God graciously woke me up around 3:45am, with homework on my mind. Actually I had been dreaming about homework and so it simply remained on my mind. Since I couldn't fall asleep, I got up and started worked on my homework for an hour. At 5am, I was tired and the Lord compassionately let me fall back to sleep. Now the Lord just needs to tenderly keep me awake the rest of the day!
_________________________
I haven't had TV service at my house for 1.5 weeks. There have been a couple moments when I have missed it but overall, it hasn't been bad. I have fleetingly considered that maybe I should just cancel my service altogether.
The reason it presently isn't working is because I just found out that I too need a digital converter box. All along, back when the big switch happened in June (or something like that), Comcast kept promoting that if you have Comcast service, you are good to go. I guess I was only good to go for six months.
Now I need to mosey on over to my local Comcast store and ask for a digital converter box, "which will only cost you $1/month." Sure...no big deal...but that is $12 more dollars per year than what I was paying or thought I'd have to pay. **sigh** What's a girl to do?
I guess the answer is to buy the converter box...after all Lost starts up in February...I need to see how the show will end!
Thursday, January 7
Wednesday, January 6
Silencing Youth
I just remembered that I wanted to share about how youth group went last night. Like I shared yesterday, I was co-leading the lesson on Silence & Solitude.
Upon their arrival, we confiscated all cell phones and ipods. You would have thought the world might be ending. They seemed nervous to be handing them over. We assured them that they would get their phones back at the end of the night. Some were worried that this was new rule for all future youth groups. I assured them that they had been so such plans...yet.
The next hilarous moment was the moment my co-leader, who introduced the night, told everyone that from that point on, there was to be no talking. Eyes bugged out a bit. Youth looked around nervous, surprised, and even confused...after all isn't having fun always a part of youth group?
Overall, the youth handled the night VERY WELL. I honestly was expecting some whispering...some interaction to be happening. But if any whispering or interaction happened, it wasn't when I was around. They were so quiet.
The six stations also went very well. We gave them 10 minutes at each station. For some of them, 10 minutes were simply not enough. I felt bad for the groups when it was time to switch because it seemed like they had only just got there. We didn't want to interrupt a youth's moment with God and so some youth stayed at a station where they were meeting with God while the rest of the group moved on. It was very cool to watch.
I don't know how quickly another night like this will happen but the youth seemed to enjoy the night and several of them walked away knowing that silence and solitude (with God) can be a very good thing.
I love teaching when God does the inspiring.
Upon their arrival, we confiscated all cell phones and ipods. You would have thought the world might be ending. They seemed nervous to be handing them over. We assured them that they would get their phones back at the end of the night. Some were worried that this was new rule for all future youth groups. I assured them that they had been so such plans...yet.
The next hilarous moment was the moment my co-leader, who introduced the night, told everyone that from that point on, there was to be no talking. Eyes bugged out a bit. Youth looked around nervous, surprised, and even confused...after all isn't having fun always a part of youth group?
Overall, the youth handled the night VERY WELL. I honestly was expecting some whispering...some interaction to be happening. But if any whispering or interaction happened, it wasn't when I was around. They were so quiet.
The six stations also went very well. We gave them 10 minutes at each station. For some of them, 10 minutes were simply not enough. I felt bad for the groups when it was time to switch because it seemed like they had only just got there. We didn't want to interrupt a youth's moment with God and so some youth stayed at a station where they were meeting with God while the rest of the group moved on. It was very cool to watch.
I don't know how quickly another night like this will happen but the youth seemed to enjoy the night and several of them walked away knowing that silence and solitude (with God) can be a very good thing.
I love teaching when God does the inspiring.
Life
Is life half empty...
Or is life half full...
Maybe life seems messy...
Or broken...
Or maybe life is a party...
But whatever the viewpoint
life can be lovely...
...if you look to the Light.
Or is life half full...
Maybe life seems messy...
Or broken...
Or maybe life is a party...
But whatever the viewpoint
life can be lovely...
...if you look to the Light.
Tuesday, January 5
I may have committed a crime!
Question: is the lake water at a public beach up for grabs? Because if it's not, then I'm a criminal.
Today I am co-leading youth group. The topic is Silence and Solitude.
Next Question: How does one possibly teach silence or solitude to a bunch of teenagers, especially considering that I am horrible at practicing those disciplines?
The Answer: We have decided to do six "sessions"...the youth will visit each of the six sessions to think about or to practice the discipline of silence. We can't really have them practice solitude unless we gave them complete access to the church, which we can't do. The sessions will be great but whether or not the youth will remain silent for an hour, yes, ONE HOUR, is the bigger question.
So anyhow, back to water. I read a great analogy about going to a river and filling up a jar with water. Our lives are normally like when we shake the jar and all the sediment goes flying around. You have to wait until the debris has settled before you can see through the water clearly. Likewise, we need quiet and still our minds and bodies so that we can see more clearly what God has or wants for us. Plus, it is also more likely that once we've piped down that we'll be able to hear God's still small voice. A good lesson to learn.
So I snuck down to the lake's beach (on my way to work), before the blessed sun had even risen (which I'm still not sure if it has risen since it is so grey outside) and filled 12 jars with lake water. I kept looking around expecting the caretaker, police or some random neighbor person to ask me what the heck I was doing. But I made it out. Alive. But cold.
Now, hopefully tonight's lesson will go well after I sacrificed my non-criminal history for the sake of the youth!
Today I am co-leading youth group. The topic is Silence and Solitude.
Next Question: How does one possibly teach silence or solitude to a bunch of teenagers, especially considering that I am horrible at practicing those disciplines?
The Answer: We have decided to do six "sessions"...the youth will visit each of the six sessions to think about or to practice the discipline of silence. We can't really have them practice solitude unless we gave them complete access to the church, which we can't do. The sessions will be great but whether or not the youth will remain silent for an hour, yes, ONE HOUR, is the bigger question.
So anyhow, back to water. I read a great analogy about going to a river and filling up a jar with water. Our lives are normally like when we shake the jar and all the sediment goes flying around. You have to wait until the debris has settled before you can see through the water clearly. Likewise, we need quiet and still our minds and bodies so that we can see more clearly what God has or wants for us. Plus, it is also more likely that once we've piped down that we'll be able to hear God's still small voice. A good lesson to learn.
So I snuck down to the lake's beach (on my way to work), before the blessed sun had even risen (which I'm still not sure if it has risen since it is so grey outside) and filled 12 jars with lake water. I kept looking around expecting the caretaker, police or some random neighbor person to ask me what the heck I was doing. But I made it out. Alive. But cold.
Now, hopefully tonight's lesson will go well after I sacrificed my non-criminal history for the sake of the youth!
Monday, January 4
Facebook 2009
I was perusing Facebook and saw on my cousin's page a little thing called "My Year in Status." I clicked on hers and after seeing how amusing it was, did it myself. So I thought I'd share a summary of 2009 with you all by posting my Status report.
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