bring it on...

finals week. I am more than ready.

ahhh!

This morning I registered for the Spring 2010 semester for the LAST TIME IN MY UNDERGRADUATE LIFE!!!!! ahhhh that is such a crazy thought. As I scrolled down my degree guide to see just one section left that was marked INCOMPLETE...I never thought it would come as fast as it did. This is such a weird feeling. There are only 179 days left until I officially graduate! :) WOOOO HOOO CLASS OF 2010!!!! WE ARE ALMOST THERE!


on a different note: this morning my life was drastically altered at starbucks. I got their new fall drink PEPPERMINT WHITE MOCHA and it was christmas in my mouth! This is my new favorite drink and I regret only ordering a tall...

cute!!!

God is so faithful...ALWAYS

This past weekend I attended a retreat called NEXT STEP. It was for those interested in "missional" living whether that be stateside or overseas, but making your life all about proclaiming Christ's name. Being intentional. Making Him famous. I went into this weekend really praying that my heart would be softened to the things that the Lord would have me learn and hear from the mentors and much like Christ always does...

HE ROCKED MY WORLD IN BIG BEAR.

I have never heard God speak to me in such loud and clear ways. He was faithful in answering prayers that I didn't expect to be answered in such a quick manner. Literally, He knocked my to my knees praying with extreme gratitude and thanks for the awesome, sovereign God that He is. I feel like I could write a lot of the things that happened this week, so if you would like to know feel free to email me and I would be happy to get together and chat.

I am writing this blog to encourage you to put all your trust in Him. He is faithful and always there for us, even in those moments of life when we turn our back on Him. Always, always, always: trust in the Lord, delight yourself in the Lord, commit your way unto the Lord, and rest in Him (Psalm 37).

quote of the week

"He learned not to bind God by the limits of his own faith. He asked, knowing that God, who heard, was able."

In reference to George Muller's faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ

RA training

I absolutely love the RA staff that I am apart of this year. All of the women are awesome and truly have a heart ready to serve the Lord. Being back for training has been amazing and such a great way to start the year for me. I changed my picture on this blog today because I saw it and was reminded of the importance of laughter.

Laughter can seriously be the best medicine for anything, well besides love, and you just feel better when you do it :) It seems like our staff is always laughing when we are together. haha OKay so this is a lame blog entry, but I thought I would share how much I am really enjoying my staff this year :)

the summer for change

Hello blogger world! I realized it has been quite some time since I have blogged, so I thought I would write a quick one just to update everyone on my life since school has been out:

-AFRICA WAS AMAZING!!! There will definitely be a future blog including pictures describing that trip that I took back in MAY. Africa changed my life in more ways than I thought imaginable: God did GREAT things there.

-I have been working for the CBU bookstore this summer and I LOVE it! I feel as though I have been making some really great friendships and all my "superiors" are simply amazing.

-Our church has been going through some big things, but all in all I can see the Lord moving heavily through all of it.



I think that covers all the major things that have happened in my life so far this summer, at least as far as I can think of. I move back on campus two weeks from tomorrow for RA training. I can't believe how soon it came!! I hope everyone is having a fun and safe summer..see you all soon!!

All dogs go to heaven

So tonight at church I walk into the room and what do I find? The little doggy laying it's head on the Bible! It was so cute and it looked like she was READING the Bible. I HAD to take a picture so I could put it on here.

Isn't she absolutely adorable??

little green thumb

I received this little pot for our PASS THE TORCH event in our individual areas for being an RA next year and look at it! It is already sprouting! I got so excited when I looked up from the kitchen sink and saw the little guy poking its head up through the dirt. I just thought I would share this moment :)

time-out from life

OKKK life seems so hectic now that we are in finals and I have soooo much going on. I feel as though I have been getting barely any sleep and been working overtime to get all my projects done and done well at that.

Today I decided to take a "time-out" from life. Oh man, I used to hate time-outs when I was younger, but I have never had anything so needed in awhile. I call it a time-out instead a break because it was a lot longer than it should have been and I probably shouldn't have; so when you do things that you shouldn't do you get put in time-out when you are little. ha ha OK maybe that sounds stupid since I am not little, but it was AMAZING. Let me tell you:

I slept in until ELEVEN am today and then went to MUMBLES with Erica and Greta. ahhh :) Above is a picture of what I got: cappuccino and peanut butter yogurt with mini-white chocolate chips, tiny pieces of cookie dough, strawberries and a little fudge drizzled on top. D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.

Be Courageous.

Today was our "Commissioning Chapel" for ISP and it was so emotional. I feel like at the first chapel when we were first being prayed over I couldn't control my emotions and I was definitely crying. Like I saw drops of mascara falling onto my shirt. Oh man. That many people praying at one time, worshipping, and holding the hands of those that you are about to go overseas with gets me everytime.

This years theme for us is COURAGEOUS. To be bold and courageous while we are on the field and trust in Him. The picture above is our shirts for this year [sorry not such good quality picture]. I didn't realize how soon I leave until chapel today: 17 DAYS!!! ahhhh that is insane. I can't believe how fast it is coming!

Thanks so much for all of your continued prayers and for those of you that prayed for not only my team during chapel, but for all the teams there.

<3

MAN week

This past week has been MAN week here at CBU and I have absolutely loved it. All the men have been growing out the best mustache to see who could win, competed in a 3 on 3 basketball tournament yesterday with a dunking contest, held a "service with a smile" dinner on Tuesday night, any many other ones but these were by far my favorite.

BEST MUSTACHE:

I just love this one because I think it is awesome seeing all these guys on campus with the funniest facial hair. I saw some with braids coming down from their chin, some with designs buzzed in, some that looked like dirty, old men, some that couldn't really grow much, and some that could grow more than they would ever need to unless they lived someplace really, really cold. I just got word that KEVIN KISH was the winner!!! CONGRATS to him :) I think he was the one who had the design sketched into his hair???? (am I right???)

THREE ON THREE:

This was fun to watch! The boys get so competitive, but there were the few that were dancing on the court, playing with afro's on, going really fast, and then some that were just messing around the whole time. JsTOVALL was the DJ and he did a mighty fine job at that. The championship game was exciting to watch because it was Bruski (aka MARK ROUSSIN), Ceasar (aka SPEEDY GONZALES in my book), and Arthur (aka LEGIT) versus JJ (aka SOON TO BE A DADDY), Rick (aka DFLO), and Alex (aka FRACE). [I don't know all the subs names sorry] The game was intense needless to say. Ceasar shot the winning basket from the three point line and he also won the dunking contest! It was pretty sweet too. He bounced the ball up against the backboard, grabbed it and dunked it so hard!

SERVICE WITH A SMILE:

This was the CUTEST event to me! The men of CBU signed up to be waiters for the women of CBU. They greeted us at the door very nicely dressed and escorted us to our tables individually, always made sure our glasses were full, always had a smile (thus the name), had us write on prayer cards things we would like them to pray for us about, and even said reasons as to why they need and like us in their life (my favorite by far was that without us they couldn't go on dates). Chris Hernandez did a fantastic job at speaking and telling jokes, ha ha oh man and the men playing the piano and guitar along with singing were amazing. I only know Tim Hawley's name from the guitar, but the pianist was amazing!! (sorry I don't know his name). Overall, it was a pretty good night.

I am pleased to say that I feel this MEN week was a hit. I think that all the guys did a great job and seemed very "manly" with their facial hair. I am thankful that there are such solid, Godly men on this campus. Thank you all for being the example that you need to be :)

people you should know

If you attend CBU, then there are a few people that you should know. Obviously there are more than I am talking about in this blog, but over time I hope to put on a spotlight on all my friends worth spotting :)

Jordan Trivison: Future vice president for the class of 2010 and future president of the world bank. Politically suave. FUNNY. overall GOOD guy. [ladies, if you want to know more just let me know and I'll see what I can do...he's a great catch!! :)]

Josh Christian: Future RA in the UP living area. Most caring and genuine person. FUNNY. overall GOOD guy as well, but could possibly be taken...

Erica Horn: omgosh. I don't even know where to begin. I love this girl. FUTURE roomie. hilarious. basically a pro athlete. All-around the type of girl any man would want :)

Here is a picture of all of us at our best. If you don't know one of them you should definitely take the time to get to know them!!! :)

inside joke

I think there are only two people in the world that will get this.

ha ha ha :)

more than 100%. what does that even mean??

I have heard all my life that I need to give more than 100% and frankly, in those times where I was frustrated I wanted to scream, "IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO GIVE MORE THAN 100%!!" I was always confused as to what exactly that statement meant.

Then yesterday I received an email that showed what it means to give more than 100% from a mathematical perspective.

IF: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
is represented as: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

We can use this to mathematically figure out what we need in order to give more than 100%. For example:

H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K= 8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11= 98%
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E= 11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5= 96%
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E= 1+20+20+9+20+21=4+5= 100%

"While hard work and knowledge will get you close, and attitude will get you there, none of those put you over the top." But now, take a look at what the love of God will get you:

L-O-V-E-O-F-G-O-D= 12+15+22+5+15+6+7+15+4= 101%

Finally, I know how to give more than 100%. I need to have to love of God to put me over the top. Isn't that so interesting?! I was intrigued and frankly never thought to even do that. Obviously, there are more words that could be done, but I really enjoyed this example. If anyone wants to read the email, just let me know and I could email it to you. There are more interesting things in relation to mathematics, but this is one that stuck out to me.

it's true. i actually did it.

I deleted my facebook. I never realized how much of a commotion this would cause. Today, I got text messages from over I don't know how many people asking me why I deleted my facebook account. I think that is hilarious.

My apologies to those that said that the facebook world "just wouldn't be the same" without me, but I just don't see the point in it anymore. Sure it is a great way to keep in touch with those further away, but so is the phone. I am too distracted by it and this is not a time for me to be distracted. That doesn't mean it is a permanent thing, but for now I need some time away from it.

I hope that you guys understand. :)

and the spotlight goes to...

Mical Bell. This girl is simply amazing. I wanted to put a picture up, but we seriously have hundreds if not thousands and there were so many that I would want to put up here. Maybe by the time I finish writing this I will decide on one.

Mical saved me; from me. I know that sounds weird, but seriously. We met our senior year when God so kindly placed us on the same club volleyball team. We will both admit that we weren't fans of each other: she was a pastor's kid that thought she was better than everyone else and I was the ghetto-fab child from "moval" with a huge chip on her shoulder that also thought I was better than everyone else. Needless to say, through our differences somehow we became BFFL and our friendship has been one of the most meaningful in my life. Mical and her family showed me what it meant to live fearing God and (nervous chuckle) what it even meant to simply follow Him. I am truly thankful for her and everything that she is in my life. We have laughed, cried, lived together, helped keep each other accountable, traveled the US together and even traveled the world together!! I don't know what I would do without her. I love you and your family more than any words could ever express.

With that said: Adam; you are one lucky man. Hurt her and I hurt you :)

riverside's BETTER side

Yesterday, I went with some friends on a hike up Mt. Rubidoux here in Riverside. I can't believe I have never been their before! Never again will I drive back to Moreno Valley to go hiking on the mountain behind my house because from now on I will take the short 10 minute drive down the street to this place. It was absolutely gorgeous! I mean the company that I was with was also a huge added bonus, but seriously. Look at this picture. I contrasted it a little bit more because it made it a bit more dramatic, but we could not have gone on a better day. The weather was absolutely perfect and there weren't too many people.

This is definitely Riverside's BETTER side :)

little drummer boy

As you may know I like to "gut" songs as to figure out their meanings; I mean, why do I like them and what am I really singing about anyway? My last song was "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." I seriously love that song and I listen to it on a daily basis and more recently I have begun to have a liking for that famous Christmas carol: the little drummer boy. Judge as you may, but normally I have never really been a fan of this song and then one day I heard the version as sung by "The Almost." Oh man. Serious fan now.

Let me just paint the picture that God painted for me:

The song is about a boy (there is no biblical evidence that this story is true, but I think it's a great depiction of how we should be) that was told to go and visit baby Jesus in the manger; they were going to bring great gifts out of honor for the King. So the little boy goes with them and when he gets there he sees all the great gifts that have been brought. Feeling a bit discouraged and probably embarrassed that he didn't have anything "fit for a King" to give, he peers into the manger and says: I'm sorry that I don't have gifts to give you that would be fit for a King because I am poor too. All I have is a drum and I know how to play, would you like me to play for you? [I picture this little boy standing there with a drum, look from the manger to Mary with an expression of both eyebrows going up and a slight frown-type lip pucker because he is uncertain of what her response will be and insecure of his less-fortunate tidings.] The song goes on to say that Mary nods as in agreement that he should play for him and so the little boy does just that: he plays. But he's not just playing his drum, the song says he plays his best for him. Then the song ends with the picture of baby Jesus smiling up at the little drummer boy.

I think that is such a beautiful picture of how happy God is with us when we simply give Him our best. He does not demand that we be perfect, rich, talented in all areas, or even highly successful. He just wants us to give Him our best. All throughout scripture there are examples of this. Looking at the story of Cain and Abel, God was displeased with Cain's offering because he did not give God his best (Genesis 4). No matter how small, poor, or lacking in whatever we may think we are lacking in: God still desires our best and smiles when we give it to Him. Think of the poor widow's offering in Mark 12:41-44. She gave less than everyone else there, but the most in comparison to how much she actually had. I hope when you hear this song, you are reminded that all God wants from us is our best. We don't have to be perfect at everything, the most successful, and we definitely don't have to have the latest trendy possessions to be right in the eyes of God. Just give Him your best and He will do the same for you.

I know it's a Christmas song, but listen to it again...

october 2, 2008

I blogged on this day, last year, about a prayer that I had. It was about a song by Brandon Heath:

"...Give me your eyes for just one second
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me your love for humanity
Give me your arms for the broken hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me your heart for the once forgotten..."

Over the course of the past few months I have definitely seen God answering this prayer from various little things He was showing me in my life and the life of others, but then I was a camp counselor this past weekend. Yeahhh. Let me just say this: God answered this prayer from a few months ago in ways I don't think I even wanted Him too. I guess it's true that you should be careful what you pray for.

~He showed me the immense pain in other people's lives

~He definitely gave me a new love for these kids I work with from everything I learned and was told during our group discussions

~I had a girl cry harder than I have seen anyone cry in my arms for nearly an hour. The type of cry where if I let go she would have definitely fallen to the ground

~I had those "difficult" kids that have been so far-reached from all of us that it seemed impossible to reach them actually open up in personal conversation and admit all the "sins" in their life: that conversation also ended in tears


I can give more and more examples from this past weekend, but this is just a blog and not a book that I am writing. Lets just say God gave me His eyes this past weekend and even though I am truly thankful for everything that happened up in those mountains, I am also left with this pain in my heart for everything that I saw. It made me think how hurt God must feel. I felt so much guilt for everything that I have done in the past because if me, being just a simple person, felt so much heartache for these kids, I can't even begin to imagine how God feels everyday. I'm not gunna lie: this weekend was one of the hardest ones for me. I feel so emotionally drained.

Please pray for all the kids that were up at that camp. God was definitely doing things and I know He will continue to do things, but I am just afraid some of these kids were on a "church camp high" and I don't want the things that were talked about up on that mountain to be forgotten about just because now we are down the mountain.

define: to explain or identify the nature or essential qualities of something

During my devotions this past month or so, I have been into this concept of completely breaking down single verses or chapters. In essence: completely gutting the Word to figure out the meaning.

I have been "gutting" 1Samuel for some time now and last night in my studies I came across quite an interesting word: in.

It is such a simple word and we use it all the time, but what exactly does it mean? It is a preposition so we know it is a connecting word, but what does that mean?

I know it may seem irrelevant to be stuck on this one word in my study since there are other words that I could obviously choose to dwell on, but then I started thinking: even though in is a small word, it actually has big meaning. Think about it. When we use this word, we are usually using it as a connection word with God. For example: "In His Name" and "In Him we pray." So I pulled out my pocket dictionary; yes, I tend to carry a pocket dictionary; and these are the definitions that stuck out to me:
~contained by
~wearing
~with regard to
~because of
~those in power

Complete all those definitions with "Him" and that little word "in" seems so much more powerful doesn't it?
~contained by HIM
~wearing HIM
~with regard to HIM
~because of HIM
~those in power [HIM]

Ok so maybe you found this to be a pointless blog because that word is not as big as I am making it out to be, but for some reason it stuck out so I thought I would share what I learned. Next time you use one of those phrases, I hope you think about how much power those simple statements can actually have.

God is oh so faithful. always.

Yesterday a friend reminded me that I need to be praying for God's will and not mine. I thought that I had been and then after our conversation, I realized I was still holding the "pen" to my life instead of letting God write my story. Later in the night I was reading in Philippians and this is what I came across:

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" (4:4-7).

That was in the English Standard Version. Now in the Morgan Version it translated as this:

"Morgan, always give thanks with a joyous heart. God is at work so please stop worrying about everything. Pray about all these things on your heart, but remember to be thankful no matter what the outcome. If you want an answer than you need to communicate with Me because you know that I will always answer you. ALong the way I will help you guard your heart and your mind because my only Son died for you."

He totally spoke to me and then today, God absolutely blew my socks off. He answered a specific prayer I have been praying for nearly 3 years and the only thing I could do was be on my knees crying with thankfulness. Then in a matter of hours God answered another HUGE prayer that has been on my heart and totally provided in a way I never thought possible. I blogged at the start of break that I felt God closed a chapter in my life and was starting a new one this semester and I can already see the process beginning. God is oh so faithful. Always.

freerice.com

Everyone knows that there is extreme poverty in Africa, that is no secret. Something that everyone does not know though is about: freerice.com


I want to encourage people to please go to this website and be an active participant. It is not hard at all and in fact, you can help send rice to people in Africa by simply answering questions from various subjects. FreeRice has two goals: 1) Provide education to everyone for free and 2)help end world hunger by providing rice to hungry people for free. Instead of typing out why I think you should do this, please just watch the youtube video below.

it's quite unfortunate

I first saw this YOUTUBE video in my comparitive religions class with Prof. Stumpf. Anyone that has taken her knows how much she absolutely loves to use YOUTUBE in class. This is one of the many videos that she showed us and today I somehow stumbled upon it again. Yes, it is an interview with an Atheist, but I think that the things he says are actually pretty good. I think you should watch it and see for yourself. It's quite unfortunate than an Atheist has a better grasp on Christianity than most "Christians" in society do today. I think it is because this man has obviously studied the Bible in order to prepare himself for when people ask him why does he not believe, he has a good answer. Well "good" in the sense that he thinks he is defending his beliefs, or unbeliefs?

a simple rubber band

This morning at church, my pastor gave quite a compelling message about things we should expect from 2009. Something that I found interesting was a certain analogy he used to describe what God wants to do with us and the reasoning why.

The first time I heard about the concept of God "stretching" me was in preparation for my first overseas short-term mission trip a few years back. I thought that "stretching" was something that only happened in unfamiliar places and that it was unpleasant and undesirable. I have quickly come to find out since that trip that being stretched is a good thing. It means that you are growing stronger and expanding your boundaries whereas to work within, or out of. When athletes stretch before and after a workout regimen it is 1) extending and elongating muscle fibers, which is why it is called stretching. This is useful because it reduces muscle tension to prevent injury. And 2) it increases blood flow to the muscles and tendons providing the cells with more oxygen and nutrients. This is also important in exercise because it helps provide energy during the workout. Even though stretching prior to a workout and after can sometimes be unpleasant, we all know that in the end it is beneficial and helps to prevent soreness.

When the Bible uses the word "stretch," the outcome of the action is always for the better of that particular situation. For example, God in Exodus 3:20; God says, "So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go." The context of this verse is talking about how God saw the affliction that His people were suffering in Egypt and the only way to get the Pharoah's attention is if a "mighty hand" (19) was somehow able to compell him. In this example, "stretching" saved people. There are many other examples throughout scripture, this is just one that I chose to use sorry I am not expounding on it more.

So why do so many of us see being "stretched" as a bad thing? I think it is because when we are being stretched, most times we are uncomfortable in the process. We don't like being stretched to talk to the person next to us on a plane about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because it would make for an awkward flight, especially if it is long and the person might actually want to get into a discussion that would really make us think about our Faith and be able to defend it. When in reality, stretching is a good thing and also necessary if we are to grow stronger (which is my reasoning for the athlete example).

The example that my pastor used this morning, thus the reasoning for my title, is that of a simple rubber band. It needs to be stretched consistently to maintain elasticity, not necessarily everyday, but often enough. Have you ever had an old rubber band that has been sitting in a drawer for quite some time and when you go to use it, it snaps? That is how we are. We are scared of being stretched so we stay where we are comfortable and then when God tries to use us for something that is uncomfortable or awkward, we snap. We can't do it because we are not used to the action and usually we break. We need to allow God to continuously stretch us because if He doesn't and we just sit there, eventually we are not strong enough and at the first chance of being used, we snap; much like an old, unused rubber band.

This week our church was challenged to wear a rubber band on our wrist to remind us of the goodness of being stretched. Maybe you would like to join us? Whether or not you do, I hope the next time you see or use a rubber band you think of all that God is preparing you for and even if it is uncomfortable or awkward. Embrace being stretched; I promise it is a good thing :)