Bus Stop

Chicago is my second home. I've been there way too many times in the past year. But everytime I go theres always something new. The last time we went, my dad,ky,zach, and I decided to take the bus. This was a first for all of us and something we wanted to experience. Waiting for the bus I think was the most fun. We met a guy named Michael.
Michael is a college student who has lived in chicago his entire life. He knows only the part of the city that he grew up in. He takes the bus everywhere he goes because cars and parking are too expensive in Chicago. That night he was on his way to a class. Michael is majoring in history and loves to tell jokes. He believes in some new age stuff...power in everyone looking at the moon at the same time..things like that. He is super outgoing and loves to make converstation with everybody he meets on the bus.
It's crazy how much I learned about a guy I'd never met in one bus ride from the hospital to forever 21. Out of everything Michael said to us, i remember one thing in particular. He was talking about the crazy city life and the people of chicago. This one sentence really made me think...He said that People are too worried about tomorrow in this chicago that they never live.
In one sense, Michael has everything figured out...he's living his life...not worrying about tomorrow. But on the other hand...he has just barely figured out how to live life. There was just one HUGE thing missing. God was the missing piece and it didn't seem to phase him. I guess just because I've been raised with the knowledge of God and my mindset of life is around him i just can't really understand how someone who gets how to live doesn't know the one who created us.
Michael really made me think that day. I started to blog in my mind on the bus. haha. He could change the city of chicago if he talked about how awesome God is too everyone instead of telling borderline jokes and making people laugh. He has the right idea..but not the right content.
The city bus could possibly be one of the best places of ministry. In 15 minutes I learned all about a stranger without me doing the talking. Imagine if I intentionally rode the bus to minister to the people who live life in tomorrow.

Luke 1:38

"I am the Lord's servant and I am willing to accept whatever he wants."

Back to Blogging

I just got back from Jr. High summer camp a few days ago...incredible! I didn't think it would have the affect(effect? lol idk) on me that it did. God is going to use this group of kids in incredible ways! They're not simply just junior highers. I saw God work through the girls in my cabin and saw how they wrestled with things in their mind and want to take steps to following whatever God has for them in their lives. One of the girls in my cabin started the night we got back at her softball game...just praying with the team before the game started. The time I spent with God reminded me how awesome and incredibly powerful he is! I'm in a part of my life where I'm completely trusting God for the plans he has for me. I dont really have a set plan for college or school. I'm going to Kenya in October! I'm so excited and feel that this is what the Lord is telling me to do...
Sophomore year summer camp...JUMP...Dreaming big. I walked into the prayer room one afternoon and layed flat on my face before God and just listened. I wrote that this life is not my own and I give God my hands and feet to go wherever he wants me to go and live for him wherever. I looked up at the world map and saw a bright orange country. It seemed like it was the only thing I saw on the map. KENYA. I prayed again and felt like God was telling me that I need to go to Kenya in the next five years. I had no idea what I was going to do there or how I was going to get there. This was before the Baby Center topic had come up in the church and I just kept praying about going to Kenya. The next year went by and I still had this dream in the back of my mind but now talk about the baby center was going on. I thought...that's cool, but I dont want to do what everyone else is doing. I want to do my own thing. So the baby center was not really something that I wanted to do. But the next year went on and I kept praying. I felt like maybe this is where God wanted me to go and I had to give up trying to do what no one else was doing. I didn't want it to seem like i was just going because it was the cool thing to do.
Just recently I couldn't get this dream that God had put on my heart, out of my mind. So i texted my dad and asked him if there were any trips to Kenya coming up. After a couple reminders..he found out there was one in october that had two spots left. I had only one or two days to think about this or else there was a chance that the spot could be taken. I immediately signed up and turned in the form.
I'm so excited for what God could do in Kenya. I'm also scared out of my mind. I'm scared of the unknown and the long plane ride and being stranded in a country with no escape. But I really feel like this is what I need to be doing right now. After Kenya, i have no plans. Cosmetology school is a possibility, but I want to do what God has for me and that might mean waiting until he tells me what to do next. I'm letting go and living on faith. God could call me to go back on more trips to Kenya outside of the baby center. or he could just say to stay here and minister here. I sometimes feel like I'm living in a nightmare where i forgot to sign up for college. God will provide. He is never failing and knows what he is doing. Anything he has for my life is a plan that has a lot more use of my life than what I could come up with by myself.
Back to Jr. High....I think i'm going to work with them in the fall! What an awesome way to spend my wednesday nights. I fell in love with these group of kids and their willingness to listen to God. I think God can use me in big ways and I think he can use these kids in big ways as well! They can have so much impact on their schools and families.

So i was looking up a song we sang at jr. high camp..how he loves me. I'm listening to it and I start reading all the comments below it. Theres comments saying..how could God be real when theres no proof of him and I could never believe in this thing because there is no scientific evidence. But then I read one that catches my attention.

"Exactly how does God not pass the Scientific Method? The Scientific Method is based on observable and measurable traits. And last time I checked God, in terms of shear dimensions and calculations, can't be measured or observed. Therefor the Scientific Method is a pretty useless way of determining that there is a god, but just as equally useless in discrediting God.

Now of course, I do observe God. In many ways around me, I see the things that he's done and shaped, and by that I claim God."

This really made me think. It's so cool that God cant be contained or measured. That's how we live by faith. But he said something that I had to reread a few times..."therefor the Scientific Method is a pretty useless way of determining that there is a god, but just as equally useless in discrediting God." People claim that they cant follow God because he cant be contained or measured, but how can they discredit him by using the same excuse that he is God. This was just another reminder of how big and powerful God is. :D