Brother Spot Needs Filled
Applications are now being accepted for a new brother in our household.
I keep adding more to the list lol
Because... One of my favorite brothers...
Has been disowned.
Actually, he was dissed and owned.
In order to be a brother in this household
- You must feel comfortable in our house - even on the uncomfy sofa
- My parents must feel comfortable with me being around you alot, even in the house without anyone else
- I must not roll my eyes when you ask me to drive you somewhere
- You must have a cell phone - and I need to be able to easily have a conversation with you on it for over an hour
- I need to smile when I see you calling, not sigh and roll my eyes (unless it's 3 AM and I'm sleepy. But, I still answer)
- Your parents must like me
- You must know how to read me
- Inside jokes are good
- You must have your own name for my mother, or else, you can just call her mom
- You must know something about me that no one else knows
- We must feel comfortable teasing each other, but we also don't push the limit
- And most importantly.. You must think that the daughters in this house are beautiful.
Please let me know if you meet this criteria.
Disowned brothers may re-apply, but sucking up may need to occur, and you may have to wear sandals.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Dan had an interesting topic the other night. And I keep thinking about it.
Why do I believe what I believe?
It's harder to explain than I thought. I mean, I know what I believe, and I know it's my faith, not my parents. It's just an interesting question. Why do I believe?
I like to think "Why not?" believe. There's no doubt in my mind about God. Why should I abandon something I believe in and know to be Truth? My new phrase about my faith is that my faith is a flawless faith. There's nothing wrong with it. It's a very plain and simple, black and white belief. I don't have to do good deeds so that they outweigh my my bad things. I can talk directly to Him, all the time, not go through His mother. I can pray however and whenever I want, not 5 times a day facing a specific direction. I don't have to go to a religious school and learn another language. I know for sure I'm going to Heaven. I have to believe in Jesus Christ and I'll be saved. That's it. And from that belief, it turned into a love and desire to learn more about God and what He did for me.
How do people go through life not knowing where their going? Are people really okay with living life with no purpose? Living their lives for themselves? Doing day to day activities, just to do them, not knowing what will happen when they die?
How do people celebrate Christmas without knowing about Jesus and His birth? People celebrating Christmas without knowing Him is like some stranger celebrating my birthday, without even knowing who I am. I'd be insulted. If I were Jesus, I'd probably be ticked off. If you don't believe in Jesus and His incredible story, then why don't you just celebrate Christmas in like, March? It's just a day for you to give presents to each other, right? I think if you're gonna celebrate it without knowing the reasons... Just do it on a different day instead of His birthday....
Why do I believe what I believe?
It's harder to explain than I thought. I mean, I know what I believe, and I know it's my faith, not my parents. It's just an interesting question. Why do I believe?
I like to think "Why not?" believe. There's no doubt in my mind about God. Why should I abandon something I believe in and know to be Truth? My new phrase about my faith is that my faith is a flawless faith. There's nothing wrong with it. It's a very plain and simple, black and white belief. I don't have to do good deeds so that they outweigh my my bad things. I can talk directly to Him, all the time, not go through His mother. I can pray however and whenever I want, not 5 times a day facing a specific direction. I don't have to go to a religious school and learn another language. I know for sure I'm going to Heaven. I have to believe in Jesus Christ and I'll be saved. That's it. And from that belief, it turned into a love and desire to learn more about God and what He did for me.
How do people go through life not knowing where their going? Are people really okay with living life with no purpose? Living their lives for themselves? Doing day to day activities, just to do them, not knowing what will happen when they die?
How do people celebrate Christmas without knowing about Jesus and His birth? People celebrating Christmas without knowing Him is like some stranger celebrating my birthday, without even knowing who I am. I'd be insulted. If I were Jesus, I'd probably be ticked off. If you don't believe in Jesus and His incredible story, then why don't you just celebrate Christmas in like, March? It's just a day for you to give presents to each other, right? I think if you're gonna celebrate it without knowing the reasons... Just do it on a different day instead of His birthday....
Thursday, October 26, 2006
If I had a superpower...
I wouldn't want to be invisible.
I wouldn't want to fly.
I wouldn't want to be stretchable.
I wouldn't want to shoot spaghetti out of my finger tips.
I'd want to be able to know the right thing to say to cheer someone up.
To be able to fix all of someone's problems with a smile or a hug.
To just kidnap someone for the day and have them forget all their troubles.
I think that'd be the best super power in the world.
I wouldn't want to fly.
I wouldn't want to be stretchable.
I wouldn't want to shoot spaghetti out of my finger tips.
I'd want to be able to know the right thing to say to cheer someone up.
To be able to fix all of someone's problems with a smile or a hug.
To just kidnap someone for the day and have them forget all their troubles.
I think that'd be the best super power in the world.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Weirdest Dream
Weirdest dream in the world last night... And it's even weirder that I actually remembered it. It was really random.
I was on Big Ol' Blue (OB bus). But I wasn't just with my OB team, it was also my drumline and Grove's line. And we were all happy and getting off the bus because we were doing a Walmart run. So I went inside and I was with Renee (OB/Church) and Christine (drumline). And I wanted a purse (which is really weird, cuz when we were in Vegas, I wanted a purse from Walmart..) and I told Renee that I have bad taste so she should pick out a purse for me. So she picked out this electric pink one, and convinced me it was amazing. But then I relized I'd left my wallet in the bus, so I told her to hang on and I ran back to the bus. But the bus had moved like, right outside the Walmart entrance. So I hopped on the bus and everyone was wearing a bass drum. And the bass drums had heads on em like the school in Vegas that did the Ipod show (so the heads were "click wheels"). So suddenly, I had on a bass drum. And everyone was standing in the aisle of the bus facing the front. And all the windows were rolled down. And so we were all in line, and I looked outside, and there were two guys with guns pointing them at the front window. And I was like "Omg! What the heck!?" and everyone was like "Shhh Kelsey. Be quiet!" And I was like "What!? They have guns." And someone was like "It's okay, they don't want to kill us, they just want to play a game." and I was like "a game with guns!?" and everyone else acted like it was normal. So the game was that we would stand there, with the drum head facing the window, and they were going to aim the gun at you, and then you had to move fast enough to put the bullet through the drum head. Apparently, it seemed like a fun game to everyone but me. So the guys were like, going down the line. And like, while I was watching the people in front of me, the bullets all went really slow, and almost everyone moved fast enough. And then when the gun came to me, the bullet came fast, and I moved fast, and so I was fine. But whoever was behind me died... Like.. it was so bizarr... And no one cared that whoever was behind me had died! So the guys got to the end of the bus and they were like "Thanks for playing!" and they just left. And everyone was all happy and showing each other where they or their drums got hit. No one paid attention to the DEAD person behind me! So then everyone put their drums down, and went back in Walmart and continued shopping... And Renee decided the pink purse wasn't a good one for me, and got me a black one.
The end.
I was on Big Ol' Blue (OB bus). But I wasn't just with my OB team, it was also my drumline and Grove's line. And we were all happy and getting off the bus because we were doing a Walmart run. So I went inside and I was with Renee (OB/Church) and Christine (drumline). And I wanted a purse (which is really weird, cuz when we were in Vegas, I wanted a purse from Walmart..) and I told Renee that I have bad taste so she should pick out a purse for me. So she picked out this electric pink one, and convinced me it was amazing. But then I relized I'd left my wallet in the bus, so I told her to hang on and I ran back to the bus. But the bus had moved like, right outside the Walmart entrance. So I hopped on the bus and everyone was wearing a bass drum. And the bass drums had heads on em like the school in Vegas that did the Ipod show (so the heads were "click wheels"). So suddenly, I had on a bass drum. And everyone was standing in the aisle of the bus facing the front. And all the windows were rolled down. And so we were all in line, and I looked outside, and there were two guys with guns pointing them at the front window. And I was like "Omg! What the heck!?" and everyone was like "Shhh Kelsey. Be quiet!" And I was like "What!? They have guns." And someone was like "It's okay, they don't want to kill us, they just want to play a game." and I was like "a game with guns!?" and everyone else acted like it was normal. So the game was that we would stand there, with the drum head facing the window, and they were going to aim the gun at you, and then you had to move fast enough to put the bullet through the drum head. Apparently, it seemed like a fun game to everyone but me. So the guys were like, going down the line. And like, while I was watching the people in front of me, the bullets all went really slow, and almost everyone moved fast enough. And then when the gun came to me, the bullet came fast, and I moved fast, and so I was fine. But whoever was behind me died... Like.. it was so bizarr... And no one cared that whoever was behind me had died! So the guys got to the end of the bus and they were like "Thanks for playing!" and they just left. And everyone was all happy and showing each other where they or their drums got hit. No one paid attention to the DEAD person behind me! So then everyone put their drums down, and went back in Walmart and continued shopping... And Renee decided the pink purse wasn't a good one for me, and got me a black one.
The end.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Decisions
One of the things I hate most in life. Having to decide. What shirt to wear. What class to take. What college to go do. Who's party to go to. To drink or not. Which homework assignment to do first. What instrument to play... But the worst, hardest decisions are the ones that affect others. And deciding if your decision was one made for the best of everyone, or just for yourself. Or if you justify it as it'll be the best for everyone else because it's best for you? If you feel strongly about something, should you make your decision on emotions, brain, or heart? What if 2/3 feel one way, but the other third feels the other way? Do you ignore the one third completely. Do emotions and heart together mean more than brain alone? Or even if you feel that your emotions, brain, and heart are leaning the same way, does that guarentee it's right? Or maybe you know in the long run it's right, but now, in the short run, you're like confused. Or when you have to make a decision between two things, one decision makes other people happy, but makes you bleh, and then the other decision makes you feel better, except that you feel bad about making others feel un-better. Oi. I hate it when I overthink. I hate sitting in silence when you've got a million things going through your head....
Merci. Je t'aime.
Merci. Je t'aime.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Under God
During Civics today, we had this debate about keeping "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. And Mr Tran deided which side of the argument we were on, and of course, I got put on the side that said it was unconstitutional to have it in the pledge. So I just decided to stay quite during the first hald of the debate. But that didn't keep my mind from thinking. Saying "under God" doesn't mean that you pledge your life to God. It's just stating the fact that this nation was built on the faith of believing in God. You can't change history. George Washington and so many others in history were Christians, and that can't be changed. So why pretend that this nation doesn't stand under God. And the second point, you're not forced to say the pledge. If you don't want to pledge allegiance and say "under God".. Then don't. It really is that simple. If we were to suddenly decide to take out the statement "under God" out of the pledge, well, then we better start rewriting the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Cuz guess what, the same God that we're "under", is mentioned in both of those documents. And they are the basis of this country. Why change history? And what makes me mad, is that all these athiests get mad about saying "under God" and that "we don't believe in God".. Well, if that's the case, I never again want to hear an athiest say "Oh my God". You claim there isn't a God, so don't use His name like that. God doesn't exist, right? And don't say to "Go to hell".. Cuz if you don't believe in God, then you most likely don't believe in Satan, Heaven, or Hell. Don't condemn someone to a nonexistent place. Don't use the Lord's name in vain if you don't mean it. Some people are like "It's just an expression." You don't hear me say "Oh my Buddha". Cuz I don't believe in Buddha, so I'm not gonna yell at him for something that he had no say in.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Band Rant
The world knows I'm in band. If I wasn't a Christian and I didn't love the Lord, my reason for life would be band. And I don't think I'm kidding. I mean, outside of friends and family, my life would strictly be band. And drumline is technically part of band at this time. And even 99% of my friends (excluding my awesome church friends and OBers) are somehow associated with band, which is why I know them, so even with my friends, I'm considered at bando. It's a given. I love band. Band is my passion outside of the Lord.
But for something that I love so deeply, it almost always puts me in a bad mood. And I hate that it does that. And it's funny, cuz when I think about it, the reason it puts me in a bad mood, is because band isn't the passion of everyone else who is in band. For some people, it's a social hour, for some it's PE credit, for some it's just something to have a full schedule. And they're the ones who are slackers. They don't try. They get the instructors mad. And they bring down the attitude and performance of the entire band as a whole. I hate that after practice, I can always find something to vent about, because of something that happened during band. I mean, I get mad at myself when I have a bad practice. Tonight I got mad at myself cuz I couldn't play the second half of the pit solo in Copeland. And I should be able to play it, especially since some of my pit can play it. Granted, they stayed inside this morning and worked on it, but as Captain, I should hold myself to a higher standard and should have had it memorized weeks, months ago. But I guarentee you I will have it down by the end of this week, cuz I'm not satisfied with not being able to play the entire show.
Some people don't get that in order to be a good band, you need at least 100% effort from everyone. It's not like a sports team like football or basketball, how if you're having a bad game, you can just sit it out on the bench until you're ready to come in. Everyone in band is always "in". You could actually say that band takes 200% effort, 100% for the visualization aspect of it, and 100% for the musical side, even more would be awesome. If you give 50/50, it's evident in the performance, and if you give 100/100, it has just as big of an impact. So if you have 133 people on the field, at 200% from everyone, that's 26,600% effort out there, and if you have that much effort, it'll make a difference. What Mr Baker said tonight was so true, I would rather have strict, productive rehearsals with amazing competitions and to have the fun in the stands and the bus and the recognition we'll get, than to have a bunch of giggling fun and non productive practices and bad performaces. We'll have more fun if it feels like we have less fun now. And technically, it's, what? 53 minutes out of a day of concentration and hard work (plus 3 mor hours on Mondays), and then 23 hours and 7 minutes of fun that you can have. When we have good practices, we'll have more fun throughout the day knowing we gave it our all. And it's more fun to get the first places when we know we've given it our all, than to get a first place and know we didn't deserve it...
Wow. Go me and a band rant. I love band. And our I love this years band, it just gets frusterating sometimes. We all have our up and down days. Today must've just been an off day.
But for something that I love so deeply, it almost always puts me in a bad mood. And I hate that it does that. And it's funny, cuz when I think about it, the reason it puts me in a bad mood, is because band isn't the passion of everyone else who is in band. For some people, it's a social hour, for some it's PE credit, for some it's just something to have a full schedule. And they're the ones who are slackers. They don't try. They get the instructors mad. And they bring down the attitude and performance of the entire band as a whole. I hate that after practice, I can always find something to vent about, because of something that happened during band. I mean, I get mad at myself when I have a bad practice. Tonight I got mad at myself cuz I couldn't play the second half of the pit solo in Copeland. And I should be able to play it, especially since some of my pit can play it. Granted, they stayed inside this morning and worked on it, but as Captain, I should hold myself to a higher standard and should have had it memorized weeks, months ago. But I guarentee you I will have it down by the end of this week, cuz I'm not satisfied with not being able to play the entire show.
Some people don't get that in order to be a good band, you need at least 100% effort from everyone. It's not like a sports team like football or basketball, how if you're having a bad game, you can just sit it out on the bench until you're ready to come in. Everyone in band is always "in". You could actually say that band takes 200% effort, 100% for the visualization aspect of it, and 100% for the musical side, even more would be awesome. If you give 50/50, it's evident in the performance, and if you give 100/100, it has just as big of an impact. So if you have 133 people on the field, at 200% from everyone, that's 26,600% effort out there, and if you have that much effort, it'll make a difference. What Mr Baker said tonight was so true, I would rather have strict, productive rehearsals with amazing competitions and to have the fun in the stands and the bus and the recognition we'll get, than to have a bunch of giggling fun and non productive practices and bad performaces. We'll have more fun if it feels like we have less fun now. And technically, it's, what? 53 minutes out of a day of concentration and hard work (plus 3 mor hours on Mondays), and then 23 hours and 7 minutes of fun that you can have. When we have good practices, we'll have more fun throughout the day knowing we gave it our all. And it's more fun to get the first places when we know we've given it our all, than to get a first place and know we didn't deserve it...
Wow. Go me and a band rant. I love band. And our I love this years band, it just gets frusterating sometimes. We all have our up and down days. Today must've just been an off day.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Creation of Veria
I need a name.
has to end in -a or -ia..
and needs some sort of meaning.. hmmm
"help me come up with a name"
"um, how bout.. Veria?"
"that's cool, how do you spell it?"
"V-E-R-I-A"
"mk, what does it mean?"
"um... i love you?"
watch, that's gonna end up being my name lol
has to end in -a or -ia..
and needs some sort of meaning.. hmmm
"help me come up with a name"
"um, how bout.. Veria?"
"that's cool, how do you spell it?"
"V-E-R-I-A"
"mk, what does it mean?"
"um... i love you?"
watch, that's gonna end up being my name lol
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Romans 12:1-2
So it's been pretty insane. I had a dream last night, where within the dream, in three different instances, Romans 12:1-2 was mentioned. And so I was thinking about it on the way to church, and thinking about wanting to go and read it in context, and then Pastor Mike mentioned it in his sermon! I was just like, holy cow.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
I love those verses. It goes along with Hume Lake the summer before my sophomore year. The theme based on 1 Peter 1. About being strangers in this world. Not conforming.
The Message has a cool version of Romans 12:1-2
"1 -2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."
I remember how badly when I came back from Hume that year, I was so set on wanting to be a stranger in this world. To stand out. To have people question why I'm happy. To have people ask me about my faith. To not just go with the flow, but to do what I know's right. Man. That summer was awesome. And then this summer was amazing. I have the greatest times when I am focused on God. When it's not about pleasing myself and making myself happy, I'm more happy. When it's about others. I find my joy, in others being happy. Or, well, that's kinda like, hypocritical of what I said in the last post. I guess I find joy in others being genuinely happy? Or I find joy in trying to help others feel better. I don't know. This makes me happy just by typing this stuff out, even if I'm not making sense. But I love it!
And I like Romans 12:11-13, it reminds me a lot of what our team was about. Like, majorly.
11 -13"Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality."
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
I love those verses. It goes along with Hume Lake the summer before my sophomore year. The theme based on 1 Peter 1. About being strangers in this world. Not conforming.
The Message has a cool version of Romans 12:1-2
"1 -2 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."
I remember how badly when I came back from Hume that year, I was so set on wanting to be a stranger in this world. To stand out. To have people question why I'm happy. To have people ask me about my faith. To not just go with the flow, but to do what I know's right. Man. That summer was awesome. And then this summer was amazing. I have the greatest times when I am focused on God. When it's not about pleasing myself and making myself happy, I'm more happy. When it's about others. I find my joy, in others being happy. Or, well, that's kinda like, hypocritical of what I said in the last post. I guess I find joy in others being genuinely happy? Or I find joy in trying to help others feel better. I don't know. This makes me happy just by typing this stuff out, even if I'm not making sense. But I love it!
And I like Romans 12:11-13, it reminds me a lot of what our team was about. Like, majorly.
11 -13"Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality."
Monday, August 07, 2006
OB
You know what's like, the biggest insult to an OBer, I think? "I'm glad you're back. I was scared you were gonna change. I'm glad you didn't." *smack in the face*... No, that didn't happen to me. Well, not exactly. I was in the car with my someone, and I told her that Fall Out Boy and some other songs were coming off my Ipod, and she just happened to mention "That's the only difference I've seen since you got home.".... Granted, she'd only been home for 36 hour, and most of the time I wasn't with her.. But.... I mean, she totally didn't mean it in an insulting way, she was just talking. But to me... That was like... I felt like crying. Have I already slipped back to not being how I should be? Melody sent Nor Cal an e-mail today about Psalm 78, and how the Israelites forgot all that God had done for them. How could they forget everything that He did for them!? How can I forget everything He taught me this summer? I didn't forget. It's just.. I could make up excuses as to why I'm not like, out there talking to a trillion people. I'm so caught up in hanging out with friends and making sure we still have fun... That I'm not like... ugh. This really bugs me. I mean, I feel a change in me. But if people can't see a change, then what's the point? Why would I go away for a summer, and come back exactly the same as I was before? How come I still avoid defending my faith when jokes are cracked about it? How come I'm spending more time looking at team pictures and talking to team mates about how awesome God was this summer, than I am reading my Bible, or than out there talking to people? Man... Being home is so hard. I miss the accountability. It was so nice to have our leaders share with us in our excitement, and in our disappointment. It was nice to have spiritual conversations with people my own age. To have people who genuinely cared about you, not just physically and emotionally, but spiritually. That could tell you spots where you needed to work on, and tell you because they genuinely love you, and not cuz they want to humiliate you.. It was so easy to go up and talk to random people when you had someone with you. I miss not having to have a guy with me at all times, it was such a comfort. I miss Tim leading worship. I miss Sunday programs. I can't sing, but I loved choir. My Savior, My God. I Give You Me. Ah man, I Give You Me. La Loma. The tears... Man...
People keep asking me what the greatest part of my summer was. And to my non Christian friends, it's hard for me to tell what my faovorite memory is. I normally just say how amazing my team was or the bus rides or something. And, I mean, those are great memories, and they put an instant smile on my face. But the memory that puts an instant, ginormous grin on my face.. Brian. I don't know what his last name is. I met him in Tracy, California. At some park on fourth of July. Half our team was doing laundry, the other half of us were at the park talking to people. There was a big carnival type thing going on, and we were passing out flags with little cartoons attached to them. I was walking around with Brett and Becky and we ran out of flags. So we started talking to people. We did the cross illustration for a few kids, but they spoke mostly Spanish, so it was hard to get the message across. So we started walking towards the total opposite end of the park and saw this african american guy sitting on a bench, early 20's, with a do-rag on his head. We couldn't decide if we wanted to go talk to him or not, but then Brett mentioned how his host home had said that this summer was about being "comfortable with being uncomfortable", so we walked over to talk to him. We just kinda talked to him about a whole range of things, and about Operation Barnabas. And how his family life was kinda messed up - his mom was Jehovah's Witness and his dad was Catholic or something. We went through the Way of the Master, and through the court room example, and he still didn't want to believe. Then Becky talked about how you don't have to be perfect. That even Christians do bad things, and we aren't expected to be perfect. And she had some great personal stories that really hit his heart straight on. We had to be back at the church by noon, and it was a good ten minute walk away, and it was 11:45. We'd been talking to him for about 45 minutes. Brett asked him again if he wanted to believe, and he said yes. Oh my, we were SO beyond excited. Brett prayed with him, and Brian seriously, instantly looked happy. We told him we hated to, but we had to leave. But, we also mentioned that we'd be coming back that night for the fireworks at 8, and if he wanted to talk to us, he could come back then. He was like "Oh, okay" and then we had to like, power walk back to the church. But we were so excited and happy. Ginormous grins on all of our faces all day long. When we went back to the park that night, us 3 were in the middle of this really bizare converstaion with this lady, and it was 8, and we couldn't see Brian. So we kept talking, then looked again, and he was there! Holy cow! That was so awesome! So we said bye to the lady we were talking to, and headed over to Brian, with a Bible we'd grabbed off the bus. It was really awesome to talk to him and try to encourage him. And, he asked us for Bible verses for him to read through and for our favorite ones. And then he came and watched the fireworks with our team. Oh man. That was seriously one of the most exciting and amazing things all summer. He didn't have to come back to the park 8 hours later. But he did. And that... Man.
It's hard for some people to grasp how exciting it is to accept Christ into their lives. Or how exciting it is to watch someone accept Him. But seriously. That was my most amazing moment. Something I never plan on forgetting.
People keep asking me what the greatest part of my summer was. And to my non Christian friends, it's hard for me to tell what my faovorite memory is. I normally just say how amazing my team was or the bus rides or something. And, I mean, those are great memories, and they put an instant smile on my face. But the memory that puts an instant, ginormous grin on my face.. Brian. I don't know what his last name is. I met him in Tracy, California. At some park on fourth of July. Half our team was doing laundry, the other half of us were at the park talking to people. There was a big carnival type thing going on, and we were passing out flags with little cartoons attached to them. I was walking around with Brett and Becky and we ran out of flags. So we started talking to people. We did the cross illustration for a few kids, but they spoke mostly Spanish, so it was hard to get the message across. So we started walking towards the total opposite end of the park and saw this african american guy sitting on a bench, early 20's, with a do-rag on his head. We couldn't decide if we wanted to go talk to him or not, but then Brett mentioned how his host home had said that this summer was about being "comfortable with being uncomfortable", so we walked over to talk to him. We just kinda talked to him about a whole range of things, and about Operation Barnabas. And how his family life was kinda messed up - his mom was Jehovah's Witness and his dad was Catholic or something. We went through the Way of the Master, and through the court room example, and he still didn't want to believe. Then Becky talked about how you don't have to be perfect. That even Christians do bad things, and we aren't expected to be perfect. And she had some great personal stories that really hit his heart straight on. We had to be back at the church by noon, and it was a good ten minute walk away, and it was 11:45. We'd been talking to him for about 45 minutes. Brett asked him again if he wanted to believe, and he said yes. Oh my, we were SO beyond excited. Brett prayed with him, and Brian seriously, instantly looked happy. We told him we hated to, but we had to leave. But, we also mentioned that we'd be coming back that night for the fireworks at 8, and if he wanted to talk to us, he could come back then. He was like "Oh, okay" and then we had to like, power walk back to the church. But we were so excited and happy. Ginormous grins on all of our faces all day long. When we went back to the park that night, us 3 were in the middle of this really bizare converstaion with this lady, and it was 8, and we couldn't see Brian. So we kept talking, then looked again, and he was there! Holy cow! That was so awesome! So we said bye to the lady we were talking to, and headed over to Brian, with a Bible we'd grabbed off the bus. It was really awesome to talk to him and try to encourage him. And, he asked us for Bible verses for him to read through and for our favorite ones. And then he came and watched the fireworks with our team. Oh man. That was seriously one of the most exciting and amazing things all summer. He didn't have to come back to the park 8 hours later. But he did. And that... Man.
It's hard for some people to grasp how exciting it is to accept Christ into their lives. Or how exciting it is to watch someone accept Him. But seriously. That was my most amazing moment. Something I never plan on forgetting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)