Missin ZION

Ok well not like way back in the day but a few years back.... ZION. Oh how I missZION! I miss the random security shifts as lame as that sounds. I miss scooping John Manna ice cream on my FELLY shifts. I miss random people in the student union. I miss silly post cards in my 412 mailbox. I miss Oregon Trail in the back row. Imissrandom notes between friends. I miss my second floor girls. I even miss sharing a bathroom and waiting for a hot shower. I miss random taco bell runs with the NORs or for the NORs. I miss dropping in on people at the random places of employment. I miss babysitting to have pocket cash. I miss 45 minute car rides to church and backagain. I miss talks with Tricia Gibb in her room... you know the kind of talk that at the end you forgot why you were crying. I miss dance parties in MB's room. I miss being across the hall neighbors with Erica Silva. I miss randomly saying "I'm nakedunder my clothes" after hearing "man in the dorm." I miss making random foodin themicrowave or hot pot. I miss creating new foods with Josh Goodwin and Ryan Atchison and the rest of the Zion Kitchen staff. I miss studying all night, or right beforeclasses. I miss being written up for wearing a sheet to class. I miss being writtenup for having back pockets. I miss being written up for cheering too loud at a world seriesgame on the radio. I miss being written up for having to pee at 11:10.... oops! I miss teachers who were willing to pour their lives into yours even when it didn't fit so well into their schedules. I miss Bodley stories. I miss Count Blondo moments ofgreatness and AMAZING shoes that ALWAYS matched. I miss Princess Judy randomness and movie nights. I miss the Dean and all his deanisms like HACHES and bushes. I miss sister Jo and her insane wisdom. I miss PCope and being told he lovedme and he was proud of me or to get out of the boat or back into it or to cross the street with the chicken. I miss Brother Stanley and reading random books like HarryPotteras part of a class. I miss Paul Conway and his crazy costumes that he'd wear to help you remember what he was teaching. I miss Dr. Howel and how tough he was but onlybecause he saw the value in each student and he wanted us to learn. I misscrazyridiculous peanut butter fights with my friend Jason Graham. I miss random calls and letters from my youth pastor and youth group back home. I miss the church and the church family I was BLESSED enough to be impacted by. I miss going to the library and instant messaging from across the room. I miss Christina and her vanilla yogart and random car rides to the beach. I miss a lot of really random and kind of silly things and some really amazing things but what I miss most of all is....

Knowing that NO MATTER what, it didn't matter the time, or day or whatever else, there was ALWAYS someone who was willing to sit and listen and pray with you. Weather I was at church or at school in my time at Zion I always felt that sense of community. I always felt like no matter what was going on that there was at least one person if not 400 that I could run to to pray with. I was blessed to have AMAZING roommates, friends, teachers, and church leaders in my life at that time.

I could never wait to graduate I always thought the real world was going to be so amazing and that Zion was so blah, but now I realize that Zion and my time there was so short and well... I miss it. I wish I would have savored it more. I wish I could have bottled it up and taken it with me where ever I went in life but unfortunately Zion is over.... that makes me a little sad. I wish there were moments I could relive over and over again like Apple Picking in Upstate NY with a random group of friends, or that semester when chapel went forever and no one slept but God was moving and it was amazing, or a Bodley class where all of the sudden it was over and you were left thinking really that's it I want to know what happened with the lion or the elephant.

I am so thankful for the time I was blessed with at Zion and for the amazing connections I made with such great people. I am beyond blessed and I am so thankful for what God did in me in my time at Zion.

(I love what God is doing now... well minus the growth process... that womps a little. But sometimes it's nice to look back and see what God did.)