Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrazy

Welp, High Point has ended for the year. We finished last night with a Christmas party. It was probably the least planned out HP for me. I had heard that it was primarily a hang out time, but Kendra came up to me about an hour into it saying the students were ready to play a game.

I had back up thankfully, and we played two-minute movie: Christmas version. So, within 10min time, I watched the Grinch, Frosty the Snowman, Muppet Christmas Carol, Home Alone and Elf. It was fantastic, and hilarious! Poshak and Nicole gave out invisible awards such as least useful character (Austin B in Muppet), best representation of a character (Lebo as the "angry elf" in Elf), best actress (Beth G as Kevin from Home Alone)..

We followed that up with reading the Christmas story and singing some carols. We didn't really take it too seriously, but it was fun nonentheless. (Like singing "O Come, O Come Emmanuel"-ha!)

I've also been putting some stuff together for Christmas Spectacular. I don't have a part in it, sadly, but this means I get to help with other planning things, which isn't so bad. Besides, it's not like I could think of something to do for it. I am looking forward to the many acts (especially Ev's group).

Before all of this, Tuesday night was Operation Christmas Child.



A group had gone Monday night, but then another group of about 20something of us formed a few assembly lines to double check the Samaritan's Purse boxes. Three hours of a LOT of fun and laughs. Serving is more fun that way!

Switching gears, Janna is in town today!!!! I should be hanging out with her sometime soon :)

Without direction

Can you believe December is here? I'm usually on top of Christmas shopping, but seeing how I don't have any money, well..

But I should talk about Thanksgiving. I should mention that I got my first speeding ticket, and since God always has a purpose for everything, I was able to use it as an opening story for Bible study this morning! I should mention that having Bobblehead Jesus in the car makes for even funnier pictures.

I never grow tired of Boggle. Or Tetris.

I loved spending time with mom, dad and Mark, and watching WallE as well as the latest Bond movie (but everyone was right in saying it wasn't that great of a movie) with Kendra and John.

Oh, how I enjoyed eating pie, putting a few puzzle pieces together, listening to John play the piano, getting tackled by the cousins, and drinking true, from the tap (haha), sweet tea! It's crazy to think that I'll be back in Texas in just a couple of weeks, or even that it will be 2009 so soon!

And on a completely different note, I'm having way too much fun reading old journals (especially the ones from Mrs. McClaskey's class), as well as notebooks with notes between high school friends (Milena, Amanda and Ariel H).

By the numbers

To be perfectly honest, I was worried about how this month's High Point would go. Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled that our students would get to be engaged in serving our community in various ways. I was just wondering where our new people would go.

You see, we've been growing this semester. Students were bringing friends, and our average was steadily increasing. Not that I'm a fan of keeping tally--what I'm most excited about is that the students feel comfortable enough to bring new people.

Service projects mix that up a bit. The options included making meals/cookies for families in the church, praying for the schools/praying at a hospital, hanging out with a group of special needs adults, hanging out with kids whose parents are working to get back on their feet financially, and making/serving meals to Denver's homeless. New students aren't exactly comfortable with joining things like this. Which I can understand.

However, taking the attendance for last night, we were only about a dozen short of the number we had grown to by the end of October. And I had also given the students sheets to write their thoughts from the three weeks, and there was so much positive response! I know that some are eager to get back to the "normal" swing of things, yet at the same time, I know that this time was not wasted!

Dare2Share

This weekend's conference started and ended with a bang. Leeland began worship for Friday evening, and we were.. just a little late. The seven students and two interns (I'm included in that--no, not as a student, thank you!) were blessed with sweet suite tickets. A family of the church has a box in the Pepsi Center, and graciously gave us the seats for free!All that to say, we didn't have to scurry for seats, but had our own place all to ourselves! The view was all right, but the message was better. While I have had the chance to go a couple of times, things have always fallen through. Boy was I glad to go this time! Greg Stier, Zane Black and Derwin Gray were the main speakers. There was a play, multiple skits, various faith challenges, and the band Fee also performed. The central message concerned what it looks like to put on the full armor of God.

I couldn't possibly share everything with you, so here is what I shall call a buffet of information. Take your pick, and if you care to eat more, just let me know!

--music. Leeland was very good. I appreciated when the lead singer said that worship is not just singing, but it is something we do with all of our lives. I feel like students don't, well, and I don't, hear that enough. Fee's lead singer was also fantastic, and at points, things that he said, I wish I could have recorded for you, because they were so encouraging and true. Oh, and he often shouted, "Bad singers unite!" to encourage those of us who aren't that great of singers to just sing for joy to our Savior.

--speakers. Zane very much reminded me of the youth pastor I worked with at EBF this past year, Aaron Nebrija. Same mannerisms, craziness, and I feel like a similar conversion story. Greg had a gift of speaking clearly, and had a lot of encouraging evangelism stories that reminded me of some experiences I've had in my lifetime so far. And of course, Derwin was my favorite. I loved his enthusiasm and knowledge of the scripture. Something that most caught my attention was when he talked about playing in the NFL. He talked about how they would study their opponents for at least 30 hours a week, in addition to practicing as a team. "How much more, then, should we know the schemes of the evil one?" he had asked.

--silly moments. Let's see. There's when Alyssa and I were making funny faces at each other when she just stopped and said, "whoa! You're eyes are really blue!" haha. Or what about Bowman talking about how he tries to worship God all the time--even when he's pooping?! I'll admit, that one went too far, but we were all rolling! Singing at the top of our lungs (me and Janelle), "I AM FREEEEEEE TO DANCE!!!!" Oh yes, dancing was involved too.

--challenges. There was the challenge to talk about Jesus with our friends within the next 48 hours. Many of the students also had texted their friends to come to church the next day (awesome!).

--random. Another church group stayed overnight (Fri-Sat) at 4Cs with us. They had 80 students!! We ate dinner on Saturday at the Ross' and had AMAZING conversation about what it means to trust God and to share our stories with our friends. We played spoons! We watched Northwestern beat Michigan in the suite! I loved the interspersing of movie clips throughout the talks (from Ironman to Batman to Veggietales to Blood Diamond to the Spiderwick Chronicles to the Hulk to the Fantastic 4)--they were used effectively to illustrate the points.

There it is. And in the end, I was quite sleepy! But so worth it.

Falling Slowly

Ahhh... visions of driving down Sheridan road with Ariel and Jerred crying out the lyrics from the "Once" soundtrack just came back to me today. I've already been through the album 1.5 times. Is it possible to love it more each time I listen to it? Yes.

Thank you, Kala, for making sure we watched that movie last spring break. Unfortunately, I don't have the time to watch the movie right now, as I'm leaving in 7 minutes for Dare 2 Share with some students. Hmm. But at least it's one of the few movies I own (yay for blockbuster's cheap movie section).

I'm rambling, I know. I'm just happy/excited/and perhaps just a liiiiiittle bit sleepy. :)

"I read your memo"

"It's a mission statement."
(I preferred a picture of the kid, rather than Mr. Cruise. I'm sure you understand.)

It's taken me awhile to write this. Last Wednesday, the youth group went to a local corn maze. It was awesome for many reasons. First of all, because it was my second time to go to one, and this was better than the first for several reasons--it was bigger, it was cheaper and we went through it in utter darkness.

The Senior High guys ran around with scary masks, although one of them was an Obama mask?, to scare a bunch of people. I just wandered around and joined various groups at different times. Which is the second reason why it was so fun. While we didn't have a lot of our regular student attenders, we had LOTS of visitors. I had even gone through the attendance list beforehand thinking, 'Hmm.. I'm not seeing how we will have enough students to come.' And yet, as God does so often, we had probably 15 people who do not normally come, come. (Ha. I love sentences like those)

Thirdly, the original plan for getting to the maze was via cheesewagon, aka School Bus. Unfortunately, the cost for renting made us quickly realize that this was not wise. So we put an ad in the weekly church email for volunteers to drive. Again, the Lord provided parents, and even a church member who used to have students in the youth group! In fact, we had too many seats! And because of this, we got to pair the regular youth group volunteers with each of the drivers so as to encourage.

On my way back to the church (I had gone both ahead and behind the group to work out details with the corn maze point person--yay for dealing with money for an event for the first time!), I had one of those many epiphanies that we have and end up telling ourselves, 'I should write that down!'

It was then even more appropriate that Jerry Maguire came on tv last weekend, as he has that Mission Statement moment in the beginning of the film that drives the change in his life throughout.

Not that what I will write down means much to many others. I just felt the need to write this down now before I forget. These are my goals for youth ministry, wherever that leads me:

1. Relationships first, programs somewhere later. The time one spends with a student is more valuable than the hours spent creating the "cool" event. These students are in need of God-love, not entertainment.
2. Find as many volunteers who have an equal passion for students--the ones who actually want to be there--to serve in the many places you can't be. A youth minister can not do anything on their own.
3. Find as many ways for parents to be involved, even in "small ways" (making meals, driving students, prayer, etc.). Youth group is not just some chance for us to babysit. The church is a place for community, and the more parents involved in the growing of their child (not just physically and emotionally, but spiritually!), the better. I know this to be true simply from the fact that I myself am not a parent. I don't get youth as well as I sometimes think that I do. Even if I used to be one!
4. Serve and suffer for your students. I was reading 2 Corinthians today, and I came across the passage of all that Paul went through for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of the churches. I want to be prepared for sleepless nights of wrestling in prayer for these folks with very real dilemmas, I want to work hard, I want to be weak, boasting in His sufficient grace...

And there it is. Time for me to get ready for another soccer game.

A Glimpse of Small Group

Kayanne and Lexie led small group tonight. We looked at the book of Jonah, particularly the ending (which happens to be one of my favorite God and human interactions accounted for in the Bible). The student leaders asked what were somethings in our life that we treat similarly to the vine that grew up overnight, and was destroyed overnight (a vine Jonah neither tended to or made it grow).

One gal mentioned that maybe that worm was really hungry.

Another talked about her interactions with some mentally challenged friends at school.

Still another talked about the movie the Titanic.

But before you discount these students' comments, let me explain. The story of Jonah centers on grace. God shows compassion even to the wicked people of Ninevah, and this causes Jonah's great distress (the language is pretty strong--I kind of picture this wimpy prophet dude turning into the Hulk--that's how angry he was. And then, such an image always makes me chuckle...). The coolest verse to end off the story comes from God:

"Why can't I likewise change what I feel about Nineveh from anger to pleasure, this big city of more than 120,000 childlike people who don't yet know right from wrong, to say nothing of all the innocent animals?" (Message translation)

The girl who talked about the worm, was referring to when the vine was destroyed overnight. She explained that God was even showing compassion to the worm by giving him something to eat. Afterall, if God cares about the innocent animals (other translations say cattle), why wouldn't He be caring even about this little worm? Surely the story, and the circumstance about the vine, is not just about Jonah.

Right.

And the gal who talked about hanging out with her mentally challenged friends admitted that she often sees movies and images that display a certain standard of beauty. "I know it's foolish, but I want that," she said. But then, when she's hanging out with such friends, she's reminded of all that she already has. How good she's got it. How selfish she has been.

One girl piped in during this time that she gets so frustrated when she brushes her teeth faithfully every night, but then the dentist finds four cavities. FOUR! But her brother, who hardly brushes (ASIDE: which is gross, by the way), has none.

"And the beauty of grace is that it makes life unfair..." (Check out this story for even more juicy details. Or what about this one?)

The last one, the girl who talked about Titanic.. I actually have no idea what she was talking about. She talked quite fast, and well.. yeah.

Can I just say that I love how teenager's minds work to flesh out Scripture?

Gen Update

-- It is November and it was 70 degrees outside today. I took a long walk/run and listened to the Remedy album by David Crowder. And that is all I have about that.

--I didn't dress up for the 4Cs festival, but I face-painted! Kendra and I decorated the faces of young and old, from flowers to dragons to M&M's to horseshoes.. We also painted red masks on ourselves to help intimidate the other team for our soccer game after the festival. One of the players called me Batgirl! Yes!

--We enjoyed the Corn Maze this past Wednesday, and everything ran fairly smoothly. I was also delighted to see that we made almost enough money for a scholarship for Powderburn! God is good!

--This week, speaking of High Point, kicks off the service project month. A lot of prayer is needed for the preparation of that!

--I had dinner with two families this weekend. Saturday night with the Moores, where Rachel and I made tacos. I was sad that they didn't have the taco seasoning I'm used to making them with, but nonetheless it turned out delicious. We also played Hearts afterward. Tonight, I had dinner with the Leasure family, and I found out that the parents went to Pepperdine. We had a lot of laughs, as well as played some Cranium. I might've gotten a little competitive. haha. And I must laugh at myself again for humming the Star Wars themesong. Good moment.

--I started a book about Johnny Cash, and I have another about Bob Dylan for afterward. No, I don't know what exactly got me into a music, much less biography kick.

--Sad that Heroes is not on tomorrow. Annoyed by the election..

--Also sad that Holly is no longer going to be on the Office. I will miss her.

Post Secret

Borrowing from the famous books, our students have sent in some post secrets in conjunction with the Grace series at High Impact.

A Night at the Oscars

Last week for High Point we showcased the students "scary" movies that they had been working on for the last couple of weeks. The eleventh graders pulled together a bunch of the kids' ministry puppets and made a Twilight zone episode where each of the puppets slowly disappear while at fall retreat. Stefan did such a fantastic job of putting it together.

Our small group made one where we were hanging out at church, talking about going to fall retreat. The only gal, Susie, who wasn't planning to go did not disappear (yes, disappearing is the less gory way for a scary movie to work). But if she wanted to see her friends again, then she better go to FR.

The final video (although we had pleasant commercial breaks in between, as well as the Stookes being the hosts) was the twelfth grade guy's. Hilarious. They spoofed the Hey Ben video, as well as had Matt Shelander mimick the Joker. He was right on!

Hopefully, I will be getting these videos online, so you can enjoy them too.

Oh, and how could I forget the winners?
Best Actor: Barry Gager
Best Actress: Susie Oury
Best Scream: Kelsey Crawford
Cheesiest Line: Bethany Gager
Scariest Moment: Kayanne disappearing
Funniest Moment: Eric Pellish's pants (um.. I choose not to explain)
Best Picture: 12th grade guys

Baseball

Devil Rays v. Phillies.

I mean, it helps there's a Longoria playing, but otherwise? Who cares?

a Full Day

It took me a little longer than normal to wake up. The night before a couple Senior gals had come over to watch the Office and SNL (great initials). Afterward, we watched this dance video that I got with Christmas money last year. Trust me, I realize how white I am, but I thought it would be fun for all of us to try. Aaaand, I might've videotaped them. hehe.

After they left, Kendra had stayed for a bit to talk. Quite refreshing, and I can't believe that it's already less than forty days until our road trip to Texas! This was also pleasantly interrupted by a conference-type call with John, Rojas and Emily.

All that to say was it was a late night, and waking up was hard to do. Got to work about 10, so I could make some important phone calls to prepare for November. But an hour and a half later I was out the door to see Susie's softball game. That ended a lot sooner than expected, and she didn't get to play :(. So, we tried to make up for it by grabbing lunch at Chipotle.

By the time we dropped her off it was just enough time for me to check my email and then go to Rachel's place. We went for a walk around a nearby lake, and then stopped to read Daniel. We had some great discussion about that, and even I was encouraged to read it again. But I had to get going to the next place.

That is, soccer. Literally got there just in time to put on my jersey, the shin guards I'm borrowing from Mr. Banich, and the socks I borrow from Kendra. We stepped on the field with plenty of players, while the other team had only three. Eventually their team did show up, all seven or eight of them. All of which, had way more energy than us. Oh I definitely felt out of shape!

Nevertheless, I actually had shining moments, believe it or not. I had a shot on goal, and I even negged (vocabularly explained to me via Janna) a guy. The guy then called me a bad name in Spanish. I just laughed, because I knew he was more frustrated with himself, than me. I headed the ball, I passed... and made just as many mistakes! After all, this soccer playing is not my cup of tea. But, dare I say it, it has it's fun moments.

And that point at which I can barely breathe, and my heart is pounding inside, feels so good. I love to be active!

But of course, after the game (which we lost), I had to book it to Jordan's volleyball game. They won that one with flying colors, and we only saw forty minutes of the game, because the JV team had also creamed Bear Creek, meaning the Varsity team started earlier than normal.

So we celebrated at Cold Stone (although I grabbed a toasted tuna sandwich at Subway. mmm!), which was full of laughter. Eleven of us, cheering everyone on who entered and exited the store. All things were funny.

And as if all this wasn't enough, Jordan and I watched The Little Mermaid before bedtime.

Youth ministry is a verb.

Hodge Podge

It's not quite blog vomit. It's just... a plethora of things going on.

One. A lunch with Lebo. She is an inspiration if you'll just listen. For starters, her voice has that African rhythm, which makes sense, as she's from there. And here is what else I will say. I finished the book Red Moon Rising a couple weeks ago. It's about the movement that renewed in Europe to have 24-7 prayer. To me, she is the personification of that book.

Two. I spoke in front of High Impact the other day. I was shaking, but it was so much fun. The podcast should be up tomorrow evening-ish. I will have small group first.

Three. I read Peter Pan, since I picked it up from the library last week (along with some short stories by Langston Hughes, and another book by my favorite childhood author, Avi). I was very impressed with the writing style, as well as the characters. I liked Wendy, despite a lot of her stupidity. I liked her because she is persistent with Peter, always hoping that he'll want to grow up. So I suppose, maybe she's not so stupid after all. She's gracious. hmm

And so on and so on.. This week's High Point will be focusing on prayer, so um.. could you be praying the students enjoy that? Our small group made a movie for next week's HP, where we will be watching all of the Senior High small group movies promoting fall retreat. FALL RETREAT!! I can't believe it's next week!!

Seriously. I've been here for approximately 77 days.

It's October, and the Cubs only lasted three games.

I showed up to church today and the other intern and I were practically wearing the same thing. Awkward!

All of the kids noticed. Ha!

I feel really busy. Thankfully I took a nap, and I feel a little refreshed.

Tutoring

I decided that I have lots of down time. Not enough to get a part time job just yet, especially with events like fall retreat, corn maze, and the whole crazy service month of November to try to figure out and coordinate. But enough time to tutor a couple of hours each week.

My first time to do so was last Thursday, at a local elementary school. I got to assist Tez (short for Cortez) with a persuasive letter, and then a kid named Matt with some third grade math. I enjoyed reminiscing over my times at Lincolnwood Elementary School my freshmen and sophomore years of college under Mrs. Mandell. Kids are often so stubborn, and yet, it's always fun to figure out what the student is confident with, and honing in on that in order to help him/her excel in the other areas as well.

Today, I went to Mr. Banich's school to help Ana with geometry. I laughed at myself because it took me a couple of minutes to understand the problem. I will blame it on being a communications major ;). Thankfully, it clicked, and I think we were able to solve the problems in the short half hour time span we were given. Mainly, she needs to learn to consistently take notes to help her memorize the formulas.

Then, as I was heading back to work for a meeting (during which I played Tetris on facebook. I mean, I do take my job seriously. It was a short meeting, I swear!), I watched as the students went to their next class. I loved seeing all of the colors--as in hair, and clothes. I also laughed because I think that was the most I had heard the F word said in such a small interval of time since, well, Goodfellas. One girl was in the middle of shouting it when she saw me and the visitor pass sticker on my shirt. "Uhh..." she smiled coyly.

I look forward to these times.

Mall Scavenger Hunt

For Fusion this week, I got to coordinate a scavenger hunt at Flatirons Mall. The whole day we were wary of how many students could come, considering the mall is out of the way, and Junior High kids can't drive. Legally. I mean, some of them are taller than me, so they could probably get away with it.

But I digress.

I think about 30 students came, and we immediately dispersed around the mall to take pictures of students doing push-ups in a health store, giving random strangers a high five, singing Kumbaya in a tent, farting in an elevator etc. etc. (the list had 58 possible things--my personal favorite being them going to the Apple store and asking for 10 reasons why a Mac is better than a PC).

Well, I didn't go around taking pictures, as there were too many volunteers. So Jacob Stooke and I walked around to find the students, point, laugh, and such. I was amazed when a mall cop came up to us and apologized for yelling at a group that was crabwalking around Nordstroms. He felt bad for scaring the kids, and for not knowing that we had adult supervision for each group. That was cool.

And, um.. we also might have gotten distracted at Brookstone. Those massage chairs are just too comfortable!!

As a random sidenote, did you know that Obama has his own calendar now? I find that a little obnoxious. I dunno, I just happened to see it at the calendar kiosk after we found some of our kids who had just yelled, "Freedom!" at the top of our lungs. The woman who worked the kiosk asked what they just yelled.

"I think they said 'freedom.'" I responded.

"Hmm, that's weird."

"Yeah, I think they must be middle schoolers."

"Probably."

"How much is this calendar?" haha. Just kidding.

Way to go Shawn Johnson

You think my congratulations is a little late? Well, this comes from ignorance. Kendra and I went to Janelle's gymnastics meet yesterday at A West. We could only go for the first hour, as All-Area Worship was at 7. Yet, within that hour, we were able to see how truly difficult gymnastics can be.

Janelle's team did the uneven bars first. It was then that we saw these students in pretty good shape unable to lift themselves up over the bar more than half the time. Then, when there were a couple who could, or those who could do a single back flip for their landing, we were much more in awe.

In the background, another team was doing the vault. And other than the moments when we might've snickered to ourselves due to the funny ways these girls would run, we realized how hard it can be to trust yourself to get over the... um... haha. I don't know gymnastics terms. The brown saddle looking thing? I should wikipedia that.

Her team then went to the balance beam. It was common for a lot of girls to fall off, and it was then we noticed how much stress goes into this sport. How many smiles turned to frowns as soon as they hit the ground. How many times the girls expressed nervous laughter when they stayed on, even though they had just waved their arms like a crane and their torso wobbled uncontrollably until that final moment of equilibrium. Whew.

The cool thing about the meet was that it was fully entertaining. No, I wasn't laughing at the girls' failures, what I mean is there was always something to watch. There were four different things to watch. And the tumbling was always a bonus with the fun music (my personal favorite being "Jump on it" hehe).

So again, props to Miss Johnson. It's just so amazing how easy they make that look.

HP redux

Last night at High Point, we changed things up a bit. The common outline for Wednesday nights is hangout for about an hour and a half (some organized games are involved in that) and then half an hour of a talk and breaking up into small groups to discuss the talk.

Since this has been the way for the past three weeks, we decided to give students a chance to have some more focused, personal time with Jesus. So we played for about an hour, and then we met in the "living room."



Kendra then spoke about the wonderful truth that God is illogical. That He does overcome impossible things in your life. "Are you willing to let Him?" she asked.

While she talked about this, a few of the leaders set up the gym to give students the opportunity to try. There was an area to respond with art, an area for praying for each other, a place to nail things you think are impossible for God to a cross, an area for just plain reading the Bible.

One thing I was concerned about for this evening was the new students who happened to come. And sure enough, I met one student who said he hadn't been there in awhile. My heart went out to him, especially as I noticed that he had a couple of his friends come to, who I had never seen before.

The cool thing, is watching what God does. And sure enough, those boys did a little bit of everything. I saw one read the Bible (we had marked some of the Bibles so that students who had no idea what the Bible is about, could have some direction) for awhile. Another two praying.. And eventually they all ended up in the art section. When I went to the various areas to let students know that it was 8:30, I overheard the boy talk about his reading of the Bible.

"Yeah, I was reading that one Eccloosias book. Eccle- um.. what's it called?"

"Ecclesiastes?" A girl from nearby said.

"Yeah! That one!" he said.

I smirked.

Clean up took awhile, and we left some of the stuff to dry overnight, having used paints. I went to check up on the art stuff this morning and found one drawing with three figures on it, and lots of wavy lines drawn around it. Two figures were close together and one of them had something covering its mouth. Above it was written "Don't expect not to get laughed at when you laugh at others." Then in the corner was the third figure, perhaps on his knees, and written beside it, flowing with the wavy lines said, "a chasing after the wind."

I just think that's awesome. I don't necessarily know what was going on in his head, but I'm excited to see how God continues to work in him.

Go Cubbies!!

While I shall soon inherit the Rockies vibe, I kind of want to hold out for this season by cheering for the Cubs. I wouldn't call myself a fair-weather fan either, I genuinely cheered for them all four years of my life in Chicago.

And I just think it is hilarious that the fans cheered Ramirez when the umpires gave him the error to try and keep the no hitter streak going for Lily. Classic.

It's also beautiful to think that Ariel and I were at the first game that started it all.

Dream big

I'm a little nervous to talk about this one. But here it is.

I've been reading Matthew. Presently I'm stuck in the famous Sermon, as it is full of some major challenges to my life. I find myself making sure I'm reading what I'm reading. "God, you're really in control of that? You care more about my heart than my outer actions?"

But before that, came the story of Jesus' birth. While traditionally, stored away for the month of December, I wonder if we're not missing something. One thing that caught my attention was the use of dreams. Five dreams are used to be sure of the safety of the birth of the child.

Which led to a rabbit trail of other dreams used throughout the Bible:
I thought about Jacob's dream of the stairway to heaven (try your best not to think of the song!)
I thought about the dream of Joseph, or those he interpreted.
The vision of Peter when Cornelius makes a visit.

Why do we not think of our own dreams as messages from God?

So I prayed. Perhaps foolishly, but I prayed that my eyes would be open and that I would either have a dream that God spoke to me through, or that I would have the opportunity to interpret a dream.

Two days later, a friend mentions at dinner that she had a very weird dream. She explains the dream, and with everyone around her asking more questions and trying to figure out the meaning of the dream, I stand in silence. She finishes and says, "Interpret that!"

I really wanted to. I mean, I thought of something that the dream could mean, but I know it had more to do with what I wanted it to than asking for an interpretation. I was just so surprised, so scared more like it, that I was too afraid to trust God to take the authority that is already His and say, "Do not interpretations belong to the Lord?"

Conclusion. Again, God is very real, and dreams are too. Yet He is merciful with me when my faith is lacking (which is more often than not, unfortunately). I will continually ask, seek and knock, because the faithFUL, good Father will not give me stone when I ask for bread.

Ministry Update

I have been needing to fill you in on other ministry details. So, um.. keep reading if you care to know.

I've been meeting with several students one-on-one over lunches or just general hang out times. I had lunch last week with Abby at Inta Juice, a place to give Jamba Juice a run for its money (and I would know, I used to work at a smoothie place!). We talked about what she wants to do with her life, and she said that she had this strange call toward Russia, although she couldn't explain it. Then the conversation centered on both Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution and Gary Haugen's Good News About Injustice. Both recommended reads!

On Monday, I had a late lunch with Lexi, the other student leader for the small group I get to help lead (starts October 6th--please be praying!). We met at Panera and just shared our lives, and then decided to read a book together over the coming months: Brother Lawrence's Practicing the Presence of God.

Tuesday I picked up Sarah Z. and Crawford after school in order to hang out at a place called Lollicup--also a smoothie place, but I wasn't hungry.. er.. thirsty? We laughed a lot, as well as discussed some things they might like to see happen at small group. The trouble is that Crawford has dance on Tuesday nights, so that will be a bummer to not see her. Maybe we'll move it to Monday nights?? I dunno.

Last night, the gal leaders (Kendra, Raychel and Tate) all came over and we watched Hairspray. Oh, good times! Like when Tate accidentally spilled her orange juice, and then since her cup had broken, she poured the rest into the sink. Only to find out, that well, the sink she happened to use was out of commission, missing a pipe. The orange juice spilling all over the floor. We all had a good guffaw from that. I also find it so good to bond with the fellow leaders

And today, I'm hanging out with Raychel after she gets out of school. We're going to Susie's softball game! Tomorrow, I'm baking with Sophie, a senior from RV!

Book Numero Cuatro Since the Move

Reading Through Painted Deserts does two things to me. First, it reminds me of my adventures in Nevada with Kala Glass (check out her song "Let It Go") during the summer 2006. How I wished that I was faithful to my journal during that time! We had also decided that we wanted to go on a roadtrip across the nation in an RV. We want to visit every national park (having been inspired by Yo-See-Might) and just pitch tent, look at the stars, not take showers. Be all rugged and rough, listening for God in true quiet. I also really badly want to meet a bear. But that would just be an extra incentive. :)

The book also makes me wish I had a typewriter for the thoughts in my head. A) because typewriters make cool clicky sounds that put you right back into a good 30s movie and B) I feel like I think like him a lot--taking a lot of simple things in life, and going deeper with them. Or trying to.

This is weird, but perhaps the reason I like ole Miller is that he's sarcastic. Sometimes he goes a little too far, thinking of the chapter 'California' I just read, but overall, I think it's an expression of his constant joy in life. So what if the car breaks down in the middle of the desert. So what if they don't have enough money to buy more than peanut butter and bread. And this is an attitude I find myself to have, or at least desire to have. I desire to be content whatever the circumstance, and even to find the comedy of it all. Never take anything that we like to call "life's curveballs" too seriously.

Sports-aholic

I just wanted to note: Volleyball game Thursday night (Jordan was/is a stud. Go sophomore on the Varsity team! And you can see some youtube examples), Friday afternoon was Mallory's softball game (bottom of the 7th inning, one of the gals hits a homerun to win the game for RV--very exciting), Friday night I learn to skateboard as well as play a basketball game called Ping Pong, and then even later than that, I join the youth group leaders for my first ever game of soccer. Tomorrow morning, well today, I might be going to see Mike and Mitch play football. But I still need to take a shower, and sleep.

I must repeat the feelings of great joy I have, knowing that I'm getting paid for this.

Back in the saddle

And then, a whirring of events. Ev's baby was born while I was away, so she obviously has not been in the office. This puts High Point on my shoulders, but thankfully, as I've said many a time before, the volunteers are amazing. They have such servant and eager hearts to serve these students!

Tuesday then, was spent preparing for an event a month away, since I hadn't a chance to make plans with any of the students. I also had a little trouble preparing for a game for Wednesday night. Not too much of a matter, however.

We also had a staff lunch at Chili's, went to Ev's house to see the breathtakingly beautiful Gwyneth, and before we knew it, it was time for Fusion. I remember taking a moment during several games of dodgeball with the Junior High students to praise God. "I get paid to throw a rubber ball at kids."

And today? I took a small break in the middle of completing the preparation of the game to nap, as well as visit with Kendra at Steamer's. In between all of this, I can't seem to put down Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot. Just a mere 17 pages to go.

Then, while tomorrow I'm having lunch with Abby and going to see Jordan's volleyball game at night, this random song on my iPod puzzles me (as well as the fact the iPod is still underlined in red according to spell check) on my drive home from work.

The Land of Gray Ducks

It wasn't until I had gotten to the airport that I realized that I was traveling from the city of the Democratic National Convention, to the city for the Republican National Convention. But that makes sense. I don't keep up with politics, because it has never been my thing. It has always seemed too complicated, too slow a process for my A.D.D. mind to adhere to.

Minneapolis.. White Bear Lake, rather, was beautiful. Not only did I get to spend time with John's amazing family (he's got seven siblings, so it's pretty much a guaranteed blast), but we also got to explore the University of Minnesota, canoe WBL, as well as attend his church, among many other things.


And if you were to get me started on the countless conversations, or even simple moments like reading and/or playing Boggle just with John, you probably wouldn't hear the end of it. Too much fun! Indeed, I was truly blessed to have a weekend away from work (ha, even though I'm only a month into it) to spend with him, and enjoy my first time ever in the land of duck, duck, goose. I mean..

Blog Vomit

I realize it's been a week. And yes, much has happened. I'm not sure where to begin, so how about here:

Last Wednesday was my first major responsibility. That is, running the kick-off pool party for High Point this year. It went really well, as a bunch of students came, and I think they had fun. We mainly just hung out, although there was a game of Watermelon Polo in there. Naturally.

Thursday was a glorious day off, where I finished Generous Orthodoxy, and began The Shack. I also took a break to see probably the funniest movie of the year, Tropic Thunder. Granted, not a movie for the kiddos, but plenty of jokes pointed toward Hollywood's movie industry, which I greatly appreciated. And anything that makes fun of Conrad's Heart of Darkness is also okay with me (such a difficult book, that I'm not even willing to link it. hmph.).

Friday was a busy day. Breakfast with three amazing students at Steamers, then babysitting a ten year old (brother of a super cool student in my small group this year) who absolutely destroyed me in Monopoly. Hangs head in shame... Followed that up with a quick email check, shower, and drive out to hang out with another staff volunteer--Raychel Carpenter. We enjoyed some Chipotle before the first Ralston Valley football game. Now that was a blast. Not only did we get to hang out with even more students, but I was totally brought back to my days at Lewisville. I mean, sure, I only went to.. er.. 4 football games during High School? But I was faithful to the pep rallies, and the main thing I remember was all the drama going on. My absolute favorite to watch!

Saturday was website day. Hopefully that will be launched really soon, so get ready internet, for my website designing skills. Haha. Or something. I'll keep you posted on that.

Sunday I skipped church. Just kidding!! Jason led High Impact this week, and he did such a great job. Go him! And Go Gomez for his first time playing the drums in front of people! Sunday twas also the end of the Olympics, and it was awesome watching the US Men's Volleyball whoop up on Brazil. Oh, and I also got to have a nail painting party with Jordan and her cousin, Allison.

So I'm almost caught up. Monday was letter writing day, where Kendra and I (along with a few students) wrote about 100 postcards to students. What a day. I'm glad we finished it with It Happened One Night. (And I'm glad I got to talk to John after too!)

Other than volleyball this morning with some Warehouse180 people, I've just been working on the website, planning High Point, and anxiously awaiting Thursday morning!

Profound

Tonight was the first Fusion, or middle school hangout. All of the leaders (made up of the interns, volunteers, as well as Seniors devoting their year to serving the junior high students. One word. Awesome.), lined up about halfway through the night to introduce ourselves.

Mark had Jason and I stay to tell a little more about ourselves. I suppose it's because we have that fancy title and office-ish area.

The point is, I had asked the students what they wanted to know. General questions came up; you know, favorite color, why I have an eyebrow piercing, where I or Jason was from (to which I most definitely responded, "my mother's womb." hehe), etc.

One young man raised his hand. "Would you rather be attacked by bats or wake up in the middle of open heart surgery?"

Now that, is a question worth pondering.

Hanging out

Also this week, I got to spend time with Kayanne, the student leader for the small group I will be co-leading with Tate. We met at a local Starbucks, which was funny in that there was another Starbucks right across the street from where we met. I might have accidentally gone to that one first...

The point is, we laughed and laughed so much that my stomach was hurting. I think it's because we're the kind of people who don't care as much about what people think of us, so we ended up sharing some pretty embarrassing stories. I also realized we have a shared interest in the arts, and talked for a bit about favorite books. I plan on sharing some Bradley Hathaway with her, since she's also into poetry.

On Friday, Tate and I also got together to share a little bit about our lives, and I realized we were both involved in Campus Crusade for Christ. Afterward, we went to Ralston Valley High School to hang out with the students who were getting done with their first week. I got to meet Jordan's best friends, as well as see a lot of the girls I hadn't seen since Glendo!

I can not wait for this next, very busy week, where I will hopefully be seeing a lot of these gals more consistently!

Furnishing the Muscles

This week, work consisted of a little bit more manual labor. "Not the things you expected when you signed up for this job," Donni, the go-to woman of the office, said to me. I laughed, because I knew that there is a little bit of hard(er) work that comes with every job. And trust me, I did very little in comparison to the guys.

I did get to use power tools, and that was a lot of fun. I helped put together curtains for areas we won't want the youth to go into during Wednesday night meetings. And I cut pvc pipes for the temporary walls that we set up around the room. Call me Sharayah the tool woman Taylor. Or not.

The room is looking good, and as soon as we get the youth in it in a couple weeks, I'll make sure and take a picture to give you a sense of what it looks like!

Baptism Sunday. Taryn going in for the dunk!

The dog of the house: Grizzly!

This is me and my sister for the year, Jordan.

The view at Glendo right before evening worship

Staff Retreat

For the past couple of days, the interns and bosses (that would be all four of us), have been hanging out in a beautiful condo near Breckenridge. This has been an opportunity to get better acquainted with one another as well as to gain a clearer vision of the months to come.

Amanda (who also goes by Ev, see earlier post about the 537 Amandas here) is very organized, and has been able to thoroughly go through our many roles for the coming year. I will slowly be taking over the Wednesday night meetings called High Point, which is geared toward high school students. We talked a lot today about what the preparation and execution of that looks like, and I am getting really excited by the opportunity to take on this kind of leadership. Of course, I'm equally nervous--as in pee-in-my-pants-I-can't-believe-I'm-actually-doing-this nervous. However, I also believe in a powerful God. So there.

I will also be working with Amanda Tate (who goes by Tate) as well as a senior gal named Kayanne, to lead a small group this year. Add this to assistance during retreats and other large group events (Fall Retreat, two ski trips in February-ish!) as well as being in charge of the website (I have a lot of learning to do there..), and I've got myself a pretty full platter. The good news is that they highly encourage taking two days off a week, and they even factor that in during vacation time. (Speaking of, I'm going to Minnesota at the end of this month, and I've never been more excited!)

In addition to all this administrative talk, we have gotten to share our testimonies with one another, and follow that up with any other questions we may have as well as prayer. It is this type of community central atmosphere that encourages me for the coming year.

"Get out of the office..

..as often as possible."

I will start by saying that this job is exactly what I was hoping for. And then, to hear these words come from the pastor's lips just verified it all the more. I have a feeling that I was not meant for the constraining cubicle. I was meant to constantly be on mission outside of the office, engaging in students lives as well as whoever else may come along my path.

So when the pastor (the interns got to share a meal with him on Tuesday) says to get out of here, it's not that he's saying I shouldn't have even stepped foot in Arvada, but it is the recognition of what ministry is all about: relationships. In fact, this wasn't the first time I've understood these words. When I worked in Richmond last summer with Third Pres, I knew it wasn't a good day if I was just hanging out with Abby and Jon in the office (be it a very cool one) from morning till evening.

This does present a challenge to me however, in that for some strange reason, I am intimidated by the telephone. Texting, I have no problem. But calling someone up, even if it's a good friend, has always intimidated me. I, to this day, do not understand why. But I must counter this with praise to God, who has helped me to make a couple phone calls this week, and I was able to set up a Wendy's and Chick Fil A date with two senior gals! (For those of you who really know me, the restaurant choices alone have got me pretty psyched.)

In addition, I have had the opportunity to better get to know a gal my age who volunteers with the students. Her name is Kendra, and I could tell from the start that we will be close friends. I am so thankful for this as well, as I am sure that I will need someone my age here to bond with, when I'm needing a breath of fresh air from the students.

Glendo

Early on Thursday morning, I joined around 50 students and a few staff to just north of Cheyenne, Wyoming for a weekend of camping. The hardcore stuff: water bottles to last the weekend, tents, no showers, etc. My most luxurious item was my 2-in-1 bug repellent and sunscreen, and boy was it a life saver!

On the vanride up, I met one of the residents. The way the youth group system works is that there are the two main leaders, Amanda and Mark, the two interns, me and Jason, and then 8 residents. We interns are the full timers, while the residents are the part-timers. But like the camping experience, we're all hardcore. It comes with the territory ;). The resident I got to know on the way up was Amanda Stooke. (I quickly learned that there are about 537 Amandas at this church, therefore you should get to know some of them by their last name. I.E. Stooke) We talked almost the all the way up, with certain breaks for when we would jam to a Denver local Aaron Espe, as well as, shamelessly, Dashboard Confessional. Hey, when you got an itch to scratch, you scratch it, right?

Any who, the camp itself was pretty spectacular. We set up our tents (actually, it was pre-set up by some volunteers who drove up a few hours before us) right next to a beautiful lake, and began to enjoy that right away. It was such an excellent way to meet the students--and let me tell you I got to know quite a few. Between late night games of Hot Seat, sand castle building, water tubing, games of Mafia as well as eating Banana Boats, I was able to get to know the names of at least 30 students. And, I had some very deep conversations with a few of them! They are a very open group, and I was very encouraged by my first weekend!

This IS Home

In case you haven't caught the drift, I am a little obsessed with this Switchfoot song from the latest Chronicles of Narnia movie. I will say that it is a good background to how I feel right now being in Colorado. I'm finally where I belong, where I belong...

And I say this without even having met more than one of the youth kids. But the reason is that I have already fallen in love with the surrounding mountains, the nearby lake, and the family I am staying with. My dad and I shared a spaghetti dinner with the mom and the daughter last night where we just talked about each other, and had many laughs.

Then today, I spent most of the time hanging out with Jordan (the daughter) getting ready for a camping trip to Wyoming tomorrow. We also watched a couple movies (Vantage Point and Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants), had dinner with the family (with more great laughs), and I am soon to actually pack and go to bed.

I guess technically, tomorrow is my first day of work.

A Lesson in Community

I just finished watching Lars and the Real Girl with my mom this morning. I warn you now that the movie is quite strange. However, in the end, it is one of the most beautiful examples about community that I have ever witnessed. For those of you who don't know, as I imagine many have not seen the film, it is about a hermit character (Lars, played by Ryan Gosling) who has a delusion about life size doll (Bianca) being his girlfriend.

And yet, instead of shacking him up in a mental institution, as might have been the easiest option, the entire town finds creative ways to make life comfortable for Lars. One woman gives Bianca a mannequin job three times a week; another woman gives her a haircut; they find opportunities for her to "volunteer" at the hospital. Instead of laughing and poking fun (which honestly, might have been my reaction), they embrace him in his struggle to cope with a bad memory from his past. The doctor too, is brilliant in her way of patiently communicating with Lars and Bianca.

I began to think about what Jesus said. I guess it has something to do with what the church should look like--a group of loving believers embracing outsiders and loving them wherever they are. And to clarify, evidenced by the ending of the film of which I don't want to give away, embracing a person where they are is not a case of mere tolerance. The hope is that showing unconditional love to someone struggling in sin, will lead to repentance. 

Twas a cute, funny, and thought-provoking movie.

Henderson

I am leaving for Colorado in just a few days now. In order to actually make it over there, I needed a car. Some of you may remember my yellow truck (her name was Adelaide, as inspired by an Anberlin song), but she was sold while I was traveling around Europe for twenty-two days. That's the power of Craig's List for you!

Any who, the search for the new (used) car continued upon my return, and I was able to purchase the car I really wanted! As you can see, it is a gorgeous silver 2004 Honda Element--the perfect mountaineering/youth group craziness/moving vehicle. It was a reasonable price, as well as an all-around more utilitarian vehicle than my other options (a Suzuki SX4 or a Dodge Caliber). And I think it suits me just fine. I am all the more excited for my trip!