Chorale Tour 2009

In less than 12 hours we will be hitting the road for our March break Chorale Tour. We are heading to Ontario, Canada for a number of days followed by a few stops in New York and Pennsylvania.

Please pray for our group that God will work both in and through our ministry.
Pray for strength and wisdom, discernment and UNITY!
Pray that restoration will take place in hearts and that the freedom of the Lord will be very present in our ministry!
Pray for protection as we travel long hours and health as we sing lots.
Pray for the world around us that still needs people to GO and tell them about Jesus!



I will update when possible during/after tour.
To God be the glory!

photoshoot in apt. 310

Friday night is "girl's night"...and we spent our last one getting all dressed up with no place to go. A friend came and took some pictures of us to document the adventure:

a year of events in 2008

I neglected to post this on New Year's...but now that I'm thinking about it, I find it worthy of reflection and posting. These are some thoughts I recorded in my journal on the last night of 2008.

As this year comes to a close, it's always nice to reflect a bit - on life, lessons, changes, and seasons of life. 2008 has been a very healing, strengthening & stretching year for me. I've been weathering many weary, tedious storms in friendships, relationships, health, and future decisions. I've laughed until I've fallen on the floor and can't breath - I've cried from the core of my heart - wept for broken people around me - joyed and delighted in the body of Christ. The churchbecame an unwelcoming, unbearable stranger to me this year - but my hunger for adventure and spontaneity grew deep. I came of "age' - have officially been a license driver for 5 years, and held orphans in Jamaica. I read a man (Chalds James) the bible because he couldn't sit up to do it himself and heard the sweetest tune of praise come as he sang me a few hymns.

I walked the entire length of Cavendish beach (something Prez deemed slightly invigorating) and watched shooting stars with someone who I held a instant connection with at Riverside Camp. I ate guacamole and swam in a hot tub after midnight. I rode in a limousine and fellowshipped with several 80 yr. old missionaries. I jumped in a freezing cold water & ate wild blueberries on a hiking trail. People around me anchored down their lives with serious commitments to marriage, engagement, and children - I let go of any and all control over that aspect of my life. I kayaked the Aroostook River with my Mom and ate PB sandwiches on the shore - rode the reversing falls in St. John, New Brunswick - seeing live seals for the first time evr. I lost and I gained - friendships sparked and grew while others fizzled out. I swam in the ocean, canoed by myself in a lake - watched a thunderstorm from a kayak - learned an incredible amount about my grandmother's life - explored waterfalls - from the forests of NY and NB all the way to the great and mesmerizing Niagra Falls.

I sought to love without an agenda - wrote many songs and discovered a love for free-style worship with just piano or guitar noodling and a heart singing out its heart cries. I climbed the Bluffs in the dark - climbed way too many trees - dressed as a ninja - and discovered two of my favorite spots: Prez's field and Bridgeo (playing my heart out with unskilled fingers in a dimly lit piano room). I lead worship for the first time ever in chapel and testified of God's healing and restoration all over! I even drove down the BBC path! (many times)

It's been a good year with prayer times down by the riverside and in my special chapel window. I puddle jumped a lot - and laughed without fear of what is to come - being in the moment - only now I need a truly sold reminder of laughing without fear of the future. Leadership positions stretched me - I was forced to love and hold strong against the ruthless attacks of people seeking to absolve their jealousy and hatred toward me regarding past relationships. God has been gracious to me by placing many loving, encouraging and intelligent people in my life. I caught sunrises over mountain tops, and ran down four-wheeling trails early in the morning!

As the year winds down - my hope for the coming season - 2009, is that I will faithfully hold true to who Christ has fashioned me to be - that I will laugh without fear of the future and continue living in obedience wherever that may and will ultimately lead me. The next year holds much - I know this for sure - what exactly? I know not yet - but Christ is my life - my leader - my all- I will live my life for the sake of the call - abandoning everything to cast my nets down - to follow Christ. Lord teach me what ths means - to abide in Thee. *My life for the Gospel"

season of growth

There's so much to say.
God has been doing some neat things in my life lately.
I intend on posting them when my journal is close at hand, to better articulate the events of the last month or so.
Stay tuned...

treasures

What do you treasure?
I saw a commercial on the television the other day for a "top of the line" metal detector. According to its maker, it has all the components necessary to find your favorite and most needed treasures - money, jewels, antiques - surely this will bring great joy and satisfaction to one's life.

Caught in a tornado of technology - we've lost sight of communication - and rather we've done nothing more than spew out words at one another. people don't sit and have long, intellectual conversations about life, love, growth, change, experience or curiosity - everything is summarized/abbreviated - surface level "textable" conversations that never dig deeper than the "hey - LOL" stage.

What have we done to relationship? Since when did we NEED these things? an iPod touch? really? why? touch screen computers? what's the need? If you really care for someone - send them a card, a letter, a small note to acknowledge your appreciation/care for them. Pick up the telephone and see how they're doing. Communicate. Seek to have relationships where you love with genuine affection (Romans 12:9-10) - cast aside your agendas and LOVE, even if you don't 'get' something in return.

This passage was laid on my heart last night:
"19 Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieve do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of our heart will also be." - Matthew 6:19-21

thinking

Thinking is such a profound process.
It cleanses the mind.
It clouds the mind.
It complicates the mind.
It challenges the mind.
It creates within the mind.
It stretches the mind.
Ultimately, it exposes the thinker - oftentimes to themself.
It causes examination of both the inside and outside.
Thinking is kind've like...looking in a giant mirror.
You are offered a chance to observe, to examine.
The spots, the blemishes, the image reflected,
are all presented before the thinking mind.
Character, goals, mindsets, mantras, lifestyle,ambitions-
all sit before the thinker waiting to be explored.

Thinking changes things:
from seeing to understanding,
from understanding to knowing,
from knowing to being,
from being to resting,
from resting to adventuring...and on the journey goes.

I've been thinking a lot lately - about life, love, people, and purpose.
Thinking can be restless.
It can be consuming and absolutely torturous.
Thinking can be a battle, a war zone within the boundaries of one's mind,
and at the same time, thinking can be sweet, healing, and restorative.
It can be bizarre, elating, enjoyable, and refreshing.
Thinking can be humorous, imaginative, freeing, yet strange.
It can be rewarding, revealing, reflective, and constructive.

Thinking can erupt into sweet belly-aching laughter
or be flooded with tears of anguish, joy, repentance, or acceptance.
Thankfully, thinking isn't the whole picture...it calls for further action.
One may express their thinking, articulate their thinking, or even change their thinking...

In the end I believe this process of thinking offers us the chance to submit ourselves to the Potter; as weak, unfinished, and sometimes difficult clay, to be molded and sculpted according to His purpose and plan for our lives. One must not become lost in their thoughts, but must rather embrace the process of thinking as a chance to explore, change, and become.

Here's to a season of thinking...

burning away the chaff

I burned two years of my life today...
Last night I came across two notebooks packed with journaled thoughts from my senior year in highschool onward through my first semester at college. During this time I became completely enraptured in the idea of being loved and allowed myself to settle for what others deemed to be my life sentence or "blessing" as they put it. This lot in life framed most of my thoughts. If 'he' called it was a good day. If 'he' didn't call it was an okay day and my journal usually expressed some confidence in God's grace and leaning on his strength because this guy wasn't showing me much affection. What really made my insides turn was when I realized how clearly I had aligned my relationship with a man to that of my relationship with God. Now you may think - well that couldn't be all that bad, eh? aren't we supposed to carry ourselves in such a way that all our relationships reflect and come from the overflow of our relationships with Christ? Well yes, but...

Unfortunately, I had this backwards. I let my relationship with Christ flow from the remnants of my relationship with a man I was dating - after about a year and a half I started to disappear...more into my twisted theology of who Christ was and how He worked...what His voice sounded like - even though I probably only listened or assumed when it was saying something along the lines of what I was looking to hear.

My heart was disgusted with myself and my naivety. How could I so devote myself to the service and partnership of another that I somehow neglected my greatest Love? How sad it must have made the heart of Christ for me to be running aimlessly in a direction that was surely not going to work out. The warning signs were up - the red flags had been tossed - my journals noted such things - but I refused to listen. Somehow in my silly little world everything made sense. I wanted to be a wife - I wanted to be loved - so I put on a pair of glasses with gargantuen blinders that only allowed me to see that which was pointing toward those two goals as end results. Nothing was wrong as far as I knew - nothing at all. Minus of course an outside, reflective observation of my consuming attempts to mold Christ into a fitting mold for my purposes. HOW BACKWARDS! Should not I be the one being molded and fitted for His purposes? I selfishly ripped control of my life out of the hands of the King and somehow expected Him to abide by and provide for my ways. WOW! It makes me nauseous just thinking about it.

As I sifted through these writings my heart grew weary. "I'm sorry Lord. So sorry...how could I ever have...why did you save me from this...why didn't I listen sooner?" I felt a nudging inside of me: "Burn it! Cut the ties." So I slapped a big blue post-it note on two of my journals: "BURN ME" it said. I grabbed hold of my third spiral notebook...wondering how this one would fair. I began to turn the pages. Filled with question - frustration - reasoning - confusion - and the beginnings of awareness. I was starting to recognize - starting to see - starting to listen - starting to question. The process of surrender was laid out clearly in these pages. Yes it wavered between my selfish desire to make it work...but here I sit nearly two years later...cutting those final ties of fearing relationship. I cannot imagine ever becoming so consumed and caught up in it that I'd neglect my greatest Love - the one who knows me most and loves me best. I've been afraid for a long time of slipping back into that place - that 'cloud 9' place where life i hunkey-dorey as long as someone smiles and calls once in awhile - who cares that there is no real foundation for the relationship and that it's no fun to be around that person - when life with them is grand - life with God must be grand, right?WRONG!

Our relationship with Christ is to come first. Anything less than everything isn't good enough. We owe our whole selves to Christ for His purposes and plans. All our devotion, affection, time, worship, praise, and adoration should be focused and given to Him alone. No other lovers can compare. We should not depend on the status of a human relationship to depict the deepness or status of our relationship with Christ. 'In Christ alone...my hope is found...he is my light, my strength, my song-"

*So this morning I dug a makeshift firepit in the backyard. Clad in my pjs and with my sister in tow to support me- I brought that stack of selfishness - two years of journaling where my focus, my delight was a man - and Christ was the supplementary or bonus blessing...to the fire. With box of matches in hand, I crumpled them into balls. As I watched the pages burn away - turning into ashes of the past...covering them with the pure, white, cool snow of winter - the sun shone on my face and I knew this is a glorious day!

Father forgive me for those years of selfisness and naivety. Thank you for freeing me from that situation and for bringing greater healing to my heart as I grow nearer to You! The words of Misty Edwards speak clearly my hearts cry:
"I won't relent until you have it all - my heart is Yours..."

braced for colder winds

Does it ever feel like everything around you is somehow synchronizing and working efficiently together - happily, joyously- and someone forgot to slip you a post-it note so you know to join in?

Over the last month I've watched people pledge their undying love to one another and make plans to get married - promise rings have been purchased - life plans are made - people have new jobs - new friends - new lives - this weekend people are getting married - people are pregnant - all this change and strangeness, yet somehow I feel left out of the swirling, twirling and shifting all round' about me. Somehow I feel as though this is all some random sequence of silliness in some separate, secondary reality to what really is. After all, I feel so very much not a part of it...could it be reality?

A lot of shifting is beginning to take place in my life...
and selfishly I want answers...I want clarity...I want direction.
I just want life to make sense!
I just want to know and understand...but yet here I rest,
uncertain, without answer, directionless with a seemingly broken compass and no motivation to pull out the map.
My body grows weary in waiting, but I know the strength of my heart remains (for it is Him - He fails not - nothing can change that).
I guess I just want to understand what I am supposed to do with my life.
What does He have planned for me?
Where am I supposed to be this summer?
Everyone around me is falling in love, heading out into the real world, having babies, starting families. They all seem so secure, so blessed, so certain.
I feel alone.
I'm growing a little weary.
I have been tempted to wonder, "Am I failing in my womanhood?"
By not having these things the world deems appropriate and necessary to compliment/accentuate/and define the very essence of a woman - have I missed it?
What shall I do?
Lord help....be Thou my Vision.

inspiration

What inspires you?
What touches the very depths of your heart?
Is it new life? the passing of old?
What about triumph? trials? failure?
Perhaps success? romance? love and kindness?
What about breath? life? awakening each morning?

So much is set before us that may liven our hearts
yet so often we miss it.
We trudge our way through the dance of our day,
never once caring to lift our foot from it sorry place,
never once giggling and delighting in an unexpected twirl.
We moan and groan, complain, and hope for the next day,
while the present still remains.
Our hearts are walled in with schedules, agendas, meetings,
and selfish plans...we silence the laughter...
we silence the dance...we silence the silliness and freedom...
sometimes we silence the King.

I know I made it through my day,
What a bles-sed day it was...
but I'm far too tired to spend time now with You Lord, just because.
Priorities, priorities, where are your priorities?
Does the Word gather dust while your tv glimmers and shines?
Does the Word disappear along the shelf as your photos pollute its view?
Does your prayer time shorten and shorten on behalf of that ringing tone?
A text, a message, a call for sure...from that lovely one that you adore.

"My child, my child...why won't you hear me?
Come beloved, I long to meet with you.
Stop honoring me with your mouth - while your heart is far from me.
Stop going through the motions, you mean more than that to me.
I created you with purpose...not to make it or scrape by...
I created you for excellence - come beloved don't be shy.
My plans for you are good and great, if only you will hear.
Silence those silly idol distractions, set your eyes upon this prize.
I want your heart, your life, your everything - more than I want
your habits and rituals. Come, beloved, come! Let me be your inspiration!
Let me be your life!"

first snowfall of the season

Last night I returned to my apartment after supper and didn't emerge outside until a few hours later for d-group. It had snowed a small amount and continued to - as beautiful flakes fluttered and swirled through the sky onto the chilly ground.
My roommate and I had a giant snow fight last night with the RAs and a few fun brothers in Christ. We laughed lots and got soaked.
This morning I woke up to the glimmering, glorious sunshine with this view out my window and on my walk to chapel, I snapped these pictures to remember the occasion.

encounter weekend - bethany live style

As hundreds of teens flooded our campus for a youth rally weekend - we shared with them a time of comedy and laughter in our famous Bethany Live show.
To close the night was a special visit from: Earl, Edna, Junie-Mae, Alfred, Ernest & Elizabeth in skit known affectionately as the "Old Lady Skit".

21st birthday celebrations!

My roomate made my day extra special yesterday. She set up an 80's dance party with the girls in our apartment complete with sweet lights and some good dancin' tunes. After this we hung out with some of our brothers on campus playing games and laughing lots...even a little dancing too! :) I felt blessed and loved on my birthday! 21 years of life have come and gone so quickly...bless the Lord for life and breath - for love, fellowship, joy, and provision.







DISCLAIMER: Katrina did my makeup and hair. :)

hair cut

This one's for you Mom!
So I got a hair cut...it was time for a change...BEFORE

AFTER...

reality

r e a l i t y .

What is it?
What if what I view to be reality were not in fact reality at all?
Ever grow tired of wondering?
Ever long so deeply to know?

Some justify serving/knowing Christ as worth it because if we were to live our whole lives with the hope in mind that eventually we'll spend eternity with him - and if by chance we were to get to the end and this were not true, we would never know, we've lost nothing - it wouldn't really matter. We would simply cease to exist.

However, if the promise of eternity with Christ is in fact true and we choose to live our lives apart from and separate of that promise - if we come to the end and this is true, we've lost everything.

Sometimes I feel like I live outside of "reality". The Bible talks about how "God has planted eternity in the human heart" in Ecclesiastes. I wonder all the time - question, think, process - but through it all, the one unfading thing that holds clear, true, and steady is Him. Even when I am uncertain of any other reality - I come to find my only true reality is Christ. He is everything.

Seasons change.
Children grow.
Relationships spark and fade or flourish.
Time keeps ticking.
Buildings rot, creek, and grow old.
Yet He remains...He transcends all.

What an A W E S O M E - R E A L - GOD we serve, eh?

breathing

It's been a go go go kind of month, but in spite of all my going...I sense a tug toward growing. Much is to come in the next season and I have no secure, specific direction to cling to. I cannot begin to explain what is going on in my heart and yet there are 5000 directions I should be considering running toward - yet somehow I'm stuck - stuck in this moment - immovable, and uncertain about what is next.

I have just a little more than 3 semesters left of college...
This summer I'll be heading out on internship...
My birthday is in 2 weeks...I'll be 21 (already).

Time is so precious.
What am I doing with it?
I've discovered a few things about myself over the last few months and how I choose to channel my time:
I find myself so helpless when I'm alone. I choose to invest myself in the lives of others.
I hate being alone. I crave just being around people.
I don't need to talk or interact...just to be.
I love laughing.
I love feeling alive.
I love dancing - breathing - smiling - writing - loving.
I love sunshine and warmth.
I cannot sit still - I like to change activities frequently if I am not fully engaged.
I love listening.
I love learning.
I love teaching - discussing - wondering - thinking - processing - dreaming.

Soccer Season @ BBC

A glimpse of our soccer season in the BBC Intramural League!
I co-captained the red team. We took second in the league! I had the best team ever - their attitudes were remarkable and I love each and everyone of them!
Thank you Matt, Eli, Chris, Danny, Ben, Kristen, Deanna, Aisha, Vivienne, Greg, Eric, Andrew, and my amazing fellow captain "The Austrian" Christoph!

sisters

I always love visiting home and sharing some special times with my sisters.
It amazes me how quickly we all grow up and change, yet through storms, trials, happiness, joys, accomplishment, or apparent defeats - my sisters are always there. We're a network that cannot be shaken, with a love that is unfaded by the tests of time and other persons. There are no two persons in my life so uniquely different yet special who hold a special place in my heart as these two. We've grow together, lived together, argued together, laughed together, cried together, traveled together, shared chickenpox together, cooked, cleaned, learned, been punished...everything. We grew together! I'm thankful for my beautiful sisters!

purpose

Why do we insist on preaching one another into boredom? Why do ministers so often try so hard to articulate their thoughts - backing them up with Scripture? Why can't we take the Word and think on it so we can learn of it? I feel like people are chewing up the Word for us and instead of giving us a whole bite - they've chewed it up and spit it out. Then they expect us to eat it! No Way! Regurgitated, self-focused thoughts are not worth ingesting. Where's the substance? Where's the truth - good solid hardcore truth? Lord help us!

simple as a reflection

I recently wrapped up the book of Proverbs in my nightly devotional time and have been chewing on this verse for about a week now:

"As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person."
-Proverbs 27:19

We are called to emulate Christ in our words, thoughts, actions, and even in the way we love one another. Sometimes this can be tough, but still the call remains the same. We are called in Ephesians to "Live as children of the Light - to imitate Christ" - so why do we have such a difficult time doing this?

Well...as a face is reflected in water...so the heart reflects the real person.
Matthew 12:34 says "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks." Therefore I am led to believe that the words escaping from our mouths - if they come from the abundance of our hearts, and our hearts reflect our real person - the words we speak are a direct expression of who we are - what we stand for, value, represent. Our words paint a picture of our character.

I don't know about you, but I want my character, the reflection seen of me - the abundance and overflow of my heart to be so consumed with Christ that there is no question what I have spent my time, energy, and efforts filling myself with - simply Christ, nothing else or substitutionary.

So what's a practical way to work on this? Hide God's word in my heart.
Psalm 40:8 says, " I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart."

Lord may my heart bare a reflection that brings Your name much glory and points others to You.

detestable beauty?

I've been wondering over the last week: what exactly defines beauty?
Have we over the span of time so significantly altered the purpose of beauty that we miss that which is beauty in exchange for what we choose to make it?

As women in society today we are told that if we dress a certain way, smell nice, and apply a said amount of energy into creating an attractive hairstyle, we're well on our way to being seen as beautiful. Men label "beautiful" women as "hot" or "smokin'" and these terms alone cause women to detest their beauty. Women are equally guilty in this area, as they vocalize their thoughts on the "manliness" or "masculine abilities" of the men around them. This often focuses around their strength or abilities - to deny encouragement and affirmation in these areas is crushing. When beauty is mocked, boxed up and labeled with a rotten permanent marker, it smears the purity, the sacredness of the beauty being beheld. It makes beauty seem and feel dirty, it makes it almost unwanted or perhaps, detestable.

So how can we both express the beauty of Christ in our lives, yet not be distracting? How can we flee from any attempt to distract our brothers - to not lose the focus of keeping a pure motive - basically to display and radiate true beauty without any sort of selfish agenda attached? How do we allow beauty not to be detestable, difficult, and tedious, but rather a joyous, free, effortless thing?

1 Peter 3:3-4 says, " Don't be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God."

I was reading in my systematic theology textbook this week and came across a rather profound thought that speaks to this issue: "Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder is a partly correct statement. Beauty is both in the beholder, and in what is beheld - but it does not exist in a prior way as an eternal concept." (Grider, 54) Beauty seems to be a combined effort of that which is recognized as being beautiful - and that which is necessary to behold it, to proclaim its beauty.

How interesting it is to consider the emphasis we place on the abilities of the beholder, that sometimes we sacrifice or miss an opportunity to view the true beauty of the beheld. Is this text perhaps also implying that beauty is found in the moment? We so often seek out beauty through retrospect or dreaming, but could we possiblly be so foolishly bypassing the beheld, in order to be deemed an efficient beholder?

I also like the idea of something beautiful being beheld. The very word sounds as though it calls for a special honor - a gentleness - or grace perhaps. Beauty is simply: beheld. Nothing terribly complicated or perplexing about the process - simply a combined/shared effort on behalf of the beholder and the beheld to display and recognize beauty.

This week my apartment participated in a challenge where we hid our "toolboxes" designed to make us 'beautiful'. We spent a week seeking a new perspective on beauty - and sought to recognize the beauty in others and the reflection of Christ's beauty within ourselves. It's difficult to step away from outward adornments and comforts, but so very rewarding. I recognized this week that I am beautiful...why? My heart reflects the Love of my Creator, my Lover, my Savior, Breath and Life. Thank you my dear beautiful sisters for journeying with me in this adventurous week.