i feel kinda dumb writing a re:cap of 2013 - beacuse EVERYONE is probably doing it. but, in an effort to keep track of stroies that happen - here's a list of things that happened in 2013 that i can remember.
- new years eve 2013 - kicked off with hanging out in yakima and lighting dan and calynn's christmas tree on fire - watching scott and tre dance to gangam style.
- went and saw building 429 and newsboys - AWESOME
- went and saw the rockin worship roadshow with the middle schoolers.
- had out first LCaT retreat, finishing off year 1 of middle school leadership
- i went to alaska for the first time and hung out with matt and kellie and ty and heidi and sherri - we went kayaking and i wrecked a 4 wheeler into a tree.
- went to summer camp with all the kids - ran the ropes course for high school week -
-went to Creation fest -
- went on the middle school adventure trip to twin lakes, or - it was quite an adventure
- went BACK to alaska with mel, scott, and jonie to visit again - more kayaking and hanging out together. it was a SWELL time.
- went and saw Winter Jam with the kids
- did an awesome christmas eve service -
- went back to yakima for new years again.
and that's all i got so far - see, i need to work on doing stories better this year. :)
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Thursday, December 12, 2013
times.
Life tends to happen to us when we're not paying attention. Sometimes it goes okay, and sometimes when we wake back up we realize how much we've missed. So many opportunities that we let slip through our fingers without using them to their full potential. So many decisions we just didn't make and just let things happen - later we realize that not choosing - is still choosing, its just a poor choice usually.
So much has happened this year - and as i look back on it i realize how much i wish i had done. I don't like this feeling.
but, being engaged every single day and choosing to live fully every single day is hard. It's tiring, sometimes it hurts, sometimes its easy, sometimes your too tired from living the day before, and sometimes you just don't want to.
self doubt and fear control so much of our lives - it's really annoying actually. and this is probably one of the hardest things to choose not to believe. It has a strange way of just creeping up on us, we don't realize we're agreeing with it until it has grown into a huge monster that is eating us alive - pulling us down with it, and tear us apart from the inside out. and then, it's a full out war to get it back under control and into its cave. but, then we're so tired from waging war that we don't seal up the cave fully, we leave loose stones, or small cracks - and eventually, the monster finds his way back out and back into our lives - and it continues - over and over.
i can't decide whether the monster gets stronger or weaker each time. that's still up for debate.
how can we learn to keep up the fight - to not get lazy. how many battles does it take for us to realize the benefit of staying on our guard and not sitting down. yeah, it may be tiring to always be ready to fight - but, its easier to wage small battles than to win a war against a giant smelly ugly monster.
when will we decide to choose to live a fully engaged life everyday?
and, if we do that - what will it change?
how different will our lives be. will they be happier? will we have more friends? will we have more life changing conversations? will they hurt more because we're doing real life with others? will we see the reality of the world around us? will we see the joy in the small things? will we spend our time on different things? how will it change us?
so, don't wait till you wake up one day and realize how much life you have missed - choose to engage now. start fighting,and start living. experience life to the fullest - look up from your phone and breath in the life and beauty around you.
So much has happened this year - and as i look back on it i realize how much i wish i had done. I don't like this feeling.
but, being engaged every single day and choosing to live fully every single day is hard. It's tiring, sometimes it hurts, sometimes its easy, sometimes your too tired from living the day before, and sometimes you just don't want to.
self doubt and fear control so much of our lives - it's really annoying actually. and this is probably one of the hardest things to choose not to believe. It has a strange way of just creeping up on us, we don't realize we're agreeing with it until it has grown into a huge monster that is eating us alive - pulling us down with it, and tear us apart from the inside out. and then, it's a full out war to get it back under control and into its cave. but, then we're so tired from waging war that we don't seal up the cave fully, we leave loose stones, or small cracks - and eventually, the monster finds his way back out and back into our lives - and it continues - over and over.
i can't decide whether the monster gets stronger or weaker each time. that's still up for debate.
how can we learn to keep up the fight - to not get lazy. how many battles does it take for us to realize the benefit of staying on our guard and not sitting down. yeah, it may be tiring to always be ready to fight - but, its easier to wage small battles than to win a war against a giant smelly ugly monster.
when will we decide to choose to live a fully engaged life everyday?
and, if we do that - what will it change?
how different will our lives be. will they be happier? will we have more friends? will we have more life changing conversations? will they hurt more because we're doing real life with others? will we see the reality of the world around us? will we see the joy in the small things? will we spend our time on different things? how will it change us?
so, don't wait till you wake up one day and realize how much life you have missed - choose to engage now. start fighting,and start living. experience life to the fullest - look up from your phone and breath in the life and beauty around you.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
don't let me forget...
here it is. I'm telling the world - well, i might not be telling anybody actually - but, it's out in the world for someone to read... and you have to promise to hold me to this.
I'm going to write a book.
there. i said it.
so far this summer things have just been brought to life for me - i've been renewed and made alive again. I MUST share this new life that i have. I MUST stop living like the old me, i've been redeemed and made new! why waste time boo-hoo-ing over what i use to be and holding myself back because i "shouldn't" be able to do something.
I CAN! and I WILL!
because God is on my side and i don't care if all my circumstances say i shouldn't be able to do it. God is my rock and my redeemer and I WILL NEVER BE SHAKEN.
so, to life - and all that it has to throw at me while i'm pressing on towards truth and life...
BRING IT.
I'm going to write a book.
there. i said it.
so far this summer things have just been brought to life for me - i've been renewed and made alive again. I MUST share this new life that i have. I MUST stop living like the old me, i've been redeemed and made new! why waste time boo-hoo-ing over what i use to be and holding myself back because i "shouldn't" be able to do something.
I CAN! and I WILL!
because God is on my side and i don't care if all my circumstances say i shouldn't be able to do it. God is my rock and my redeemer and I WILL NEVER BE SHAKEN.
so, to life - and all that it has to throw at me while i'm pressing on towards truth and life...
BRING IT.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
a new day - a new problem
seems like recently each day when the sun rises it brings with it it's own new adventures, problems, and revelations of new parts of my heart... Some i'm okay with, some however, have been causing problems.
is it really possible for something you've been doing for years to all of a sudden catch up with you and have the reality of it hit you like a oncoming train going full speed? I feel like there should have been some warning signs - the faint whisper of the horn, the rumble of the train tracks - the lights... those dumb blinking barricades that fall down in front of your car to block the road LONG before the train actually comes...
yeah, somehow i missed all of those - and
BAM! TRAIN!
(it's like BOOM, ROASTED! only, in the negative sorta sense)
i was texting a friend and her only 2 responses were:
1. we'll talk about it in a week when we're together because it's too complicated to text
and
2. i kinda thought this would have happened a while ago...
Hey - what about warning me about the approaching train?
her response -
"I'll explain that later too"
in writing this - it kind of reminds me of a almost unfortunate event that happened while i was in serbia.
We were on the train on our way to Serbia, from Slovenia - we needed to get off at this small little train station in the middle of nowhere and transfer to a different train. Well - nobody spoke serbian - and the workers on the train were, well, less than helpful. We were trying to decipher the horrible audio of the train PA system and not miss our stop... (15 people with all their luggage exiting a train in less than 3 minutes is a task unto itself). The train was slowing down, the PA system was crackling to life with what we thought was the announcement of the train station, we were all shoved into the sauna of the train car, our gear in tow, waiting to exit... The train stopped moving and i opened the door and started to step out as the screams of a frantic serbia train worker rang out only slightly above the roar of the oncoming train (that i hadn't noticed yet) time slowed as i looked into the eyes of the train worker - somehow understood him saying stop! hanging out his window frantically waving his arms trying to get me to get back into the train - i turned my head to look the opposite direction as somebody pulled me back inside and another train went speeding past only a foot or so away from the train door - and me.
I had no clue we weren't at the station yet - only slowing down so that the other train could pass (there was a junction up ahead and they got to go first apparently). I couldn't understand the muffle crackling think serbian accent of the train car operator - i wasn't sure where we were or what we were actually doing there - my heart was still reeling from leaving the students we had met in Slovenia - trying to take in the sights and feelings of worshipping together in a train car as we left one country - singing that "our God is mighty to save" and knowing that we were heading into another country to fall in love and break out hearts all over again - unknowing how our impact would affect those we met with.
How does this relate?
These last few years i've been on the train ride from Slovenia (my old church/friends/community/life) to Serbia (my new season of life) - and apparently, i just started to open the door onto what i thought was the correct platform - only to be pulled back in - overwhelmed by the noise, wind, and adrenaline of almost getting hit by a speeding train.
I don't know what Serbia is - maybe my church/my job is Serbia - maybe it's only the train ride - the transition between one thing and another... but all of a sudden the reality of the last few years has caught up with me and my heart and ears are pounding as i'm laying on the floor feeling the hot wind from the passing train wash over me as i listen to the yells of the Serbian train worker trying to warn me start to drown out and the chaos of my fellow train mates start to get louder in shock and awe and the telling of the story to those who didn't see what happened - only felt the effects of me being pulled back in.
Do i read a bunch into this - and begin to believe that i'm currently on the train and need to be preparing to go to my next season soon, that this is all just preparing me to be able to move on - giving me room - but not letting me get too comfortable...
or
do i sit back and just remember that i wasn't alone in serbia and i'm not alone now. i have friends around to pull me back in so i don't get hit by a the oncoming train... and keep pushing forward with my mission here, where i am.
afterall - we did end up sitting in someones yard for almost 8 hours before we actually got to our new homes... maybe it's time to sit in the metaphorical serbian yard and build new, lasting memories with those who were on the train with me.
is it really possible for something you've been doing for years to all of a sudden catch up with you and have the reality of it hit you like a oncoming train going full speed? I feel like there should have been some warning signs - the faint whisper of the horn, the rumble of the train tracks - the lights... those dumb blinking barricades that fall down in front of your car to block the road LONG before the train actually comes...
yeah, somehow i missed all of those - and
BAM! TRAIN!
(it's like BOOM, ROASTED! only, in the negative sorta sense)
i was texting a friend and her only 2 responses were:
1. we'll talk about it in a week when we're together because it's too complicated to text
and
2. i kinda thought this would have happened a while ago...
Hey - what about warning me about the approaching train?
her response -
"I'll explain that later too"
in writing this - it kind of reminds me of a almost unfortunate event that happened while i was in serbia.
We were on the train on our way to Serbia, from Slovenia - we needed to get off at this small little train station in the middle of nowhere and transfer to a different train. Well - nobody spoke serbian - and the workers on the train were, well, less than helpful. We were trying to decipher the horrible audio of the train PA system and not miss our stop... (15 people with all their luggage exiting a train in less than 3 minutes is a task unto itself). The train was slowing down, the PA system was crackling to life with what we thought was the announcement of the train station, we were all shoved into the sauna of the train car, our gear in tow, waiting to exit... The train stopped moving and i opened the door and started to step out as the screams of a frantic serbia train worker rang out only slightly above the roar of the oncoming train (that i hadn't noticed yet) time slowed as i looked into the eyes of the train worker - somehow understood him saying stop! hanging out his window frantically waving his arms trying to get me to get back into the train - i turned my head to look the opposite direction as somebody pulled me back inside and another train went speeding past only a foot or so away from the train door - and me.
I had no clue we weren't at the station yet - only slowing down so that the other train could pass (there was a junction up ahead and they got to go first apparently). I couldn't understand the muffle crackling think serbian accent of the train car operator - i wasn't sure where we were or what we were actually doing there - my heart was still reeling from leaving the students we had met in Slovenia - trying to take in the sights and feelings of worshipping together in a train car as we left one country - singing that "our God is mighty to save" and knowing that we were heading into another country to fall in love and break out hearts all over again - unknowing how our impact would affect those we met with.
How does this relate?
These last few years i've been on the train ride from Slovenia (my old church/friends/community/life) to Serbia (my new season of life) - and apparently, i just started to open the door onto what i thought was the correct platform - only to be pulled back in - overwhelmed by the noise, wind, and adrenaline of almost getting hit by a speeding train.
I don't know what Serbia is - maybe my church/my job is Serbia - maybe it's only the train ride - the transition between one thing and another... but all of a sudden the reality of the last few years has caught up with me and my heart and ears are pounding as i'm laying on the floor feeling the hot wind from the passing train wash over me as i listen to the yells of the Serbian train worker trying to warn me start to drown out and the chaos of my fellow train mates start to get louder in shock and awe and the telling of the story to those who didn't see what happened - only felt the effects of me being pulled back in.
Do i read a bunch into this - and begin to believe that i'm currently on the train and need to be preparing to go to my next season soon, that this is all just preparing me to be able to move on - giving me room - but not letting me get too comfortable...
or
do i sit back and just remember that i wasn't alone in serbia and i'm not alone now. i have friends around to pull me back in so i don't get hit by a the oncoming train... and keep pushing forward with my mission here, where i am.
afterall - we did end up sitting in someones yard for almost 8 hours before we actually got to our new homes... maybe it's time to sit in the metaphorical serbian yard and build new, lasting memories with those who were on the train with me.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
roadtrip conversations
some friends from my past life came out to visit on their tour of the country road trip... it was super fun to catch up with them (cause i havn't seen them since highschool - and they were 4 yrs younger than me). They're all grown up and graduated from college now and about to start real jobs - it's so crazy.
But even through all the change - somethings have stayed the same.
We spend many hours sitting around and talking about life, experiences, relationships, God, and beer. It was fun. But the main thread that ran through it all was a reminder that it's not about trying to outdo one another with the places you've been or the things you've got to see - it's about letting the journey change and transform you into a better - stronger - deeper - more loving - more understanding person.
it was refreshing to talk to other people (close to my own age) that have a desire for relationships and experiences that are real and authentic - rather than just trying to posture yourself to be better than others... or check things off a list.
The difference was subtle - but the conversations were rich and moving.
A friendly reminder to enjoy the journey, soak in life, drink deeply of the world around you - and let it change you. Feel it, sit in it, learn from it - don't try to control it.
But even through all the change - somethings have stayed the same.
We spend many hours sitting around and talking about life, experiences, relationships, God, and beer. It was fun. But the main thread that ran through it all was a reminder that it's not about trying to outdo one another with the places you've been or the things you've got to see - it's about letting the journey change and transform you into a better - stronger - deeper - more loving - more understanding person.
it was refreshing to talk to other people (close to my own age) that have a desire for relationships and experiences that are real and authentic - rather than just trying to posture yourself to be better than others... or check things off a list.
The difference was subtle - but the conversations were rich and moving.
A friendly reminder to enjoy the journey, soak in life, drink deeply of the world around you - and let it change you. Feel it, sit in it, learn from it - don't try to control it.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
through a new window
I recently got a new CD. It is truth set to a solid beat - it connects deeply with my soul. I LOVE it. It's like no CD i've ever heard - and there is one simple reason why...
This particular CD is written from a new persepective than most christian CD's. Instead of the artists writing about their brokenness and their need for Jesus to meet them and comfort them (don't get me wrong - those songs are powerful and needed and have changed me) they write as forgiven and redeemed children of God striving to live out their new lives boldly.
The CD is looking out the front window, rather than the back door.
The songs are anthems of grace, mercy, love, freedom, and passion. Passion to live out your life boldly because you have been forgiven - to get up and live your new life. To stop running in a circle of sin and repentance that you can never get out of - but to realize the truth, that we are forgiven for good - and to start living as a forgiven child of God.
The songs are a challenge to make a difference - to live a new life. They are like cold water to a thirsty soul.
stop going through the motions and truly start living.
You are loved. You are forgiven. You have been redeemed.
Go love. Go forgive. Go invite others to redemption.
This particular CD is written from a new persepective than most christian CD's. Instead of the artists writing about their brokenness and their need for Jesus to meet them and comfort them (don't get me wrong - those songs are powerful and needed and have changed me) they write as forgiven and redeemed children of God striving to live out their new lives boldly.
The CD is looking out the front window, rather than the back door.
The songs are anthems of grace, mercy, love, freedom, and passion. Passion to live out your life boldly because you have been forgiven - to get up and live your new life. To stop running in a circle of sin and repentance that you can never get out of - but to realize the truth, that we are forgiven for good - and to start living as a forgiven child of God.
The songs are a challenge to make a difference - to live a new life. They are like cold water to a thirsty soul.
stop going through the motions and truly start living.
You are loved. You are forgiven. You have been redeemed.
Go love. Go forgive. Go invite others to redemption.
a new day... a new view.
Once again - i feel a small identity crisis approaching. Maybe not identity - but belief... a belief crisis.. is that a thing yet? cause if it's not it will be soon!
At various points in life - I stumble upon something that forces me to take a step back and look at things differently. To stop running through life like a chicken with my head cut off - and to really drink deep of what is truly happening. I have a love/hate relationship with these situations.
Recently A LOT has been happening in my life... a lot of new and crazy situations... that have mostly all been anxiety producing - so i've taken a few deep breaths and just pushed through...
but, i focused so much on the goal that i missed the journey.
the journey is so important - taking a moment to stop and look around, breath in the aromas, memorize the details, drink deep the beauty. It's wonderful when we take the time to enjoy the journey - we can learn so much - and we miss so much when we focus solely on the end.
Good stories aren't about the person, they're about the story and the outcome.
I play dumb too often, i miss out on opportunitites to truly use my gifts.
People generally don't set you up for failure - if they ask you to do something, they are confident in your abilities - so you (i) should be too. So, spend your energy on getting better/stronger/faster/more confident rahter than spending your energy trying to find confidence and battle doubt.
don't completely abandon everything about your old self - things maybe painful - but they may be useful.
Don't underestimate your ability to be a catalyst for change because you are young.
Don't be afriad of hugs or people who ask the tough questions.
At various points in life - I stumble upon something that forces me to take a step back and look at things differently. To stop running through life like a chicken with my head cut off - and to really drink deep of what is truly happening. I have a love/hate relationship with these situations.
Recently A LOT has been happening in my life... a lot of new and crazy situations... that have mostly all been anxiety producing - so i've taken a few deep breaths and just pushed through...
but, i focused so much on the goal that i missed the journey.
the journey is so important - taking a moment to stop and look around, breath in the aromas, memorize the details, drink deep the beauty. It's wonderful when we take the time to enjoy the journey - we can learn so much - and we miss so much when we focus solely on the end.
Good stories aren't about the person, they're about the story and the outcome.
I play dumb too often, i miss out on opportunitites to truly use my gifts.
People generally don't set you up for failure - if they ask you to do something, they are confident in your abilities - so you (i) should be too. So, spend your energy on getting better/stronger/faster/more confident rahter than spending your energy trying to find confidence and battle doubt.
don't completely abandon everything about your old self - things maybe painful - but they may be useful.
Don't underestimate your ability to be a catalyst for change because you are young.
Don't be afriad of hugs or people who ask the tough questions.
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