i am not God

so i've been getting in some good learnin' in the past few months...quite unusual for the typical summer "break". but, i'll be honest, i love learning so it's a good fit for me. between my summer ethics class and various newsong fellowship church classes, not to mention all the experiential learning i get from working with people all day at dutch wonderland. needless to say i've been learning tons, and i'm both excited and a bit nervous to put all my learning into action.

one thing especially i'd like to share with all the bloggers out there is something i learned the other day in my S.O.D. (school of discipleship) class taught by the amazing dan armstrong...he really was a great teacher. anyway, we talked about the ways we try to be like God. Namely that we try to control things, we feel that it is our place to judge, and that we think we deserve praise. i know that i am guilty of all of those things, but i never really thought of it like i was actually trying to be like God by committing those sins. i really learned a lot more than i'm actually going to write down about this subject, i know you all like it when i keep things concise.

i have really found that the closer i get to God, the more i have a personal relationship with Him and understand more about who He is, the more i realize how much of a sinner i am...how far i really am from being like Jesus. it doesn't mean i won't keep trying, but i think it's good to keep in perspective. if you're anything like me sometimes i get in self-righteous mode, and i can't see my sin, then i just have to go take another look at God and be like, "oh, i'm actually not even close to being righteous". praise the Lord, He saved me!

here is a feist song just for fun.
honestly this song just gets better and better as it progresses
in my opinion

rockbridge alum springs

i just got back from the beautiful rockbridge alum springs younglife camp! it was a blast and i got to spend a week with a cabin full of amazing high school girls! we all had a blast and got to learn some things about Jesus.

here are some pictures:
this is when we pretended to be crossing guards



this is me and rosemary...an adult guest at camp...love her.



the leaders in the leader lounge



me conversing with a banana on stage...my 15 minutes of fame.



too much fun. can't wait til next year!

lay your burdens down

lyrics to "The Weight" by The Band:

I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin' about half past dead;
I just need some place where I can lay my head.
Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?
He just grinned and shook my hand, and "no!", was all he said.

Take a load off Annie, take a load for free;
Take a load off Annie, and (and) (and) you can put the load right on Me.

I picked up my bag, I went lookin' for a place to hide;
When I saw Carmen and the Devil walkin' side by side.
I said, "Hey, Carmen, come on, let's go downtown".
She said, "I gotta go, but m'friend can stick around".

Go down, Miss.Moses, theres nothin' you can say
Its just ol' Luke, and Luke's waitin' on the judgement day.
Well, Luke, my friend, what about young Anna Lee?
He said, "Do me a favor, son, woncha stay an keep Anna Lee company"?

Crazy Chester followed me, and he caught me in the fog.
He said, I will fix your rack, if you'll take Jack, my dog.
I said, "Wait a minute, Chester, you know I'm a peaceful man".
He said, "Thats okay, boy, won't you feed him when you can"?

Catch a cannon ball now, take me down the line.
My bag is sinkin' low and I do believe it's time.
To get back to Miss.Annie, you know shes the only one.
Who sent me here with her regards for everyone.

Here is a super vid of The Band:


Here is a fun cover of this song by Aaron and Mike Weiss from mewithoutYou:

adulthood and ethics

today i have my first apartment...officially. a new stage in life. this apartment is not campus housing...nor is it with my parents. adulthood here i come!

on another note entirely, yesterday i started my class in ethics at hacc. my first secular college class. interesting to say the least. we're going to touch on most hot topics. ethics is certainly an intriguing class to take if you are like me. every class i have ever taken in college has forced me to integrate my christian worldview. we talked about relativism yesterday. in this class, almost no one will end up sharing my view that there IS ultimate truth of which God is the source. relativism says that what is right depends on your own experiences...what is right is different for everyone. but my professor did point out the problems of relativism. one of those problems being this: can you ever really declare the statement "all things are relative"? it's contradictory! interesting indeed. mentally stimulating to say the least.