grace eventually.

This is one of the coolest, most powerful things I've seen in a long time! We're doing our own on Sunday.

I wonder what my life would look like if I didn't work 2 jobs. Would I have more time to take those walks I plan for every morning but am too tired to get out of bed? Would I have more time to read, to pray, to catch up on all my friend's blogs, to blog myself? Would I spend more time with my precious God-children? I'm sitting at Starbucks as I write this and I look up to see my sweet co-workers waving at me and I smile. For this time I'm meant to be here. The truth is, I love my job at Starbucks. I love interacting with different types of people who may never walk through the doors of Trinity. I love loving them with all that I am. I've been traveling a lot the last couple of weeks. I'm still trying to catch my breath and I wonder if I will accomplish all I want to accomplish this weekend (clean, laundry, re-organize my closet, hang out with my God-children, take a walk, write a worthy children's sermon for Sunday...). At one of the conferences I went to, Catalyst, I found myself in tears for almost every speaker. God knew I needed to be there and he was speaking to me. I was moved. I was moved to get out of my seat and admit before 12,000 people that I had lost "IT". Craig Groeschel told this story about vacationing with his family. As he was swimming with his kids one day, a stranger cameu up and bet him $20 he couldn't hold his breath under water for more than a minute. Craig, like most men, took him up on the challenge and he lost. When he came back up, the man told him that he could help Craig hold his breath for even longer by showing him some breathing techniques. As Craig went under water once more, the man coached him. He told him when he hit significant time markers...30 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute and 10... When Craig acted like he was about to give up, the stranger continued to yell at him, "Don't come up, you still have more in you." When Craig finally did come up, he found out he had been under for over 2 minutes! The man looked at him and said, "Craig, I've been following your ministry for a long time and the Lord told me to tell you that you still have more in you. Don't give up!" After Craig finished his story, he looked out at the audience and said, "I know there are pastors here who are tired, who feel like they don't have what it takes to do ministry anymore. I'm here to tell you that there's still more in you! Don't let anyone try to tell you different." Then he asked all of us who were receiving that word to stand up so we could support one another and he could pray for us. It's always hard to admit when we don't feel like we're where we're supposed to be. I mean, we're in ministry, we should have it all together. Yeah, right! I encourage you to pray for the pastors and staff in your churches. You never know what they might be going through. The Lord and I are still working through that message but I'm grateful to know that I have people all around me who continue to cheer me on and remind me that there's still more in me!

I just found out today that one of my dearest friends, Kari Godel Curtis had her second baby, little boy Everett, 2 weeks ago! Kar, I hope you don't mind that I'm posting your very first family photo:) Kari and I met in May of 1999 in Chicago. We both accepted a position as summer hosts for Center for Student Missions (CSM). At first it seemed we were as different as two people could be. I was from the deep South of Louisiana, she was from the Northwest state of Oregon. But in no time we were the best of friends sharing some of the hardest parts of life together and praying together almost nightly. We called each other "soul mates". Generally I guess that term is coined for the one you commit your life to in marriage but as friends go, Kari was definitely one gal who knew my heart and soul better than anyone. After 3 months of living together and working together, it was quite an adjustment going back to our parts of the world, but we remained great friends. She moved to China for a year; I moved to Kentucky for seminary. It's amazing how a friendship rooted in the Lord never changes. I made it to OR a few times, the most important being Kari and Nate's wedding. Kari came to KY right after our apartment fire and helped me get settled into a new place. We were there for the important moments. As life seemed to move more rapidly for both of us, we started losing touch. That's why I love the blog world so much...it's how I stay connected to so many people I love and even though it's not as good as sitting in the same room with them, I still feel like I am a part of their life! Kar, I wish so much I could've been there for the birth of Claire and now for the birth of Everett. I promise I will make it back to OR to meet your little ones! You know, next May will make it 10 years since we first met...crazy! I love you and I'm so excited for you!

I initially came to my blog to actually reflect further on what the Lord is teaching me, but alas, I'm distracted by the bike lady that is sitting across from me sniffing her wheat soy milk. Now typically I don't like to stare at people, but this lady is something else. She rode up to Starbucks about half and hour or so on her bike. No biggie...people ride their bikes here all the time. Of course, usually it's my co-workers and usually it's during the day. She immediately walks in with her groceries. I kid you not. She sits down at the booth table across from me and begins to unpack all kinds of things....a couple of bottles of some type of drink, maybe?, a styrofoam cup that I'm guessing also contains a beverage, a Wendy's baked potato, and some Mrs. Dash-type seasoning. Now here's where I'm confused. Why did she ride her bike to Starbucks to partake of her dinner? She hasn't ordered anything since she's been here. She's just happily enjoying the contents of her grocery bag of food. A few minutes later I watched as she headed out to her bike again and brings back her box of wheat soy milk. Maybe she'll use it for a specialty latte.

I've recently been reading Restless Faith by Winn Collier. If you haven't ever read anything by him, I highly recommend it. He's one of those authors that I love because he's honest about those things that we would rather not wrestle with...like faith. In this last chapter that I read he talks about how we prefer to focus on those whose faith led to great things, such as Abraham and Sarah, Noah, Moses, Rahab...but what about those whose faith led them to suffering or death? I've been wrestling with the concept that although God is good, that does not mean he's safe. On Sunday, Andy talked about this, quoting The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

I started a blog post about 2 weeks ago, right after I got back from vacation, however, I was using my used/new to me macbook and I couldn't figure out how to manipulate my pictures the way I wanted so I gave up. I figured since I was all alone in the office after work hours, I would attempt again. I must say though that this post doesn't hold the wit and creativity that it once did 2 weeks ago.

The rundown of my vacation included Mobile, Perdido Key, Navarre, and Marietta or to simplify, AL, FL, and GA. I spent 10 days with great friends, mainly from seminary. Here are a few highlights.