8 Things To Do On A Snow Day

AUTHOR INFO Written by Blane Young exclusively for DC Chi Alpha and AU Chi Alpha. You can connect with him via Twitter or Facebook. 

1. Watch a Movie on Netflix! If you don't have an account, borrow the login info from a friend or sign-up for a free trial. Plus, websites like Wired.com & Huffington Post both have articles on the best streaming content that you may not know about. Even better, watch with a friend (or your entire dorm)! 

2. Journal! Whether you currently keep a journal or not, a day like today (with minimal distractions) is a perfect day to jump into the habit. You can use lists to recount your best and worst moments of 2013, jot down people that you'd like to pray for or simply do a brain dump. It's cathartic, we promise! 

3. Call Home. Yeah, we're going there! On days like today (and especially if your family lives far away), you can be sure that the 24-hour news cycle has been feeding them images of the city that make it look like a scene from The Day After Tomorrow. Set their fears at ease, ask about their week and for once, call without asking for money (or at least, too much money). 

4. Register for Winter Retreat. Like most students we've talked to, you're planning on going but you have yet to register. Isn't that true? Well, it help us (your beloved staff) to know whose coming so that we can have as much time as possible to plan transportation and logistics. As if that's not enough incentive, this event usually comes scarily close to selling out and let me just say, you're not going to want to miss it. (xawinterretreat.com) 

5. Watch A Sermon (or 5!). Whether you want to catch up on what you missed during Christmas Break from your church (like NCC or Capitol Life) or find a new Podcast Pastor - today is a great day! And in case you didn't make the trek to Texas with us last year, all of the messages from The World Missions Summit 3 are now on YouTube! 

6. Pray for 20 Minutes. We know, it sounds simple but usually isn't what you'd call exciting or engaging. Think again, folks. We've found some great tips on this interesting site. 

7. Read A Christian Classic. This is a great one to start with and it's totally free! It's called The Pursuit of God and it was written by A.W. Tozer. We promise, you'll thank us. 

8. Throw Snowballs at People. It's helpful if you know them already, but usually fun either way! 

Add Your Thoughts

What are your favorite activities on days like this? 

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Intern Mondays // Surviving Roommates

Have you met the interns yet? They're pretty amazing. The following post is from Natalie Hill, a recent graduate of American University and one of those people that has a knack for nearly every instrument ever invented.  

My mom is the cleanest, most organized person I know.  Well, aside from her mother, who yells at me when I mess up the placement of her refrigerator magnets.  When I was younger, I had a habit of leaving the basement door open, and my parents would say, “Do you think we live in a barn?” 

Now, my parents and grandmother aren’t oppressive.  They just value cleanliness, and they’ve taught me well.  Needless to say, it rubbed off on me, and I’ve inherited some of my mom’s OCD tendencies.

When you’ve grown up living with the same people your whole life, adjusting to having new roommates (who are oftentimes strangers in college) can be difficult.  I learned quickly that not every parent is as clean as mine are.  Some people don’t get anxious when their beds aren’t made or when the desk chair is unusable because of the pile of clothes sitting on it.  And it’s not just cleanliness.  Different people just have different habits.  For example, I’ve always been early to bed and early to rise (another inheritance from my mom).  It seemed like my first college roommates’ days started at 10pm, while I was falling asleep.  Buying groceries together is hard too.  I’m pretty sure all of the roommates I’ve had loved yogurt and always asked for it when we went grocery shopping.  But I never eat yogurt.  Some roommates want to spend hours watching Gilmore Girls or Doctor Who when all I want to watch is a sad or intense movie like Finding Neverland or Pan’s Labyrinth. 

What I’m saying is that everyone is different.  Sometimes this can be really beautiful - combining ideas and creativity and interests.  And sometimes it can cause a ton of tension.  Living with roommates can be super fun.  I’ve done so many weird, random, great things with my roommates.  In college, you can get away with pushing all your beds together and calling it The Superbed or setting up the camping tent in the middle of the living room to watch Toy Story 3 in it.  But other times, there are disagreements or frustrations that arise when you’re living in such close proximity with other people.

I’m nowhere near the perfect roommate, but I think I’ve learned a few things from living with other people for about five years now.  First, I think we need to go into our roommate relationships with a servant’s heart.  That sounds cliche, but it’s important.  If we posture ourselves to serve the people we live with, it cuts down on the frustrations.  Just because your roommate was the last person to put something in the trash, that doesn’t mean you can’t empty it.  Sometimes, you’re going to end up doing dishes you didn’t create.  That’s just how it works.  And I’ve found that people are more likely to serve you when they’re being served too.

I’ve also learned that you just have to meet each other in the middle.  Set up ground rules and be clear about expectations while also understanding where they’re coming from.  My roommates probably won’t agree to vacuum every other day, even though that’s what my grandma does.  Being realistic in setting expectations is important.

Living with roommates is one of the most fun things about being in college.  It can also be one of the most frustrating things.  Coming into a roommate relationship with a servant’s heart will eliminate a lot of that tension. 

Then just make the most of living so closely in community with others.  Because it only looks like this for a season.

Intern Mondays // An Easy to Neglect Spiritual Discipline

Have you met the interns yet? They're pretty amazing. The following post is from Bonnie Duncan, who likes making Texas-shaped food and has never seen an impossible race she didn't want to try.

So like all mildly-tragic stories it is best to start at the beginning. I lost my headphones last night. Even worse than realizing my headphones were lost was walking to work with nothing but the piercing silence of my poor life choices.

My hand kept compulsively reaching for my phone (three times to be precise) to change the song. But there was no song playing. Only a reminder that, just as when I left my home, I still did not have my headphones.

My mind began to wander. Is this how it felt to be a caveman? I wondered. Doubtful, I concluded. Considering I just left my heated apartment, wearing a winter coat, and was pontificating these thoughts while composing my morning Tweet about the issue at hand.

After I came to the point of accepting that despite my ability to walk and search through my backpack at the same time I was not going to find my headphones, I finally considered that maybe God could use this moment to teach me something. I should be still and know that he is God, I said to myself.

Unfortunately, this revelation came after the moment of defeat. The moment where I had exhausted all of my resources and gave up hope of an alternative. The moment where God became my backup plan. And it was in that moment that I realized that I struggle with the discipline of silence.

Psalm 62:5 says, Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. It is in these quiet moments that perhaps we are able to hear the voice of God the best. But in a whole that never stops moving, never stops speaking, never stops achieving, it is not the noise that is my hindrance, but rather my impeccable consistency in not remaining still long enough to hear the voice of God.

Full disclosure I have never heard the tangible voice of God. I used to hear people talk about being silent to hear the voice of God. I would think, wow. You talk to God? That’s pretty cool. But the silence is less about waiting for a sound, and more about living in a moment. A moment when the sunrise stops you because you see its beauty again. A moment when you notice a group of deer hanging out in the woods and attempt to stop by for a brief chat (don’t judge, you know you want to talk to the deer too).

On my way to work everyday, the sidewalk presents two views: to the right, a highway; to the left a forest. Where I choose to look is often more reflective of my soul than I realize. Often, I trade the solitude for the hustle, and the silence for the bustle. But even in those moments of choice, God is there. I simply need to be quiet enough to be reminded of his presence.

Intern Mondays // A Surprising Challenge of Campus Ministry

Have you met the interns yet? They're pretty amazing. The following post is from Kristin Caldwell. She's a graduate of Central Washington University and is becoming an expert at navigating public transportation in the city.

Moving across the country to minister at a different campus obviously requires a whole lot of adjustment. Certain adjustments I anticipated, others not so much.

To say that Georgetown is an academic school is an understatement. I came here knowing that this school was on a whole different level academically from the one I attended, but I had no idea of the implications of that. Probably the biggest unanticipated adjustment is in terms of time.

Students here are busy. There were certain quarters during my own college experience that I would have called busy, but those were nothing compared to the average student schedule here. Not only do students spend countless hours in the library every week (usually including multiple all-nighters), but they are also involved in every extracurricular activity, employment, volunteer or internship opportunity imaginable. Anything to build up a resume. Needless to say, finding a break in their schedules to hold a one-on-one or Lifegroup has been challenging.

I was rather disillusioned upon discovering the reality that you generally have an hour of these students’ time at best. How on earth were we supposed to have deep and impactful Lifegroup meetings with only an hour together every week? It just didn’t seem like enough time to facilitate both relationships and a meaningful discussion.

Yet I’m discovering that just because these students are busy doesn’t mean that they don’t want relationships or opportunities to go deeper in their faith—these things just have to happen faster. Because students know they do not have much time, they are more willing to open up sooner. There becomes a whole lot less time for small talk.

As an introvert, making small talk is often more challenging than discussing theology or talking through spiritual struggles. I’m realizing that students are receptive to big questions because they love talking about issues concerning faith and the world in general. Initially this was intimidating because I was concerned that I didn’t know enough to have a discussion. However I’m finding myself being challenged to think about my faith in ways that I hadn’t before. These conversations are certainly stretching, but I’m also learning a ton.

Doing ministry here at Georgetown will always have its challenges and frustrations, but many of these challenges are also what make this campus unique. Every single student here has dreams of impacting the world, and that is a beautiful thing. Despite the culture of busyness, it is still possible to reach them with the love of Christ. It just looks different.

Intern Mondays // Prayer & The 5 Love Languages

Have you met the interns yet? They're pretty amazing. The following post is from Nick Holmstedt a recent graduate of Hamline University. He has a knack for making friends easily and even though he doesn't really like coffee, we try not to hold that against him.

One week while tabling on campus, we asked a question related to Gary Chapman’s Five Love Languages:  “In what way do you primarily display love?”

In addition to the conversations we had that day, the thought has been on my mind for a variety of reasons.  As I sat to write this blog, the question returned in a new form:  how do the love languages relate to prayer? 

Prayer is central to our lives as followers of Jesus.  If we don’t communicate with God, how can we expect to grow towards Him?  So I should be invested constantly in prayer.  Jesus was, Paul was.  Yet even with clear models and an understanding of prayer’s power, I seem to dilly dally around my thoughts rather than decisively communicative with my Father. 

Sometimes the thing that helps me establish my disciplines the most is to step back and focus on the vision, to see where the river’s heading.  This is where we loop back to the love languages.  Prayer is a wonderful application of the love we share of God through Christ.  It is multi-purpose and addressed to our sovereign God who adores us.  It is a beautiful gift.  This is one of the five love languages- gift-giving.  Clearly, God has bestowed upon us more gifts than I could possibly recite here (check out the Bible for a hearty glimpse into that).  But, I believe prayer is a gift- the ability to chat with our Savior and Father Himself?  Name something else you’d want for your birthday.  And more, we can gift back to God by simply using that which He’s given us!  Prayer is a gift both received and given.

Prayer can involve many things, but it often occurs as words.  The second love language is words of affirmation.  I believe there’s a reason we pray using words (though certainly you could prayer through other devices than your tongue).  The outpouring of our heart and mind in these words- and to receive the Word Himself- is another intimate connection with God.

Acts of Service.  If we’ve set our hearts to serve others, shouldn’t we be praying for them?  Prayer is an irremovable element of our service, because we rightly request that the God who sees all and has the power to truly transform works exactly that which He loves to do. 

God is here among us, and the closest we can get to Him is in our quiet place, in our heart of hearts, our soul and it is from there that we pray our deepest prayers.  There is something special about actual, tangible physical contact, the next love language.  I believe prayer offers a way for us to feel that unique connection without clammy hand to clammy hand contact.  It’s truly special because it’s a relationship to God that we cannot have with another (because, if you’re praying to someone else, that’d be called idolatry).

Finally, quality time.  I believe it’s worth recognizing that this language of love is more than just quantity time.  Quantity is related to quality, but correlation is not causality.  Take your time to fall in love with God through prayer- listen and speak with all the truth and vulnerability and ooshy-gooshyness you can muster. 

With my vision of prayer rooted in these values, I can get excited again to dive deep towards God.  But even with vision, I have to remember patience and perseverance.  Take time to pray, because its value is in the immeasurable quality of our relationship with God!