Williamsburg

I just got back from a weekend in Williamsburg with my parents.  We had been planning on going up to Ocean City, but the weather wasn't looking too great, so we decided that a trip to the birthplace of Virginia was a better idea.  ;)  We stayed at the Kingsmill Resort, which is really nice, I highly recommend it.  Besides taking advantage of the spa (massages) and sporting complex, we spent a lot of time reading in our suite and sampling the restaurants.  All good.  Mom, Dad, and I went to the Kings Arms Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg for dinner last night, which was great.  We didn't have a whole lot of time to explore, unfortunately.  Hopefully I'll have much more time to explore over the next year.

I got to go to church with Meghan at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Williamsburg and then have lunch with her afterward at the Caf in the William and Mary Student Commons.  The worship and prayer were both very nice, and everyone seemed friendly.  The pastor spoke on Acts 16:6-40 about how God's mission is to bring the Gospel to everyone, not just to people who have it all together or to people whose life is falling apart.  Paul and Silas bring the Gospel to three very different people in this passage: the widow and merchant Lydia, a slave girl, and a Roman jailer.  Each of them had different needs and different circumstances, but God worked in all of their lives to meet them where they were at.  It reminded me of IV Winter Conference last weekend when John Teter spoke about the fact that God is always at work, even if you can't see it.  He's at work in every person's life.

I love Williamsburg, so I had a great time.  I'm really hoping to be at William and Mary for graduate school...so close to finding out!  Just a few more weeks to wait.  I know that God might have something else planned for me, but I really hope and pray that this is it.  Being there for the weekend really solidified that in my mind.

I also started reading "The Heart of Racial Justice" and "Finding God In Harry Potter."  More updates on those as I get further along throughout the week.  "The Heart of Racial Justice" is about "how soul change leads to social change," i.e. how the Gospel is the antidote for racial and ethnic barriers in the world today.  Christians should be at the forefront of breaking down stereotypes and bringing healing to this broken world.  

"Finding God In Harry Potter" was written by John Granger, an evangelical Christian father of seven who wrote the book after having to eat his words when he told his children they couldn't read the books, then discovered their spiritual content and got hooked himself.  Granger argues that while Rowling was definitely not trying to create a Christian masterpiece, her Christian faith (yes, she's stated in numerous interviews that she is a Christian) does provide a solid and very clear background for her books about Harry, especially evident in her themes of good vs. evil, light vs. darkness, self-sacrifice, redemption, forgiveness, love, community, communal sacrifice, etc.  He says that the reason Harry Potter resonates with so many people is because it is an echo of the Great Story, the story of Jesus Christ.  He also says that it's amazing that the books are so popular in this day and age when people are touting the notion that there is no universal truth or good and evil.  The popularity of Harry Potter means that people still believe in the idea of good and evil and in a story bigger than themselves.  It gives hope for the real story of sacrifice and love and its continuing impact in this world.  I met Granger when he spoke at W&L last fall, and I'm loving the book so far.