School is Beginning

It's time for a new school year and that means new reading.  I never thought of myself as a reader until this past summer when no one was in Manhattan and all I had to do was read.  So I am pretty excited to have a reason to read new books!

This semester is also a time of research for me.  I am going to start a research project, or maybe just a project for a student paper competition here at MCC. So I am trying to find the motivation to start my research and everything like that.  The one resource I am excited to have for my research is Logos Bible Software.  This software contains not only commentaries, pastoral resources, and devotional material.  But it also contains research material that will help me with my research, such as the theological dictionary of the New Testament, and Greek-English interlinear Bibles.  Logos is now launching Logos 4 for Macs.  This will help so much in my research.  Not only that they are having a giveaway to celebrate this new Launch!  Go to http://www.logos.com/mac?freebies-learn to find out how to enter, or you can follow the links below!

Well pray for me as I embark on this busy semester.

Aaron Hernandez


Logos Bible Software is giving away thousands of dollars of prizes to celebrate the launch of Logos Bible Software 4 Mac on October 1. Prizes include an iMac, a MacBook Pro, an iPad, an iPod Touch, and more than 100 other prizes!
They’re also having a special limited-time sale on their Mac and PC base packages and upgrades. Check it out!

The Bridge: Monday

We arrived on friday night at The Bridge around 9 o'clock, and there we got to hang out with kids as it was open hours at The Bridge, it was really great getting to share the love of Christ with some of the kids that do not get to see it all that often.  Relationships were built that night not only with our team but also with the Bridge staff and volunteers so that the Gospel could be shared and discipleship can begin to take place. We ended that night with cleaning up after open hours and then going to bed after a long car ride.

The next was a good day, we worked for a little bit preparing the Bridge for the students cleaning tables in the cafe, and making sure everything looked good.  After we finished cleaning we got to hang out with some kids.  I got to play four square with a few kids and there I had the opportunity to talk to a few kids about sportsmanship and why we should act kindly to our "enemies."  It was a great opportunity for me to share some of the things that I had leaned in my own life.  After that we were exhausted so we went to bed.

On Sunday morning the team got up early to go to a local church where our team leader had been to before when he was working at a camp in Missouri, and it also turns out my Uncle Auddie and Aunt Melodie attend there as well, so it was great to see them and say hi.  After church we were able to take a break and go get some food in Springfield at Lamberts Cafe, Home of Throwed Rolls, it was an experience.  After Lunch we got back to the Bridge to help out with a skate competition.  Because this was not a Christian event we had the opportunity to share our testimonies with some of the people that we interacted with.  I got the opportunity to share my story with a kid who attends Southern Missouri State and I know that in the least a seed was planted.

Today we have been cleaning a spackling all over the Bridge in order to prepare for a community even that is happening the 27th of March.  Our work that we do this week will help those that are soming to prepare the Bridge for a fresh coat of painting and many other things that honestly we are not sure about, but we are glad to be here doing it!

Thank you everyone for your support, with the prayers I know that we will have a huge impact on this place throughout the week.

Aaron.

Completed!

Praise the Lord!  As of today all of my support has come in for my trip to The Bridge!
A week from tomorrow I will be leaving for Joplin, MO in order to help fulfill the Great Comission!

Work

Hey All!

It is a nice day in Manhattan, the sun is out and I have been enjoying it!  Life has been good over the past few days, I have been feeling less sick, and a lot less tired.  Next week I have most of my midterm exams and I am getting a little nervous, I have been busy doing homework and studying.

I have been told that support has been flowing in over the past couple of days but I am not positive how much money I have raised so far.  However, I do know that many people have committed to prayer and I thank everyone for your prayer support.

For those that have been praying for, thank you! I am doing well, and I can say that God is at work in my life, I am not positive how yet, but something is happening and I can't wait to share the fruits of your labor in my life, Thanks again!

Everyone have a great evening and if you are in a place where the weather is nice go outside and enjoy it!
Aaron

2 More Weeks!

Hello to everyone that is reading this!

Two weeks from tonight I will be leaving for Joplin, MO.  I am getting excited!

God is teaching me to trust him in all things.  I have recently given up drinking soda, and it is probably one of the hardest things that I have done.  It has been about two weeks since I have been off of pop; however, I am starting to see some of the physical effects, I am no longer drinking as much caffeine as I used to so even just one cup of coffee can make keep me up for hours.  This is an interesting experience for me as I have never lasted more than probably a week with some form of carbonated caffeine.  But it is a great experience for me to truly lean on God, and whenever, those cravings for a nice cold pop come to me I have learned to fall on God and ask him for help.  Thought it may seem something small I think that God is really stretching me in this experience and I rejoice in every moment of it.

I received my first prayer support card today!  Thank you to who has offered to pray for me.  Out of my forgetfulness I forgot to put a section for you to mark who you are when you send in your support card for prayer, so I may not get a thank you card to everyone, but know that God will bless you.

Financial support: I will not be able to be as up-to-date as I would like to be with my financial support, but I do know that I have $25 out $325 so far!

Thank you to those that are praying for me.  It is a blessing to know that I am not going into this mission trip alone.

Thanks you!
Aaron

Homework and Life Change

Welcome followers and supporters,

If the mail is running popular many of your supporters will be receiving my support letter within the next few days. I am excited to share my life with those that are sharing in their resources to support me. Well I think that it is important to see where your prayers and financial support is going to so through this blog I will hope to update many of you on my life and my mission.

My mission: I am on a mission by God to change lives. God has laid many things on my heart lately, one of those things is a passion to be a disciple-maker, and also a disciple. Part of that process is finding those who will disciples me and teach me various life lessons, I have found a good group of friends here at MCC that are a part of my life and are daily encouraging me to follow God whole-heartedly, and allow me to encourage them to follow God in the same way.

Not only is my mission here at MCC but also in Manhattan the city that I live in. Recently I have made a decision to not just let this be the town where I go to school, but also be the place that I live. I am currently praying about my involvement in Faith Evangelical Free Church, and praying that God will use me in this Church so that I might be a disciple and a disciple-maker. With this I hope to be a part of a community larger than MCC and myself.

My life: Currently life is busy; however, Praise the Lord! I got a job at Extreme Kansas camp this summer! I am excited for this opportunity, currently I am not exactly sure what I will be doing at camp, I know that there is camp during first month and a half, give or take a week, and then we will travel across the Midwest to offer encouragement to Churches. I will be sending out support letters for this summer as well, asking people to support me as I minister to churches. This support will be similar to the support I am asking for while I go to The Bridge. As you read this, you might consider supporting me in prayer for one opportunity and financially in the other.

I started working at Dairy Queen again, though I am not taking on many hours, I am just in need of a paycheck, this job might make things hard being that I am enrolled in 18 hours, but I think that through this I can learn about time management and maybe grow, at least I hope so. At Dairy Queen I hope to be a witness to God while I am there, and that through my actions and words I might preach the Gospel. Pray for me that I a witness to my co-workers at DQ.

School work is starting to get to me, I have been able to procrastinate most things until now; however, now I am not getting much sleep. I pray that I might finish the homework that is due and then once again grow from this struggle and continue on with the work that is necessary. Pray that I learn time management and that I don't fall further behind.

Life for the most part is good, I cannot complain. I love being back in Manhattan surrounded by Christian principles, I can only ask that God continues to use me and prepare me for my life in ministry, and that through my time at MCC I am molded into the person that God wants me to be.

I thank God for each and every one of my supporters, recognizing that I cannot do the things that I would like to do without God's provision. I ask for prayer, that God will prepare my heart for these opportunities, and that God gives me opportunities where I must rely on Him.

Your brother in Christ,

Aaron

PS. I will post the amount of support I have received, in my next few posts, I will try to post daily, due to the small amount of time between the time that you will get my letter, and the time that I need the money. This update will show you how much money I have received for the Bridge Trip. If I send out support letters for camp, I will make sure to mention how much support I have received for that opportunity as well. Once again thanks for your support.

The Bridge Financial Support Update: $25. Praise God!

Update and Life

For those that read this or follow at least I will try to write more now that I am doing more stuff.  I guess I have been longing to write because I have been learning many things and enjoying the things that I have learned. 

I hope you enjoy hearing/reading an update on my life because that is what I am going to write.  Life is GREAT.  I have moved into an apartment with a friend of mine and am enjoying most of it.  I like the independent feeling; however, I almost wish living without responsibilities at home.  My apartment is huge and that is almost strange for me having friends over in an apartment that most families could not afford, but I know that I will grow through this experience.  A few things that I miss about living in dorms is that I don't have the same community that I did.  I liked being able to go to a friends room when I was bored or even doing homework with people in my classes and now my roommate and I aren't in any of the same classes so its not that we are doing the same homework.  It was also great to have someone to talk to about problems, that confidant, not that I can't do that with my roommate but I had a good friend at mcc who I really was able to talk to about things and I almost feel that I lost that moving back to Wichita.  However, I know that God wanted me in wichita this semester and I know that God will bless me if I stay in the word.   He has already allowed me to grow stronger with my parents which I know I will need in the future. 

I decided to move back to WSU last semester in May.  It was an easy decision at the time, but it gets harder and harder.  It was in 1 week that I completely just had a bad experience and God said that I can't stay there, but as I look back I didn't hate the entire semester in fact I miss all my good friends and all the people that made MCC fun and exciting.  I also miss having a the ability to mentor new freshmen not as an RA but as a sophomore, someone else who lives in the dorms and can kind of explain what the school is like.  I don't know that I will get to have that experience at the next school that I go to, but I will try. 

WSU is fun I don't really have much to complain about other than the classes that I am taking are kind of kush classes that I don't need for my major(s) (Physc. - Health, and Youth Ministry).  And I don't know that I really enjoy them I don't really like being a student at WSU, it just doesn't have any appeal to me, but I know that it is cheaper, and I am only there for one semester (hopefully).

God has decided to be difficult with next semester, in that I am back to square two in deciding schools.  I had earlier decided to go to Northwestern College in MN, which I just love every time I look at it and think about it; however, visiting was different I think maybe it was just the travel.  In previous semesters my mom has asked me to think about John Brown University.  I don't really like that option and I had discarded it a long time ago; however, this past May my cousin got married to a JBU graduate and through that I have been asked to take a campus visit and I will; however, I really want to go to NWC.  JBU  is a good school and has the degree programs that I want and it is near family.  Hearing about it I see that I should at least check it out.  I am leaning very much towards NWC but if I get orders otherwise I will have to apply at least.  

 

In Wichita, I am working at Wichita Public Schools as an AVID tutor (There is an AVID program in schools close to NWC), and I am the Children's Minister at Westside United Methodist Church.  These both are answers to prayer because they provide me with enough financial support to pay for my life; at 18 years old I can officially afford my life w/o Health Insurance and my Cell Phone bill.  That was such a huge answer to prayer that I can't even believe God would love me so much.  But God is GREAT.  Both of these jobs at least required a year long commitment; however, I entered into both with my employers knowing that I will only be there six months and they still hired me which was completely God!!!

I don't know where God will lead me but where ever it may be I pray that God will continue to use me, and I pray for where I am at now that God will use me in ways much larger than myself.   Hope to update more.  I will try and post more what God is teaching me as opposed to my life so far until I run far away and people could use some constant updates.

Aaron

College and Userpations

College is a great time for students such as myself, a time where I can learn about myself and about God. Over the past month that I have been at college I have learned so much about God, but I feel that I am in the same predicament as I was when I was at home. I am too comfortable. Philosophers of the 19th century were focussed on transcending about human expectations, above human culture, and above human society. The only way they were able to accomplish that goal was to go into nature, pure, wonderful, untouched nature. While studying such philosophers I have often wondered why our culture does not practice the philosophy of the 19th century writers. The idea has great value and when practiced it has provided intended results, unlike the experiences that we face today. In order to answer said question I must discuss the philosophy, along with the society of the 19th century. After I have discussed the situation I then must compare the both today's society and the society of the 19th century.

The philosophy of the transcendentalists was that in order to gain happiness or enjoyment for life one must go back to his roots and experience nature and existence for himself. The way that the 19th century writers experienced this was to go into nature and find true beauty, they must completely live in nature and experience life in the way that the first men experienced it. The belief is that the original homosapiens did not experience trivial problems such as fear of recieving a promotion fear of not providing for your family. The belief was that the things created by humans to make lifes easier in turn made life stressful and the only way to get rid of that stress is to get into nature and simply be. "Be" without worrying about ones job, "be" without worrying about the community, "be" without the man made objects that have caused so much comotion.

This belief seems radical to the people of the 21st century because we live in a time where most of the world population lives in urban or suburban areas. However, in order to understand this philosophy one must look into the life of a typical 19th century writer and his society. A typical philosopher of the 19th century was of the elite culture, he was educated, probably gone through years and years of schooling, and possibly living off the wealth of his family. Truthfully most of the 19th century philosophers lived a comfortable life and they were able to coast on their families money for quite a while. When a philosopher would go and try to discover the simple things that make him a human and that make him unique, essentially when he tries to discover himself, he has trouble, because up until the point that he is able to question who he is, he has not had the opportunity to be himself, but rather the person that his parents and university proffessors have made him to be. Thus he must find a way to discover who he is. As he looks into society he constantly sees a barage of people telling him who he should be, what he should, and how he should act: society presents "manners" as a necessity and not a simple commodity which helps society function more appropriately and thus "manners" force one to act in such a way that he must immitate the actions of everyone around him. Where would one look? because one did not live in a world where he could fly himself to the jungles of south america, or drive north to a culture that is far different from his own. He must dig deep to a place where life is not defined by what one does and how he acts but instead look to a place where he can simply be. That place is nature. nature would not be a far off choice, in the 19th century there was still accessable nature where one could rome safely contrary to our culture where if one does decide to live in nature he must face harsh cold climates of Alaska, or be in fear of undeveloped cultures attacking in the jungles of South America. Nature was present and not hard to find, though scary, it was accessable by many.

In our 21st century culture we are not confrontated with as much livable nature, much of the nature that we can see has been set aside and used by the government as a tourist trap to allow its citizens to see beauty which had been discovered previously rather than allowing us to observe beauty for ourselves (refer to the Phiolopher Berger). But though we do not have an abundance of nature we have transcended beyond the need of nature. We have created for ourselves situations that seem far off and crazy situations that allow us to "be" and "be happy." In the United States of America we are able to experience many different cultures in a way that allows us to choose which culture fits us, which culture makes us happy. Not only do we have this in the United States but at this time continental travel is becoming easier and easier (which due to politics is now becoming slightly harder, but still much easier than it was in the 19th century). As humans we long to find out who we are, and it seems that due to the beliefs of the transcendentalist we must become uncomfortable by leaving the life we have become accustomed to and go to a place where we can simply "be."

Though must of this has nothing to do with what I am going through, I think it is great to think about as I process my choice of where I will end up next semester. I have come to Manhattan Christian College because it is close to home and it allows me to live comfortably, if I ever have a problem I can either be home in two hours or I can find someone who i knew from highschool and be comfortable again. As I think about the transcendentalist I try to imagine myself leaving the culture which I have grown accustomed to and leaving to a very cold culture where I do not have to ability to drive two hours to see family or where I will not have friends from home to talk to, I simply cannot bring myself to do it, even if I do it to transcend. I cannot see myself transcending but I can see myself leaving Kansas. I guess as I write this I have realized that my entire reasoning behind college is based on what I want to do with my life, and how I should live it in order to gain true satisfaction, though I am not looking at the bigger picture here. There is a God who has seen it all, who has seen me stay in Kansas, the same God has also seen me move to Minnessota, and the same God has seen me move to California. I should not be looking for my own satisfaction, because I do not know what will happen no matter where I go, if I go oneplace my life could be completely destroyed and I will live in pain for the 70 years. If I go another palce I could be happy, but I don't know the outcome of anything that I do. Only God knows what is best for my life, and I must seek his direction in anything I do. I shouldn't worry about transcending in order to find out about who I am but instead I should just listen and Go! I will learn so much about myself and God will teach me so many great things if I just listen to him for he has a plan for my life and I know that he is a perfect God.

So basically disregard everything and listen to God

AMH

"

"i'm glad god is gettin to you"

"i'm glad god is gettin to you"
I don't think these are the words I want to hear. In High School was I so bad that people didn't see evidence of God "gettin" to me? I know that is true, I didn't act accordingly in high school and it is a lot easier for me to act in such a way in a christian college, but I feel I need to reflect on this. Is this the way people will remember me after college, are these the words that colleagues will say after I've moved on to a different career? To all the high schoolers that read this blog I can only say is this the way in which you act, or do your actions represent God's will?
2 Chorinthians 5:13-15
Many use this verse to say dress up wierd or be wierd by growing out hair or something like that, but instead it is talking about your actions, do you act in a way that the world sees you as odd or abnormal, do you beliefs reflect that of the Bible or are you settling with a worldview based on past experiences? Because I can tell you a lot of things in the nation are not according to the word of God (I say this without even thinking about abortion and homosexuality), and we settle saying that people need to be happy and content with their lives, but is that the word that Jesus taught his apostles?
I don't like those words at all.

AMH

Ephesians 6:12

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

I want to start of the new year, or at least the first post of the year, remembering the verse that I mold this blog on. I really do imagine my life as a battle, quite often do I have to fight for what I believe, and for what has taught me or is in the process of teaching me, and quite often I get discouraged because it seems that things don't go my way, and the easy things such as wittnessing and speaking and loving others become a battle, one in which I don't know how to fight, one which I hate fighting. However, with this verse Paul, speaking to those in Ephesis, warns them sayinig the things that we struggle with in this earth are not brought upon by mere mortals, but instead it is brought upon by those that are fighting a heavenly battle, humans are apart of a heavenly battle, and if we view the struggles in such a way we know that we must pick up our weapons and everything else in order to fight the GREAT fight. This verse continues on telling us to put on the armor of God so that we are ready to fight. The big question that I ask as I read this verse is am I ready to fight the evil. We can be for certain that this is a battle and a war, Paul doesn't write saying "if this were a fight" but instead he says that "our battle is" so if we know that we are in a war, are we constantly preparing ourselves to fight the Great fight?

AMH

Completely Broken

"Here I am
At Your feet
In my brokeness complete"

This is a song by Starfield, which really speaks to me. As I worship I like to think about how God has created us and given us so many blessings, yet at the same time, he has taken so many things away from us. When we are called to worship we are called to notice, exalt, and praise God for who He is. As I sang this song durring worship and later on my ride to school, I could only think about how I am here, yet broken, I have been through hard times, and times where I would rather turn away from God and fix on my own than to allow God to fix them, I guess if Pastor Cooper were to tell my story he would say that I am not viewing God as my Great Physician.

As I look at God in my life and worship him for the things he has given me and where he has placed me in life, I can only see myself as broken in his sight. I am a complete mess I am not where I want to be, and the good news is, I have to wait for God to place me where I want to be. In the song Unchanging Starfield sings to God and says, "Here I am, all of me, in my brokeness complete." To think that as I, all of my soul, worships God I am bringing baggage with me and my life seems to be broken as I try my hardest to worship who He is, I can stand completely broken in Him, yet, at the same time, I can be in complete worship of his name, I can praise him for putting me in situations where I am forced to grow, and I can praise him for never leaving even though times seem hard.

As for myself and my brokeness, I am struggling as I fight what seems to be a futile struggle, I am torn between who it is that I am truly fighting. Epehsians 6:12 says, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, and the cosmis powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." I wish that I could say that I am in a fight with work, that I am in a fight with the schools that confuse me, and so on, but the truth is, God is in the middle of any of my situations, I remain 100% positive of that, and that as I struggle to find truth and understanding I am fighting against the rulers of this world who want me to believe that I am nothing and that I cannot be anything, it is an intense battle against the world. Romans 12:2 tells me to "be transformed," and as I strive to transformation I will continually struggle against the rules over this present darknes.

AMH

John

So this afternoon, I decided to start reading the book of John.
As I read I started to wonder what all the meanings behind the text were and I started asking these questions,

"Is John's narrative an example of how Christians are supposed to live?
If so, how do we interpret the text, from the way John acts while Jesus is on Earth to the way that we are supposed to act now that Jesus is in Heaven?"

John 1:31 says, "I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel." As I ask these questions, I realize that this is a way that we are supposed to live our lives. John was a baptizer, hence the name John the Baptist, I assume that baptizing was his job, or at least a hobby, or something God told him to do, but nonetheless, it was something John did. I begin to think about the things in my life that I do, such as, church, workish, school, friends, and I replace a few things in this verse to check if I am living up to the narrative. "I myself did not know him (true), but the reason I [am a student at Maize High, and WSU] is that he might be revealed." Does this entire verse sound true in my life? Probably not. So how do I make it true? That is what I will do for the next 10 years or so as I go through schooling, I guess, wish me luck.

This verse always provides a way for us to baptize. Thought I don't baptize anyone, I might someday, I like this verse, because a lot of times the baptism is seen as the individual pronouncing his/her faith, but rather John baptized people to reveal Jesus. I am not criticizing the way we baptize now, but I am looking at it differently, when someone gets baptized, he is revealing God to the world, maybe even making a pact with the rest of the Church, that the individual will continue to reveal Jesus. Did I make that pact with the Church? If so I have broken it. Today I am a student whose purpose is to reveal Jesus. That is my pact.

God use me and the rest of the next few amazing months to impact the world, or at least the community, Lord provide a strong vision in the Christian community to learn to reveal your name to the world. Watch my steps and my struggles and mark the path for me to learn.

AMH

Northwestern

I took a trip up to Norwestern College this weekend, and I am officially scared out of my mind. The college is 10 hours away, it provides great job placement, has an excellent psycology program, and is worse than cold.
I don't know how I feel about 10 hours away from all my friends, and family, I know that most of my friends are going to be going to other colleges outside of wichita, but i still feel like if I wanted I could visit them if I was bored. If I were to attend Northwestern I couldn't do any of that, I would only come home every so often, I don't even know if I would come home every summer because its so far away.
I am afraid because of the excellence of this college, I know that I want to go into ministry, and I have alway wanted to get my doctrite in pscology. I am a bit afraid that if I go to Northwestern I might loose sight of God, and dive too far into psycology and leave ministry behind.
I hate cold, more than anything.
I know that I need to get out of my comfort zone in order to rely on God alone. Maybe that means I need to take every single bit of fear that I have for this college and give them to God. God will protect me, that I have no doubt, but will I be able to let him be in my life.
I also wonder what my calling is, am I a pastor or a psycologist? God only you can decide...

FIRE

*Deleted*

Waves

I wrote this poem listening about baptism and teaching a small group. I like it, and I usually hate my art.

The waves have cleansed me
And the salt has stained my being
I am lost in a world of hate
Yet I am assimilating in the world I have turned away from (foresaken).

But anyways its about being a noticible Christian in the world, however, focussing on the world you are told to turn away from.

College

I cannot wait until I finally graduate, and leave high school. I am constantly bound by the over controlling school that doesn't allow its students to have some of the basic freedoms. I guess I'm just tired of being controlled. In my college courses I am able to choose what I do, if I come in late its my own fault, and suprisingly enough the world goes on. If I am late to a class in high school, sometimes even less than a minute late, the entire class stops, and the teacher probes why we are late, and if we are lucky we get a detention. If there is a consequence for being late, I have never had a professor actually stop the class and probe the tardiness of an students. It actually makes me feel like I am responsible for my own tardiness, I will live with the consequences, and no one else cares. Maybe its just that way in a big university, I hope that Northwestern isn't like that, it seems big, but I haven't really seen the campus yet.

But anyways the reason that I really hate the way that they treat you in high school is because I feel like I am ready to start doing things on my own, I can take care of a speeding ticket by myself, I can pay for gas by myself, I can get a job by myself, I can do many things with out my parents help, but it seems that I need them for almost everything in High School, your word isn't good enough on any documents, students need their parents. Many seniors are 18 years old, and legaly should be responsible for themselves, but I think because of the way we are brought up, as if we need an adult to do things for us, we don't want to look at 18 as a mile marker. For most students at Maize High nothing changes on their 18th birthday, their parents will still pay for their car insurrance, the school, their gas, their allowance, and responsibility is not encouraged. Chris Rollamn wrote a blog on the stages of adolescnece about a month ago, and discussed that students go through a stage of post-adolescence due to many factors. I agree with this 100%; however, I don't believe that this is something to encourage. I would much prefer that students were encourage to be responsible for themselves, and that they should be expected to start doing something on their own once they turn 18, at least car insurrance, or something. Maybe if people would just learn to be responsible I wouldn't be suffering becuase I am out of the norm.

Floods

Today Wichita experienced some of the harshest rains I have ever seen in my lifetime. Wichitans almost don't even know how to deal, the city is in a panic. Today I saw small cars try to drive through almost three feet of water, as if they could just float, and before they were able to escape each car got taken by the tide. I find it strange that humans can just try and trek through as if nothing were happening; however, maybe this is what Christians do as well. When we see times of "sin," or if our lives are in a rut, we often try to pretend that nothing is happening, instead of embracing the truth that we are about to drive through three feet of water that we can't handle. Some are lucky enough to open their eyes to see that it is raining and their car won't survive three feet of water; others drive on through and get pulled away. If you are the latter, I can only pray that God is guiding the current, and is trying to pull you back to him, as he has done in my life so many times, but as far as these disasters we get ourselves into, 1 Peter 4:12 says "Dear friends, do not be suprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the suffering of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed whem his glory is revealed." Are we as Christians so suprised at the floods, that we forget that He is only waiting to reveal his glory? God knows exactly what is happening right now, and he is strong enough to make glory apear, lets not be suprised, but ready, and rejoicful.

AMH

the internet should die!!!!

I wrote a really insightful blog post about independence, and when i posted it my internet said page cannot display so I pressed back, and everything I wrote was gone

Where were you when I was hurting?

2 whole months....

This week was a bit wierd. This was my sisters first week at college, it was a bit wierd, I told her I was going to call her in two weeks after boot camp, and talk to her, but I feel like something is missing from our house. I guess I didn't realize this, and she probably didn't either but I really looked up to her. Not so much because she was a hero, but because she was strong. I miss her.

But the wierdest thing was who she is rooming with. Her roommate at college was a friends of hers almost five years ago, they were on the same soccer team, and they used to hang out all the time. So my sister in her amazing excellence does not call my mom and tell her where the scrimage and everything is. So my mom calls her roomate mom, and asks her where it is, but my mom only got the voicemail. My mom got a call back later, and it was my sisters roommates mom, and she said that she needed help. My mom being a true minister, went and helped. Her mom stayed with us for the next two nights, and durring that time I didn't know what was going on, and I guess I still don't, but I knew that she was in trouble, and I just watched my mom help her, and protect her, and be with her durring those two days. It was really good to watch, because it really taught me what it means to be a minister. I am ministry bound in my life, and I have been so confused up on how I was suppossed to do ministry.

This week my mom taught me what it really means to be a minister, Its simply being there when people are hurting. I cry for our nation, when we need ministries like BUMP, Scum of the Earth, Student Life, etc., to actually live out what it means to be a Christian. Christians need to be there for people, and need to love one another, and most importantly loves those that are not apart of their religion (yes I am now calling Christianity a religion). I want to be a body that is reaching to the lost, not just once a year, but 24/7, Christians, please no more organizations or funds, or whatever unless you truly feel compelled by the Holy Spirit, Gosh that is hard to say, but we are not called to donate to an organization, or to spend a week away from our comfort zone, but instead we are called to be there when God is hurting, ALL THE TIME.

I have spent to much time trying to live in a world, that is controlled by program crazy christians, and I am done!! I want to participate in no more programs, and not another "mission trip," but I want to live a life that reflects everything we only wish a program could accomplish.

AMH