South Africa

It's so weird to think that I will be leaving for South Africa in less than a month. I'm sitting here running drama practice music for the Costa Rica team, and I think it literally just hit me how little time we have left to prepare. I still have so much to do with the worship team...I hope we all start getting serious soon, because there is so much left to do.

I am very excited about this trip. I honestly never thought I would have the opportunity to go to Africa so early on in my life. I feel extremely blessed and privileged to go on such a great trip. I just pray that I can properly prepare for everything before I leave.

Inevitable

There are certain things in life that will always catch up with you.

You can think you've evaded your deepest concerns and thoughts...but somehow they always corner you in the night...or slip into your mind in the most unexpected moments. There are a lot of heavy thoughts and feelings that I've been cleverly avoiding for awhile now, and my many attempts failed me to avoid them any longer; I was once again flooded with deep memories and raw emotions.

It's never pleasant to cry tears of sorrow...but sometimes those mournful tears lead to tears of hope...tears of rejoice and renewal. I still have a lot of hurt inside of me at this moment...but I know that with time, if I allow myself to face my wounds - my broken heart - God will reach inside of me and knit me back together. He will guide me to where I am supposed to go...in His amazing and perfect will for my life.

Perfectly Mine

When the world welcomes us in,
We're closer to Heaven than we'll ever know
They say this place has changed,
But strip away all of the technology
And you will see
That we all are hunters,
Hunting for something
That will make us okay.

Here we lay alone
In hospital beds tracing life in our heads
But all that is left
Is that this was our entrance and now it's our exit,
As we find our way home.

And all the blood and all the sweat
That we invested to be loved
Follows us, into our end,
Where we begin to understand.

We are made of love,
And all the beauty stemming from it.
We are made of love,
And every fracture caused by the lack of it.

"You were a million years of work,"
Said God and His angels, with needle and thread.
They kissed your head and said,
"You're a good kid, and you make us proud.
So just give your best and the rest will come,
And we'll see you soon."

And all the blood and all the sweat
That we invested to be loved,
Follows us into our end
We begin to understand

Maybe Hollywood was right:
When the credits have rolled and the tears have dried,
And the answers that we have been dying to find
Are all pieced together and, somehow,
Made perfectly mine, mine, mine
Made perfectly mine

We are made of love,
And all the beauty stemming from it.
We are made of love,
And every fracture caused by the lack of love.
Caused by the lack of love

Song: Needle & Thread - Sleeping At Last

It's here...finally here...

I love summer.

If I were a good person, I would have given Andy his camera back by now...but I'm having so much fun learning different things about composition and ways to bring out different elements of a picture. It's really enjoyable - man...I can't wait for photography next year at North.

Much Needed Girl Time

I forgot to update on Girl's Night!

It was one of those events that I knew I needed. This semester, I haven't spent a lot of time around large groups of girls...even small groups of girls. I was really excited to go to a night that was just for us and have an opportunity to spend time with other girls that follow Christ.

This night definitely exceeded my expectations.

We had so much fun! We did this "America's Next Top Model" thing where I had to be dressed up and had to walk down a runway for our panel of judges. It was so fun! My best shot was a little ridiculous...I have the curse of being not so photogenic. Raychel Kolofske's group won the whole thing; she deserved it...she was freakin' hillarious!

After we were done playing games and eating and socializing, we got with groups of girls in our grade and went to different stations where some of our female leaders would answer questions we had about different things in our lives. I really enjoyed receiving wisdom from people who have gone through what I'm going through now. It really calms my nerves and ensures me that if they can get through it, I can too.

After the question-answer thing, we had a time of worship. It was so amazing. We sang "I Asked You for Life" by Kim Walker - a pretty awesome song. She's such a unique female worship leader...one of the few females that actually sings upbeat songs that aren't complete cheese. I really want to buy her CD so I can add some more songs to my female worship collection.

While we lifted up these songs to God, it was an amazing feeling of renewal. I've had a tough year, and I felt like God was washing me clean and giving me a new slate for the summer and upcoming year. I guess the best way to describe how I felt would be...refreshed.

Long story short - Girl's Night rocked. I will definitely be attending it again when it comes around.

Worship

Looking back on the school year, I realize more and more how far the worship program at our church has grown. We started out this year just wanting to better our practice times and get more intentional about planning, but by the second semester, we had already achieved our goals and started pushing towards even greater dreams and ambitions.

Clicks and loops have been an interesting transition, to say the least. We have fought against them as a band until we knew there is really no other choice but to implement them if we want to improve as a group. The journey has been hard, but this transition has been another milestone in glorifying God with our music.

I am very excited for this coming fall. I have a feeling that if we all continue to work hard and dedicate our time and energy, our worship ministry could go nowhere but up.

We Had a Good Run

We had a good run.
The road was winding
and full of lessons to learn
But we learned them
And grew from them
We pushed, we pulled
We struggled, we loved
We waited, we endured
But the time has come
The winds have changed
The seasons are new
And God is calling us
Towards His kingdom and away from ours

Nothing hurts more
than seeing you this way
but I know with time
You will heal
You will grow
You will change
You will become
Who you are meant to be
The beautiful, humble
Honest and faithful one
that you are meant to be

He is beckoning to you
To throw all else away and run
Run ceaselessly to Him
Because more than you could imagine
He loves for you
He cares for you
He wants for you what is good
He desires for you to have his eternal joy

We Had a Good Run
But it's time to turn our paths
Dust off our feet
And realize that
Life has so much more to give
If we were only to just look around us...
Away from us