What my summer could look like if i devoted it to helping those who need it

I actually have a really nice opportunity to volunteer at the Parish School in their Caruth Center which is a physical and occupational therapy center for kids. I learned about this opportunity on community service day when we went to the Parish School to volunteer. they gave us a tour of the entire Caruth Center and i met a few of the ladies that worked there. i am really interested in Physical and Occupational therapy and i love kids. i would love to help these kids and do something i love. i have been thinking of contacting them and asking them if i could volunteer there, but school has been so busy. summer would be a great time to take advantage of this opportunity. also by doing this i would be using my summer wisely and not wasting it.

My Summer

I am so excited for my summer! the first part of my summer (5 weeks to be exact) will be spent at camp Mystic. I am going to be a counselor for the whole month of June. this will be my 11th year at camp and i will be in Wiggle Inn with the first year campers. I will also be a life guard and teaching swimming, aerobics, beauty inside and out, and dance. i can't wait to build new relationships with younger girls and grow closer to God.
The second part of my summer will be spent with my friends and family, hanging out and doing fun stuff. I plan on spending as much time with all of my closest friends as possible because my best friend Loren is going to Africa for like 10 months and my boy friend is going to Michigan for college, 1300 miles away. i have to cherish the time i have with all of my friends because this is the last summer we will all be in one place.
a normal day will look like this: wake up at about 11 or 12, eat lunch/breakfast, call Loren or Allie or Cullen, or all three to make plans for the day, work out/go swimming, shower/get dressed, go out with friends, come home around 12:30 am, sleep, repeat.
also this summer i will be getting ready to start my life at Baylor University! so i will be attending orientation and line camp and getting my classes set up. also i will be shopping for dorm stuff and books. i can't wait for college!!!!!!!!!!!

Bringing the Gospel Home: Witnessing to Family members, Close Friends, and Others Who Know You Well

I know I don't share the Gospel enough with those i know. but i do however talk about God. I think this is because everyone that is close to me is a Christian. I may not share my faith with my friends and family but i do encourage them in the lord and discuss things that are related to religion and God. For example, I talk with my boyfriend frequently about revelation and what we both think will happen regarding the second coming of Christ. we also talk about forgiveness of our sins and we encourage each other with reassuring words from the Bible when we are stressed or sad. I do the same thing with my friends, but i don't really do this with my mom and dad. the last time i talked about who Jesus was was in september with a young child at Champions. she was so cute and i asked her if she knew Jesus as her friend, and she said yes. we talked about who he was and what he meant to us in our lives. i also recently talked to my best friend Clare about what she believed, because it is different from what most Christians believe. I told her what i believed and we discussed why we believed what we believed. this happened in february and it was an interesting ad unique experience.

Celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden--Should We?

Should we be having parties in celebration of someone's death? in Osama Bib Laden's death? From an American perspective, maybe yes, from a christian perspective, definitely no. what if you are both? what do you do? i think it is appropriate as an American Christian (not saying that all Americans are Christians by any means) to be relieved that Osama Bin Laden has been killed, but it is not ok to be elated and rejoicing in his murder. this goes against may principles in the christian belief system. we, as American Christians should be relieved that our military's hard work has paid off and that the lives of many military men have not been wasted. also as Christians we know that we should not "rejoice when your enemies fall; don't be happy when they stumble. for the lord will be displeased with you and will turn his anger away from them." this knowledge makes me fearful of what is to come...

Panhandeling Dilemma

It's always so awkward when you're in your nice car at an intersection of a busy street and a homeless person is staring right at you with his sign proclaiming his poverty. i never know what to do!! what runs through my head is this: is he really homeless? does he have a family? did he lose his job b/c of the economy? is he hungry? is he lying to everyone? is that a cell phone he's pulling out of his pocket? will he use the money i give him for drugs? or food? should i even make eye contact with him? is it rude to ignore him? i mean he's a person too, even though he is poor and awkward...im sure he wouldn't like to be ignored...
things i would like to include in homeless person packages: a small piece of paper with a bible verse on it to encourage them, gum that is good for your teeth, a protein bar (low calorie but high in vitamins ect), V8, sanitizing wipes, deodorant to go, "wisps" which are like to-go tooth brushes, and some sort of cleansing face wipes.

Radical video review

My personal opinion of the Radical videos is that they are boring and too long. they are very informational and helpful, but they do not hold my attention. i think he talks kind of funny, and that is distracting when i am actually trying to pay attention. I think he tries to make things too dramatic in order to catch the audience's attention, but i think its over the top. I think it's neat though, that he is so young and has his own church and that he is expecting such amazing things out of people instead of being conventional and ordinary.
I feel these videos of sermons are not benefiting my spiritual life. i can get the same effect in church, and i do, every sunday, so that is why i think these videos do not hold my attention. It would be much more beneficial to help other people and actually do mission work than to watch videos that are mostly about how rich people can't go to heaven. also they are too long, so the speaker loses my attention quickly. i do feel i benefited from one of his sermons. the one about his friend's last sermon was really impactful because his friend's words were so inspiring.
i think he does a good job at preaching, but i don't feel like this class should be about being preached at everyday. that is why i am not interested in these videos. they get old after a while. i do, however, appreciate that he is young with new ideas and new styles of teaching and not old ways of presenting material. the logo of Radical is appealing and fresh, which is a good change of pace from plain and boring.

Radical Urgency

In your life right now, what is most "urgent and pressing"?
In my life, my future is most urgent right now. specifically my relationships in the future with my friends, my boyfriend, and my family. Going away to college puts lots of stress on the relationships in my life. My best friend is going to Africa, none of my really close friends are going to Baylor, my boyfriend will be 1000 miles away in Michigan, and i will be very separated from my family who i am so dependent on. going away to college is like the end of an era, and its something i have been thinking about lately: i will be much more independent, something i am not used to, i will not have close friends anywhere near by to keep me sane and in a good mood all the time, and my boyfriend who makes me so happy will not be anywhere near me until next thanksgiving break. I am basically starting anew, and its stressing me out, because im pretty happy with where i am now.
How have your career plans and personal life schedule taken on an urgent status in your life?
My career plans have taken an urgent status in my life because i will soon start preping for my career, so i need to start thinking about what would be best for my major and what would be most beneficial to my life and my future family and career. also my social life has become more inportant because i am a senior and i am trying to have as much fun as possible with as many of my friends
How is that unhealthy?
because i fail to live in the moment and sieze the day because i am too worried with my school work, my future and my relationships.
There is little urgency to reap harvest. there is little urgency to share the gospel truth with others. How can this be the case?
we can not see the reality of the harvest, so we don't seem to care. it is hard for us to see something not tangible, so we are not radically urgent about it.
What must we do to change this?
we must pray to God to let us see the radical urgency of reaping the harvest over the importance of our own lives and life plans.

Radical blog 3

When you understand that the Gospel demands radical compassion, what does radical compassion mean to you and for your life?
It means that we should have radical compassion in our lives instead of being passive about stuff. Radical compassion means to have so much compassion that it makes others pale in comparison because this kind of compassion is from God. it means to put others before yourself in all things you do. it means that people should know you are different by how much you care for others. they should be able to say "there is something different about the way she treats people." it means that we should love people the way Jesus loved people and do things for them that will make them happy. it also means that we should tell them about Jesus in order to save their souls from going to hell. because that is what it means to truly love people and love their souls, you try and save them from hell even when you don't know them, because everyone deserves to know about Jesus and go to heaven instead of hell.

Kyle Lake's Last Sermon

"Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breath in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now."
This is my favorite excerpt from his sermon because as a senior in high school I am looking forward so much to going to college and to my future, but at the same time i need to have fun with where i am now. i have so much to be thankful for and so much to enjoy right now, such as a loving family, great friends, and a great boyfriend. Also it's like life is moving so so fast, and im NOT Breathing and pausing to smell the roses.

"If you bike, pedal HARD...and if you crash, crash well."
I like this excerpt a lot because not long ago i rode my bike and crashed HARD. I received 2 bruises and a scrape on my knee. to me, this piece of advice means give everything your all, put all of your best efforts into everything you do, and don't regret any of it, and if you mess up (which i do a lot) don't be afraid to accept the fact that you are not perfect. now that i think about it, i don't regret riding my bike that day at all, even though i crashed and it hurt (and i still have the 2 bruises almost 4 weeks later). It was fun because i did something out of the ordinary and i was adventurous and i gave it my best efforts.

"At a family with friends and family, LAUGH"
this is influential to me because i LOVE to laugh, i will laugh at anything because it brings myself, and others, happiness. also it reminds me of how i need to be in the moment and love/enjoy where i am now.

"Taste every ounce of life. Because it is most definitely a gift."
sometimes we pass through this life and don't know what happened. we should always be attentive and perceptive, taking in all around us and enjoying every moment. we are way too busy for our own good. in college i am not getting nearly as involved in stuff as i am now in high school. it's nice to do stuff at school and be involoved, but not to the point where life is moving too fast and we are going going going non-stop! this causes us to not relax and be happy.

Radical blog 1

!. Do i want satisfaction without sacrifice? Because i am lazy, satisfaction without sacrifice would be the easy thing to do, but i know that true satisfaction comes from hardship and sacrifice, so i want to be truly satisfied by sacrificing my life for Jesus.
2. What are we willing to give up to get true, abundant satisfaction? we are willing to give up time, which would be devoted to the word, and we would give up the mainstream teenage living. we would also give up our lives to Jesus so he can provide us with true happiness.
3. If Jesus requires all of us to relinquish all our lives in pursuit of His glory and desires, how do their lives change in terms of priorities?
their priorities are as follows: 1. God. God is THE ONLY priority.
What should be the center of our lives?
God. with him as the center, we will love others correctly and other things in life will be well organized the way they should be.
4. If we are dead to ourselves. who makes the decisions in our lives?
We give Jesus the control, and we have no control. He makes all the decisions in our lives.
5. Should we seek Christ in decisions such as where we go to college, what we wear, what we eat ect.? Why does it matter? What would that look like? We should not only seek him, we should let him make the choices for us. we should listen to the spirit as it is talking to us and telling us what we should do. it matters because he knows what is best for us, so we should listen to him. this would require lots of prayer and listening to the spirit. it would also require time in the word so we know what our guidelines for things like clothing are.
6. How do your attitudes toward our possessions reflect our relationship with Christ and our desire for His mission? How would our lives look if we sought to glorify Christ in the way we purchase and obtain possessions? Our attitude towards our possessions tells us where our hearts are. if we are obsessed with our stuff, then we can not love God with our whole hearts. our relationship with God is lacking if we are obsessed with our stuff.
7. What does it mean to carry your cross as a disciple of Christ? Are you living your life this way? to carry our cross means to live the life of Christ everyday. we are to live as Jesus did and try to do what Jesus did.
8. Will Jesus be your supreme joy, or will you forsake him for the fleeting pleasures of this world? Sometimes it is hard, but i will chose Jesus to be the supreme joy in my life

THe American Dream

How is your personal dream for the rest of your life similar to and different than the American Dream?
My dream is somewhat similar to the American Dream. The American Dream is like wanting a better life than what you already have or wanting to be successful. My dream is to be a successful sports physical therapist or a pediatric occupational therapist. I also want to be married someday (after I have started my career) and have a family in a nice house. I don't aspire to be super rich and live in a mansion and have tons of maids, but I hope to use my talents God has given me to help others through physical or occupational therapy. My real dream is to help heal those who need healing and help children because i have a passion for them. then i also have aspirations other than that; such as to be married and have a family and be happy.

Stewardship: God Gives

How is the stewardship of our time talent, and treasure related to the character and glory of God?
Jesus used all of his time talent and treasure to serve others while He was here on earth, so we should use all of our God-given time talent and treasure to serve others in His name.
What is the ultimate purpose of the spiritual gifts and treasure that God has given you?
The ultimate purposes for the God-given talents that we all have is to serve God and show others God's love with what we do with the rest of our lives. I should (and am trying) to base my future on what would serve and glorify God.
What is the difference between the Old Testament tithe and stewardship?
Tithe was required, and stewardship is encouraged.
How does the way you view and use your money reflect the condition of your heart?
What ever you love the most, you will spend your time talent and treasure on. I love dance, and I spend a WHOLE lot of time talent and treasure on dance. What you love in your heart of hearts will be reflected in your life with what you spend your time talent and treasure on. If you love money, you will pend your time getting money, you will exploit you talents to get money, and you will sacrifice your treasures for money.
How has tour view of money been challenged by this chapter?
I never though about how God gives us the money we have. God gives us the talents that earn us money. We cannot get it with out him, and He will only let us have it if He wants us to. I always thought it depended on how hard you work ect.
What does stewardship reveal about who or what you worship?
What ever or who ever your serve is obviously what your cherish or love the most. If you are a servant of money, then you worship money.
How are you using your time, talent and treasure? Do you need to repent and grow?

Stewardship: God Gives

How is God's view of money different from our view of money in our culture?
God views money as something that tests us. It can be a good thing, or it can be something that distracts us from Him. God will take care of us whether we have money or not, so money is not important to God. God does not love us based on how much money we have, yet that is sometimes how we as sinful humans base our standards of love on. We tend to make friends that are in the same tax bracket as we are or maybe one above, but we look down on those who are poorer than we are, or we pity them for not having money. With God it's the opposite. He pities those who are obsessed with money and getting more money. This is not to say that God pities all rich people, but he pities the rich who do not use their money wisely, because God gave them the gifts that accrued their wealth.

What is stewardship and how is it related to the character of God?
Stewardship is serving others over yourself in God's name. It is related to the character of God because God serves us all the time. Jesus spent half his life being a steward. He helped others constantly; He healed the sick, the blind, He fed 5,000 people, He raised the dead and so much more.

How is stewardship a response of worship?
In response to God's love, we should love others like He loves us. We should love others for God's sake. We may be the only bible that some people see, so we should love others and serve them because that's what God and Jesus did.

Francis Chan Questions

Francis Chan asked some really good, life altering, game changing questions in his sermon that he gave at Bethlehem Baptist. He asked questions like "do you think your spiritual reputation matches the truth in God's eyes?" and "are you lukewarm?". To answer the first question, to be honest, I don't really know the answer. I'm not sure what exactly I am projecting about my spiritual life to the outside world. I don't act like I have it all together spiritually, and on the inside, I don't have it all together. Also I don't think about how I want people to perceive me, I just act like myself, so I don't think I am sending a false message. On the other hand, I have a lot of knowledge about the bible, so it may seem like I know it all, but God knows, I don't know everything about the bible, and Christianity. To answer the second question, I don't think I'm lukewarm, the way Francis Chan explained it. I do believe in God and I don't fake that I believe or don't believe anything. I do however go through low points in my spiritual excitement, and I don't pretend that I don't have low points.

MEW-Love Houston

Missions Emphasis Week is about how we can live missionaly in our lives, in the community and in the school. it is similar to Spiritual Emphasis Week where we have chapel everyday, except on the last day we go out in the community and do community service as representatives of the school. I thought the theme of Missions Emphasis Week, Love Houston, was ok. I don't really like Houston, so it was weird to LOVE Houston, but the point taken was that we should love the people in our community, which I liked. My favorite part was the band, the Robbie Seay Band, they are awesome, so it made my worship much better than normal. I didn't really feel that much more encouraged to love my community though, when the week was over. My experience at The Parish School was incredible. the school and their mission was so amazing and impressive and interesting that i am going to volunteer there starting after spring break because they have occupational therapy for kids at the school, and that is what i want to do with my life. it was frustrating for me that we had chapel everyday because not all the chapel talks were interesting, especially chap z's talk.

Teen role models

According to the article "Teen Role Models: Who They Are, Why They Matter" teenagers are more likely to pick people to be role models who they know closely, such as parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Secondly, teens pick pastors, coaches, teacher, and church members. Thirdly teens chose famous people such as Bill Gates, Britney Spears, and Barack Obama. Teens are the most likely to chose people they know well because they know their characteristics and they also support the teens. My role model is Tweety Eastland. She is the owner of the camp I attend, and she is my role model because she is the sweetest, most Godly woman I know, and I want to be just like her. She has a compassionate heart for younger girls like me and she is so supportive of me and my friends that go to camp with me. You can see how close she is to God and I truly admire it, and I want the same kind of life that she has. She has the perfect marriage and the perfect family. He is also very sweet and polite and she is such a lady.

Community Service Day

Schools:
The Parish School is a great institution to work at because they help kids with learning disabilities and they are always in need of an extra hand. They also help kids with social disorders such as autism. They provide occupational therapy so kids can adapt to normal life. The Parish School helps kids learn to live in this world with the disabilities that they have so they can go to a normal school and have a normal life. Ways that we can help out the school are small chores like folding laundry and organizing book shelves.

Ecclesia:
Ecclesia recently purchased a new warehouse to transform into their new church. Everyone on staff was so friendly and focusing on being a community and working together. Our group helped with construction jobs such as caulking the outer wall, painting the outer wall, and sweeping the inside. It was really cool to help out building their new church and I am so excited to see how the warehouse will be transformed into a house of God.

Why is it so hard to encourage others?

Why is it so hard to encourage others?
I think it is because it makes the person who is giving the complement or word of encourage feel vulnerable because they are being serious and revealing their true thoughts and feelings about the other person, even if the word of encouragement isn't all that deep or even meaningful. In today's society we tend to shy away from being serious and genuine. We feel more comfortable hiding our true feelings behind joking exteriors. We love to laugh, and thats not a bad thing, but there is a time and a season for everything, including a time to be serious and genuine and a time to be funny and joke around. The trouble is we are completely leaving out the seriousness of life and only operating in "silly mode". It is impossible to be genuine and serious while also being silly; the three words do not mix, and that is why it is so hard for people (kids especially) to be encouraging and complementary to others.

Breakfast with Dad

On Sunday, January 23 I had breakfast with my dad before I went to church. It was really fun and I loved every minute of it. We talked about his work (he is a CPA), how it was stressful, we talked about our family and how they are doing, we discussed how exciting it is that my cousin, his niece, is pregnant, and how it it a miracle from God that she is pregnant because she had to go through invitro in order to get pregnant. We talked about how lucky and blessed we are to have what we have. We also talked about my life, (school, friends, boys, dance) and his life (work, family, God). We talked about how different my life will be next year in college. It was nice to have one on one time with him because we are both always busy and only see each other in passing or at dinner. Also I will be gone next year, so it is important to spend as much time as possible with family. He gave me good advice for college and told me funny stories from his college experience to make me laugh, but also teach me lessons. We talked about my friends' college plans, and our plans for spring break and summer. We discussed the pros and cons of having a summer job and a job in college. We talked about how he is having trouble letting me grow up. It felt nice to be honest with him and also treat him to a meal.

The New Macedonia

Explain the difference between E-1 E-2 E-3 evangelism. WHich of the 3 does Winter consider most powerful? Why? WHich does he consider urgent Why?

E-1: Evangelism to people of the same language, ethnicity and region as yourself.
E-2: Evangelism that crosses language barriers and cultural barriers.
E-3: Evangelism that crosses borders, cultures, and languages.
It depends on the situation. It is easier for people of the same cultures and languages to relate to each other, and so the message of Jesus is more potent and the people receiving the message will be more open to listening because the people telling them about it are similar to themselves.
i think E-1 is the most urgent

"Christian unity cannot be healthy if it infringes upon Christian Liberty". Do you agree? What significance does this have for "practical evangelistic strategies"?

I agree. I think the unity of Christians is really important, and nothing should get in the way of it. However, Christian Liberty is important as well. This proposes an interesting challenge for evangelistic strategy.

World Missions Survey

The point of this article is that God is active in the world. the article express that God is known all around the world and in every country. it also says that Europe is losing it's religion as the rest of the world is gaining it. this also includes america. we had a surge of faith until recently, and now the mission focus has transferred to south america. they send out missionaries to all over the world and evangalize. i think its sad that America is losing its faith, along with Europe. we should be peaking in our faith and helping the other countries of the world instead of trying to reconvert the 'Christians' of our country. i think what is going on in China is reasuring and exciting. i was surprised to find that China had such an underground following. i think it is interesting that lots of people would consider converting to Christianity if it weren't called christianity and it didnt have all the social and cultural conotations that it has, such as the people of the middle east and in China. overall, this article was encouraging and uplifting.

HCHS culture

The culture at my school (HCHS) can be characterized in two words: People Pleasing. We, as a community, are totally focused on pleasing other people. Teachers work to please their bosses, kids work to please their parents, their peers, their teachers, the colleges they are applying to, and everyone is trying to please God. This type of culture leads to a stressful atmosphere where they often don't please themselves. Us kids are always on the go working towards some goal where we aim high and aim to please. Also this kind of attitude causes us to put everything we do in a day into a check list: get an A on my anatomy test-check, go to practice-check, have diner with family-check, hang out with friend-check. This check list attitude causes us to only halfheartedly participate in everything we do and we do these things because we feel like we have to. It is an endless cycle of running through the motions everyday, and i would know because i have experienced it and all my friends have too. This school is an excellent place to learn, but i don't feel like it is healthy that they push us so hard all the time. They also should not encourage us to participate in as many activities as possible, because it is impossible to keep up grades, participate in X amount of activities and sleep on a regular basis. I learned all of this the hard way.

The American Family 1988-2028: Looking Back and Looking Forward

The decline in the institute of marriage saddens me. It shows a lessening in the belief of God's Holy union of marriage. Many more people are getting divorced, having kids out side of marriage and living with "life partners", but not getting married. all of these things reflect poorly on Christians because a lot of the people involved in these statistics are Christians. Personally i hate divorce and infidelity, and it makes me really sad when people get divorced especially when they have kids because it traumatizes them. couples are meant to stay together forever so when they split, there is lots of heartbreak and disruption in their lives. this is God's way of telling them not to split up. I think in the bible it says that spliting up with your spouse is ok if their is infidelity, but forgiveness is really important, so i think it is important not to just give up on your marriage, but try to work through it. i have heard a lot of stories about marriages where the husband or wife cheats on the other spouse and they work through it and their marriage is better than when it started. this is not the rule, but the exception. i think, when i reflect on the issue, that when i am older and looking for a husband, that i will date the guy for a very long time to be sure that i love him and what to spend the rest of my life with him. also i will want to make sure that God is showing me that he is the one He chose for me because i don't want to be in an unhappy marriage.

How Teenagers' Faith Practices are Changing according to Barna Group

This Article that I read called How Teenagers' Faith Practices are Changing was an interesting article about how today's teenagers' spiritual practices differ from the teenagers of only 12 years ago. The article's content did not surprise me much, I could have guessed most of the data myself and I'm only 18, however the message of the article was still sobering and saddening information, nonetheless. The only thing that took me by surprise was that research shows that attendance to group activities such as youth group and young life has risen in the past 12 years. This, as was explained to me, is because of the apparent popularity of 'Christianity', however this popularity is not referring to the REAL Christianity where Jesus wants to have a personal relationship with us, and where our personal time and energy is required of us. Therefore it would make sense that there has been a massive decline in scriptural reading, prayer, and small group attendance. Coincidentally these activities lead to a personal REAL relationship with Christ mentioned earlier. The most sobering line in the article was "Talking to God may be losing out to Facebook." This refers to the fact that teens are talking less to God and more to their friends through the computer. I can definitely see how this is happening. I am even guilty of it myself. This is a habit that has go tot change. Keeping up with friends is great, but obsessions are unhealthy and self destructive. God is much better for us!!!!!!