I am lying in bed in my dorm room. The clock at the foot of my bed reads 12:26 in small green numbers that are quietly yelling "You need to be asleep!" I've been thinking over the day and all that's happened. As I come to the worship session at the end of the day, I smile. It feels good to be this happy. I know that I am ready to give God my all. I am slowly fading into sleep, but I want to dwell in the memory of an event that has just happened.
I see the Baker Center, and all the campers, the Deans, and the staff. I see Mr. Dave get up and begin to speak. He talks about worshiping, and how he wants us to get our of our comfort zone and worship in a different way tonight. There are many positions to worship God in, and they are often symbolic of where we are in our faith. He asks: are our hands lifted high? Or do we have our backs turned away?
As we go through several different positions, I feel the weight of a new knowledge settling. I know that God is there, in that room, right beside me. I know I don't have to do anything alone. I know I need to give God my all. I know I am ready. It is now that I start to cry. I feel silly, but then I feel good. I feel relief.
As my dorm room comes back into focus, I know that if anyone were to turn the light on, they would find me grinning crazy big; I don't really care. I know that I have finally experienced that something that I've been waiting for. I know that the questions that I've been dealing with for the past weeks are answered. I see that the answers were really very simple. I see how good God is.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
It's all about random.
There are so many things that I really need to research. Things that probably are not life or death issues, but they do define others’ lives. Things that may not be big issues now, but will be in five years, or even twenty. Even things that are big issues, just outside of America’s bubble of common knowledge. (Does that make any sense at all?) Okay, let me make myself clear: I am not talking about global warming and the long term effects if the world does not go green. I am not talking about researching ways to get the world to understand the dire needs of all cute and fluffy animals who will soon be extinct. Those and not the types of things I want/ feel I need to research.
I am talking about being informed in areas such as the political situations in countries all over the world. Being able to have an intelligent discussion about modern-day slavery; or the January 12th earthquake that Haiti suffered, and the short and long term effects it will have on the people and economy there.
I am talking about being informed in areas such as the political situations in countries all over the world. Being able to have an intelligent discussion about modern-day slavery; or the January 12th earthquake that Haiti suffered, and the short and long term effects it will have on the people and economy there.
Knowing that the people in one country live on less than a dollar a day, but they are perfectly able to because prices there are a lot cheaper than in other places. Knowing that other people are dirt poor, and although they live on more than a dollar a day, they will not live through the end of the year because of the inflated prices of even the most basic necessities.
Get my point? Most people don’t seem to care, or are just too lazy to do any research. (Yes, I am guilty of this too, why do you think I am making a point to write about this now?) So, I am setting up a challenge for myself. Become more informed. I know it sounds really general, and it is, but such a broad topic allows me to go at this and come up with a much broader scope of knowledge than if I did it as a research project of people in one area of the globe. -I might become an expert on that one thing, but that’s all. That seems kind of narrow minded and limiting.
Well, what do you think? That's my two cents, and I'm sticking to them! :)
Get my point? Most people don’t seem to care, or are just too lazy to do any research. (Yes, I am guilty of this too, why do you think I am making a point to write about this now?) So, I am setting up a challenge for myself. Become more informed. I know it sounds really general, and it is, but such a broad topic allows me to go at this and come up with a much broader scope of knowledge than if I did it as a research project of people in one area of the globe. -I might become an expert on that one thing, but that’s all. That seems kind of narrow minded and limiting.
Well, what do you think? That's my two cents, and I'm sticking to them! :)
-Lauren
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Some Cool Quotes
You have to believe in yourself when no one else does. That's what makes you a winner. - Venus Williams
Courage can't see around corners, but goes around them anyway. ~Mignon McLaughlin,
The heights by great men reached and kept, were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. -Winston Churchill
One man with courage makes a majority. ~Andrew Jackson
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. - Elbert Hubbard
Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential. - John Maxwell
Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit." - Conrad Hilton
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. -Chinese Proverb
He is no fool that gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. -Jim Elliot
If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. -Albert Einstein
No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else. -Charles Dickens
An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it. -James Albert Michener
No sooner is the rage of hunger appeased than it becomes difficult to comprehend the meaning of starvation. It is only when you suffer that you really understand. -Jules Verne
A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease. Every hidden cell is throbbing with music and life, every fiber thrilling like harp strings, while incense is ever flowing from the balsam bells and leaves. No wonder the hills and groves were God's first temples, and the more they are cut down and hewn into cathedrals and churches, the farther off and dimmer seems the Lord himself. -John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer
Courage can't see around corners, but goes around them anyway. ~Mignon McLaughlin,
The heights by great men reached and kept, were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. -Winston Churchill
One man with courage makes a majority. ~Andrew Jackson
The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one. - Elbert Hubbard
Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential. - John Maxwell
Achievement seems to be connected with action. Successful men and women keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit." - Conrad Hilton
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step. -Chinese Proverb
He is no fool that gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. -Jim Elliot
If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed. -Albert Einstein
No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for anyone else. -Charles Dickens
An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it. -James Albert Michener
No sooner is the rage of hunger appeased than it becomes difficult to comprehend the meaning of starvation. It is only when you suffer that you really understand. -Jules Verne
A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease. Every hidden cell is throbbing with music and life, every fiber thrilling like harp strings, while incense is ever flowing from the balsam bells and leaves. No wonder the hills and groves were God's first temples, and the more they are cut down and hewn into cathedrals and churches, the farther off and dimmer seems the Lord himself. -John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Poverty
I don't really think about poverty that much, and when I do it's not something that I like to dwell on. It's uncomfortable to think about, but for some people it's all they know. The other day I read something and it was a kind of a wake up slap. It was entitled Poverty Never Takes a Holiday.
"I know poverty because it was
there before I was born and it has
become a part of life like the blood
through my veins...
Poverty is not going empty for a single
day and getting something to eat the
next day. Poverty is going empty with
no hope for the future...
Poverty is watching your own children die in
your arms but there is nothing you can do.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
New Post :)
Well, I’ve decided that if I wait to post the post I’ve been working on for the last two weeks, it’s going to be another three weeks until I post. So, I’m going to go ahead and post a different post. :)
I have just over a week until Summer Excitement. I am so….well, excited. I have big hopes for this year. I’m really going to work on making friends. Yes, I know this may seem strange to a lot of people because I’m not usually a shy person. That is, when I’m in a place where I know a lot of people, I’m a happy and friendly person. Unfortunately, when I’m in a place where I don’t know many people, I tend to dive into a small bubble, and I have a ridiculously hard time making friends. So, I’m going to work on that this year at SE.
The above paragraph as way too many “I or I’m” s in it. So now I’m (!) going to talk about something else. Mainly, the book I’m (!) reading. It’s called Made to Stick, by brothers Chip and Dan Heath. This book basically analyses why some ideas/stories/speeches are really memorable and others are not. It comes down to six principles that can usually be found in all ideas that stick: simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, contain/are stories. I'd never really thought about it, but I really think that the brothers are right! Without these basics, ideas tend to loose interest or confuse people. So far, I think that this is a really great book, and if the second half is as good as the first, I’d recommend it to anyone.
All for now,
Lauren
I have just over a week until Summer Excitement. I am so….well, excited. I have big hopes for this year. I’m really going to work on making friends. Yes, I know this may seem strange to a lot of people because I’m not usually a shy person. That is, when I’m in a place where I know a lot of people, I’m a happy and friendly person. Unfortunately, when I’m in a place where I don’t know many people, I tend to dive into a small bubble, and I have a ridiculously hard time making friends. So, I’m going to work on that this year at SE.
The above paragraph as way too many “I or I’m” s in it. So now I’m (!) going to talk about something else. Mainly, the book I’m (!) reading. It’s called Made to Stick, by brothers Chip and Dan Heath. This book basically analyses why some ideas/stories/speeches are really memorable and others are not. It comes down to six principles that can usually be found in all ideas that stick: simple, unexpected, concrete, credible, emotional, contain/are stories. I'd never really thought about it, but I really think that the brothers are right! Without these basics, ideas tend to loose interest or confuse people. So far, I think that this is a really great book, and if the second half is as good as the first, I’d recommend it to anyone.
All for now,
Lauren
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