summer teams... again... what the?!

What is with God and curve balls? Does any body understand? I sure don't. I am starting to think that I don't ever actually want to get comfortable in life. It seems as soon as I get comfy, content with my life and all it seems to hold, relaxed into the every day routine of it, God comes along and decides to shake things up a little. I am not ranting, nor complaining, just noting what is seeminly becoming a pattern. Maybe it is that God doesn't yet want me forming roots to anything but him, maybe it is that God knows I will start getting self-sufficient if I follow routine too long. Maybe it is just that I stop looking to God when it seems things are regular, and then I start to get scared of change. Any of these options could be legit, as well as many others I am sure, but either way, my life feels crazy right now. I have become the newest member of the all girls' CLBI summer tour team. Now, let me say that training is already half over, and I have had no warning of such an event. As of this morning I had 3 other jobs, a nice room in a basement suite, an amazing roomie coming back form Mexico any day now, and a great summer planned. I have had no real adjustment time, but i am somewhat excited for this new adventure. I think I will be more excited once I catch up with all that is going on. I will keep you all posted, and if you would care yto pray for my team, for teh churches we will be visiting and for all of the kids that i will get to play with this summer, that'd be swell. I will note that I said I would never be part of CLBI summer teams again after last summer, I had my fill, 3 summers of living out a suitcase teaching kids about Jesus is more than enough for any normal human.. I am apparently not a normal human because this is summer #4. There's an update of God and his sense of humor in my life. I'll keep you posted.. when I figure all of this out.

equally yolked?

So you know that verse in the Bible where God talks about being equally yolked to one another? Yeah, it is a good verse. I have been thinking about it lately, and thinkning about what that means. I was reading Velvet Elvis, by Rob Bell. (I also really enjoy his nooma videos for that matter...) Anyways, reading about yolks and Rabbis. Rob mentions that a yolk is a Rabbi's way of interpreting, teaching, living the Bible. In the nooma video "dust" he talks about disciples and all taht goes into becoming one. To learn under a Rabbi it takes a lot of proving that you are the best of the best of the best and that you are smart and have a passion and desire to learn under this Rabbi. Ok, I could go on abotu this and hit another tanget all together, but that is not what I am going for.. so... I was thinking about this yolk thing. It is somone's way of interpreting, living, experiencing the Bible. In the equally yolked verse, we always invision a yolk as an oxen's yolk, used to pull something. I do think that it is imortant to use that pictre, but also maybe this one. If our yolk is how we live, and Jesus calls us to take His yolk upon us, because His yolk is easy and His burden is light, then don't you think He is calling us to be just like Him. If I have a great desire then to do this, to lern and live a certain way, it is then important to be with someone equally passionate about this. If I have a learning style and really like Pastor Joe from this church over here, because I like his yolk, the way he teaches and the way he sees what God is saying to us. If I seem to click with Pstor Joe's teaching style, and am getting fed and growing closer to God though him, the it is probably important that I find somone who can also click with Pastor Joe. If I find someone who can click with Pastor Bob, who has a totally different teaching style, how then will we share our thoughts and lives and walks with God? If one is not equally yolked in this area, not just in the being "Christian" or not, then one or both people have potential to be hindered through this relationship. Basically what I am getting at, is that I see it important to be living an on fire life for Jesus, and if you find a relationship with someone who is a Christian but is happy at the basic level, then you won't truly be equally yolked. Think about it.

faith

I was at church yesterday and the pastor talked about faith. Is faith a noun or a verb? Is it something that we can grasp or it is something that we must put into action? I pondered this and other points of the sermon throughout the day and as I lay in bed. I have come up with a few thoughts of my own on this topic. To have faith is to live. Everyone has faith in something. It may not be in a diety or higher power. It may not be in God. Faith gives us reason to do what we do. Without faith, say in God, we would not have the ability to trust, to surrender control or to walk blindly beside Him, knowing that He ultimately knows where He is taking us. So this comes back to the question of whether faith is a thing or an action. I don't know that faith is tangible on its own. I think that faith becomes tangible through the things that we do. People can see our faith in the way that we live, in the trust we have in God, in the ability we have to surrender control, and in our willingness to walk blindly. As I said before, without faith in something or someone, we would have no trust in that person. When we trust God, even a little bit, it is proving that we have faith, it is puitting our faith into action. This is the same with surrender. Most of us struggle with handing over control of our lives to anyone, including God. When we are in the passenger seat of a car, we are not in control, but we are making a statement that we have faith in the person driving. We trust that they know what they are doing and that they are going to get us where we are going safely. When we surrender control to God and take a "leap of faith", we are trusting that God has our best in mind and that He will not let us fall. To have faith gives us that freedom to live the life that God intended for us to live. The verse in Jeremiah, 29:11, states that God knows the plans He has for us. He wants for us to prosper and not to be harmed, to live a full and exciting life filled with hope and a future. This verse means nothing if we have no faith in God. We can not experience this life that He has for us if we do not trust that what He says is true. For us to believe that statement as true, we are demonstrating our faith. Therefore I have really come t the conclusion that faith is freedom. Freedom to live. Freedom to have a full and amazing life. It is giving God freedom to give us a full and amazing life. These are just my thoughts. Feel free to question, to discuss, or to completely disagree. This is just something that I have been thinking about lately, brought back to mind by a sermon, and now written out to try and grasp slightly what God is teaching me. Is fainth a noun or a verb?... I don't really know. Maybe it is both.