the whole earth reverberates the story

Lucy and I lived life together yesterday. Good times.

Flowers are starting to bloom already in University Parks, which I can't believe! It's the middle of February! Spring always used to be my least favorite season, but I now love it like a normal human being. There is so much spiritual symbolism in spring. I was overwhelmingly reminded yesterday of the significance of spring in the Chronicles: when spring finally begins to shatter winter in Narnia, it's because Aslan has returned. It's a reminder that though he had gone away, and some people had given up hope that he would ever return, he comes back, and joy and life for the whole world comes with him. As always, Aslan is only a dim reflection of Jesus, who is no longer here walking on earth with us as a human. But when I see the snowdrops pushing up through the wet dirt, I remember him. And it makes me ache for him. I miss him, I miss his physical presence, in a weird and unexplainable way; how do you miss something you never had? But I can't wait until he comes to live with us again.







"Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth." Hosea 6:3

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'" Revelation 21:1-4

all this beauty

There's not much news in my life. I've pretty much just been in the library all day every day for the last week. Yep. But here's that exciting place so you can see it!




And here's what the rest of the library looks like:


So exciting, I know. And here's my view out the window:


So that's all the news in my life!
The end.

Just kidding.
Here are some other important places in my life you should see. Those of you who've spent time in Oxford can look and reminisce...

These are the Exam Schools where I have all of my lectures every week:


I actually only have one lecture I have to go to every week, but why limit yourself to one when there's a million crazy interesting subjects that I could be learning from really smart people? Well, I guess maybe if you wanted to avoid the label of "nerd"... But I've been going to some great lecture series that are fulfilling my thus-far thwarted desire to take religion classes at Jewell: The Gospel of John, History of Israel, Doctrine Before Nicea, The Christian Doctrine of Creation, and Liturgy, as well as Comparative Government and Plato's Republic. Oh yeah. So they're pretty much like normal classes in the U.S. except for the fact that they're at Oxford, so of course they're in some crazy cool building like the Exam Schools and of course they're in huge impressive lecture halls:


This is the street I ride my bike down every day to get to the Exam Schools: High Street (affectionately known by locals as "The High"):


Not going to lie, I feel really cool riding my bike around town. I think it helps me blend in. Here are some of the sights to see on the way there. First of all: Blackwell. I have gushed about Blackwell before, so I'll just say that it is to bookstores as the National Cathedral is to churches. I know it doesn't look that impressive on the outside, but on the inside, it goes on FOREVER:


And here's the Rad Cam, the classic icon of Oxford:


It's used to house books for the Bodleian.
Moving a little closer to home, this is the road we live on:




And here's the grocery store we shop at in Summertown. We actually live closer to Summertown on Banbury Road than we do to City Centre. Anna would like this place...


Moving towards Regent's, here's a sweet cemetery I like to hang out at:


And here, just for De, is the Eagle and Child. Yes, Regent's Park College is immediately behind it. Incredible.


De, if you come visit me, I'll take you there... pleeeease??
Regent's Park is a relatively new college. The organization that eventually became RPC was started in 1752, and the college didn't move to this location until the 1920s. But it's still beautiful, albeit in a very different way from the huge impressive colleges. Here's our quad:


Melody took a few pictures when we were down at the river for rowing practice the other morning. Here's the river at 6:45 am:


It's magical. We walk back through Christ Church Meadows along this path. That's Christ Church College at the end, well-beloved by all Harry Potter fans:


And here's Christ Church on the left and a distant Magdalen College tower on the right:


All this beauty... you might have to close your eyes
And slowly open wide.
All this beauty, we traveled all night.
We drank the ocean dry, and watched the sun rise...

"He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men..." Psalm 107:7-8

sighting

Anna Popplewell sat RIGHT in front of Melody today in her lecture. As in Susan from The Chronicles of Narnia. For real. She goes to Magdalen College here.
I am DEFINITELY going to the lecture with her next week.