Small Things

Every single day, God does little things for us that sometimes we just take for granted. This weekend I was in a conversation about the "little things". As I was laying in the backseat listening, I happened to glance out the rear window into a sky brilliant with gleaming stars. They were like little diamonds from horizon to horizon. And then this morning as I was walking across campus, the sky was a beautiful blue and it was absolutely perfect weather. All I could pray was "Thank you Lord for this day!" I hope and pray that I will always appreciate God's little gifts to me, and that you can too. What an amazing God we serve who does all this for us! Thank you Jesus for the small things that you fill every day with.

If we are the Body....

The other day, I had the oppurtunity to talk with a girl in one of my classes about Jesus. She is not a Christian, and she told me she had never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we were talking, she told me that once she graduated and got married and settled down she'd do the "whole God thing". Wow. Another thing she told me is what this title is about. She told me that she went to a church with her mom one time, (not sure if it was for a funeral or what), but she said that when they walked in, she felt like such an outsider, and no one came to make them feel welcome. Casting Crowns sings a song that says:

If WE are the BODY, why aren't HIS arms reaching? why aren't HIS hands healing? why aren't HIS words teaching? If WE are the BODY, WHY aren't his feet going? Why is HIS love not showing them there is a way? Jesus paid much to high a price for us to pick and choose who should come, and we are the Body of Christ.

Talking with her definitely made me think about what my actions when it comes to making others feel welcome. And this is where JOY comes in. This weekend, I went to a baptism in West Lafayette, and I heard about JOY for the first time.

J - Jesus

O - Others

Y - You

Serve Jesus first, and then others, and last, yourself. You might not always feel comfortable approaching someone and making them feel welcome, but in the long run, you could change their complete outlook on what a Born-again believer is truly supposed to be like. Have a happy day!

Splendibulous

I made up a new word that I want to describe this weekend. We had a such a great time having no set plans and just winging stuff. Friday night there were only 4 of us , Tif, Anna, Lin, and myself. Saturday morning we switched 2 campers, we gained mamalin and miss pancake. Their identities, although somewhat obvious on mamalin, will remain anonymous. Then Marie and Andrea Luthi joined us and we just basically had a lot of fun all afternoon. Saturday night, thanks to my mom, the ravenous campers were fed at our grain bin and we had a singing with some of the church family in Kiowa. Bless you mom for the food! :) After everyone else had left, us 7 ladies stayed and sang in the bin, just whatever came into our heads. It was very nice, and my throat is still a little scratchy. Then we headed back to the campsite and to bed. Sunday we got up at about 6:45 and cleaned our camp area up, which shocked the padres I believe, and headed to take showers to be at the church by 8:30 for more food. The famous pancake and sausage breakfast. Overall it was a splendibulous weekend and we all decided same time same place next year. :) In the words of my dad...Happy trails!

Camping

we're going camping now, we're on our way

we're gonna run up a mountain,

and run, and jump, and play!

and as we hike along we're gonna sing,

"hallelujah to the king!"

Well maybe not run up a mountain, but we'll definitely jump and play! A group of us KS gals are going camping this weekend in southern Barber county! I've had this song in my head from one of Psalty the Singing Songbooks Adventures. Such a great guy that Psalty. :)

What a weekend

The pic above is of us at the place where we had supper on Sunday evening, and we all decided to brave the "leech infested water" and stick our feet in.
This past weekend. 8 of us from KSU, Topeka, and Bern traveled to Ft. Scott for the Labor Day weekend. It was a great time and we had a lot of bonding Sister Time. Saturday we left Topeka at 7:45 a.m. and we met the other canoers at that one place. yeah that one. We canoed down a river and it took an incredibly shorter amount of time than last year. Maybe cause noone was tipping everyone over all the time. I mean yes there was tippage that occured but nothing huge. Tif started it! When we reached the end of our trip, we had about 2 hours to spare, so we started swinging on the rope swing into the water. All was fun and games until I got hurt, then everyone else had fun and games without me. haha...I'm ok just so you all know. After that, we cleaned up and had a hog roast that was amazing! Then we traveled back to the Fort and went to Kellenbergers to hear Cory Metzger speak on "Reaching the Lost: Sharing Your Faith". It was a great end to a nice day. I love Cory & jodi's kids... we had a bonfire and a singing and those kids joined right in with their requests for "B-I-B-L-E" and "At the Cross" My favorite part of the whole singing was when Harrison looked at Tif and said, "Why do you have your eyes closed???" haha...it was great to hear her explanation. Praise the Lord for children! Sunday after church, we headed to the resthomes to sing and it was really cool how one lady said, "For the last 2 years, you have sang 'When you pray', could you sing it again?" And we didn't have the books, so we just winged it. It turned out pretty good, except for my accidental solo, in the wrong place, wow..... We then went to tootsie's house to change and relax for a bit til supper. Then we played some vb and ate and then Larry Bahr spoke and then us KS gals went home. We stayed up late talking and then Monday we went shopping (o yea... :S) and then went to Barnes & Noble and we played the Ungame, which is basically a conversation starter. Good times, great memories. THen we came back to our Apt and played some more VB in the back yard. I loved this weekend because it was a great time to just hang out with the girls and to do this all while learning more about serving our Lord and Saviour. Thanks ladies for a great weekend!

Disclaimer

No I'm not married...and Pittsburgh is NOT in West Virginia! Just a fun fact. ;)

I have had a song on my heart for the last couple of days so I'm going to share it with you:

Victory in Jesus

I heard an old, old story, How a Savior came from glory,

How He gave His life on Calvary To save a wretch like me;

I heard about His groaning, Of His precious blood's atoning,

Then I repented of my sins And won the victory.
O victory in Jesus, My Savior, forever. He sought me and bought me

With His redeeming blood; He loved me ere I knew Him And all my love is due Him,

He plunged me to victory, Beneath the cleansing flood.
I heard about His healing, Of His cleansing pow'r revealing.

How He made the lame to walk again And caused the blind to see;

And then I cried, "Dear Jesus,Come and heal my broken spirit,"

And somehow Jesus came and bro't To me the victory.
O victory in Jesus, My Savior, forever.He sought me and bought me

With His redeeming blood; He loved me ere I knew Him And all my love is due Him,

He plunged me to victory, Beneath the cleansing flood.
I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory. And I heard about the streets of gold Beyond the crystal sea; About the angels singing, And the old redemption story, And some sweet day I'll sing up there The song of victory.
O victory in Jesus,My Savior, forever.He sought me and bought me

With His redeeming blood; He loved me ere I knew Him

And all my love is due Him,He plunged me to victory, Beneath the cleansing flood.

I hope this song gets stuck in your head like it is in mine! How awesome to know that we will have a VICTORY in Jesus! :) Keep smiling!