hurricane katrina

Psalm 69
For the director of music. To the tune of "Lilies." Of David.
1 Save me, O God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in the miry depths,
where there is no foothold.
I have come into the deep waters;
the floods engulf me.

3 I am worn out calling for help;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail,
looking for my God.

4 Those who hate me without reason
outnumber the hairs of my head;
many are my enemies without cause,
those who seek to destroy me.
I am forced to restore
what I did not steal.

5 You know my folly, O God;
my guilt is not hidden from you.

6 May those who hope in you
not be disgraced because of me,
O Lord, the LORD Almighty;
may those who seek you
not be put to shame because of me,
O God of Israel.

7 For I endure scorn for your sake,
and shame covers my face.

8 I am a stranger to my brothers,
an alien to my own mother's sons;

9 for zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who insult you fall on me.

10 When I weep and fast,
I must endure scorn;

11 when I put on sackcloth,
people make sport of me.

12 Those who sit at the gate mock me,
and I am the song of the drunkards.

13 But I pray to you, O LORD,
in the time of your favor;
in your great love, O God,
answer me with your sure salvation.

14 Rescue me from the mire,
do not let me sink;
deliver me from those who hate me,
from the deep waters.

15 Do not let the floodwaters engulf me
or the depths swallow me up
or the pit close its mouth over me.

16 Answer me, O LORD, out of the goodness of your love;
in your great mercy turn to me.

17 Do not hide your face from your servant;
answer me quickly, for I am in trouble.

I pray for families to find comfort in the Lord, so they know not everything is as a loss because the Lord is with them always.

God Bless

squeak squeak...like a mouse

Today I happily walked across central campus grass with my shoes off…how many of you can say you have done that…I want to enjoy that ability until they put up the snow fence…and before it gets too cold and I won’t be doing such a thing. While I was walking I also had a little squeak. My backpack was having some problems, no matter how many times I rearranged stuff it still kept squeaking…man did I get some odd looks today.
I’m so very excited about tomorrow, while I will be going to my two classes I get done a little after noon and …. I skipped the best news…I get to sleep in cause my class isn’t until 9:30am…that may not be sleeping in to some, but when I’m at work by 6:25 every morning it is sleeping in. I have the next five days off of work and I’m headed home to see the parentals.
I hope all of you enjoy your holiday weekend…remember to keep those caught in the damage zone of the hurricane in your prayers.

i'm full of randomness :->

Stop Ahead

Have you ever wondered about why they make four-way stops…how confusing sometimes if all four cars come to a stop at the same time and you all want to go straight…has it ever happened to you? Twice in one day on my end. What do you do?
I was thinking aloud in my car today…wow this is kind of like life. So many times some of us come to the same spot in life…and all question what direction we should go, who should go first (or what should go first) in our lives. We all might have a general idea of priorities in our lives but what do we really do with that list we have made….what do we really put first and foremost in our lives? At a four-way stop some times others wave on the other car…it is like getting guidance or knowing that it is safe to go the straight path without smashing into someone else….,much like hitting a dead end in our lives. Sometimes a stop sign could be a way of telling us that we might need to assess situations in our lives to see if they are what would be pleasing to God. There are so many ways to look at a stop sign…wow
Well that was my random thought for the night!
God Bless

walking...what does that mean?

Today started out wonderful, I got up after going to bed way to late, I went to church where I repeated “good morning” at least sixty-five times. I got to sit be hide a nice young gentleman and pick on him. Then I went grocery shopping, worked out, watched a movie on the tube, then went and played ultimate Frisbee on central campus. Which we had a great turn out for this weekend and the weather was beautifully hot. Then I waited for Pastor Marks dinner to be done and ate at the church, which also had a great turn out. I came home to do homework and decided I had no focus because all I could do was watch the CNN news about the category five hurricane that is about ready to hit New Orleans in the morning. My aunt lives about 100 miles northwest of there in Mississippi, which will get hit pretty hard because it is in that upper quadrant of winds. So I ask for prayers for her and her two children along with millions of other people that are down in that area. I pray that they may come through this tragic event alive.
I’m going to jump back up to this morning…I park at the MU and walk over to church from the parking ramp as I was walking over I had a thoughtful moment…I was looking down at the ground for just a second….I started thinking about how we walk…or how we carry books is a good sign of our personality or how we are feeling that day. I often like to people watch and try to figure out what people might be thinking and I notice people that walk with their heads down a lot…and other clutch books in their hands wrapping their arms around them like they are wanting to give them a good bye hug. I think that means that they aren’t so secure about things, or that they are worried. I sometimes see people with there heads straight up and walking quickly, which to me shows that maybe that person has a lot of confidence….any ways I started to think about how I walk compared to my moods or compared to others that are feeling the same way. How do you walk and why?
That is all I have tonight! That was my day in a nut shell, I hope yours was good.

God Bless,
Kris

I have one more question…why is it so hard for me to get along with girls? I knew I should have moved in with a guy…I just don’t like to deal with petty conflicts…is that sooo wrong?

Chirp Chirp

Today was kind of exciting…the movie I wanted to take the kids to wasn’t showing and because of the straight down pour we couldn’t really do a whole lot outside. I only have four kids at this time that are either going to the private Christian school or to the new middle school which they both open on Monday. Instead of the movie we walked around the mall and randomly picked stores to walk through. I bought my first pack of Harry Potter Jelly Bellies today to share with them. If you haven’t heard of them they are like the candy’s they eat on the train ride in the movie…candies that have disgusting flavors like ear wax, vomit, soap, sardine, dirt, earthworm, grass, black pepper, bacon, rotten egg, and boogers….my advise if you ever try these is to stand by the trashcan while eating and expect exactly what is says it is to enter into your taste buds….yuck!
One of my oldest kids had his last day and his mom was in tears when she first left this morning…and she knew it would only get harder when she came back that night to pick him up. She is such a great mom (some day I hope to be half the mom she is), we get a long really well so I will miss seeing her five days a week…I will miss the boy too, he bought a lot of different personalities in the room. When the twelve left on Wednesday I said my good-byes and left so they didn’t really see me get to emotional (even though I was) today I was crying in the hallway all teary eyed….and another one of my kids thought that was funny he thought I would be laughing because the boy was leaving….he then kept repeating that it was his last day too and I better cry when he leaves as well….lol it really wasn’t the last day for him, but he knows that I will leave before him so there will be tears then too….well enough about that emotional stuff.

Have you ever had a cricket sneak into your room and when all the lights are shut off and it is peaceful…you here it chirp? Oh how it drives me nuts…it is like a fly in the summer time that will buzz around your ear while you are sleeping or half awake and sound is just annoying. Well I hunted down the cricket in my room tonight….hiding in a corner. I kept telling myself I wasn’t going to bed until he was found.

Well now that the cricket is gone I can sleep in peace.

God’s peace be with you

Focus on Christ

I was sitting in a Sunday school teachers meeting yesterday and Pastor O said that the main objective for the children in our Sunday school class was to teach them about Jesus. We are going to be looking at the OT and individual based stories. He said that no matter what the story is we really need to make sure that we are pointing out where Jesus fits in with it. I think the main goal of teaching children in Sunday school is to help them keep their child like faith. To have them know God’s love, know that Jesus was sent to us to forgive us and to love us. I don’t wanna go to teach how to be good people or what they should do to be a good Christian…I want them to know about Jesus with an undoubting faith. Later in the evening I was listening to Taylor give a testimony of his first days of college and where Jesus fits into that picture. How many times do we go some where new…and feel like we don’t fit in, to feel like there is something missing and then come to the conclusion that things are going wrong in life because this isn’t a perfect world, that things can’t always go our way….that we are sinners and if we want to find what is missing in our daily lives that we should look toward God for that love. I know that I do a lot of things that people might get the wrong idea about…maybe it isn’t so Christian-like. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” 1Timothy 1:15 I know that my life isn’t something great or grand that I’m not going to have a movie made or even a biography written about my life…it isn’t anything spectacular….I’ll make the newspaper someday with just a few facts about my life printed in the obituaries. If I were to write the story of my own life I would start by confessing the number one fact in my life and that is that “I am the worst of sinners: Such a confession isn’t easy to make. Everything I like to exaggerate, but sin I like to shrink. Other peoples’ sins I can easily spot, but my own somehow escape detection. Yet the plain truth remains that I’m a sinner. I don’t need a microscope to examine my daily life. Sin’s contamination is clearly visible. My confession is in order: I am number one, first in line when it comes to sinners. Fact number two in my life is thanks to God. “Christ Jesus came into the worlds to save sinners.” There was only one reason Christ Jesus left heaven, entered a virgin’s womb, and came into our world of sin and sorrow. Only one reason why he lived in this world as flesh and died in it, as well as rose again. That was to save sinners. He came not to judge, but to seek and save the lost. Ad he came for me. Because of him God won’t write the word “lost” on my grave stone, but “saved” by his grace in Christ Jesus. Come to think of it, what more needs to be said in the story of my life? We need to remember that Jesus is walking with us daily.

God Bless

I pray that we can all keep in mind that Jesus is with us, that his love is simple and at the purest form.

Tears

I bet you are going to wonder why am I playing this song on my blog and why did I dedicate it to F-troop. F-troop is the name of the class I have in the summer. It is what I call “my” kids. People think that it is weird the way some people talk about other peoples children. I call them my kids because I spend some times eight hours in a day with them some times eleven. I know these children sometimes better than their parents. This summer Holiday by GreenDay was one of their favorite songs….we would drive in circles in the high school parking lot just so we could crank the radio in the vans and all the kids would bounce around and sing. There other favorite song is Hear I am by Kelly Clarkson. They have a tendancy to throw out there arms and scream…. “Here I am…” one time they all jumped out of the pool and all the lifeguards started laughing. Their next favorite song is Gwen Stefani “Hollaback Girls”…aka to them BANANAS. My kids make me smile. So with this being their last day of summer I dedicate their favorite song of the summer. I left work in tears today. Tears of joy that I would no longer have 34 kids by myself, tears of happiness that they are starting back to school, but also tears of sadness. Today I had to write a dozen going away letters, take pictures with the children leaving, watch mom’s walk away crying, I had to give hugs to children I might not ever see again, but have spent over two years getting to know 5 sometime 6 days a week. I have to go through this again on Friday too because some kids are starting in the middle school on Monday…and then leaving the center as a whole is going to be a big big deal…my eyes are all ready watering just talking about it. I’m attatched to them, they are my lives…I know them inside and outside the center. I watch them for weeks at a time when parents are gone, I watch them on weekends, I go to their baseball games and book fairs with them. I visit their schools. I’m a wanna be parent of the worst kind….or so it looks on screen. I love each and everyone of them no matter what they have done day in and day out.
Tonight’s devotion went well we had a good number of students, most of which were there last year. We ate smores afterwards..mmmmmm I met two really nice freshmen as well as others. Now I’m off to bed to get some sleep.

Dedication to Summer F-Troopers

There was a music video here...but too many songs playing at a time leads to mass chaos of sounds

Video code provided by Music Video Codes

On the second day of class my true love gave to me...

Thinking about December/Winter Break....Christmas songs came to mind...lol

Today…work 6:30-8:30am…visit with Al….classes 9-12…meeting 12-1 visit with Al again…work until 5:30…..walk to class…class 6-9…Bible Study with Pastor Mark until 10pm…hope to be sleeping soon. One question asked yesterday was how do you describe yourself…draw a picture, don’t use words…me I drew a calendar with a bee….what does that say about me?

Well come December 1st I will know where I will possibly student teach…how exciting! (found that information today…thought I would share)
I was on a crowded bus this morning standing up trying not to fall flat on my face while the lady turned the corners…and I thought about how it is a little strange to be around so many people that are going in the same direction as me I mean that in the literal sense cause we were all going east on the red route…ha ha I mean we are all heading to class to better our place in society. People on buses are a little weird…I ride the bus I will admit to it being weird that is. I don’t like it when people just stare at me…what is that all about. ( I hadn’t eaten all day so it wasn’t anything in my nicely brushed teeth.) I try to at least space off at the floor…just ya know at their shoes.

Questions to make ya think:

Why do children have bad behaviors?
My opinion: It is a learned behavior, sometimesgenetic disposition, others could be due to mental disorders
What is the role of a teacher?
My opinion: To be a good role model for children and help them become beneficial members of society

Ok so I’m full of randomness tonight…must be cause I’m hungry and really sweepy???

I have another abstract thought though first some background info. I teach before and after school at the center I’m at and I’m looking for good positive reinforcements last year I did “stuck on good behavior” and let them duct tape me to the building and to the wall inside….they later got to have donuts one morning and ice cream sundaes in the afternoon, ooo and can’t forget the silly string war which was still visible come spring. I will do almost any thing for my kids if they are well behaved. They way they earn them is by filling up the picture on a poster I have made for them. They fill it up with masking tape when they are good and then the tape is removed if they aren’t listening. I have 3 charts made but I’m looking for one more idea. I am going to let them throw chocolate pies at me, wet sponges at my head (I made a cool sponge bob square pants poster for that) and then I’m going to create a big bubble in our room for them to play inside of. They thought eggs would be fun to throw at me, but I’m up for any ideas if any one has any???

Off to sleep am I. My prayers are with you.
God Bless

First day of school

Well today was long to say the least, enjoyable non the less. I just got home not to long ago from doing calls for peer ministry. Calls are where two people get together with a list of names of people that have come to church, who put down that they were Lutheran on the application, or that were requested by home congregations for us to visit…we don’t just stop by random places. So two days in a row I have done that…tonight was pretty good didn’t really have to leave any notes saying “sorry we missed ya we stopped to say hi”….those are good notes to fling under doors…which is a talent I might add. I love meeting people, but I know deep down ones that are new to the area are a little freaked out by us knocking on their door….but that is all the fun of it!
I worked about eight hours this morning with twenty eight school agers and then headed to class for a few hours. I’m kind of excited to get creative and write lesson plans and create history/social studies units…to create board games and do lots of useful education things. I’m glad to see eleven special ed majors in my class it is comforting to know that we have each other to make it through classes together because we already know that we all work well together and get a long or as I like to say mesh well together. I have three classes tomorrow on top of work on the in-between times…and then I’m headed to Bible study. I didn’t run into any lost freshman…I’m sure I will catch up to some later. I pray that everyone had a great first day to a new semester. God Bless
I’m off to sleep~ dream sweet!

Kris

Oh yeah do you remember growing up and having your first day of school...did you do anything special...pick out a new outfit...take pictures...?
When I was little ever year before getting on the bus we would put on our backpacks and stand in front of the magnolia tree in the front yard. I would always lay out my outfit the night before so I would be on time and motivated the first day of school....ummm that is all i can remember. M;y bus driver always did donald duck voices on the first day of school to...loved Ron...he was the greatest bus driver ever! What about you...share a little please!

Where does He fit in?

So walking around campus tonight I realize that tomorrow is my last first day of class as a college student…wow, how weird is it to write that down. I’m excited a little nerve racking…I’m sure the moment will pass.
This morning I was standing greeting person after person a non creative “good morning” that I just repeated over and over again…meeting person after person two nights in a row and not remembering names. I’m normally really good at faces I’m awful with names though. I could tell you about a person and not recall a name of any kind…weird. I know 150(min) kids in my center all by name and I can recall names of kids I taught 6 years ago, but I can’t recall a single name from last night or from even dinner tonight.
Any ways the point of my blog was to give Pastor Mark props of the campus tour during the sermon today…helping the freshman feel more comfortable. I remember feeling like a freshman for 3 years in a row….going to a new school every year has that effect on a person, so I feel for those of you who are new and are roaming around trying to figure out the little maps and finding a place to fit in. I pray that just because you are a freshman that you don’t abandon your morals and ethics…that just because you are a way from your parents that it gives you a new sense of freedom to go out and party it up and start doing stuff that would displease them. I have talked to so many people that say they don’t go to church because for the longest time they just went because their mommies made them…..I like talking to the people that said they are trying to experience something new and searching for a church that fits them…. I think that is important, I knew my religion but yet I was looking for a great foundation. Today’s topic for the sermon was where does Jesus fit in with each building you run into on campus…where does Jesus fit in with our lives. I know that my life will get busy during the semester and often times I will not turn to Christ, but I pray that my life focus more on him as my semester rolls around. I pray that others will find a way to witness on and off campus and that more people this semester will come to know where Christ fits in in their lives. I looked for a foundation and I have found a great one where I am at in school…I have found Christian friends that help to be the rock I need. I know that sometimes I get lost and all I need to do is look right in front of me …. Quote from pastor today… “we don’t see what is right in front of our eyes.” This was said on more than one occasion to me today. How true is it though…Christ is always in front of us, always there and sometimes we just see right past it….what else does this line work with? Personally I think this terms works for guys too…lol cause I know some really great guys that are single…I’m single and yet I’m right in front of them…what is wrong with that picture…grrr lol that is just a random connection. Well I’m off to bed so I can get up in the morning put in a full 8 hours and then go to class, work out, and then go on peer ministry calls and repeat it all over the next day!!! Well here goes a whole new semester. Lots of prayers for those who are just starting college and for those who are done and out in the world doing what they love.
God Bless your day
Kris

Throw your hands up like you just don't care.....

Have you ever had one of those days where you just want to stomp your feet and throw a fit like you were a child again? I did tonight…no real reason. But I see kids doing it everyday and it drives me insane when I can’t act out like that feel free enough to stomp my feet and throw my hands up in the air. We always tell kids that if they are going to get angry they have to do it right… squint their left eye, show their teeth, and grrr. So this was one of those moments…like I said no real reason, I just wanted to do it to be doing it….I’m pretty random! I’m a little stressed out I know this because work and school are going to mix in 4 days and it is going to be messy. My last full semester of class before student teaching…man is that nerve racking….o well I’ll deal. Well I’m off to bed so I can rise early. Just some words of wisdom…if you feel like stomping your feet you have every right….if you feel like throwing your hands up in the air make sure that you aren’t going to smack anyone in the process.

God Bless

question of the day...who are you?

I was looking through the calendar for the new school year….I’m the pickiest person when in comes to picking out calendar. I will literally open up everyone one until I find one to my liking. Well the one I have is just right except for the extra pages of print in the front that has nothing to do with a calendar or anything related to that. One of those nonsense pages says “Discover your strengths, What makes me the individual that I am? What makes me tick?” looking further it has a list of words
· Adaptable-some times, depends on the situation
· Trustworthy-yes
· A self-starter-yes
· Witty-I some times have mean comments to say in response
· Rational- yep
· Conscientious -yes
· Spiritual- very much so, it is are large part of my life
· Attentive -yes
· Content-some times…other times I feel like things are missing in my life and then I’m not so content
· Enterprising-yepper
· Punctual-try to be all the time
· Talkative- I think I am, but it depends on who you talk to
· Detailed-yes when it comes to décor, or lesson plans
· Organized- my mom would say not at home but very much so at school, I think I am
· Reliable- yes
· Athletic-no so much, coordination is there and if dancing counts
· Sincere-yes
· Energetic-depends on the day or really how tired I am cause when I’m super tired I get really energetic (how does that work?)
· Thoughtful-yes
· Intellectual-I’m not dumb
· Easy-going-no so much
· Honest-yes
· Decisive-depends…not on dates, I would rather take turns picking some where to go or eat
· Patient-I think I am cause otherwise I wouldn’t do what I do and that is work with children daily, nor would I be going into special education
· Creative-I like to think so
· Motivated-some days more that others, example I’m more apt to working out with the commitment of some one else…I have more motivation
· Thrifty-yes, I love old things, and I don’t like to spend money
· Cheerful-day to day judgment
· Considerate-yes
· Artistic-I did a wonderful painting today on our classroom windows….back in the day like 6th grade, I wanted to be an art teacher
· Compassionate-yes
· Responsible-yes
· A leader-yes, I don’t mind working in a group..but when it comes right down to it I would rather lead than follow
· Sensitive-yes….some days I will even cry at movies
· Practical- yes
· Enthusiastic-I use to be a cheerleader….so I do have a little enthusiastic
· Fun-loving-yep yep
· Generous-I am very generous of my time some days..
· A team player-I like being on a team…if everyone else is a team player too
· Persistent- I don’t back down on things
· Friendly – smile…. J
· Spontaneous- I like to be wild and crazy sometimes…but I like my calendar…and schedule
· Flexible- I have been working on that…I need to be flexible as a teacher…so work in progress
· Committed-yes
· Analytical –I like to think
· Fair – depends on how the word is used
· Respectful- character counts
· Caring-it is all about the love
· Positive- some times I tend to focus on the negatives but I try to point out positive more so than the negative

So there are my side-comments about myself after looking through the list of words…what about you how do these words fit into who you think you might be? Random thoughts of the day…I was just trying to think of something to post rather than the bathtub one I really had written from last night…a bubble experience…how much fun could that be to read?
I hope all of you are having a wonderful day…God Bless

Small World After All

It’s a small world after all. So I took part of the day off to go to the Iowa State Fair. I was a ten-year 4-Her and loved every minute of it..so the fair has always been a little part of my life. I wasn’t really impressed with the fair this year it was all about the food….there were venders everywhere, the cost of food was outrageous, and the things they put on a stick….wow, eggs on a stick better yet bologna on a stick…really who thinks this stuff up. I did enjoy walking around the fairgrounds this afternoon in the sun….but I saw everything I needed to see within a few hours. I ran into my old music teacher, her daughter, and an old classmate of mine in one walk through a building then later I walked past another teacher I had in school that moved away ages ago…he had a wife and a baby girl…not even like 10 mins. later I ran into some one else I graduated from high school with, with his family. However, I only ran into one parent from work…which was the funnies cause she wanted to know why I wasn’t there and I told her that I already went to work for the day and this was the only vacation I have before starting school a week from today. (where did the summer go) I just think it is odd who you know and how you are connected to so many people. Have you really ever thought about it? I think it is truly a small world after all. I was always told that in life it isn’t always what you know, but who you know is how you are going to get to the top.

where is the line?

Where do you draw the line? Pastor Mark’s sermon this morning asked just that. He told us about a scientist in the 1930’s who invented a way to preserve blood for transfusions but in the 1950’s when he was in an accident and was bleeding to death they refused they denied him a transfusion….why the rejection? Because he was an African American. How many times in our lives to we reject people are racist or prejudice? Today we still draw the lines all over the country all over the world. People fighting wars tribe against tribe. People judging people because they don’t have the same income or they don’t dress a certain way. I know I do it…I don’t mean to do it and sometimes I don’t subconsciously do it but I’m not perfect. I realize today it is ideal to be tolerante of one another to except ones differences. I’m going to say that is true up unto some point. I think that when it comes to my beliefs I draw the line. I will listen to what you have to say about yours but when I comes down to it I’m going to follow my beliefs and stand firm to them. It isn’t that I didn’t go in search of others, but I have found that being a Christian and having someone help me cross the line and jump on to God’s side is the best and ultimate choice. God drew that line He called us to be different than others. He makes us different as Christians makes us standout because we have Christ Jesus. He is what makes us special. He doesn’t want us to reject those not like us, but wants us to continue to follow him regardless of the influences around us. While I’m typing this I’m listening to music that would be music I wouldn’t play in my traditional church, but it doesn’t make it any less Christian just because it is rap. I mentioned it in Mark’s blog Nova…G.O.D Til I D.I.E cause I knew he was listening to it…lol the words are great they have a great message in them but isn’t something my parents would say is in any way good music that represents God’s word. So many young people are defined by the way they dress and the music the listen to, but there are so many options to choose from why be tolerant on lyrics that talk about death and sex when you can have great music that carries great sound and lyrics that are pleasing to God. That was a little random but it still has to do with where you draw the line even with the small things in life. How accepting are you and how do you stand for the beliefs you have. God may have told the Israelites to distance themselves from other not like them, to be different. He didn’t lower his line so he would be closer to us instead you picked us up and carried us to his line because to jump it would be impossible on our own.
Thanks be to God for sending Christ to carry us to the Lord for helping us choose to cross the line and be a little different than the crowds.
Have a blessed day,
Kris

sorry for the typos and randomness

Disappointment

So it was a random night out on the town a bunch of my girls from high school some random people from college taking the time to party it up at a new club in town. I’m out dancing have a great time when the fire alarm starts going off we are all leaving the building trying to figure out what is going on. One of my friends left her camera up stairs so we were just waiting around until we were able to go upstairs to get it. The police and firemen were on the scene. With in 15min the people at Chasers could go in, but those of us as Club Element were left to wonder what happened. We went around to the front to talk to the bouncers (we are girls so we cut right to the front of the line) a police officer had to take my friend upstairs to get her camera cause he couldn’t find it the first time on his own…how nice was that? (So nice) So besides to weekends in a row calling my night short before even getting a second wind to dance, I had a few other disappointments. Don’t get me wrong I’m not normally a judgmental person, but I don’t really like those that smoke around others. My grandfather had his lung removed when I was younger and I saw how the addiction affected his life. He finally quit and no more that a year and he passed away from something that related to just that laps of judgment called smoking. I think that those who smoke are some what weak, they don’t see other was to spend their money, so don’t see through the eyes of their children who breathe in the second hand smoke. I had not only one good friend but two good friends make the choice to smoke tonight. I’m very strong willed, very opinionated and they already knew how I felt about the subject and sill I was lead to a big bucket of lies, discrete, and a cloud full of smoke. GRRrrr so that was my evening. I hope I didn’t offend any one but it is a really gross habit. If you could have only seen the look of disappointment on my face when I saw what they were doing. Also the fact that some friends that said they were coming out and didn’t really made me sad too. GRRrrrrr

RISK

(no not the game of RISK...the action)
Most of us are familiar with Peter walking on water(Matthew 14), his faith, and the fact that we aren’t meant to walk on water but with our eyes fixed on Christ all things are possible. Peter did undoubtedly walk on water for a short while before looking down and filling head of doubts. Today in the sermon pastor Mark wanted us to focus on our struggles and how Christ saves. It wasn’t that Peter wasn’t suppose to be out on the water it is that he took the RISK and did it, he followed the path upon the water to Christ unlike the others in the boat. Even though he struggled Christ reached out his hand and saved Peter, just like he does for us everyday. Here is the deal with Peter and why no ones would get into the water with him. Back in the day they still believed in ghosts and stuff just like today we have this fascinations with not only spirits but aliens. The storms that surrounded them are like evil things to them as well as the sea they were on. So knowing that they could drowned in the evil sea to the deep water abyss scared them so they didn’t wanna take that RISK. They were struggling earlier on in this chapter as well when a storm came to them and Jesus was sleeping in their boat….he had to awake and calm the sea because they were struggling. How many times to we turn to Christ when we are struggling and in need of help. I know that I try to fix things on my own but I really need to start turning more to Christ because only He knows my true struggles and not just the small ones like fitting into a pair of jeans or trying to make it to a swim class after work. We all struggle even if you don’t know it to be a struggle right then later on down the road you may look back and know you made it through that moment because you looked to the Lord. The title of my blogs is called RISK, cause I have been having troubles with that lately, I know that not everything around me is going to be comfortable and safe, but I need to step out of my safety zone to meet new people and take a step in getting to know those in my life a little deeper. I pray that I can take new RISKs, as I start a new semester of collge….I pray that I take RISKs that cause me to stay challenged and bring me closer to him as well as bring other to him.

God Bless