Week Four’s theme was leadership, and it began with two really awesome talks from Carl Frost, one of the LT staffers from Ball State University. In his talks, he compared the differences in leadership between David and Saul in the Bible. Throughout both talks, there were 7 different aspects of leadership that we talked about. First, God looks not at outward appearance, but at the heart. Though our society places so much weight on appearance, it’s certainly not what matters or what God judges us by. Second, we talked about leaders who are reliant not on self but on God, including not trying to control everything in our lives and trusting God in whatever we’re doing. A great point that Carl made in talking about this: “God does not need you! He loves you and wants to use you, but He does not need you to control everything in order to get things done. His purpose and work will be done no matter what. Third, Carl talked about not being insecure in ourselves, but being secure in Christ. Some possible signs of insecurity in people is being overly selfish, having a need for other’s approval, being defensive against criticism, craving attention, not being able to handle silence, self promoting, and being overly jealous. We need to recognize it when it’s happening and plant our securities in Christ instead. It’s maddening to constantly compare ourselves to other people. There is always going to be someone better at something you’re good at. It’s okay that you aren’t the best or perfect at something! Next, Carl talked about leaders needing to be willing to take risks while others just play it safe. A risk is defined as something that exposes you to the possibility of loss or injury. The majority of the time we don’t take risks because we don’t want to fail or screw up at something. The battles we usually engage in are the ones we think we’ll win. But, it we always play it safe, we will waste our lives. It’s risky to love people, it’s risky to forgive people, it’s risky to share our faith. But the risk is worth it! We can’t live in fear of the risk. Someone took a risk on us to tell us about Jesus, shouldn’t we do the same? Risk inspires others to act; the greater that moment’s opportunity, the greater the risk. The fifth aspect of leadership was embracing responsibility rather than hiding from it. Leaders have to be willing to accept responsibility even when it’s tough to do so. The sixth was confessing sin rather than rationalizing it or making excuses. Humbleness in leadership in essential! Lastly, a good leader seeks God’s glory and not their own. We have to remember to ask ourselves: What is the purpose of my leadership? For the approval of man, or for the glory of God? (SeeJohn 7:18)
Something else cool about this week’s sessions was that I GOT TO BE A WORSHIP LEADER! First, let me just say that singing in front of people is a big fear of mine!! But as I came to figure out throughout the preparation & week, just getting up there to face my fear was already an act of worship to God. Another LT participant was telling me that he just had this picture of God being just like a Daddy at his daughter’s first recital, so excited and happy. :) It is definitely a different form of leadership to get up there and lead, and it was such an awesome experience! I am so thankful that I was given that opportunity to face my fear while here at LT and see what it’s like. Now I just want to do it more! …. “I will sing and make music to the Lord.” – Psalm 27:6
On Project Day, we went up to 3 hours alone with God and we recited the first psalm that we all memorized together, Psalm 27. I’m proud to say that my house, the 3A girls, won the competition of having the whole house memorized! Then, as is our tradition on Project Days, we spent an hour in prayer. This week we prayed about our jobs in our workplaces and our co-workers. Afterward we all went out and found practical ways to serve and show love to our co-workers.. for the Recreation Department, we went out and bought them all Starbucks! They were so surprised and excited :) Lastly, we also had our first LT cookout for outreach on Project Day, where we invite our co-workers and people we’ve met in Virginia Beach to come out for some free food, games, and socializing. We had a few people come this time, as well as our three managers from the hotel we work at which was very exciting.
On Friday a small group of us decided that we really wanted to go out and do some evangelism on the boardwalk on our own, which was so awesome. We had some go out and do the interviews like before, we had some come and pray throughout the whole time we were there, and we had an LT participant read the Gospel aloud while standing on a bench on the Boardwalk. It was so cool to see that people were paying a lot of attention and actually listening to what he was saying. I stayed near him to be able to talk to people that came up, and I got the opportunity to talk to this man who was originally from Turkey named Helme. He is Isalmic and his wife is Catholic, and it was so interesting to talk to him about the differences in the religions. He promised me that he would take his Bible out and read it again, I hope he does. If you think about it, ask me more about me conversation with him. It was really cool.
Throughout this week I also got the chance to seek counsel in our staff, which I hadn’t been able to do before now, and it was very encouraging, helpful, and awesome! Great news also, Sarah Swann’s (who is a staffer and in my Lifegroup) surgery went amazingly… what they went in to fix they found had completely healed itself. What a miracle! Our Lifegroup made sure to spend some time this week praising God for all the great things He has done:
“Many, O LORD my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.”
-Psalm 40:5
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
week 3 - evangelism
2 Timothy 4:5 – “But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
Week three’s theme was evangelism, and we started it off with a talk from our director, Neil Kring, on Monday night. In talking about evangelism, we were certainly challenged to remember that we are not just here at LT for ourselves, but for a mission as well! 1 Peter 1:3 says that we are born again to a living hope… if we lived that out daily, how would we act differently to our friends, family, co-workers, even ourselves? Neil’s talk revolved around the inspiring story of George Whitfield, from which we learned a lot. First, revival can happen! What an encouraging thought to remember and something that I certainly pray for on the campus of Virginia Tech. Second, the message is certainly not contained to the four walls of the church – it’s everywhere in the world. His story definitely made me ask the question “Where’s my passion?” .
On Tuesday night, we had Troy Smith, a former Virginia Tech football player who is now a pastor in Virginia Beach, come in to talk and share his story with us. He also talked about what he called “practical evangelism”: “practical”, meaning concerned with actual use, guided by experience) and “evangelism”, meaning the practice of relaying information about Christianity and who Jesus Christ is. He said that practical evangelism starts with being real and honest about who you are (in Christ) and sharing it... no matter who, what, when or where. He also said that evangelism cannot fit into a certain formula. You also won’t always have immediate results, but you never know what seeds you may sow!
On Project Day, we went and did service at Troy’s church of renovation, organization, and cleaning… including knocking out walls and throwing old AC units out the window into the dumpsters! Haha. We also had 2 hours of quiet time with God, a testimony sharing practice session split up by schools, and then evangelism on the boardwalk at Virginia Beach. We did the evangelism by doing the interviews with people like we did in Week One, and then if they gave us permission to do so, one of us sharing our testimony of faith with the people we were talking to. We went out in groups of threes, and the first person my group meet was a wonderful lady named Pauline, who was a Christian and very encouraging to us! Quotes from Pauline: “The greatest joy you can know is knowing Christ” and “The Christian walk is not an easy walk”. Then we also got the opportunity to talk to 4 different girl students, 2 in college and 2 in high school. It was so interesting to talk to them about how it’s about a relationship with Christ, not just going through the motions or how often you go to church, like the girls thought. It’s life-changing and purpose giving!
One other cool fact about this week: at work I’ve been able to meet a number of different adopted orphans from different countries in the kid’s camp and listen to their AMAZING stories. It was such a blessing to get to play with and give love to all of them, especially these 3 little Chinese girls who all had special needs. They were all precious and wonderful. It’s definitely been an experience that has fueled my heart for orphans around the world even more.
Week three’s theme was evangelism, and we started it off with a talk from our director, Neil Kring, on Monday night. In talking about evangelism, we were certainly challenged to remember that we are not just here at LT for ourselves, but for a mission as well! 1 Peter 1:3 says that we are born again to a living hope… if we lived that out daily, how would we act differently to our friends, family, co-workers, even ourselves? Neil’s talk revolved around the inspiring story of George Whitfield, from which we learned a lot. First, revival can happen! What an encouraging thought to remember and something that I certainly pray for on the campus of Virginia Tech. Second, the message is certainly not contained to the four walls of the church – it’s everywhere in the world. His story definitely made me ask the question “Where’s my passion?” .
On Tuesday night, we had Troy Smith, a former Virginia Tech football player who is now a pastor in Virginia Beach, come in to talk and share his story with us. He also talked about what he called “practical evangelism”: “practical”, meaning concerned with actual use, guided by experience) and “evangelism”, meaning the practice of relaying information about Christianity and who Jesus Christ is. He said that practical evangelism starts with being real and honest about who you are (in Christ) and sharing it... no matter who, what, when or where. He also said that evangelism cannot fit into a certain formula. You also won’t always have immediate results, but you never know what seeds you may sow!
On Project Day, we went and did service at Troy’s church of renovation, organization, and cleaning… including knocking out walls and throwing old AC units out the window into the dumpsters! Haha. We also had 2 hours of quiet time with God, a testimony sharing practice session split up by schools, and then evangelism on the boardwalk at Virginia Beach. We did the evangelism by doing the interviews with people like we did in Week One, and then if they gave us permission to do so, one of us sharing our testimony of faith with the people we were talking to. We went out in groups of threes, and the first person my group meet was a wonderful lady named Pauline, who was a Christian and very encouraging to us! Quotes from Pauline: “The greatest joy you can know is knowing Christ” and “The Christian walk is not an easy walk”. Then we also got the opportunity to talk to 4 different girl students, 2 in college and 2 in high school. It was so interesting to talk to them about how it’s about a relationship with Christ, not just going through the motions or how often you go to church, like the girls thought. It’s life-changing and purpose giving!
One other cool fact about this week: at work I’ve been able to meet a number of different adopted orphans from different countries in the kid’s camp and listen to their AMAZING stories. It was such a blessing to get to play with and give love to all of them, especially these 3 little Chinese girls who all had special needs. They were all precious and wonderful. It’s definitely been an experience that has fueled my heart for orphans around the world even more.
week 2 - relationships
so i'm really sorry that this blog update is completely overdue! LT and work has been keeping me so busy! I’m going to try to catch up on the last few weeks of blogging by the end of this weekend stay posted!!
as you may begin to notice, LT has a theme every week. Week 1 was fear, week two was relationships. One of my pastors from my church at Tech, Mike Swann, gave the talks, beginning with talking about David losing sight of his mission by getting too wrapped up in the "me" and the "self" and losing heart of what he was working for. On that note, he told us to be careful about making LT about something other than God.. we'll never get this kind of chance back again. He challenged us to be conscious of maybe concentrating too much on relationships (or the lack thereof) while we're here this summer. He said to use LT to get to know ourselves and God's mission for us; that's the best way to prepare yourself for a relationship anyway! He also advised that we should know what we want in a relationship BEFORE we get into one: someone who is a follower of Jesus, us both evenly yoked/similar devotion, similar mission, and taking the time to really get to know each other first.
Obviously, this theme and these talks brought up a lot for me and everyone else at LT. But in having a talk with one of my roommates for next year, I did hear some encouraging words: there is going to come a day where I find someone who is so in love with the person I am in Christ and the place I’ve found in God’s Kingdom, and that’s the person I want to be with. It was a bit of an intense week for everyone here, and this theme originally wasn’t even supposed to come that early in the summer. But, in looking back, I think we would all agree that it was really God’s timing for it to happen then because it opened up an avenue for us to work through and learn a lot of things. Sometimes when you’re walking through those toughest things or season is when the greatest things happen and you come out even closer to God.. if you’re willing to do it. :)
On Project Day we had a session on learning how to better read through the Psalms, including understanding the themes & context of each one. Then in the afternoon we had a series of talks & mini seminars about relationships as well. The first talk from Mike & Sarah Swann was similar to what they taught in the [nlcf] Dating Workshop: learning about the differences in the way men and women’s minds work and their different ways of communication, learned about the Five Love Languages, the Languages of Apology, and about better ways to deal with conflict. The 3 seminars were about personal purity, including things like physical boundaries, emotional boundaries, accountability, etc.
We also had some great conversation in Lifegroup this week, and began praying about Sarah Swann’s upcoming surgery for her blood pressure. I also got the opportunity to seek the counsel of some great friends here at LT about a lot of things that I’m learning and growing in, abnd those conversations have been so helpful. I thank God for the opportunity to be surrounded by a wonderful community of believers here at LT. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced.
as you may begin to notice, LT has a theme every week. Week 1 was fear, week two was relationships. One of my pastors from my church at Tech, Mike Swann, gave the talks, beginning with talking about David losing sight of his mission by getting too wrapped up in the "me" and the "self" and losing heart of what he was working for. On that note, he told us to be careful about making LT about something other than God.. we'll never get this kind of chance back again. He challenged us to be conscious of maybe concentrating too much on relationships (or the lack thereof) while we're here this summer. He said to use LT to get to know ourselves and God's mission for us; that's the best way to prepare yourself for a relationship anyway! He also advised that we should know what we want in a relationship BEFORE we get into one: someone who is a follower of Jesus, us both evenly yoked/similar devotion, similar mission, and taking the time to really get to know each other first.
Obviously, this theme and these talks brought up a lot for me and everyone else at LT. But in having a talk with one of my roommates for next year, I did hear some encouraging words: there is going to come a day where I find someone who is so in love with the person I am in Christ and the place I’ve found in God’s Kingdom, and that’s the person I want to be with. It was a bit of an intense week for everyone here, and this theme originally wasn’t even supposed to come that early in the summer. But, in looking back, I think we would all agree that it was really God’s timing for it to happen then because it opened up an avenue for us to work through and learn a lot of things. Sometimes when you’re walking through those toughest things or season is when the greatest things happen and you come out even closer to God.. if you’re willing to do it. :)
On Project Day we had a session on learning how to better read through the Psalms, including understanding the themes & context of each one. Then in the afternoon we had a series of talks & mini seminars about relationships as well. The first talk from Mike & Sarah Swann was similar to what they taught in the [nlcf] Dating Workshop: learning about the differences in the way men and women’s minds work and their different ways of communication, learned about the Five Love Languages, the Languages of Apology, and about better ways to deal with conflict. The 3 seminars were about personal purity, including things like physical boundaries, emotional boundaries, accountability, etc.
We also had some great conversation in Lifegroup this week, and began praying about Sarah Swann’s upcoming surgery for her blood pressure. I also got the opportunity to seek the counsel of some great friends here at LT about a lot of things that I’m learning and growing in, abnd those conversations have been so helpful. I thank God for the opportunity to be surrounded by a wonderful community of believers here at LT. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
week 1 - jumping right in!
I will not always be writing this frequently, but there is so much to update on since I didn’t start this blog until about a week and a half into LT. Here’s an update on a little of the first week of LT.
For our very first main session, Neil Kring spoke last Monday & Tuesday about our fears – about being paralyzed by them, about admitting them, about walking in faith to conquer them. He taught us that there really is no faith without fear; but, a person “after God’s own heart” needs to learn how to take those fears to God and honestly deal with them. We MUST go to God first when facing them, because we will always be disappointed when our confidence is in men. We are so used to having our needs met by people, but because of that we so rarely tell the honest truth about what’s going on because of what they might think, do, or say. With God, we can bring that raw honesty to the table without being afraid of that.
We’ve been challenged to share our fears with others in our community to not only foster that new sense of honesty amongst each other, but also so that people may help us through them and hold us accountable to facing them. If I’m truly honest, I have a huge fear that LT is going to work for me and that I won’t be in any better place at the end of the summer than I was at the beginning because I didn’t give everything my fullest. I have a fear that I will never truly mend my relationship with God to where I want to. I have a fear of letting people really know what’s going on because they may think less of me or think that I’m not qualified for any leadership. I have a fear that I will be single for the rest of my life. I have a fear of uncertainty in the future and not figuring out what God is calling me to do with my life. Now, if I’m honest again, there is some bit of rationality and irrationality in those fears, but they are still there and I am going to try my best to overcome them this summer. But already in sharing those fears with God and others here at LT, I have been so encouraged. I’ve realized that if I seek after God with my whole heart, he will not forsake me! (Psalm 9:10). I’ve realized that I need to learn to find my identity in Christ and be secure in it. Also, I must remember that people aren’t bothered by the fact that I struggle and fall sometimes, because they do too. None of us are perfect, and people aren’t going to think any less of me. And so much more.
On the second part of Neil’s talk, I was very intrigued and challenged by the idea of intentionally praying for things every single day that God has laid on my heart. There have been things in life that I have so strongly felt God leading me to or desiring, but I haven’t done anything with that. There is so much power in prayer, intentional and purposeful prayer. I want to begin daily praying about
- Using my passion for Theatre as a ministry
- My heart for orphans and my dream of running my own orphanage
- My future marriage
- My heart and call for the country of Uganda
- Whatever profession God calls me to
- My leadership role as a Christian on Virginia Tech’s campus
It would be an honor if you would join me in praying for any of these things.
Then last Thursday we had our first project day, which we started by an hour long prayer time together out of the beach, something that we plan to make a tradition of every project day. We met with people from our schools, had our first Lifegroup, did some team games with the VT students and Ball Staters, and did a workshop about how to share our testimonies, which was really cool and helpful. At the end of the day, we were sent out to the boardwalk at the beach to go do video interviews with people. In the interviews, we had to go ask people a series of five questions, including ones like “What bothers you the most about religious people?” and “Describe a moment where you have experienced God.” and “What do you think the biggest problem is in our culture today?”. It was so awesome to get out and see what people had to say, and get used to approaching people. During it, my group got the opportunity to meet this really awesome couple who shared with us about how God lead them together in their relationship and I really connected with the guy when he was telling us stories about his 18-year-long period of being single after his divorce and his relationship with his kids during it.
Well, that was the update on last week. Update on this week soon to come!
For our very first main session, Neil Kring spoke last Monday & Tuesday about our fears – about being paralyzed by them, about admitting them, about walking in faith to conquer them. He taught us that there really is no faith without fear; but, a person “after God’s own heart” needs to learn how to take those fears to God and honestly deal with them. We MUST go to God first when facing them, because we will always be disappointed when our confidence is in men. We are so used to having our needs met by people, but because of that we so rarely tell the honest truth about what’s going on because of what they might think, do, or say. With God, we can bring that raw honesty to the table without being afraid of that.
We’ve been challenged to share our fears with others in our community to not only foster that new sense of honesty amongst each other, but also so that people may help us through them and hold us accountable to facing them. If I’m truly honest, I have a huge fear that LT is going to work for me and that I won’t be in any better place at the end of the summer than I was at the beginning because I didn’t give everything my fullest. I have a fear that I will never truly mend my relationship with God to where I want to. I have a fear of letting people really know what’s going on because they may think less of me or think that I’m not qualified for any leadership. I have a fear that I will be single for the rest of my life. I have a fear of uncertainty in the future and not figuring out what God is calling me to do with my life. Now, if I’m honest again, there is some bit of rationality and irrationality in those fears, but they are still there and I am going to try my best to overcome them this summer. But already in sharing those fears with God and others here at LT, I have been so encouraged. I’ve realized that if I seek after God with my whole heart, he will not forsake me! (Psalm 9:10). I’ve realized that I need to learn to find my identity in Christ and be secure in it. Also, I must remember that people aren’t bothered by the fact that I struggle and fall sometimes, because they do too. None of us are perfect, and people aren’t going to think any less of me. And so much more.
On the second part of Neil’s talk, I was very intrigued and challenged by the idea of intentionally praying for things every single day that God has laid on my heart. There have been things in life that I have so strongly felt God leading me to or desiring, but I haven’t done anything with that. There is so much power in prayer, intentional and purposeful prayer. I want to begin daily praying about
- Using my passion for Theatre as a ministry
- My heart for orphans and my dream of running my own orphanage
- My future marriage
- My heart and call for the country of Uganda
- Whatever profession God calls me to
- My leadership role as a Christian on Virginia Tech’s campus
It would be an honor if you would join me in praying for any of these things.
Then last Thursday we had our first project day, which we started by an hour long prayer time together out of the beach, something that we plan to make a tradition of every project day. We met with people from our schools, had our first Lifegroup, did some team games with the VT students and Ball Staters, and did a workshop about how to share our testimonies, which was really cool and helpful. At the end of the day, we were sent out to the boardwalk at the beach to go do video interviews with people. In the interviews, we had to go ask people a series of five questions, including ones like “What bothers you the most about religious people?” and “Describe a moment where you have experienced God.” and “What do you think the biggest problem is in our culture today?”. It was so awesome to get out and see what people had to say, and get used to approaching people. During it, my group got the opportunity to meet this really awesome couple who shared with us about how God lead them together in their relationship and I really connected with the guy when he was telling us stories about his 18-year-long period of being single after his divorce and his relationship with his kids during it.
Well, that was the update on last week. Update on this week soon to come!
the start.
It’s amazing how clearly we can see God’s perfect timing in hindsight. I truly believe that God had his hand in me coming to LT… He had me make the decision all the way back in December, before I knew who was going or what we’d be doing or anything. At the time and all the way up to a few weeks before coming here I had no idea what I needed to work on this summer and why He wanted me to be here. But God got me here, and I am so grateful because it is right when I need it most; right at a time where I need to seek after God with even more intent and fervor than ever before. It is my prayer that my trials, my doubts, my fears, my failures will not consume me this summer, but that I will be able to turn to the Lord and feel His Presence again. I want to leave this summer with a greater faith than I have ever known before, with a fiery passion that cannot be hidden.
One of my goals for the summer is to stop putting on a false persona for people to see. All too often I put on this face for people because I think that it’s what they expect from me. But I don’t want to do that anymore. I just want to be real, open, truthful, and even transparent. I don’t want to pretend to be okay or strong even when I’m not. I want to be able to just be honest about everything, even if it’s tough stuff that I have to work through.
“The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid? …. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and seek Him in His temple. …. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. ….. Hear my voice when I call O Lord, be merciful to me and answer me. My hearts says of you ‘Seek His face!’; your face, Lord, I will seek. …..Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” - Pieces of Psalm 27
On the first night we were here, we were all silently led out to the beach where Neil, our LT director, was reading this (Psalm 27) repeatedly. Once everyone arrived, Neil explained to us further what LT exactly was and what we’d be focusing on this summer, which is the story of David and becoming a person “after God’s own heart”. Then we were challenged to spend some more time out there on the beach, and then in everything we did for the following 15 hours, just really SEEK God. In that time, I really just had this peace come over me about waiting on God for the answers for everything this summer and about letting Him reveal Himself in His own time this summer. I will rejoice in what God is doing in my life, even when it is completely beyond my understanding.
I believe that this summer God will give me the opportunity to live out Colossians 2:2-3 through LT – “My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” And I plan on giving it everything I’ve got to accomplish that this summer; I want to hold NOTHING back. My goal is to “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with God” (2 Peter 3:14).
Thus far it has been so encouraging to have daily quiet time with God intentionally in set in my day, because honestly, at school this year that didn’t happen for me. I let everything come before God because everything else had a deadline or a due date, and I could just work things through with God later… but that isn’t true! I can’t go another second without God and truly be complete.
We’ll see what happens with the rest of LT! :)
One of my goals for the summer is to stop putting on a false persona for people to see. All too often I put on this face for people because I think that it’s what they expect from me. But I don’t want to do that anymore. I just want to be real, open, truthful, and even transparent. I don’t want to pretend to be okay or strong even when I’m not. I want to be able to just be honest about everything, even if it’s tough stuff that I have to work through.
“The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid? …. One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and seek Him in His temple. …. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear. Though war break out against me, even then will I be confident. ….. Hear my voice when I call O Lord, be merciful to me and answer me. My hearts says of you ‘Seek His face!’; your face, Lord, I will seek. …..Wait for the Lord. Be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” - Pieces of Psalm 27
On the first night we were here, we were all silently led out to the beach where Neil, our LT director, was reading this (Psalm 27) repeatedly. Once everyone arrived, Neil explained to us further what LT exactly was and what we’d be focusing on this summer, which is the story of David and becoming a person “after God’s own heart”. Then we were challenged to spend some more time out there on the beach, and then in everything we did for the following 15 hours, just really SEEK God. In that time, I really just had this peace come over me about waiting on God for the answers for everything this summer and about letting Him reveal Himself in His own time this summer. I will rejoice in what God is doing in my life, even when it is completely beyond my understanding.
I believe that this summer God will give me the opportunity to live out Colossians 2:2-3 through LT – “My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” And I plan on giving it everything I’ve got to accomplish that this summer; I want to hold NOTHING back. My goal is to “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with God” (2 Peter 3:14).
Thus far it has been so encouraging to have daily quiet time with God intentionally in set in my day, because honestly, at school this year that didn’t happen for me. I let everything come before God because everything else had a deadline or a due date, and I could just work things through with God later… but that isn’t true! I can’t go another second without God and truly be complete.
We’ll see what happens with the rest of LT! :)
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
the LT basics.
Wow. I don’t even know where to start! Keep in mind if this is random it is only because I’ve never blogged before. But, I felt like this might be the best way to keep everyone updated about LT and my life.
So, for starters let’s go with the basics of my life here at LT:
- I’m living in a condo with 6 other girls, which are all wonderful. There are 3 girls from Ball State, 2 that came to LT last year – Jazz & Beka, for all you past LT-ers. There are 4 Virginia Tech girls – me, Adriana (who was my Lifegroup leader at Tech), Kristin, and Colbi (who is my bedmate!).
- My job here in Virginia Beach is working at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites North Beach, formerly known as the Holiday Inn Sunspree. It’s hectic there right now, since the entire hotel has been under complete renovation for several months and is still currently. At the Holiday Inn, I am what is known as a Recreation Attendant… but I like to call it Camp Counselor! I work at the kids day camp called “Splash Kamp” and we keep children that are 4-12 years old. Basically, it is a complimentary service for families that stay at the hotel where parents can drop off their kids for some fun! We play tons of games, make crafts, have interactive activities and run the hotel’s in house movie theater. The manager of the hotel calls us the “Hotel Cheerleaders” and told us that we were “in charge of fun.” I love my job! (Also, sometimes as a Recreation Attendant I can be assigned to be a Pool Attendant.)
- My role that I was assigned here at LT is a Lifegroup leader. I am so excited to take this role on!! This year they decided to make the Lifegroups really small and personal, only having 3 people. In my Lifegroup is LT Staffer Sarah Swann and fellow Hokie Deirdre Hunter. (I did tell the ladies in my Lifegroup that I thought it was very funny that I am the leader and I am the youngest in the group by at least 10 or more years!)
- Last, but certainly not least, let me share some of the goals that they have for everyone at LT this summer. By the end of the summer, we hope to have everyone read through all of First & Second Samuel, and all of the Psalms. (We will be following the life of David this summer.) We also hope to have quiet time every day, memorize 4 full psalms, read the book The Life of David by AW Pink, take a gifts assessment, learn how to communicate the Gospel, share the Gospel with someone, develop friendships with coworkers & invite them to spiritual activities with us, and to develop one personal goal for ourselves for the summer.
Well, that’s the basics. Stay tuned for the intense stuff soon to come! ;)
So, for starters let’s go with the basics of my life here at LT:
- I’m living in a condo with 6 other girls, which are all wonderful. There are 3 girls from Ball State, 2 that came to LT last year – Jazz & Beka, for all you past LT-ers. There are 4 Virginia Tech girls – me, Adriana (who was my Lifegroup leader at Tech), Kristin, and Colbi (who is my bedmate!).
- My job here in Virginia Beach is working at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites North Beach, formerly known as the Holiday Inn Sunspree. It’s hectic there right now, since the entire hotel has been under complete renovation for several months and is still currently. At the Holiday Inn, I am what is known as a Recreation Attendant… but I like to call it Camp Counselor! I work at the kids day camp called “Splash Kamp” and we keep children that are 4-12 years old. Basically, it is a complimentary service for families that stay at the hotel where parents can drop off their kids for some fun! We play tons of games, make crafts, have interactive activities and run the hotel’s in house movie theater. The manager of the hotel calls us the “Hotel Cheerleaders” and told us that we were “in charge of fun.” I love my job! (Also, sometimes as a Recreation Attendant I can be assigned to be a Pool Attendant.)
- My role that I was assigned here at LT is a Lifegroup leader. I am so excited to take this role on!! This year they decided to make the Lifegroups really small and personal, only having 3 people. In my Lifegroup is LT Staffer Sarah Swann and fellow Hokie Deirdre Hunter. (I did tell the ladies in my Lifegroup that I thought it was very funny that I am the leader and I am the youngest in the group by at least 10 or more years!)
- Last, but certainly not least, let me share some of the goals that they have for everyone at LT this summer. By the end of the summer, we hope to have everyone read through all of First & Second Samuel, and all of the Psalms. (We will be following the life of David this summer.) We also hope to have quiet time every day, memorize 4 full psalms, read the book The Life of David by AW Pink, take a gifts assessment, learn how to communicate the Gospel, share the Gospel with someone, develop friendships with coworkers & invite them to spiritual activities with us, and to develop one personal goal for ourselves for the summer.
Well, that’s the basics. Stay tuned for the intense stuff soon to come! ;)
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