Month: January 2007

My 20,000th Day

(This started as a "comment" to Leah and Anne Marie’s comments below, but it got kind of long to just be "a comment")

I wonder what 10,000 letters would look like…Hmmm…tempting.  I may have just spoken way more than 10,000 words to my oldest, and dearest, best friend in the whole world, Jen (Gowell), on the phone. (even though she doesn’t read my blog, I still love her a whole lot:)   1 hour and 42 minutes…let’s see 102 minutes times 60=oh, that’s only 6,120 seconds.  not quite enough.

Anne Marie, I just may celebrate my 20,000th day, we’ll have to see!  If God blesses me to live to see my 20,000th day, I’ll be 54!  Hopefully I’ll be married by then (hah!:), have had some kids and hopefully some grandkids.  So on my 20,000th day I want to celebrate with my grandkids.:)  How’s that for planning?

My 10,000th Day

For the past year I’ve looked forward to this day.  I’ve thought about what I would do to celebrate.  So here I am and what I am doing?  No, I’m not at Caribou, but I am about to grade papers.  🙂 

I actually kind of forgot about it today, until I was at Curves getting measured (of all things).  All of a sudden I bursted out to the lady there, "I’m 10,000 days old today!!"  She said, "Oh, well Happy Birthday!"  I told her it wasn’t my birthday, and that I was just 10,000 days old.  She just laughed.

This morning I got to pray with some friends, and that was a great thing to do on such a special day.  After that…nothin’ special.  Maybe if I get my work done I can do something to celebrate.  I’ve gotta admit that I’m a little disappointed in myself…

"So, self, I’m sorry for not doing much to celebrate this landmark day."

I guess if I could do something to salvage this moment I could simply express 10,000 THANK YOU’S to the people in my life who mean so much in my life.  And even more THANK YOU’S to Jesus for saving me by His amazing grace…and everthing else He’s done in my life.:)

Snow Day!

Carsnow

I think that people are under the impression that kids are the only people that pray for snow days…but they’re wrong!  Teachers pray for snow days even harder than the kids do!  After driving for an hour to get to church tonight because of the snow, I’m really prayin’ for a snow day tomorrow.  🙂

35,475 Days

On Saturday I will celebrate my 10,000th day, but today I celebrate a woman who lived her 35,475th day, and then passed into eternity. 

This was Katherine Burton 2 Christmases ago, holding one of her favorite things…chocolate.  I think she may have influenced my like for chocolate;)

Burton_christmas_2005_086_3

She was my last, living grandparent at the age of 97 years old.

There are some people in my life that I could always count on to pray for me.  Grandmom was probably the most consistent throughout my life.  She knew Jesus.  She loved Jesus.  She prayed to Jesus.  She told others about Jesus…What an example.

I’m glad that I got to see her at Christmas time to say, "Goodbye."  She kept talking about "Glory"-
going there, longing to be there with Jesus (and every now and then she would look up at us and ask if were finally in Glory, together:).  We got to pray with her as she just cried out to Jesus.  She really wanted to see Him.  Then she just started praying…for me!  Grandmom was there in pain and she started to pray for me.  Can I tell you the funny thing about it all though?  She prayed for my future husband.  🙂  After many conversations with her about the topic, I think she may have thought about it more than I did. 

She valued love and relationships, and right now-if it works this way-she’s with my grandpop, whom I never met, and whom she longed to be with once again.  I loved her so much.  She cared so deeply for me, and I will miss her.  The best thing is that I will see her again someday:)

Christmas_04_033

Few Words to Say

This is in response to a friend who texted me last night, asking if I was fasting from blogging.  I haven’t been, I just haven’t had much to say.  I know that it doesn’t make sense-especially if you know me well.  I just don’t have too much to say right now.  A few thoughts though…

-The 24 season premiere on Sunday and Monday nights were heart-pounding and great.  Jack is back and I’m pumped.

-Yesterday I had the opportunity to serve at St Leo’s Soup Kitchen, in Detroit, with some friends for MLK Day.  He was a man with a long name "Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.", a short history and a huge legacy.  All I did yesterday was chop vegetables, prepare utensils and serve ham.  It’s so little, I suppose, but little things have the potential to mean a lot. 

-I need to eat more fruit and vegetables.  So I’ve been looking for good, yet simple, recipes to try out.  Hope they taste good!

-It’s freezing outside and that makes it chilly inside too…I really liked the weather on the news tonight because they kept saying there was a "cuddle alert".

-I’m really enjoying the book of Genesis.  So many questions keep coming up and that excites me.  It’s helping me to remember my finite knowledge of the Bible and it’s challenging me to think more for myself about the beginnings of Israel.  I’m seeing more and more how often God uses imperfect people to accomplish His will.  It gives me hope!  🙂

-A small group of friends are going to Guatemala to build homes for widows and children in June.  I’m going to go!  That was just decided today.  Please pray for God to provide in big ways.  I’ll have to see almost $2,000 come in to pay for my trip and some of the cost of the houses that we’ll build.  (Let me know if you feel led to support me financially and/or in prayer:)

That’s it.  My thoughts are done for the night.  Now I sleep.

Conviction

I just had a conversation with Maeve.  She’s one of my all-time favorites students.  I could write several posts about her, but for now, just one. 🙂

She said something that was hurtful to another student-her friend.  When I heard that she’d said it, I almost didn’t believe it…but unfortunately it was true.  When confronted, Maeve’s eyes started welling up.  9.9 times out of 10, my students don’t feel too that bad about hurting someone’s feelings.  I usually have to help them see how wrong they were.  Not so with this one! 

I know what you’re thinking.  She just started crying because she was caught.  She didn’t actually feel bad!  You couldn’t be more wrong.  Maeve walks with such an extreme amount of conviction in her life that it’s almost shameful to most Christians I know.  She asked for forgiveness but the girl wouldn’t say anything.  The girl was really hurt and despite Maeve’s pleading, she simply wouldn’t say anything to her.  Can’t force someone to forgive though…But thankfully she’s a Christian who attends church, and I plan on talking with her about forgiveness more later on.  For now I’ll just pray for her broken heart, because this has clearly happened more than once.

Maeve really gets me though!  As I’m sure I’ll write about later on, she’s a studnet that I see myself knowing years from now.  We’ll always stay in touch, I can tell.  I want God to use me to seriously impact her life, and I’m praying about how to do that in a public school setting.  He’s got His hand on her life and the fact that I get to be her teacher confirms that all the more.  I pray that the Holy Spirit would rain down His conviction in her heart, that she would turn to Him completely.

I may not be the best teacher, and I may hate grading papers, but man, I really love what I get to do in this moment of life.  🙂

Martha Stewart

Would you believe me if I told you that I saw Martha Stewart today?  Me neither.

There have been so many things pounding in my heart these past few days, which is a huge reason why I’ve been distracted from doing tedious things like grading papers (man, I’m like a broken record about grading papers..).  One of them involves leaving a legacy, no matter how much or how little I actually get to invest into someone’s life.  It’s often the little things that impact people.  I realize how much an email can mean to a person and how much an encouraging letter can help to confirm a person’s thoughts.

Today I got to do a little thing and I dropped someone off at a bus station-no biggie, but I was glad to do it, and I pray that Jesus was recognized as the Provider of that ride.  As I dropped this person off I looked over and saw a gentleman there that I knew!  His name is Martha Stewart.  Well, it’s really "Norm", but he doesn’t know that I know that.  🙂 

Rewind to last spring…

Martha Stewart is a guy that we met in downtown Royal Oak (right about now, Anne Marie is cracking up).  He always tried to play mind games with us and was adament about not going to church…Until about April 15 of last year.  I remember talking to him the night before The Oaks launched their first service on Easter.  He was telling us that he’d give it a shot…once.  I recall praying that after simply tasting the sweet presence of God, he would crave it. 

The next morning I got to attend their very first gathering.  I walked in a couple minutes late, looked to my left and saw him sitting there.  So I sat with him.  My heart was pounding the whole service because the day had finally arrived for The Oaks to be there.  It was so great!  I loved it that I got to sit with someone that I’d been investing prayer and conversation into.

Fast forward to this afternoon at the bus station…

I was in the driver’s seat, so I put my window down to say, "Hi."  He came over and I asked him if he was still going to The Oaks.  He said that he was and that he loved it-that it was great…he even proceeded to invite me!  (Nothing could’ve blessed my heart more than that!)  I wasn’t sure that he remembered me, but he totally did.  I said that I was really involved at…and then he finished my sentence…"the King church".  I said, "Yes." 🙂  I told him that I was due for a visit to The Oaks again soon and that I would see him there.  I asked him how God was blessing his life and then he talked for about a minute….

Nostalgia set-in.  I was nostalgic of being a part of sending The Oaks. I miss it.  I want to do it again.  I want to see more lives like his changed around Metro Detroit.  The next church plant that happens won’t look exactly like The Oaks, if at all, but I’m okay with that.  It was a great feeling, seeing a result of one life that’s being changed (for we are not changed once, but we’re continually being changed).  Honestly, I don’t know exactly where he’s at right now.  But from what I saw I definitely saw a different person.

In the little things like notes, conversations, persistence, car rides…God uses us.  That makes me happy.  As for what’s going on at The Oaks…Chris, Nicki, Carrie, Richie, Anne Marie, Matt…you guys (and several otheres) are my heroes for going.  I’m privileged that my heart has been invested. 

Heart investments leave legacies…

Distractions

I’m very motivated right now…that’s why I’m blogging while sitting at Caribou with my lesson plan books in front of me…the only problem is that I’m motivated to be distracted.  Pure distraction…and no, there’s not a cute guy sitting across from me;)

I want to pray.  I want to read my book.  I want to have a conversation.  I want to sing aloud with the love song that’s playing on my earphones right now.  I want to watch a movie.  I want to get a shoulder massage (I’ve been sitting here a long time).  I want to just people-watch.  I want to sit by a real fire🙂 and get out of the draft.

Just read what I wrote…can prayer possibly be a distraction?  That doesn’t make sense.