Today I Was Reminded of Why I Am Here

I went out on the river today. It was just Bill and another guy with me. They were teaching me how to guide. It was not nearly as scary as I thought it would be. It was actually a lot of fun and I am looking forward to guiding for groups. Rafting led to us watching an old camp video. It was the 2005 camp. For all of you that think you might have been there...it was the one when Davey Kimbro got whacked in the eye. Wow, was it fun watching that again! I love watching camp videos. I am so glad we watched the one today. It helped me remember why I wanted to be on staff here in the first place. Camps here were always so amazing! A lot of that can be attributed to Steve and I am so thankful that I had him as a youth pastor. Icthus is a great place and I am really excited about the rest of the summer!

Be Still and Know

We had our first group last week. They left Thursday. We don't have another one  until this coming Saturday. It's really weird being at the retreat center all alone. It's been more difficult at times than I would have imagined. I am really learning about being still. 

P.S. This is for you, Steve...we went tubing last week. My second time down the river, I got jacked up. I fell off the tube two times and just fell on some rocks another time. I have a couple of sweet bruises!

And So My Summer Begins

I am leaving for my favorite place in the world today (not that I have been to that many places, but still)! I am pumped about being in a place where I don't need air conditioning! It's going to be a good summer.  

Beautiful Jesus

Your love, oh God
Displayed for us
As crimson covered
Over sinless hands
Your majesty
For all to see
In raging storms and quiet cloudless days

Beautiful Jesus
Beautiful Savior
Nothing is greater, briliant Creator 
Friend of mine

You're powerful
Above this world
The universe is under your command

Your glory shines
A holy light
That leads our hearts to praise
Your holy name is on our lips

Beautiful Jesus
Beautiful Savior
Nothing is greater, briliant Creator 
Friend of mine
Perfect in power
Matchless in glory
Nothing is greater, brilliant Creator
Friend of mine

My lips will sing
My heart will bring
Praise to you, the holy King
My lips will sing
My heart will bring
Praise to you, holy!

I love this song and today it has reminded me of the beautiful thing Jesus did for the world. 

I am Tasting Bitter-Sweet

The semester is over! I ended up with four A's and one B...I am quit pleased with that. The funny thing about that is that I think this is the best semester I have had in college yet it is also the semester that I did the least amount of work. Or maybe it wasn't that I did less work, but rather that I stressed a lot less than I did before. I have felt a lot more free this semester, a lot more open to life in the moment. It has been amazing. Although I did well, I am glad it is over. Summer is much needed in regards to school work.

This year I have made a lot of really great friends. I have learned from them and felt more like they were my family than my friends. These people are the reason I am not glad the semester is over. We are all going different ways. Some people are staying in Auburn, some are going home, some are going to another country, and some to other places in the U.S. I will be spending my summer at camp Icthus in Bryson City, North Carolina. One part of me is extremely excited about this and is looking forward to what God is going to do in all of our lives, but the other part of me is sad about leaving. 

My entire life I have always been afraid of missing things. When I was a little kid I would wait as long as I could to go to sleep because I was afraid really cool stuff would happen when I was asleep. This is how I feel about this summer. Everyone's lives are going to go on and I feel like I am going to be missing something. And I guess the truth about this is that I will be missing something here, but another truth is that I will be experiencing something AMAZING where I will be. So I have to remember that. I can't live in the past semester or the past year; I can't anticipate what the fall will hold; I have to live where I am this summer. I have to be fully present in order to receive what God has for me and to be used in the way he wants to use me. I know the next few weeks I will experience many emotions: happiness, sadness, nervousness, joy, etc., but in all of those things I find God. I know that if I choose to let him he will grow me and show me amazing things this summer. 

Our Eucharist

"But what if Jesus meant something else-something beyond the ritual? What if he was talking about our actually enacting what the ritual is all about over and over, again and again, year after year? What if the 'do this' he primarily meant wasn't the ritual he was leading his disciples through at that moment. What if the 'do this' was his whole way of life...Maybe that's what he means when he says, 'Do this in remembrance of me.' The 'do this' part is our lives. Opening ourselves up to the mystery of resurrection, open for liberation of others, allowing our bodies to be broken and our blood to be poured, discovering our Eucharist. Listening. And going."

Throughout the past year the Eucharist/Communion/Lord's supper has come to be one of my favorite rituals. There is just something about sharing the body and blood of Christ with other followers that brings an amazing sense of joy and peace to my heart. Taking part in this makes me remember and reflect on why I live my life the way I do. For so long I took this tradition for granted. I took the bread and the juice with little thought. But Christ is calling us to observe this tradition with great thought! He was even so clever as to make this meal a symbol of what we as Christ followers are supposed to be: the broken body and the spilled blood of Christ. What a beautiful picture!! 

Pic-a-nic

Yesterday was Picnic in the Park. It went so well! We had over one hundred people come! We were provided with so much more food than we needed (and I was so worried about it ha). God did it. He took care of everything. It all came together. I feel so blessed to have been able to do something like this and I am so thankful for the people who helped pull it all together. It really was a beautiful thing!

The people from the neighborhood seemed to really be excited that the park was being used. I was told that no one really ever uses it and so they were glad to see people hanging out there together. A ton of kids came and it was so precious to watch some of my friends play kickball with them. It was so good to see, especially, how good the guys were with the kids. It was beautiful. There was also one couple that came who had not planned on coming. They just happened to be in park and so Jill and I went and told them they were invited to come eat if they wanted to. They did. They actually ended up staying until we were about to leave. I think they just wanted someone to talk to. It was so good to be able to be that person to them and to watch other people fulfill that role. The weather was beautiful, we made friends, ate good food, and had so much fun...what more could you ask from a Saturday in the Park?

I can't wait to do this again. Through experience God has taught me so much about trusting him. He has shown me that he will provided if I will just let him. I can't always have control of everything. He always provides exactly what we need and for that I am truly grateful.