Well, folks, welcome back to spring semester! We started off the semester with a Hope College miracle – TWO SNOW DAYS! I was pretty excited about that because it gave me more time to safely make my way back to campus. My parents tried to bring me back to Hope the Saturday before classes were scheduled to start, but the weather was awful so we ended up turning around and heading back home for a few days. It wasn’t clear enough to try to come back up until Wednesday, which was pretty convenient since classes got pushed back to start on Thursday! It worked out super well. I missed all my friends at Hope but it was so nice to spend some great time at home!
So much has already gone on this semester and I really don’t think I could be happier with it, except for maybe if my credit load could just be a little bit lighter… Oh well. I’ll make it! One of the things I was most excited about was…
BOB GOFF!
Christin and I love love love Bob Goff’s book Love Does. I haven’t finished it yet, but I read a good chunk of it over Christmas break and it’s just so good. It’s about loving others extravagantly, the way Christ loves us, and showing that love intentionally and regularly. It is so, so good. Bob came to Hope last Thursday to speak as a part of a group project that some students in a Leadership class had started. They chose to dream big and work to get Bob to Hope, and they did it! We were all so blessed by their efforts. Bob is an incredible storyteller, a captivating speaker, someone who really practices what he preaches, an engaging conversationalist, a truly humble servant of God, and just all-around incredible. I am so blessed to have met him and heard him speak. If you ever get the chance to meet or hear him, please please please do it! You won’t regret it!
Friday, SAC brought in an improv group called the Upright Citizens Brigade. Going into the performance, I didn’t really know what to expect, but they were super funny. They called a girl up on stage to talk about her experience at Hope and kind of the “in’s and out’s” of campus, and they took the things she said and ran with them. Hilarious.
Saturday was my friend Grace’s birthday. It was so awesome to get to celebrate with her and so many of our other friends. She has blessed me in so many ways since I met her in August and I am so thankful to be able to call her one of my best friends! We went out to lunch at Jimmy John’s in downtown Holland and got dinner at Johnny Carino’s, which is so good. We had a great time celebrating together!
Hope men’s basketball also beat our rival, Calvin, on Saturday!
Sunday, I got to go back to Pillar Church and it was so great! Pillar is so welcoming and I love going to church there. I really do take away something I can apply to my life from the service every single week! I met up with some friends in the afternoon and had an awesome time with them. The first gathering of the semester was Sunday night and it’s always great to start off the week with a night of worship with my friends and peers!
Monday, INGRID MICHAELSON TICKETS WENT ON SALE. Nothing else even matters. I waited in line for almost two hours, but it’s going to be so worth it. I am so excited. The concert is January 31st and our tickets were only $15! Such a deal for what’s sure to be an incredible concert!
Tomorrow and Saturday, I am looking forward to attending the Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids! I’ve heard it’s great, and I’m super excited to go. The Hope music department does such a great job of offering opportunities like this for its students and so many of us are able to take advantage of them! It’s so awesome!
Thanks for reading! I love to talk to people interested in learning more about Hope, so please leave me a comment, email me at kathryn.krieger@hope.edu, or tweet @hopekathryn17!
“Lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.”
Ephesians 4:1