so wow i have been back for almost one month now...it is crazy how time flies. In the last month i have had my life completely change.
i moved downtown minneapolis
i was an orientation leader at nwc
i started classes at nwc
i got a job at caribou coffee in uptown by lake calhoun
i started my urban ministry program
i got an internship at good in the hood
things have been so different and it has been hard to be content. for the last 3 falls now i have done something new. my freshmen year i went to umd, then sophomore i went to nwc and now i am doing both nwc and this u4c program. it is once again completely new.
change isnt a bad thing, but it is hard. it is hard being content with things when you are used to the way things used to be. i love love love living in minneapolis, but honestly i am not content with it. i miss nwc, i miss by really good friends from there, i miss living on campus. i just miss it all. i miss having a core group of friends the most. it is hard keeping friends when you move off campus. it just plain sucks most days. because the people that i used to depend on i see maybe once a week and have a real convo with them on rare occasion. it is just reality, a reality that i dont like.
but God is faithful and he has a plan God promises that he has it all worked out. he has me here this year for a reason and i need to embrace it. i need to take every opportunity here and live it up to the fullest. and i am excited about what God has for me.
God has a plan for all of you. He has your life mapped out. he is in control. Trust God from the bottom of your heart dont try to figure it all out on your own dont assume you know it all. that is spoken in the book of proverbs and it is something that we should hold dear to our hearts.
trust is a hard thing to do, but i am trusting in God that he knows what he is doing, that he has a plan for me living here in minneapolis, that he is going to keep me safe, that he is going to provide the good friendship i am looking for, that he is going to be more than enough, that he is going to fill me up, and that he is going to keep holding me close to his heart and not let me go.
i challenge you to do the same thing in your life, whatever situation you may be in, to just trust God and know that he has it all in control. <3
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
messages about being free...
so here are my talks from this summer. i give these each night. i am really excited to share them. i have been working on them all summer and changing them and forming over the weeks as different things happen and come up. our theme for the summer is freedom which you will read about in the first talk. i really hope that you will get something out of them! enjoy :)
You were called to be free...
What do you think of when you hear the word free? Most people think of things like slavery, america, the sky, birds, or my favorite: buy on get one free sale! the truth is that the word free has so many different meanings and definitions.
Well the word free comes from the PIE root pri which means to love. so my favorite outake on the word free is that we are free when we are loved. free when we are loved... that is crazy. this means that because God loves each and everyone of us, we are free.
well in the Bible there is a passage that talks about freedom. it is found in the book of Galatians...
13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Galatians 5:13-14
this is apostle paul talking here. he is writing to the church of Galatia. he is writing them because they had forgotten about their freedom to love one another, but instead were using judgement towards one another.
well we are called to be free. we are called to be free because God loves us. it is the only way we are truly free. free to love one another. when i think about loving one another, a different passage comes to my mind. it is from the book of 1 john.
19 we love because God first loved us...
1 John 4:19
this is so true. God loves each and everyone of us, which makes us free. and that allows us to love one another freely. that is what life is all about. but sometimes we forget about our freedom. we forget about how God loves us for who we are. we all have had that point or points in our lives where we forget about being free.
the time in my life when i forgot about being free was in high school and my first year of college. in high school i really wanted to be popular. there was so much pressure to be accepted by the popular crowd, especially for girls. so i really had this group of girls that i wanted to impress. i tried so hard to impress them that i did things that i never thought i would. i started wearing clothes that were "in" to impress them, i started saying things about people that werent nice, liking talking bad about someone for different reasons to impress them, i went to parties to impress them, and i spent most of all my high school career trying to impress this group of girls, that is all i thought about and all i wanted, was their approval.
well after high school i went to college. i was still in the mind set that i had to impress people. so i really wanted to impress my roomate and the girls on my floor. well my roomate was completely different then me. she was a very nice girl but just really different. she was a huge partier. and i wanted her to like me and i wanted the girls on my floor to like me. so i started partying. i went out with her almost every weekend and just got into that lifestyle. i was trapted. i was still going to church almost every sunday and chi alpha ( a christian group on campus ) every tuesday night. i was trapped in two different life styles. well in late april 2008 i went on a retreat with chi alpha. a youth pastor prayed for me, i had never met him before. after praying for me he looked at me and told me that he felt God wanted me to hear this. he said "God loves you, for you. There is a line with God and i feel like you are living right on it or crossing it all the time. God is black and white. and remember God loves you for who you are." at that moment it hit me. i was no longer the person that God made me to be. I was so wrapped up in trying to impress people of this world that i had forgotten that God loved me and that is all that mattered. nothing else. in that moment i felt so free. and i loved it.
so i challenge you to think about your life. focus on God's love and how it frees you. God's love is always forgiving no matter what! think about a situation in your life where you may be trapped. a situation where you have forgotten about God's freedom.
take a moment to imagine...
23Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?" 26Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." 27Peter answered him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?" 28Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
Matthew 19:16-30
You were called to be free...
What do you think of when you hear the word free? Most people think of things like slavery, america, the sky, birds, or my favorite: buy on get one free sale! the truth is that the word free has so many different meanings and definitions.
Well the word free comes from the PIE root pri which means to love. so my favorite outake on the word free is that we are free when we are loved. free when we are loved... that is crazy. this means that because God loves each and everyone of us, we are free.
well in the Bible there is a passage that talks about freedom. it is found in the book of Galatians...
13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Galatians 5:13-14
this is apostle paul talking here. he is writing to the church of Galatia. he is writing them because they had forgotten about their freedom to love one another, but instead were using judgement towards one another.
well we are called to be free. we are called to be free because God loves us. it is the only way we are truly free. free to love one another. when i think about loving one another, a different passage comes to my mind. it is from the book of 1 john.
19 we love because God first loved us...
1 John 4:19
this is so true. God loves each and everyone of us, which makes us free. and that allows us to love one another freely. that is what life is all about. but sometimes we forget about our freedom. we forget about how God loves us for who we are. we all have had that point or points in our lives where we forget about being free.
the time in my life when i forgot about being free was in high school and my first year of college. in high school i really wanted to be popular. there was so much pressure to be accepted by the popular crowd, especially for girls. so i really had this group of girls that i wanted to impress. i tried so hard to impress them that i did things that i never thought i would. i started wearing clothes that were "in" to impress them, i started saying things about people that werent nice, liking talking bad about someone for different reasons to impress them, i went to parties to impress them, and i spent most of all my high school career trying to impress this group of girls, that is all i thought about and all i wanted, was their approval.
well after high school i went to college. i was still in the mind set that i had to impress people. so i really wanted to impress my roomate and the girls on my floor. well my roomate was completely different then me. she was a very nice girl but just really different. she was a huge partier. and i wanted her to like me and i wanted the girls on my floor to like me. so i started partying. i went out with her almost every weekend and just got into that lifestyle. i was trapted. i was still going to church almost every sunday and chi alpha ( a christian group on campus ) every tuesday night. i was trapped in two different life styles. well in late april 2008 i went on a retreat with chi alpha. a youth pastor prayed for me, i had never met him before. after praying for me he looked at me and told me that he felt God wanted me to hear this. he said "God loves you, for you. There is a line with God and i feel like you are living right on it or crossing it all the time. God is black and white. and remember God loves you for who you are." at that moment it hit me. i was no longer the person that God made me to be. I was so wrapped up in trying to impress people of this world that i had forgotten that God loved me and that is all that mattered. nothing else. in that moment i felt so free. and i loved it.
so i challenge you to think about your life. focus on God's love and how it frees you. God's love is always forgiving no matter what! think about a situation in your life where you may be trapped. a situation where you have forgotten about God's freedom.
take a moment to imagine...
- you are free from the limits of your life...
- what are the limits that God is inviting you to leave behind...
- that you dont worry about all the things that usually limit you from being or doing what you wish you could...
- that you are completely free
- what is God inviting you to do with your freedom?
Freedom from Fame...
Faces. We all put them on. We put faces on for friends, for family, and even sometimes God. We feel pressured. We feel pressured to act a certain way because of standards. Standards from our culture, the media, etc.
I want to share with you MyFace (facebook and myspace put together) This is my 11th grade myface. Picture a profile with a profile pic that I spent hours taking. I wanted to have the sweetest profile pic so everyone would think that I was artsy and would want to be my friend. Then I had so many friends because I wanted to appear cool, so I would add anyone and everyone just to make it look like everyone loved me. Then I also had a ton of wall posts to make it appear as everyone wanted to talk to me. My interests included football games, the trendiest clothes, and the latest hit music, because I wanted to fit in with the “in” crowd. This was the face I put on for the group of friends at school. The group of people I wanted to be accepted by. But I also had another face…
I had a “holy” my face. This was the face that I put on for people at church and I even put it on for God. This myface included interests such as respect others, be kind, pray before you eat, read the Bible, no swearing. Notice how those are all simply rules, there is nothing about love or compassion. There was no actual relationship with God, just guidelines with this face.
Well my “holy” myface is like people from Jesus’ day. They were called the Pharisees. The Pharisees were people who strictly followed the Jewish law. They had no relationship or love or compassion behind it. They just followed the law.
There is a passage in the Bible where Jesus addresses people who put on faces. It is found in the book of matthew. This passage comes from the sermon on the mount and is specifically known as the beatitudes.
1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them saying: 3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. 10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:1-10
This passage can be difficult to understand, especially when you are first reading it. Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn? It just doesn’t make sense. But let us remember to whom Jesus is talking to. He is talking to people who put on faces, people like you and me. He is talking to people who wanted fame.
The definition of fame is the condition of being known or talked about by many people or the state of being widely honored or celebrity status.
Now Jesus is not giving us rules here. He is not saying you can do this or you cant do that. But instead he is tearing down the standards. He is tearing down the standards of the Jewish law. He is saying that the laws are nothing without the love or compassion or the true relationship with God. He is telling people, like you and me, who put on a face to stop!
But the amazing part about this passage is that Jesus is tearing down the standards of our culture. Think about myspace or facebook. Think about that standards that come along with that. How people judge you because of how many friends you have, the number of wall posts, your profile picture, if your status is set as single or in a relationship. Or what about the standards at school. Like the standards of what brand or kind of clothes you wear, your hairstyle, the language you use, the sports you play, your extra-curricular activites, your friends.
Well Jesus’ message is that you don’t have to fake it anymore. God loves you for who you are and who he created you to be! Not because the brands you where, the number of friends on facebook or myspace, your hairstyle, whether you have a bf or gf, what sports you play, if you are in band, what your profile picture is, but because of who you are. That’s huge! You are free from fame and putting on faces.
This allows us to be free. It allows us to live in the true freedom to be yourself.
I challenge you all to really evaluate the faces you put on. Lose the face. Know that God loves you for you not who you pretend to be.
Freedom from wealth...
Wealth is something that can control us. We get caught up in the things that we use and rely on daily. But sometimes we forget how little some of the world around us has. Here are some statistics that put into perspective how much differently most of the world lives.
46% of the world’s 2.2 billion children live in poverty. 53% of students of secondary school age (middle and high school) are not in school.
22% of adults in the world cannot read.
17% of the world’s population (1.1 billion people) have no access to clean water.
24% of children under 5 are underweight due to malnutrition.
7% of the world’s children are orphans.
58% of people in the world do not have a phone.
82% of the world’s population does not use or have access to the internet.
19% of the world lives on less than $1 a day.
These statistics are eye opening. Reading them really makes me think about little things like my cell phone. 58% of people in the world don’t even have a phone and my cell is something that I rely on daily for communication. Overall it really makes you think about wealth and how we have dependence on things in our lives.
There is a passage where a Jesus informs a young rich man that his dependence on wealth is a trap. It is in the book of matthew.
23Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." 25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?" 26Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." 27Peter answered him, "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?" 28Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.
Matthew 19:16-30
Wow. Sell all of your possessions? When I think about selling all of my possessions I cant even begin to fathom what that would look like. I really enjoy some of the things I have.
Well I want to share with you the definition of wealth. The definition of valuable possessions or money or plentiful supplies of a particular resource.
In this passage Jesus isn’t condemning wealth. He isn’t saying that wealth is a bad thing. It is not about how much cash this rich young man had, but he was revealing to this young man his dependence on the cash. So this passage is about not holding on to the wealth but it is about letting go of our dependence on it. It is revealing to us how our desire for wealth and self dependence is a trap. Jesus is calling us to give up the craving we have for wealth and depending on material things.
So I am currently reading this book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. The other day I was reading for devotion time and came across this:
How many of us would really leave our families, our jobs, education, our friends, our connections, our familiar surroundings, and our homes if Jesus asked us to? If he just showed up and said, “follow me”? no explanation. No directions.
You could follow him straight up a hill to be crucified. Maybe he would lead you to another country, and you would never see your family again. Or perhaps you would stay put, but he would ask you to spend your time helping people who will never love you back and never show gratitude for what you gave up.
We say to the creator of all this magnitude and majesty, “well, im not sure you are worth it….you see, I really like my car, or my little sin habit, or my money, and im really not sure I want to give them up, even if it means I get you”
When we put it plainly like this—as a direct choice between God and our stuff—most of us hope we would choose God. But we need to realize that how we spend our time, what our money goes toward, and where we will invest our energy is equivalent to choosing God or rejecting him. How could we think for even a second that something on this puny little earth compares to the creator and sustainer and savior of it all?
Think about things in our lives that represent wealth and what we might be depending on. What about computers specifically email or facebook or myspace. Or what about your favorite TV show and how you crave to watch it. Or what about your IPOD and depending on it to listen to music when you want to distract yourself. Or a cell phone and how much we can depend and rely on that. Or what about something more abstract like time. What we do with our time can represent wealth, especially when we are not using it wisely.
This past year I was holding on to my time specifically Friday nights. I had just started at Northwestern and I was making all these new friends. I really enjoyed just hanging out with them especially on Friday nights. We would go out to dinner or watch movies or go to parks and always just had a great time. But also Friday nights at Northwestern there is this ministry called Streetlight. Streetlight goes downtown Minneapolis on Friday nights to three different homeless shelters. They serve meals to people, eat with them, and just talk with them. It is a wonderful ministry but it goes from about 6pm to 1am and I just wasn’t willing to give up my Friday nights. I just really enjoyed hanging out with my friends. Well one of my friends got involved with streetlight and absolutely loved it. Every week they would ask me to go, but I would turn them down because I wasn’t will to give up my Friday night because I already had plans. Well after a while passed they asked me on a Monday what I was doing Friday night. And I didn’t have plans so I said I would go, but only this one time. Well Friday came around and I went. Now when you go you have to leave your cell phone and wallet behind, only bringing yourself. That was hard at first, just leaving things I depend on behind, but I did. Well we got downtown and I started serving food at the first homeless shelter. It was amazing. I was having conversations with people about Jesus, I was sharing his love. I was having conversation about the MN twins, and just talking. I was loving and serving God’s children. It was so amazing that I was speechless. As the night went on it only got better, I was able to pray with people and share the Bible with them. Needless to say I realized that night that that is where God wanted me and what he wanted me to do with my time on Friday nights. I wasn’t doing anything bad on Friday nights before it just wasn’t where God wanted me. He had other plans for me on Friday nights.
I let go of my time and God completely took over. I found freedom. I found freedom from wealth by giving up my time to God. When you give up your rights you are able to experience God’s love and are able to fully love others.
Think about your life. Think about an area in your life where maybe God is asking you to let go and let him take over. Letting Go means letting go of that dependence. Realizing that we need to only depend on God and not our wealth or self dependence.
Think about the thing that is holding you down as a rock. Let’s say a pebble to be specific. Picture yourself holding that pebble in your hand. As you are holding it imagine the weight that the pebble has. That is the weight of what is holding you down. The thing that you have dependence on. Well now picture a vase filled with water. Imagine that you take that pebble and drop it in the vase. As you drop the rock in it sinks to the bottom and the water rises. That is exactly what God does when we let something go. God is the vase full of water. When we let something go in our life. He takes it. And he fills us up and restores us because of it just like the water in the vase rises.
Freedom from power...
The definition of power is different then what you might think. Power: the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behavior of others or the course of events or the right or authority that is given to a person or body.
Power is something that can be hard to understand, especially the difference between our power and Gods power. Well the scripture that goes along with the idea of laying down our power to have God’s power in our lives is in the book of matthew.
47While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: "The one I kiss is the man; arrest him." 49Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed him. 50Jesus replied, "Friend, do what you came for." Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. 51With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 52"Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?" 55At that time Jesus said to the crowd, "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. 56But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
Matthew 26:47-56
At this point in the scripture Jesus knew that his death was approaching. He knew what was coming. Before this took place he was in the garden. He was in the Garden praying to our Father. He was pleading with God that if there was any way to save him from death, to do it. Any way at all. But in that prayer he also said “Father, your will be done.” At this very point Jesus started to lay down his power. He knew that God had a will for his life and that the scriptures had to be fulfilled so he knew he had to lay down his power.
Well in the scripture Jesus is willing to be unjustly arrested. He doesn’t do anything to stop them. Not only that but he tells peter to put his sword back. Peter pulls out the sword and cuts off the ear of the servant and Jesus says no. He tells peter that those who live by the sword die by the sword. Meaning those who live by individual power die by power.
Jesus also had the power to stop them. He says that he could call upon his Father and at once thousand of angels would be there, but he doesn’t. he chooses to give up that power.
So Jesus is telling us to lay down our swords. He is telling us to lay down the power that we individually have. He wants us to lay down our power so that by giving up our power God’s will can be done in our lives. In the garden Jesus said “Father your will be done.” We are to do the same. To know that God has a will for each and every one of our lives.
This means that sometimes we might not know what is going to happen in our lives. We might not understand how things are going to turn out, but that is ok, because God has it in control. God has a perfect and wonderful plan for our lives. And we are not to know all the plans all the time, but he will let us know and reveal them to us as we go on in life.
I heard the song “My Savior, My God” by Aarron Shust the other day. It starts off saying “I am not skilled to understand, what God has willed what God has planned.” And that is how it is suppose to be. We need to trust in God and that he has a will for our lives.
Well all of our individual powers look different in our lives. Power can look like many different things. For example:
· Money
· Opportunities
· Achievements
· Technology
Freedom from power is about letting go of control. Letting go of having things our way and saying “Father your will be done” It is about letting go of fear and desire to secure our own comfort and giving freely to other out of love.
When you let go of control and put down your earthly power God will fill you up with his power.
16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:16-21
In verse 20 it says that God’s power is at work within us! When we lay down our swords God’s power fills us up and that is the most important power you could ever have!
Free to be revolutionary...
When we start living our life for God, he starts a revolution in our life. The most important thing is to not let the revolution stop. God shows us how to be free in Christ and how we are free to follow Christ’s example.
Following Christ’s example is what our lives should be about. Having a servant heart and loving on another.
1It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. 2The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" 7Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." 8"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." 9"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" 10Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." 11For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. 12When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. 13"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
John 13:1-17
WOW. That is the ultimate example of a servant heart. The ultimate example of loving one another humbly in love.
13You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."
Galatians 5:13-14
Well looking back to the first passage, this was Jesus’ the last dinner with his disciples before his death. During this last dinner he chooses to serve them. Not only that he chooses to serve them by washing their feet. Now back in the day washing feet was something the lowest servant did. The very bottom of the chain servant was the person to get down on their knees and wash people’s feet. In that moment Jesus was doing something revolutionary.
The definition of revolution is a drastic and far reaching change in ways of thinking and behaving or a sudden or momentous change in a situation.
Also in this passage Jesus acknowledges that he is their teacher and their Lord. That is why this is revolutionary. Jesus is taking like a million steps down from teacher and Lord by getting down on his knees and washing their feet.
When he does this he is setting them free to love and serve. He is setting us free to love and serve. He is setting us free to serve without boundaries of fame, wealth, and power. He is freeing us from boundaries so that we can give without boundaries.
Jesus said “now that you know these things you will be blessed if you do them”. In that moment he is not giving us a job, but the kingdom of God! The kingdom of God, that is huge. He is handing off the task to us. To wash feet as a lifestyle.
Washing feet as a lifestyle means living a life of servant hood. Not being afraid to get down on our knees to serve others. Not being afraid to go the extra mile to serve others. Not being afraid to serve when it isn’t convenient for us.
That is what life is about loving others and being loved. When God comes into your life a revolution is started and you cant let it stop. You are free to keep the revolution going.
Love all…serve all…
well i find myself in beaver falls again...
well this past week was a pretty normal week. it was simple and fun.
the best part of this past week was some of the adult leaders. there was this group from philly and they adult leaders were just great. they were younger and closer to our age (which we always enjoy) and were able to just relax! it was amazingness.
well it is crazy thinking that i only have one week left. i am trying really hard to not check out. i really want to stay focused and not get too excited about going home. but it is just hard. i am so excited to go home and back to all the people i love so much. its impossible to not be excited about that. and moving into a house in downtown minneapolis and going back to school. but i have to remember that i am in a communitity where some people look forward to us coming all year and then are crushed when we leave. i want to be able to give my best to the next week just as much as i did in the beggining.
one big thing that did happen this week was kim cut off 10 inches of her hair to donate! and i got to cut it! i am basically a barber this summer. i have now cut kim's eric's and mark's hair! we raised 801 dollars for YE and she said she would cut it if we raised 800. so she had to do it! so we put it in a pony tail and measured 10 inches and cut right above it. then she went in yesterday and got it fixed. but it is really cute and turned out well.
another big note of this week is no more sams shopping!!!! i pretty much hate sams shopping and inventory. and we are officially done with that! it is a huge plus!!
so being a program staff i get to give a talk every night at club. and something i have been wanting to do is share that with everyone all summer long. so i am going to work on that today. it will hopefully be done soon. it will be a really long post seing as how i give 5 talks at about each 10 minutes long. but i am really excited to share them. and i am really proud of them since i have been molding and adapting them all summer long, that now it is something that i have put so much work into. so i hope you enjoy them.
the best part of this past week was some of the adult leaders. there was this group from philly and they adult leaders were just great. they were younger and closer to our age (which we always enjoy) and were able to just relax! it was amazingness.
well it is crazy thinking that i only have one week left. i am trying really hard to not check out. i really want to stay focused and not get too excited about going home. but it is just hard. i am so excited to go home and back to all the people i love so much. its impossible to not be excited about that. and moving into a house in downtown minneapolis and going back to school. but i have to remember that i am in a communitity where some people look forward to us coming all year and then are crushed when we leave. i want to be able to give my best to the next week just as much as i did in the beggining.
one big thing that did happen this week was kim cut off 10 inches of her hair to donate! and i got to cut it! i am basically a barber this summer. i have now cut kim's eric's and mark's hair! we raised 801 dollars for YE and she said she would cut it if we raised 800. so she had to do it! so we put it in a pony tail and measured 10 inches and cut right above it. then she went in yesterday and got it fixed. but it is really cute and turned out well.
another big note of this week is no more sams shopping!!!! i pretty much hate sams shopping and inventory. and we are officially done with that! it is a huge plus!!
so being a program staff i get to give a talk every night at club. and something i have been wanting to do is share that with everyone all summer long. so i am going to work on that today. it will hopefully be done soon. it will be a really long post seing as how i give 5 talks at about each 10 minutes long. but i am really excited to share them. and i am really proud of them since i have been molding and adapting them all summer long, that now it is something that i have put so much work into. so i hope you enjoy them.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
reflections while sitting in a coffee shop...
so i am sitting in a coffe shop in beaver falls pennsilvania right now. and it is so nice to sit and just do nothing at a crazy week.
i updated on tuesday so you can read about the beggining of the week there. the week ended ok. there were just some people that were difficult all week. but thats ok. we made it through! that is the important part!
i wanted to share something important that i learned this past week: having a servant heart at all times, not when it is convenient for you. yes, i have given up the last three sumers to go to crazy places away from home and serve for the summer, yes, this past year at school i spent usually 10-15 hours a week in north minneapolis serving the teens. but it was all mostly convenient for me. i enjoyed it. and serving should be enjoyable, but maybe not at all times. this past week was a week of questions. it seemed like i was asked questions or to do something for someone 24/7 this past week. and it was really was annoying at sometimes. sometimes i was in the middle of something, or rocking at with youth at the concert we have each week, or in the middle of devotions, and i was getting really upset. but i stepped back for a minute and pondered. God doesnt call us to serve only when WE want to or when it is convenient for US, but at ALL TIMES. when he wants us to. sometimes it may be hard and you may have to force that smile and say yes when you are really thinking no, but we are called to serve with a servant heart and attitude at all times. and that is something that is hard to learn and fully do. but it is truth. and i got a nice reminder of that this past week.
another thing that has been happening over the past few weeks is people telling me that i am going to be a preacher. i give talks every night at club. and i enjoy it so much. making the bible relevant for youth to understand! but over the last few weeks, once everyone one adult leader each week has told me that they feel like i am going to be a preacher, and i am not sure how i feel about this. i have never really felt like that or thought that is what God has for me. I guess i will see as my life goes further on i will find out. personally i feel like i have screwed up way to much in my life to even consider being a preacher, but i know that is just satan telling me that. God uses us all no matter how much we have strayed away from the path. God's grace is made perfect in our weakness, which is a beautiful thing. all i know is that i love teenagers and i want to spend my life just helping them get through the tough times and making God's love and word relevant for them!
so yeah. that is where i am at in this very moment. i am getting really excited to come home. i fly home two weeks from tuesday and i cant believe it! i am super pumped to go back to northwestern and go back to school, but at the same time i only have two weeks left with kim eric and mark, which is nuts. this summer has been an adventure with them, we have fought and had hard times, but it has only made us closer. we truly are like a family. we all get along great and have had amazing moments together, i am so glad that i have been able to meet and live with these three people for the summer and i am not quite ready to leave them.
so i will end this with a few funny moments from the past week!
-kim bought orange pants last week in pittsburg to match me! so on fridays mark and eric where the same outfit (khaki shorts and brown long sleve t's) and me and kim where the same outfit (orange pants with green t's) it is just hilarious and i LOVE it!
-last night we hung out with the firemen till about 1 am. it was so much fun. we just sit outside the fire house with our fav 3: pounder, terry, and grey. they are awesome. the street right out side the church is the street that the hookers walk. so it is basically like reality tv sitting outside the fire house. we saw some ladies get picked up and dropped off several minutes later. we saw guys drive by multiple times looking for ladies. we saw cops drive by and tell them to leave. and we saw some drug deals go down. it is pretty entertaining and is way better than tv.
so that is the update. i hope you all are doing well. and i will be home before you know it!!
i hope you have a beautiful day!
i updated on tuesday so you can read about the beggining of the week there. the week ended ok. there were just some people that were difficult all week. but thats ok. we made it through! that is the important part!
i wanted to share something important that i learned this past week: having a servant heart at all times, not when it is convenient for you. yes, i have given up the last three sumers to go to crazy places away from home and serve for the summer, yes, this past year at school i spent usually 10-15 hours a week in north minneapolis serving the teens. but it was all mostly convenient for me. i enjoyed it. and serving should be enjoyable, but maybe not at all times. this past week was a week of questions. it seemed like i was asked questions or to do something for someone 24/7 this past week. and it was really was annoying at sometimes. sometimes i was in the middle of something, or rocking at with youth at the concert we have each week, or in the middle of devotions, and i was getting really upset. but i stepped back for a minute and pondered. God doesnt call us to serve only when WE want to or when it is convenient for US, but at ALL TIMES. when he wants us to. sometimes it may be hard and you may have to force that smile and say yes when you are really thinking no, but we are called to serve with a servant heart and attitude at all times. and that is something that is hard to learn and fully do. but it is truth. and i got a nice reminder of that this past week.
another thing that has been happening over the past few weeks is people telling me that i am going to be a preacher. i give talks every night at club. and i enjoy it so much. making the bible relevant for youth to understand! but over the last few weeks, once everyone one adult leader each week has told me that they feel like i am going to be a preacher, and i am not sure how i feel about this. i have never really felt like that or thought that is what God has for me. I guess i will see as my life goes further on i will find out. personally i feel like i have screwed up way to much in my life to even consider being a preacher, but i know that is just satan telling me that. God uses us all no matter how much we have strayed away from the path. God's grace is made perfect in our weakness, which is a beautiful thing. all i know is that i love teenagers and i want to spend my life just helping them get through the tough times and making God's love and word relevant for them!
so yeah. that is where i am at in this very moment. i am getting really excited to come home. i fly home two weeks from tuesday and i cant believe it! i am super pumped to go back to northwestern and go back to school, but at the same time i only have two weeks left with kim eric and mark, which is nuts. this summer has been an adventure with them, we have fought and had hard times, but it has only made us closer. we truly are like a family. we all get along great and have had amazing moments together, i am so glad that i have been able to meet and live with these three people for the summer and i am not quite ready to leave them.
so i will end this with a few funny moments from the past week!
-kim bought orange pants last week in pittsburg to match me! so on fridays mark and eric where the same outfit (khaki shorts and brown long sleve t's) and me and kim where the same outfit (orange pants with green t's) it is just hilarious and i LOVE it!
-last night we hung out with the firemen till about 1 am. it was so much fun. we just sit outside the fire house with our fav 3: pounder, terry, and grey. they are awesome. the street right out side the church is the street that the hookers walk. so it is basically like reality tv sitting outside the fire house. we saw some ladies get picked up and dropped off several minutes later. we saw guys drive by multiple times looking for ladies. we saw cops drive by and tell them to leave. and we saw some drug deals go down. it is pretty entertaining and is way better than tv.
so that is the update. i hope you all are doing well. and i will be home before you know it!!
i hope you have a beautiful day!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
yikes!
hey everyone!
i am sorry that i wasnt able to make a blog post this past weekend. it ended up being super busy and there was simply zero time for it. we went to pittsburg last weekend and it was so amazing. we went to the district and went to pillima (?) brothers. the sandwhich shop where they put the fries and coleslaw on your sandwhich! it was pretty good. then we just hung out. and shopped and enjoyed a day in the city. we went down the incline where you get in a rail car and the view was beautiful!
some highlights from last week...(its hard to remember all of them)
i got to give mark and eric mowhawks. the group met the money raised for YE and so mark and eric got mowhawks. it was really fun. i am really getting good at cutting hair and that has been super fun.
other highlights were just getting to spend a lot of time at kids club and interacting with the kids. it was so good to just continue those relationships.
although kids club is never easy. on monday we had a "gang fight" it wasnt really a gang fighting but it was about 5 teenage boys going at it right at the end of kids club. me mark and eric were caught in the middle of it. it was crazy to try and break up. we were all holding people back and at that point i was ready to pack my bags and leave...but if only i knew what was gonna happen this week..
this week has been really hard. there is no other way to put it. yesterday many things happened to atribute to the worst youthworks day i have ever seen.
yesterday someone tried to start multiple fires in our sactuary with our bibles. thankfully we found it before it got out of control, but there was still some damage done, but no one was hurt. we came accross the fire after eric had saw some smoke and smelt it. when we went the back way into the sanctuary we found a few bibles ripped up and smoldering in a pile. then when we went into the sanctuary we found 3 more places with ashes of church envelopes. the sanctuary was filled with haze and smoke. also thankfully the fire dept is right accross the street and they and the police were here with-in minutes. so even though we dont know who did it, we are glad everyone ended up being ok. and now we are taking extra safety procautions to make sure it doesnt happen again.
also yesterday we had a youth that just was not getting along with an adult leader and that was tough. we are trying to work that situation out but it is really tough. we have a wide range of youth here including many that dont want to be here. and it is hard to make someone have fun when they are so angry that they are here.
then just all the small things this week that could go wrong, are. kim had a bad feeling about this week this past weekend and it is proving to be true. i dont know how it will end out but as a team we are spending alot of time in prayer and just hoping that God really moves here this week.
i really would just to like to ask for prayer here for us in steubenville. we have so many challenges in the next few days to deal with and i pray that we can just overcome them. and surpase them. that this week can just be turned around. we have 2 weeks left after this and i just hope that this week doesnt burn us out. because we need to give these final two weeks as much as we gave the first 6.
so there is a quick update. that is about all i have time for right now i will be writting again this weekend. to fill you in. here are a few quick pictures from last week.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
with exactly one month left...
So today is July 11th...and on Aug 11th at about 7 am or so i will be on a flight back to minneapolis! its so crazy to think that i just have 4 short weeks left. and i have been here for 7 weeks already!
so to start this off i am just sitting here listening to jack johnson relaxing...this week has been a little crazy and different, especially this weekend. it wasnt planned but as of yesterday at about 4 my whole team left. they all went their seperate ways to spend time with their family members this weekend. and so i am here is this church by myself...which can be scary, especially last night...but i made it through!!! so i am pretty proud of myself for that!
well i am just gonna do highlights from the past week:
a. i got to shave heads! we sell YE shirts here on thursday night, and it is my job to sell them, and lots of them. so mark said if we sold 700 dollars worth that he would shave his beard. well one of the participants said that if we sold 1000 dollars he would shave his head, and then another one of the participants, with hair past his shoulders said that he would shave his head if we sold out of a certain shirt. well we did all three! so i went out and got clippers and we had a hair shaving celebration! it was super fun and hilarious! thanks to my dad i have had alot of practice with shaving heads...so i didnt cut anyone's ear off!!
b. we had some awesome people here this week. to of my favs were the taylors...these to guys named taylor were just so cool. and just simply fun to hang out with. we had some mean four square time!
c. foot washing. everything thursday night we do a foot washing during club. it is super emotional and just powerful. we wash the adult leader feet and then they wash their student's feet. well this week was just amazing. after the foot washing i had two youth from long island that wanted to wash my feet. and they prayed for me. and it was just so touching. they just told me about how much i had impacted them this week and how the stories i shared about my life during club just really helped them connect and really begin to find God again. well after that. three others came up and wanted to wash my feet. and prayed for me. then the taylors came over and prayed for me and said that i also helped them connect with God again because they had gone off track and then this amazing girl savanah as well came over and prayed for me. it was just so awesome. all of these youth just were so filled with God and it was such a sight to see. it also just really was a re-assurance for me, that what i am saying during my talks is getting through and God is just really speaking through me!
d. playing mau with the adult leaders. on wed night we had an after hours party with the adult leaders. we started out by playing spoons, and then played this card game called mau. the first rule of mau was that you arent allowed to talk about the rules. so it was a definately a learn as you go game. but it was so much fun. we ended up staying up till 2:30 am..but it was so worth it. then thurs night was also a 3:00 am night..but it was because it was just such a powerful night that people just wanted to talk about life and what God had for them. so it was just great.
e. i learned about P.U.S.H (pray until something happens) last sunday at church pastor Jason gave a sermon on prayer and talked about PUSH, but didnt say too much about it, but then we went to power of tower on wed night and pastor everette really talked about PUSH and how you just have to be in prayer 24/7 and something will happen because God always answers prayers. well then that night i bought a devo book because i wanted something that i could take time each day to really connect. and the next morning i opened the devo book to the date (July 9th) and it was a devo on PUSH..it was soooo crazy. and so God. this week i had really been struggling because i have just been dealing with random things that have been pulling me down, and sometimes i just give up and stop praying about things, but God just reminded me to PUSH Pray Until Something Happens, because he WILL answer!!
so that was the week in a nutshell. i am gonna post some pics in a bit. so you can see what has been going on. a prayer request for me would just be that our team keeps growing together and also that we can give these last few weeks as good if not better then we gave our first!
i love and miss you all and i hope that you are having beautiful days!
so to start this off i am just sitting here listening to jack johnson relaxing...this week has been a little crazy and different, especially this weekend. it wasnt planned but as of yesterday at about 4 my whole team left. they all went their seperate ways to spend time with their family members this weekend. and so i am here is this church by myself...which can be scary, especially last night...but i made it through!!! so i am pretty proud of myself for that!
well i am just gonna do highlights from the past week:
a. i got to shave heads! we sell YE shirts here on thursday night, and it is my job to sell them, and lots of them. so mark said if we sold 700 dollars worth that he would shave his beard. well one of the participants said that if we sold 1000 dollars he would shave his head, and then another one of the participants, with hair past his shoulders said that he would shave his head if we sold out of a certain shirt. well we did all three! so i went out and got clippers and we had a hair shaving celebration! it was super fun and hilarious! thanks to my dad i have had alot of practice with shaving heads...so i didnt cut anyone's ear off!!
b. we had some awesome people here this week. to of my favs were the taylors...these to guys named taylor were just so cool. and just simply fun to hang out with. we had some mean four square time!
c. foot washing. everything thursday night we do a foot washing during club. it is super emotional and just powerful. we wash the adult leader feet and then they wash their student's feet. well this week was just amazing. after the foot washing i had two youth from long island that wanted to wash my feet. and they prayed for me. and it was just so touching. they just told me about how much i had impacted them this week and how the stories i shared about my life during club just really helped them connect and really begin to find God again. well after that. three others came up and wanted to wash my feet. and prayed for me. then the taylors came over and prayed for me and said that i also helped them connect with God again because they had gone off track and then this amazing girl savanah as well came over and prayed for me. it was just so awesome. all of these youth just were so filled with God and it was such a sight to see. it also just really was a re-assurance for me, that what i am saying during my talks is getting through and God is just really speaking through me!
d. playing mau with the adult leaders. on wed night we had an after hours party with the adult leaders. we started out by playing spoons, and then played this card game called mau. the first rule of mau was that you arent allowed to talk about the rules. so it was a definately a learn as you go game. but it was so much fun. we ended up staying up till 2:30 am..but it was so worth it. then thurs night was also a 3:00 am night..but it was because it was just such a powerful night that people just wanted to talk about life and what God had for them. so it was just great.
e. i learned about P.U.S.H (pray until something happens) last sunday at church pastor Jason gave a sermon on prayer and talked about PUSH, but didnt say too much about it, but then we went to power of tower on wed night and pastor everette really talked about PUSH and how you just have to be in prayer 24/7 and something will happen because God always answers prayers. well then that night i bought a devo book because i wanted something that i could take time each day to really connect. and the next morning i opened the devo book to the date (July 9th) and it was a devo on PUSH..it was soooo crazy. and so God. this week i had really been struggling because i have just been dealing with random things that have been pulling me down, and sometimes i just give up and stop praying about things, but God just reminded me to PUSH Pray Until Something Happens, because he WILL answer!!
so that was the week in a nutshell. i am gonna post some pics in a bit. so you can see what has been going on. a prayer request for me would just be that our team keeps growing together and also that we can give these last few weeks as good if not better then we gave our first!
i love and miss you all and i hope that you are having beautiful days!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
wow. what a week.
so this week was completely different then last week. we had three groups once again from PA, CT, and MN (minneapolis YAY). the beggining of the week was super hard because i missed all the participants from the first week. they were so great. not that this group wasnt great, they were just completely different.
the ages were younger and also just they way the acted was younger as well. so i wasn't really sure how i felt about the week. but as the week went on some amazing things happened:
1. JANE-right away on monday i noticed how she just really didnt seem into this. she was always by herself not talking to others and she spent the whole day when she was supposed to be working at kids club talking to a local teenager guy. this definately was just a red flag to me and i wanted to get to know her more. so monday at the marina i sat down with her and talked. she told me how she didnt fit in with her church group and how she never felt like she could truly be herself in life. she also opened up about how she was struggling with boys and wanted to let go of all of it. so i knew that God had to do great things for her this week. through out the week i was frustrated, i had a few more conversations with her but she always just looked so sad and never said that she had a great time, just ok. so i really didnt know how to take all of this. i even had to be the "mean one" when she snuck out with the local teenage boy. so i had kinda given up hope. well thursday during the footwashing this all changed. i had just finished washing feet with mark and had sat down when all of a sudden jane came over and just like collapsed on me in tears. i just held her for a few minutes and told her everything was going to be ok. she told me that this was the best week of her life, she truly felt like she could be herself now and that she had the courage to be herself as well. this was amazing. here i thought that she was hating me for being so concerned but really it was just what she had needed. i am excited to go home to minneapolis and be able to hang out with jane, and even take her to church with me sometimes. she is really an amazing child of God and i cant wait to see where she is going to take what she learned here this week!
2: there was a group here from minneapolis. i love it when people from back home come. it is just a breathe of fresh air slash i make friends that i can actually hang out with again!
3: it was rainy all week which was a bummer but we still made everything work!
4: my cell phone broke and i had to get a 30 dollar ghetto one. so i have to do t9 again, which is wayyyy hard to relearn. but it is good. it was also kind of a lesson, i really rely on my cell way to much and the fancy technology of it. i really do think God was just saying that i need to rely souly on him. and not on my communcation to people back home. even though i love everyone back home so much, i need to remember that all i need is God and He will take care of everything else!
5: God is really teaching me to let go. I really do enjoy having people tell me good job or wow this is amazing what you do. and have it be about me, but it isnt about me, it is about Him. and i need to remember that. when particpants come here, I want to be the one to change their life, but that isnt the way it works, yeah they listen to the talks i give and look at my example, but God working in their lives in what truly changes them, i do nothing. and as hard as that is to except and realize it is the truth, God really showed that to me this week and it was a really good thing to learn. although i have always known this it is finally starting to make sense. we are just here planting seeds, God sees the end results in their hearts and really does the work. It is NOT about is, it IS about God!
so that is my week in a nut shell. this weekend has been hard. i really am getting home sick which is something that has never happened before. i miss my friends and family so much that it is really difficult. it is hard to talk to friends back home on the weekends cause that is when they are all busy. and it is just hard living with four strangers all summer, and they are all great and awesome but we are nothing a like and i just miss having people here that know me super well.
but the thing is that God has called me here to be in steubenville, and he has a plan and a will for me. life isnt easy. it is not supposed to be. if being a christian and doing what God wanted was easy, everyone would do it. God calls us to do things that are humanly impossible, but with God all things are possible (Phil 4:13) so he is gonna help me make it through!
i love and miss you all and i hope you all have a beautiful day!
the ages were younger and also just they way the acted was younger as well. so i wasn't really sure how i felt about the week. but as the week went on some amazing things happened:
1. JANE-right away on monday i noticed how she just really didnt seem into this. she was always by herself not talking to others and she spent the whole day when she was supposed to be working at kids club talking to a local teenager guy. this definately was just a red flag to me and i wanted to get to know her more. so monday at the marina i sat down with her and talked. she told me how she didnt fit in with her church group and how she never felt like she could truly be herself in life. she also opened up about how she was struggling with boys and wanted to let go of all of it. so i knew that God had to do great things for her this week. through out the week i was frustrated, i had a few more conversations with her but she always just looked so sad and never said that she had a great time, just ok. so i really didnt know how to take all of this. i even had to be the "mean one" when she snuck out with the local teenage boy. so i had kinda given up hope. well thursday during the footwashing this all changed. i had just finished washing feet with mark and had sat down when all of a sudden jane came over and just like collapsed on me in tears. i just held her for a few minutes and told her everything was going to be ok. she told me that this was the best week of her life, she truly felt like she could be herself now and that she had the courage to be herself as well. this was amazing. here i thought that she was hating me for being so concerned but really it was just what she had needed. i am excited to go home to minneapolis and be able to hang out with jane, and even take her to church with me sometimes. she is really an amazing child of God and i cant wait to see where she is going to take what she learned here this week!
2: there was a group here from minneapolis. i love it when people from back home come. it is just a breathe of fresh air slash i make friends that i can actually hang out with again!
3: it was rainy all week which was a bummer but we still made everything work!
4: my cell phone broke and i had to get a 30 dollar ghetto one. so i have to do t9 again, which is wayyyy hard to relearn. but it is good. it was also kind of a lesson, i really rely on my cell way to much and the fancy technology of it. i really do think God was just saying that i need to rely souly on him. and not on my communcation to people back home. even though i love everyone back home so much, i need to remember that all i need is God and He will take care of everything else!
5: God is really teaching me to let go. I really do enjoy having people tell me good job or wow this is amazing what you do. and have it be about me, but it isnt about me, it is about Him. and i need to remember that. when particpants come here, I want to be the one to change their life, but that isnt the way it works, yeah they listen to the talks i give and look at my example, but God working in their lives in what truly changes them, i do nothing. and as hard as that is to except and realize it is the truth, God really showed that to me this week and it was a really good thing to learn. although i have always known this it is finally starting to make sense. we are just here planting seeds, God sees the end results in their hearts and really does the work. It is NOT about is, it IS about God!
so that is my week in a nut shell. this weekend has been hard. i really am getting home sick which is something that has never happened before. i miss my friends and family so much that it is really difficult. it is hard to talk to friends back home on the weekends cause that is when they are all busy. and it is just hard living with four strangers all summer, and they are all great and awesome but we are nothing a like and i just miss having people here that know me super well.
but the thing is that God has called me here to be in steubenville, and he has a plan and a will for me. life isnt easy. it is not supposed to be. if being a christian and doing what God wanted was easy, everyone would do it. God calls us to do things that are humanly impossible, but with God all things are possible (Phil 4:13) so he is gonna help me make it through!
i love and miss you all and i hope you all have a beautiful day!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
5 weeks into it...
5 weeks ago i was sitting at a wedding in cleveland. so crazy. 5 weeks later here i am sitting on a couch in a church in steubenville ohio in shock that 5 weeks have passesd already. we have 6 more weeks of programing and then its over and back to minnesota.
this past week was so great. we had 3 groups. one from pawnee, il; fort wayne, in; and bowling green, oh. total we had 52 people. here are some of the highlights from the week.
1. we got to do it all ourselves. my favorite part of this was club everynight. our skits were hilairous and a big hit. especially the dean martin show. since dean martin is from steubenville this is apart of our club time. it is when the participants can give shot outs to each other for just awesome things they did that day. mark is dean martin and his into and exit song is "that's amore" it is just classic. also just being able to give my talks and really get the youth thinking about their lives and the way they are living it.
2. kids club started. the kids are crazy and out of control. they mostly come the projects. there are two projects in steubenville: the north end and south end projects. the kids there are just brought up with out much influence or guidance and therefore are just out of control. this made kids club very difficult and hard, but it has been getting better and better each day. the fights are getting fewer and we are learning how to work with urban kids more on a daily basis.
3. i got to help out an old man named joe. i took two youth, CJ and Drew, to this man joe's house and we weed wacked his yard. it was really fun just to help this man out and hang out with CJ and Drew. Joe has cancer and has kemo everyday and just doesnt have the ability to do it himself so we were able to help him out.
4. getting everyone to go to howdy's. There is this amazing ice cream shop in west virgina called howdy's dari-owl. it is so good. it is just a dive shack but we are trying to support it. so we promote it through out the week and monday night we all went. a group even gave us money at the end of the week for a howdy's trip. it was awesome
5. seeing how much communitity was built here this week. these groups were so tight by the end of the week and did not want to leave. they really all came together and really grew so much closer to God. they really all went home different than they came and it was so amazing to see. God really does unbelievable things.
6. going to pittsburg and just hanging out friday night. it took as an hour and a half to get there because ben told me how to get to the resturant when he really didnt. but we finally got there and got to hang out with the mon valley team which was great. and relaxing.
7. having today off and being able to sleep in until noon :)
this past week was so great. we had 3 groups. one from pawnee, il; fort wayne, in; and bowling green, oh. total we had 52 people. here are some of the highlights from the week.
1. we got to do it all ourselves. my favorite part of this was club everynight. our skits were hilairous and a big hit. especially the dean martin show. since dean martin is from steubenville this is apart of our club time. it is when the participants can give shot outs to each other for just awesome things they did that day. mark is dean martin and his into and exit song is "that's amore" it is just classic. also just being able to give my talks and really get the youth thinking about their lives and the way they are living it.
2. kids club started. the kids are crazy and out of control. they mostly come the projects. there are two projects in steubenville: the north end and south end projects. the kids there are just brought up with out much influence or guidance and therefore are just out of control. this made kids club very difficult and hard, but it has been getting better and better each day. the fights are getting fewer and we are learning how to work with urban kids more on a daily basis.
3. i got to help out an old man named joe. i took two youth, CJ and Drew, to this man joe's house and we weed wacked his yard. it was really fun just to help this man out and hang out with CJ and Drew. Joe has cancer and has kemo everyday and just doesnt have the ability to do it himself so we were able to help him out.
4. getting everyone to go to howdy's. There is this amazing ice cream shop in west virgina called howdy's dari-owl. it is so good. it is just a dive shack but we are trying to support it. so we promote it through out the week and monday night we all went. a group even gave us money at the end of the week for a howdy's trip. it was awesome
5. seeing how much communitity was built here this week. these groups were so tight by the end of the week and did not want to leave. they really all came together and really grew so much closer to God. they really all went home different than they came and it was so amazing to see. God really does unbelievable things.
6. going to pittsburg and just hanging out friday night. it took as an hour and a half to get there because ben told me how to get to the resturant when he really didnt. but we finally got there and got to hang out with the mon valley team which was great. and relaxing.
7. having today off and being able to sleep in until noon :)
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
It's almost time to relax :)
so only a few more days till my first official day off!!!!
we have been going at this for about a month and have yet to have a day off..
so saturday i finally get to call people and have real conversations :) and write a real blog with actual updates...
this week has been so amazing and i CANT WAIT to fill you all in on it.
so be sure to check back on saturday for a super good update!!!
and we are going to pittsburg friday night to have dinner with another team :) so i am super pumped for that!!!
we have been going at this for about a month and have yet to have a day off..
so saturday i finally get to call people and have real conversations :) and write a real blog with actual updates...
this week has been so amazing and i CANT WAIT to fill you all in on it.
so be sure to check back on saturday for a super good update!!!
and we are going to pittsburg friday night to have dinner with another team :) so i am super pumped for that!!!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
beaver falls coffee shop...
so i am currently on my time off for the week.. we get a 2 hour break once a week.
and so ben took me to his favorite coffee shop he has ever been too. so i am currently sitting there it is in BEAVER FALLS, PA and the name is just worth it because it is so funny.
this week is going so good. we have groups from il, in, and oh and they are all fantastic. tonight we have our first kalled out concert ( a christain rap group ) so we are all excited about that slash and little not knowing what to expect.
kids club has been a little crazy. the kids are crazy and out of control but that is because they are very urban kids.
anyways i am so excited for this weekend becasue i get saturday off and i can finally catch up with life :) i can do an official blog that fills you in on everything and actually have time to sit down and call people for the first time in like a month :)
i simply cant wait!!!!
and so ben took me to his favorite coffee shop he has ever been too. so i am currently sitting there it is in BEAVER FALLS, PA and the name is just worth it because it is so funny.
this week is going so good. we have groups from il, in, and oh and they are all fantastic. tonight we have our first kalled out concert ( a christain rap group ) so we are all excited about that slash and little not knowing what to expect.
kids club has been a little crazy. the kids are crazy and out of control but that is because they are very urban kids.
anyways i am so excited for this weekend becasue i get saturday off and i can finally catch up with life :) i can do an official blog that fills you in on everything and actually have time to sit down and call people for the first time in like a month :)
i simply cant wait!!!!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
YAY...
so it is our first official week here in steubs...and it is going AMAZING so far.
we have such sweet youth here and it is just sooo great. but i have to get to bed.
i just quickly wanted to post the link to the video of me getting scared out of my mind when we played the table game and reuben's head was on the table...
check it out!!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=515480382629&oid=107416548783
so it is our first official week here in steubs...and it is going AMAZING so far.
we have such sweet youth here and it is just sooo great. but i have to get to bed.
i just quickly wanted to post the link to the video of me getting scared out of my mind when we played the table game and reuben's head was on the table...
check it out!!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=515480382629&oid=107416548783
Saturday, June 13, 2009
niagara falls.
so we got to niagara falls on thursday. and it has been a blast for the most part!!
we are here with the niagara falls team to help them start their first week. it is called early bird, which mean for the first week of programming they team up two teams at each site so you can get the hang of how things will go. so there are nine of us total here. my team, the niagara team and our area director ben. it has been great having a big group of people to hang out with and do the work together.
we have just been helping them finish last minute details so their site is ready to go tomorrow. everything is mostly done. which feels so good so we finally have some time to relax before the chaos of the summer officially starts tomorrow!!!
today we basically get off. we got to sleep in for the first time!!!!!! it was amazing. it is crazy how big of a deal that is when you are used to only getting like 6 hours of sleep each night for the last 3 weeks. and then the rest of the day is just filled full of fun. we are going to the falls as a team and then just playing in the park and hanging out. then tonight we are just gonna do a time of worship to prepare for the summer. it should be really good.
so here is a funny story for you since we have gotten to niagara. last night we had "youthworks" theatre. and preformed our skits and stuff for each other. and niagara played this game. it was called the table game. the steubenville team we had to leave the room and come back one at a time. i was last. when i came in there were four bukets on the table and you had to go through as fast as you could and name all the items. well i got to the third one and the niagara falls' site director's head was on the table. i screamed soooo loud. it was so scary!!!!! and ofcourse been was video tapping and i am sure it will be online soon. but yeah needless to say it freaked me out!
so that is a funny story for you and now you are caught up a little with what is going on.
if you could just be praying for the kids we have coming and that they truly can have a life changing experience. and also just for that our staff keeps growing closer and growing together more.
i hope you all have a beautiful day :)
we are here with the niagara falls team to help them start their first week. it is called early bird, which mean for the first week of programming they team up two teams at each site so you can get the hang of how things will go. so there are nine of us total here. my team, the niagara team and our area director ben. it has been great having a big group of people to hang out with and do the work together.
we have just been helping them finish last minute details so their site is ready to go tomorrow. everything is mostly done. which feels so good so we finally have some time to relax before the chaos of the summer officially starts tomorrow!!!
today we basically get off. we got to sleep in for the first time!!!!!! it was amazing. it is crazy how big of a deal that is when you are used to only getting like 6 hours of sleep each night for the last 3 weeks. and then the rest of the day is just filled full of fun. we are going to the falls as a team and then just playing in the park and hanging out. then tonight we are just gonna do a time of worship to prepare for the summer. it should be really good.
so here is a funny story for you since we have gotten to niagara. last night we had "youthworks" theatre. and preformed our skits and stuff for each other. and niagara played this game. it was called the table game. the steubenville team we had to leave the room and come back one at a time. i was last. when i came in there were four bukets on the table and you had to go through as fast as you could and name all the items. well i got to the third one and the niagara falls' site director's head was on the table. i screamed soooo loud. it was so scary!!!!! and ofcourse been was video tapping and i am sure it will be online soon. but yeah needless to say it freaked me out!
so that is a funny story for you and now you are caught up a little with what is going on.
if you could just be praying for the kids we have coming and that they truly can have a life changing experience. and also just for that our staff keeps growing closer and growing together more.
i hope you all have a beautiful day :)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
HEY!
hey all!!!
so this is just a quick post before i go to bed.
we are off to niagara falls in the morning for the next week. we will be doing the first week of programming with thier team and then heading back here till the end of the summer.
things have still been great! we almost have our site complete and all the last minute details have been coming together. we still have been super busy but somehow are finding time to have fun.
our new fav place is HOWDY"S DAIRY OWL it is in west virgina. its like this old shack walk up ice cream place but it is soooo good. we have been there 3 times now since being here and it is always fantastic.
we also went to a park the other night in the ohio valley and had a picnic. it was super fun. we picked up some pizza and then played 4 square for like literally 2 hours. it was so intense!!
i am so excited for the weeks of programing to finally start cause that means i will actually start to get time off on the weekends!! woo hoo!! and i will have time to talk to people more!! but i cant believe it is almost mid june already it is crazy!
we went over to the fire house yesterday and baked the firemen cookies. they were so nice. pounder and terry gave us a whole tour. we even got to sit in the fire truck!! they seem really awesome and we are excited to go sit at the firehouse and play frisbee with them this summer when we have free time!!
other than that not a whole lot is new. just learning tons and really growing in the Lord. I was reading in ephesians this morning and it talks about making the most of every opportunity. and i just really want to start living that way. when i first found out i was coming to steubenville i wasnt too thrilled. but now that i am here i wouldnt want to be anywhere else. God puts us in and gives us opportunities for a reason and even if we arent that excited about them we need to make the most of them, because he has a plan and a will for our lives.
i love and miss you all!
so this is just a quick post before i go to bed.
we are off to niagara falls in the morning for the next week. we will be doing the first week of programming with thier team and then heading back here till the end of the summer.
things have still been great! we almost have our site complete and all the last minute details have been coming together. we still have been super busy but somehow are finding time to have fun.
our new fav place is HOWDY"S DAIRY OWL it is in west virgina. its like this old shack walk up ice cream place but it is soooo good. we have been there 3 times now since being here and it is always fantastic.
we also went to a park the other night in the ohio valley and had a picnic. it was super fun. we picked up some pizza and then played 4 square for like literally 2 hours. it was so intense!!
i am so excited for the weeks of programing to finally start cause that means i will actually start to get time off on the weekends!! woo hoo!! and i will have time to talk to people more!! but i cant believe it is almost mid june already it is crazy!
we went over to the fire house yesterday and baked the firemen cookies. they were so nice. pounder and terry gave us a whole tour. we even got to sit in the fire truck!! they seem really awesome and we are excited to go sit at the firehouse and play frisbee with them this summer when we have free time!!
other than that not a whole lot is new. just learning tons and really growing in the Lord. I was reading in ephesians this morning and it talks about making the most of every opportunity. and i just really want to start living that way. when i first found out i was coming to steubenville i wasnt too thrilled. but now that i am here i wouldnt want to be anywhere else. God puts us in and gives us opportunities for a reason and even if we arent that excited about them we need to make the most of them, because he has a plan and a will for our lives.
i love and miss you all!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
WHOA!!
so oh man.
LAUGHTER is so good!
this weekend has been amazing. i spent so much time laughing. i even almost pee-ed my pants a few times!
my team is so amazing. we spend so much time just bonding and laughing together over the little things that turn out to be hilarious.
this weekend we spent a ton of time decorating and putting everything up.
it looks AMAZING no joke!!
i will put picutes up soon of everything.
our theme for the summer is free. so our club room is decorated with clouds made of different kinds of material. i LOVE it.
we also are doing the "dean martin" show every night at club. since dean martin is from steubenville. mark dresses up as him and sings "that's amore" with his crazy sweet singing voice.
then we do a decent amount with the band wild cherry. they had the one hit wonder "play that funky music white boy" they also came from steubenville. so we rock out to that song nightly!!! finally we just threw in a sweet mural skit, kim possible skit, ganster skit, cheerleader skit, and school skit. they are all pretty much amazing. hopefully at one point we can get them on tape and get them up here.
but yeah to say the least LAUGHTER. remember to do it. laugh at all the small moments. and truly enjoy the people in your life because they are there for a reason!
i am so thankful that God put Kim Eric and Mark in my life this summer!!!!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
cause i know you love them :)
ok so you will see some different photos here. i tried to include some scenery...like the AMAZING really old bridge to west virgina!! and then the building that looks like the CASTLE...(yea that is where we are staying this summer)! then there is eric in a sweater that me and mark got him from 25 cents from the thrift store! it was pretty much the best gift ever!! and then the pic with all the people is my area. it includes the niagara falls team, the mon valley (penn) team, and us and then our crazy area directore ben! we did the soroiety pose cause we thaught it would be funny!
so there ya be...im gonna try and get all the pics that i have taken so far on facebook soon!!! cause i have so many more wonderful ones. but here is just a sneek peak at what i have been up too!! enjoy :)
the first official photos!
so here are the first pics for you. most of these are for a skit we are doing! a mural skit sense we are in the "city of murals"
but yeah there is my fabulous team: kim, eric, and mark! they are so swell and fun!!!
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
steubenville, an ugly duckling.
hey all!
so oh my things have been crazy.
at training me and my team had to come up with something we all had in common, we thought about it and realized how we all saw steubenville as an ugly duckling, now this may sound bad, but its not! at first we were all kinda disappointed because we were all expecting to go somewhere else, but now we love it so much that we dont want to be anywhere else!
this place is amazing. just yesterday we had a random business owner donate 700 dollars for kids club! WHOA!
it is really a beautiful place because of the people. although it isnt that safe, as we are learning. it is a place with alot of crime and people walking the streets, especially where we live, but yet we always feel safe. you learn to travel not by yourself and learn the parts of town where you dont want to go quickly.
i really enjoy it, i have always lived in "safe" places and i really enjoy having a different living experience.
its sad because this place has basically been abandoned. the city that used to be known as "little chicago" is now down to a population of 20,000. so many of the buildings we walk by have just been trashed and left. it is really a sad sight.
but yet there is so much hope here. the potential is just unbelievable. i really think that this place will one day be again and thriving city!
but yeah i guess that is it for now. i have been taking lots of pics. and they will be coming soon, once i get time (more than 5 minutes) to rest and relax.
i hope you all are doing well! you all are in my prayers!
P.S. i made pizzokie for my team tonight! it was fantastic! if you dont know what that is, you are simply missing out!!!!!
peace.
(the end)
so oh my things have been crazy.
at training me and my team had to come up with something we all had in common, we thought about it and realized how we all saw steubenville as an ugly duckling, now this may sound bad, but its not! at first we were all kinda disappointed because we were all expecting to go somewhere else, but now we love it so much that we dont want to be anywhere else!
this place is amazing. just yesterday we had a random business owner donate 700 dollars for kids club! WHOA!
it is really a beautiful place because of the people. although it isnt that safe, as we are learning. it is a place with alot of crime and people walking the streets, especially where we live, but yet we always feel safe. you learn to travel not by yourself and learn the parts of town where you dont want to go quickly.
i really enjoy it, i have always lived in "safe" places and i really enjoy having a different living experience.
its sad because this place has basically been abandoned. the city that used to be known as "little chicago" is now down to a population of 20,000. so many of the buildings we walk by have just been trashed and left. it is really a sad sight.
but yet there is so much hope here. the potential is just unbelievable. i really think that this place will one day be again and thriving city!
but yeah i guess that is it for now. i have been taking lots of pics. and they will be coming soon, once i get time (more than 5 minutes) to rest and relax.
i hope you all are doing well! you all are in my prayers!
P.S. i made pizzokie for my team tonight! it was fantastic! if you dont know what that is, you are simply missing out!!!!!
peace.
(the end)
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Youthworks oh Youthworks...
HEY EVERYONE!
so this is officially gonna be my way of keeping y'all updated on my summer!
so so far things have been crazy. we arrived in stuebenville ohio yesterday. it was our first day here and we were SO welcomed. a couple people from the church gave us tickets to the gospel fest that was going on down in the park and we went to check it out. We saw Apolegetix preform. They were something else. They are like a weird Al Christian band. hah. and me mark and kim even got on stage and sang with them :) to the song "heavenly hill" which was to the tune "beverly hills" by weezer. eric took pictures (i am really gonna try and get pics on facebook soon). then we went out to dinner at this local italian place called naples. it was delicious. we had a wonderful waitress named phyllis. she was simply delightful.
stuebenville is a beautiful town. it is right on the ohio river. west virgina is right across the river and then penn is about 10 mins down the road. so we are in a tri-state area, which is cool that i will be in 3 different states each week! the population is right under 20,000. this is a really historic town and the buildings are beautiful downtown.
so anyways, pre-stuebenville i was in philadelphia for the past week training. it was so awesome. i got to see independance hall, the liberty bell, and go to new jersey all because we got lost in the city. it made my day! also that day i got to run up the same stairs that rocky ran up in the movie. hah. it was simply fantastic. i spent the week building relationships with youthworks teams across the east. it was delightful!
God has been so amazing through-out this. he really blessed me with my team. Kim, Mark, and Eric are my team members for the summer. we are all so different but yet just bring out the stregnths in each other so well. it was been so much fun getting to know and laugh with them this past week.
when we road tripped out here i got to drive a teal GMC truck! it is one of our vehicles for the summer and it is simply the best! i get to drive it all summer long :)
well there is so much more to say and pictures to show. but the truth is im really tired and have to get up in the morning at 7:45 :(
so i promise i will be writting on here as much as i can so check back if you want to stay updated!
if you feel like writting or sending me mail i would love that! here is my address:
1st Westminster Presbyterian Church
YouthWorks Kryn Luhmann
235 North 4th Street
PO Box 580
Steubenville, OH 43952
as i close this i want to share a verse that i really grew in this week. it is hebrews 11:40
"God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."
it is so true. he meant for us to live and work together, not independantly. i cant do this alone. i would be nowhere if it was for my teammates, and support and prayers from my friends and family back home. i challenge you to think about the ways that God has you work together with other people in your life to truly spread the Good News and His Kingdom.
and with that i am gonna get some sleep. but you are all in my prayers and i hope you all are having the best adventures this summer. i cant wait to tell you of all the hilarious moments and moving moments that happen here in "the ville" this summer hah!
peace
(the end.)
so this is officially gonna be my way of keeping y'all updated on my summer!
so so far things have been crazy. we arrived in stuebenville ohio yesterday. it was our first day here and we were SO welcomed. a couple people from the church gave us tickets to the gospel fest that was going on down in the park and we went to check it out. We saw Apolegetix preform. They were something else. They are like a weird Al Christian band. hah. and me mark and kim even got on stage and sang with them :) to the song "heavenly hill" which was to the tune "beverly hills" by weezer. eric took pictures (i am really gonna try and get pics on facebook soon). then we went out to dinner at this local italian place called naples. it was delicious. we had a wonderful waitress named phyllis. she was simply delightful.
stuebenville is a beautiful town. it is right on the ohio river. west virgina is right across the river and then penn is about 10 mins down the road. so we are in a tri-state area, which is cool that i will be in 3 different states each week! the population is right under 20,000. this is a really historic town and the buildings are beautiful downtown.
so anyways, pre-stuebenville i was in philadelphia for the past week training. it was so awesome. i got to see independance hall, the liberty bell, and go to new jersey all because we got lost in the city. it made my day! also that day i got to run up the same stairs that rocky ran up in the movie. hah. it was simply fantastic. i spent the week building relationships with youthworks teams across the east. it was delightful!
God has been so amazing through-out this. he really blessed me with my team. Kim, Mark, and Eric are my team members for the summer. we are all so different but yet just bring out the stregnths in each other so well. it was been so much fun getting to know and laugh with them this past week.
when we road tripped out here i got to drive a teal GMC truck! it is one of our vehicles for the summer and it is simply the best! i get to drive it all summer long :)
well there is so much more to say and pictures to show. but the truth is im really tired and have to get up in the morning at 7:45 :(
so i promise i will be writting on here as much as i can so check back if you want to stay updated!
if you feel like writting or sending me mail i would love that! here is my address:
1st Westminster Presbyterian Church
YouthWorks Kryn Luhmann
235 North 4th Street
PO Box 580
Steubenville, OH 43952
as i close this i want to share a verse that i really grew in this week. it is hebrews 11:40
"God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect."
it is so true. he meant for us to live and work together, not independantly. i cant do this alone. i would be nowhere if it was for my teammates, and support and prayers from my friends and family back home. i challenge you to think about the ways that God has you work together with other people in your life to truly spread the Good News and His Kingdom.
and with that i am gonna get some sleep. but you are all in my prayers and i hope you all are having the best adventures this summer. i cant wait to tell you of all the hilarious moments and moving moments that happen here in "the ville" this summer hah!
peace
(the end.)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
i run...
so i LOVE music. and that might just be an understatement. (no joke)
however, these past few days i have mainly been listening to country music. a part of my heart is so inspired by it that i can never turn it off. especially because i think country music has the most "interpret the song for yourself" lyrics out there. like the newest song from Lady Antebellum "i run". here is a few lines from it.
When lies become the truth
That's when I run to you
This world keeps spinning faster
To a new disaster, so I run to you I run to you,
When it all starts coming undone, you're the only one I run to
I run to you
Now i am sure when they wrote this they had the intentions of it being a love song between a man and a women, especially because it is a duet. but when i heard of it i couldn't help but think of my relationship with God. it is plain and clear.
when our world falls apart we have no one else to run to except God. He will always remain and always be there, no matter what.
The end of Hebrews 13:5 says:
Never will I leave you...
...never will I forsake you.
We can always run to God. He is our refuge and our stregnth. He is our comfort and our shelter.
Run to Him, He wants you to.
however, these past few days i have mainly been listening to country music. a part of my heart is so inspired by it that i can never turn it off. especially because i think country music has the most "interpret the song for yourself" lyrics out there. like the newest song from Lady Antebellum "i run". here is a few lines from it.
When lies become the truth
That's when I run to you
This world keeps spinning faster
To a new disaster, so I run to you I run to you,
When it all starts coming undone, you're the only one I run to
I run to you
Now i am sure when they wrote this they had the intentions of it being a love song between a man and a women, especially because it is a duet. but when i heard of it i couldn't help but think of my relationship with God. it is plain and clear.
when our world falls apart we have no one else to run to except God. He will always remain and always be there, no matter what.
The end of Hebrews 13:5 says:
Never will I leave you...
...never will I forsake you.
We can always run to God. He is our refuge and our stregnth. He is our comfort and our shelter.
Run to Him, He wants you to.
Monday, March 9, 2009
the unconditional love...
"trust God in everything that you do...
...dont try to figure it all out on your own."
~proverbs 3:5
Ok...so i know it has kinda been forever since i have written. Life has been crazy. I just finished my hardest half semester of school yet..and have know taken the last few days that i have had off to catch up on life. so im going to start bloggin again :)
This break has been crazy...it seems that everyone i have talked to has been struggling with something...including myself. i have just had quite the battle and have been hating myself for recent mistakes i have made. whenever i seem to screw up i seem to do it in big ways, which leads me to just beat myself up about it.
now my question is...why do we do that? why is it that everytime we stray away a little we just beat ourselves up and not just give it up to God and let him forgive, because true repentence is always followed by forgiveness. why is it so hard to remember that God loves us (always and forever). that is his promise.
i was talking to a friend yesterday and he reminded me of that. that no matter what i do or how big i screw up...God still loves me. so that is my message today, even though we all know it in the bottom of our hearts, sometimes we forget the simplest concept:
GOD LOVES YOU
...dont try to figure it all out on your own."
~proverbs 3:5
Ok...so i know it has kinda been forever since i have written. Life has been crazy. I just finished my hardest half semester of school yet..and have know taken the last few days that i have had off to catch up on life. so im going to start bloggin again :)
This break has been crazy...it seems that everyone i have talked to has been struggling with something...including myself. i have just had quite the battle and have been hating myself for recent mistakes i have made. whenever i seem to screw up i seem to do it in big ways, which leads me to just beat myself up about it.
now my question is...why do we do that? why is it that everytime we stray away a little we just beat ourselves up and not just give it up to God and let him forgive, because true repentence is always followed by forgiveness. why is it so hard to remember that God loves us (always and forever). that is his promise.
i was talking to a friend yesterday and he reminded me of that. that no matter what i do or how big i screw up...God still loves me. so that is my message today, even though we all know it in the bottom of our hearts, sometimes we forget the simplest concept:
GOD LOVES YOU
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
You Found Me...
The Fray - You Found Me
I found God
On the corner of first and Amistad
Where the west was all but won
All alone, smoking his last cigarette
I Said where you been, he said ask anything
Where were you?
When everything was falling apart
All my days were spent by the telephone
It never rang
And all I needed was a call
That never cameTo the corner of first and Amistad
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floorSurrounded, surrounded
Why’d you have to wait?
Where were you?
Where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me
In the end everyone ends up alone
Losing her, the only one who’s ever known
Who I am, who I’m not, who I want to be
No way to know how long she will be next to me
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floorSurrounded, surrounded
Why’d you have to wait?
Where were you, where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me
Early morning,
City breaks
I’ve been calling for years and years and years and years
And you never left me no messages
You never send me no letters
You got some kind of nerve, taking all I want
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Where were you where were you
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why’d you have to wait?
Where were you, where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me
Why’d you have to wait?
To find me, to find me
so i could be doing homework, but i decided that writting a blog would be time better spent.
this song by The Fray has really been on my heart lately, every time i listen to it, it gets to me. it just constantly reminds me of my story and i look back on my story as i listen to the song. God chose me, it is such a hard concept to wrap my head around. I didn't choose God, HE CHOSE ME.
thinking about that makes me feel soooooo loved, but at the same time it is unbelievable. to think of all the times i screwed up and the mistakes i made, i feel underserving to be chosen. but then i remember that it isn't up to me.
so that is what i think about when i hear the you found me part of the song...
but then the song moves into where were you...
this is completely home hitting for me, because after God finds us we wonder were He was during the times when we were lost and insecure. where was God when we were going down the wrong paths and taking wrong turns to make things even worse along the way. well the truth is God was there, He never left our side, and in the moments when we couldn't even carry ourselves, He carried us.
so to end this i want to leave you with a verse that was shared with me today by a very good friend of mine. the verse talks about even when we were God's enemy (meaning we didn't want anything to do with Him or we were displeasing Him) He still loved us, and sent Jesus, His son, to come and die for us, knowing how imperfect we would be. WOW. that just leaves me speechless and i hope that it leaves you speechless too!
Romans 5:10
"For it, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!"
the end. (peace)
I found God
On the corner of first and Amistad
Where the west was all but won
All alone, smoking his last cigarette
I Said where you been, he said ask anything
Where were you?
When everything was falling apart
All my days were spent by the telephone
It never rang
And all I needed was a call
That never cameTo the corner of first and Amistad
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floorSurrounded, surrounded
Why’d you have to wait?
Where were you?
Where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me
In the end everyone ends up alone
Losing her, the only one who’s ever known
Who I am, who I’m not, who I want to be
No way to know how long she will be next to me
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floorSurrounded, surrounded
Why’d you have to wait?
Where were you, where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me
Early morning,
City breaks
I’ve been calling for years and years and years and years
And you never left me no messages
You never send me no letters
You got some kind of nerve, taking all I want
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Where were you where were you
Lost and insecure
You found me, you found me
Lying on the floor
Surrounded, surrounded
Why’d you have to wait?
Where were you, where were you?
Just a little late
You found me, you found me
Why’d you have to wait?
To find me, to find me
so i could be doing homework, but i decided that writting a blog would be time better spent.
this song by The Fray has really been on my heart lately, every time i listen to it, it gets to me. it just constantly reminds me of my story and i look back on my story as i listen to the song. God chose me, it is such a hard concept to wrap my head around. I didn't choose God, HE CHOSE ME.
thinking about that makes me feel soooooo loved, but at the same time it is unbelievable. to think of all the times i screwed up and the mistakes i made, i feel underserving to be chosen. but then i remember that it isn't up to me.
so that is what i think about when i hear the you found me part of the song...
but then the song moves into where were you...
this is completely home hitting for me, because after God finds us we wonder were He was during the times when we were lost and insecure. where was God when we were going down the wrong paths and taking wrong turns to make things even worse along the way. well the truth is God was there, He never left our side, and in the moments when we couldn't even carry ourselves, He carried us.
so to end this i want to leave you with a verse that was shared with me today by a very good friend of mine. the verse talks about even when we were God's enemy (meaning we didn't want anything to do with Him or we were displeasing Him) He still loved us, and sent Jesus, His son, to come and die for us, knowing how imperfect we would be. WOW. that just leaves me speechless and i hope that it leaves you speechless too!
Romans 5:10
"For it, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!"
the end. (peace)
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