Be Brave

No more cowardly lion here
Because we have nothing to fear.
We just kept swimming like Dora
And now we have the world before us.

Who knows what will happen next
Every day is a brand new day.
Sometimes I am still perplexed
But I am following God's way.

We flex and say grrrr
To show how brave we are.
The lion in us comes out
and we yell roar!!!

So live your dream
Don't let anyone tell you no.
A hard thing it may seem
But you still better go!

Hum de dum dum la la la...grrrrrr!!!!!

(song dedicated to Lauren for being brave)

The End of Harry Potter

Check out the cover for the last Harry Potter book that comes out this summer. It is really going to be over. Sad!

Washin' Clothes for Jesus

Last night our campus ministry group held a Free Laundry Night at the community center where we usually have our Bible study each week. It was an idea of Vernon's that he had a few months ago and I thought it went really well.

The only way I advertised was putting up a few flyer's around the campus apartment complex and then yesterday morning I sent out a campus wide email saying what it was. I got a few phone calls but really had no idea what our turn out would be. We probably, by the end of the night, had 25-30 people come through and do their laundry. All we provided was quarters and they did their laundry on their own. We also had a movie playing with pizza and drinks . I can think of about 8 different nationalities that came through and they were all so friendly and grateful.

The question of the night was "so why are you doing this?" The first time I got asked this I probably did not give the best answer, but as the night went on I got better. I usually told people that we were the Rocky Mountain Campus Ministry, a Christian group on campus. I said we always met there on Tuesday nights for dinner and a Bible study, but we were doing this as a way to serve students and as a way for us to meet new students . It was a great advertisement for us, but more importantly we were serving the students which is one of our main purposes. There was no preaching, Bible beating, or baptizing, just hanging out and letting them know we are here. I told some of them about our study each week and them seemed interested so we will see what happens.

We were there from before 6pm until 10pm, and when we left there were still people doing their laundry on our quarters. As I drove home I could not stop smiling because I was so pleased with how our night went and I thanked God for working through us. I really have no idea what they thought of us or if we will see any of them again, but I really felt like God was using my talents. I get such a high from serving God in a way that I am good at. Yeah, I can sit behind a desk and help run an office, but God really made me to work with people and build relationships with them in order to lead them into a relationship with him. What an honor!

So the moral of the story is, if you want to meet new people, buy them off by offering free food and quarters for laundry. Then everyone will like you! Haha! : )

Goodbye

Yesterday my brother sent me this link about the Texans' David Carr and how it looks like he will soon be leaving Houston and be replaced by Matt Schaub of the Falcons. Because of this news I felt like a song was in order to help Houston say goodbye to our quarterback.

You are so beautiful to me
But you are not a great QB.
You will never get us to a Super Bowl
With you we are always in the hole.

Your best skill is to be sacked
And interceptions are never lacked.
I really liked you in the beginning
Until I saw we were never winning.

I wish you well with your new team
Hopefully they can keep you from being creamed.
All of this is not your fault
But now I hope it will come to a halt.

You were the Texans' first star
And we all cheered for you Carr.
Your pretty face will be missed
But now you are on someone else's list.

Goodbye Carr!

One Month and Counting

Happy Birthday to me in one month from today! Yup that's right. In one month I will be turning the ripe old age of 23. For some strange reason I have not been wanting to turn 23. Not because I actually think its old, but I just don't like the sound of that number and would rather skip on to 24. Maybe it's because of the Blink 182 song "What's My Age Again" that has a line in it that says "Nobody likes you when you're 23." Or maybe it's because of that creepy Jim Carrey movie 23 that just came out. I don't know but hopefully 23 won't be too bad.

Maybe another reason I am not excited about this birthday is because I am not expecting that great of a birthday. I won't be able to be with my family or my best friends, which is usually my favorite thing to do on my birthday. Also, probably most people where I am living now won't even know it's my birthday, and I have not decided whether I am going to tell everyone or keep it to myself. I'm actually ok with not having an exciting birthday because most of my birthdays my entire life have been pretty awesome, so I think I can handle a not-so-great one this year. It's only my 23rd. Not that big of a deal.

Movie Mixup

Friday night, after physical therapy, all I wanted to do was go home, eat dinner and watch a movie. So I stopped by Blockbuster on my way and searched for the perfect movies. I seriously had about 6 in my hands at one point and then I narrowed it down to two. I really like to watch old movies, with actors like Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, or Audrey Hepburn. My favorites are usually Hitchcock films. I love that he is in all of his movies, with his super famous profile, and I love searching for him. So anyways, this night I rented "Notorious" and "Soylent Green" and I headed home for some good movies and leftovers.

I settled in to watch my movies, and started with Notorious. I watched a few minutes and realized that I had already seen it. I made sure that I was not just having deja vu or something, but I knew that this one one Hitchcock film that I had already seen. I debated driving back to Blockbuster to exchange it but decided I was too tired. So I put in Soylent Green and started to watch it. Once again, a few minutes into it, I realized I had already seen it too!!! How stupid is that! I was so annoyed with myself that I could rent two movies in one night that I had already seen.

I knew the window of time that I would be able to fix my goofy mistake was small so I quickly called up Blockbuster and shamefully explained the situation. They said they would do it this once so I jumped in my car and drove back. When I got to the store they said they remembered me and I could go exchange my movies for two other ones. So I went through and found the six others that I was looking at and after debating on whether I had seen "Dial M for Murder" or not I decided on "The Birds" (a Hitchcock classic) and "All The President's Men." I haven't watched them yet but I am quite excited to once it gets dark outside.

As this was happening, I could not figure out how I could rent two movies that I had already seen and not realize it until I got home and started them. It has probably only been a year since I have seen "Notorious"and I remember seeing movies a lot longer than that. I do not think that it was because I didn't like them, because I like most movies. It made me wonder if I was watching too many movies and I could not keep up with them all. Is there such thing as watching too many movies? I guess if all you did was lie on the couch and watch movies 24/7 then it would be too many, but do I watch too many movies? I LOVE movies! So, I think until I have seen every movie worth seeing (and some not worth) then I have not seen too many movies. I still cannot remember if I have seen "Dial M for Murder" or not though. Maybe it's a memory problem...

Aren't those pictures at the top pretty! That is what the sky in Golden looked like that night. So cool! I really think I should invest in a tripod though because my porch railing and some books can only get me so far.

All By Myself

Alone, Alone, Alone
No one even on the phone.

I need someone to talk to
Come visit and it can be you.

Work is boring with no chatter
It makes me sadder and sadder.

I really like to talk and laugh
Being by myself is as bad as doing math.

I should get better at hanging just with me
Uh oh, I think I gotta go pee.

So I hope I will see you later
Do you think I should be a waiter?

Hum de dum, dum, dum, deedle do!

SING ALONG WITH ME!!! : )

Heavenly Thoughts

I went as a sponsor on a Junior High retreat this weekend with the kids from my church and had an amazing time. I got to hang out with the kids that I love so much and enjoy the beauty of God's mountains. After one of our meals I was sitting with some of the other sponsors and we started talking about what heaven might be like. I love thinking about this, because it is so unknown to us and I can let my imagination run wild! Some descriptions I have heard are streets of gold, no tears, signing praises to God, every knee shall bow, seeing Christ seated at the right hand of God, angels, and no fear or sadness.

There are not many scriptures that actually describe what Heaven will be like but one in Revelation 21 (NLT) says "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”

Exactly what all of this means I have no idea but it is a pretty cool description. I love that it says "there will be no more death and sorrow." I cannot even imagine what life would be like that, and I have a pretty good life. I think what confuses me about this verse is where it says a "new heaven and new earth." I don't understand that but I hope it does not mean that we will not remember the things of this earth because there are some pretty good things on this earth that I want to remember. Things like my friends and family, the mountains, funny memories, and how ice cream tastes. But will we be able to remember these things without remembering the bad things of our life too? I know that Heaven will be amazing and perfect and I will never be sad, but it makes me sad now to think that I might not recognize people. It is such a peaceful thing in this life to think that we will be reunited with the people who have died in Heaven someday. So, I guess I don't know how it will work, but I really believe in some form we will know each other and be able to cry tears of joy to celebrate our freedom in Christ together in Heaven. That is so beautiful.

Another thing about Heaven that scares me is the word "forever." The more I think about that word the less I understand it and that is how long we will be in Heaven. Woah! How does that work? That is a crazy good, but crazy scary thought. I think it is scary because it is incomprehensible to our minds and we don't really know what to do with it. But the truth of it is that God does not measure things by time. Just like God has always been, with no beginning or end, that is how Heaven will be. So, the word "forever" is something I try not to think about because I don't want to be scared of Heaven.

I think one of the most exciting things to me about Heaven is that I will get to sit at God and Jesus' feet and talk to them for as long as I want to about what really happened to Satan, how was it for Christ on earth to resist all temptation, ask God if he can lie, and tell him he did an amazing job creating the earth. I want to thank them both (or whatever) for dying for me and for letting me live such a great life for them. I also want to talk to Paul about the work that he did on earth and hear his cool stories about ship wrecks and angels in prison. Then I will move on to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and see how they feel about being the fathers of 3 different religions. I want to see Samson and ask him how it felt to be so strong, and hear from Jonah what the inside of that fish was like. I want to tell Adam and Eve that I forgive them for messing up because they really get a bad deal being the first people and all. I want to hear Ester's story about how she saved her people from death and how cool it is to be such a famous woman in the Bible. I know there are so many other people in the history of the world that I will want to talk to also and that will definitely take up a lot of that forever time.

Road Trip Extravaganza!!!!

My bff, Lauren, and I are planning a little road trip together. As long as we have known each other we have never taken, what I would consider, a real trip together. Yes we went on youth group trips and we drove between Abilene and Houston more times than I can count, but never have we taken a sight seeing, adventure finding, memory making, travel extravaganza. We came very close to taking a trip to NYC but it fell through. So, I decided we need to right this wrong and take a trip together.

Living in Colorado, I am probably closer to Yellowstone National Park than I have ever been and ever will be so that is where we are going. Our plan is to take this trip in early September after the summer craziness has died down. Lauren will meet me in Denver and our adventure will begin. But just so you know, this trip is not limited to Lauren and I so if anyone else would like to join in on our little excursion please let me know. I can ensure lots of laughing and doing of stupid things.

I am writing this blog to see if anyone has any advice about a trip to Yellowstone. If you have ever been there or know anyone who has been there let me know. It always happens when you go on a trip that you miss something really cool or spend lots of time seeing something crappy and you think "man I wish someone had told me that." So here is your oppertunity! Thanks!

Blessings and Curses

So maybe I am just stupid but medical insurance is confusing the crap out of me! I had to call my dad last night and have him walk me through it all so I could even half way understand. I keep getting these bills in the mail and they have a million different columns with a million different numbers in them that do not add up to me. Then there is my insurance website that is constantly sending me emails about my claims coming through and that just means more crazy numbers and more crazy columns. Woah! Normally my naive, trusting self would not even look at the website and just pay my bills as they come, but I was warned that medical bills are sneaky and usually incorrect and I might end up paying more than I need to. So I dove into all the curses of dealing with an expensive injury and it kinda feels like drowning.

On the other hand I praise God that I even have medical insurance, because otherwise I might be living in a cardboard box on the street right now. Did you know that my surgery alone (anesthesiology not included) cost $19,000!!!!!!!!! Holy cow its just a few little cuts in my knee! I could not believe it. But, because I do have medical insurance I am not paying even a fourth of that amount. Its a pretty amazing deal, even if it is confusing. I remember when I got off of my parents insurance, I thought about not getting any because I never get hurt. I am SO glad that I did! As much as I wish they could make it easier to know what it all means, I feel blessed that I have insurance, columns and numbers and all.

A lesson to anyone reading this is that you need medical insurance. You do not need a super low deductible (look at me using insurance terminology) but just get anything so that if you have something serious happen you do not have to live on the street as you recover from surgery. Because trust me, I never thought something like this would happen to me, but I have learned so much because of it. Maybe someday I will even understand what is actually going on with these insurance people...but probably not.