Seasons of Change (God's Grace)

.I forgot how much I missed the changing of seasons; specifically winter to spring and summer to fall.  There is a sense of awe and wonder that I get as I watch the bare trees slowly start to get their buds back and, before you know it, those buds blossom into flowers or leaves.  Flowers that will later turn into young fruit as it begins to reach maturity.  Leaves that will grow large and provide shade from the intensity of the summer heat, to the earth below.  Within the change from summer to fall; those young fruits will become food to humans and animals alike, providing valuable nutrients to the body.  Those leaves that once provided shelter, will turn brilliant colours of red, oranges, yellows and more before knowing that they must fall to the ground because if they were to stay on the tree throughout the winter, the weight of the snow upon them, may pull down the entire tree.
Today is May 29, 2016.  It's early Sunday afternoon.  Church this morning consisted of familiar pews, youth led worship and a message spoken in English by a local pastor.  Lunch followed and I can now feel the cool breeze, mixed with the warmth of the sun, upon my skin.  The leaves are out and the birds are singing and in this moment, I find my mind wandering back to a small plot of land; filled with laughter and sounds of joy coming from 150+ kids.  May 29, 2015 I was in another country, in a very different part of the world.  The ground I walked upon wasn't filled with green grass, rather the ground mainly consisted of rocks and sand.  Instead of young apples on the fruit trees, I would find myself under the massive leaves of the banana trees.  My Sunday's consisted of 'kid led' churches followed by afternoons of photoshoots and bible study time with the young teens.  As I pause to reflect where I am now, to where I was last year this time, I miss those 'carefree moments', my 'kids' and everything that came with it and I know that apart of me will always yearn to be back at my 'home away from home'. 

Ironically enough, I am once again finding myself in a season of change despite the fact that really nothing in my life HAS changed.  I am still in the same town, working the same job as I have been now for the last 10 months, attending the same church, hanging out with the same youth 'kids', walking the same streets I've walked basically all my life, frequenting the same small town coffee shops where everyone knows everyone and waking up each morning to basically the same routine each and everyday. Here's the thing though, I LOVE IT and there is no place I'd rather be than right here, right now.

So what is this 'season of change' that I am in?  In short; its learning (and then embracing) the change of the little things in life.  Things like the seasons physically changing from one to another.  It is learning to 'see' God differently and to seek Him in the 'normalcy' of everyday life.  It has been amazing really, as I have learned to slowly open myself up to Him more and more within the last 10  months since returning from Africa last July.  Through the recent journey, there have been many ups and downs along the way.  There have been moments where I could do nothing but pray in desperation while there have been other moments of giving thanks and rejoicing in the victories that were won.  It has not been a journey I have walked alone as God continues to put 'random' people in my life at the precise right time.  People that He has used (and continues to use) to challenge, support and encourage me in my own walk with Him (whether they realize it or not).  Through this process, He continues to remind me that He created us for community, to live in relationship with one another and, ultimately, HIM. 

As I look Heavenly ward towards the sky, I can see the bright white clouds passing by across the blue sky, taking on a variety of shapes and forms along the way.  Even in that, God's fingerprint is evident.  In the season of change that I am finding myself in; a new 'realization' comes to mind...every breath that we take, is a gift.  It is a precious gift that we do not deserve or are of worth to receive. 

But isn't that what God's Grace and, ultimately, love is all about? I am convinced now more than ever before; that HE is LORD and my lips will praise Him no matter what season I find myself in.  With every breath HE graciously gives me, I will proclaim who He is.  My life is His and His alone.

Lessons from Exploding Glitter

God taught me/reminded me of something the other day at work.  He taught me this through an interesting medium...opening a box and finding a bag of silver glitter that had exploded in it-making everything else in the box-COVERED in silver glitter.
In the process of laughing, cleaning it up and getting a new box, a co worker of mine mentioned just how hard it is to get glitter off of stuff and how much it sticks to things and even days later-it is always there (seriously-this stuff intense to get off!).  So God, being who He is, showed me that that is actually how We are suppose to be-like exploding glitter.

Confused?  allow me to explain.   A few characteristics of glitter where mentioned above (hard to get off, exploding, silver (or any other colour). Yet there are also a few more characteristics of it- its shiny and sparkles.  Even in a pile of dirt-chances are you would still be able to see it.  It shines so brightly it sticks out-people notice it.

As Christians-we are suppose to be exploding glitter.  We are called to live our lives to a higher standard.  A life of which sticks out, shines and explodes for Christ.  We are SUPPOSE to be different.  We are suppose to be hard to get 'rid of' and stick to the things/people we touch.  Our lives are meant to be an example.  Other people  (complete strangers included) should be able to pass us on the streets and 'stop dead' in their tracks from having noticing something different, something special and shiny about us.  They should be able to see (and feel) the love of Christ through us, even without knowing us.

We should be 'hard to clean up' by standing FIRM in our faith, not wavering when the world throws stuff at us.  We should be able to hold another Christian accountable and pick each other up when needed without having a 'target' on our backs.  Where has the accountability gone?  Why is it so hard?

So lets shine. Let be 'like Glitter' and stick up for God.

You in?

NEW LENS

Check it out! MY BRAND NEW NIKKOR 70-300 MM LENS! ITS HUGE! Its awesome! I am in love with it! Yah it totally made working all that Over time worth it! Yah I am excited. I am excited for school for the pics there, and this and that yah I am just excited
oh also two more week sleft of work! woot! Thats it for now!

Today

As I start to type this, once again the song "fear" comes up by Casting Crowns, coincidence? you be the judge. 24 days from now, I wil be on my way to Hamburg! Although I hope we get NO SNOW that whole week, cuase I learnt yesterday that flights were delayed/canceled in chicago due to snow and all. Dont get me wrong, winter and cold is my favorite season, but come on, if it does that the end of march, when I need to go! You will NOT want to mess with me then! be warned! jk, well no not really, oh you get the point. Oh and before I forget, I will try to up date this as much as i can when I am gone, so check back for stories, pics etc etc! Also if you dont get regular emails, casue I dont like Mass emails, so not personal, just check here to see if I am still alive!
Anyways life is going good. Today started off pretty normal, then it got interesting, and then just annoying and not fun. Like anyother morning, I was packing my lunch for the day and I was about half way through cutting an orange when I felt pain in my thumb, yeah sure enough, the knife I was using for cutting slipped and yah now i have a fairly good size deep cut on my thumb. That was um interesting. Mom had to finish cutting the orange so i could stop the bleeding. Off to work I went, thumb in pain and in a bandage. Got to work, and for the first hour or so, had really crummy orders, so that was just annoying. PLus I learnt how much you acutally use a thumb, so i will be glad when its back to normal!After that, around 10:00 the day turned pretty normal again. Fun fun...
14 days of work left, 24 till i leave! Will i miss it? Work and all? umm yah I think so, certain people anyways, and the money hehehe!

So anyways the other day I was thinking, what do i want to do come septemeber? not work locally that i know cuase I want something more. I was thinking school at a local bible collage. Last september, I dont think I was really ready for any sort of secondary schooling, now I am, plus I think that this trip will show me more as well. But we will see. also, These pics are kind of what I have in mind as far as a hair cut goes, let me know what you think!
Cherish life

grrrrr

When people talk about thing at work, how one person can really mess up your day, I know what they mean. IF not anything, work has taught me that! So thank goodness I took the afternoon off, other wise I think I would have lost it today! For the most part the people I work with are great, but there is this one person, who works right next to me, who grrrrrr just gets me mad sometimes. So long story short, she accuses me of not doing something, when she was suppose to get the order in the first place, and secondly, I dont know how to drive lift, so I would just be bugging someone who does know how, and she already knows how to drive. Its just maddning. This isnt the first time that something like this has happend between the two of us. Oh and lets not add that this person does more talking then actaully working! Come march i will be so glad to get away from that person alone! Speaking of which 24 more work days, 41 days. Its coming....
Thats it for now, just needed to vent!