VBS is crazy!

VBS kicked off this week. So far it has be absolutely great. Sunday night we had a family night with free hotdogs and chips and then you could buy drinks and candy for real cheap. We had inflatable games and a dunk tank (which I was in for a while). There were about twenty different disney characters walking around (I was Woody from Toy Story). To end the night we showed a movie outside on a projector. The kids had fun and families got to enjoy the beginning of VBS.

Tonight the actual programming started. We ended up with 813 kids tonight! This was the largest crowd this church has ever had with VBS and you could definitely tell. People were everywhere throughout the building; especially the hallways. At times it felt chaotic but that is a great problem to have.

I'm mainly helping out in the Middle School department. We had 211 in just MS tonight. Seemed like the kids had a good time. Tonight was my night to give my testimony. I had about 6 mins to try to fit 15 mins worth of speaking. Although I was rushed and pressed for time I feel like the students were very involved and were engaged with what I was speaking about. I felt good about it when I was finished (I always feel like it could've been better but it was still pretty good). Overall it was a great night and I'm looking forward to the rest of the week and craziness.

Working too hard?

I may be working too hard or too much. As I've said, this is our VBS prep week and we have been putting in long hours lately. VBS kicks off Sunday night and that week will be just as crazy. So my mom calls me a couple days ago and asked if we were getting rain from the hurricane. And my response was, "What hurricane? There's a hurricane?" I'm working so hard that I don't even know about the hurricane that is hitting the state I'm in. Sometimes I'm an idiot.

Living With No Regrets

I find myself thinking a lot lately...thinking about life and how I'm living it. Maybe thinking about more of how I want to or should be living it. It has struck me that I do not want to have regrets in my life. Now, I'm not talking about not making routines mistakes; I'm mean when I get to the end of my life, will I have poured out everything I have?

I recently started a book called One Month To Live - Thirty days to a life with no regrets. Yeah, I know...a self-help book. But, I'm passionate about the topic. It talks a lot about relationships and how we spend our time and what is important in our lives. Right before I left Illinois I experienced living this no-regrets life.

I had two weeks between the end of school and the start of my internship so I poured everything I had into my relationships at home for those two weeks. My younger cousins and I spent so much time together. I went to more 14 & under softball games during those two weeks than I had ever been to in my entire life. I went to graduations and spent time with my parents and my brother. I knew those two weeks would be my only chance to be with them so I gave them everything I had. And at the end of those two weeks I felt great.

Part of this no-regrets thing for me is...I want to make a difference in the lives around me. I want to be known for giving myself up for others around me. I want to pour myself into my close relationships and make new ones while I'm at it. Living with intentionality is the key. I try to think about how I'm spending my time and who I'm spending it with. Hopefully I'm making a difference in the lives around me. I've tried to be this way with the students I've encountered here in Texas as well as their families. Hopefully it is working, I still have a long way to go.

I try to live my life as if I knew I was dying. Making a difference in others is really what counts.

Life in the Big D

So I've been living in Texas this summer. May 30 I made the 10 1/2 drive down here and started a new chapter in my life. The reason for moving down here was to do an internship at Compass Christian Church in Colleyville, TX. Colleyville is a suburb of Dallas/Ft. Worth and actually is closer to Ft. Worth than Dallas (15 mins to dowtown Ft. Worth).

I've been staying with different families and I'm currently living with my third and final family, the Vale's. The Vale's have two kids, 15 and 13 yr old boys. The houses I stayed at prior to this one didn't have any kids so this has been a nice change.

I'm interning in the Family Life department which oversees birth through high shcool. The Family Life minister is my boss, Louie, and he has people under him that run the specific ministries; high school, middle school, preteen, children's, and infants. I've worked in all of these areas and learned different things about each one. Most of my time has been spent in the Children's area; I know God has not shaped me for Children's Ministry but the experience is still good.

I love the people I work with and some of the students I have come to know. There is one family I have gotten to know better than the others and I talk to them quite a bit. That familiy consists of the parents, and two girls 16 and 12 yrs old. The father finds me each Sunday and we talk, as does the mother. The girls and I have had some good laughs along the summer and it has been great to get to know them. This Wednesday night the father and I are going out to dinner and to see The Dark Knight. It will be a night to get him away from the girls in his house.

Overall the internship has been good. I've been to two camps and we are currently setting up for VBS. Our church goes all-out for VBS so days have been long. Yesterday was a 14 hr day for me ha ha.

If I had it my way I would like to stay down here. The people are nice, the church is great and the area is nice (wealthy community, I don't fit in but it's cool). More to come on the internship I'm sure...