor I could have asked for.  Nancy was an encouraging fellow intern.  My clients were varied, frustrating, enlightening, and educational.  Looking back at my time at The Vale, I am so incredibly glad for that email in the midst of my confused sadness. Continue reading →

Introverts Dealing with Internet Hate

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I recently had a conversation with a professor about being an introvert on the Internet.  It has been my experience, observing both myself and others, that introverts can be just as silly, crazy, and excitable as extroverts.  The main difference is the comfort level that is required for this zany side to come out.  Extroverts who gain energy from being around people can get crazy fast.  Introverts, whose energy is drained by being around people, need to feel comfortable and safe before showing anyone their interior world.

The Internet changed all of this.  Suddenly introverts could share their thoughts, jokes, and silliness from the comfort of their bedroom.  They got the intimacy of conversation without the fear attached to actually being around new people.  Of course, this is largely a facade, but it is a really great one.  It’s the reason I have blogged almost every day for ten years.  Unfortunately, the Internet is not actually a safe place.  Continue reading →

Remembering the 2008 Tornado

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On February 5, 2008, an EF-4 tornado blew straight through Union University.  I was on campus that night, and the experience remains the one time in my life that I legitimately feared I was about to die.  Thirteen students were trapped in the rubble, and fifty-one were taken to the hospital.  The scope of the devastation was enormous, but God, for whatever reason, kept us safe.  Every February 5th I try to take time to acknowledge what happened so that I remember both the brevity of life and the protection of God.  The words that follow (with a few grammatical corrections) are what I wrote in a blog post a couple days after the tornado hit.

Around 6:30 the tornado sirens started going off, but we didn’t pay any attention. That happens often, living in Tennessee, and I was planning on starting my homework while the roomies watched American Idol. Brittany Cox ran over to our room through the rain and sirens, and we were just sitting around chilling. Then Whitney’s phone rang, and she all of a sudden said, “We’re leaving, come on!”  Continue reading →

Sharing My Faith

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Growing up in conservative Christianity, I attended an annual conference where I learned to share my faith so that strangers might convert and find salvation in Jesus Christ in less than two minutes.  I’ve changed the way I share my faith, but I don’t want to ignore the fact that some good things came from this conference.

Most importantly, condensing my faith into a two-minute speech did help me conceptualize the basic framework of Christianity by highlighting the overarching story revealed in the Bible.  The weekend retreats also provided an opportunity for me to combine faith and fun as my friends and I goofed off and worshiped simultaneously.  And because God is good, I know he used our efforts to bring hope and even salvation to some people’s lives.

The details of the conference were solid.  The big picture, however, is where I now disagree.  I was taught an evangelism tactic that was based in fear and presented as a formula.  Today, I try to share my faith out of love in the midst of relationships.  Continue reading →