--Surprise#1 of day 2...my computer broke. So I haven't been able to blog regularly on here. I have been keeping a journal so I will include some excerpts of those. God is amazing. He really is so huge. He keeps reminding me over and over that in my weakness, He is strong. Sometimes, out of habit, I try and become the strongest person possible. On my own. When I do that, I'm not strong at all. The only way I become authentically strong is when God is strong in me.
I like that.
On Friday, Day 2, God blessed me immensely. Is that a surprise? Yeah, I love blessings from God. They are like presents wrapped up that make my heart swell. I got to spend some one on one time with a very special jr. high girl. I normally help facilitate a jr. high bible study at 7am. These kids, even though school is out, still faithfully attend Bible study at 7am!!! Isn't that awesome? Well, Friday morning was an exception. Only one of the girls showed up so we went to Starbucks, got some drinks and had an informal study. I love one on one time.
Friday night is the big jr. high youth extravaganza. It was such a blast. We had a huge water night. We set up a bounce house in the parking lot with a sprinkler attached to the wall. The kids loved it. They were soaked. We had a trampoline with water being sprayed onto it. There were other random sprinklers, food, games, and a whole bunch of wet kids. Oh...and loud music. You can't have a jr. high event without loud music.
Bruce spoke on love. Of course 1 cor. 13 was read. I hope those kids know how much we love them and through that are able to grasp the love that God has for them. I pray that our words, our physical beings will not get in the way of what God has in store for each of these amazing kids.
Day 3
Why is it that my family is the hardest to get along with? I love them and they mean the world to me. We just can't seem to get along. I feel as if the people in my family switch who they are mad at every five minutes. It's so frustrating.
Anyways...BEACH DAY!!!! I love it.
I went fishing off a pier. Actually, I had a spool of fishing line w/ hooks attached to it and dropped down into the water. Bruce had it rigged up when I joined the fishing party. I stood there for what seemed like hours with my hair swirling around my head. I know what it feels like when a fish bites. It's exciting.
A month ago I went deep sea fishing. I caught so many fish. It was so addictive.
I waited at the end of the pier. Waited for a fish to bite. Just one little fish. That's all I wanted but Noooo!
I wonder if God feels like that. He waits for us to bite. Just one bite of faith, or trust, or friendship. Maybe on some days He gets lots of bites and on other days He doesn't get any. How disapointing. I don't want to disapoint my God.
I also see it in light of a different metaphor. God wants us to be fishers of men. Diligently. I gave up on those fish pretty quickly today. No bites after an hour and I was done. If I gave up that quickly on the unsaved, where would the world be? How would we become saved? I'm sure God could/would still save us but our Christian walk would be so much different.
Day 4
I love Sunday. I love church. I love the busyness. I have worship team practice at 8am. Then jr. high sunday school and then church...followed by a full work day at Starbucks. During sunday school, the jr. high boys and girls split up. Us girls talked about keeping our mind pure and different techniques to achieve that. I think they grasped all the concepts and saw the usefulness of each even though there are sacrifices to be made such as not watching movies with any sort of sex scene that might get stuck in our heads.
I found out some news about one of my jr. highers that is very disturbing. I trust God with her. I know he is going to keep her safe from all harm but it's hard. I want to rush in and try and save the day but I can't.
There are so many joys with being a youth leader but there are also a lot of hardships. There are so many times I just want to cry for these kids. I yearn to see them saved.
God,
Protect these kids. Please wrap your love around them and help them to walk in your spirit and in your grace. You alone are sufficient. Teach them that.
I love you Father.
Good night.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Friday, June 22, 2007
Day 1
-Surprise me God.
"I would consider myself very much fulfilled if I could buy your dragon" (Pete's Dragon).
Have you ever seen this movie? If not, you are going to have no idea what I'm talking about but hopefully you have. It's great. An animated dragon in the midst of 'real people' makes me smile. I watched this movie as a child and loved it. Now my sister, age 7 (Tia), is watching it and loving it. I like that. I like that she enjoys the same movies I once enjoyed.
Anyways, a dragon for sale in order to guarantee happiness or, as the speaker of the quote put it, fulfillment. Seems a bit far-fetched to me but the two money-hungry villains in "Pete's Dragon" don't seem to think so. In fact, they go to some pretty incredible lengths to obtain this fulfillment. Kidnapping, violence, lying, and trickery are just a few of the tools they use to get their dragon.
Watching this movie I wonder what my dragon is. What is it that I seek after in order to gain fulfillment? I would love to think that God/Jesus/Christianity/loving people is my dragon. (Stay with me here). I hope that I constantly seek after Christ for all fulfillment but sometimes I think (I know) that I look to other things. Some of these things aren't even such a "bad" in my life, just not the source of true fulfillment. Friends, family, the search for my future husband, school, work, jr. high youth group, worship team...the list goes on. All of these things have become my dragon, quite accidentally, but that doesn't make it right. My daily struggle to put my relationship with God first is just that...a daily struggle. It's hard but I know it's worth it.
--My first day of this experiment started with me waking up at 3:30 am to go to work at Starbucks. Yuck. I was the first one of my co-workers to arrive so I sat in the parking lot and offered up my first-Surprise me God. I was scared. And nervous. God's idea of a surprise could be so monumentally huge or it may just be subtle. Either way, uncertainty has always been a bit frightening for me.
I worked. Work was fine. I worked with some interesting people. The best thing about my job is the interaction I get with the community around me. I meet everyone! Everyone loves Starbucks. I establish such good relationships through my job...and I get paid for it. It's great.
Anyways, I got off work at 11am, spent some time with my momma, and then took a little nap. It was nice. After working so early in the morning, I usually get tired about 4 or 5pm.
Bruce called. I teach Jr. high youth with him. That is definitely one of my greatest passions. I'm sure I'll talk more about my passions later. We made plans to meet and discuss our next youth extravaganza later on in the night. I think we met up at about 8pm and wound up driving to a larger town about an hour away in order to get some supplies. Let me tell you, this guy is one of the greatest blessings God has given me. He is a dear, dear friend to me. He sympathizes with my problems, gives me Godly advice, and is a great example of what a Christian leader should be like. I really cherish our friendship. I should probably let him know that.
So..I got home from our little outing at midnight, read a bit and then crashed.
I've been reflecting over the day. I realize that the biggest surprise I had was just how focused my mind was on God and the things he does and the people he puts in my life. I talked earlier about how sometimes I have a hard time focusing on God alone. It's not that I'm doing anything bad or wrong but all the good things I'm doing get in the way with my having a genuine relationship with God. It becomes fake. Yesterday I was almost constantly in conversation with God. I kept uttering little prayers to Him. I kept thinking about His power. His strength. His unending mercy in my life. I think that's what I need right now. I need humility. I need to relish in His love for me and demonstrate my love for Him.
Today is day 2. I'm excited about what will happen. Tonight, Friday night, we are going to be having a crazy water night with the jr. highers. We have lots of games planned, loud music, food...what more can they want. Maybe God will surprise me tonight in the service we have for the kids.
I'm praying for Bruce. For the words God will give Him and the wisdom. God definitely speaks through him to the kids.
-I love you Father. Can't wait to see what You have in store for me.
"I would consider myself very much fulfilled if I could buy your dragon" (Pete's Dragon).
Have you ever seen this movie? If not, you are going to have no idea what I'm talking about but hopefully you have. It's great. An animated dragon in the midst of 'real people' makes me smile. I watched this movie as a child and loved it. Now my sister, age 7 (Tia), is watching it and loving it. I like that. I like that she enjoys the same movies I once enjoyed.
Anyways, a dragon for sale in order to guarantee happiness or, as the speaker of the quote put it, fulfillment. Seems a bit far-fetched to me but the two money-hungry villains in "Pete's Dragon" don't seem to think so. In fact, they go to some pretty incredible lengths to obtain this fulfillment. Kidnapping, violence, lying, and trickery are just a few of the tools they use to get their dragon.
Watching this movie I wonder what my dragon is. What is it that I seek after in order to gain fulfillment? I would love to think that God/Jesus/Christianity/loving people is my dragon. (Stay with me here). I hope that I constantly seek after Christ for all fulfillment but sometimes I think (I know) that I look to other things. Some of these things aren't even such a "bad" in my life, just not the source of true fulfillment. Friends, family, the search for my future husband, school, work, jr. high youth group, worship team...the list goes on. All of these things have become my dragon, quite accidentally, but that doesn't make it right. My daily struggle to put my relationship with God first is just that...a daily struggle. It's hard but I know it's worth it.
--My first day of this experiment started with me waking up at 3:30 am to go to work at Starbucks. Yuck. I was the first one of my co-workers to arrive so I sat in the parking lot and offered up my first-Surprise me God. I was scared. And nervous. God's idea of a surprise could be so monumentally huge or it may just be subtle. Either way, uncertainty has always been a bit frightening for me.
I worked. Work was fine. I worked with some interesting people. The best thing about my job is the interaction I get with the community around me. I meet everyone! Everyone loves Starbucks. I establish such good relationships through my job...and I get paid for it. It's great.
Anyways, I got off work at 11am, spent some time with my momma, and then took a little nap. It was nice. After working so early in the morning, I usually get tired about 4 or 5pm.
Bruce called. I teach Jr. high youth with him. That is definitely one of my greatest passions. I'm sure I'll talk more about my passions later. We made plans to meet and discuss our next youth extravaganza later on in the night. I think we met up at about 8pm and wound up driving to a larger town about an hour away in order to get some supplies. Let me tell you, this guy is one of the greatest blessings God has given me. He is a dear, dear friend to me. He sympathizes with my problems, gives me Godly advice, and is a great example of what a Christian leader should be like. I really cherish our friendship. I should probably let him know that.
So..I got home from our little outing at midnight, read a bit and then crashed.
I've been reflecting over the day. I realize that the biggest surprise I had was just how focused my mind was on God and the things he does and the people he puts in my life. I talked earlier about how sometimes I have a hard time focusing on God alone. It's not that I'm doing anything bad or wrong but all the good things I'm doing get in the way with my having a genuine relationship with God. It becomes fake. Yesterday I was almost constantly in conversation with God. I kept uttering little prayers to Him. I kept thinking about His power. His strength. His unending mercy in my life. I think that's what I need right now. I need humility. I need to relish in His love for me and demonstrate my love for Him.
Today is day 2. I'm excited about what will happen. Tonight, Friday night, we are going to be having a crazy water night with the jr. highers. We have lots of games planned, loud music, food...what more can they want. Maybe God will surprise me tonight in the service we have for the kids.
I'm praying for Bruce. For the words God will give Him and the wisdom. God definitely speaks through him to the kids.
-I love you Father. Can't wait to see what You have in store for me.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Day 0`
Tomorrow is the day. The day I ask God to surprise me and see where this journey goes. I'm pretty excited because I know from experience that when I call upon the Lord, He answers.
Terry came to my school, Fresno Pacific, quite a while ago but because of school I never read the book or started the experiment. I wanted to wait until I had enough time to be serious about it. So here I am.
Ready and willing for God to show me something and surprise the heck out of me. I know that last sentence is a fragment. I'm an English major. As much as I know the rules to correct writing, I also know how to break the rules and I find satisfaction in doing as much.
If anyone is interested, I'll let you know how things go.
Terry came to my school, Fresno Pacific, quite a while ago but because of school I never read the book or started the experiment. I wanted to wait until I had enough time to be serious about it. So here I am.
Ready and willing for God to show me something and surprise the heck out of me. I know that last sentence is a fragment. I'm an English major. As much as I know the rules to correct writing, I also know how to break the rules and I find satisfaction in doing as much.
If anyone is interested, I'll let you know how things go.
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