Following God's Will

Well my absence has been a very long one indeed. Has it been 6 months since my last post?? I can't even remember! What a crazy, wild ride the past few months have been though. I have witnessed significant growth within myself through out this whole year really. Studying abroad is always a life changing experience, but the months after have been just as impactful.

I guess I'm just stalling at this point because I'm not really sure necessarily what I want to write about in this blog post. I see it as obligatory, given my lengthy absence. I guess I'll go in the direction of listen to God's direction in one's life though, since that is something that has been impacting me the most recently.

I feel as though listening to God is different for everyone. For some, He speak to them through images. For other people, God speaks to them through the mouths of family and trusted friends. For me though, God speaks to me through peace. Where I feel the most peace is where God is calling me. That is what happened to me two years ago. (Oh lordy, did this story really happen two years ago already????)

I was at Camp Hebron on New Years day, celebrating with fellow summer staff members at our "Staff Reunion". While I was there I knew for sure that I was going to be at camp the next summer. I had it all planned out after all. I would start before my senior year of High school, and I would work at camp until the summer before my senior year of college. Godd plan right? Sure it is. And I know many other people who in fact worked at Camp joyfully for 5 years, (or 10 in some cases. *cough cough* Caleb *cough*) and God blessed them immensely through that. However, it was not in the cards for me. Despite all my best laid plans, God had other ideas.

Getting back to the story. I had my interview for the upcoming summer with Curt, then the Summer Staff Director, and I felt pretty confident that Camp was where God wanted me....kind of. I went thorugh the rest of the night enjoying the company of the many dear friends I had made over the previous 3 summers. I went to bed with much bliss in my heart. However, the next morning I woke up and began to truly think, "Is camp where God wants me this summer?" Throughout the rest of the morning and afternoon I began doubting that I was supposed to be at camp. Something didn't feel right. I was not at peace. As I was driving away from Camp Hebron I thought back to the end of my first summer in 2010. That memory was one of my older brother and Sister talking to me. They had just finished their final summers at Camp Hebron. My sister turned back to me and said, "It's weird to think that I'm never going to be coming back here as a summer staff member."

Getting back to the actual story (Sorry I keep trailing off), I thought of what my sister had said three years prior and it struck me that I was experiencing that same feeling. I knew that then and there, I would not be coming back to Camp Hebron as a summer staff member that next summer, if ever.

Because of that decision I ended up being the youth intern at Ashburn Presbyterian Church, where I grew immensely and gave me so much valuable experience in the field of youth ministry. I spent the next two summers working at Ashburn. The crazy thing is, when I first heard about the internship at Ashburn, I felt an immediate peace about that being where God wanted me to be. And it absolutely, 100% was where God wanted me to be. No questions about it.

I'm not saying that god would not have used me just as much at Camp Hebron as in Ashburn, but I know that it was incredibly beneficial for me to be in Ashburn the last two summers.

That being said, following where God's will is leading you is so incredibly worth it. It is really scary at times. Sometimes He will take you into a situation that is so terribly unknown to you. But the growth that comes from it is what makes it, in the end, worth it. I would then urge you to discover just how God speaks to you. When you have, listen for those times when He does speak to you, then follow what He says. Like I've said so many times in this post, it is worth it.

Blessings,
Snades

When I lose my patience

Have you ever had one of those moments where someone around you, generally a complete stranger, has some sort of mannerism that just absolutely drives you nuts? Or just having to deal with someone just pulls at every thread of your patience? As a Barista at a coffee shop, I have to deal with that on a weekly basis. Some days I just do not want to have to deal with making people drinks, and generally on those days, it's super busy. Naturally. It is awful annoying to have to put up with people sometimes. Often times, when I'm at the library, making coffee, I just want to hurl my books at people and say, "Leave me alone! I just want to relax. I don't want to make yet another Caramel Macchiato!" Or even now, as I sit writing this blog in the library (Not at work thankfully), instead of studying for my impending adolescent psych exam, there is someone who is sitting across from me, obnoxiously chewing her gum for all in close proximity to hear...ergo, me. But despite the fact that I get annoyed by these people, I am supposed to love them fully and be as genuine as I can with them. I am going into the field of youth ministry, where I need to be able to give fully of myself to others, even if the people I have to give myself to annoy me sometimes. We are called to love unconditionally, without expectation of reciprocation. Every time I start to loose patience at the coffee shop, or while I procrastinate studying, I must check myself. I think, "I still need to love them anyway".

This is just something I muse upon often while having to deal with people.

Sorry this blog post seems a bit unorganized, but then again, my mind is a bit unorganized. It's quite full of adolescenty psychy type stuff.

peace, and love to you and to everyone you meet :)
Snades

A response.

So today, as I was sitting in my Music History Class, I was clearly not paying attention to the Professor. Instead I was on Facebook, perusing the News Feed, when I saw that my friend Cooper had posted something on his blog, Breakfast of Champions. I read his post and I wanted to write about it too.

First, you should read his post....http://coopergrimm.wordpress.com/2014/03/02/a-call-for-acceptance/


After reading this, I can honestly say I could not agree more. We so often today get caught up in who's right and who's wrong, especially the church. What happened to all the verses in the Bible that talk about Not judging your brother, because Jesus is gonna take care of that!?!?? Seriously, we just sit in our pews and cast judging eyes upon everyone who we think is not "Christian" enough. We ourselves are above reproach like that, merely because our sins are covered up by all the masks that we put upon them. In reality, I am just as messed up as any coked up sex addict out there. But we continue to judge and oppress others, especially the gay community. We don't oppress those who sleep with their daughters, read Leviticus 18 sometime, nearly as much as we oppress homosexuals. Sure, we'll send those pedophiles to jail, and sure, they'll be on a a watch list the rest of their lives, but are we trying to pass laws to deny them service like the Jim Crow laws of old? Are we denying them entrance into our churches? Are we picketing Military Funerals because of them (Freaking West Borough Baptist....I really do not like them at all?) The answer to all those questions is a simple "No". The Church is Hypocritical.

Anyway, I got on a serious tangent there. We need to simply love everyone we come into contact. Just because you love someone, doesn't mean you have to enjoy everything that they do or necessarily like them at all, but we need to be loving. Showing them kindness, patience, and everything else laid out in I Corinthians 13. Honestly, I don't care too much right about now whether Homosexuality is a sin or not. That's not what needs to be discussed right now. What the church needs to be determining is whether or not they are actually extending Love to them, along with everyone else in the world. I think that the church, myself included, does a really poor job of loving everyone. If they are different, then they are judged. That's not alright. Seriously, I feel like I'm a broken record with this, but all you need is love. Anyway, I agree with Cooper. Something needs to change. We need to begin speaking out in our Churches. Supporting them. Loving them. Loving everyone that we meet. Something needs to change.

Tune in next week for a post about Slavery.

Peace.
Snades

Maybe the Hippies had it right...

Well folks, it's been a while. Sorry. It's been a busy 2 month period getting settled back into American life. But I'm back, hopefully for good now. I must say, I'm still kind of stuck on this whole Love mantra right now. What else is new right? But really, I've been thinking about the implications if everyone truly loved one another. We would have no need of bullets or politics or war or any of that. I wrote a poem this morning. I wanted to turn it into a song, and I might yet, but it would need some severe meter tweaking. So I just left it in it's free verse state. I hope that you read this for sure. But beyond that, I hope that this leaves you something to think about. How are you doing with the whole love thing? I know for sure that I am doing a pretty sucky job at it. I'm a judgmental, self righteous person I feel like. I need this poem just as much as the next guy in line. On top of that, What about Christians? Are WE doing a good job of loving others? I'm inclined to think that we're not....any way, I'm done rambling. Here's the poem.

Maybe The Hippies had it Right...

Maybe the Hippies had it right

Maybe the weed smokin, “love your brother” two fingered salute had a point

maybe that’s just what we need

But wait

“Love your brother”

I've heard that somewhere before,

Matthew 22 says it all.

I've heard this spoken

from the mouths of liars and hypocrites

myself

included

So when, just when will our eyes be open

when can we set down the guns and hold hands

dancing in meadows, putting daisies in our hair?

When can we run abandoned across borders

both social and national,

without the fear of having a cross-hair upon our brow

When can we love like Hippies?

Well some say, we are fallen creatures

We sin. And that’s true.

I am no better than Hitler or Stalin.

Everyone of us is the slayer of the most important part of life.

Love

But does that mean that we need to keep butchering this gift?

Are we to be constantly pulling the trigger into the heart which makes ours beat?

No. I say again. Not ever again.

Put down the hate and resentment.

Just read the teachings of Paul

He’ll teach you all you need to know about Love

What it is.

How to do it.

So when, just when will our eyes be open

when can we set down the guns and hold hands

dancing in meadows, putting daisies in our hair?

When can we run abandoned across borders

both social and national,

without the fear of having a cross-hair upon our brow

When can we love like Hippies?

It starts today friends.

In your heart, in your day to day lives.

A friend once told me….
“It’s a grass roots movement.

It starts here(the self) and grows outwards, like wild fire.”

When can we love like Hippies? You tell me.