Just 'Cause

I don't think there's going to be much of a rhyme or reason to this post. It's mostly just because I want to write. I've been neglecting my blog lately. I feel bad about it, but I've been way too busy to update it lately. I'm going to try to do better about that.

Christmas is over, the house is empty, presents have been opened, and I've eaten too much. This year didn't really "feel" like Christmas... I guess it's because I've been too busy to really get into the Christmas mood. But I was really happy to spend time with my family. I've seen the importance of being with them. Time is getting shorter and we're all changing. There are only two "kids" left in the fam. Grayson turned twenty on Christmas. I feel old... Haha. Before long, someone will leave. It's real, it's not a future fear. It's coming up in just a few short years here... Wow.

Also, my friends are getting old. School, jobs, dating, marriage, babies, houses, weddings, love, leaving... The round of life has finally "found" us. We knew it would. Just, who knew it would come up this fast?!

Life continues to get better. God is good that way. He never ceases to amaze me. I am totally undeserving of His love and how He continues to show me His grace and love. I've made so many mistakes, but He *always* shows up. I tend to mess up more when I'm angry and/or confused, but He has always held me through all the mistakes and disasters. There's still a long way to go, but I love that God is patient, and that I don't have to do this on my own.

Small, Little, Somewhat of An Update

So. Here's the unveiling of the project that occupied my thoughts and some of my time recently: Stranger(Still) finished recording their new demo album. Yes, it's pretty amazing! The guys worked really hard and gave all they had. It turned out SO good. I'm glad that it's over... Haha! It was just a tad of a stressful project to take on, especially right at the end of the semester. But God was good, and our prayer is that He is glorified through our efforts and talents.

When All Of A Sudden...

                                     "If His grace is an ocean, then we're all sinking."


I find myself thinking on God's grace a lot recently. I'm overwhelmed. I'm so undeserving, and yet His grace meets me when I wake up in the morning, carries me through the day and sings me to sleep at night. Without His grace, I don't think I could make it. No, I know I couldn't make it. I'm so human, so broken, so depraved. But His grace is enough and I am definitely drowning in it. I constantly breathe it in. It surrounds my world and fills my very being. Wow... Just thinking those things makes me smile and just raise my hands in praise! My God is so good!


Life has been changing faster than I can keep up. They're good changes. I'm busy with school and teaching. I have some of the best students ever! They keep a constant smile on my face. From the little boys who think every song has to be just like the "William Tell Overture", to the little girl who plays so delicately you can barely hear her, to the guy who blows me away with his heart spilling from his fingertips to the girl who praises Jesus with a song that gives a glimpse of heaven on earth. God is good. All the time.

                              "He is jealous for me. Love like a hurricane, I am a tree 
                                 bending beneath the weight of His wind and mercy."


Lastly, BIG exciting news. Well, for me anyway. :) Passion 2012!!! YES, it's just a few short weeks away! I can't wait to see what God is going to do. It's going to be a fantastic way to start the new year. Greater things!

The Calm

So life has finally calmed down and things aren't as emotional and bleak. God is so good like that! He sends along the calm in the storms of life just when I need it.

One of the things that I am most thankful for when it comes to my Heavenly Father is that He knows exactly how much I can handle and He will never give me more than I am able to bear. He tests my faith and endurance with love. I know at the end of the testing it will all be worth it.

Life Song At The Moment

I'm trusting God to finish the work of making something beautiful out of the dust of my life. It seems like that day is long in coming, but I know that God has a purpose and a plan.

Missing Out

Am I really the one who's missing out on what the best thing is? I feel like there's something bigger and better out there that God wants to show me. People keep telling me to grab up what's being offered, but I can't make myself do it. "How many people will you break in this senseless quest for something many of us will never obtain?" I guess the farther God leads me, the more people will get broken.

This isn't the way I wanted it. But if this is what it takes to obtain God's best, I'll go through it. After all, what do I know? I would probably choose the path that would destroy me in the end. I often feel like I'm walking somewhere that only He knows. I get confused, frustrated and often angry. But He keeps reminding me that He's in control, and all I need to do is trust Him.

So what am I really missing out on? When so many others are settling for better, why can't I settle only for His best?

What if who the world thinks I should settle for really turns out to be someone I regret in the long run? -(Yeah, we're talking relationship, here)- I want so much more than the first guy who comes along and turns my head. People think I'm crazy for passing those opportunities up. And deep down, I guess I am. But I want something so much more than that. So I'm giving up better for best.

He's out there, and he'll be worth it.

Because I Knew You (and a random update on my life's goings-on)

It's easy to think that people who have caused us pain in this life are better off out of our lives. I'm thinking that maybe that isn't so... Sure, "toxic" people need to be avoided. But I also think that every person that God allows in our lives has served a purpose. I used to roll my eyes when people told me that. It seemed like bad things happened through screwed up people just, well, because. I felt like there really wasn't a reason other than pain like that was just part of the crap of life. Not so much now. I think that because I've experienced different things at the hands of different people, I am who I am today. I think I'm a better person because of what I've gone through. Stronger than I would've been. Wiser. More serious. More discerning.

True, getting cut deep by someone you love isn't necessarily fun, or desirable. But it molds. It's like the knife that smooths away the rough places and adds beauty.

A cracked vase can still be beautiful.

I'm starting to think that if some of those bad and painful things hadn't happened, my life would be different. I would be different. I would probably hate my life. I may seem like I have a lot to hate now. There are things I wish were different, but I could be so much worse off. Just some things I've been musing about lately.

I wonder what my life would be like without the 

stupid people in it...? 

It'd probably suck.

Aaaaaannnnnddd:

Here's the random update. I've been doing some reading/studying about the "Quiverfull" and "Patriarch" philosophies that seem to be sweeping some conservative circles. Some of my close friends hold to these ideas. In my mind, those ideas are insane. Far-fetched doesn't begin to describe them. This isn't even personal opinion. I did some Biblical research as well, and I find that so much of the doctrine in those philosophies is flawed. I might do a random rant of the two philosophies one day and go a little deeper.

I definitely don't feel the need to judge or slam any particular people group, but some common groups that advocate the "Quiverfull" and "Patriarch" philosophies include:

--Vision Forum (particularly "Beautiful Girlhood" and "The All American Boy")

--Michael and Debi Pearl

--The Duggar Family

--Colin and Nancy Campbell (Above Rubies editor)

I'm not knocking everything about these groups, but I find much of their ideas flawed and sadly, abusive to women and young children. I may or may not go in depth at a later time. I don't really feel the need to start a debate here... Just throwing my thoughts out. If you're interested to know more about both idea groups, do some research on your own and find out what God truly has to say about those matters.

A Rainy Symphony

I've always liked rainy days. But I think I like them even more now. It seems that rain often echoes my feelings. I often feel lonely, cold, sad, quiet, thoughtful. But lately, life is refreshing. God offers relief from the things I have to face. I have good friends, a wonderful family and an amazing (I don't use that lightly), truly awesome God. I could whine and go around miserable forever, but I have to choose to love life. I want to do just that. 


I'm starting to find that there's so much to live for. Sure, I can fool people into making them think that I'm happy when really, my heart is just as cold and lonely as the rain. 


I might come off as a little callous, but my empty places aren't going to be filled. Ever. I've come to accept that certain parts of me are just going to stay empty. But I've figured out how to move on. It's like I keep walking in the rain. I want to get out of it and into some sun and warmth, but I've accepted that my lot is to walk in the rain. I have to survive the best I can, and be thankful for the days when the rain isn't quite pouring and the wind isn't howling as loud as it usually does.


I don't mean this as a "poor me" post, or even an attempt to gain sympathy. It's just where I am. Where I live. Permanent rain. I'll always want some sort of relief, but I'll keep going. 'Cause to some extent, I don't want to know anything any different than I do now. It's not apathy. I'm not hopeless. I'm just tired. And I know I'm broken. You can't fix me, and honestly, I don't want to be fixed.

Some Quotes

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” ~C. S. Lewis

"It was when I was happiest that I longed most...The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing...to find the place where all the beauty came from." -C.S. Lewis 


"I let it fall, my heart. And as it fell you rose to claim it... But there's a side to you that I never knew, never knew. All the things you'd say, they were never true, never true. And the games you'd play, you'd always win, always win." ~Adele

Incomplete

I feel like there's a part of me missing. Like I'm not all there anymore. Maybe it's because that part of me that's always been there isn't there anymore. I feel like it's literally been ripped out and put somewhere else. I've decided that part of me that's not around anymore is dead. And it's not going to come back. There's no repairing this. Sometimes I cry about it. I was up last night thinking about it and crying over it. I'll always miss it. Some part of me will always belong to someone else, someone that I wish I had never let have that much. I know that God can fill up the empty places with Himself, and that He wants to do just that. But this is a loneliness I've never felt before. It feels like the scars have been ripped open again and they're bleeding more than they have before. I'm starting to get scared cause I feel like I'm starting to harden. I'm starting to become immune to the pain. I'm starting to welcome the familiarity of loneliness. It scares me that I just don't care that it hurts, that I don't care that I'm lonely, that I don't care that part of me belongs to someone else. I keep wanting to trick myself into thinking that I can move on. But all I feel when I start thinking that is the stupidity of that statement. I don't think I can ever fully move on. There's too much breakage, too many scars. I'm all whole on the outside, but inside I'm torn, bleeding and shattered. My mind is constantly crying and mocking the smile I've plastered on my face. I'm incomplete. I'm broken. But maybe one day, I'll find the beauty in all of these ashes. But for now, I'll keep bleeding.

Leaving Scars

Around July or so, I wanted to run away and stay gone. Just totally disappear and not come back. Ever. Summer is usually good. I'm usually excited about all the awesome memories that this summer would bring. But I dreaded the arrival of this summer.

See, last summer I hit rock bottom. I came to the end of myself. It hurt. I still have the scars to prove it, and I won't ever fully recover. These wounds are the sort that are always around. They throb when loneliness or a sense of loss triggers them. But this summer was different.

I decided that I would live passionately for today. I wouldn't worry about tomorrow. If I faced pain today, I'd deal with it today, not tomorrow. I wish I had known that last summer. Maybe breaking wouldn't have hurt so bad. Or maybe I wouldn't have broken at all... I still have the cracks, and I feel patched up, glued, like a shattered glass. Only, I've proven to be more fragile.

This summer, I feel reinforced. Part of me is dead. Things had to change, situations had to die. I see that now. I just never expected to fall as far as I did. I didn't expect to fall at all. I definitely know that it's something that's going to stay with me forever. I'll never forget it, and I'll always have some form of scar.

But at least the scars are starting to fade...

"Whatever You're Doing (Something Heavenly)" by Sanctus Real

I know there's nothing I can do to change what happened.

I have to give every detail over to God.

Every. Single. One.

I can't hold on to any part of this situation.

If I don't completely let go,

I'll never know full victory.

After all, the work that He's doing,

it's heavenly.

On Sorrow

  Last night my pastor preached a fantastic message on God's blessings. He talked about how God is never reluctant when He blesses us, and how He's already given us everything we've ever needed and all we need to do is accept the blessings He's given. Pastor also touched on the fact that worrying about something is the same as saying one doesn't trust Him enough to handle the situation. That's already been taken care of. God has already handled whatever situation I'm facing at the time. All I have to do is to give it completely over to Him.

  This past week I went through something that was pretty trying emotionally. I had never been through something that had caused me to worry and literally stay awake two nights in a row. Sure, I cried. But it was mostly mental distress. I admit, not once did it cross my mind that God could take care of the situation.

  That was one situation I don't want to go through ever again. But I know that it very well could. It happens all too often in life. Details don't matter. All that matters is that I have already started to see that God can work in any situation to bring good. The good from this is that I have found that God has already handled the outcome of what I'm going through and He'll finish this so that it comes out for good in my life. I can't see the end, but I know that it will work out the way that it's supposed to. I'm also finding that life goes on. It may sound elementary; but I really felt that I would face pain, and because of my personality, a sense of guilt for a long time to come. 

  Today is a better day. Not only is the sun out outside, but it's also shining in my heart. I'm feeling happy and at peace today. And it's all because God has blessed me, and He adds no sorrow with these blessings.

But we never can prove 

the delights of His love

until all on the altar we lay.

For the favor He shows,

and the joy He bestows

are for those who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey.

For there's no other way

to be happy in Jesus,

but to trust and obey.

  

The Hound of Heaven

A couple of weeks ago, my pastor quoted part of this

beautiful poem in his sermon. 

I just had to post it on here. It will definitely make you think...

The Hound of Heaven

by

Francis Thompson (1859-1907)

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
  I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
  Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
                  Up vistaed hopes I sped;
                  And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
                  But with unhurrying chase,
                  And unperturbèd pace,
                Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
                  They beat--and a Voice beat
                  More instant than the Feet--
                "All things betray thee, who betrayest Me."

                  I pleaded, outlaw-wise,
By many a hearted casement, curtained red,
  Trellised with intertwining charities
(For, though I knew His love Who followed,
                  Yet was I sore adread
Lest having Him, I must have naught beside);
But if one little casement parted wide,
  The gust of His approach would clash it to.
  Fear wist not to evade, as Love wist to pursue.
Across the margent of the world I fled,
  And troubled the gold gateways of the stars,
Smiting for shelter on their clanged bars;
                  Fretted to dulcet jars
And silvern chatter the pale ports o' the moon.
I said to dawn, Be sudden; to eve, Be soon;
  With thy young skyey blossoms heap me over
                  From this tremendous Lover!
Float thy vague veil about me, lest He see!
  I tempted all His servitors, but to find
My own betrayal in their constancy,
In faith to Him their fickleness to me,
  Their traitorous trueness, and their loyal deceit.
To all swift things for swiftness did I sue;
  Clung to the whistling mane of every wind.
                  But whether they swept, smoothly fleet,
                The long savannahs of the blue;
                    Or whether, Thunder-driven,
                  They clanged his chariot 'thwart a heaven
Plashy with flying lightnings round the spurn o' their feet--
                  Still with unhurrying chase,
                  And unperturbèd pace,
                Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
                  Came on the following Feet,
                  And a Voice above their beat--
                "Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me."

I sought no more that after which I strayed
                In face of man or maid;
But still within the little children's eyes
                Seems something, something that replies;
They at least are for me, surely for me!
I turned me to them very wistfully;
But, just as their young eyes grew sudden fair
                With dawning answers there,
Their angel plucked them from me by the hair.
"Come then, ye other children, Nature's--share
With me," said I, "your delicate fellowship;
                Let me greet you lip to lip,
                Let me twine with you caresses,
                  Wantoning
              With our Lady-Mother's vagrant tresses'
                  Banqueting
                With her in her wind-walled palace,
                Underneath her azured daïs,
                Quaffing, as your taintless way is,
                    From a chalice
Lucent-weeping out of the dayspring."
                    So it was done;
I in their delicate fellowship was one--
Drew the bolt of Nature's secrecies.
                  I knew all the swift importings
                  On the wilful face of skies;
                  I knew how the clouds arise
                  Spumèd of the wild sea-snortings;
                    All that's born or dies
                  Rose and drooped with--made them shapers
Of mine own moods, or wailful or divine--
                  With them joyed and was bereaven.
                  I was heavy with the even,
                  When she lit her glimmering tapers
                  Round the day's dead sanctities.
                  I laughed in the morning's eyes.
I triumphed and I saddened with all weather,
                  Heaven and I wept together,
And its sweet tears were salt with mortal mine;
Against the red throb of its sunset-heart
                    I laid my own to beat,
                    And share commingling heat;
But not by that, by that, was eased my human smart.
In vain my tears were wet on Heaven's gray cheek.
For ah! we know not what each other says,
                These things and I; in sound I speak--
Their sound is but their stir, they speak by silences.
Nature, poor stepdame, cannot slake my drouth;
                  Let her, if she would owe me,
Drop yon blue bosom-veil of sky, and show me
                  The breasts of her tenderness;
Never did any milk of hers once bless
                    My thirsting mouth.
                    Nigh and nigh draws the chase,
                    With unperturbèd pace,
                  Deliberate speed, majestic instancy;
                    And past those noisèd Feet
                    A voice comes yet more fleet--
"Lo naught contents thee, who content'st not Me."

Naked I wait Thy love's uplifted stroke!
My harness piece by piece Thou hast hewn from me,
                    And smitten me to my knee;
                I am defenseless utterly.
                I slept, methinks, and woke,
And, slowly gazing, find me stripped in sleep.
In the rash lustihead of my young powers,
                I shook the pillaring hours
And pulled my life upon me; grimed with smears,
I stand amid the dust o' the mounded years--
My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap.
My days have crackled and gone up in smoke,
Have puffed and burst as sun-starts on a stream.
                Yea, faileth now even dream
The dreamer, and the lute the lutanist;
Even the linked fantasies, in whose blossomy twist
I swung the earth a trinket at my wrist,
Are yielding; cords of all too weak account
For earth with heavy griefs so overplussed.
                Ah! is Thy love indeed
A weed, albeit amaranthine weed,
Suffering no flowers except its own to mount?
                Ah! must--
                Designer infinite!--
Ah! must Thou char the wood ere Thou canst limn with it?
My freshness spent its wavering shower i' the dust;
And now my heart is a broken fount,
Wherein tear-drippings stagnate, spilt down ever
                From the dank thoughts that shiver
Upon the sighful branches of my mind.
                Such is; what is to be?
The pulp so bitter, how shall taste the rind?
I dimly guess what Time in mist confounds;
Yet ever and anon a trumpet sounds
From the hid battlements of Eternity;
Those shaken mists a space unsettle, then
Round the half-glimpsed turrets slowly wash again.
                But not ere him who summoneth
                I first have seen, enwound
With blooming robes, purpureal, cypress-crowned;
His name I know, and what his trumpet saith.
Whether man's heart or life it be which yields
                Thee harvest, must Thy harvest fields
                Be dunged with rotten death?

                  Now of that long pursuit
                  Comes on at hand the bruit;
                That Voice is round me like a bursting sea:
                  "And is thy earth so marred,
                  Shattered in shard on shard?
                Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me!
                Strange, piteous, futile thing,
Wherefore should any set thee love apart?
Seeing none but I makes much of naught," He said,
"And human love needs human meriting,
                How hast thou merited--
Of all man's clotted clay rhe dingiest clot?
                Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee
                Save Me, save only Me?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
                Not for thy harms.
But just that thou might'st seek it in my arms.
                All which thy child's mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for the at home;
                Rise, clasp My hand, and come!"

  Halts by me that footfall;
  Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstreched caressingly?
  "Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
  I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me."

Francis Thompson (1859-1907) 

---

A Thousand Sleepless Nights

"What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it

takes to know You're near? What if trials of this life are Your

mercies in disguise?"

~ Laura Story, "Blessings"

   Whenever God wants to really get a point across to me, He usually doesn't let me sleep until I "get it". I'm one of those people who needs to get totally numb before I can sleep. When my mind runs a billion miles an hour, or I'm stressing over something sleep just isn't an option. And sometimes it's not just that God wants me to know something.

He wants me to know He's there. Right there with me. 

No matter what.

   Sometimes things happen and I feel alone. When I'm going through something hard I tend to shut down and shut people out. I start to feel like no one knows exactly what I'm feeling or even going through. But I finally had a break through one night. During one of my "thousand sleepless nights." 

How could I not have confidence and find my comfort in God?

After all, He created me. He created my very being.

He felt everything that I feel.

He took everything that hurts me to the cross.

He bore it and He WON!!

   I am never alone. I can have peace and let everything go because Jesus bore it and defeated it. The things that would sink their teeth in to me, the things Satan hurls at me are powerless. 

"Satan can gum you to death, but his teeth have been removed."

~ John Piper

   So, in spite of the rambling, what I wanted to really get across is don't push the sleepless nights away. Embrace the wakefulness. You'd very likely find that you aren't alone. You're never alone. 

   

   

"Blessings" by Laura Story

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the achings of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

Heartbroken, But Strong

   It's kind of funny how easily breakable hearts are. Especially trusting hearts. You know, those hearts that lay it all on the line for the sake of love. Not just romantic love, but love for family and friends. Hearts truly are fragile things. 

   I've had my heart broken, several times in fact, and it's one of those hardships you never really get over. It sort of feels like your heart turns into a piece of pottery that's been glued back together: It still meets its purpose, but it doesn't look as good as it once did. It's brittle and jagged in some places. It might even be weak. And when it gets re-broken, sometimes it can't be fixed.

   But is there a way to keep a heart from breaking? I used to think there was, but now I don't think so. I used to think that if you completely guarded your heart that there was no way it could get broken. That's not even remotely possible. If you love someone you're putting your heart on the chopping block. Love has to be sacrificial. I think that if you truly love someone, you're willing to lay yourself down to fully love them. And sometimes people handle your heart roughly and it gets bruised or broken. 

   Even though people break hearts, God is a Healer and He will not break your heart. He lovingly heals while teaching valuable lessons in love and relationships. He puts the glue in that makes hearts stronger through the heartbroken seasons, hearts that beat stronger and love more deeply than before they were broken. 

   Sometimes I feel like my life is made up of heartbroken seasons. But I know that God is healing, and He's giving me a heart that's strong, a heart that's passionate, a heart that loves people for just being people. And He's giving me a heart that's crazy in love with Him.

   Through this long brokenhearted season, I'm finding myself falling into a love so deep and passionate that I know it won't let me go! I'm totally in love with my Jesus, my Healer.

   The Lord has really been using this song to encourage and uplift my heart the past couple years. Listen to the words. Find your shelter and your healing in the love of Jesus.

://grooveshhttp://grooveshark.com/s/Hide+Away+In+The+Love+Of+Jesus/ZdIQX?src=5ark.com/s/Hide+Away+In+The+Love+Of+Jesus/ZdIQX?src=5

Polar Extremes, VBS 2011 Part 1

  As I promised, here is my Vacation Bible School 2011 post! There's so much to tell that I don't really know where to start. I guess the beginning is a good place!

  So we started VBS this past Monday. We were assaulted on Monday with an array of poster board, balloons, penguins that looked like they had stepped right out of "Angry Birds", icicle lights, stuffed polar bears, penguins and seals, clear Christmas lights, and random objects that would eventually come together to resemble igloos, snow and ice. Oh, and oceans that became homes to friendly killer whales. My team went a little further with dry ice to resemble polar fog.

  Around 5:40, kids started pouring in from the surrounding Smyrna area. Some of them came too excited for their own good, while others proved to be hard to impress. All of that changed in large group. Songs, memory verses and games set the stage for Pastor Oz's simple,yet powerful presentation of the Gospel. Several kids came forward to receive Christ. Pastor Oz used some fun illusions to make his points come across in an entertaining way. The kids absolutely loved it! Large group was spent the same way every night with many kids responding to receive Christ each night. At the final count, there were over 50 kids who'd prayed to receive Christ.

During snack time, Mrs. Raaen put on a really cute puppet show to talk to the kids about telling their friends about Jesus and inviting friends to come to VBS.

  The kids loved all the different crafts that we did. I think the absolute hit was face painting. =)

Large group was a huge success with its cool Eskimo village scene and the fun songs, verses, stories and even a few skits! It got pretty wild in there a couple times. =)

Don't miss part 2 of the VBS week, coming soon! =)

VBS 2011 Preview

  Here's just a glance of what God's been up to this week. Hopefully I'll be able to post more later today.

On Wednesday night, we did face painting on the kids. Our theme this year

was "Polar Extremes". It was fun trying to come up with different things to paint 

that went along with the theme. There was an array of snowmen, snowflakes,

*attempted* polar bears (purple was requested several times so we'd have a team mascot ;) ),

and even some crosses with snow coming down around them.

This is a little blurry, but this is the team I worked with: Purple Polar Bears!!! RAWR!!! =D

  Hopefully I'll be able to post some details and a couple more pictures today. But I hope this gives you just a small idea about how much of an absolute blast VBS has been this year. Hard to believe tonight is the last night!

Our Lives Are Made In These Small Hours

  So, here is my first attempt at posting on here. I don't know how faithful I'll be in keeping up with it. My life is pretty hectic, and there are a lot of things that could hinder regularity. But I'll do the best I can!

  Right now my life is just full of college studies and responsibilities. It can get monotonous and sometimes down right depressing. But like my mom keeps reminding me, and as God is showing me more and more every day, this is just a season in life; "small hours".

  That's basically what I want to write about here, the small hours. The little things that make up life. The things that change the other-wise normal days into the not-so-normal. 

  Rob Thomas' song "Small Wonders" is what inspired me to keep up with this blog. The chorus especially so:

Our lives are made in these small hours,

These little wonders,

These twists and turns of fate.

Time falls away,

But these small hours,

These small hours still remain.

  Obviously, I don't believe in "twists and turns of fate". I believe that God is in control of every aspect of my life, and that He knows exactly what is going to happen on my life's road. But it's the "small hours" part that really inspired me. The small hours are memories that last when "time falls away". They remain behind.