No Fear

I fear the world, much more than I should.. sometimes more than anything else.  Yet I know I have no reason to.  I have no reason to fear anything but God.  Somehow though our culture has taught me to fear things like rejection and failure.  In fact I think most people fear these things more than they should.  

There are moments in life when we feel a tug on our heart to do what’s right… I know there are a lot of moments in my life like that.  The sad thing is that 9 times out of 10 I ignore it.  I ignore God saying, “Hey Karley, you see that girl sitting there by herself?  Go sit with her.. strike up a conversation… maybe ask her if she knows me.”  I want to… I always want to.  But most of the time I don’t because I’m afraid I’ll be rejected or judged.  Last week God tugged on my heart again but this time I listened and I felt the exact opposite of what I feared I would feel…. Here’s the story:

So I was in Chicago last week having a one year reunion with the girls I studied abroad with.  It was our friend’s 22nd birthday so we went out to celebrate.  It was about 1 AM and we were walking down the street when my friend Colleen and I were approached by a homeless couple and I felt God say to me, “Don’t just walk away from these people.”  So I struck up a conversation.  As we were chatting I noticed the woman’s hands were cupped together and shaking so I took my gloves off and handed them to her.  Her hands were so cold that she couldn’t even reach out to grab them so I put them on her hands for her, hugged her, and walked away wishing I could have done something more for them.  Colleen and I caught up with the others at a pub down the road and went inside for a drink.  About 10 minutes later I looked out the window and saw Howard and Cynthia (the homeless couple) standing outside and I immediately felt another tug on my heart saying, “Here’s your opportunity to do something more…”  This is where I would normally hesitate… worrying about my friends asking me what I was about to go do.  For some reason that night I realized I had nothing to lose.  I walked outside and there were a few people outside smoking and I got scared… scared that they would look at me like I was crazy for what I was about to do.  But I toughed it out… walked up to Howard and Cynthia and asked them if they would mind if I prayed for them.  They gratefully accepted my offer and right next to all those people I placed my hands on their shoulders, watched as they grabbed each other’s hands, then closed my eyes and began to pray.  After we finished they hugged me, thanked me, and walked away.  And I turned around and shocked myself as I walked not fearfully, but confidently back into the pub.  I didn’t care if my friends asked me what I was doing or why I did it.  I knew in my heart that I had done exactly what I was supposed to do at that very moment.  I had listened to what God was calling me to do.   

So now I will try to tell myself…….Who are they to judge me?  God is my one true judge.  Who cares if they reject me.  I’m not living my life for them.  I’m here to serve the Lord, my God, who will never reject me.  I have absolutely no reason to fear the world 

Week 5: Musicals….Celeb Stalking…HILLSONG!!!!

On Tuesday we went to see Phantom of the Opera in central London.  At the show we made a new friend named Diego.  He’s studying abroad also but at the London School of Economics.

On Thursday Colleen, Emily, and I went to Leicester Square for the premiere of the movie Valentines Day to do some celeb stalking.  We arrived 4 hours before the premiere and after standing in the cold for about 40 minutes we were informed that only 3 of the stars from the movie were going to show up.  The rest couldn’t handle the weather and backed out.  We decided it wasn’t worth it to wait and chose to see a show instead and bought tickets for Avenue Q.  For dinner we ventured into Pizza Hut and found that the Pizza Hut’s in London are actually quite classy.  We had some time to kill before the show started so we thought we’d check and see how the premiere was going.  Unfortunately we couldn’t see much but Emily and Colleen convinced me to get up on a little post in the middle of the sidewalk to try to see over the crowd.  They hoisted me up and I took a seat…it was painfully uncomfortable to sit on but I was able to get some good shots of Ashton Kutcher’s profile.  Avenue Q was hilarious.  It’s basically like Sesame Street for adults.  Our new friend Diego wanted to meet up with us for drinks so we met him at a place in Covent Garden called The Dirty Martini.  I was blown away by the cost of drinks in the city but still had a blast singing and dancing to a wide array of classic songs with a bunch of 30 year old businessmen.  Unfortunately by the time we left the trains were shut down so we had to catch a bus home and I didn’t climb into bed until 4am.  I slept in until 12:30, which for me is absolutely epic.

On Saturday we went into Kingston to do a bit of shopping.  Lesson learned: never go shopping in Kingston on a Saturday…it was packed.

Sunday was the highlight of my week because I finally made it to Hillsong London for church.  I’ve wanted to go for weeks but haven’t been able to get there.  Emily and Colleen came with me, which was great!  The music was incredible and the message was pretty good.  The service ran a bit long because they spent a lot of time talking about offering and tithing and finances in general.  At the end of the service everyone received a free book called Biblical Finance and it’s pretty cool.  I am hoping to make it back there for church again soon!  

How to describe my first European club experience…. Sweaty?  Painful?  Loud?  Awesome?  I have no idea how British kids do this every week… it was insane!  And on a Monday night?!  First there’s the club attire…  The girls all look like they’re going to homecoming so of course I couldn’t show up in jeans.  Then there’s the cost of drinks…although I guess that’s not really a problem for me since I’m not a huge drinker.  I managed to spend only £5 the entire night, which covered the shuttle ride there and back and my entry fee.  Not bad!  I can’t even begin to describe the club since there’s really nothing back home to compare it to.  The club is called Oceana and it has 4 large ballroom type rooms with different themed dance floors.  There are little bars all over the place…it was like a giant maze trying to work my way through crowds of people.  I have no idea how I danced for four hours…but I did.  My evening ended in pain…by the time we left my feet were killing me.  Needless to say if and when I go back to Oceana, I’ll be wearing flats.  All in all I had a blast, but it’s definitely not something I’ll be doing every week..

P.S.  I should have posted this last Monday when I went to the club…but I haven’t had internet in my house so I’m about a week behind…

City Life

Well, I can easily say that I am quite fond of having a 4 day weekend.  We were able to do so much.  When I say we I am referring to myself and two other girls from Marquette.  So, here’s how we spent our first 4 day weekend in London.  On Thursday morning we headed into the city to see Avatar 3D.  The effects were AMAZING.  We headed to a pub to get some fish and chips for lunch and were a little hyper after seeing the movie so we made a bit of a scene.  The bartender thought we were funny.  After lunch we tried to get to the Tower of London but it was closed so instead we toured Tower Bridge.  We watched the sky go from day to night up on the bridge and the view was beautiful.  We took our time walking along the Thames and then caught the train home.

On Friday it was pouring but we busted out our umbrellas and raincoats and made our way into Kingston for some shopping.  I was amazed to see how many stores offered student discounts and it became very helpful since we found that the exchange rate is now about $1.77 to the pound.  We found some great deals and then headed back home.  We searched for a place to eat in Twickenham and wandered into a pub expecting to find what we usually had been finding..a few old men scattered around having a drink.  To our surprise the pub was filled with both young and old people.  It also had a dance floor and various areas with comfortable seating.  We ended up spending just over 3 hours there eating dinner, watching rugby, and enjoying some cider.

Saturday we headed back into the city determined to go to the Tower of London.  We bought our tickets and wandered throughout the various towers for almost 3 hours.  Seeing the crown jewels was pretty awesome considering they contain the largest diamond in the world.  We also saw the biggest punch bowl I’ve ever seen…made of gold..but I couldn’t take a picture of it.  Afterwards, we hopped on the tube and wandered aimlessly trying to find the British museum.  Once we found it we were so hungry that we decided to hold off on the museum and grab some dinner at Pizza Express.  More delicious Italian food!  Then it was time for a night on the town… but unfortunately terrorist threats prevented us from making our way to where we were supposed to go.  It ended up being okay because we found a little jazz concert to watch.  It was fantastic.  In an effort to avoid taking the tube (as the news had advised us to do), we took a cab back to Waterloo and got on the train home.

Today was relaxing…we had brunch on campus, took a trip to Waitrose (a grocery store) for some snacks, and did some homework.  And by homework I mean we watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show for our Cult Film class.  Yep… we are working really hard out here.  I also posted some pictures on Facebook, so check them out!

Cheers!

A dreary day…

I’m finding that school nights here are quite similar to school nights at home, boring and uneventful.  Not sure why I was expecting anything different…I’m not here for vacation, I’m just a regular student.  I’m not just passing through London, I’m living here.  I’m not going to be doing exciting things every single day; if I did I’d probably be broke in a month.  I don’t have a ton of friends here yet that I can go and just hang out with.  So I’ve been coming home early in the evening with nothing to do.  I expect that I’ll get used to this, but it’s been quite frustrating.

There are benefits to all this free time; I’ve been reading and writing a lot.  And I imagine that at some point I’ll have to do some school work.  Then again my classes don’t seem like they’ll be too difficult.  I’m taking Living Theology: Grace and Salvation, a Bob Dylan literature course, History of the Middle East, and Cult Film & Television.  It’s interesting the way the courses run over here.  For example, there’s not really homework other than reading, watching, or listening to something.  Most of my grades will be riding on two essays, typically about 1500-200 words and worth 50% each…  I haven’t decided if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Oh, and it rained today….again.  So far we’ve only had one day of sun.  Don’t be surprised if I come back looking like a ghost.

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First day of classes today.  This is the room that my first class, Living Theology: Grace and Salvation, is in.  Pretty classy.  I also had my Bob Dylan literature class, which is very interesting.  The classes are long, 2 hours for Theo and 3 hours for Bob Dylan…but they only meet once a week so I can’t really complain about the time.

A little taste of my life so far in foggy London.

Hello London!

Traveling was much easier than I thought it would be.  I got through security and customs quickly, was able to sleep for about 3 1/2 hours on the plane, and didn’t lose any luggage.  I had about an hour and a half until someone from my school picked me up so I sat down in the waiting area of terminal 1 to relax.  However I quickly realized that there were no other Marquette students in the waiting area and I started to wonder if I was in the wrong place.  It was a definite possibility since I didn’t thoroughly read the email with our pick up details and of course I had no way of checking if I was in the wrong spot.  I had bbm’ed (blackberry messenger) some people at home a few minutes earlier to let them know I had arrived safely but it was 3AM in Wisconsin so I couldn’t get ahold of my mom.  But thank the Lord a friend woke up and responded to the message I had sent him.  He was so nice enough to get up and log onto my email to double check.  Sure enough, our pick up site was in terminal 3….I was in terminal 1.  I grabbed my bags and went as quickly as I could to the right spot and fortunately made it in time.  Other than that it was smooth sailing.

We arrived at the college and I was finally told who my homestay family would be.  I also learned that another girl would be in the same home with me.  We were picked up by our homestay dad, Mike, and brought to the house.  There were two bedrooms, one pretty big and the other significantly smaller.  I didn’t want to make a big deal about it so I let the other girl have the bigger room.  Her room has a desk and dresser and small table.  Mine has my bed and a nightstand.  Big difference, but it’s really not a big deal.  After a quick nap and some unpacking, we headed back to campus for dinner.  My house is about a 10 minute walk away from campus, which is great!  Walking into the ref (the cafeteria) I felt like a freshman on my first day of high school.  Everyone was staring at us.  I spent the next two days sitting in the same classroom with the other study abroad students for orientation and registration type things.  Both nights we went out to dinner in Twickenham, which is about a 15 minute walk from campus.  Thursday night we ventured into a pub called The Bear for fish and chips and a pint.  My first time legally drinking alcohol…other than at home with my parents.  Friday night I went out with three girls from Marquette to a quaint little Italian restaurant and enjoyed a glass of wine and the best gnocchi I have ever eaten.  I was already feeling comfortable in my new home, other than the allergic reaction I was having to the feather pillow on my bed (I’m totally allergic to feathers).  Other than that I feel quite at home.  Yesterday we took the train into Westminster and walked around..in the rain.  I wouldn’t have minded except for the fact that I decided to leave my rain boots at home.  Worst idea ever.  Within about five minutes my feet were soaked right through my shoes and socks.  Hopefully my rain boots will arrive in the mail quickly so I can avoid another incident like that.

Today was my first Sunday in London and fortunately God provided a way for me to get to a church.  Months ago I began praying that either my homestay family were Christians or that I would quickly meet some Christians who I could connect with.  I was so excited when I walked into The Shannon’s (my family) kitchen and saw bible verses stuck all over the fridge.  I asked them if they could tell me about some local churches and before I could even finish asking the question Gill (pronounced Jill), the mother, invited me to come to church with them.  It was amazing to see how God worked things out like that for me and it was a great way to start off my semester.  So today was the day and I was excited because Gill told me there were quite a bit of young people at the church.  We walked into the church and it was quite small;  could probably seat just over 100 people.  Gill handed me a book entitled “Christian hymns.”  Slightly different than the contemporary music we sing at my home church, Epikos.  The service was quite different but the teaching was great and I met some nice people.  I plan to look around a bit more and try out a few different churches but nonetheless, it was a great way to spend my first Sunday here.

Greg Holden is extremely talented and this song is beautiful.