Ok, story time. Last week, i think it was Tuesday, i was debating wether i should walk home from class or drive. I landed on walking, it was a beautiful day and im just a sucker for those. So i walk through Samford lawn and an standing at the corner of College and Magnolia right under the Toomers tree. I see this girl standing beside me, and she just kept staring at me...and thats when i got awkward and started playing with some dried up toilet paper with my foot left over form the game that weekend. Well, it didnt work because home-girl decided to actually walk over to me and start a conversation. As she started talking to me, one, i noticed she was Asian, and two she looked like she was 12. She had really broken english and she was asking me a question about what something was, but between her not even knowing what she was talking about herslef, and me not being able to understand Asianish, we were both very confused. She started pointing to this sign on the lamp post and it has a picture of some animal that she didnt know what it was. As we were waiting on the light to change so we could cross the cross-walk, i tried to explain to her that the animal was called a farrett. (side note- im not really sure why someone would even post a 'Lost Farrett' sign up any way...its just weird to me). so long story short, we established what the animal was, and i decided the toilet paper on the ground needed more attention. The light changed, and me and my 8 foot long legs decided they needed to move really fast, because to be frank i did not feel like explaining to this girl everything we passed any more. As im walking at the pace of a soccer mom in the grocery store, (you all know what im talking about), i hear running behind me. (Also, from now on, imagine everything this girl says with a very heavy asian accent). she caught up to me and says, "you walk very fast! it hard to keep up with you!" i looked at her, smiled politely and said, "blame my mother." she gave me a confused smile, but kept talking to me. at this point in the story, i decided to embrace the fact that i had made a new friend. we talked the rest of the way home which was probably 5 minutes. But in that 5 minutes, i learned she had just come over from china. and i only learned taht after she made me guess 10 times where she was from. i also learned she was 28, after she made me guess another 10 times. i made a comment that she looked a lot younger than 28. she seemed offended, but i told her that here in america, that is a good thing. she got excited. and i was relieved. she is bio-medical sciences and she literally came here straight from china in march. she did not know a lick of english when she came. her name is Jen-Jen and she told me we were friends. i have prayed every day since that i would pass her on the way home again.
its the little things like that in my life that i am so thankful for. its the little things like getting an email form my youngest sister from her auburn email address that she is accepted to auburn. its the little things like singing the fight song and rolling toomers when we are announced #1 on the BCS poll and chanting "Its great to be an Auburn Tiger" until your throat is dry. Its just knowing that your best friend is always ready to hear you babble about absolutely nothing important, but she listens because its important to you. Its having friends that just come hang out at your house because you are there. Its the text you get in your class telling you they are so thankful for your friendship. and its knowing that you have friends in almost all 50 states that love you and are praying for you. God is so good, and he is constantly reminding us of it, but are we taking the time to slow down, talk, and get to know him? Jen-Jen was such a good reminder of that for me. My prayer is that we can all be humbled enough to just sit at his feet and listen. Listen to what his will is for our lives, our future, our present, and the forgiveness of our past. When we do stop and listen, we will be so blessed. So my piece of advice is to you, dont be so narrow-minded that you dont stop and look for the Jen-Jens in your life that are crossing the street with you, who are sitting next to you in class, who check you out at the grocery store, and who serve you each day in the student center. Look for your Jen-Jen each day in your life and you would be surprised what God will show you. I promise it will be sweet.
