It's great to be a Florida Gator!

I have been really missing my sweet home of Gainesville and everything UF and all the wonderful people there. Yet I have yet to have a few days pass here where I have not run into a Gator or a Gator Fan and I thank God for it.

Today in church I met Catarina who (1) is a librarian's assistant at Temple University and (2) went to school with a bunch of Gator fans so could share my enthusiasm.

Then I ran into another couple of cool cats, one of them who had spent a couple of nights in Gainesville and the other who works for a Non-profit financial consulting firm in Center City (awesome!!). We talked about issues in Philadelphia communities and bike routes and they invited me to a small group which I'm really excited about.

Then as I was leaving I ran into a few more folks down stairs one guy was from clearwater and the lady exclaimed 'oh the University of Florida' when I mentioned I was from Gainesville.

THEN as I was walking home I ran into a girl wearing a Florida shirt who had just graduated from May and just recently moved up here.

Yes my friends, this is trully the Gator Nation.

It isn't even like stuff like that happens once in a while, it happens like everyday. I. just. love. the Florida Gators.



Church this morning was really uplifiting, it even brought me to tears a couple of times. Our pastor talked about our spiritual mountains and valleys and our need for roots and dependency on God. If I had one regret this past year it was that when things really got tough, I let go of my faith, lost my roots and lost sight in all the promises of God especially in Jeremiah 29:11-13. "For I know the thoughts I think toward you, thoughts of peace and not of evil. To give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and go and pray to me and I will listen to you. And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart." It's given me a new lens with which to see this past week and everything.
I believe that God takes away some material things in our life to bring us back to our ourselves and what is important. When we feel like we have nothing left we are forced to look within ourselves and there we find all that we need. Maybe people find different things, I found God and my faith and peace. I found wholeness.

SO I have a full day ahead of me. I need to finish reading a book that is due tomorrow. It's really long but it's been good so far. I'm off.


Song: Gator Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwI-VPkKBmc
Go Gators! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9FcrQrjdNw

Quote: Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit. Jeremiah 17:5-8