the value of squirrels.

Some days are worth writing about.

I should have taken it to heart this morning when I had the thought, "wow, it seems to be a weird day, I should look for these weird occurrences." And it ends up I didn't even have to look for them, they just happened! Here are some highlights:

• Squirrels. This is kind of where it all started really. The other day I was walking on campus and passed a young tree. Few people were around, but four of us noticed this squirrel scampering across the sidewalk, quite boldly when considering there were people walking, then he climbed up this miniature landscape tree, plainly in sight. Not only did we notice, it was as if we shared a moment together, our expressions saying, "Wow! I can't believe the guts that little guy has."
• Next, yesterday morning my roommate and I were frantically looking around our apartment in the morning looking for our garage door opener. While searching under the pillows in one room to the obscure drawers of another I passed the bathroom and woah! a squirrel was right outside the window screen! This stopped us in our search for a moment as we observed this unusual bit of life sitting there, holding our garage opener with a smirk. Not really that last part, but I did get this photo of him.
• And third, this afternoon after a random puff of rain/sleet/snow, a friend and I were walking to another building and saw a squirrel (perhaps the same as #1?) on the sidewalk. He stopped, stooped, and drank some rainwater out of the panel crack in the pavement. So cute! I could try to get philosophical and theological as to how even the smallest and seemingly insigificant creatures around us can spark a little more life into us, even if just for a moment, reinstating the importance of our connection with nature. But I won't. The value of squirrels though, it's there.

Okay, so other oddly terrific things about today:

• Rainbow sighting in the afternoon
• Leaving the library to look at the rainbow, only to run into some friends going to a gallery opening, for which I joined them and enjoyed a nice glass of wine.

• Running into a friend, also in architecture, that I haven't spoken with yet this year - three times in one day.
• Spilling broccoli into my chai tea.
• Impromptu meeting with a professor about career options.
• New Ethan exhibit. We have a beloved sculpture/statue/robot in daap that looks like a real guy on his laptop in a main circulation space. He's been the topic of many a conversation with newcomers to daap. Well, recently Ethan has been stolen and it's the talk of the college. "I heard they threw him in a dumpster." "I heard he's been found." "He's missing a hand now they say!" Well, when I heard the news today there's a new Ethan, I needed to check it out. He definitely looked different, and I could've sworn his legs were swaying. Good replacement, I thought to myself. Later I was telling someone else to check out the new Ethan, to which an overhearer remarked, "That's a real guy you know." I went to see Ethan again, and even though I knew he was real at this point, he just didn't look real. I can't explain this.

Fourth of November, you are a wonder to behold. There are only 12 minutes of you left. I had no idea of your potential.

My roommate, sister, a few ladies in my Bible study, and I are attempting to read the book of James in its entirety every day in November. The idea is from a member of Campus Crusade for Christ who committed to reading Romans every day for a month. The value in this is looking at a certain piece of Scripture at a macro scale and getting the "big picture," as well as being immersed in the Word. Please join us if you'd like. The version of James I know the best is the New International Version, here.

We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

II Corinthians 6.3-10.