Over There, Over There

So, have I ever told you how much I love doing missions things? I mean, there is just something about flying half-way across the world and putting your own wants and desires on hold for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Earlier in the year, I posted a blog about God of Justice from Micah 6. At the risk of being redundant, I would just like to say a few things.

Our youth this year did a project called "Teen Arts Project." It's all about the arts. They do video, dance (slow and fun!), singing, playing instruments, painting, drawing, acting, etc. It is so much fun to watch them take a theme and really work it out in these different ways. The purpose is to teach them that worship is more than just singing, it is serving God in your area of giftedness--whatever that might be.

This year our theme was "God of Justice." It was amazing. I love to watch the youth of today talk about helping those that have been less fortunate in life than they have been. And then to watch them live that out at High School week of camp as we went into nursing homes, weeded rockbeds, painted buildings, scraped buildings, washed windows and cleaned out toilets was amazing. But then, to be able to travel to a foreign country and watch them yet again love on people? Well that is just the best summer ever! I cannot wait to watch eighteen teenagers and eight adults love on children who don't have parents, give people food for their hungry stomachs, and teach them about Jesus and His love for them. It is going to be AMAZING!

I am proud to say that I am a Youth Coach at New Hope Christian Church. The teens that we are privileged to work with challenge me to be a better woman of God, a better Christian, and a better person all around. They stretch me day in and day out. The keep me accountable without even knowing it. They make me laugh, cry, yell, smile, and dance (stinking running man!). They really are a joy to be around. I am very excited to get to spend a week with some of the most amazing kids to ever walk the face of the earth (Too much? I don't think so!). Thank you, NHCC Youth for allowing fallen, mistake-making, less than perfect people like me to work with you and minister with you. May we truly show the people we are about to serve what it means to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our Lord.

Do you validate?

So, have you ever had one of those decisions that you have to make that you just know is going to be the utter and complete demise of your life as you have known it? Ok, so maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but still...it can be a pretty big decision. And in the midst of those moments when the decision making is at it's worst, all you need and all you want is someone to tell you that you are doing a good job making that decision. That you are approaching that decision with maturity and logic, with just the right amount of faith. All you want is for people to recognize that the decision is stinking hard and give you a hug on a rough day.

Well, I would like to take time to encourage both of my readers to validate. Take a few moments and tell someone you know is struggling with something like this that they are loved. Tell them that they are doing a good job. Tell them that you are proud of them. These words may be the thing that gets them through the hardest day they have ever faced up to this point in their lives.

Please, oh please, take these words I have typed to heart. Share with someone you love how important they are. Share with them how much you love them. You just never know what it might mean! :)

Let's Go Campin'

Ok, so I have to tell you that I love camp. Now, please understand, I am getting older, so the late nights followed by ridiculously early mornings are getting, um, tiring to say the least. But I also have to say that I love camp.

I love that at camp kids can leave all the crud they live with all the time in their everyday lives behind. I love that at camp the kids who never have friends at school are all of a sudden some of the most popular kids. I love that at camp the kids that get everything they want all the time at home all of a sudden realize that the world does not revolve around them. I love that at camp students are confronted with who Jesus is and fall in love with Him more and more with each passing day. I love that at camp adults and students have opportunities to connect with each other as they connect with Christ. I love that at camp kids get plunged into the depths of Jesus' love and grace as they follow Him into the water of baptism.

I love camp. I really do. It will make me quite sad when some day I have to not go to camp anymore. It will make me sad to know that I will miss out on these amazing things. But I will rejoice in knowing that someone else will be blessed by seeing the things I have seen.
I love camp. I love sleep....but I love camp SO much more! :)

Let's Fly!

"Sometimes we choose to be a worm; at other times, our preference is to hide in the cocoon, but every now and again we choose to engage in the difficult struggle of breaking out. It's painful; it's frustrating; it's hard work. We might even wonder why God would make the cocoon so hard to escape from, never realizing it is the process itself that strengthens our wings and prepares us for flight."

This quote from a book by Erwin McManus has really been making me think these days. I'm not totally in love with the book in and of itself, but this quote really stuck out to me.


I want to escape from the cocoon.

I want to fly.

I know it will be painful. I know it will be hard. But I also know that once I have escaped, it will be the most amazing thing ever.

I am reminded of the character in the movie "A Bugs Life" named Heimlich. He is a gigantic caterpillar that dreams of being a "beautiful butterfly."

That is my dream.

I want to fly.

God of Justice

Micah 6:6-8
With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

I just can't seem to get these words out of my head. To act justly. To love mercy. To walk humbly with your God. They seem so simple. Yet, when I truly look at them, I am humbled because I know that these three things summarize all that I am to do in my walk with Jesus.

Every year for a week during the summer we get as many of our 7th-12th graders to help out with an event we have dubbed "Teen Arts Project." They prepare all week long and then lead the weekend services. Each year we use this event to teach the kids that worship is more than just singing on a Sunday morning or playing an instrument in a praise band. We do our best to teach these students that worship is a lifestyle. Worship is forever.

This year our theme is "God of Justice" based off the verse above but also from the lyrics to a song with the same title. Our goal this year to is to help the students see that God does not want their goats; He does not want their firstborn; He wants them. And He wants them to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Him.

What does that even mean, though? How can you teach someone something like that? How can you teach them to act justly or to love mercy or walk humbly? The only answer I can come up with is to teach them about the One with whom they are to walk. For He is the ultimate example of justice, mercy and humility.

So, God, I pray that you will fill us up and send us out so that we may go and live to feed the hungry and stand beside the broken. I pray that you will keep us from just singing words on a screen but instead, Father, I pray that you will move us into action. God, reveal yourself to us as leaders and as students, so that as we stand on stage and proclaim who You are, those in the seats will be moved into action as well. Fill us up and send us out, Lord.

I Really Want a Polk-A-Dot Umbrella

So, have you ever had those moments when you know that you have to make a decision, but no matter which option you look at you can see yourself doing it?

I always thought that God's will was like a path. There was one way to walk down that path with little side roads that looked appealing but were really just distractions away from the original path. However, when I was in college, I had a professor who explained it like it was more like an umbrella. Apparently, in this analogy, we all have an umbrella that represents all the things that we know are Truths from the Word. And all we have to do is walk under that umbrella.

For some reason, this does not make me feel better. I know that I should be relieved that there is no ONE thing for me to do in life. I know that I should be glad that I can do just about anything as long as I am following God's precepts, and He will bless it.

So if this is true, this means that we all have the same umbrella. I mean, I can understand that we all have our gifts and talents that lend us more toward one thing than another, but underneath, or in this case, overhead, we all have the same umbrella.

I guess something in me just wanted a special umbrella. The rule follower in me wants an umbrella that is just for me. I know that having an umbrella like everyone else's means that I have the freedom to do anything anywhere anytime. But I want to be able to pray and hear AN answer, not just any answer. I want to be able to talk to my friends and close council and receive council that will lead me to that same answer.

I just really want a polk-a-dot umbrella.

Jonah and me, we both agree....sort of

So before all of you grammar people start freaking out, yes I do know that the verbage should be "Jonah and I, we both agree," or perhaps "Jonah and I agree." But let's be honest, my way is catchier, and it rhymes!! :)

Anyway, so today in our staff meeting David gave a devo about the story of Jonah. He talked about how Jonah had such a bad attitude with what God was asking him to do. This is what I remember from the devo...of course these are my words, not David's! Jonah got frustrated when the people repented. He got even more frustrated when God had compassion on them. He became indignant and decided to pout out in the desert. Then when God was kind enough to give him some shade, he started to perk up. But God sent a worm to eat the the perty plant, and it withered and died, which merely caused Jonah to throw a hissy fit about how God took away his blankie. "It's hot, God! It's sunny, God! I just wanna die, God!" Waa, waa, waa.

God asks Jonah something very important that struck me today. "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"

Wow. I mean, seriously. Do you hear the importance of this question? As David was giving his devo, all I could think about was that sometimes things happen around us that have nothing really to do with us. I wish I could explain this better, but suffice it to say that sometimes God sends us to spread His Word and share His Message, and our job is not to sit around and cast judgment on the people hearing the message, or even to be there to reap the harvest of that message. Sometimes our job is just to share and trust that the God of the universe and Creator of all things knows what He is doing.

"Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"

There were more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who don't know their left hand from their right hand in the city of Nineveh. There were people who needed to hear God's message that had never heard it before. Had Jonah not gone to Nineveh, those people would have died without having ever heard of the Creator God. This just gets to me. How often have I said, "No," to God because I don't want to do something. It may not have even been an audible, "NO," maybe it was just my own non-action.

"Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"