Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun, please shine down on me!

Greetings from the Sunshine State, more commonly known as Florida. For the final week of my Christmas break I am in sunny West Palm Beach, Florida basking in the beautiful ball of fire! I'm trying to tan up for the trip to Brazil, which is 12 days from today!


Although I'm in Florida, you're probably wondering why I'm wearing so many winter clothes in the above pictures. Well, those pictures capture the essence of the first week of my Christmas break this year. For me, December 12th-18th was the first time I was able to go home since we moved to Georgia this summer. After almost 6 months of being away, my parents blessed me with the best Christmas present-a trip to Wisconsin! Let me just tell you that it was the best week of my life and by far the best Christmas present that I ever received. I was able to see every one that I wanted to see, and spend extra time with those that I really wanted to, and never felt rushed. It was quality and quantity time. It was especially nice to see all my closest friends! I missed them so much! It was hard to leave again, but it was well worth it!

One thing the Lord really impressed on me more deeply while I was in Wisconsin was that He wants to use me, ALL of me. So, before I conclude this blog entry I want to include an excerpt from my journal...


>One day while being back home, I went to see one of my friends at her secular college. For me, being there was incredibly eye opening. I felt kind of discouraged as I listened to some of the students talk about how wasted they got that weekend, who’s sleeping with whom and heard all the language and taking of the Lord’s name in vain. My though the whole time was “Lord, I feel as though you want me to go to a secular college to make a difference, but how am I supposed to make a difference in this-there's so much to do?” Through all this discouraging thought, I felt the Lord telling me over and over, “I’m going to use you in subtle ways. It might be just the fact that you don’t drink, sleep around, or swear, but I will use you.” That was such a comforting thought.<


Psalm 23:4
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

Merry Christmas!

Luke 2:10-11
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Trusting God "pays" off

$3500. That is the amount that I needed to raise for my one month missions trip to Brazil, coming up in January. As of now, all the money has come in. Praise God! I do have to admit that I had a little bit of a hard time trusting God to provide the funds, especially as the deadline was a week away and I had not even raised half the amount needed. The rest of the money came in within 3 days! Through that, God truly showed me how much bigger he is than me, and he really does have everything under control. My King of Kings has cattle on a thousand hills, and all he had to do was sell a few of them for me!


The first picture you see above is my team for our Brazil trip. This week we just finished our semester project/presentations. Individually we had to answer a question on a Brazilian subject by giving a 10 minute oral presentation. My subject was the music in Brazil. As a group, we had to present for an hour on the five topics of family, economy, government, society and religion in Brazil as well as answering seven worldview questions how a Brazilian would answer them. It was a very informative project, and I feel so much more knowledgeable about Brazil, but I do have to say that I am very glad to be done.


Before Thanksgiving break we had the unique opportunity to go to a homeless shelter in Atlanta. We spent the night there and were able to talk to many of the men that stay there a lot as well as learn about many of the stereotypes about homeless people that are incorrect. A local church was supposed to bring dinner for them that night but they never showed up. We were able to collect donations from among our group, go to the local Publix and buy food for some of the women and children sleeping in the lobby. We ended up feeding 18 women and children that night. It was such a blessing to see their faces after they were given their plate of food. I talked to one woman, and she told me her story. One little boy could not even make conversation with us because all he said was "Mommy, I want to eat." It was such a humbling experience to see these people live like this, especially in such a big city as Atlanta.


This week for class we have the priviledge of having Norman Geisler as our guest professor. In preparation for this topic "Evidence for God's Existence & The Problem of Evil," we have been reading The Reason for God by Timothy Keller as well as excerpts from Geisler's book Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics.


Last week, one of the things that God was pointing out to me constantly was just how creative and detail oriented he is. I noticed this the first time while I was driving back to campus Sunday night after our Thanksgiving break. A breathtaking sunset stretched across the entire horizon, and we were driving right into it. The wisps of clouds and magnificent colors radiated God's creativity in how he could created something so simple, yet still so beautiful. I was at my weekly volunteer service opportunity at a rehab center when I noticed the detail oriented God that I serve. I was going around to the patients to get their vital signs and because of a severe burn on both patients upper arms, as well as an IV in one, I was not able to get blood pressure in the "proper" place. I asked a nurse close by what to do, and she reminded me that you can take blood pressure on the forearm. Early in the semester I had to take blood pressure on a patients calf. How amazing is that? God knows that things happen and we need to be able to get blood pressure from more than one place.


The two other pictures that you see above were taken at a Christmas parade we had in Pine Mountain this weekend. It's always nice to be warm and cozy in a big jacket as you bike down the street waving to people and wishing them "Merry Christmas." This event was just the beginning of many Christmas events that we have this week before leaving for break on Friday!

PICTURES

Apologetics...do I have to say I'm sorry?

Good morning everyone! (or whatever time of day it happens to be when you read this) Life is going well here at the IMPACT360 campus in small town Pine Mountain. First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who has committed to pray for the upcoming Brazil missions trip and also to the ones who have given financially. Funds are continuing to come in, and I am overwhelmed by the extreme generosity. Thank you to everyone is has given and to those of you who pray for me regularly. I am truly blessed!

Secondly, I want to give you a brief update on the happenings here in the South. Last weekend we took a "field trip" to Charlotte, NC for the National Apologetics Conference (http://www.nationalapologeticsconference.com). Speakers from all over the US included James Dobson, Josh McDowell, Charles Colson, Lee Strobel, Mark Mittelberg, and Del Tackett, who is one of our guest professors here at IMPACT for a week in March. It was such a privilege to be able to sit in a session and hear these "big name" speakers talk about things they are passionate about.

During the afternoon we had different workshops that were available for us to go to. Two of the workshops that I went to were particularly meaningful to me. The topic for both of them was equipping youth to be disciples. For the past few months I have been noticing that God has been increasingly laying on my heart a passion for youth, more specifically high schoolers. A lot of differently instances have come up in the past few weeks that has just confirmed in my heart and mind that God wants me to do something in the future related to working with youth. As I went to these workshops, I got so excited when I would hear different ways to spread and apply the gospel to youth. It's been crazy and thrilling to see God ignite this passion in me, and also to see how my future career could be related to it. I'd ask you to be in prayer for me to know God's will in this area.

Just another quick item to mention before signing off, for those interested, is what books we have finished reading recently...

What the New Testament Authors Really Cared About
The Great Awakening by Jim Wallis
Truefaced by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch (we just finished this one)

1 Peter 3:15
"...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."

God is Sovereign! His will be done!

Romans 13:1-7
"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor."

In honor of the election, I have chosen to focus this blog entry on the verse above. I am not here to tell you my political views (as a matter of fact, I am not even going to tell you who I voted for), but rather, I am writing to express that God is still in control, no matter who holds the presidential seat. No matter what your political views are, or who you voted for, be reminded that "there is no authority except that which God has established." The new man that now represents our country is who we are supposed to submit to, not because we have to, but because God commands us to. But we must also remember that we are not to submit to him if or when he does something contrary to God's word, but for the time being, he is the power that God has put over us, and we need to respect him and submit to him. We also need to pray for our president, whether we like him or not. Pray for God's will to be done in every situation and every decision. I know this may be hard for some of you to hear (and again, I don't know who some of you have voted for), but please bear with me and really search for yourself what the Bible has to say on this issue.

My God is SO much bigger than that!

The picture directly above is one of me holding a teeny weeny little Philistine god from back in the BC days. The top picture is me sitting at the entrance to a tomb that would've been similar to one that Jesus would've been buried in. But wait a minute, I'm getting ahead of myself...

So, I am back on campus, and let me just say that it feels so good to be home! Fall break was very productive and relaxing. I accomplished much, including an extra credit paper that isn't due until December, but it was nice to get that done while the information is fresh in my head. I did some fun stuff too, don't just think it was all work. I took one of my brothers and my sister to see High School Musical 3 for their birthday. I have to say that it was well worth it. If you don't like anything else in that movie, you have to like the choreography. It is simply amazing!

This week has been rather busy for just getting back on campus. Class started off in full swing this week with Dr. George Guthrie coming to us from Union University to teach on the topic of the New Testament. Just like I enjoyed our last professor teaching the Old Testament, it was equally as interesting to hear this professor lecture on the New Testament. I took away so much information this week, including filling out a packet of 100 pages of notes during our 9 hours of class time. I especially loved all the Jewish history that he packed into this time with us. He talked a lot about what the traditions are for the Jews, and especially how understanding these traditions can help us better understand certain phrases in the Bible and even Jesus' parables.

All this class time was brought to an end when we visited a place called Explorations in Antiquity last night (http://www.explorationsinantiquity.net/). Here we ate dinner in the traditional Jewish style complete with food and decor relevant for the time period. This meal was supposed to represent a traditional Passover feast. Some of my classmates got so into the occasion that they dressed up in bed sheets to mimic the attire of the day! That was a lot of fun to see. :) After eating an incredible spread of salad, chicken, lentil soup, tortillas with hummus, artichoke dip and apple sauce, and various fruits and nuts, we headed outside to go through life size structures of different objects you would find in Bible days. Such things included a tent like Abraham would have made out of goat hair, a well where Rachel would've drawn water from, a tomb that would have been similar to where Jesus was buried, catacombs where Christian's would meet in secret when Christianity was illegal, a cross similar to the one Jesus would've died on, an actual size oil press, and a model town such as where Joseph and Mary would've been when Jesus was born. It was so incredible to walk through all this and really see what "Bible days" life would've been like. While being at EiA, we got to see some ancient artifacts found over in the Holy Land, such as broken pieces of pottery, an oil lamp, and the tiny god that you see me holding above. After seeing this, one girl declared, "oh, my God is SO much bigger than that!" How perfect!

Philippians 2:14-17

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe 16as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing."

SIFAT is not a diet camp

Before beginning this week of class, we had a mission trip training experience at a place in Alabama. SIFAT (Servants in Faith and Technology) is an organization that trains missionaries and locals from other countries to go overseas and back to their villages and teach the people there basic skills for living (such as digging wells, building latrines, teach disease protection, etc). http://www.sifat.org/

We spent two nights at this place preparing for our mission trip in January to Brazil. The first night we were there was spent in a local village. A short thirty minute hike into the woods behind the SIFAT campus will take you to an area where seven huts have been built. These huts have been constructed to look just like a house would look if you were to visit that country. These seven countries are Ecuador, Bolivia, Guatemala, Liberia, Uganda, the Philippines, and Nepal. I stayed in Liberia (which was a circular hut with two windows, one door, a hole in the ceiling for the smoke from the fireplace to go up, and a dirt floor to sleep on). Some of the more "go hard or go home" Impacters brought nothing with them, thus they were sleeping in dirt with no sleeping bag. Most of us, like me, brought a sleeping bag, but that was all! We made our dinner over an open fire (chicken, rice, beans and tortillas) and ate it out of banana leaves. It was definitely an interesting experience. I enjoyed sleeping outside, but it also was a huge eye opener to how 2/3 of the world really lives. The second night we were there was participating in a slum experience. We were divided into 4 groups and told we had to get food, shelter and water in the next two hours. We were thrown into the slums with nothing but the clothes on our backs. We ended up working for shelter and trading in shoes and sweaters for food and water. Even though it was just a "game," it really showed us how difficult it is to live like that. We ended our weekend with debrief, devotion and worship.

This week at I360 was the most interesting class time that I have experienced since starting this program. We had a professor from Columbia International University in South Carolina teach us this week about the Old Testament. He went through every book of the OT and gave historical background, key events that took place, as well as related it to the topic of Israel being a light to all nations. We were constantly in the word, looking up passages of scripture. My Bible has been highlighted and written in as I was soaking up all he had to say. This week made me realize just how much I enjoy classroom time at I360.

Fall break just began for us students at Impact 360. I left campus yesterday afternoon and got to Athens, GA (where my parents live) right before dinner time. I don't have to be back to Pine Mountain until Sunday night, so these next few days will give me quite a lot of time to refresh myself, as well as get ahead on some school work.

Before leaving for fall break, we were sent an e-mail about our mission trip to Brazil, so I thought I'd post that on here so you can see what we're going to be doing and where we will be going. While at SIFAT, we found out our IE teams (International Experience). There are nine students besides me on my team, plus a staff member (Bethany Haegele), our Student Living Coordinator. My group is team B.

MINISTRY OVERVIEW: IMPACT 360 students have a unique opportunity to apply their studies and also learn from local church and ministry leaders when they spend one month in Brazil during the international experience. Through youth camps, music, sports, Vacation Bible School, and service projects, students will work to establish relationships with local families so that they can share with them about their faith. Relationships are very important to Brazilians, and students hope that by finding and talking about their common interests they will be able to gain the trust and attention of the young adults in the community.
By partnering with local churches, IMPACT 360 students will be able to learn how to most effectively do ministry in the southern Brazilian cities they will visit. They also hope to be an encouragement to these small congregations of faithful believers who want to reach their communities for Christ. Students will travel and minister together in Brasilia for several days, and then they will form two teams. One will stay in Brasilia for another week, then travel to Bauru, and the other will travel to Porto Alegre. By working with churches in both urban cities and rural areas, as well as staying with host families during their international experience, IMPACT 360 students will have a unique perspective on culture and ministry in Brazil.
DATES AND LOCATION: The IMPACT 360 group will depart on January 9, 2009. The group will include all 21 students, Brian Davis, Bethany Haegele, Eric Turner and Larry Cox plus Orman and Elizabeth Gwynn who served as missionaries to Brazil for 30+ years. The entire group will travel to Brasilia where John and Trudy White will receive them at the Aqua Viva Retreat Center. The team will participate in a group project with a local orphanage, then the 21 students will be put into two teams. The dates and ministry locations are as follows:


January 9 Depart ATLANTA
January 10–14 Entire group at Aqua Viva Retreat Center – Brasilia
January 14 Team A – Brasilia Team B – Porto Alegre
January 25 Team A travels to Bauru
February 1 Team A travels to Sao Paulo Team B travels to Sao Paulo
February 2-5 Entire group ministering in Aracaiba
February 6 Depart Sao Paulo
February 7 Arrive ATLANTA

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
"The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil."

Intro to Blogging!

So it looks like I've finally succumbed to blogging. I honestly don't know how faithful I'll be to it, but I'll try to keep up with it and post at least once a week. So for those of you who will keep up with me through this, I'm at Impact 360 right now. This is a gap-year program, between high school and college. It is a nine month, living and learning program in Pine Mountain, GA focused on Biblical worldview and leadership training. We get 15 hours of college credit through Union University in Tennessee. Impact 360 is sponsored by Chick-fil-A out of Atlanta, GA. We go to the corporate headquarters in Atlanta every three weeks for leadership training as well as an exposure to the business world. We have class from Monday-Wednesday, 8:15am-noon. Then on Thursday mornings we have what we like to call "wrap-up." It's a casual setting where we discuss and somewhat debate the issues we have learned about in class. We read an average of a book a week, somewhere between 200-400 pages, and then write a 4 page, 1000 word paper on that book. We have guest professors come in every week to lecture on that book, and we also get to interact with them outside of class. As well as classroom learning we also have service opportunities (SO) where we volunteer 4 hours a week. My SO is at Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation in Warm Springs, GA. I am using my Certified Nursing Assistant to help those in this hospital. As well as these individual SO, also have group serving times where the team of us 21 students do a community activity together, such as a blood drive, trash pick up or volunteering at an MS bike race. On Tuesday night we have Bible study, led by our Student Life Coordinators Brian and Bethany. We are currently studying the book of Galatians. And then on Sunday nights, we have worship and prayer. So that is just a basic overview. I encourage you all to check out the website (www.impact360.net) and for those of you between the ages of 18-20, seriously pray about being a part of this program. It is absolutely amazing and a complete joy to be a part of!

Before I get into to much of what has been going on in my life, I would like to give you a list of books that we have read thus far...

God at Work by Gene Edward Veith, Jr.
Kingdom Triangle by J.P. Moreland
god is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens (yes, we even read opposing viewpoint books)
Engaging God's World by Cornelius Plantinga (you gotta love that name)
Naming the Elephant by James W. Sire
Revolution by George Barna
Mission in the Old Testament by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr. (this is the book we're reading this week)

All these books have been a thrill to read in their own way. I have found myself being more self-disciplined to get the work done here than I ever was in high school. Most likely it’s because this is actually stuff that I want to learn about. Since everything we’re talking about here is of tremendous interest to me, I want to do the work and really love doing it as well. It's nice to get back into the groove of reading and writing papers. School has always been enjoyable to me, and being here has definitely intensified my desire for education.

As I mentioned above, there are 21 students here at Impact this year (we are the biggest class thus far and are only the third year). Within the first week, this group already started to feel like a family. I really do feel that since leaving Wisconsin, even though I miss it terribly, this campus is finally home to me. I love everyone here so much. The other students are great, and the staff is so loving and caring for us as individuals. The more I am here (it's been almost 7 weeks), the more I am convinced that this is exactly where God wants me this year.

Before I sign off on this entry, I want to speak for a minute on what God has been doing in my life. I am currently going through the book of Matthew in my daily quiet time, as well as reading a Proverb a day. God has been speaking to me on a variety of things that He wants me to be working on, as well as encouraging me about His love and unconditional acceptance. Every morning I pray for a verse to stick out to me that I can carry through the rest of the day. It's been amazing to see what verse the Lord gives me, and it always seems so relevant to what I'm dealing with and going through.

Proverbs 19:21
"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand."