Some Thoughts

I'm spending the weekend with Nic and Jo and Jaron because both my roommates are gone and I hate staying in our house by myself. Its really scary! Plus, its fun staying in Lockhart with everyone. Its almost like we are a little family.

On Thursday, we watched Lars and the Real Girl. At first, it was funny, but only because I think that watching other people in awkward situations is really funny. After about the first 3o minutes it started to drag on too long. Part of this might be because I was tired. I might give it another chance, but for now, I'll say I wasn't impressed.

Friday I worked all day because my boss takes advantaged of the fact that I can't say no. After work I came back to Lockhart and we spent the night hanging out at the Pittman's. They are such a fun family!

Today, Nic and Jo went to Lampasas to eat with Nic's parents and grandpa, so Jaron and I just hung out around the house. If you've been reading Jaron's blog, you know that he is reading the book Lord, Save Us From Your Followers by Dan Merchant:

Today I picked it up and read the first two chapters. It is really good. I already promised Jaron I wouldn't steal it from him, but when he finishes it, I'm definitely going to read it. You should try to read it too if you get the chance. I recommend it.

Here are a couple of quotes that really hit me today:

"I know very few Christians who have faith in God. Most of the Christians I have met have faith in the Bible, and most of them have faith in their own mind's interpretation of the Bible"

This is from a man Dan interviewed on the street about his views on Christian faith and culture. How many times do we as Christians do this?

Here's the other one:

"As believers, I think we simply don't know how we sound to other; what's worse, we don't care 'cause we're right anyway-and to add insult to injury we won't listen. What if, with all of our talking, people aren't actually hearing what we intend? If we listened for a minute, we might understand how 'I want to preserve the traditional institution of marriage ' comes across as 'I hate gay people.' So what if we don't think that's what we are saying. If that's what others are hearing, what's the difference? I can't be concerned with whose faith it is-I can't accept this communication breakdown. Should the burden be on my lips or their ears? I guess it depends on whether I really want to have a conversation or I simply want to be right."

This one really got to me because I have a serious problem with thinking before I speak. I also am very opinionated. I wonder how many times what I have said, or the way I have said things, whether I meant them to be hurtful or not, have effected the ways others view God. Also, how many times have I sat down and listened to others people views on faith? I could probably count that on one hand. I used to think "Why would I want to listen if its wrong anyways?" This paragraph, and this book more importantly, is making me realize that it is much more difficult to have an effect on others views on God without a connection and a relationship. You have to be willing to share AND listen. I definitely need to work on the listening part.

Anyways, tonight we hung out at the Pittman's again, and Amy fixed us some amazing food. Also, tomorrow we are having pancake breakfast at church. Normally, I lose weight over the summer, but if I keep spending time out here, I might just gain 2o pounds. But who cares, I'm still looking forward to pancakes!

Funny Stuff

So nothing deep for today. If you want to read something that spiritually inspires you, check out Jaron's blog from today, because its pretty good. The past two days have been pretty boring, just school and work. Highlights: Nic and Jo came back from Washington D.C., tonight at the Attic was fun, and all of my teachers said it would be ok for me to miss class to go on all the youth trips, Hooray!

Since today was so short, I'll leave you with a couple of my favorite videos of all time. Enjoy!

Last Day of Summer

So today was a pretty good day considering its the last day of summer. I slept in late, and then Jaron, Whitney (my roommate) and Clint (her boyfriend) went and ate lunch ate Freebirds. I made a bike out of foil. See if you can find it the next time you go.

After lunch Jaron and I went to Hastings and I got a book about visiting New York City. I have a new obsession with going to New York City, and we are trying to go after my summer classes end. Even if it doesn't work out, I'm still going to plan my dream trip to New York for when I have the opportunity to go.

After this, Jaron and I started looking on the computer at trucks, because he really wants and deserves a new one. After looking for a while, we decided, what the heck, lets go test drive one, so we did. We went down to the Nissan dealership and test drove a Nissan Frontier. I think Jaron really liked it, and everyone there was really nice, so I'll guess we'll just have to wait and see if everything works out. Here's what the Nissan Frontier looks like:

Afterwards Jaron and I hung out at the house, ordered a really good pizza, and watched the Golden Compass. I wasn't that impressed. The acting and such was good, but the story line wasn't. Maybe I need to read the books, but since the books are about killing off God, I don't know that that will happen.

Tomorrow I start my regular summer schedule of work in the morning and class in the afternoon. I am not excited at all. If I had things my way, I would be spending the next couple of months hanging out at home and at the river, and maybe doing Jaron's job for Nic (I do it better anyways).

Anyways, tomorrow I have to talk to my summer professors about missing class so that I can be a youth sponsor on all of the trips for Nic's youth group this summer. I really feel like that is where God wants me to be, so I really hope that my professors will be receptive to the idea. I could use your prayers, and I'll let you know what happens!

Titles

So I think that the hardest part of blogging may be coming up with titles for these things. I remember when we were in high school, Kelsey used song titles, maybe I'll steal that idea.

Anyways, I spent the weekend at home and it was excellent. I hung out with my family and the Wards and Kelsey and it was really fun catching up with everyone. Like I said earlier, I simply love being home.

Today I went to church at FBC in Georgetown. It made me realize how much I've changed since high school. In high school, I loved the traditional Baptist music and such. This morning I found myself missing River Stone, Three Rivers, Austin Stone and the like (P.S. Nic when we start the church, let's avoid names with River or Stone in them, they seem much too common). Not that I didn't enjoy the service, it just wasn't the contemporary style I have come to enjoy. A change up is always good anyways I suppose.

The new pastor at FBC seems like a really nice guy, but he also reminds me of a game show host. I almost expected him to remind me to spay and neuter my pet at the end of the service. Regardless, he was nice and kinda of funny and he delivered a good messages out of Ephesians 5. It was about time and how you use it. Do you use your time for God or for the things of this world? It was pretty much a confirmation that the church plant is good idea in God's opinion.

This morning was also Senior Sunday. The summer before my senior year in high school I went on a junior high mission trip and ended up mentoring and hanging out with a lot of the 8th graders that were on that trip during the rest of my senior year and freshman year of college. Today, all those kids were in their caps and gowns. It made me feel super old. It also made me realize that I am technically a senior in COLLEGE, and that in less than two years I'll be in the real world. I'm so not ready to be a grown up. The thought is actually pretty scary.

After church my family went to the lake for my cousin's graduation party. It was pretty boring, but it was nice to see my family, and my great aunt is an AMAZING cook and she sent me home with some food, which is always nice.

Tomorrow I get to spend the day with Jaron. It will be the last time for a while that we can hang out by ourselves, because once Nic and Jo gets back, he has to start officially working for Nic, and Nic always keeps him really busy (not that I mind Nic!). It should be fun, and I'm pretty excited, so until next time.....

Home!

So yesterday I got a promotion at work. You are now officially reading the blog of the Head teacher of the Butterfly Class at Kactus Kidz daycare. It sounds a lot better than it really is. What it really means is now I have a younger, un potty trained class, so I change triple the diapers, I have to write lesson plans, do documentation, and contact parents. I accepted because I thought all this new responsibility meant a pay raise, but when I asked my boss about this, she laughed.

I guess it is kinda nice that my boss recognized that I am responsible and hardworking, and, she passed up three other people that have been working longer that could have been given the position. Maybe after I prove I can do a good job at it, I'll ask for a raise again.

After work yesterday, I came home to Georgetown. There is something comfortable about being in Georgetown that I can never quite put my finger on. All I know is, no matter what is going on in my life, a trip home can always make me feel better.

I love being home!

The second go round

So here's the second post, I don't plan to go nearly as deep as the last one. Here's some updates on my life as of late:

1. Yesterday, the AC at the daycare I work at was broken, and I am pretty sure I sweat off about 10 pounds. Also, my boss lectured me about several things that were done by another girl but blamed on me. I took the blame because if she gets in trouble anymore she will be fired and that would make me feel bad, because I like her and she has kids. Today, I changed two poopy pants and cleaned up vomit. Regardless of all of this, yesterday, I got a check for over 300 dollars that I worked EXTREMELY hard for and it feels good to say that I earned every penny all on my own.
2. My granny is in the hospital after having a stroke. At first, we thought that she wasn't going to make it through the weekend, and we were making plans to head up there and have her funeral, but I heard from my mom a bit ago and she is doing much better. Still, keep her in your prayers.
3. After a long couple of months praying, and a very moving sermon (check out river-stone.org and listen to their podcast from May 4th) I jumped in and committed to helping Nic and Jo with their church plant. I've been having a lot of fun reading up on what God is teaching them at the Whiteboard conference this week (check out Nic's blogs in my links) but I CAN NOT wait until they get back to hear about all the things God as been showing them, and to learn what God has in store for our church plant.
4. Classes start on Tuesday, and I just ordered my books an hour ago. For the past two weeks since finals, I have lived in a world where I convinced myself that school does not exist. Unfortunately, tonight brought me back to reality. I am dreading the start of school. I was ready to graduate about a year ago. Not grow up and have a job or anything, just to be done with school. But on Tuesday, it begins again. Boo school.
5. Tomorrow, I am going home to hang with the family and the Wards and the Levys and Kelsey (you better be there). It will be simply fabulous to see everyone. Also, on Sunday we are going to my cousin's graduation party (she's the valedictorian, way to go Kim!) at the lake, which should be a blast.

And that, my friends, is my life in a nut shell.

I hope its a good one...

So, I've jumped on the blogging bandwagon again because it seems to have become a popular thing. I used to blog all the time frehman year to keep everyone back home updated on my new life at college. I might be a little rusty, so bear with me.

I wanted to make my first blog really good, to keep people coming back for more, so I thought I'd share this video with you. Jaron showed it to me, and I stole it from him. It's Mark Driscoll talking about why he hates religion. Its long, but really good, so you should take the ten minutes it takes to watch it, because it will make you think:



Unfortunately, I'm technologically retarded, so you'll have to just click the link for now. I promise once I figure out how to post videos the right way, I'll change it for you.

Anyways, I really like this video because I think it is a good reflection of what God has been trying to teach me lately. I just finished reading Searching for God Knows What by Donald Miller (its a really good book and I highly recommend it) and throughout the book, Don talks about this topic. I really enjoyed the last chapter, where Don compares the relationship we have with Jesus to that of the story of Romeo and Juliet.

I've also been reading in Galatians about it, and Jaron is speaking about religion vs. relationship at the Attic tonight. It's like God won't let me get away from this idea.

I think I have such a problem with this because of the way I was raised. As much as I love my parents, I don't think I ever understood the idea of unconditional love growing up. In my house, you had to make A's and be the star player on the team and portray the picture of perfection to make my parents happy. Our house is all about appearances, and its hard for me to wrap my mind around not having to be perfect for God.

It's something I've always known and understood, but its been hard for me to apply to my life if that makes sense. Basically, I've gone through life telling myself that God doesn't expect me to be perfect, but then I've still kicked myself for weeks after messing up, and I've still gone about stressing out about being perfect and checking everything off of the "religious checklist" that I think will make God happy.

I think God's really been trying to show me lately that He just loves me for me. How awesome is that? Praise God that He loves me regardless of my gossiping, my jealously, my anger, and my judgement of others.

Pray for me as I work toward throwing my "checklist" out the window and developing a relationship with God that is based solely on love and not on expectations.

How was that for a first blog?