Countdown to Thirty: Year 20

I did not go for a run last night.
Instead, I made Lemon-Blueberry Layer Cake.
Hey, it's Birthday Week--gimme a break!

YEAR TWENTY:
2000-2001

There's something lame about turning twenty.
It's double-digits...it sounds like a big deal.
But nothing special happens.

However...
plenty of significant things happened in my 20th year.
First, in the spring before I turned 20,
I traveled to Memphis for the first time
for an amazing experience.

OneDay, May 2000
I guess you could say it was a worship Woodstock for Christ-followers.
Louie Giglio, Beth Moore, John Piper, Chris Tomlin, David Crowder...
40,000 college students,
gathered at Shelby Farms
camping out
and worshiping
ALL
DAY
LONG.

Louie Giglio reflects on this year's
10th anniversary of OneDay here.

He writes: "I can close my eyes
and be back there in a heartbeat.
I can see a generation on their knees...
on their faces...
bowed down in the muddy grass
to be lifted up again
to touch the world in Jesus name.
Ten years later I would guess anyone
on that field can tell you how
God touched their lives that day...
and many would say they are where they are
because of the calling God put in their hearts
at Shelby Farms."

I had NO CLUE when I traveled to Memphis that spring
that I would be living there the next summer
or the 9 summers after that.
Shelby Farms remains one of my favorite places...

My poor mother didn't know I would never
live in her house again after I graduated high school.
(My poor self didn't know that either!)
I interned for a church youth ministry in Pensacola, FL
the summers after my Freshman and Sophomore years at Auburn.
I interned in Memphis (surprise surprise!)
the summer after my Junior and Senior years.
And I've been here ever since.

Auburn.
There are no words.
Loveliest village on the plains.
The epitome of "Year 20."

Here are two Auburn-related pictures
that my friends might not appreciate me posting.
(Sorry friends, it's Birthday Week!)

Fall of Junior Year, 2000
Newly, freshly 20.
Ashley & I thought it'd be funny
to make fun of our double chins.
What's actually funny is what we had to do
at that age to MAKE double-chins.
(If only we knew what 10 years could do to our bodies, right?)
Ashley was my bitter Freshman Year rival,
turned apartment neighbor,
turned duplex neighbor
turned BFF.
Those are the best kind, don't you think?
I'm so happy I got over myself--this lady
is one of my dearest buds today!
(I think it's time for a 10yr double-chin reunion pic,
don't you agree, Ash?)

Summer after Junior Year, 2001
Do we look exhausted and overheated in this picture?
Because we are.
Kristy came to Memphis Workcamp
and roomed with me for the week.
It was summer before Senior Year for me
and Kristy had just graduated.
The future was looming ever-so-near.
We spent our afternoons together
"un-planning" our lives.

{You can play at home if you'd like.
It starts with taking all the
things that you've planned to happen
for the future,
wiping that slate clean,
and completing the following sentence:
"What if I/we..."}

20 was a huge year.
It was a year of growth.
Surprises.
Un-planning.

I plan to celebrate Year 20 tonight
by sentimentally remembering
that one day in His presence is better
than a thousand elsewhere
(through the album on the right, duh)
while doing some more un-planning.