...for such a time as this.

Riverwoods = amazing

2009-05-20T11:02:00.001-07:00

Two days ago I arrived at Riverwoods Christian Center. I feel like I have lived here my entire life. My postion for the summer is a Unit Leader for the females. This means that I will be in charge of 12 female counselors who will be leading the 1st grade-5th grade students. Those girls are not here yet, but I will be meeting them on Tuesday and I am so excited! The leadership staff is already here, and then a little bit more people who will be working as directors of nature, art, worship, chapel, and sports are here as well. With that said, a lot of amazing people are here with me.
Riverwoods Christian Center is a place for at risk inner-city youth. There is a week long camp available for the 1-5th grade. And then there are programs (which consist of job traning, and just help with everything that we take for granted like filling out an application, ettiquette, how to do laundry etc) for 12-18 year olds. If you ever want to hear more about these programs just ask me! The longer I am here, I wish that every city could have a program like this to reach out to their city. Some of the counselors who are back this year grew up going to Riverwoods and come from broken homes. Everyday I just learn so much about this culture that I have wanted to work with for three years now. It is incredible.
Tonight we are having a camp-out. And later next week... well I think that will be one of the greatest and toughest challenges that I will face, but I am so pumped for it!!
This is the beginning of my summer... I love it already. Josh flies in on Saturday, then we are going to stay the weekend with my Aunt 30 min east of Chicago. Bahh... God works in the most incredible ways. The end.

2009-04-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

This song was done a few weeks ago in Chapel. It confused me the first time I heard it. After listening to it more, and compling my and Jenelle's Isaiah project, it makes a lot more sense.
I have just been thinking about it a lot lately. If you want to read the lyrics, go on.. It is by Jars of Clay.

Oh, my God,
look around this place
Your fingers reach around the bone
You set the break and set the tone
Flights of grace and future falls
In present pain, all fools say, "Oh, my God"

Oh, my God, why are we so afraid?
We make it worse when we don't bleed
There is no cure for our disease
Turn a phrase and rise again
Or fake your death and only tell
Your closest friends, oh, my God

Oh, my God, can I complain?
You take away my firm belief
And graft my soul upon your grief
Weddings, boats and alibis
All drift away and a mother cries

Liars and fools, sons and failures
Thieves will always say
Lost and found, ailing wanderers
Healers always say

Whores and angels, men with problems
Leavers always say
Broken hearted, separated
Orphans always say

War creators, racial haters
Preachers always say
Distant fathers, fallen warriors
Givers always say

Pilgrim saints, lonely widows
Users always say
Fearful mothers, watchful doubters
Saviors always say

Sometimes I can not forgive
These days mercy cuts so deep
If the world was how it should be
Maybe I could get some sleep
While I lay, I'd dream we're better
Scales were gone and faces lighter
When we wake, we hate our brother
We still move to hurt each other
Sometimes I can close my eyes
And all the fear that keeps me silent
Falls below my heavy breathing
What makes me so badly bent?

We all have a chance to murder
We all have the need for wonder
We still want to be reminded
That the pain is worth the plunder
Sometimes when I lose my grip
I wonder what to make of Heaven
All the times I thought to reach up
All the times I had to give up

Babies underneath their beds
Hospitals that cannot treat them
All the wounds that money causes
All the comforts of cathedrals
All the cries of thirsty children
This is our inheritance
All the rage of watching mothers
This is our greatest offense
Oh, my God
Oh, my God
Oh, my God

2009-04-13T19:25:00.001-07:00

I got the job in Chicago :)
I am so excited!!
I will be a Unit Leader to the female counselors.

That is just an extremely brief update of my life right now.. I will get more later.

Hmm.

2009-03-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

So CNN's headline right now is this, " Catholic faithful face church closures". I saw this and my heart was sad for a moment, and so I clicked on the link to know more about it. There are a lot of Catholic churches in the mid-west and north-east that are having to close and some of them are merging together. CNN stated that 29 churches will close while 41 others will merge. Then, I saw a picture of one of the churches....

my heart is no longer sad. I am appalled. Seeing this, thinking about these elaborate and intricate buildings that man has created to worship our God in makes me sick. I am pretty sure that God does not care where we worship Him, as long as we ARE worshiping Him. One may argue, "But we are supposed to give God our best!" This statement is true, but is developing these million dollar sanctuaries doing what is best for God's kingdom? This reminds me of something I read in Church History last semester.

In 1526, Desiderius Erasmus wrote "A Pilgrimage For Religions Sake". He wrote,

" I wonder sometimes what possible excuse there could be for those who spend so much money on building, decorating, and enriching churches that there's simply no limit to it. Granted that the sacred vestments and vessels of the church must have a dignity appropriate to their liturgical use; and I want the building to have grandeur. But what's the use of so many baptisteries, candelabra, gold statues? What's the good of the vastly expensive organs? What's the good of that costly musical neighing when meanwhile our brothers and sisters, Christ's living temples, waste away from hunger and thirst? "

To Erasmus, I must say, Amen. I am sorry to a world who is dying and struggling while Christians and Catholics alike are worshipping in sanctuaries that could (all together) feed countries for years, not just families in Africa, or Latin America, but the people who sleep on the very doorsteps of these churches because they have no place else to go. I wonder how much it will take before we, as followers of Jesus Christ, begin to understand that God will take us where we are and as we are. We do not need to spend $50,000 putting blacktop on the parking lot, it isn't going to kill you to walk across gravel 1 or 2 times a week. But if we do not use the money God has blessed us with wisely, someone will die. There may be arguments to this, but truly this is what I feel. If you hate it, I cannot apologize to those who are offended. I will only apologize to those who the church has forgotten because our own desires.

A little different than what I planned...

2009-03-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

So I received my acceptance from ASP in Washington D.C. only to find out 3 weeks later that the money I was planning on, could no longer be provided through the school. I was surprisingly not as depressed about this as I thought I would be. It does stink that I will not be in D.C. next semester because I know that is something that I would absolutely love to be doing, but I am sure God knows it is for the better.
I had a phone interview with Riverwoods Christian Center, which is 40 minutes north west of Chicago, on Friday. It was an incredibly stressful day, and at 2:45 I was talking to a man that was asking about my deepest passions and desires, so as you can imagine, while I was stable, tears were flowing. I wasn't sobbing, my words made sense, it was just hard at times. It will not hear back from them until the 26th or 27th, but I would really love to be a part of that ministry this summer. In the mean time, Brad just asked that I would be praying about my position there, and they would do the same. FYI: Riverwoods is a Christian Camp whose sole purpose is to reach out the inner-city youth and teach them about the Lord.
It's just kind of amusing because none of this was what I had planned. I did not want to be here fall semester at all 2 months ago. I wanted so badly to be in DC. I wanted to work in an office this summer so that I could save up money. But really, the idea of being back here at jbc next semester really makes me feel relaxed, and thinking about possibly being at Riverwoods for the summer, well I just love that. Sometimes I think we can convince ourselves that we know what is best for us, but in the end, we have no idea. I am just thrilled that I have a God who will take care of me like that, and who can show me a new perspective.

Ode to reality

2009-02-26T07:42:00.000-08:00

I am a real teacher!!! :) Monday was amazing, I loved every moment of it! I know that my training here at JBC is worthwhile though because when students would ask me certain questions, or we would be working on a problem, my mind would flash back to the many things I have learned, but especially through Dr. Votaw's class. But all in all though, I had such a good time and the students really were wonderful! But what is crazy to think about is that in 2 years, I am going to have to start looking for one of those jobs for real for real. So crazy, but really awesome.

It dawned on me a few days ago, this is my last summer of what normalness. Next summer is Grad school, and the summer after that I will be moving and finding a real job. Because of this, I excused my thoughts of wanting to work in an office this summer, and I have found my heart is wanting to be at Riverwood Christian Center. It is about 30 min. West of Chicago, and so this camp buses children in from the city for a week. My freshman year I wanted to do this type of camp, but it was 40 min. north of New York City, but then I made travel teams. My sophomore year I was in the application process for the camp with Jenelle near Grand Rapids (but does the same thing) but with many things going on at home, I just wanted to be home. Well this is the last chance that I have, so I am going through with this application. And the thing is, when I think about getting to work with these kids, something in my heart just gets really excited, like pure joy, and that is definitely not something that I felt about office work, or even last summer.

I am going home this weekend!! Woot :) I am picking up Josh half way there, and my sister and Kaylee are going to meet us :) I am so excited about this, I have been missing my niece for too long now! I must be off to do my homework now, Homecoming week is almost coming to an end (yay!!) farewell!

Weekend Update with Sarah Little :)

2009-02-22T19:12:00.000-08:00

So my field experience teacher called tonight... looks as though I will be a substitute for the entire day tomorrow. I am quite scared, I must say, but I know that everything will really be okay. Thankfully my teacher is extremely organized and let me know where everything was that I needed, so hopefully, all will go well tomorrow... but if you are reading this within the hours of 7:30 AM - 3:00 pm please, say a prayer for me Monday! :)

In other news, my roommates mother and broseph came this weekend = an awesome time! Okay, so Knoxville has this thing called, "Mardi Growl"... Pretty much a time where dog owners dress up their pets in costumes, and parade them around market square while their owners are wearing boas, and horrifying hats. Well Mandy's fam and I stumbled upon this on Saturday, but it was pretty much the best find ever. hahaha, and I think it needs to be remembered for next year and all years to come that I am in Knoxville!

Once again, I miss my niece a lot.. she just had her two month birthday, so its has now been almost a month and a half since I have seen her... it just breaks my heart to see how much she has grown through pictures, but I can't really see her for myself. Josh and Rich might be coming this weekend because it is for their spring break which indeed marks a crazy anniversary. ha. It has almost been a whole year since that boy said that he liked me and then attempted three times to hold my hand before he finally succeeded. ha. I have been spoiled this past month at the amount of times I have been able to see him, but this visit will hopefully be really refreshing for me, so yes. I must be peacin out now, I have to wake up at an absurd hour so I can get into the classroom and get things organized. Crazy! Good night!

Now I will wait...

2009-02-01T12:11:00.000-08:00

Oh goodness.

About 30 minutes ago, I submitted my American Studies Application. Now I will wait until February 18th to find out where I will be come Fall of 2009. If I am accepted, I know it can be an amazing experience. But if I must stay here, then I will do it with a cheerful heart and no resentment. It was a huge feat to get the whole dang application done though, that is for sure.

This Monday, after field experience, I get to start helping with SOAR again! I was able to volunteer there 2nd semester of my Freshmen year here, and I am so happy that I get to see those kids, and new ones, again :)

Finally, my amazing roommate, Mandy, is graduating in 97 days. While this is depressing news, we decided to soak it up. We made a list, (and then put them on die-cut things from the teacher-ed office) and will be drawing out four a week. We have until the end of that week to finish the four tasks that we have pulled out of the box... They range from, Eat at Mountaineer Bob's, try on prom dresses at a department store, visit Forever Treasures (that shady little store on Hendron's Chapel that is attached to someones house), go to a concert at the square room, Dance all out to at least 3 HSM 3 songs, go thrift store shopping, etc. etc. I am very very excited for this adventure.

That has been my weekend thus far, and Josh comes this upcoming weekend! WOOT!! Him and 2 others from RBC, my roommate's brother, and a JBC perspective student, all in one Honda. That is all, have a wonderful week my reader (that is not plural on purpose. ha)

sooo yea...

2009-01-18T18:50:00.001-08:00

"Everything I want is just Him, to get lost in Him, to feel His love and more and more of this dazzling that He does. I wonder as I gaze up at the night sky, this love letter from God to creation, this reminder that somewhere there is peace, somewhere there is order, and I think about how great His kingdom is, and is going to be, and I wonder, in this rare and beautiful moment, how I could ever want to walk away from it all."

-Through Painted Deserts, Donald Miller.

So let's be honest... I merely created this blog spot because Molly is far away and I wanted to comment to her whenever I want. But then again this little spot might not be the worst thing.