August 2011
1 post
4 tags
moving out, moving in
Hello hello! I’m pretty sure I’m not the worst blogger in the world, but I’m definitely up there. And after having come back from Czech for the second time, I really, really want to work on a lot of things - blogging being one of them. So I’ve decided to move this party over to Wordpress! I’ve been using it for my other blog for two years and I really like the set up...
March 2011
5 posts
3 tags
“Cathedrals” by History of Painters
A...
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regeneration
My version of a prayer from the Puritan prayer book, The Valley of Vision.
Oh God of the Highest Heaven, occupy the throne of my heart, take full possession, and reign supreme. Lay low every rebel lust, let no vile passion resist Your holy war; manifest Your mighty power and make me Yours forever.
You are worthy to be praised with my every breath, level with every part of my soul, and...
February 2011
4 posts
2 tags
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when today just isn't your day
For all you 90s kids out there: good old Hey Arnold!
Today I woke up and realized that I hadn’t done my homework for my first class. So I threw on a pair of unflattering sweat pants and burned through my homework over a bowl of Corn Pops. I was already 8 minutes behind schedule, but hitting every traffic light didn’t help, and it just so happens that the homework is collected right...
December 2010
5 posts
what happens when i spend the whole day with my...
Daniel: I'm feeling kind of sick...
Mom: Well check to see if there's any juice left.
Daniel: Eh... it's not breakfast time.
Mom: So? What's going to happen if you drink orange juice now, Daniel? Will you blow up?
2 tags
blessed with love
It’s tough sometimes, going to college in-town and staying at home, especially when some of your closest friends leave for college out-of-town. But thank God for friends who are still here, new friends who’ve moved here, and reunions with old friends who’ve come back for the holidays.
All of my friends are amazing. We can sit in a coffee shop for hours, talking about lives and...
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the true meaning of christmas
Dad: What's going on?
Mom: Sarah just told me what she wants to get you for Christmas, and I just bought that for her to give you yesterday!
Dad: It's a Christmas miracle!
a sea of love →
autumnfringes:
“There is this false twisted idea out there among religious people that somehow you gotta have it all together to have a relationship with God, that like somehow God’s only looking for people who have no problems, and have it all nailed down, and can put on like the happy face all the time. Yet the scriptures speak directly against this kind of thinking. I mean Jesus is just...
November 2010
2 posts
2 tags
science v. religion
“This is my girlfriend’s new tattoo. It represents her belief of science over religion.”
I’m sorry, but I’m pretty tired of how people think they have to choose between science and religion. Science versus religion. Science or religion. Science. Religion. Pick one. One is basically fact, proven, right without a second thought. One is possibly fact, mostly myth,...
2 tags
right, wrong, & everything in-between
I don’t like telling people they’re wrong. It sounds single-minded, intolerant, rude, & arrogant, & I don’t want to be any of those things. I try not to be. But that’s the problem with being a Christian; some things just don’t fly. Like this: “I don’t go to church because I believe God doesn’t want us spending our lives worshiping...
October 2010
7 posts
2 tags
dear sarah, it's sarah
I finally recieved the letter I wrote to myself during our Labyrinth in Czech. And what was my response? “Uuuhhhggg” pretty much sums it up. Here’s why:
Remember last summer when you wrote yourself a letter, saying things needed to change - but they didn’t, did they? You still fell. You still struggled. You still did hardly anything to change that. Why? Because you were...
1 tag
election day
Dad: I'm not going to tell you how to vote. Just... make sure you vote anti-abortion. And anti-taxes. And anti-government.
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not going to ignore it →
Let me be clear: I firmly believe the homosexuality is a sin. I firmly believe that people are, indeed, born gay because people are born sinners. I firmly believe that like adultery and sex before marriage, homosexuality falls within that same realm of sin, which is viewed by the world if not wrong, normal. I firmly believe that a sin is a sin, whether it be lying about taking a cookie from the...
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looking back - three months later
Taking a moment now to look back on my time in beautiful Czech Republic (NOT Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia doesn’t exist anymore. It’s been almost 18 years people!), I learned quite a lot. Like getting lost in Prague at midnight is not the best idea, especially when you don’t have any Czech speakers with you. And lesson plans are best prepared before leaving.
But I also learned...
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grace has brought me here thus far, and grace will...
Day 14 (Sunday)
The first time I went to the Litvinov church that we’d been partnering with for a while now, I was pretty nauseous. We were on our way to the camp and had to pick up a few things. And I needed to get out of the car, so I followed everyone else. At the time, a worship session was going on and I sat in the back and watched (like the creeper I am). The room wasn’t...
2 tags
tears
Day 13 (Saturday)
The moment I woke up this morning, I began to freak out. The interns are leaving in an hour. The students are going to start leaving after breakfast. I’m leaving after lunch. Is it really almost over? Am I really starting college in nearly a week? Oh, shoot… don’t start crying now.
The interns have been by our sides from the beginning. At training camp, we had no issues...
2 tags
growth, cheer, fulfill
Yes, I am aware of how goshdarn late this is! Really, it’s a crime. I am very sorry for the delay. During the last few days of the trip, I didn’t really have time to write - just little snippits here and there - and since I’ve come back, I haven’t really had time to write either! Well time, and patience. One of the many things on my “Need to Improve” list....
August 2010
10 posts
2 tags
how am i going to say goodbye?
Day 11 (Thursday)
I cannot explain how excited I am. I cannot explain how incredible I feel right now. I cannot explain how complete everything is. I cannot explain how absolutely amazing God is. But I guess I’ll try.
This morning during devotionals, Hanza, a Czech believer led us through Romans 12, one of my favorite passages in the Bible. I’m pretty positive that that’s one of the reasons...
2 tags
flip-flop
Day 10 (Wednesday)
Donuts for lunch! Yum, yum, yum.
My class (in tree top to bottom L to R: Jon, Martina, Daniela, standing L to R: Iva, me, Marek, Lukas, on ground: Richard)!
Today, I was hot & I was cold. I was yes & I was no. I was in & I was out. I was up & I was down. That’s from Katy Perry’s Hot n’ Cold, in case you didn’t already know that. But yeah, I think it accurately...
2 tags
slang terms for throwing up are hurling, barfing,...
Day 9 (Tuesday)
Eli’s class (standing L to R: Risa, Jenda, Vlasta, Hanza; sitting L to R: Hanka, Kuba, Diana, Hannah; laying across everyone: Eli)!
4 years of going to Mexico, & never have I felt the wrath of Montezuma’s Revenge, or seen that burrito from yesterday come back up. One week here in the Czech Republic, & all of a sudden I’m at the toilet. I’m sorry, Mom. I know you...
2 tags
dependant
Day 8 (Monday)
Today went a little something like this:
Morning devotionals
Class (today’s theme was superheroes!)
Free time
Destroying the rinds of watermelons with a bat
Sports
Eating lots of candy
Showing the camp how to play Mad Cow (the get-into-different-ridiculous-positions-as-fast-as-you-can game)
Listening to Jenda tell the story of Joseph (through the eyes of Judah)
...
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open
Day 7 (Sunday)
I’m so sorry that I haven’t been able to update at all for the past two weeks (yikes)! I just got to be too busy, and then when I actually had some free time, I could never get the internet to work. But I did document each day, so I’ll just continue where I left off, if you don’t mind.
The first official day of camp began at 7:30 in the morning, which...
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English Camp: Litvinov →
This site should eventually have pictures up.
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good morning campers!
Day 6
Wrote this all on Sunday. That’s why I say yesterday and today, when I really mean three days ago or two. Get it? Got it? Good.
The word for thank you is dequee. The word for thank you is dequee. Dequee, dequee, dequee! Why is that so hard for me to remember?! Well, it’s actually dekuji with a little carrot on top of the e, but it’s pronounced dequee. Dequee, dequee,...
2 tags
take that, dad
Day 5
Again, I wrote this last Saturday. So slowly but surely I’m catching up!
Training camp officially ended last night, so this morning we began our trek to Litvinov. But before I get into that, let me just say a few things about the camp that I didn’t have time to earlier. Not only did we get to hear from some pretty sweet speakers, but we got to learn how to effectively teach English in...
1 tag
only in europe
Annie (over the side of the balcony): Oh, hi...
Me: Who are you talking to?
Annie: Some guy down there. Who, might I add, is walking a goat on a leash.
Me: What?! Why didn't you say that in the first place!
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who needs summer camp when you have the czech...
Days 3 & 4
So the internet has been a huge pain here, so I’ve been writing out each day. So the following was written last Friday, just so you know…
The past two days, our team (& by that, I mean us five Americans, four American interns from Josiah Venture, & five Czech natives) has joined four other teams at the training camp in Malenovice – which sounds nothing like it’s...
July 2010
6 posts
1 tag
how to keep entertained
Annie: Oh, dang! The turbulence made me mess up. See? I colored outside the lines.
Steward: How old are you?
Annie: ... 21.
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the longest day
Right now, it’s about 12 AM here in Malenovice, Czech Republic, but according to my computer it’s almost 3 PM in California. That is one of the many things that has been blowing my mind as of late.
So… The journey began with stress - and lots of it. “Shoot, I need to get this together and pack that and, wow, I totally almost forgot that.” “Paula, she’s...
2 tags
čokoláda prosím
That means chocolate please in Czech! Pretty much the only Czech I know. Good thing I’m not teaching that language. Oh man, I’m so stoked to finally be going on this trip! I remember when I first heard about it; it was one of those halfhearted moments where I was all, “Oh, yeah. That sounds cool,” but did nothing about it. Then when Joshua didn’t work out, for some...
2 tags
questions i should know the answer to; one
To prepare for the questions we might face in the Czech Republic (which is coming up extremely fast!), our team has been asked to read The Reason For God by Timothy Keller. It asks the big questions: how can a loving god send people to hell? How can there only be one true religion? Doesn’t science disprove Christianity? All that and more. And since Czech is one of the most religiously...
2 tags
hurt, & then blessed
I’m sure this is the case for every receptionist, but for the church that I work for, we sure do get a lot of strange calls.
Two weeks ago, I had a twenty-minute conversation (well, I didn’t really speak that much) with a well-off, non-religious - but very spiritual - woman who’s been dealing with an ugly divorce and living off of little to no money. She claimed that she’s...
1 tag
are you sure you were the valedictorian?
Me: I went to hang up a shirt and I accidentally hit myself in the nose with the hanger.
Brother: Your hurt nose?
Me: No, the other one.
June 2010
5 posts
2 tags
what does "adult" even mean?
My 18th birthday was two days ago (the 27th), and what do I do with my first day as an adult? Hit a car. Bahh; that’s what I get for being in a hurry - and backing up without looking.
But moving on from that… I’ve been doing lots of thinking about what it means to be an adult and (especially in light of graduation) to make your life your own. It’s a crazy thought. Am I responsible enough to be...
1 tag
differences
Grandpa: The difference between me and [your grandmother] is I could care less about the rest of those posters while she had to look at every one.
Mom: Well, I was interested in the others.
Grandpa: Then I guess that's the difference between me and the rest of humanity!
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new beginnings
So, I’m a high school graduate. Didn’t I just get into high school? I distinctly remember getting lost to my first class freshman year and freaking out. Was that really four years ago? Wait, when did I finish junior high? I was just getting used to lockers like, 2 minutes ago. And what about elementary school? I know it wasn’t six years ago that my friends and I got my shoes...
“It is the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge, and my...”
– Billy Graham
2 tags
May 2010
10 posts
“Because I’m a Christian doesn’t mean that I don’t believe in...”
– Aaron Gillespie (drummer for Underoath)
thanks dad
Me: Of all the things you could rob... why a convenience store?
Dad: Because it's conveniant.
my story; of songs, psalms, and scars
This summer, I (along with a team of five others) will be going to the Czech Republic with Josiah Venture. Consequentially, I’ve developed a nasty habit of pronouncing it Cha-zeck, just because I do that with all words that have odd silent letters (like diaphragm and Illinois). It’s bad. Anyway, our team’s assignment for this week was to prepare our testimonies to share at...