Hiya brothers & sisters! It's Julia live from the Luther House at the University of New Mexico. Life is grand on the road. We've had some incredible God filled adventures since day 1. I'm always in awe of the ways that God's love is shown to us. Some of the ways are through our hosts and safety on the road, but also from the YE family & family back home.
Lately I've been able to be in contact with some friends from other countries that I've met in different travels and ministries. It's been such a blessing to talk with them via skype (an online conversation enabler) and be able to share all the glorious ways God is working in life. I know that God is working and stretching me, teaching me in ways that I don't fully understand, but hopefully will some day.
About two weeks ago now we were blessed to experience the Mystery Bus Tour in Garden City, Kansas. It was a fun crazy night filled with all sorts of activities touring from site to site by each clue we were given. My favorite part of the whole night was the bonfire at the end before heading back to the church. The bonfire was great because it was warming up the cold early morning air, but also because we got to see the start of the sun rise. I don't know the last time I was awake before this to see the sun rise.
I've seen the sun set many times because I'm normally awake for this. I don't always stop to watch it, but it happens quite quickly once it starts to set. The smoothness of the sun rising reminds me of Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God!" Even though God's blessings have been abundant I don't often stop to breath deep and take in those blessings fully. It's something I'm working on and I'm sure God is working with me.
This morning I got up and watched the sun rise with Sarah. She loves to do this and does so in every state we visit. At first I thought she was crazy for getting up that early when she didn't have to, but when I got a taste of the sun rise that morning in Kansas I couldn't resist watching it this morning in the brisk morning air. God's continuous work to make us know his love and want to follow his ways for us is a great ride and hope to continue learning to be still and know God.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Enchantment
I have been on the go. I have attempted to blog at least 3x on the YE website, but the system is not mac friendly so it's never worked all the way. So now I take the time to try 7 catch up a bit on the many ways God reminds me to count my blessings and see his love everywhere we go.
Niobrara, NE: Kristine & I stayed in a B&B with a lovely family. We had our day off here and at the end of the day was the home coming coronation. I wasn't going to go, but decided to since everybody else was going. In the end I was very glad I went because our host brother was crowned king. The best part of the evening was when he asked his mom if he could cut his crown into 3 pieces. At first I thought it was because he didn't like it, but then he explained that he wanted to share the crown with his 2 fellow class mates that were also on homecoming court. What an awesome humbling act. If we all would share just a little more of ourselves to our neighbors around the world, we'd live with a little more feeling of being loved and accepted.
Albion, NE: We loved this place so much that we went back a few days later! Pastor Mike and Alison were great to meet and a blessing to me because we know some mutual people. Mike just graduated in May from Trinity Seminary which is right across the street from Capital. God used these people to remind me of all the wonderful people in my life that have been such great examples of living a Christian life style and being like Jesus.
Kansas: The whole state was great. We started in Hays, then onto Garden City (Mystery Bus Tour), Great Bend, Salina, and Dodge City. Wonderful hospitality. The Mystery Bus Tour was an all night lock-out that has been happening for 16 years. We traveled from place to place all night long and were given clues using Bible verses of where we might be going next. It was a fun night to be in community. We played hide & go seek in the dark at a park, then attempted ultimate frisbee on a football field in the wind, and went to the YMCA to play games, rollar skating, bowling, worship at 3am on the fair grounds, and ended the night with a big bonfire and tired game of Romans & Christians. The bonfire was the best part not only because it was cold, but because we got to see the start of the sun rise.
We then traveled to CO where I got to see my Aunt Gay & family. It's always good to see family especially after being on the road for awhile. It had been just over 3 years since I had seen Aunt Gay, Uncle Greg, my cousin Karen & her son Michia, but it had been over 8 years since I had seen my cousin Michael. I had never met his wife, Amanda, so it was a blessing to get to see him and meet her. I wish we could've stayed in the Denver area longer to visit, but such is life. While we were in CO we did a few touristy things & went to Garden of the Gods, drove to Cripple Creek, & stopped at 7 Falls. Yes, we climbed the 224 (or however many) steps to the top. It was a workout, but my teammate Kristine was behind me nearly the whole way encouraging me and making sure I wasn't about to faint.
We're now in NM ( the land of enchantment) which has been a fun adventure because none of us have ever been here before. We got to stop in Santa Fe the other day & are spending the week in the Albuquerque area. One of my favorite things about team is that we have been to so many fun towns & congregations that have been a blessing to us in our travels that most of us would never get a chance to go to otherwise. Life is good & busy & God is continuing to stretch me in all sorts of ways that I don't understand yet & maybe never will.
One last thing, get up & actually watch the sun rise one morning soon, it's majestic.
Niobrara, NE: Kristine & I stayed in a B&B with a lovely family. We had our day off here and at the end of the day was the home coming coronation. I wasn't going to go, but decided to since everybody else was going. In the end I was very glad I went because our host brother was crowned king. The best part of the evening was when he asked his mom if he could cut his crown into 3 pieces. At first I thought it was because he didn't like it, but then he explained that he wanted to share the crown with his 2 fellow class mates that were also on homecoming court. What an awesome humbling act. If we all would share just a little more of ourselves to our neighbors around the world, we'd live with a little more feeling of being loved and accepted.
Albion, NE: We loved this place so much that we went back a few days later! Pastor Mike and Alison were great to meet and a blessing to me because we know some mutual people. Mike just graduated in May from Trinity Seminary which is right across the street from Capital. God used these people to remind me of all the wonderful people in my life that have been such great examples of living a Christian life style and being like Jesus.
Kansas: The whole state was great. We started in Hays, then onto Garden City (Mystery Bus Tour), Great Bend, Salina, and Dodge City. Wonderful hospitality. The Mystery Bus Tour was an all night lock-out that has been happening for 16 years. We traveled from place to place all night long and were given clues using Bible verses of where we might be going next. It was a fun night to be in community. We played hide & go seek in the dark at a park, then attempted ultimate frisbee on a football field in the wind, and went to the YMCA to play games, rollar skating, bowling, worship at 3am on the fair grounds, and ended the night with a big bonfire and tired game of Romans & Christians. The bonfire was the best part not only because it was cold, but because we got to see the start of the sun rise.
We then traveled to CO where I got to see my Aunt Gay & family. It's always good to see family especially after being on the road for awhile. It had been just over 3 years since I had seen Aunt Gay, Uncle Greg, my cousin Karen & her son Michia, but it had been over 8 years since I had seen my cousin Michael. I had never met his wife, Amanda, so it was a blessing to get to see him and meet her. I wish we could've stayed in the Denver area longer to visit, but such is life. While we were in CO we did a few touristy things & went to Garden of the Gods, drove to Cripple Creek, & stopped at 7 Falls. Yes, we climbed the 224 (or however many) steps to the top. It was a workout, but my teammate Kristine was behind me nearly the whole way encouraging me and making sure I wasn't about to faint.
We're now in NM ( the land of enchantment) which has been a fun adventure because none of us have ever been here before. We got to stop in Santa Fe the other day & are spending the week in the Albuquerque area. One of my favorite things about team is that we have been to so many fun towns & congregations that have been a blessing to us in our travels that most of us would never get a chance to go to otherwise. Life is good & busy & God is continuing to stretch me in all sorts of ways that I don't understand yet & maybe never will.
One last thing, get up & actually watch the sun rise one morning soon, it's majestic.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)