some will seek forgiveness, others escape...

one of the best underOATH songs ever...amazing lyrics.

[[oh sweet angel of mercy/ with your grace like the morning/ wrap your loving arms around me/ hey unfaithful i will teach you/ to be stronger, to be stronger/ hey ungraceful I will teach you/ to forgive one another/ hey unloving, I will love you]]

anyways, another week of mission indy is done. i'm quite sad because we only have 4 weeks left total. the summer is just flying by....and the day after MI is over, i'm heading out to naples for a week! :] i'm ready for the beach. below are some thoughts from the week, things i'm still processing...

the week started off with a discussion on whether savings accounts are biblical on sunday morning after sunday school. someone said that if we actually live in community with one another and look out for one another, then there would be no need for savings accounts because whenever one struggles, someone would be their to help them out. good point.
ron said if you are stingy with giving money away, then you are probably the same way when it comes to giving things to God. bah....so true. it starts even before we get to MI church for the week.

we were at hazelwood CC this week, out in the country. it was a good change of pace. it was quiet, went on a couple morning runs...at 5:30. we had some amazing groups, and it was so great getting to know all the kids. it's so sad by the end of the week when we all have to leave.

favorite speaker: tuesday night. of course, on accepting others. he had this pieace of cardboard that a homeless man was carrying that said, 'i love Jesus as much as the person i love the least.' that was a huge smack in the face....i really do not love Jesus. when you stop and think, this quote is so true. matthew 25:41. one of my favorite verses and one that is often quoted, but is it really put into practice, do we really love 'the least of these?' and what does love look like?? we sang a song with AMAZING lyrics...

[[God of Justice, Saviour to all/ Came to rescue the weak and the poor/ Chose to serve and not be served/ Jesus, You have called us/ Freely we've received/ Now freely we will give/ We must go live to feed the hungry/ Stand beside the broken/ We must go/ Stepping forward keep us from just singing/ Move us into action/ We must go/ To act justly everyday/ Loving mercy in everyway/ Walking humbly before You God/ You have shown us, what You require/ Freely we've received/ Now freely we will give/ Fill us up and send us out/ Fill us up and send us Lord]]

oh. great lyrics. the keep us from just singing, move us into action...mmmm. knowledge devoid of action is useless. this is what i am learning even more this summer. to be intentional and to do something. alot of the interns have talked about how with the stuff we are learning, we are trying to figure out how to change when we go back home...how to change for the future. but the thing is, if we can't put what we are learning into practice now, how are we going to in the 'future.' if i can't be intentional now about accepting others and forming relationships, how will i be able to do it later? so. i have knowledge, i need to move to action.

so we did vbs at a trailer park this week. you can see the brokeness all around, but the kids. on monday we were prepping and there was 2 kids playing on the playground right by our vbs tent. i went over and met them, cassidy and eddie. the ended up haning out with us for the day and got to go through the vbs lesson before any of the other kids...a vip pass if you will. our 50-75 expected kids turned into 25 at most. low numbers has it's ups and downs, but the kids were great. and my inters, elizabeth and megan were fantastic, as well as our group from Grayson, KY! on wednesday, 2 of the sponsers we talking to a mom who had brought her kids to vbs all week. marcus comes up to me and tells me that she wants to be baptized...now. ahhh! so cool. we ended up working it all out and she got baptized at someone's pool tuesday. she said she had been at her lowest point, and being at vbs all week had put her on cloud nine and she had been wanting to be baptized for a long time. a few kids went with her and it seemed that they just got baptized to just get in the pool...but that is for another blog. it just reminded me of this quote Ron says from chip ingram that goes something like, 'the real you, meeting real needs, in the right way, for the right reasons.'

God is teaching all kinds of things and i wish i could write them all down. it's like the song, 'whatever you're doing inside of me/ it feels like chaos somehow there's peace/and it's hard to surrender to what i can't see/ but i'm giving into something heavenly...time to release all my held back tears...it feels like chaos but now i can see/ this is something bigger than me/ larger than life something heavenly.'
i'm all about the songs tonight. i love music and how i can always find a song that puts my thoughts into words. :]

it was a great week. i miss it already and its only been a day. i'm getting tired. i relaxed my hair today, no more curls for a while. i have the day off tomorrow to hang out with the fam and eat pancakes for breakfast! :]

looking forward to this prep week and getting SO EXCITED for next mission indy week.
more to come...