Revolution Students

Last night was the launch for UPRISING, the student ministry at Revolution Church. It was an amazing night, and I was so honored to be a part of it. God really pulled everything together and outside of 87 students being there, which was an amazing number considering nothing has happened with the students specifically since July, there were about 30 adults/college-age students there who were displaying true hearts of servants. The adults and college-age students are making up the team of volunteers who will be the heart beat of Revolution Students. Every one of them dug in where needed, took initiative, and made the whole evening a huge success. From running lights, sound, Pro Presenter, to putting chairs together, laying out red carpet rounds, hanging signs, moving furniture, directing traffic, gathering the signs, WHATEVER was needed, these people rose up and did what was needed no matter what it was.

The band was rockin-!!! Thad did an awesome job of leading the band and pulling it all together. He is a gifted worship leader, and it's awesome to see when he sings out to God and leads others to do so. You could hear the students singing too, and it was beautiful to hear their voices singing out to God with the band. The other guys in the band are very talented, and they rocked the house last night!

I was really proud of Michael. His heart is in the Revolution Student Ministry, and he has been living and breathing the details of last night for the last couple of months. I'm praying that what he shared last night about finding our identity in God versus what happens when we try to find our identity according to the world will get students thinking and considering what God has in store for them.

I can't wait to see what God has in store for Revolution Students!!!

Road Trip

I am going on a road trip with my Mom next week. We will be traveling to Ohio, and stopping in SC, NC, and VA on the way. My father is buried in SC, and I have cousins in NC. We are visiting one of my Mom's best friends in VA, and we will spend several days there. I'm looking forward to spending some time in D.C. during this part of the trip. My Mom and Dad met in D.C., and my brother and I were born there, well I was born in Maryland. I am looking forward to my Mom showing me the places that we significant to her and my Dad when they lived there. After spending time there we are heading to visit my Aunt and Uncle in Ohio and spending a few days there, then heading home.

I am looking forward to spending this time with my Mom. We only live about 90 minutes away from each other, but sometimes it seems like it might as well be another state.

Mom took my brother and me on many road trips when we were growing up. We would go visit my Grandmother in SC at least a couple of times a year - always on Christmas. I remember that Mom would tell my Grandmother to be expecting us around a certain time (this was all before cell phones), and we'd always get a late start, and we'd always be speeding to get to Grandmommy's house close to the time we said so she wouldn't worry. Mom never got a speeding ticket during all these high-speed quests to get to Grandmommy's.

My Grandmother died when I was 14, and we, of course, got a late start to get to her funeral, and Mom finally got a speeding ticket on our way to SC. We laughed about it saying that Grandmommy must have had something to do with it, now that she was in heaven and could see how Mom had driven all those times to her house. That doesn't seem so funny now, but with the grief we were experiencing at the loss of such a special person in our lives, I guess we were looking for anything to smile about.

I remember always wanting to be the first one to the door to greet Grandmommy once we arrived at her house. She had such a loving way about her that always made me feel special. I will always cherish those times we spent at her house, especially the many Christmas mornings.

not just another jog in the park

So yesterday I went for a run at Bolling Park behind Cherokee High School (CHS). I was looking forward to the run even though I was going during the heat of the day - around 2:00. Bolling Park has a gravel trail, which I like a lot. As I was rounding the corner of my 2nd mile, about 70 Freshmen from a CHS P.E. class showed up to run two laps around the shorter track. Talk about bringing back some mortifying memories for me and the time I spent in P.E. at Towers High School. I did not like P.E. I hated dressing out. Here's a list of memories:

• I got a new pair of leather Tiger Asics (which were very cool back in the 80's) and they got stolen from the locker room.
• Square dancing in the gym - not fun - and the mortification of who we'd get paired up with still rings in my memory. And trying not to look like a complete dork while square dancing in a gym, which was pretty much impossible no matter how cool you were.
  
• Fitness tests - ugh! Especially when I was not so fit back then. I twirled baton and took dance classes, but I was not so much athletic, and I was always 10-20 pounds overweight, so I was not very good at any one thing on these tests, especially running. I was always in the back of the pack.
• Having to run either 1/2 mile or a mile and one of my friends, who was in worse shape than me, was going to finish last, and I was a few people in front of her, and I slowed down so she wouldn't have to finish last. That could have been a growing moment for me now that I look back at it. I didn't want to finish last, but I didn't want her to finish last alone.
• Dressing out - talk about uncomfortable - 30 girls of all different shapes and sizes and all different levels of self confidence. Not a good memory.
• Coming up with excuses not to dress out - that time of the month was a good one that always worked on male coaches, not so much on the female coaches. Stomach aches, twisted ankle. I don't know if I ever made an A in P.E. I could have, but I'm pretty sure I dissed dressing out enough times that it came closer to a low B or C. Duh!
• Being overweight in high school was never much fun, but somehow P.E. just put a spot light on those who were not in the best shape and not very confident.

Of course now, I wish I had taken advantage of P.E. and been motivated by it instead of traumatized by it.

list from the loft

• we are loving life at the loft
• we have these two huge windows in the main room that go almost from floor to ceiling on a 15 or more foot tall wall
• Michael's parents came over yesterday to get some of the stuff they will be storing for us, and they helped us get our bed up into the loft - HUGE help!!!
• It was a little tricky getting the bed up there, but it turned out being easier than we thought it would be
• we slept in the loft last night for the first time, and our dog Tabor does not like the spiral stair case, so he slept downstairs by himself. I'm not sure how much he slept. At one point during the night he was wining/howling. We will try to train him to go up the stairs.
• the community here at the loft apartments is very interesting and seems to be a huge mix of people. We have nick names for some of the people we see on a regular basis but haven't really met yet. Some people are more approachable than others.
  
• This morning while Michael was leaving for Revolution and I was taking Tabor out for his morning business, we met a guy who is the lead electric guitarist for Mount Paran Church of God. He lives at the very end of our hall.
• There's a single mom with two boys who live on one side of us, and two young dudes, probably around 20 years old who live on the other side of us.
• The lofts are surprisingly quiet, and we really do not hear much outside noise at all when we are inside our apartment.
• We saw two guys who were obviously about to fight each other Friday night while we were coming back in from taking Tabor out. They were standing right in front of the window of the apartment we almost moved into when we first started looking here. I'm so glad Michael said he wanted to check out apartments on the top floor to see what they'd be like. In front of that window is where a group of people hang out all the time.
  
• There are a lot of people who have dogs here.
• Dollar Tree, Gold's Gym, and Johnny's Pizza are right across from our apartment. Hot-z came over Friday and we went to lunch, and she drove. We had not decided where we would eat before we left, but we ended up at Johnny's Pizza, and we realized we could have walked there.
• It takes about 3 minutes to get to church from here, which is where I have to get ready to go to, so I guess this list is done.

Peace out!

less is more, but will it be enough?

The move is almost over. Just some miscellaneous stuff left at the ranch that we are going to get today. I am now sitting in my new loft apartment, which is so cool. The majority of the stuff we moved is sitting in boxes around me, and it still seems like a ton of stuff, even though we probably gave 1/3 of what we had away, trashed another 1/3 of it, and 1/3 of it still remains in our possession. We are giving ourselves 30 days to unpack completely, and if it doesn't end up having a place in our apartment after 30 days, we are seriously considering getting rid of it, even though we brought it here.

It was a truly freeing experience to get rid of so much stuff and to know i no longer have to deal with it. I hope that I have learned something through this that will last a lifetime - be happy with what you have already. Getting the next best greatest thing isn't going to make my life any better, and in fact, it could end up having more of a negative affect on me when I'm over it and have to find something to do with it.

These next years of my life I want to find fulfillment in doing things that God wants me to do. I know that will be enough - more than enough!

the time is now!!!

Today is moving day! We are in the throws of packing, trashing, donating, and moving. We are downsizing again - this time for real! But it still feels like we have too much stuff. We have been inspired by the show on TLC called "Clean Sweep" and are making huge strides in redefining what is important to us, but I feel like once we get in our apartment, we are going to have to do it again. We have given thousands of dollars of stuff away and thrown just as much away, and I am flabbergasted by the amount of money we have spent on stuff. The little addictions and fads of things that are no longer important to me is crazy!!! It's sorda embarrassing to think about what they all were - beanie babies, cross stitching, scrap booking, rubber stamping, and it goes on. Not that there is anything wrong with any of those things, but I guess I have a tendency to go overboard when I get hooked on something.

Well, it's a new day and a new start and a new perspective.

Back to the moving!

Peace out!

gutsy

So the thing I referenced that happened at Fuse at NewSpring Church was this. Their middle school and high school students used to meet separately; now they meet together on Wednesday nights. As you could imagine, this probably didn't go over well with the high schoolers - you know, having to meet with those goofy middle school kids. Well, at Fuse this past Wednesday, they showed a video of some of their middle school students sharing their opinions about how they are treated by the high school students, and the high school students shared their opinions about how they felt and even how they should probably step it up and be a better example of Christ to the middle school students. I thought that was a pretty gutsy video. It seemed to me that it would be eye opening to those students who are really trying to live for God. It's so easy to get caught up in your own little world and make life all about you. I'm guilty of it myself. Do I have the guts to ask God to reveal to me the ways I am doing that currently? Dangit! I hate when I have revelations like this. Now I'll have to ask.

It's been a pretty laid-back weekend so far, but tomorrow will be crazed. Taking Michael to church at 7:00 then coming back to the ranch, then going back to church at 9:50, then eating on the go, then bringing the boys back to the ranch, then heading to Woodstock to meet friends to ride together to a meeting in Acworth, then being picked up by Michael and other friends to go check out the youth ministry at West Ridge in Paulding. Funny that we lived right up the street from West Ridge when we lived in Dallas, but I have never been to anything they have ever done. So tomorrow will be my first West Ridge experience.