Youth Rally Time

Last year about this time I wrote this post about the "Night in Bethlehem" youth service that we had at our church. Well, it's been 365 days (plus a few, now) since that night, and I am about to write another post about another youth service. 

Last year I knew that what we were doing was going to be the start of something great, I just didn't know how great it was going to be. I knew God was going to do something, I just didn't know exactly what he was going to do. In the past, there has been failed attempt after failed attempt to do something for Apostolic young people and never does it seem to stick. I guess that is because every year a new generation rises up and they have new needs, new ways to worship, and new people to reach. So, after a year of doing these youth services at different churches, I'm proud to say the kids have stuck with it. Every service is better than the previous one. This past Saturday night there was so much anticipation, I thought the church was going to blow up. I mean, it was like everyone had been waiting their whole life just to be at that service. 

So, in my usual style, I will give you the run-down of events. 

6:00- Dinner

7:00- Joseph Hale, Jara Hale, Jordan Canfield, and Kathy Hale of Christ Family Church teach us all how to "Wobble" Family Force Five style. It was awesome and I think everyone loved it. Everyone was wobbling. 

7:06 (or something like that) Christina gets the young people all fired up for Jesus, I mean they were going nuts! To quote her, "How many people have ever been healed? How many people have ever been delivered? Why don't you give God some praise?!?!?!" Just imagine saying that to 120 people + who had been healed and who had been delivered.

7:07 Praise and worship kicks off with "You are Good to Me" and "Freedom" I thought the pews were going to come unscrewed. Seriously. The church was bouncing up and down. 

7:15 Church of Joy from Leitchfield, KY did a praise dance to "Oh Glorious Day." They got it.

7:20 Cody Tipton, a 16-year-old from the Bible Church of Jesus shared a word with the young people, encouraging them to be a witness in "such a time as this." It was great, I love hearing young people minister. They might get nervous, they might go nuts, but its awesome either way because its such a growing experience.

7:25 FAC Bowling Green youth group did a dance to "Word of God Speak." I was very proud of them, it was their first time doing something like that as a group and they did very well. 

7:30 Second Praise and Worship set. Whoa. How he loves us. So much that he clothed himself and flesh and lived among us and suffered and died for us. Its unfathomable.

7:40 Bro. Brian Massie brought an incredible word to the young people about bearing their scars as a witness of what God has brought them through it was very powerful.

After that, there's no time-keep. The altar service was very powerful and God really moved on the lives of everyone there. I mean, I have so many stories, there are so many things that transpired that night, that I don't even know where to begin. I am just so thankful for what God is doing and that He somehow saw fit for me to be involved in what he wants to do. I can't wait until next time!

Surprises

I hate surprises.

I have a problem around Christmas because I want to tell everyone what I got them, and I want them to tell me. I just hate the suspense. I like to know what's going on at all times. I like to be the person who sees what is coming. I like to be in control and I like to be in the know.

I guess one reason I am like this is because I don't know how to react to surprises. When I was younger, and still today, I had a problem with birthdays because I don't know how to react when I open a present. Even if I love it and it's exactly what I want, I don't jump up and down and scream and cry. I say "Thank you, I love it!" and then move on.

Sometimes, there are bad surprises. They are not gifts or wedding announcements, or long-lost friends. So, since I cannot say, "Thank you, I love it!" I have decided that the best thing to do is to keep my mouth shut or talk to my sisters. That's the only solution. Oh, and pray.

And life... good grief, it's always throwing surprises at me.

School, Friends, Church, Family, Christmas

I have a million and one things going on in my mind right now. So here it is: my stress-free Tuesday post.

~The to-do list/countdown I posted last week: check! I've gotten most of it done. Besides finals (3) I only have a few more easy assignments to do. 

~Last night was my last night of Art. I am sad to see it go, because I love art, but I have never been so ready for a class to be over. I turned in all of my projects last night, including the mosaic that I spent at least 15 hours or more working on. Every time I close my eyes I see Jimmy Stewart holding his sweetheart in the air and a million little pieces of magazine clippings glued to the poster. I will have to put up a picture, it is pretty impressive. 

~I read a quote yesterday that said, "Being a Christian is not about being perfect, its about realizing how much we need Christ, who is perfect." I've been trying to work on the little things here lately, like holding my tongue, or rising above the situation, or being patient. What I have found is that these things are not something you achieve or become over night and stay that way for the rest of your life. Every situation that we face is an opportunity to let God work through us and make us more like him. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail. 

~We have a new Hispanic minister coming to our church. I hope really good things come from this. There are a lot of Hispanic people in our area that need Jesus, so it will be really cool if he gets in there and starts reaching out. The only problem is he doesn't know very much English, but Sunday he testified and I understood what he was saying. I guess three years of Spanish paid off.

~Lesson learned: you can't look at some things the way God looks at them and then other things the way the world looks at them. We have to look at everything through God's eyes. Even the girl code. 

~I spent a lot of time with Joseph's family this weekend. I met his dad's family at a Christmas thing, and then we went to his cousin Brenan's birthday party (he turned four) it was super sweet. However, I didn't get to see my family much this weekend, really just Rebekah and Christina. So that stinks. I am looking forward to having all of next week off with them. 

~The closer it gets to Christmas, the more I want to tell everyone what I got them. I hate suspense. It hasn't been as bad this year, I guess because it doesn't feel like Christmas yet, but I know its coming. 

~My Waffle House bad experiences were redeemed this weekend with a good one. I think I have never eaten there without getting sick, but I went this weekend with Tina, Beka, J, and Joseph and we had lots of fun and got to invite our waitress to church. And I didn't throw up. 

~Do not be weary in well doing, for in time you will reap a great reward. That's my motto this week.

JAM

Last night we baptized our first JAM kid. It was so awesome.

This past summer, my friend Kaitlyn was living with us and had the vision to start a ministry for pre-teen kids, and she named it JAM (Jesus and Me) Ministry. Well, Kaitlyn moved, but JAM stuck. My younger sister Christina has taken over, and done a tremendous job with it. On Wednesday nights she takes the kids to the back, they do some crazy praise and worship and then she teaches them a lesson. When JAM started, it was just my little sister Jessica, and my two cousins, Rachel and Lauren. Since then, Rachel has been bringing her friends and in September (I think), her friend Hannah was filled with the Holy Ghost at a youth rally here in Bowling Green. Wednesday night Rachel's friend Gracie was baptized in Jesus' name! 

I am reminded of the scripture, "If one can put a thousand to flight, then two can put ten thousand to flight." And that makes me super pumped because we have three kids in the sixth grade alone. So what's that mean? a hundred thousand? I think so. With God, the possibilities are endless.

The Countdown

The countdown is on blog-reading people of the world! There are only 24 days until Christmas!!! Of Course, that means 10 school days, and tons of work to do. My to-do list for the next week and a half looks a little like this:
Math:
-Tesselation Homework
-Take-home Test
-Extra Credit
-Study for Final
KY History:
-Finish Reading Journals (a ridiculous amount of reading)
-Study for Final
English:
-Noun Clause Homeowrk
-Punctuation Extra Credit
-Finish Notebook (again, ridiculous)
-Take-home Final
-Diagrammed Sentences Homework
Art:
-Mosaic (I'll have to post a picture to let you see how ridiculous this is)
-Study for Final
Literacy:
-Literature Focus Unit Lesson Plan
-Chapter 8 Quiz
-Study for Final

That's just for school! But I will make it!