It's Been a While...

Wow, it's been a while! I'm not sure what in the world was keeping me from updating for the past few days, but whatever it was, it sure did, haha! Well, quite honestly, there isn't a whole bunch to update on, which is surprising (considering the fact that it has been like a week), but there are still a few things. Last week was the busiest academic week I had and I thought I wasn't going to finish everything in time, but I somehow pulled it off two days prior to Sunday, so that made me quite happy! I was most impressed with my most amazing feat of writing my Humanities paper in two days and getting an A on it :D Pretty cool stuff though. I also had to do a post for Oceanography about evolution, so I presented "evidence" that supposedly supported the theory and then pointed out the flaws in the evidence. Usually I was using common sense about how the evidence wasn't adding up, but I did use a lot of scientific answers to refute the evolutionary evidence as well. I thought I was going to get a lot of hate posts against it, but so far none, lol! Also, it was the longest discussion post I did for any class (about 2000+ words)! Pretty exciting, I guess?? Fortunately, this week isn't so bad and I don't have as much to do, so I think the stress level will be relatively low. One of the big things I'm doing right now is staying off of Facebook for at least a week! I started yesterday and plan on going 'til next Sunday. Who knows? I might even go longer ;) The reason why I'm doing this "lent-ish"- type thing is because I have been on Facebook waaaayyy too much lately and it has distracted me from friends, school, and most importantly, my relationship with God, and that's what I wanted to avoid doing. So I figure that being off of Facebook for a week will probably do more good than harm in the long run. The ONLY reason why I might probably go on at least once this week is if/when I update saying that I updated this blog (which I do every time I update this). And if I do that, I won't be looking at notifications, reading friends' comments, accepting friend requests, or reading personal messages. Now Facebook is good and all, but I see one pretty darn major problem with it and it's this: it tends to take away the value of real friendships and communication. Like, sometimes I find it easier to chat with someone on Facebook rather than in-person and what do you think that will do to me in time? Probably give me even more of a problem with socializing and I'm currently trying to work on it, so FB would be pretty counter-productive. But really more importantly, I want to make sure my relationship with God is the top reason for my living here on this earth, not waiting around for a notification. So yeah, that's just me. But if you're like me and you find yourself on FB more than in face-to-face conversation with someone or just not doing anything else BUT that, maybe you should consider being entirely off of FB for a week and see what that does. I have to admit, it is kinda hard right now, but that shows how much I've been attached to it lately. I tend to struggle with idolatry at times and I kinda don't want to fall into right now or ever, you know what I mean? Oh, and I'm going to be preparing for discipleship of a middleschooler. Mainly, I'm going to be reading, interpreting, and learning more about the New Testament; getting a good Biblical foundation. I'm still praying about Bible college in the future, so we'll see how that goes. But I sure would like to go to a Bible college to get even better equipped for ministry. It's exciting though! May God have all the glory and not me :)

Just Another Update

So for the past three days I've been sick and not enjoying it at all. Fortunately I completed all the schoolwork I needed to do for the week, so that makes me quite happy amongst the icky feelings :P Today I went to work and it was no fun, but the day passed pretty quickly for me, thus making me deal with the boredom. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but not when I'm sick, lol! It was all good though, and I got to get a little sleep today, although some dude from Louisiana kept calling me so I finally picked up and said that he had the wrong number. That settled that, haha! And last night I was doing a whole bunch of web cam "video blogs", I guess you could call it, in hopes of posting on of them on Facebook, but it never happened, lol! I figured, "I'm home alone, sick, and bored...I'll make a video". And not too long ago I was just reading some old Breakaway magazines that I have and man let me tell you, I love them so much! It's amazing what I learn whenever I open an issue! Pretty sweet for sure! :D

And last night before I went and crashed on my bed out of sheer weakness and stuffy noses, I went to church to meet up with Pastor Tim in order to give him my volunteer papers, so I'm quite psyched about that! :) I'm not sure what God is entirely up to right now, but at least He knows and I trust that whole-heartedly! I still continue to pray daily, asking Him if this is what He wants me to do because my biggest fear (among many of my biggest fears) is not consulting God before making a big decision like this and I just merely want to do the right thing according to His Will :) But I think it would be oxymoronic (if that's even a word) to be fearful over not following God's Will. I mean, shouldn't I NOT be fearful in this situation 'cause, after all, God IS in control. So, I'll definitely work on that :) God is truly amazing and it is totally worth every step of the way when trusting Him :)

I'm Not Just Gonna Sit

   So I'm super excited about an awesome opportunity! In about a week or so, I'm gonna get to volunteer at Pathways Community Church discipling a middle-schooler(s)! This is how it all came about:

   Well lately (as you all know because I kept repeating myself, lol) I've been growing more and more passionate about Christ and youth ministry and I would like (and I believe God is calling me) to go into full-time youth ministry in the future. So I've been reading up on ministry and getting counsel about it and just getting the best knowledge that I can. I also have been thinking about going to a Bible college after I get my General AA at SPC and pursuing my AA in Biblical Studies. But all of that seems to be quite some time into the future and I didn't want to just sit there and wait (unless God wanted me to wait and He sure would let me know that) so I thought to myself, "I wonder if there is a way that I can somehow get involved in youth ministry right now; to get some hands-on experience, training, and to just serve in some way." I asked my youth pastor, Tim, if there was any need of volunteers in the ministry (to help disciple teens preferably) and indeed there is! So I got to meet with him today to get to know each other and to discuss ministry (and for me to sign papers, lol). I'm not sure what God is gonna do yet, but I know that if this isn't what He wants me to do, then He will close the door. But so far, it seems to be falling into place and quite frankly, it's kinda scary. Scary in the sense that it's a new thing and this is for real. It's kind of out of the planning process and getting into production now, which is totally different. Of course Satan comes in with attacks like making me doubt that I can handle this or feel like I'm not ready or "cut out" for it. I ignore these doubts and try to focus on God alone because I know that youth ministry is where I'm headed, I just want God's hand to be fully upon me and leading me to where I need to go. We'll see where this leads. And who knows, maybe this could be the start of the rest of my life; happening in a way I never thought possible! Only God and time will tell. In the meantime, I could use lots of prayer for strength, confidence, and complete faith and trust in the works of God, knowing He will supply me everything I need! I'm really excited and nervous, but I know it will be greatly rewarding in the end :)

A Missed Chance, But Not the Last

   So yesterday, I did pretty much nothing since I'm on Spring Break and quite honestly, I feel very guilty about it. I always talk about how I want to make the most out of Christ every day of my life and here I was sitting in my room on the computer watching Youtube videos. Yeah, believe it or not, that's what I did practically all day :/ And to think, God blessed me like crazy to live that day and we're made to worship and enjoy Him and we as Christians have the duty of spreading the Gospel of Christ. I did not live that out and I wish so badly that I could that day back and retry it over. And I thought to myself: what if Christ came back at that moment and saw me just watching Youtube videos while I was blessed with a beautiful and free day ahead of me and didn't take that opportunity to go share the Gospel with someone in the community? I don't think He would have been pretty happy with that. I'm not even happy with that! And I know He isn't too pleased with what I did.

   You know? I don't want to just sit around and read books, watch videos, and listen to sermons about living my life for Christ. That's all good, but what good is it if I don't even get out in the world and actually live it out? It's just like what James says in the New Testament, "Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says" (James 1:22). Lately I have been siting around and reading about living for Christ, but I feel like that just isn't enough. And really, it isn't. I wish I didn't have classes during the week when I'd rather spend that time in God's Word and sharing the Gospel, but I guess we have to work with what we already have and find ways to minister to others in our circumstances. And I think to myself, "That's probably why God has me where I am right now; to share the Gospel with someone who normally wouldn't have heard about it if I wasn't there." That's encouraging to think about and I challenge you with that thought as well :)

"Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:15-16

Following God

   Getting older is no fun. I mean to a point it can be because of the new journey and new responsibilities ahead, but that's just it; new. I'm so used to the way things were back when I was little. And everyone told me to enjoy the years of  "play time" and no college because the rest of your life isn't going be like that. I have now come to treasure those words. Things are different nowadays. Job, school, studying, and a little bit of life's "drama" in the mix as well. It can be scary not knowing what is in store for me...really scary at times. But I trust that God is in the midst of it all and He'll be leading me all the way...the catch? I have to actually follow. As Christians, we talk about following God, we sing about following God, we write Facebook statuses about following God, and, for goodness' sake, we even write blogs about following God. But here's a question: what about following God? I write it that way because we tend to off-handedly say "I'm following God". Saying it is no good really. I can say anything I want without actually doing anything, but it won't make any difference. When we follow God, it doesn't mean consistent church attendance, with bonus points for going to Sunday school earlier in the morning. It doesn't mean going to every youth event in the month, with even a ministry project. It doesn't mean listening only to Christian music or going to a weekly Bible study. Following God is much more than that. For instance, if God said to you, "You want to be a doctor/nurse and you're even going to school for it. But you're not going to be in the medical field professionally. You're going to go to Uganda, live with the people, and help the sick people there. You're not going to have an income. You're not going to have a comfortable place to live. In fact, you're not going to have much at all regarding the materialistic aspect. But you're going to have Me and that's all you need." Could you follow through with that? I mean really think about it, could you? Yes you know you should, but if it really came down to "you're going to give up everything to follow Me and share the Gospel with those who never heard it", could you literally give up everything for that? And maybe it's not about going to another country. Maybe it's about being a part of a ministry here in the U.S. or wherever you live. I ask myself this question all the time. And if it came down to it, I sure hope I would have absolute faith and truly follow through with it. This is what I have been thinking about everyday because I am at an age where new responsibilities and journeys are ahead of me and God is leading the way full throttle. Wherever He tells me to go, I will follow. Even if it makes absolutely no sense as to why I'm going this way or that way. I know it's in His hands at all times, so there really should be no worry. I'm growing up...but it is going to be sooo worth it in the end :) Do you think that?