Suffering Well

I know I say this all the time, but I am really greatful for my church and the staff and pastors that shepard us.

Recently, Eric Gorski (from the Associated Press), did an article on Matt's battle with cancer entitled Suffering Well: Faith Tested by Pastors Cancer. I really encourage you guys to read it because it gives a lot of insight into his struggle... and besides that it's just a really well written piece.

I'm just so proud of Matt, his family and the leadership at the Village for how they've handled this whole situation. I really think they are suffering well for the Gospel, and I pray that God uses this trial to make much of His name. This story has already been picked up by the Washington Post and the NY Times (as well as papers in Finland and Mexico), so clearly his story is reaching a lot more than originally anticipated.

Soli Deo gloria.

Hey Remember...

how Justin Timberlake actually has a good voice?



This is probably my favorite recording of this song...ever. Judge me if you must.

Leadership

This last week I took a mini called Principles of Biblical Leadership. When I signed up for the class I had NO idea what to expect...seriously, there wasn't even a course description online. But it ended up being one of my favorite classes I've taken so far! My professor was this precious 68 year old man who was such a great encourager and just an all around great guy (ex. he brought us breakfast each morning and spent time talking to each of us individually about our lives, spiritual walk, etc). During the class we took quite a few personality profile tests, a spiritual gifts assessment and our conflict style test...

This is what I learned about myself:

• I'm a lion/otter mix...meaning I'm assertive, task-oriented and a people person.
• My spiritual gifts are leadership and pastoring/sheperding...I think the pastoring/sheperding has more to do with the fact that I big into discipleship and I care about people's spiritual health.
• In conflict situations I'm a persuader/collaborater...this one is pretty self-explanatory. Basically, I just want to convince people I'm right and if I can't do that I want for us both to be partially right.

The really strange thing about taking all these profiles/tests was that on every single one of them I ended up having two things tied for first.

This class was by far the smallest I've been in (there were only 9 of us), and I was the only college aged girl...plus we had 4 adult students that were really tight. Since our class was so small (and since our professor was so awesome), the entire week was extremely discussion oriented. We had a really broad range of people and personality types, so it made for some very interesting/enlightening class discussions. Also, one of the older women reminded me of my mom and apparently I reminded her of her oldest daughter, so that was presh.

A couple of times during the week my professor insisted that I set aside a time to meet with him and a few other prof's from the masters program so they can talk with me and brainstorm about my future and just pray with me (gotta love these small Baptist schools). It was really encouraging, and I'm really excited to meet with them and talk about different ministry possibilities.

Anyway, that's been my life these past few days. I'm ready to get back in the routine of the regular semester, but I'm not looking forward to my classes this semester...it'll be my first semester without a religion class. Bleh. Other than that, life is good, sleep is great and God is better. The end.

P.S. For those of you that care, Matt started up The Path series again. It's got to be one of my favorite sermon series of all time, so I highly recommend it.

Social Etiquette

I know that there are times when I can be less than charming in public (shocking, I know), but sometimes people's lack of consideration and etiquette just kills me! I don't know all the ins and outs of social etiquette, but there are a few things I'm pretty passionate about...

1. Men/boys/guys should always hold the door open for girls/women/chicks.

2. When in a public area, try not to talk loudly on your cell phone... ESPECIALLY if you are using profanities.

3. If you must use your cell phone in a crowded place, you should not use a bluetooth headpiece, speaker phone, or that weird walky-talky feature some phones have.

4. Under no circumstances is it EVER okay to use your cell phone in a public restroom.

5. If you're staring at someone, and they catch you staring, the polite thing to do is look away. To keep staring like it's a "staring contest" is just awkward.

6. Boys should never "holler" at girls they don't know. It's gross and uncomfortable.

7. Burping/farting/etc. should be kept to a minimum in public/mixed company*.

8. Always avoid taking the stall/urinal right next to someone if you can help it.

9. Avoid annoying eating and drinking habits (aka slurping, smacking, talking with your mouth full).

10. Always be polite. If you bump into someone, say excuse me. If someone gives you something, say thank you.



* There may or may not be a few instances where I may or may not have burped in public. Try not to hold it against me... I'm a new woman ;)

Thursday

The low temp is 17 and it's supposed to be really windy.

No thanks.