As a kid, my brother and I would travel up (from FL) to PA with my Mema and Papa. We usually took a couple days, but it was lots of fun (when I was not feeling carsick).
Myself driving, my longest road trip was going to a conference just north of Atlanta, GA, by myself.
This summer however, I will probably be driving up to Ridgecrest, SC, and maybe taking some detours to visit peeps. So that will probably be my longest road trip yet, and I will likely drive by myself.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Catching you up.
There have been so many times that I have wanted to come on here and blog. God has been doing so much in my life and has been teaching me so much. I really want to start blogging more regularly. I guess I need to set aside time every couple days to do so.
Whenever I blog I always try to keep in mind the length, because I know that you do not have hours to read what I write. So keeping that in mind, but wanting to unload the blog topics that have been building up in my mind, I have decided to write the short thoughts and not develop them (so this blog will seem all over the place). Then I will try to blog more regularly so the topics do not build up again.
My 5K went well. I had a few friends come with me so it was nice to be able to hang out with and celebrate with them. It was fun and I reached a new personal best. My goal was to finish in 30 minutes (about which I was very skeptical), and I finished in 29:42. Woohoo! Running with others sped up my pace a bit, and the excitement and adrenaline from the event kept me pumped up and distracted. So the running was good, but I am not so sure I am crazy about running in races like that. I wrote before about liking the longer, harder runs because they emptied me and pointed me to Jesus. I cannot really attribute my great success in this race to my dependence on Christ; I was more dependent on my adrenaline. So whether I do another one or not I have not decided. The good thing that came out of it was motivation to run that far on my own, and thus emptying me and pointing me to Christ. So, we will see.
Of the family with whom I am currently living there is a boy in high school. They just had their prom last weekend and were talking about it on Monday. The boy was saying how of the people that he had interacted with that day, about 47% of them were talking about having sex after prom. : O 4 7 % Ugh, it just makes my heart drop to hear the saddened state of our high schools these days. And if that is not bad enough, it just pumps up my desire to be doing ministry with Student Venture. If I am not careful with it I can quickly get frustrated with God for "taking so long" to bring enough partners onto my team so that I can get out on the front lines. Sometimes it is so hard to keep myself in check. But I cannot save the world and there are people already out there whom God is using. So I guess I can wait until he is ready for me (or until I am ready) to get out on the field.
I am currently reading through Judges...and it is aWeSoMe! Previously I was struggling to get through the Old Testament. I had the wrong perspective. My goal was to get through it just to get through it. Once I changed my perspective to seek to learn about God it became not only tolerable, but pleasurable and desireable. Now I am excited each night as I climb in bed for my "story time". Reading through Old Testament stories and looking at what, how and why God is doing is teaching me/reminding me a lot about God but also bringing up some questions. Like last night, I read that God sent an evil spirit between to Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem (Judges 9:23). How could God do that, does that not contradict with his goodness? Things like that I just do not understand about God.
Well, that is probably enough for now, but be looking for more posts coming soon! : )
Whenever I blog I always try to keep in mind the length, because I know that you do not have hours to read what I write. So keeping that in mind, but wanting to unload the blog topics that have been building up in my mind, I have decided to write the short thoughts and not develop them (so this blog will seem all over the place). Then I will try to blog more regularly so the topics do not build up again.
My 5K went well. I had a few friends come with me so it was nice to be able to hang out with and celebrate with them. It was fun and I reached a new personal best. My goal was to finish in 30 minutes (about which I was very skeptical), and I finished in 29:42. Woohoo! Running with others sped up my pace a bit, and the excitement and adrenaline from the event kept me pumped up and distracted. So the running was good, but I am not so sure I am crazy about running in races like that. I wrote before about liking the longer, harder runs because they emptied me and pointed me to Jesus. I cannot really attribute my great success in this race to my dependence on Christ; I was more dependent on my adrenaline. So whether I do another one or not I have not decided. The good thing that came out of it was motivation to run that far on my own, and thus emptying me and pointing me to Christ. So, we will see.
Of the family with whom I am currently living there is a boy in high school. They just had their prom last weekend and were talking about it on Monday. The boy was saying how of the people that he had interacted with that day, about 47% of them were talking about having sex after prom. : O 4 7 % Ugh, it just makes my heart drop to hear the saddened state of our high schools these days. And if that is not bad enough, it just pumps up my desire to be doing ministry with Student Venture. If I am not careful with it I can quickly get frustrated with God for "taking so long" to bring enough partners onto my team so that I can get out on the front lines. Sometimes it is so hard to keep myself in check. But I cannot save the world and there are people already out there whom God is using. So I guess I can wait until he is ready for me (or until I am ready) to get out on the field.
I am currently reading through Judges...and it is aWeSoMe! Previously I was struggling to get through the Old Testament. I had the wrong perspective. My goal was to get through it just to get through it. Once I changed my perspective to seek to learn about God it became not only tolerable, but pleasurable and desireable. Now I am excited each night as I climb in bed for my "story time". Reading through Old Testament stories and looking at what, how and why God is doing is teaching me/reminding me a lot about God but also bringing up some questions. Like last night, I read that God sent an evil spirit between to Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem (Judges 9:23). How could God do that, does that not contradict with his goodness? Things like that I just do not understand about God.
Well, that is probably enough for now, but be looking for more posts coming soon! : )
Saturday, April 17, 2010
"Maybe we're spiritually obese"
Those words came out of my mouth while talking with a friend. I was confessing to her that I felt lazy in my relationship with God (amidst other things). I was confessing that I am not taking much initiative in setting aside time to spend alone with God and his Word. My hunger I guess is not there and I feel stuck.
I was also sharing with her some other thoughts that had been going through my mind. A friend recently was talking about changes in their ministry and their life. The ministry has changed from a "holy huddle" to an actual outreach to people who do not believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. In their lives, they are seeking to do life with and be friends with people that are not Christians. As full time ministers they are going against the grain, seeking to do ministry rather than just help others do ministry.
Hearing what he had to say really challenged me and I have been thinking about my life. Part of a book I read recently was pointing out that it is a stumbling block for listeners if the message they hear preached does not match the preacher's actions. It made me think about when I will report to the field for ministry and when I am talking with teenagers, challenging them to reach out to their peers or family. Would my life be a stumbling block for my preaching to them? I am sad to say that right now it would be.
She identified with what I was saying and we both tried to figure out what was different a few years ago when we did not feel so stuck. We thought back to being college students regularly having spiritual conversations with students on campus. We were regularly *exercising* our faith and not just consuming. We were pouring out ourselves. As it is now, I feel spiritually obese - consuming and consuming and not using what I am consuming. I feel stuffed, like after Thanksgiving dinner, when you just cannot take one more bite. So maybe that is why I feel stuck and am not taking much initiative. I am lazy in my fatness.
But we have resolved to start exercising regularly - spiritually that is. We are going to keep each other accountable to serve weekly and have spiritual conversations weekly. Personally, I "got off the couch" this morning and am fighting the laziness, seeking God in his wonderful Word and in honest prayer. Boy it is hard work, but like I learned a couple weeks ago, it takes hard work to get to the top of the bridge. :)
I was also sharing with her some other thoughts that had been going through my mind. A friend recently was talking about changes in their ministry and their life. The ministry has changed from a "holy huddle" to an actual outreach to people who do not believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. In their lives, they are seeking to do life with and be friends with people that are not Christians. As full time ministers they are going against the grain, seeking to do ministry rather than just help others do ministry.
Hearing what he had to say really challenged me and I have been thinking about my life. Part of a book I read recently was pointing out that it is a stumbling block for listeners if the message they hear preached does not match the preacher's actions. It made me think about when I will report to the field for ministry and when I am talking with teenagers, challenging them to reach out to their peers or family. Would my life be a stumbling block for my preaching to them? I am sad to say that right now it would be.
She identified with what I was saying and we both tried to figure out what was different a few years ago when we did not feel so stuck. We thought back to being college students regularly having spiritual conversations with students on campus. We were regularly *exercising* our faith and not just consuming. We were pouring out ourselves. As it is now, I feel spiritually obese - consuming and consuming and not using what I am consuming. I feel stuffed, like after Thanksgiving dinner, when you just cannot take one more bite. So maybe that is why I feel stuck and am not taking much initiative. I am lazy in my fatness.
But we have resolved to start exercising regularly - spiritually that is. We are going to keep each other accountable to serve weekly and have spiritual conversations weekly. Personally, I "got off the couch" this morning and am fighting the laziness, seeking God in his wonderful Word and in honest prayer. Boy it is hard work, but like I learned a couple weeks ago, it takes hard work to get to the top of the bridge. :)
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