Early to Rise

Today's challenge:
A picture of your favorite memory.

I think I have a lot of favorites - and this isn't necessarily my favorite, but I wrote this, and I'll make it fit.

A picture, and a poem, of a ... nice memory

"Early to Rise"
The last soggy heart, in a sea of lucky charms
Dancing alone on a cream-white dance floor
Sometimes I twirl like that on cold white tile
Hoping a silver spoon would sweep me off my feet

With the morning in mind I bid crickets goodnight
He stays up late watching movies but I'm already gone
On a quiet train that goes from sweet dreams to dawn
Me and the day will wake and break bread together

Barefoot I dance in the dew
The mist and the birds remind me of You
I rise from my bed like I rose from the dead
Feeling like a child, feeling like new

Maybe I won't be wealthy or wise
I can't blame him for sleeping in
But as I pour this bowl of cereal
I don't regret being early to rise.

Ten Great People

A picture of a person I'd love to trade places with for a day:

Ok, I searched high and low for Emily Foreman, because who wouldn't want to be Jon Foreman's wife ?!! Actually, to get to spend a whole day with Jon Foreman is the goal here.
And as google images couldn't get me one picture..... I settled for a picture of the Foreman himself

There's a lot of people I'd like to sit down and have a full day with, but Jon Foreman is #1. I'll just do the list, huh?

Jesus Christ transcends this list... if I could have been one of the disciples for a day, following Him around, that would probably be a lot cooler than even all of these guys.
1. Jon Foreman
2. Elijah Wood
3. Ella Fitzgerald
4. C.S. Lewis
5. Frank Sinatra (actually, I'd just love to duet a big hit musical number with him, and that'd be enough) and while I'm talking duets, Barbra Streisand!!!
6. Rich Mullins
7. Shane Claiborne
8. John Lennon or Paul McCartney
9. Jon Ladner/Kevin Walthall, because both of them are endless wells of knowledge/wit
10. Yossarian from Catch-22

It's not hard to find people wiser/cooler than me, so this list could stretch out a lot longer.

PS: I'd love to spend a day with YOU
so contact me if you want to make it happen

Across the Universe

So I've been doing this whole Thirty-day challenge thing wrong.
Not only am I not doing it with a facebook photo album, but I've been doing it with the wrong stuff!

Day one was supposed to be a photo of me with ten facts. So, here's that.

1. The grace of God has covered me abundantly and has redeemed me from a life of despair and sin. That's the most important thing about me.

2. I like playing, writing, and dancing to music. Also, I am a terrible, but terribly enthusiastic, dancer.

3. I like argyle knit sweaters, vests, cats, snapdragons, boba tea, and napkins.

4. Dawn is my favorite time of day. Walking around barefoot in the dewdrops is a magical experience I regret sleeping through. I'm a morning person, because I feel my best in the morning, but I tend to stay up late, and I hate nighttime....

5. Someday I'll visit/live in Japan.

6. Honesty/good communication is a huge thing to me when it comes to relationships.. I think people can get along if they just understand each other. I try to be very open and transparent. I WANT people to pull me aside and tell me what I'm doing is silly, so I can fix it, but brave people are rare now-a-days
And when I say 'brave' I don't mean sassy or sarcastic or even have obnoxious opinions... being rude, or making a fool of themselves. It takes guts to be vulnerable, or to call someone out. Yelling about your minority opinion for minority's sake is not bravery.

7. I secretly want to be a poet that lives in a small forest near a babbling brook, feeding deer out of the palm of my hand. But unfortunately we live in a capitalist world and I need kachingkaching to survive....... so I'm going to work for an advertising agency, sip coffee, file my taxes, and pretend to be a grownup.

8. If you haven't figured it out by now, I am an Idealist. It was also my result on one of those Myers-briggs things. Idealist/healer/journalist, that kind of thing. I like to romanticize everything I can.

9. I like swimming, biking, tennis, stair-climbing, jumprope, and kissing.

10. Black cherry Jell-O is the best kind.

Part two, days four and five.
A picture of your favorite night/a picture of your favorite memory.

I'm kind of glad that night wasn't photographed - photographs kind of limit your imagination.
I don't even know that I had one particular night. How do you pick the best night of your life? I don't think I can choose a favorite night/memory. But there were two nights I can remember being just... blissful.
Both nights I was drifting off to sleep, and I was completely and totally infatuated. One was my first crush. The other was my last. And all I could think about was (*ppff* silly :3) how in love I was. I was just feverish with adoration.

Some nights after that I used to lie awake, my heart shooting a ray of love across the universe, needing to be loved back, this empty void that nothing would fill. I was lovesick. I would just lie in my bed, silently begging for my True Love. Now that void has been more than filled - overflowing, in fact.... because of course, I was seeking Christ and I didn't know it

Well, I think back to those two nights I spent in bliss. Sometimes I miss that, that feeling of unquestioned love. Young, blind adoration. I wish that I could worship the Lord like that. I pray that I would love Him even more than that.

that's why Across the Universe is my favorite Beatles song - it's my anthem of searching across the universe to find my True Love

Sending you my affections
-rachel

Sundry

I'm trying to be consistent with this thirty day challenge thing.

Day Three •A picture of the cast from your favorite show
I picked "The Cape" because even though I like Glee, it promotes this perspective on culture that I just don't agree with....
The Cape is pretty thrilling! Funny dialogue, interesting characters... It's a new show, and I don't really watch a lot of TV, so it might not be the best show out there, but right now, it's the only one I can think of that's worth giving my "favorite show" award to.

that's all I have to say about that ~

Today was a great day.

I wore a sundress because I thought it would rain. I went without shoes, so I could remember my brothers and sisters who don't have any in Africa - and to remember that I was not called to live in comfort.

God's really been working... showing me new things... I feel like I've learned a lot of truth.. or rather, it's been given to me.. I haven't actively pursuing it as much as I should be.
I prayed a while back that God would bless me with wisdom, because James 1:5 tells us that if we are lacking in wisdom, then we should pray for it, because God gives generously.
And I guess I'm still trying to accept the gift. But I've been blessed to be able to help minister to some people... and that's just the work of Christ in me.
I'm so excited to grow, I know that these are not the best days, it won't just be downhill from here, good things are in store!

My crush/Shower of blessings

Day 2 - "your crush"

When people do these.... do they actually put a picture of the guy they like on here?

Isn't that silly?

Well, I guess I have nothing to hide, nothing to fear. I've liked this boy for a long time.Elijah Wood, you loveable little Frodo, you...



now for things less silly
~~~~~~~ the shower of blessings
WOW!

WOW!

WOW!


Today on my way to class I prayed that the Lord would rain down blessing. I prayed yesterday that the Lord would equip me and my friends to do good work.

And He did, He did!

We were praying in Bruce, and these guys just came up to us and joined our number! And we sang songs of worship and met new brothers and sisters! And a relationship that I had been praying for was blessed!

Sooooo good, so good. Joy abounds even in times of trial.

The Thirty-day challenge.

Yes I'm doing it. I want to do it. Here goes day one. "Your best friend."
I don't have a best friend. I really wish I did. Actually, I don't think I've ever had a best friend in my whole life, despite the fact that I'm one of those emotional people who loves deep and intimate relationships...

Luckily, there is no void and no lacking in Christ, He is sufficient in all things. So He will fill this silly void of a post.

It's great though because these days, even though I don't have a #1 best friend, I have a lot of really meaningful relationships - full of laughter that comes from joy and not flippancy.


C.S. Lewis writes about the difference in The Screwtape Letters:

JOY
"You will see [joy] among friends and lovers reunited on the eve of a holiday. Among adults some pretext in the way of Jokes is usually provided, but the facility with which the smallest witticisms produce laughter at such a time shows that they are not the real cause. What that real cause is we do not know. Something like it is expressed in much of that art which [we] call Music, and something like it occurs in Heaven."
FLIPPANCY
"Flippancy: Only a clever human can make a real Joke about virtue, or indeed about anything else; any of them can be trained to talk as if virtue were funny. Among flippant people the Joke is always assumed to have been made. No one actually makes it; but every serious subject is discussed in a manner which implies that they have already found a ridiculous side to it. If prolonged, the habit of Flippancy builds up around a man the finest armour-plating against [The Lord] that I know, and it is quite free from the dangers inherent in the other sources of laughter. It is a thousand miles away from joy it deadens, instead of sharpening, the intellect; and it excites no affection between those who practice it."

I've found this to be so true. Two types of laughter: joyful laughter, that comes from deep loving relationships and enjoying time together, and then flippant laughter.
I have resolved to be satisfied with nothing less than joyous laughter, flippancy just doesn't make the heart light up like joy...

Be joyful and cherish each other.
In Christ, Rachel

Seeds n weeds n stuff

~ a commentary on the ministry garden

C.S. Lewis once wrote in The Screwtape Letters that after a person has made a great spiritual breakthrough or experienced a renewal, that often the seeds of (Screwtape calls Him "The Enemy") Christ are "sterilized" by writing a book about the experience.

Not that I have purposefully avoided this blog because I was afraid of sterilizing seeds - it's ironic that CS Lewis, as he said that, was writing a book, and that book has sown seeds in me... So, writing often does contain edifying truths, and I hope that people who read my entries might gain some learning from my experiences.

But CS Lewis was right about those seeds - left alone to grow, ministries have blossomed under my feet.

Praise Band
I'm involved in Crave (BSM praise band) and that's pretty great, the people in my praise team are very encouraging, I was a little shocked by how often Coltin encouraged us, always telling us if he liked something and giving us high fives. It was just so GOOD. I think good relations (improved by encouragement) is a necessary ingredient for a strong, unified worship team. Another crucial thing is, every member of the team has to be overflowing with praise. If one member is feeling the need to be appreciated or is basically "sucking in" love, that shows that there is a void, and they should be pointed toward Christ, who sustains and gives abundantly.

Obviously, I have a lot more to say about the music ministry, since I have served in that ministry for a long time, but worship is a simple thing, and so often it gets turned into something other than our natural desire to celebrate the Creator. It should be so easy...

Prayer
I used to be almost afraid of prayer.. at least, my prayers were clumsy and unexpectant. After seeking God and letting the Holy Spirit breathe into my prayer life, I got really excited about praying. Now me and some friends are meeting for morning prayer, aiming at every day, but we'll see.
I also learned to be ready if the Spirit led me to speak in tongues. I was kind of hesitant at first, and a lot of my judgement has been sort of cloudy on Spirit-led things, but increasingly, God is bringing clarity to those areas, and older Christians are advising me on how to determine what is of the Spirit and how to minister to others.

International
I wish I could say that I have always had a heart for other cultures, but honestly, I have been afraid in the past of this ministry. Until I actually met and befriended some internationals at Worldlife, I thought that I wasn't too good at cross-cultural socializing! But while I didn't have a heart for other cultures (my heart is increasingly burdened for the world) I did have a heart for Japan, so this was a ministry I wanted to be involved in. And now??? I really just am very glad God brought me here.
The conversation partner program isn't a BSM or Christian organization, but I'm building relationships with 3 transfer students, and that's great. Celine, from Taiiwan, loves the Lord - so great!!!! And Worldlife is always just a blessing, getting to show love to these guys....

Parish (not a 'ministry' but it's a weekly thing haha)

Wednesday nights are so great. (Pastor) Ross likes to say that "parish is where church happens." It's community, and having dinner with your church family (part of it haha) and going through the Word. It's also outreach - the parishes go out and volunteer at places like The Nelson Center, and serving alongside brothers and sisters is really good. 'Parish' seems like a strange word, but other churches do it and call it "homegroups" or "lifegroups."

If it turns out that this is too much for me to handle, I'll cut something. But so far it's been ok. I don't have as much homework as I did last semester. Still studying hard though.

Remember... before you do any ministry, before you do anything, seek first the kingdom of God. If we love and obey the Lord, all we need will be given to us.
Just consider those lilies of the field.
- your fellow servant

Cat

I had a dream that I was petting a cat and it got smaller and smaller as I kept petting it until it was too small to pet.

Busy bee

I couldn't think of a relevant picture
My cup of blessings and joy has overflowed to where I just can't keep up with a blog about it. As much as I like to keep you informed, so much of these good things are just, really, more of the same.

Meeting with friends to pray and share and guide each other in trouble, celebrating the Gospel, working hard to get good grades, making new friends every day....
Sometimes I just don't know how it could get better.

Obviously, I myself have a lot of work. I spend a lot of time straightening my hair instead of straightening up the mess inside and think about boys too much. Even though I'm blessed to be able to serve, I let myself feel overwhelmed with all I'm expected to do now.
I seem to swing back and forth between not stewarding time well, and stressing too much about time. Neither are godly, obviously...

I'm being challenged and tested in different ways. I've been blessed with a richer affection for the Lord, and I want that to increase. At the same time things are getting harder. So I'm holding onto Grace, and the promise that His mercies are anew each morning.

The GSP practice tests are easier than I thought. There is one setback - I need 35$ exact cash, or a check. I don't think I have 35$, and I can't write a check.

Valentine's day wasn't lonely in any way. I don't know why I thought it would be. Me and some single lady-friends watched the Notebook, and I didn't really like it. I keep watching chick flicks thinking maybe I'll like them, but I never do.... well, except for She's the Man.
....I had the option of not being alone on Valentine's, but I really feel like being alone was the best thing.

I'm helping to lead worship at Crave tomorrow. Singing with the band while playing drums will be fun. "Howdja get a mike behind the drums, you silly girl?" You say. Because when Coltin overheard me doing a harmony on the acapella part he said "You're toast!" except he used the words "I like dat stuff, we get mike for you."


That's all I have to say. Pray for peace and self-control.
In Christ,
Rachey-belly

Favorable Times

It's been a while since I've written. Once you stop doing something, it's hard to start it up again.

Of course, there's too much to tell now-a-days.

It's like trying to suck a thick milkshake with a little coffee straw. Good grief - I can barely take it in myself. Am I really here? Living the dream?
I guess!

Valentine's day is coming up. I'm being showered with all kinds of romantic culture - and you know, it's always been my weakness. I've even been under a lot of romantic pressure.

But the great thing is, for once, I'm not on either extreme this year - I'm not hopelessly in love with anyone, and I'm not bitter and lonely.
I'm just really happy. But I'm a teenage girl. Of COURSE I like somebody. No matter how much I'll tell you in person otherwise....

Parish tonight was pretty super-great. My fellow parishoners are are really swell folks. (<--really outdated predicate adjective and predicate nominative there...)

Rachel's Favorable Adjective use progression:
cool-->amazing-->awesome-->sweet-->fabulous-->fantastic-->
fantabulous-->great/good

Maybe one day I'll actually use the word favorable when describing something cool.
"Check out my new car!"
"How favorable!"
.... no, no. Never.

Now check out this favorable video.

This is for you, Dan-Dan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2_DuFvyQYc&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL