Pancakes

Today was a wonderful day. I had class in the morning for a couple hours, but I got out early. I hate getting out early because there is usually nothing else to do. Klagenfurt proved me wrong today, though. I found out that there is a student cafeteria, so I went over there to eat some lunch. I made it through the line to find a whole group of foreigners that I knew. Eating lunch in a group of people is so much better than eating by yourself. Lonely thoughts come into your mind when you eat too often by yourself, so eating with a group was good. It was nice also because they were a group of higher level German students. That meant that they were speaking German, which is hard to find sometimes on this campus. I spent the lunch hour with them, then found my way to the grocery store. I love the grocery store. It's a short walk from campus, which is a nice time to think. I usually think about random German phrases, or what I learned that day. Maybe I think about what I'm going to do for the rest of the day, but that thought usually gets me nowhere so I forget about it. After the grocery store, I came home to read some German poetry. My professor gives us things to read for fun in our free time. Usually they are songs, poems, jokes, or short histories. While I was reading, I found out that people were coming over to the kitchen tonight from all of the other dorms to make pancakes. Haha, there was going to be a pancake party. I had something to do! I read all afternoon until a knock came at my door telling me that the pancakes had begun. I went downstairs to the kitchen, and sure enough, the pancakes had begun. All of us foreigners were there. It was wonderful. I spent most of the night in the kitchen before coming back to my room to write an update for you all. I started writing, and my roommate came home. I was writing some really good, interesting stuff about a chapter in a book I read, but he kept telling me to look at stuff on his computer. He's from India, so he was trying to explain to me about the caste system and the meanings of the Sanskrit words. That's really great, but I was trying to write and my fingers were going nowhere. He kept telling me random Indian facts, which I love because he always laughs after every one like it's funny that I never knew the random fact about India before. My mind wasn't working while he was explaining things like Shudras and Hindi and diamonds and lots of giggles, so I decided to give up and write this silly update instead. It was straight, to the point, and not very cool. Sorry. Blame Avalanche. He has too many Indian fun facts. I can't pay attention to writing and listening. That's my excuse. Maybe I could tell you a little bit about the chapter now, though, since he has gone back to his computer game. Here is what I had written so far:

I read the best chapter of any novel I've ever read today. It's not actually a novel, I guess, but more like a book of some guy's thoughts. It's called Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller. It's a rather interesting book, as I told you yesterday, and today he talked about an idea I've never before thought about. The chapter was titled Naked: Why nudity is the point. Odd chapter title, huh? I mean, nudity is ok. I'm not afraid of it, but is there really enough relevant to write a whole chapter about it in a book like this? The other chapters are talking about things like poetry, knowledge about God, the enormous of a creator, and modern warfare (not the type that is being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan; more the type being fought by your soul). He says great things, things that really hit me in the face because they are so simple yet so huge. He says things like, "poetry is a literary tool that has the power to give a person the feeling he isn't alone in those emotions, that, though there are no words to describe them, somebody understands," and "if you happened to be a person who thought they knew everything about God, Jesus would have been completely annoying," and "if we could muster a portion of the patriotism we feel toward our earthly nations into a patriotism and bravery in concert with the kingdom of God, the enemy would take fewer casualties to be sure." These are all things that I would love to write about. For real, I would love to fill this post with comments on just one of those statements, but this post is about nudity. When I got to the chapter, I was thinking, "how is this guy going to go from talking about spiritual warfare to such an immature topic like nudity?" It blew my mind that he was going to try to include this subject in his book. Maybe it doesn't affect you like it did me, but I'll say that it really made an impression on me, not necessarily positive, that he was going to devote a whole chapter to why nudity is the point. I read through the chapter, amazed. Such a simple thing. Such a well known story that people look over. At least, if you're like me, you probably looked over it or saw it one time and thought about it for a couple minutes then let it go to the back of your mind. The chapter was about the Garden of Eden. You know, God creates Adam, Adam becomes lonely, God tells Adam to name all of the animals, God creates Eve, Adam and Eve walk with God, Satan tempts Adam and Eve, Eve eats the apple, Adam and Eve make clothes, God gets upset. They are naked the whole time until the end. That's how the story goes. You probably know that. The thing that struck me was, Adam told God he was lonely. He was searching for a friend, but couldn't find anything that was right. God told him to name all of the animals. Yeah, all of the animals in the world. So Adam was lonely, and rather than God creating Eve right away, he made Adam name all of the animals in the world. How comforting for Adam huh? Many years of naming probably passed before God removed the rib and fashioned Eve to end Adam's loneliness. So now Adam is way in love with this girl Eve. I mean, he had never even seen a woman before (unless of course God looks like a girl), and now he has a wife created perfectly for him. I don't know if you get how much Adam loved Eve. He was alone for so many years because he had to come up with names for animals, every animal. He was lonely, and the thought of a woman may never have even crossed his mind. Then, one night, God creates Eve, and Adam wakes up to find the most beautiful being in existence sleeping right next to him. What a surprise! Years of waiting seemed to be worth it. Don't forget, the whole time they were naked. No clothes necessary. Adam and Eve were perfect, living happier lives than you and I have ever lived, and they were naked the whole time without even realizing that being naked is different. That's because naked wasn't different. They were naked not only because they had no clothes, but they also had no secrets. The couple went on walks with God. Take a step back, read that sentence again. The couple went on walks with God. They were friends, they talked, they probably joked with each other, they smiled and hugged. Adam and Eve were totally naked; they had nothing to hide. There entire life was spent glorifying their creator without anything inhibiting their praise. That's magical. But that nudity ended. They gave in to temptation, and what was the first thing that happened after the apple was eaten? They realized they were naked. Suddenly, being naked was weird, awkward. The grabbed leaves to cover themselves. They hid when God came looking for them. They wore clothes and hid. Why? Because they had given in to temptation. Donald Miller says that Moses, when he wrote Genesis, does not have any point other than this when he wrote the portion that is now Chapter 2 and 3. Do you get it? They were naked and perfect, but then they gave in and started to think that nudity is weird. Do you think nudity is weird? I mean, I'm not really talking about clothes or no clothes here. I'm talking more about the other aspect of being naked. The part where you hide nothing from God; where you let Him see your heart and mind because you don't put up walls. Are you naked in that sense? Do you have walls? Secrets? Do you put clothes around your soul? I do. I do it when I refuse to die to myself. I do it when my faith is small. I do it when I willingly separate myself from the Truth. I put up those walls a lot, but I know what it's like to be naked too. I know what it's like to be totally bare before God, to be completely honest about my stupidity and attempts to run my own life. I have felt what it's like to sing and dance without any worries of who's watching and what they're thinking because I know that my actions are making Someone smile. I know all of those things, yet I still put up walls. It's a terrible situation to be in. Do you know what I'm talking about? Do you even know what it's like to be completely naked? Have you ever felt total liberation while standing before Jesus? Try it out some time. I don't think you can find anywhere better to be than naked right there.

That was what I wanted to write. I hope it wasn't too much. I hope it doesn't sound religious to you because I would absolutely hate to sound religious. Too many rules and judges. I just want to write what I think about. I just want you to read this and think about your own life. Maybe it means nothing to you. Oh well. I hope that you spend more time being naked now. You can do that physically, but I think it would be better to do that spiritually. Break down the walls you've allowed to be built up. Don't worry what other people think about you. Just be free. I'm up far past my bedtime now. I will write again soon. I love you. Guten Nacht.