Sojourner Memory 1.0

My first summer mission trip took me all the way to the tri-cities of Washington state. along with eight other missionaries, I was stationed in the Columbia Basin Baptist Association. We were split into teams of two and went to different chruches each week to help them run their VBS, we were counselors at youth camp and my partner and I got to go to Jericho 2004.

These eight girls made my summer. Although during the week we were separated, the reunions ath the white house were the best weekends ever. I hope you enjoy as a take your through memory lane this week in the CBBA.

Front: Sarah, Amy. Jenna

Middle: Hannah "Bessie", Kelly, me

Back: Laura, Erin, Amanda

An Idea I Had

With this being the beginning of summer (and with me having not posted in like three months) I thought that I would add a new section to my blog. I have been on a summer mission trip every summer since I graduated high school and this will be my first one at home (well at school rather).

I will go through memories from the previous four summers and try and take you on an exciting journey from Kennewick and Jericho to Olymipia and World Changers to Greece and Porto Astro. I hope that you will enjoy my memories, but also learn something that helps you a little more.

Coming Soon: Sojourner Memory 1.0

The Excitement of the New

So I have this friend. I promised that I wouldn't name this friend when I told this story. So just for now, this friend will be named Egg.

Well, Egg got a new phone for Christmas. And like anyone does when they get something new, Egg started using it. And not just calling people, but texting them as well. Well when Egg's parents got their phone bill after that first month, it was the size of a phone book. Egg had sent over 5000 messages, in 28 days. That averages out to about 200 a day.

Isn't that how we all get? We get something new and we ware it out when we first get it. Like it is gold and we have to latch on to it. But then what happens? It gets old and we gradually lose that flare for it, and eventually it winds up in the box in your attic and you forget you even have it.

Isn't that how we are with our faith? When we first accept Christ into our hearts, all we can think about is telling others about our life change. We ware our faith out. We go to every conference, camp and we can't stay away from church. Our bible is the only book we read, and prayer is like breathing. And little by little we stop telling people. We might miss this conference or that camp.
We might crack our bibles open every once in a while and prayer only happens when we need it. It's like we pack our faith up and put it in our hearts attic and kinda forget that it is there.

We need to get back to the faith that we had at the beginning. We need to tell everyone and anyone that we can find about what Christ has done in our lives. We need to pray like there is no tomorrow. We need to read like there is no other book in the world. We need to unpack our faith from where we've tried to hide it, dust it off and put it back into action.

WE NEED TO BE LIKE EGG!

To Catch a Train

We've all seen that famous scene in like every old western movie. The hero, to save the damsel in distress that was just kidnaped by the bad guy, ride his galliant steed and catches the train. Just in time to jump from his horse to the cabbose.

Now, what would have changed if the hero would have waited by at the next check point and as the train sped by, just jumpped and tried to land on the Train? I don't know about what is going through your head right now, but I think that certian scene wouldn't make it to print because it would have failed.

When you are going the same speed as the train, it is easier to jump on.

Too often new believers tend to jump when they are not ready, which usually leads to a huge fall. The Holy Spirit is moving at a great speed and we just can't jump on, we have to be going the same speed before we can leap.

Lately I have been looking at the small things in my walk. I have started reading and studying a lot more. I want to be going at full speed so that when I jump, I can land on what I am suposed to and not end in tragedy.

Out of the Valley

In our walks with Christ we tend to find ourselves on mountians or in valleys (or somewhere in between). When we are on those mountians, we feel that we are as colse to God as we can get while on this side of eternity. And when we are in those valleys, we feel so far away that we might not ever get picked back up.

Now over the past couple of weeks I have been in a very deep valley. I have felt so distant from God. And no matter what I tried or how hard I climbed, I could never find myself on the upward slope of the next mountian.

This past weekend, I sought the cross and I clung to it. And now I think that I am finaly on an upward climb, and it feels great. I just hope that I don't stall out on a ledge. I want to make it to the peak of this one.Something is about to happen.

Wisdom From Hitch

So I am alone on another weekend, but hey I am used to it. So what else would I do with my alone time but watch movies.

I was watching Hitch. Will Smith plays a match maker who gets this nerdy guy and this actress together. Well in his montelogue athe the very beging of the movie, Hitch says something that we can all learn from.

"Life is not about the number of breaths we take, it's about the moments that take our breath away."

That is a great line. Let us really break that one down.

Breathing is an involuntaty action that we just do, we don't have to think to ourselves "breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out". Too often, we tend to concentrate on those small things that happen to us (that we really have just as much control over as out breathing). We focus on what we should have done to avoid it, what might have been, and how to fix the whole thing. But when we focus on the small things, we miss those things that take our breath away, we miss the big things.

This weekend I was supposed to be in Dallas at the Passion Conference. So many little things came about to keep me from being there. And I have been focusing on the small things about it. "If I would have only done this" or "If I hadn't done that". I was focusing so much on the small things, I think that I have missed that moment that was meant to take my breath away. I know that there is still tomorrow, but I know now to stop focusing on the things that I can't control and to look for why I am here.

DON"T FOCUS ON THE SMALL THINGS, GO AFTER THE BIG ONES!

Its All About Perspective

So when I went to Greece, my team and I visited the Acropolis. On top of the Acropolis is the Parthenon. Well I handed my camera to Anna and asked her to take my picture. From where I was and the angle of the camera, the parthenon looks so big.

Well Zeb then asked me to take his picture. From where he was standing and the angle of the camera, the parthenon look small (almost like he is about to push it over).

It is all about perspective!

When we start to look at our spiritual leaders, we tend to think that their faith is so big. That they have the closest relationship with God, and that their prayer life is incredible. But maybe it isn't that theirs is as big as we think, but maybe it is that ours is so small. When we start comparing ourselves to others, we always tend to find something that we aren't doing as well.
I want my faith to withstand comparison. I don't want to be small spiritually.