Super Pumped

Tomorrow morning I will embark upon an epic week composed of dealer visits, some Purdue time, Henry County Fair and catching up with friends all along the way! Phew!

Life is good! Super busy, but good. Still working on making new friends through a couple different venues but I enjoy living by myself - so much freedom!

One of my favorite quotes from the new Harry Potter movie.
Harry: "Is this all made up on my head?"
Dumbledore: "Of course this is all in your head Harry. But that doesn't mean it isn't real!"

So dream away my friends. Afterall, everything has to be 'made-up' to begin with from someone. ;)

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Baby You're a Firework!

I have Katy Pery rattling around in my head, can you tell? I can hear fireworks, but I can't see them from my apartment :( But.... I'm sure I'll be seeing plenty of fireworks over the weekend! I'm heading down to Wichita to see some of my family and to see the newest edition to the clan!

Just a quick catch-up from this last week. Work is going just swell. Today was my first pay-day and it is a 3-day weekend, so I'm doing pretty well! The marketing rep that has been cross-training me had her last day on Thursday, so I'm a little baby bird kicked out of the nest and forced to fly! Ok, maybe not that dramatic, but she has been wonderful and I'm very appreciative.

A few notables:
Monday - I went to a new young adult small group bible study. It went really well and I think I might have found a good church to start going to.
Tuesday - I went wake-boarding for the first time with my co-workers. I'm still sore 3/4 days later! It was wicked fun though!
Wednesday - I did absolutely nothing! I attempted to recover and stayed on my couch most of the night.
Thursday - "Hot Summer Nights,"is a concert series that goes on downtown KC and I headed down there with the other reps, interns and a few other co-workers. And it was hot! Literally! But still fun. Band Perry was playing and they were a lot of fun.

Well, thanks for checking in. Here are some Youtube videos that sum up my week as well:
"I Lift My Hands" Chris Tomlin
Wake-boarding wipeouts (None of those were me, although I probably looked like a few of those.)
"If I Die Young" Band Perry
"Firework" Glee/Katy Perry (I like the Glee version, especially after seeing them live!)

A Whole New World

This title is appropriate for all sorts of reasons.
1 - The obvious one of me graduating, moving three states away and getting my first job.
2 - I'm making a new little home, even cooking for myself. I promise pictures of the apartment soon to come.
3 - That was the sermon title of the sermon I listened to this morning.

The Church of the Resurrection is a huge United Methodist Church with a couple different locations around southern and western KC. While I got up in plenty of time to go to church in person, time has this funny trick of disappearing and I didn't want to show up late, so I "tuned-in" online. I was really impressed with the live-stream and even more impressed with the sermon itself.

Rev. Adam Hamilton, pulled out three main points from the movie Aladdin and showed how the gospel can be seen through them.

1 - The first point he talked about was how God sees us for the "diamond in the roughs" that we are. Obviously Aladdin went from a "street-rat" to a prince, inside and out. God chose the most unlikely people throughout the Bible to carry out his works. Moses, Samuel's youngest son, the woman at the well and even the rag-tag team of disciples that Jesus chose are just a few of the examples.

2- The second point was living your life in a balance of piety and outward signs of living for Christ. BE YOURSELF. Be true to who you are and more importantly who God has made you to be. Aladdin was posing as a pompous prince, while Jasmine fell in love with the real Aladdin, not "Prince Al." He expanded and talked about how we should not do what we do as a Christian to impress anyone, but to impact others. So make an impact people!

3 - Lastly he asked us how we would spend our third wish. Aladdin stayed true to a promise he made to the Genie and set him free while he thought he was giving up his chance to have his "happily ever after." What a sacrifice! Hm? Sound familiar? Enough said for point number three.

So, needless to say, I totally dug this guy and I'm looking forward to visiting in person next week as the Disney preaching series continues. Here is the link to the sermon online, I noticed it wasn't up yet, but hopefully it will be soon. Aladdin sermon!

I'd also like to thank Joyce Hooker from Knightstown, Indiana for her submission to "The Taste of Home Cookbook." I used her recipe for Broccoli Chicken Roll-Ups for inspiration and made my own little twist on probable the closet to gourmet meal I have ever made!

What Not to Say to Kids

I promise to get some pictures up soon of the new place. It is so cute and I love everything about it now! Plus, this "clean-freak" stage might not stay too long ;)


Tonight after work I had the chance to venture a little deeper into the complex and check out the basketball court. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it has all of the needed components :) There were two boys and their dad shooting around a bit and I asked if I could join. I was hardly hitting anything it seemed, but that was ok, it was just nice to get out.


The father then went into this spiel telling his boys, "If anyone ever tries to tell you playing sports is not about winning, then they're wrong." He continued on saying, "Why would you practice and train so hard if it wasn't to win? Don't let anyone ever tell you different." "Pain goes away. If you get hurt and you're not dead or have a concussion, then keep playing. Physical pain goes away, but the emotional pain of losing doesn't."


My heart just sank as the two boys ate up every word and agreed with him and started to repeat back what their dad had said to them, "That's right Papa!" I wish I had the courage to go against him to his face, but I just ignored him and then had some time with the kids later.


Later I was just playing with the kids after the dad had left and learned that they were just 6 and 7-years-old. They were so sweet and then their little brother who had to be like 2 introduced himself with a handshake and we played for awhile after that. I just wanted to tell them that their dad he was so wrong. Sports are GAMES! They should be for fun! Organized sports can teach you discipline, teamwork and dedication, but it is still a GAME! 

I wondered what my good friend Mr. Tony Dungy had to say on this matter, so I acquired a few quotes:

"God’s definition of success is really one of significance – the significant difference our lives can make in the lives of others."
"Football is a vocation and an opportunity for ministry.  But it’s not a life."


So then I stumbled across this great quote that actually goes exactly along with a conversation I had last night at the Kansas City Royal's baseball game, "Winning is overrated.  The only time it is really important is in surgery and war." Al McGuire. 


I literally just had this conversation with a friend while watching the game. We enjoy sports, but they are not life and death like our troops are facing right now or the miracles that doctors perform everyday for people's loved ones.


Ok, I have ranted long enough! While my little time out on the playground angered me, the boys were so sweet and innocent and I hope my positive outlook and just playing with them made some small impact. I think I did because as they were leaving the boy yelled goodbye across the yard to me :)

Disney World to the Real World!

This past month has been CraZy! From walking across the stage in Elliot Hall to receive my degree, to meeting Mickey Mouse and venturing through the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to starting my first, full-time job! Phew! So I don't think everything has fully sunk in yet, but it has sure been fun along the way.

This is my first weekend in Kansas and since I'm just taking it easy and trying to "decompress" as one of my co-workers suggested to do this weekend, I figured I'd post a few pictures and memories of the past month!

After 5 years of walking around the bell tower and never going under it, graduation was finally the day to walk under it for the first time!

M-I-C. K-E-Y. M-O-U-S-E!!!!!! And Minnie :)

Hogwarts Castle! No words to describe how excited I was to be in Harry Potter World!

"There will be a Day"

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the Jeremy Camp song, "There will be a Day," but just as I was sitting down to blog about today, that is what popped in my head.

I spent the day up North, past Ft. Wayne for a really good college friend's mom's funeral. She passed away Friday evening after a hard battle with cancer. It was truly a celebration of her life and I overall witnessed passed the human sorrow of losing a loved one, an atmosphere that was light and energetic as we remembered this remarkable woman.

I still cried like a baby through parts of the service for different reasons:
1- I felt sorrow for my friend. He has been there for me through some of the toughest things I have faced in my young-life so far and he was losing his mother at such a young age.
2- I was thinking, "What if that were my mom?" My mom and I have grown through the "parent-child" relationship and into the "best-friend" relationship and I couldn't imagine doing things in my future like planning a wedding someday without her.
3 - I HATE CANCER! I have known too many people either personally or who have had loved ones been affected by this selfish disease.

Again, the service was about a celebration and Bonnie wanted it that way and told one of the ministers to use her funeral as an opportunity to teach to those attending so that they might grow deeper in their faiths. To have belief, and what one of the ministers referred to more adequately as trust, in the gracious gift God gave us through Jesus Christ - Eternal Life! Can I get a hallelujah?

So I think that is why the Jeremy Camp song popped into my head, for there will indeed be a day with no more tears, no more pain and no more fear! There will be a day when the burdens of this place, will be no more and we'll see Jesus face to face.  Thank you Bonnie for giving me such wonderful friend in your son. I know you are continuing to love your husband, children and family in a much better place and that indeed you have seen Jesus now face to face!

Unrest

The recent world news had some great timing - right before finals! Thanks! Honestly, the world happenings concern/worry me more than my finals. While yes, Bin Laden led an extremist group, I can't help but worry about what fighting hate with hate will do. I appreciated the Facebook posts last night that expressed unease, those that would not celebrate in the death of someone and the various postings out of the book of Ezekiel:


‎"Say to them, 'As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways...'" Ezekiel 33:11

For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live! Ezekiel 18:32

Don't get me wrong - I love AMERICA! I love what it stands for and I am terribly grateful for those serving for my country - for me!

I suppose being on a huge campus with people from all over the world, and probably through the help of my friends who have some great worldly perspectives, my eyes have been opened to a bit more beyond these wonderful shores of ours. Yesterday at the Wesley Foundation at Purdue, we dedicated a peace pole that sits outside our building. This pole has a message of peace written on it in all different languages. We have been recently reaching out to other religions and have had some great interactions with both Muslims and Jews. Yesterday was just the same. Someone offered a traditional Muslim prayer asking for peace and we ended the dedication singing a Jewish song for peace. Again, talk about timing?

The idea of peace has been resurfacing in my life a lot recently. My last post I talked about the words of my grandmother and how they impacted me during this time of transition for me - "Grant me Peace and Contentment," has been her daily prayer all her life. Also yesterday at the last Wesley service, Pastor Lana preached on peace while "Rethinking Evangelism." Evangelism is not always necessarily standing on the street corner holding signs or going out on trips to bring people to Christ. Lots of HORRIBLE things have been done in the name of Evangelism that I, as a Christian, disagree with.

"The Gospel in one word is Love," is a lyric from a song my dad used to sing when leading various worship services. "Love thy neighbor as thyself. Love. Love. Love." I wish the world would unite in singing this as a round together. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist, Agnostic or whatever - at least practice peace and love. While I personally believe it comes from God and the ultimate form of love was shown through Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for anyone who will accept it, right now, I'd just settle for a little love.