Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Walking The Dog
The lady down the street that Mike and I have done some handyman/landscaping type work for has had me walk her dog a bunch of times. It was fun the first 2 times! The 3rd time I had to remove bowel movements from a neighbors yard. I don't view that as overly disgusting, but it made the job work instead of fun. BUT... today is garbage day! So I dropped my goody bag into somebody's empty garbage can halfway to the lady's house. Score!
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20 comments:
LOL :-p Interesting post! You commented on my blog so I thought I would check yours out :) Yes I really like some of John Pipers stuff! Btw...Last Flight Out is an Awesome movie!
Blessings on your day!
Yeah, that post is rather abnormal and unique to my blog. I want to do something dangerous for God like all the stuff they do in Last Flight Out. That's my dream. (Just don't tell my mom)
-Kelly
Yeah it definately was unique :) What does dangerouse for God entail? My dream is to open a house for abused girls or at least get involved in that type of ministry...that is kinda as dangerous as it gets :) lol :-p (I promise I won't tell your mom! lol ;))
When I think dangerous for God I think smuggling bibles, "kidnapping" girls that have been forced into prostitution, and even just doing ordinary Christian "things" in a hostile or persecuted area. The things that we as Christians take for granted here in the US are matters of life and death in hostile and persecuted countries. I am willing to do things that might put my own life in danger if I am serving Christ.
-Kelly
-Kelly
Wow...I really admire you for your willingness to just give everything (even your life) for the Lord. So, are you planning on getting involved with a mission board? It is neat because a long time ago I really wanted to open a home for girls saved from prostitution from India and places like that. Just a place for them to heal...how are people able to "kidnap them". Do they have ministries like that?
BTW, have you ever heard of Voice of the Martyrs?
Blessings on your day :)
I've heard of retired navy SEAL's using their skills to rescue prostitutes, but they are not Christians. I've also heard of a Christian group that is a mix of Navy SEAL's, Football Players, and other volunteers that does the same thing.
Apparently they're missions have to be very quick, like fly in, complete the objective, fly out. I'm pretty sure that the girls are evacuated to a different country, maybe to a home for girls like you thought of starting.
I have heard of VOM, I get their newsletter every month. Maybe I'll get a job there after college. Incidentally, they address all of my mail "Ms. Kelly Bryant" which drives me crazy!
-Kelly
My goodness! I didn't think that it was that complex. That would be so awesome to be a part of that and make that kind of difference in young girls lives!
Are you going to college for missions? I didn't know you could work for VOM! I mean, I knew they had people that worked for them :) That is neat that there is that oppurtunity! That is funny about the address :-p Miss...lol :) I bet that does drive you crazy!
Wow...we now have seven comments...people are probably like what is so interesting about dogs :) lol :)
~Katy
7 comments, hahahaha! Yeah, I don't think I've ever had this many comments on one post before! This is cool though.
I am going to college for missions. Kind of funny how everything worked out; originally I was planning on going into business for myself. It's always best to go with God's plan though! I decided not to enter college until '09, but I've still been looking around a bit. New Tribes Bible Institute, Kuyper College, and Bethany are a few that I'm looking at. My ideal college would be one that comes from a reformed theology perspective and has a primary focus of missions. Can't seem to find that though. Could have something to do with futilism. My personal view is that futilism is stupid. For instance: we don't stop eating just because God already knows and has planned that we are going to eat, do we? I love discussing theology!!!
-Kelly
Just out of curiousity...are you homeschooled?
That is really cool that you are going to college for missions (kinda figured that with what you want to do with the rest of your life :))
It is funny...I was homeschooled and graduated when I was 16. I am 17 now and just finishing my 1st (and last) year at a small community college. Don't ever recommend it! Anyway, I was all accepted and set to go to Bible Baptist College in Clarkes Summit, PA. I was going to major in Women's ministries and get involved in some inner-city youth groups and a girls home. The funny thing is that the Lord just totally shut that door! Here I am at 17 and I have no clue really what kind of ministry He has for me...I think that I would LOVE to go to a Bible college for something but right now I really feel that this time for me is just getting my priorities right again (HIM 1ST!) and just minister to those around me until I am really sure what I want to do...well, what the Lord wants me to do...yeah sorry I just droned on and on :)
I have never even heard of futilism! What is it?
K...that was really long! lol :) What are we going to do when you post a new post! lol :)
BTW...is rock climbing fun? I always wanted to try it but I have never had a chance...
~Katy
Yep, I'm homeschooled. Yeah, I'm finding out more and more that it's all about Him. It doesn't matter if your plans are pure and holy, He may have other plans! And your decision about submitting to His will is the deciding factor of whether you are a true Christ-Follower or just a Christian.
Are you familiar with reformed theology? This is not really a good definitiono of reformed theology, but it helps to explain where futilists come from. If you are coming from a reformed perspective, you believe that God knows all, and has planned all. So futilism takes that one step further and says "Ok, so if God has already planned what's going to happen, why do we need to go witness to our fellow man?"
The problem with this is that MAYBE GOD PLANNED YOU TO WITNESS TO THAT PERSON!!!!!!!!
We don't know which people have been chosen to be God's children. That means we need still need to follow the great commission! Hopefully that gives you a taste of what futilism is. (I bet you weren't expecting a guy in big red earmuffs to be a theology freak!)
-Kelly
Rock climbing is INCREDIBLY fun! I go all the time (about once a month or so) with people from my church. Depending on weather, we go up to Devil's Lake, WI or an indoor place about an hour from my house.
Oh my word! I had to scroll like for 10 minutes to get to your last comment! Just kidding! :-p
Ok so let me just say this...HOMESCHOOL ROCKS! Umm...most of the time :) There are those days that can get extremely boring! I had wondered why you were able to comment back so quick! Yup...I am smart :)
Seriously though...Christfollower...I really like that! It can get so hard sometimes just with the influences and people and yeah...truly though, within the (seriously) past few days like a day before we "met" the Lord had just gotten ahold of my heart again and I had recommitted myself to Him. I have been at a secular community college for the past year and though small...lets just say my Jesus wasn't my #1 priority before. Anyway, so I recommitted myself to HIM and then I "meet" you and yeah...you have been a real example of what a life lived for Him is! Thanks for that.
I have never really studied reformed theology but you did help to shed some light! And I totally agree with you that futilism is STUPID! I can not fathom how some people think that is true! wow!
~Katy
Ps: I climbed and inside wall once and I loved it then I looked down and realized how high up i was! lol :) I should try it again though...I was a lot younger then (it was last week) lol :) Just kidding actually I was like 10.
Isn't getting re-committed to Him AWESOME! I got my focus TOTALLY re-aligned this past January. What it boils down to is taking the focus off of me and my goals and instead bowing the knee to Christ.
You DEFINETELY have to check out a book on reformed theology. It's called "What is Reformed Theology" by R.C. Sproul. I have yet to read it, but my mom is reading through it right now and she keeps me updated on it, lol! I'm also working through a video/book study of his. He is a really, really smart dude!
-Kelly
13 comments...think we will get to 20? lol :)
I don't know...I am really glad that I made the decision to give the Lord my all but sometimes it can be so hard you know?
I think what is so hard for me is that I really do not know that many STRONG YOUNG Christian people and the ones I do know I never see...I know people are not everything but sometimes it just gets hard not having poeple around to just talk about Jesus with and encourage eachother in the faith you know? Well, too, my Dad is the pastor of a small, country church and lets just say that me, my 2 sisters and 1 brother and a friend are the ONLY young people there. DOn't get me wrong I love our church and couldn't see myself anywhere else but sometimes it is hard not to have other Christian families...I am droning again :) Sorry!
It is neat though, the Lord has given me such a peace...and yes I have a looonnngggg way to go but...it is so neat to serve a forgiving and loving God :) He is so AWESOME!
So what made you recommit your life to the LORd? THat is really cool that you did! Bowing the knee to Christ...WOW YOU ARE A CHALLENGE TO ME!
I mean your love for the Lord is just so infectious and makes me want to get to know Him better and spend time with HIm! It is cool :)
Like I said...my dad is a pastor so I am sure that he has that book. I should start reading it...I will definately check that out tomorrow!
So, what kind of books do you like to read? Have you ever read the Jesus Freak books about persecuted christians? I think you would really be inspired!
Well...I gotta go. I think our times are different cause it is 10:44 pm here and I think it is earlier wherever you are...hmmm.
K, g2g. Blessings!
~Katy
Yep, I definetely agree that it is hard. There will be times that I'll get so caught up in schoolwork and other activities that I don't make time for God, and then my focus starts to drift back to me. I start listening to my selfish desires as I stop listening to God. This is when I begin to sin. It's a lot easier to lay your problems at His feet than to have to deal with them on your own. But if I'm focused on me, I really don't care. I'll do whatever I feel like at the moment! Then my life starts falling to pieces and I beg God for help. That's when the small recommitments come into play. The thing is, I feel so ashamed because I know what I'm supposed to be doing, and yet I desperately want to be back in His arms again.
"So what made you recommit your life to the Lord?" Wow, that's a loaded question! Well, for one thing, I have a hard time trusting people, so I struggle with some relationship things every day. I was working in an environment that was not exactly beneficial to my relationship with Christ. Then I was in a dating relationship for like 3 months, which I shouldn't have been in to begin with.
Since Fall '07 my family had started attending a small church (75 average attendance). I really started to get involved, doing lots of activities with the men in the church, really getting myself into some good "mentoring-type relationships." So I started to get convicted about how stagnant my faith had gotten, and how rotten I had gotten inside.
The beginning of November I quit my job because we moved. I also broke up with my girlfriend. Then around New Year's I was talking with my cousin and his girlfriend about college stuff. That's when God first planted the idea in my mind about going into active missions.
Come January I sat down with my mom one day to get some math homework straightened out and she ended up figuring out that something was up. So I told her and she's now helping me out with a bunch of college stuff.
So the moral of the story is... stay close to God. It's a daily battle! Sweat the small stuff!
I'm glad that my love for the Lord is infectious! That's a good thing for a potential missionary to have!
I read pretty much anything worthwile. Here's a few: Pride & Prejudice, Confessions by St. Augustine, A Tale of Two Cities, How to Rock Climb, What Wouldn't Jesus Do, Into Thin Air (awesome book, a couple things that I didn't appreciate), and right now I'm reading Culture Smart: Peru!. I'm also halfway through Jesus Freaks. Whew! That was one long post!
-Kelly
WHEW! That was the longest post yet! I don't know if I can beat it! WOW! What a day! I haven't relaxed...all day! It was a good one though...had a chance to minister to some girls from a public school that me and my sisters teach tae-kwon do for the afterschool program. Anyway, they came over and then went over to our friends ranch with us. It was really neat. Boy I want to just make every little girl as happy as those girls where today... :) Yeah...Ok,
DOes it amaze you how amazing it is to focus on yourself and shut the Lord out b/c you are trying to fix it your way? I totally agree with you that that is when we start falling away and yeah! I hate that I am so weak! But oh I glory in His strength :) We serve such an AWESOME GOD!
What an AWESOME testimony you have dude :) The whole time I was reading it I was going wow GOd is so good! ANd He is!
Isn't it funny (not really it is actually quite painful!) how the Lord brings us to the end of ourselves to get us to take a look at Him and then He shows us just the beginning of His Majesty?
YOu know it is interesting...I have never dated a guy but I have always struggled with getting my self worth out of people and not the Lord. SO I had to give that to the Lord and allow Him to take that...it is hard! SOmetimes I just want to pls. people and I let that get in the way of Jesus...
Environment! that has been the hardest thing that I have had to deal with this year! I mean, I am homeschooled, pastor's daughter...and then I went to a community college. Yeah it was small but boy is is rough! I am just now starting to regain spiritual footing that I lost...I hate making mistakes and then having to go back and fix them! I wish life came with a how-to manual :) Oh wait it does...the WOrd! Aren't you glad though that the Lord gave us a will and mind of our own and the gift of choice?
SO, my mom is impressed with a teen boy who is totally into theology!
BOOKS! If you liked Pride and Prejudice I think you might like Jane Eyre...it is a classic too. I love Jesus Freaks books! I have both of them. Don't some of the stories just make you feel so insignificant and like you are not doing anything for the Lord in the big scope of things? SOmetimes I feel like that just being at home...but then I have to remember that the LOrd has me here for a reason to minister to those around me...so anyway.
Have fun with school tomorrow :)
~Katy
Ps: was that longer then yours?
I've dealt with a lot of self-worth stuff in the past, I'm pretty sure everybody does (except maybe Chuck Norris). Thing is, it really doesn't matter what people think of you. The only thing they SHOULD think about you is "Hey, there's a great picture of Christ!" The people that I run with made a lot of mistakes, and at first I was like "these are the people that I'm looking to for my self-worth fulfillment???" Then there's a gap where life gets screwed up, and that's when I realized that I could either go through life thinking I was worthless, OR look to Christ and get my true fulfillment, or rather HIS fulfillment. And here I am.
And every day is a daily battle to do what is right and to do something worthwile for Him. Christianity is not about being perfect, because then we wouldn't need Christ! Not to say that sinning isn't wrong of course!!! Sin is wrong and we are condemned to Hell because of it!
Soooooooo, your mom is impressed that I'm into theology. (great, another one of those {kelly rolls eyes})
I've read Jane Eyre, and I was going to put it down yesterday, but I couldn't remember the name! Both that book and Pride & Prejudice are both FANTASTICALLY written, BUT they're not quite my "type" of book. I love that one story in Jesus Freaks where the guys stands out in the cold for a REALLY long time. That was amazing! It's been awhile since I've picked that book up. Hehehe, Officer Chuck is going to pull Mike out of bed if he doesn't get up!
-Kelly
P.S. I'm pretty sure it is, because I spaced my paragraphs.
YOu know by the time we reach 20 comments we will have to sit there for 1/2 hour just scrolling so we can read the latest comment :)
(As I am doing right now)...
Ok, yeah so it is nice that you know what it is like to struggle with self-worth too! (well...not nice...but, you know what i mean!). It has been especially hard for me lately just b/c...it is really hard to be a CHristian teenage girl in a worldly world! I mean, all over there is just stuff that is telling me you have to be gorgeous, you have to have a ton of boyfriends (you should see the looks I get when I tell people that I am 17, single, and morover never even had a boyfriend! Calls for a lot of explaining :)), and you need to be flawless in appearence (woe are you if you don't wear make-up for a day!), and just other, stupid, worldly stuff like that! I guess that what the Lord has been teaching me is that I need to find my beauty in HIM! And no one else...not guys, not my peers, not my friends even...Only in HIM!
(Scrolling down will return in 10 min. lol :))
I am back! What you said about looking at Christ for our true fulfillment is just...right on! And what you also said about it being a constent battle is (sadly) right on too :) But that just makes me so much more full of gratitude for what Christ has done and is doing and will be doing for me (and you) everyday for the rest of our lives...He is conforming us into the image of Him! THat is just an AWESOME thought!
(Scrolling down...shall return!)
SO, do you have a lot of moms impressed with your love for theology? Actually, my mom thought is was really neat b/c my Dad is into reformed theology too :) SO that is part of the reason she was impressed! lol :)
I can not believe you have even read Jane Eyre! Just to let you know (I didn't want to tell you this cause i was like what if he wouldn't like it lol :)) that is my most favorite book (besides the Bible) on the face of this earth! I have like a really old edition of it and have read it dozens of times! It is ok they are not your "type" of books...Dude you are a teenage guy and you have read them! THat is pretty impressive! lol :-p
JEsus Freaks...don't get me started! I really loved that story about the cold too. My other favorite (I think it is in the 1st one) is about the girl who refused to spit on the Bible and instead wiped the spit off of it and then was shot...Powerful!
Ok...well, i am starving so i am going to get food :)
Talk to you later...
~Katy
Ps: Top that one!
PPS: Only 3 more to 20!
I'm going to reply to this in a few minutes, because if I don't get food I"M GONNA PASS OUT!!!
-A very hungry Kelly
Dude! Go eat! lol :) and just to let you know I am very highly offended you would put food before replying to me. LOL :) Just kidding! BTW, your next comment will be 20!
...I like it when girls don't wear make-up. My mom always told me that when I got in my teens I would start being barraged by the "WHAT??? YOU DON'T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND????" thing, but I haven't really had any problems with it. The only time I ever got any significant amount of that was like the last few months at PetSmart. A bunch of people kept pressuring me to go out with the girl that ended up beig my girlfriend. Not that they forced me into it (nobody forces me into anything, lol). Sure it was fun and all, but I'm not proud of that time period of my life.
One of the biggest things I struggle with is self-worth in God's eyes. Like "God, I keep screwing up. WHY do you even want me?"
I definetely agree that Jane Eyre is an awesome book. I love to read, and I like to read all different types of books. Hmmm...I wonder what my favorite book is, besides the Bible of course. Oh man, this is rough! There's so many. I love the Lord of the Rings trilogy, anything James Fenimore Cooper, anything Alexandre Dumas, Confessions by St. Augustine, etc, etc!
-Kelly
Hehehehe, I've got a great idea for the grand finale. I'll post my testimony! Yep, the WHOLE THING. But as Ambassador says, "That's about 25% of the stuff I've been through"
I’ve sat for the past 10 minutes staring at this blank page, which is not a normal thing for me. Normally I just start right into a project, but this is a bit different, particularly since I’ve been reflecting over my life. Wow, God has done some incredible things! God chose to have me grow up in a Christian family my entire life, and I came to Christ when I was 4 years old. Some people would question whether I was able to understand what I was doing. All I can say is, I never questioned that fact for a moment! After that I was given lots of good training from my parents, my pastors, and my relatives. My parents did a good job of showing me that the Bible is my guidebook for life. Everything was going great! That’s not to say that I was a perfect kid, but I led a pretty normal life.
So now fast forward 10 years, which makes me 14. I was still growing, being crazy, and having fun; life was great in my naivety. My relationship with Christ was growing. Then spring came, and a close friend of mine betrayed me and proceeded to follow a life of sin. It completely ripped me apart. I didn’t trust anybody anymore. My countenance changed, and anger and bitterness threatened to rule my life. But, I still had my God. I was constantly torn between turning to Him for help and trying to live life the way I wanted to. I began hanging out with people that were not beneficial, began doing things that were against my nature; anything to dull the pain I felt.
Well, time heals all wounds. I began to recover, and started living my life as a single unit, not worrying about how other people lived or what they thought of how I lived. I started pursuing God’s ways again. In fall of 2006 my family began attending a new church. Because of the fact that it was a small, incredibly loving church, I was able to place myself in situations where I would be spending time with people who would help me grow in my relationship with Jesus Christ. During this time God was really working on my heart, saying “Whose side are you on? I don’t want a fence-rider, I want every part of you to be surrendered to me!” I countered with “But God, I’m going to church every Sunday, I read my Bible during the week, I pray at every meal, what else do you want?” In my heart I knew this was not enough. I knew I had to make my decision, and I quickly did. I decided that I wanted to follow Christ at all costs, and I wanted every part of my life to be dedicated to Him. This entailed surrendering to His plan for my life.
I had previously planned on starting my own business working with animals. Then I went to Brazil, and I decided that I was going to do my small business thing until I was 30 or so, and then I was going to go into missions, helping people with minimal income start their own small business. And God said “No, that’s not my plan, you’re trying to integrate your plan into my plan. You know I’ve been working on your heart so that you will go into missions, but I don’t want you to follow your plan, you must trust me and follow my plan! I want you to take some serious steps towards going into missions, which includes getting the correct training.” So I surrendered to God and I’m now experiencing the adventure of following His plan for my life!
“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more” 1 Corinthians 9:19
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