Walk Anyway: The 2015-2016 Walk to School Campaign

We're back in business: the Walk-to-School campaign is alive and well. Why? How can this be since so many of our neighborhood children are now in college, high school, or middle school? Well, I still have an eager 5th grader, and we're gathering more families to walk the one mile to our elementary school.

What's so great about this year is that we are walking even if we don't have children to walk to school! I'm serious! We've invited a homeschooling family, families with toddlers, and families who have children in other schools. It doesn't matter; we're walking anyway.

Are you within a 30 minute walk to school? If so, you can gather the neighbors, too!

If you haven't started a walk-to-school campaign in your own neighborhood, I recommend it whole-heartedly. It's changed our lives. We've deepened friendships, gained good health, and enjoyed connecting with children on the mile walk to school. It's an investment. It's a sacrifice of time. But walk anyway.

Fill your thermos with coffee. Meet some new moms and dads. Meet the children in your neighborhood and walk. If you can, I pray you do. Encourage the children. One day, in forty years, they'll tell their own children about the time they grew up in a neighborhood where the families walked them to school because it was that important.

Rigorous

I arrive at the picnic that kicks off our semester of Penn State Christian Grads. I gather with many new Ph.D. students who have more enthusiasm and intelligence than you can imagine. I'm so thankful to live in a world where people devote their lives to understanding and then advancing various fields like autism and communication, applied linguistics, mechanical and environmental engineering, statistics, food science, math education, physiology, nursing, biobehavioral health, and too many other programs to mention.

I listen to the way students live in complete fascination and utter curiosity about their disciplines and how, one day, their research can help so many others. I think about the sacrifices they make to do the work they do here at Penn State. I'm inspired again about the joy of learning, of hard work, and of rigorous investigation. It is so exciting to see these new students filled with wonder and worship and the kind of passion that makes an entire university work.

I want to love and support graduate students even more. Go love a graduate student!

A Gift of Hope

I remember how years ago I learned that the Holy Spirit is always a voice a hope. I learned that I could ask God for hope; in fact, I discovered a precious prayer in scripture. It reads this in Romans 15:13: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

This is the verse that continues to free my heart. I know a God of hope who, by the power of an incredible Spirit fills us to overflowing with hope by an inexplicable power. Can you imagine living a life of joyful and confident expectation of good things?

It's so hopeful!

Hope! Oh, hope! I look at my succulents in the windowsill where I wash dishes. I've washed so many dishes in states of complete hopelessness in my life. I've stood there at the window gazing into an abyss of despair and meaninglessness and darkness. And then--Hope called my name. I look at the one plant I almost discarded because it truly looked dead. But then I remember that succulents thrive on neglect; they harbor secret resources I know nothing about. So I'm standing there, thinking about hope, and I see the dead plant sprouting once again.

I was thankful to see it. I was thankful for hope.

And while we're on the subject of hope, I'll tell you this: Last night, I strolled in the park with friends and looked out into the wild forest underneath a perfect moon. I imagined the beauty and mystery within this tangled wood, and I remembered the enchanting beauty of hope.