What i like to call a good day

Today was a pretty awesome day. Our toddlers were all over the place and all over each other today. it was still fun though. i can see how much they are learning. Today one little boy said my name! I'm stoked about it! to put a little context to it.....he most definately is my favorite. So i'm the teacher and i'm not supposed to have favorites...but i do. And he said my name today! How fun is that?!?
All day i've been thinking about the upcoming months. My fall semester is about to start. lots of fun stuff coming up...but so much to do.
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As i was taking out the trash i remembered a question that a young lady asked me in April of this year. it was as i was just finishing up talking to a group of college women about consentual and nonconsentual relationships when i asked if anybody had any questions.

This one young lady raised her hand and asked "why are you so passionate about all this stuff?"
I don't remember what i told her then. I'm sure i rambled off some sort of answer that sounded good. the truth is i was caught off guard. there are many reasons why i do the things that i do.. but what is the main reason?

today i determined it was because i want to see people changed.

I don't want to see people staying in their same position of defeat their whole life. How boring of a life would that be?! let's change our state of being and be somebody better and do awesome things......

sermonette #500

why the rush?

So I go to walmart today to run a few errands. This is not my norm. Recently I've tried my hardest to stay away from large retailers [such as walmart]. Man i forgot what it's like in there. it was like a zoo. Everybody was too busy too smile and definately too busy to say excuse me. Everybody was irritated bc the lines were too long, the cashier was too slow, the elderly man crossed the street too slow. it was like a bunch of people aimlessly rushing around with grumpy faces. Why the big rush? I have a busy life too. I had things i really really needed to hurry and get home to do. Such as my paper that is due this time tomorrow that i hadn't even started then. But is the impatient tapping toe and rude comments really going to make the credit card machine work any faster or make the old man walk faster? No, no not even a little bit.
Let's slow down already. Whatever the rush is...it's just not that crucial. Slow down life will go on without being frantic and speedy all the time.

Dissapointment

I've had so much on my mind lately. I've spent the last several days in a bit of grief and dissapointment. I am kinda friends with a fellow student at my school. She is super sweet and we have talked several times but never about anything in depth. She never seemed interested in Christianity or God. I didn't even think she was hungry for the Lord. So i lived my life the best i could and was friendly with her thinking she would come to me if she was interested in what i have [joy]. i definately didn't explain the Gospel of Jesus Christ to her bc i didn't want to make her uncomfortable. About a month ago i started to see her posting some things online that were a little different and i started to wonder if she recieved Christ's salvation. When i asked her about her "newness" that she posted online she told me she had gotten a lot closer to God lately. I was stoked to hear that! not long after that i saw that she posted new baptism pictures! so i jumped up and danced around all excited..believing that she recieved salvation and was baptised into a church. when i looked at the pictures online i was left shocked and completely dissappointed. She was baptised into the Mormon-Church of Latter Day Saints. You see she was hungry all along. I didn't think she wanted to hear about the truth and newness of life...but uh...i was so wrong. she was so desperate to be renewed that she joined a church, any church. I had an oppurtunity to share the truth with her but the devil walked through that door instead of me. i was so wrapped up in my world that i didn't recognize the hungry cries of a lost soul.
Where is the body of Christ? Am i the only Christian she knew? I know i'm not. Why didn't a Christian tell her about Jesus? Why are we ashamed? While Christians are sitting back quitely...living our lives in righteousness....we are not telling the world about the Savior. This leaves the world searching for truth so desperately that they will believe anything. i am so dissapointed.

A Summer to Remember

I started this summer expecting it to be a drag. My days were filled with an expectancy of nothing. I made great plans for the Fall...new bible study, new topics, new major, new classes, woo hoo for new things! but summer time.....not so thrilling. My life went from crazy busy and productive to a total abscence of social life. awkward kinda! As I searched for other things to do with my time I thought "Hey, what better things to do with my time than go to church? duh!" So i go to this church that i had been visiting for about 6 months and my life changed after i got there. I always said this church was "A Place Where I Could Find God"...and sure enough i found him. The pastors are awesome and so personal. so refreshing to me! One particular Sunday one of the Pastors spoke to the congregation about making a difference with the resources already available to us and I went home thinking "i can't stand it anymore, i just can't stand it i've gotta do something." which war really awkward bc i didn't have much readily available to give. I chose to make a difference that afternoon and something inside of me had a spark. Kinda like a little spark to start a fire deep in the pit of the core of my body. I started going to church at least twice a week. This only increased to being at church for long periods of time..sometimes 6 days a wk, sometimes 4, sometimes, 3. Being in the Lord's prescence has kindled a full fire in my core. Life isn't the same to say the least. I've met some of the most sincere people i've ever known and there genuiness has truly change my attitude. I love hanging out with these people who are as crazy about the Lord Jesus as I am. I always have somewhere to go, somewhere comfy to sleep, something good to eat when i'm a little homesick, and somebody sweet to hang out with when i'm lonely. Dare i say i have truly found the body of Christ? Oh my, i think it has finally happened. Christians are actually being the hands and feet of Christ. woo hoo!The love and acceptance i've found is undescribable. My whole summer is different from how i expected it! i anticipated nothing and got a whole new church family, an aligned spine, and a healthy heart in return. Jesus Rocks!