It's been a while. But here I am.
What can I say? Life has been busy. School, music, friends, family, church.
Sometimes I just forget to slow down, take a deep breath, and enjoy the moment. I get so wrapped up in looking at the big picture. Which is by no means a bad thing, but sometimes you need to relax and live in the now, because you only have one shot, one lifetime on this earth. Then you have eternity to look forward to.
Take last night for example. I was serving at my church, which was holding a PEP Prom for teenagers with disabilities. It was amazing. Everyone was having a blast. But for the first half of it, I was worrying about doing my job correctly. It wasn't until a young boy who was about 14 came up behind me and tugged on my arm. I turned around. His assigned date was holding his arm and walking him down to the dance floor, but he wanted to dance with me. So I grabbed his other arm and walked, slowly, with him and his date to dance. I held one arm and his date the other, and we swayed back and forth to the music.
How cool is that?
It reminded me to just breathe out and let my mind unwind. To have some fun. And I did. The rest of the evening was wonderful and I wouldn't trade those couple of hours for anything.
A Perfect Savior.
0 commentsTuesday, April 24, 2012
I woke up this morning to a desperate three year-old.
My little brother came into my room saying, "Mommy?" Apparently my little brother was sitting on the couch, and my mom left the room. So he freaked out and ran upstairs to find her. After checking every room on the second floor and saying, "Mommy?!" several time very frantically, he ran back downstairs.
Curious, I stood at the top of the stairs and listened.
I heard a shout of excitement and a loud, "Mommy!!" My little brother had found my mom and was one hundred-percent okay again.
I was thinking about this while getting dressed. Of course I was thinking about it. If you've read this blog for very long, you probably wonder if I do anything else but think about odd things like this.
Jesus is a bit like my little brother. No, Jesus isn't a three year-old and he doesn't freak out like my brother. But the way my brother was desperate to find my mom reminded me a lot of how Jesus is desperate to 'find' us. The way my brother kept searching, is how Jesus searches for us and calls our name, not giving up, even when we reject him. And the way my brother was ecstatic over being re-united with my mom, is how Jesus rejoices when he finds us. He pulls us into his embrace and never lets go. He doesn't question about where we've been or why we left, he just wants to have us back.
He's my perfect Savior.
My little brother came into my room saying, "Mommy?" Apparently my little brother was sitting on the couch, and my mom left the room. So he freaked out and ran upstairs to find her. After checking every room on the second floor and saying, "Mommy?!" several time very frantically, he ran back downstairs.
Curious, I stood at the top of the stairs and listened.
I heard a shout of excitement and a loud, "Mommy!!" My little brother had found my mom and was one hundred-percent okay again.
I was thinking about this while getting dressed. Of course I was thinking about it. If you've read this blog for very long, you probably wonder if I do anything else but think about odd things like this.
Jesus is a bit like my little brother. No, Jesus isn't a three year-old and he doesn't freak out like my brother. But the way my brother was desperate to find my mom reminded me a lot of how Jesus is desperate to 'find' us. The way my brother kept searching, is how Jesus searches for us and calls our name, not giving up, even when we reject him. And the way my brother was ecstatic over being re-united with my mom, is how Jesus rejoices when he finds us. He pulls us into his embrace and never lets go. He doesn't question about where we've been or why we left, he just wants to have us back.
He's my perfect Savior.
Atlanta Mission Trip
0 commentsWednesday, April 11, 2012
Hello readers!
I've just returned from my mission trip in Atlanta. It was extraordinary! Isn't extraordinary an odd word? I mean, think about it, extra ordinary. Why would you apply extra ordinary to something that's beyond ordinary?
Anyway, the trip was amazing. I worked at a woman's shelter named Gilgal. The ladies at Gilgal were not what I expected. Though I'm rarely stereotypical about anything, I was sure that these ladies were going to be grumpy and stingy and emotional wrecks. But they weren't, even though they had every reason to be. See, these ladies came from streets and had been drug-addicts and sleeping around, they gave no respect and received none. But then they came to Gilgal and their lives were completely changed. Now they weren't addicted to drugs, but were addicted to God's word. They had a deep and lasting joy, and were in love with Jesus.
The moment I walked in the door, they welcomed me and my fellow students with open arms. So obviously working alongside them was a lot of fun.
It's impossible to explain in words everything that went on both in the physical and in the spiritual world on this trip, but I'll share what I can. Take a deep breath...
We arrived in Atlanta around one o' clock on Monday, and went straight to Gilgal. There, we introduced ourselves to the ladies and they introduced themselves to us. After that, we went to the hotel, got checked in, and put up our luggage, then it was off to dinner at the mall and then back to the hotel for worship and sleep. Tuesday morning, we woke up, had breakfast, and had a meeting. Then we loaded into the vans and half of us went to Gilgal and half went to the Family Heritage Foundation. At Gilgal, we had a bible lesson and then we worked until lunchtime, had lunch, and went back to work. At three-thirty we went to the hotel to clean up for dinner, had dinner, then held another meeting and had worship. Bedtime was at eleven o' clock. On Wednesday morning, we had breakfast, had a meeting and went back to Gilgal. I taught a Bible study, then we went to work until lunchtime, had lunch, and worked again until three-thirty. We got into the buses and headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner. After dinner we had worship and then went to bed. On Thursday, we packed our stuff and loaded up the vans, checked up of the hotel and went to Gilgal, where we hung out with the ladies and then we all met at the Varsity restaurant for lunch and then we went to the World of Coka-Cola for a tour. After that, we got back on the buses and drove five hours to get back home.
I know that seems like a lot, but that doesn't even include the weather, the conversations, the drama, or any of those details. Thus, it would be rather impossible to explain the trip in words.
But, like I said before, I did get to take pictures:
Nice Glasses.
Random Parking Lot.
Sitting in the Back of the Rental Van.
"Working".
We all had a blast and were changed inside and out. Unless you go on a mission trip yourself, it's hard to understand what went on. Although confusing, I suppose I'll leave it like that.
Until next time!
I've just returned from my mission trip in Atlanta. It was extraordinary! Isn't extraordinary an odd word? I mean, think about it, extra ordinary. Why would you apply extra ordinary to something that's beyond ordinary?
Anyway, the trip was amazing. I worked at a woman's shelter named Gilgal. The ladies at Gilgal were not what I expected. Though I'm rarely stereotypical about anything, I was sure that these ladies were going to be grumpy and stingy and emotional wrecks. But they weren't, even though they had every reason to be. See, these ladies came from streets and had been drug-addicts and sleeping around, they gave no respect and received none. But then they came to Gilgal and their lives were completely changed. Now they weren't addicted to drugs, but were addicted to God's word. They had a deep and lasting joy, and were in love with Jesus.
The moment I walked in the door, they welcomed me and my fellow students with open arms. So obviously working alongside them was a lot of fun.
It's impossible to explain in words everything that went on both in the physical and in the spiritual world on this trip, but I'll share what I can. Take a deep breath...
We arrived in Atlanta around one o' clock on Monday, and went straight to Gilgal. There, we introduced ourselves to the ladies and they introduced themselves to us. After that, we went to the hotel, got checked in, and put up our luggage, then it was off to dinner at the mall and then back to the hotel for worship and sleep. Tuesday morning, we woke up, had breakfast, and had a meeting. Then we loaded into the vans and half of us went to Gilgal and half went to the Family Heritage Foundation. At Gilgal, we had a bible lesson and then we worked until lunchtime, had lunch, and went back to work. At three-thirty we went to the hotel to clean up for dinner, had dinner, then held another meeting and had worship. Bedtime was at eleven o' clock. On Wednesday morning, we had breakfast, had a meeting and went back to Gilgal. I taught a Bible study, then we went to work until lunchtime, had lunch, and worked again until three-thirty. We got into the buses and headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner. After dinner we had worship and then went to bed. On Thursday, we packed our stuff and loaded up the vans, checked up of the hotel and went to Gilgal, where we hung out with the ladies and then we all met at the Varsity restaurant for lunch and then we went to the World of Coka-Cola for a tour. After that, we got back on the buses and drove five hours to get back home.
I know that seems like a lot, but that doesn't even include the weather, the conversations, the drama, or any of those details. Thus, it would be rather impossible to explain the trip in words.
But, like I said before, I did get to take pictures:
Normal Atlanta Traffic
Best Value Under the Sun!
Nice Glasses.
Random Parking Lot.
Sitting in the Back of the Rental Van.
"Working".
Fashion Show?
Working.
Sylvan.
Until next time!
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