Shorebound

We are headed to the Jersey Shore TONIGHT! 

The day has finally arrived.

Pray for us? 

For safety. 

For attitudes. 

For travels. 

For weather. 

For intentional relationships. 

For humility. 

For grace. 

And for Christ to be made much of, in the cleaning out of muddy homes and sorting through of people's treasured possessions. 

Undone

This passage undoes me. 

Every single time.

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:1-9

Cross-Training

With leaving for New Jersey in three days, I was discussing with a co-worker at work today about whether I was ready or not.

The answer was clearly no.

So, we decided to do a little cross-training in the huge walk-in freezer and two fridges we have at work.

You see, I work in the backroom, so we do some pretty funny and entertaining things throughout our long shifts. It helps to get through the crazies.

We bundle up in the knee-length fur-lined jackets we're provided, and head on in to pull whatever is needed from the freezer or fridge.

I'm starting to be able to handle up to four minutes in the freezer, and seven in the fridges, before my eyelashes start gathering frost.

Mind you, the freezer is 0 degrees Fahrenheit, so around -18 degrees Celsius.

It won't be near that cold in NJ, but one cannot be over-prepared.

Bring on the cold weather and warm hearts.

Work!

I'm tired. 

A kind of tired I haven't known in quite a while. 

My days are full. Full of nine hour work days, and any extra time on either end is full of family and friends. 

And I'm sore. 

Boy, am I sore. 

My new occupation is more of a workout than I could have ever imagined. Walking, running, climbing, carrying, reaching, pulling, pushing... 

My muscles are growing, but it's a painful process. 

And my bruised knees and shins are great conversation starters. 

Long story short, work is good. Tiring, but so good. 

Good for my brain, good for my soul, and good for my body. 

The last two days and the next four are crazy. 

Thanksgiving and Black Friday were a frenzy of football, food, family, and freaking insane shoppers. 

The next four are full of four all-day shifts, and packing for Sandy relief. 

Four days from right now, we will be at the airport awaiting our red-eye to Philly. 

As in, 96 hours from now. 

And I have no idea where I am going to find clothes warm enough to survive over there. 

Full days, but fulfilling days. 

Crazy days, but good days. 

"For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:15-18

Kings & Queens

A well done and well made song and video by Audio Adrenaline.

I encourage you to watch and listen.

Makes me want to play soccer and have paint powder wars with children for the rest of my days.

You feel the same?

Let's do it.

Be Jesus to the least.

Noses and Rings and Noses

I never thought a small piece of metal could lead to such disagreement.

The location of that piece of metal might be a key factor in what is making it controversial.

It's in my nose.

Sometimes it's just a tiny little shiny stud, and sometimes it's a hoop shape.

To me? Big deal.

Both are just an accessory.

And I've had it for over a year now.

But to a few people recently?

It's the END. Of the freaking WORLD.

Drama-rama all across this city.

This house, especially.

But you know what I think? Even though sometimes I can't remember why I even got my nose pierced to begin with?

If my bosses are down with it, I'm down with it.

And if Nepal's down with it, I'm all about it.

And I have attachment issues, so I don't think I could really let it go just yet.

Plus, it's the best when you're washing your face at night while on speaker phone and your purity ring gets caught on your nose hoop and you have to end the call with your elbow while the beads in your exfoliating facewash burn your eyes out of their sockets while your hand is STUCK to your FACE.

Yeah, it'll be gone by the time I'm 25.

Bonhoeffer: Spirit v. Flesh

“When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.”
― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost Of Discipleship

Because we all could use a little Bonhoeffer at the end of a long day.

The life of a young person is a constant battle of his or her spirit against his or her flesh.

Those who disagree, are lying.

Veterans

At Hope Church this past Sunday, we were blessed to get to learn from a guest pastor, Daniel Thomas, who is a United States Marine.

There are no "former Marines" or "ex-Marines". As he informed us, "Once a Marine, always a Marine." So even though Daniel is now living live with his wife and two children, as a youth pastor of a large church, he is still a Marine.

He spoke on Ephesians 6, and told us great stories of life in the armed forces.

The rifle that a Marine is issued, never leaves his side.

He knows every single millimeter of that rifle.

That rifle is never to be more than an arm's length away.

For the Marine, his weapon is a rifle.

For the Christian, his weapon is the Scriptures.

To be never more than an arm's length away, metaphorically.

To be known inside and out.

On Veterans Day, to get to hear how God used the life of a Marine to make His name magnified, was a treasure.

Daniel mentioned that we are all shaped by our experiences. Though we are all made new in Christ, we each are still a product of what we have endured through our lives.

Our experiences will continue to shape how we view our circumstances and what comes our way.

A Marine may always make comparisons between their current life and their time in battle.

The former alcoholic may never be able to scan the drinks page on a restaurant menu.

I might always have a hard time trusting young men and their intentions.

We are all shaped by our experiences.

But we are all made free in Christ.

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1

Let's keep that in mind as we love on those we encounter. 

Because we may have no idea where they have walked. 

10 on 10

10th of November.

10 un-edited iPhone captures.

Or 8.

Here goes.

6:30 AM

Nepali tapestry bedspread.

7:30 AM

Pre-orientation.

I got a haircut, people.

And I voted.

8:30 AM

The Pilot's heated seats are a life-saver these cold mornings.

9:30 AM

Waiting for paperwork to clear at orientation.

Insert 5 hours of work orientation, where I didn't feel like photographing anything whatsoever. 

3:30 PM

Late afternoon reading.

In my bed.

:)

4:30 PM

Did you know they make these?

Yeah, sorry.

Target team members only.

7:30 PM

Waiting in line to see Skyfall, my very first James Bond movie experience. And let me tell you.

It was worth it.

Daniel Craig? Lets get married and have very blue-eyed children.

It's okay that you're 30 years older than me.

Your arms and back muscles make up for that.

11:30 PM

I love when friends call to catch up, and allow me to sit at my favorite look-out spot up the street from my house and watch over San Mateo as it goes to sleep.

Well, that was my 10th! Not very exciting, I know, but I am thankful for a job, for rest, and for friends.

And just for kicks? Hayden and I discussed real-life topics today.

Like dogs.

Life with Anxiety

I didn't grow up a worrier.

Last summer, after a tough break-up, an immediate family member walking through a manic-depressive diagnosis, and my mom shattering her shoulder and being de-capacitated for 6 months, I started worrying.

In January of 2012, that worry developed into daily anxiety.

Debilitating bouts of fear, uncertainty and inadequacy, that made me leave school for a few days and head home.

I couldn't reason with myself; my brain was a force of its own.

I walked through last semester on a tightrope, teetering between great, fine, and falling to pieces.

It struck me hard in Nepal.

Christian counseling helps.

Friends help.

But Jesus triumphs.

Do you endure anxiety? It's a scary fact of life for some of us, that can often be associated with a lack of faith.

Read this.

Love you.

"When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. (Psalm 56:3)

One possible response to the truth that our anxiety is rooted in our failure to live by faith in future grace goes like this: 'I have to deal with feelings of anxiety almost every day; and so I feel like my faith in God’s grace must be totally inadequate. So I wonder if I can have any assurance of being saved at all.'

My response to this concern is: Suppose you are in a car race and your enemy, who doesn’t want you to finish the race, throws mud on your windshield. The fact that you temporarily lose sight of your goal and start to swerve does not mean that you are going to quit the race.

And it certainly doesn’t mean that you are on the wrong racetrack. Otherwise, the enemy wouldn’t bother you at all. What it means is that you should turn on your windshield wipers and use your windshield washer.

When anxiety strikes and blurs our vision of God’s glory and the great¬ness of the future that he plans for us, this does not mean that we are faith¬less, or that we will not make it to heaven. It means our faith is being attacked.

At first blow, our belief in God’s promises may sputter and swerve. But whether we stay on track and make it to the finish line depends on whether, by grace, we set in motion a process of resistance — whether we fight back against the unbelief of anxiety. Will we turn on the windshield wipers and will we use our windshield washer?

Psalm 56:3 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”

Notice: it does not say, “I never struggle with fear.” Fear strikes, and the battle begins. So the Bible does not assume that true believers will have no anxieties. Instead, the Bible tells us how to fight when they strike."

Hurricanes

I came to know Jesus in the midst of destruction left behind by a hurricane.

Serving alongside 30 people I barely knew, on a trip that none of my friends (at the time) went on.

Little did I know, those people I served with would be made into my family.

And still are today.

We would proceed to go on two more trips after Katrina together.

And plant Hope Church together.

On that first trip, at a stupid sixteen years old, Jesus called me out of my sin, showing me so clearly that this world is not about me, and my life is not my own.

I became a believer in Jesus Christ on a Thursday night in a water-damaged church on the coast of Mississippi, surrounded by people I barely knew, but that I would later call my Pastor, my wise counsel, and my best friends. 

From that night onward, I knew that the rest of my years would be spent in service of He who knit me together.

Absolutely everything changed.

It began a period of burning away what once was, and replacing my old ways with ones that glorified the Father.

He made me brand new. 

In less than three weeks, we're headed to a hurricane disaster zone.

I cannot lie; I am nervous.

And I just know, He is going to be tearing us apart and stripping us of what does not matter.

Pray for New Jersey.

Pray for groups that are headed there.

That God would be magnified through a region losing everything they held dear.

That people would come to know that the Lord is the only one who never fails, and the only thing we should be found clinging to in a storm.

And that He would make new what has been destroyed.

La-De-Dah

I am a little bit overwhelmed at all of the blog posts I want to put together to re-cap everything that's happened over the last week.

It's been freaking fun.

- Needtobreathe Adventure Day in Davis (and getting to meet the band...!!!)
- Winning the World Series (again)
- Halloween
- Lecrae Concert
- Job Interviews (and offers!)
- New Jersey trip planning
- All Souls Day: What It Means for My Family

My intentions are good.

I'll try to get these rolling ASAP.

In the meantime, choose joy people. Choose joy.

Pintertest Kitchen: October

For this month's PinterTest Kitchen, hosted by Jessica, I decided to make a communal dish.

See, if you haven't heard, our Giants won the World Series. Yes, yes they did. Again. And we watched most games all together, except for when some people got to go to the games, and the rest of us less fortunate would gather and watch. 

For Game 3, we were each told to bring an appetizer. 

Everyone brought a dip. 

It was "Dip for Days" as I like to call it. 

And when they got cold? We reheated. 

Double dipping, if you will. 

I made this Warm Bean Dip that I had been eye-ing on Pinterest for the last few weeks. 

I think it was a hit. 

I used non-fat cream cheese. non-fat sour cream, and fat-free cheese, and I am sure that using the regular full-fat versions would result in an even creamier dip. 

But I wanted to do our hips and wastes a favor, so that we're able to dip into the pool and ocean next summer without crying in shame in the corner. 

Yeah, you're welcome. 

Dip-A-Palooza was a hit. 

Head over to Jessica's to read more about dips and dips and more dips.