Tuesday, July 3, 2012

internal processor

this is more for me because i need a quick write and my mind is spinning, but also for whoever actually reads this and knows me to some extent.
Just some things that are rolling through my mind right now. Today I guess was a really stressful day or something, because tonight as I was alone driving to Carmel, getting lost and hitting a breaking point to where I was feeling so overwhelmed/frustrated that I kept missing my turns and that traffic was bad, I found myself in tears. It was at that point that I was reminded of how glad I was to be going to Bible study because I'm Jesus deficient right now, even though I'm working at a camp that is all about Jesus. I also was reminded how I need my alone time and apparently I'd hit that point where I needed it bad, so also not completely pumped to be going to hang out with lots of people. I love my team, don't get me wrong at all, but I haven't had a lot of decompression time and the kids this week, even though they are smaller numbers, can be hard to handle. I don't even know where I'm going with this anymore.
Another thing, I know God loves me and I know that I'll never be able to comprehend it, but sometimes I forget or something. We read Luke 15:1-10 tonight and there's so much in there. Lost people, giving 100%, a loving God, found people. A lot of the time I think, I'm not living in that joy of knowing that I am loved no matter what and I am saved by grace and should be excited to share that with others. I think a lot of the time I get caught up in myself or distractions or worry about what others will think or that I'm not good enough, but I pray that I won't forget my value in God and I will be filled with a sense of urgency to go out and find those people who need God. Also, I'm not a huge expresser of emotion so even if I am really excited or something, I am not always good at effectively displaying it. I think another thing is that I'm not much of a sayer, I listen and am more to myself processing as opposed to hashing it out with others. Sometimes I'm down with that, but I'm horrible at articulating what I'm thinking so mostly I just sit and people look at me and I feel awkward never talking, but I don't know what to say or how to say it or someone else says what I was thinking so I'm like...yeahhh. Sigh, it's just frustrating to me and it's probably frustrating to other people that I'm not a talker, because I feel like that's the only way to get to know people more and I feel like I can't talk to anyone in real life well enough for them to really know me and I hate it. I don't want to dwell on this too long because I know again, God has a plan and a purpose for my life being how it is. There's a lot more I'm thinking about, but I need to get to sleep soon so I'm not crabby, I think that was part of it too tonight; I was tired and hot and that makes me crabby and easily frustrated. But again, so much of tonight has got me thinking about seeking the lost, applying myself to helping others find God, being reminded of God's great love for me, trying to figure out how I can be found by God, getting uncomfortable for Jesus...boy oh boy.
Just give me more Jesus.
Prayer:
1. Mentioned earlier, for a constant reminder of who I am in Christ, loved, valued, worth it...be content with who/how I am.
2. That I will be filled with excitement and urgency for sharing the good news of God with others.
3. Help me to be able to share more with other people and make those deeper connections with teammates and even our campers this week too since it is a smaller week.
4. Patience.
5. Quality alone time. Hey just remembered tomorrow is solo time in the morning..although I was semi-excited for another small morning meeting...
I think that's it and I hope this makes some sense, even in writing sometimes I can't articulate my thoughts very well. Sigh. It's all good. Thanks for reading.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

look everybody, look who's back again!

So I still have to close my Scotland blog, but I don't have my journal with me that has what I want to end it with, so I'm bringing back this blog since it's been forever since I've blogged and I don't want to lose it. I want my blog to stay alive! Hopefully people will still be reading this. Ha.
Anyways, since being back from Scotland, things have been crazy. I only had 4 days at home until I headed down to Seymour, IN for training for working with SpringHill Day Camps- Indy Team! I was apprehensive about it at the start just because I was going in knowing no one or totally what I was getting myself into and not having that much time to process study abroad. I still feel like I haven't found closure on study abroad because I haven't had much time to really sit and take time to write my thoughts. I did a little before I left for Seymour, but didn't have time to finish or get it on my blog so when I'm home again, I will hopefully finish it! 
This is week 3 of day camps and so far, I'm really loving it. Last week was a rough week for me on the camper front. My campers were hard to deal with in many ways, but I made it through and am so blessed to have a team that looks out for each other. I'm realizing how every week is entirely different even if we are doing the same curriculum and the same activities; the campers and how everything flows is a little different at each location so I have to continually reminding myself that it's not going to be rainbows and butterflies every week and I have to rely on God. I can't do this on my own.
I know some people probably don't know exactly what I'm doing this summer, and I don't want to get super into it so I'll try to give a short synopsis. Basically we do day camp at different churches or schools every week; if you know SpringHill, we bring that experience the best we can to a day camp setting. We have flying squirrel and other high adventure activities as well as the classics like water and archery and tie dye. We have small groups and the big thing with SpringHill is how we incorporate faith and fun in everything we do. So we don't keep the Jesus stuff to just large group or small groups, but after everything we do we debrief it and try to have the kids make connections to the Bible stories we read or just God in general. It's great. I think that's one of the really neat things about SpringHill. I'm also as I said earlier, so blessed by this team. Everyone is amazing. Being in Scotland and not super connected into any church or with Christians was hard, especially since at Baylor I've got a great community of support. So coming back and basically going straight into camp with God at the core is nice. We have different areas that we do morning meetings and are the people we are partnered with throughout the summer and my group's pretty legit. It's actually not really been complete ever, but it's cool. Also, we have set-up and tear-down teams and I got placed on the high adventure team. At first I thought that was going to be horrible to be perfectly honest because high ad is really complex and is like all the really intense activities. But praise Jesus, it's not horrible at all. Some days it is frustrating because things don't work right or whatever, but the people on the team are legitimately some of my favorite people. I know they always say you shouldn't pick favorite campers, but no one said anything about picking favorite other counselors or whatever. Haha. But really, I'm in love with our whole Indy Day Camp team. Everyone is so encouraging and so much fun. Sometimes it is hard for me because I'm definitely an introvert and being around people constantly and having to be full of energy wears on me. I relish my alone time, which thankfully does exist even if it is in small doses.
To end this, I'd love to leave you with some prayer requests:
1. First, that I will remember to rely on God and to find my strength in Him and not myself and to look to Him to be filled up each day.
2. For this coming week, that I will work well with my co-counselor and that our kids will be better than the kids I had last week.
3. That the friendships I am forming will deepen into lasting relationships, not just for the summer.
4. That I won't let Satan bring me down in feeling like I'm not a good enough counselor or anything like that. That I will remember I am loved and valued by God and comparing myself to others isn't productive.

Thanks lovely readers!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

important news!

Hey friends, readers, whoever,
As some of you probably know, I'm studying abroad this coming semester in Edinburgh, Scotland! I am going to make a separate blog for my study abroad adventures. Please add it to your favorites or whatever if you're interested in reading about my experiences across the pond!

http://bagpipebeth.blogspot.com/

yeah. this blog will be on hiatus while i'm abroad. so go to bagpipe beth! =)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

we've got to rise up

this is probably going to be a work in progress blog. like i'm starting it at 11:09 pm on January 3rd but it probably won't get posted till later because I'll have more to add to it.
so let's start by saying that sometimes i really hate technology but now is not one of those times. some generous people made it possible for the Passion 2012 conference to be streamed live from Atlanta so people all over the world can experience it too! Last night I watched David Crowder* Band's last performance as a full band. I may have gotten a little emotional but it was fantastic albeit the abrupt ending because the stream stopped and then they did an encore which the stream wasn't restarted for. meh. Then today I watched part of the first session live. Then I watched the last session live which was amazing. It was my first time hearing Francis Chan speak and let me tell you. That man is filled with passion for Jesus and the Word. He has been blessed. He is so powerful, yet what he speaks is so simple. Beautiful. After that ended I decided to watch the middle session of today that I missed. I didn't watch it straight through; I skipped some singing stuff but once Christine Caine started speaking I watched to the end. And that's where my title of this post comes from. Matt Redman and some others wrote this song called "27 Million" the number of slaves that exist TODAY in the world. It is going to be released to secular radio in the UK and US and eventually Australia. I can't wait to see how God moves in the world through that song. The chorus is "We've got to rise up..." oops sorry I don't remember it anymore. Just you wait till spring when it kicks off on the radio and BE MOVED.
It's now Wednesday afternoon. Just finished watching the afternoon session. I watched the morning session too. This is the life. I love getting to experience Passion to some extent from home. Obviously it isn't exactly the same, missing out on the community groups and such, but it's pretty dang good. You get the worship, the speakers, the emotions. It's awesome.
The hardest part for me though is how I feel so much and I want to be able to do things, to make a difference, to help stop human trafficking [that's a lot of the focus of this conference this year], but there's only so much I can do. Christine Caine said something this afternoon that encouraged me to not lose heart. PRAYER. People, it works! She said it's something we all can do. Don't discount what a difference it makes. She went on to share this story: I don't remember when exactly it was, maybe it was legitimately 3 days ago? Anyways, we're gonna go for it. So someone felt like the girls of the "-stan" nations needed some real prayer. This person posted on their twitter "Pray for the girls of the -stan nations." People prayed. 3 days pass and there comes word to A21? [that's Christine's organization created to bring restoration and freedom to girls caught in sex trafficking] that 11 girls from Uzbekistan were freed in northern Greece. That apparently never happens and was a huge deal. The girls share their part of the story. They said that 3 days earlier they had been praying to Allah to get them out of the hellhole they were in. They'd been praying that for a year. Then they remembered someone who had told them about this God of Europe who they remembered his name was Jesus..so they prayed to Jesus something like "If you're really real, get us out of here!" and then 3 days later they are freed! PRAYER WORKS. that's really what I'm getting at here. If you feel like you can't do anything, just pray. It's miracle bringing. It's encouraging when you feel overwhelmed by everything and want to make a difference. You can! Pray. AH! I love it.
Also, please check out www.slaveryfootprint.org and find out how many slaves are working for you. That sounds awful, but it's true. Everything you've eaten, bought, what you're wearing was most likely made possible because of a slave. It's a little hard to take in, but we can change it! The creators of the site are creating resources and this app and ways we can share with the stores etc to bring awareness and to make a change in the industry so less things are slave-created, more slaves can be freed, and what we consume as a world will not be made by someone in slavery. Share your footprint with others so more people can jump on board and things can change!
I don't want to be a part of the stragglers who do nothing, who hide out but say "Yes! We did it!" when great things happen. I want to be like Jonathan and his weapon bearer who went and took on the army of Philistines because they knew God was with them. If I'm not a Jonathan then I want to be a part of the second group who sees those few going and then they support and help out the few to bring about the ultimate outcome of freedom or whatever movement. (Check out 1 Samuel 14 if you want to read the thing straight from the Word of God!)
I realize this blog is very choppy, but I'm hoping someone will get something out of this. There's a lot to take in, maybe you should just check out http://live.268generation.com/all-sessions/ and get a dose of Jesus for yourself!

Saturday, December 31, 2011

don't wear it out

I'm tempted to go to bed without ringing in the new year. Honestly, I'm a bit over it. Having parties and watching a ball drop on TV is just sort of lame. Sure it's a new year, but it's not like it's going to be drastically different world when the clock hits midnight. Let's be real. It's already 2012 in half the world. It's been 2012 in Australia for like ever. [I don't know the time difference but isn't it like 10 hours? I have no clue.] Although I think it'd be neat to be in Times Square for the New Year, I can't say I see any reason to celebrate this day any different than any other. We should be thankful we've made it this far. Thank God for all the good He's brought and thank Him for bringing us through the trials. He provides and will continue to provide regardless of whether it's a new year or not. I don't know. I'm just feeling a little cynical about the whole craze about a new year. Why does the new year get celebrated but not a new month? No one posts Facebook statuses saying "Yes, April's been great, can't wait to see what May's got in store!". Maybe I should start something. ha.
Whatever. Party on, friends. I'll probably be sleeping. Might as well live up to my nickname my roommates pegged for me. Might as well ring in the new year like any other night...sleeping before midnight. I'm probably the coolest kid there is. I'm more in a chill mood, rather than a whoooohoooo mood so that's probably why at this time I could care less it's going to be 2012 in like 2 hours. I'm so exciting.

Hi and Lois Cartoon for Dec/31/2011

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

i'm making a list

but i'm not checking it twice...i'm not santa. sorry to disappoint. i know it appears that way in this photo..
I'm actually making a list of all the places etc I'd like to visit/see while I'm abroad. I know I won't necessarily get to see them all so I'm trying to prioritize, which will come later. Not now. this is the in the works list of places I'd like to go while I'm "across the pond".
1. Loch Ness
2. Loch Lomond
3. Isle of Skye
4. Sterling
5. London
       - this includes a lot obviously but highlights would be anything related to HP, "Great Britain Grand? Hotel?" [which is actually a pub...], Hillsong Church, London Bridge, Big Ben, and it'd be sweet to ride in a double decker bus. Are the guards with the furry hats in London too? Wow. lots in London. Whoo.
6. Norway. It's in my blood.
7. The original IKEA in Sweden
8. France..Paris?
9. Shetland Island/Isle whatever..there are ponies there.
10. The Arctic Circle? yeah that's pushing it.
11. Exploring Edinburgh is a given.
12. Ireland
13. The Alps?
To be continued...

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

all i can say right now

generic end of the year, looking back. except i don't even want to go back a whole year. that's much too long. i feel like i'm always taking time to reminisce and look back on the past. and i probably shouldn't do it so much. i'm trying to live in the present here people! looking back usually just makes me sad. so that's why i'm just going to highlight this past semester and try not to feel too sad by the end.
let's start by saying, this semester was amazing. it really was. so many awesome, life goal sorts of things. well really only like 1. haha and that was getting my picture with David Crowder. Can we just pause for a moment and honor DC*B? Because let's get real here...that was the whole reason I really was interested in Baylor. Obviously God had more up his sleeve, getting me to actually end up at Baylor and meet so many spectacular people. He's also done real well in getting my crazy fangirl dreams to come true too. =) So thanks God! haha I'm really not a crazy fangirl. You probably don't believe me. I'm actually the epitome of cool and collected and probably would not have had such experiences if I were my usual chicken self. I'm actually realllly awkward about meeting people in general so multiple that by like 12 and you've got me when I'm meeting someone I really respect and think is the coolest thing since sliced bread. But desperate times call for desperate measures so that's why I stood outside for like an hour waiting for David to come to his tour bus when I went to the 7 tour in Dallas because it was the last time I'd ever get to have that chance to get my picture with him unless I just ran into him randomly in Waco. And the only thing I could think to ask is "How tall are you?" Really Beth? There is so much more I could've said in that moment but I'm horrific at putting my thoughts into words. So if David ever reads this, please know that I really do think you're so fantastic and really, your music has changed my life and gotten me where I am today and I like to think that someday in Heaven we can be BFFs. [that no where near accurately describes how thankful I am for DC*B but we'll just leave it at that.] I actually just had a dream last night with the band in it. Seriously. It was great. If real life could be a DC*B concert all the time, I'm pretty sure I'd be set for life. Hold up. I'm not even talking about what I originally intended. Am I surprised? No. My mind moves too fast when I get one blog idea; a million more take that chance to jump on the boat too. Not okay! Ah.
whatever, talking about how fabulous DC*B is is way better than getting all sad looking back at the past. Because even if this semester really was such a blessed semester, I'd somehow end up talking about more stuff from my past that I'm sad no longer applies to my life, how losing friends sucks and blah blah blah. All that matters right now is that I know I am blessed beyond belief by a God who loves me to the ends of this earth and I will always be loved that much and if I could just get it in my head that He's ALWAYS got a good plan for my life even if I don't see it, I just have to remember to let Go[d]. Heyo. I know you see what I did there. =)  Tricky tricky.
Okay, enough of this. I'm getting all rambly.
I'll just go watch more of Modern Family. =)