i love my life.

here's my heart Lord take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above

A Word About Believing in the Power of God

David said to Saul, "Don't let anyone be discouraged by him; your servant will go and fight this Philistine!"

 But Saul replied, "You can't go fight this Philistine. You're just a youth, and he's been a warrior since he was young."

Then David said, "The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine."

Saul said to David, "Go, and may the LORD be with you."

"Come here," the Philistine called to David, "and I'll give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts!"

 David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with a dagger, spear, and sword, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel's armies— you have defied Him. Today, the LORD will hand you over to me. Today, I'll strike you down, cut your head off, and give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the creatures of the earth. Then all the world will know that Israel has a God,  and this whole assembly will know that it is not by sword or by spear that the LORD saves, for the battle is the LORD's. He will hand you over to us."

 When the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in the bag, took out a stone, slung [it], and hit the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.

David defeated the Philistine with a sling and a stone. Even though David had no sword, he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

1 Samuel 17

I love my Jesus. So so much Ah man. He's so amazing.

Ben

As I sat outside behind the table helping register campers for the week ahead, he came and joined the back of the line. Standing beside him was a beautiful woman, dressed nicely, hair pinned back, of all serious nature. This was his mother. It didn't take long before everyone knew Ben was here. Impatiently jumping to the front of the line, he begged to be checked in first. No, said Kristy. You have to wait just like everyone else. Aww....but come on, he said. You know I'm your favorite. Laughing, Kristy directed to him to the back of the line once more. Loudly he waited, making his presence very known. He was sooo excited to be at camp. He wanted to get started as soon as possible. Finally Ben got checked in and then proceeded to sit beside Kristy and me at the registration table. I'm going to help, he told us.

Ben is develop mentally disabled, just like every other camper at Inspiration Center last week. How does this affect him? Ben cannot talk. And he has limited use of his right hand.

Now wait a minute, you might be saying. You just told me that he said things to you, how could he not be able to talk? Well, its kind of crazy really. Although Ben's mouth is not capable of forming words, he is more than able to communicate just as well as you and me. Ben uses his arms and hands extravagantly. He is also amazing at communicating through facial expressions. On top of this, he is able to make the beginning sounds of some words if you just aren't getting it. It only took me about one day to figure out how Ben communicates. It's quite breathtaking, really.

Ben is 22 years old. He might seem "slow" or "handicapped." But those words do not define him. He is just a 22 year old guy, interested in the same things as you and me. He loves to give hugs, be the center of attention, and isn't afraid to speak up if he thinks something isn't right.

Ben sat at my table for the week, and we were really able to get to know each other. Can you get me a soda, he would as me by motioning as if he was drinking and making the 'd' noise, meaning "diet." No, Ben, I would say. You already had a soda today. Only one per day. He would then turn to me with the saddest eyes, put a pathetic frown on his face and fold his hands under his chin, as if he was begging. With all of that he spoke one word. "Please."

Ben is not "slow." I did not have to speak to him as if he was a child. I did not have talk slowly or repeat things over and over for him to get them. He is actually a very clever guy. He thought it was funny to call me crazy and a loser. You should be careful, Ben. I'm the one who gets you your drinks and cuts up your food. If you keep being mean to me you might not get to eat. Pondering this at the next meal, he asked the other counselor at our table to cut his food for him and get him his drink. Now I can still make fun of you, he jeered at me.

One afternoon while the campers were supposed to be resting in their rooms and I was doing dishes, Ben came up to me in his bathing suit, holding a towel. He was ready to swim. Ben! I said. You are supposed to be in your room resting. He told me he wasn't tired. So we hung out for a little while. He wandered around and messed with some of the other staff. And eventually, he got to swim. He's just a fun guy to be with.

I went into last week expecting to have a good time. I was excited for the opportunity to help people and serve God. In some ways, I was kind of expecting to be a babysitter, taking care of these adults who couldn't take care of themselves. God really revealed himself to me last week. Look at these people, he told me. You are not any better than them. I died for THEM too. Look at these beautiful humans. Look at the way I gave Laurel the gift of dancing. Look at Deb, how passionately she prays. Jenny sees only the good in people. She loves to compliment you and make you feel good about yourself. And look at Ben. This beautiful boy. This marvelous communicator. My creation.

The last thing I expected to do last week was make friends.

God had different plans.

To those struggling in this world

Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth.
Colossians 3:2

I have a new start. Everyday. Because of Jesus.

inspiration center/place where God dwells

Oh, blog reader. I have so much to tell you. I've been on a missions trip this past week at a place called inspiration center in wisconsin. It is a camp for adults with physical/mental handicaps. And God MOVED. I can't tell you all right now. Just know that it was amazing. And there will be more to come. I love you.

Sunday Morning Musings

Yesterday was the very lovely youth sunday, which means the teenagers from church do the entire service. Hmm....I have a story for you.

Being youth sunday and all, I of course was required to attend both first and second service. Now I don't know about you, but me and 6:30 in the morning do not get along very well. So I was running a lot a bit short on sleep. The first service went well but ended early. Hmm..what could I possibly do with this 20 minute time slot I have between the service and sunday school? Hmm. Hmmm. Oh yes, I shall lay my little head down on one of the pews and rest my body. ...So I did. I stretched myself out on the front pew and rested

Apparently I fell asleep, because the next thing I knew I was awakened to a loud man's voice. "Alright, are we ready to get started? Does anyone have any prayer requests?"

Crrrraaaaaaappppp.

Adult sunday school class.

I soon realize that since I am laying in the front row, nobody even knows I am there.

Options:

1. awkwardly lay there for the next hour, enduring the adult sunday school class, being as silent as possible, trying not to be discovered
2. pop up, yell "SURPRISE!" and confidently walk out of the room
3. subtly slide upward in my seat, looking as natural as possible....and then pretend that I belong in that class and was just bending down to grab my pen that I had dropped--hold up the pen. "gotcha"
4. try to fall back to sleep. may as well get a nap in while I'm here. ....except what if I snore?
5. wait for prayer to begin, hope that everyone has their eyes closed, and make a run for it without looking back!

And the winner is....

OPTION #FIVE!

Yes, I waited for prayer and dashed out of that room without even a glance backwards.

Thus concludes my sunday morning musings.

The Thoughts In My Head

Man, I've had a lot of thoughts in my head lately. Good thoughts, it seems. Meaningful thoughts. And you will probably be seeing a strand of posts relating to these recent thoughts. This being the first. So here it goes...

Don't waste today waiting for tomorrow.
yeah...i've been doing that lately. I think many of us do it without even realizing it. See...my entire summer has kind of been this way, because I have had so many events planned that I've been so excited about. Here's what I mean by this though:

I'm going on a missions trip in a week and I'm super pumped for it. I just know it's going to be a radical time. But in the meantime...I'm kind of just spending my life waiting for the trip. ( this = fail. at. living.) Do you ever do that? Whether it's summer vacation, camp, a concert, a trip, or whatever else you might be looking forward to in life. Do you set your focus on one date and then just...wait. It almost seems normal to do that. But it is such a waste, I've noticed. You know why?

You could die tonight.

Yeah. You don't want to think about that one, huh? But it's reality. My friend, the reality is that you could die tonight. Or tomorrow. Or the next day. When you start to look at it that way, the trip you are going to take next week really slips out of the focus, and today becomes the focus. By no means am I saying that we should dwell on death or live in fear of dying tomorrow. I'm just saying...we should live TODAY. Because we don't have control over what happens tomorrow. If I spend two weeks being excited about my missions trip and waiting for it to come then I am wasting two weeks of my life. The trip will come when it comes. And it will be awesome when it does. But I think we should invest more in today. Live for the moment. Each morning when you wake up you are given another opportunity to live another day to its fullest. Don't dwell on yesterday. Don't dwell on tomorrow. Invest yourself in each day. Glorify God TODAY. Find your true joy today. Make a difference today. Love someone back today. Spend time in prayer today.

Living like this kind of makes life a lot more awesome. Each day I am given the choice to have a good day. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not here yet. Now is what matters. What are you going to do today?

mmm

I just want to say...that I am crazy in love with GOD!

...my cup overflows.

The Art In Me

I've been designing tshirts as of late. Just...for fun. I might try to sell them someday or something.
But for now I thought I might just let you gaze upon them. Maybe get some feedback. Do you like?

      I plan on putting some lettering on

    them as soon as I get the stuff to do it.

       Fun little God things like...."shine" and "hope"...

           .or perhaps short verses. We'll see what happens.

I can make you one if you like. :)

...and He will.

A Word From God: Ecclesiastes 11:9-10

Rejoice, young man, while you are young,
and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth.
And walk in the ways of your heart
and in the sights of your eyes;
but know that for all of these things God will bring you to judgment.

Remove sorrow from your heart,
and put away pain from your flesh,
because youth and the prime of life are fleeting.

a ballpark smile

Yesterday at the ballpark
I discovered that my friend
Has red hair on his face

It's the craziest thing
I've ever seen

Random red hair
How amazing!

I bet God put it there
Just to make us smile.