Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Pictures of Jesus?

So once again I've decided to maybe try and start writing on this thing again... maybe. Isn't my commitment level awesome?

For those of you who don't know, I have the privilege of working with Middle School students at my church. They are an incredible bunch of kids and the other leaders as well as the Middle School pastor and his wife are some of my dearest friends. Jr. Highers are, well, Jr. Highers... So we're bound to have some drama and some frustrating moments. However, tonight Erin (the pastor) dealt with the issues in a way that I have never seen before.

Instead of laying on the guilt, which is so common a technique in youth groups, Erin asked them a question. He simply asked, What kind of legacy do you want to leave? When those kids that were in Jr. High with you look back at pictures in twenty years what will they say about you? This question hit me hard. What comes to people's minds when they see a picture of me?

It's something we should all think about. When people see our faces in a picture, what comes to mind? Do they think about how you showed them the love of Jesus, or do they think about how you never even said hi to them? I'm not intending to lay on the guilt here at all. In fact, I'm mostly asking myself this question.

I hope that people see Jesus when they see me, and I sincerely apologize to anyone who I have failed in this way.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

I Thought My Blog Was Broken...

Turns out I was! For some reason I couldn't get my blog to sign in and then I yelled at it and it worked again.

I've been listening to Casey James' version of "Jealous Guy" over and over and over again. Man it's gorgeous. The song that is. Well, ok. So is the guy.

Well now that I can get into my blog I might just start writing again. Maybe.

Monday, February 01, 2010

Guilianna and Bill

I have a little confession to make. I'm secretly in love with the E! Reality show Guilianna and Bill. It's absolutely horrible and rediculous but I can't stop watching it. It's like a train-wreck. In so many ways.

Guilianna has absolutely no idea that even though they have signed their lives away to E! in order to make even more money than they already do (Guilianna is an E! "news" correspondent and Bill won the Apprentice at some point), she doesn't actually have to tell every gritty detail of their life and their marriage. This results in lots of eye rolling and uncomfortable squirming from the either incredibly weak or incredibly patient Bill. It is so awkward I just can't help but watch. One of my favorite moments was when the doctor told her she had to gain 5 pounds or she wouldn't be able to have a baby (because you know, baby's need nutrients and all. Also, her body would probably just eat the baby thinking she had finally fed it something). She freaked out and starting whining about how she can't gain weight because of her job and how her clothes won't fit and blah blah blah... Newsflash Guilianna darling: 5 pounds will still make you about 25 pounds underweight. I don't think they'll fire you, but it might make you look like a normal person instead of someone who needs about 15 sandwiches shoved down their throat stat. And if they do fire you, sue their pants off and go buy yourself a cheeseburger.

Now. On to Bill. I don't get him. He seems like a perfectly nice person and yet he married Ms. Anorexic big-head who publically declares that it's his fault they can't have children, drags him to "doctors" in order to figure out why their "energy" is all off, and who seriously considered not having children so that she wouldn't have to gain 5 pounds. Does she not know that pregnancy generally makes you rotund and volumptuous and that it's a wonderful excuse to not do crunches for 9 months? Seriously Bill. What's the deal here? Oh that's right... she bought you a harley.

Now I will go hang my head in shame for writing an entire post about something so wonderfully horrible.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

A Beautiful Mark

People fascinate me. I love sitting in a crowded place and watching people walk by. Is that creepy? Sometimes I sit and make up stories in my head about the people walking by. I make up stories about couples as they walk by, and what caused that person to put on that particular outfit that morning and what they were thinking. I love hearing people's stories and learning what makes them who they are, and I love watching people's stories develop. 

I think that might be one of the reasons I love Jr. High ministry so much. I get to be part of their story for a brief time, but I also get to watch them grow up, move onto high school, and hopefully college and beyond. I know I won't stay in touch with all of them, but I love the relationships that I have kept with some of my former Jr. Highers. It's so much fun to see them become the people that God wants them to be and to begin to see the purpose for which God created them. I get to see their unique strengths develop and see how they choose to serve God within those strengths. Their stories are relatively short at this point but they're beautiful.

Everybody's story is important. Our story is part of who we are now even if it wasn't quite a fairytale.  Each one of them is different but each one has one particular thing in common- it began with the Creator of the universe putting it into motion. God has a unique purpose and reason for your story, it may not be what you think it should be or what you wish it was, but it's purposeful. Each of our stories bears the mark of it's author and what a beautiful mark that is. 

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

I Am Solar Powered

Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to spend about a week in Washington to visit some friends. This was my first trip to the Pacific Northwest and it was wonderful. The scenery is absolutely gorgeous and it only rained 3 times throughout the whole week! However, despite the surprisingly nice weather (my friend's dad referred to it as "balmy" although I would hesitate to call 50 degrees "balmy"), it was still pretty gray most of the week. This is how I discovered that I am solar powered. I need the sun. I thrive with the sun. As soon as the weather turns gray all I want to do is curl up on the couch near a fire and watch movies or read all day. Needless to say I was sleepy the whole time. However, despite my extremely strong urges to hybernate I had a wonderful time with very dear friends. I'm glad to be back where the sun shines though. Flying into San Diego was marvelous. It was 75 degrees with perfectly clear blue skies and I couldn't help but smile.