Overdressed

So, I was going to write this post yesterday when I was unpacking my clothes that I wore all summer and trying to fit them all into my closet. My closet right now consists of a not so sturdy wardrobe that has limited room in it, but for a dorm room, this would probably suffice. However, yesterday I realized that I could not fit all of my clothes in it:

This shelf holds all of my t-shirts... and the weight from them is making it fall down

















and here is my little space to hang up clothes
















Now I am typing this because my closet is now falling apart from all of this weight (actually, I'm using Contemplating the Cross and the Unexpected Adventure to hold up a shelf on the bottom that is giving in). I am kind of playing around with the idea of simplifying my wardrobe and keeping just what I need. Of course I would keep some of my nice clothes and a lot of the t-shirts, but who needs like a hundred t-shirt that they don't even wear? Not me. This closet only holds my summer clothes right now... my winter clothes would probably take up two more closets!

Now I was getting ready to leave for Sojourn last night and all of my t-shirts fell out and onto the floor. SHEESH! I knew it was a problem, but really. My shelf had flipped forward and let go of all that it held up. I think that it's definitely time to downsize. This summer I was able to get by with just a suitcase full of clothes and just wash them every three weeks or so. We'll see what I end up doing, but either way. Whether or not I end up getting rid of a ton of stuff, I need to put this stuff somewhere... if anyone has any ideas, let me know!

Audrey

Prayer Requests:

• Keep praying for our group that is going to help spread the news about the water crisis to our schools and churches this year. We are working with Edge and really need prayer. Last night at Sojourn we were going through Nehemiah and the pastor pointed out how Nehemiah teamed prayer up with planning in his response to the King. Pray that God would teach us how to use them both in order to prepare.
• Pray for me as so many things are happening all at once... it's funny that I have a lot to do right now, but once school starts, it seems like there will be a lot less to worry about... haha. Just pray for my stress levels right now and that I will find rest and peace in God.
  

Love Lead Me On

I was walking at a brisk pace into the mall in order to get to the bathroom. I was walking down a long hallway the ended in the women's bathroom. As I was reaching my destination, I passed an older woman and I didn't even give her a second thought. She walked slowly and with a little difficulty and I really needed to use the restroom. I stepped over several paper towels on my way to the stall and thought about how messy it was. When I came out of the stall, I see the same woman turning off the sink and drying her hands. I walked up to the sink to see her using her paper towel to pick up the other paper towels off of the floor. This woman who had difficulty getting around didn't want recognition for her deed, but just slowly made her way back down the hallway.

Her simple act of kindness caused me to think about my motivations for doing things in my everyday life. Am I just going about my business and ignoring needs all around me? Sure, no one really has to pick up papertowels off of the floor to be considered a kind person and it's definitely not necessary since they have people employed there to do that kind of thing. And this woman, I just walked past her without thinking about what kind of person she was and by the time I re-entered the mall from the hallway, I already knew she was a caring person. Either that or just very tidy. Either way, she did what few others would do without receiving pay. It's a dirty job and someone had to do it... may as well have been someone who needed nothing in return.

Just a narrative to think about... you may get something out of it, but then again, you may not. This beautiful woman made me think a little.

Darlin' Do Not Fear

1:8 Leadership Experience 2009 just ended a week ago. The community that I had grown to love this summer is dispersed throughout the state. It's weird that we are not daily serving, being discipled and being transparent together anymore. I really miss the team, but I think that I learned a lot that God can use back on campus.

Since we parted ways last weekend, I have been busy at times and bored at others. A group of us from the team had a conference call on Wednesday night to discuss ways to bring the news about unsafe water in places all over the world to our campuses. The conference call went well and we hope to expand to other campuses soon. We want others to learn about water problems and that they will want to do something about it. We are trying to figure out the best ways to do that on our campuses. To begin we are going to share our hearts and what we saw in the Dominican Republic.

We saw some heart-breaking sights in the Dominican Republic. If you want to talk about it with me... let me know. Here are some pictures from one sight we visited this summer:



























In this community, we saw a kid grab a dirty jug and fill it up in the same stream you see here. Just like the Dominicans living here, we don't think about the water we take in. We are so blessed where we are. You can see in one of the pictures that there were mountains of trash that houses were built on top of. Wow. I don't think I can describe what we saw here and do it justice. The pictures may have to tell the story for me. Thankfully, this community now has a water purifier.

If you want to be a part of this idea to spread the news about unsafe water to our campuses, let me know. It doesn't matter where you go to school in Kentucky. If you want to pray for us, you could specifically pray at 5:30pm, because we are having a conference call at that time.

Other than trying to start this initiative with several others, I have been chilling in Taylor Mill with a dog named Bumper while her owners are away. She's a sweet dog, but needs a lot of attention because of health problems. Her owners told me that I could go through their daughters old clothes and take some with me, so I took the opportunity to play dress up a bit and the result was a blue blazer with shoulder pads:



I like it... It may be mine from now on. Sorry E-Beth if you are surprised to find me wearing your old clothes on here. In the middle of taking this picture, Melodie called me and I couldn't help but laugh!











School is starting soon and that's scary for someone like me who has no idea what I'm going to do once I graduate. It was a relief to talk to my grandma today who didn't get upset when I told her about some of the things I may apply to do after I graduate. I would have thought she would expect me to find a career immediately or something. She liked the idea of traveling or doing something exciting before I get tied down to a career. haha... it's funny that she puts it that way. It's funny that I worry about the future a lot, but two songs in particular keep coming up on my itunes playlist: Darlin' Do Not Fear by Brett Dennen and Don't Get Comfortable by Brandon Heath... Simply reminders to trust in the Lord and not to get too comfortable where I am. Still frightening, but it's reassuring to know He's got it all under control.

So that's about it for now. My dad's coming in this weekend to spend time with my sister and I. I'm excited to see him. It's been a while since I last saw him. This week I'm in Northern Kentucky and next week I'm back to work and planning for the semester in Louisville. Thanks to anyone who reads this!

Audrey

prayer requests:

• This initiative to spread the news about unsafe drinking water needs a lot of prayer. This is only the beginning and I'm praying for God's will to happen. Pray for God's will despite our plans.
  
• School begins in just a few short weeks. There is so much to do. Pray for me to daily find rest in the Lord despite everything that needs to be done. Specifically, I need prayer because I have a master tutor presentation to finish up with my group before tutor training, this water initiative, and making sure that I am ready for school with supplies and books and stuff.
• Pray for the Freshman coming in this year. Like I said, school is coming soon!
  

Where do we go from here?

Dominican Republic
The team just got back from 11 days in the Dominican Republic. While we were there, we installed 4 water purifiers, taught adults in the area how to use them, and taught health education to children. It was humbling to realize that people who have so little on this earth can have so much joy. There is so much I want to say about the trip, but it would probably be better to talk to me in person, because there is no way I could type it all out here.


My heart goes out to haiti
During the second half of the week, many people from the team met a man named Timothé who was from Haiti. I began to talk to him a little bit in French, which was fun. He was selling things to raise money to begin a Youth Alive in his town in Haiti. I told him that I want to go to Haiti one day and he immediately told me about a group from Massachusetts who will be coming down and he got my e-mail.

Then, I had to rush to a team debriefing where everyone was talking about this place called The Hole. The Hole, as I would see the next day, was a community built around a garbage heap. No, heap is not the right word. It would be best to call it a mountain of trash. There were pigs who crawled in the water eating from it. Trash was everywhere in the water and people were bathing in, drinking from and going to the bathroom in the water. The water was in no condition to be lived off of.

After hearing about all of this (and thinking up what to say in French in my head), I ran back over to talk to Timothé. I asked him, "Est-ce que ta ville a l'eau purifié?" (translation: "Does your town have purified water?"). I even made up the word for purified to find out that it was right. It was an easy one... and God speaks every language. He told me that they did, but they had to buy it. he has been trying to get a water purifier in his town for a while.

I ran back to tell some of my teammates about it and to my surprise, a few were immediately interested. I was expecting this to be just me honestly. I think the Lord was already doing something here. As we talked about it more in the van the next day, the trip sounded even better. Right now, we are praying for God to tell us if this is what he really wants from us and that it's not just our plans. I am going to set up a meeting with Mark Hogg soon, so that we can talk to him.


The team grew closer
The team had one night where we really learned what it was like to live in community. I don't want to get into details here, but it began with a conversation about prayer, tears developed at some point, and it ended in a group hug. The next day we decided to rename the team the 1:8 Hug Experiment. We have been calling it the 1:8 Leadership Experiment up to this point. I think T-shirts are the next step.




We are entering the last leg of our summer
less than 2 weeks left and I miss my team today on our day off. I texted Peggy last night about how unfair it was that they draw us together as a team and we grow closer only to be torn apart by a day off. haha... but it honestly feels like I'm missing something now that the team isn't together right now. We meet up again at 6 or so. Please pray for us these next few days.

Week 3... beginning of week 4

Hey everyone!

Sorry I haven't kept this updated very much, but we really haven't had too much free time this summer. I really really REALLY want to thank everyone who contributed to my summer, because this has been a great and humbling experience so far! Whether you are praying or you help fulfill a financial or physical need for me this summer, then you have really allowed God to help provide me with a summer devoted to Him!

Week 1&2
We have been poured into by people (so far that's Tommy Johnson and Chuck Lawless), who desire for us to grow in a deeper walk with Christ through discipleship for the first two weeks. It has been great to learn from God's word for several days!

Week 2
We have also worked with Jefferson Street Baptist Center (a homeless shelter: http://jeffersonstreet.org/) where God brought a relationship with one homeless couple to my teammate, Mallory, and I. We were even able to help provide one of them with some of her basic physical needs one day. It was a humbling experience to talk to this woman who only asked us for things that I take for granted (ie. socks). Please pray for her as they attempt to make it to Florida. she has been rejected by the church in the past and so she found her answers in Wiccan tradition and later Satanic. She doesn't know truth. Mallory and I shared as much as we could with her before we left.

Week 3
This past week we worked with Edge training for the Dominican Republic, helped Edge prepare a mission house for summer missions teams, and we repaired homes with KY Changers. It was an exhausting week. I met a girl who moved here a few years ago from Zambia at the mission house and I really enjoyed talking to her (but of course I love to hear about Africa!). At Ky Changers, my group made concrete stairs (not the most fun of jobs, but it's always good to see a finished product!) and painted at some houses.

Yesterday, was by far my hardest day. I was already exhausted from the past week, and we had a full day scheduled. It was full of its ups and downs. We started the day with a thing called Kindness Explosion. Actually forget the name. I'm not a fan of it. Basically, we spent the day handing out water to people at a nearby park. I didn't put on sunscreen against my better judgement, so I got a sunburn... SURPRISE! However, my teammate and I had a great talk with one man. He has some wrong views about scripture and seems to be searching for truth, but really doesn't know where to find it. Pray for him and his girlfriend.

After Kindness Explosion, I came back to find out my friend Melodie Hills came and surprised me at my dorm! I was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy to see a friend. I hadn't seen many people all summer (except for a few that I've seen at REfresh, Metavasi, and Bardstown Road randomly) and I shrieked as soon as I saw her. I really needed that, because later I would lock my keys in my car again and, of course, cry about it like a baby. I was exhausted after being outside all day, and I just let it out. haha... but what's new? Audrey cries. My teammate Susan made up a song and sang it to me about how God gave us tearducts for crying and Mallory called AAA and we were at dinner in no time!

Last night I was in bed by 9:30pm and now I can't sleep, so I made you all a rather long update. I will probably write one in a week right before we leave for the DR. This week, we are helping register people at the Southern Baptist Convention, so pray for that! Francis Chan will be speaking on Monday morning at 10am, and we are going to it! I can't wait! I have heard him at Passion and read his book Crazy Love. This guy is seeking the Lord and I am really looking forward to hearing him speak again!

Thank you for whoever has the time to read all of this! I will write a short prayer list after this, for those who want to skim!

Audrey

Prayer requests:

1. Girl who I met at Jeff Street homeless shelter: She was seeking truth, but was rejected by the church. Now, so finds her answers through Satanic beliefs. Pray for God to reveal himself to her and remove the veil.
2. pray for the bicyclist at Waterfront park that Trenton and I talked to. he believes in Jesus, but that scripture can be interpreted differently depending on the person. Pray again for God to reveal himself.
3. Pray for my team and I as we are getting worn out. We need rest. Pray that we would find rest in the Lord so that we will not grow weary. Pray for us to be reminded to "Be still and know that He is God" during our busy week ahead of us.
   

11 days and counting down

Ok, so... I just got my schedule for the summer and this blog will never be able to express how excited I am to begin! Ask my roommate, she has to hear about it. It's not only that, but all of my friends are beginning very exciting summers as well and it just really gives me joy to know that God is working in the lives of so many around me. I may even be a bit envious of a few, but then God reminds me that he has things in store for my summer that I don't even know about yet.

Praise the Lord for his provision! I was able to raise most of my money for this summer (about $1,900 out of $2,500) and that is enough to at least get me to the Dominican this summer. I just need to watch my expenses so that I can keep up with rent at my apartment. If you helped me financially or in prayer, I want to thank you soooooooo much! You are helping to give me a summer that God will use to challenge me and form me more into who he is.

I have one more day of work tomorrow, and then I will probably go home early next week to visit family/get my car fixed. From there I will come back to Louisville to pack and head to the seminary on Sunday May 31st. It's so close. I love seeing that we will be involved with Crestwood, Jeff St., and several other ministries in the area that I have seen impact lives.

I have a few books that I want to read this summer. These include Mere Christianity (which I have almost finished), The Reason for God, Breaking Free, and Jesus for President. If anyone is reading/has read these, I would love to have conversation about them. Let me know!

Prayer requests:

1. That my team this summer would hold tightly to the gospel during spiritual warfare and that we would remain in the Word so that we can be as useful as possible to the Lord.
2. pray that the Lord would give me the opportunity to overcome obstacles that keep me from becoming more like Him.
3. Pray that God would break our hearts for what breaks His. I want to come out of this with a greater understanding of God who is the origin of all Love.
   

To Really Be In Love

Last week I went to the Cheesecake Factory with some friends and I was convicted. If you have ever been there, you know that it's expensive... I was looking at the menu and realized you can easily spend $30 there on one person (that's a meal, a drink, and, of course, cheesecake). That's a weeks worth of groceries for me. What's worse than that? I was willing to spend that much, when I could easily use that money to feed a child for a month through worldvision or another organization. I take too much for granted. It's alright to have nice things, but when I got my check, I realized how outrageous this was to me!

I was reading (surprise, surprise) Crazy Love the other day. Actually, I was reading ahead of my group, and I was humbled. There were these children in it who had, according to the world's view, nothing, however, the first thing that they will tell you is, "I love Jesus so much, and I sing praises to him everyday." These children were poor in the financial sense and one was blind, the other deaf. Why is it that I call myself, "A poor college student," even though at least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10.00 per day. Wow! That's about how much I would spend per day on rent. 53% live on less than $2 per day. I have shelter, food, water, freedom, and I can worship God freely. I am filthy stinking RICH! Yet, I don't regularly offer to God as much as these children do. Is this why I don't worship like these children do? Because I am so comfortable where I am with little need to sacrifice? Because I don't know what it's really like to live in need?

I think that God is trying to tell me (even us) something. This morning, at my home church, our pastor talked about being stained for life. This month, that has been the theme (If you are interested in listening to these sermons go to sievechurch.org). The stain that he's talking about is when we are cleaned by God when we accept Jesus, but that we are also stained by him so that others may know that we belong to him. This morning we were in 1 John 5:10-13:

"Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son. And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life."

So basically, by verse 10 up above, we are either stained or we are not. This testimony would be in his heart if he were stained. This is how we follow the greatest two commandments: Love God, love others (Matt. 22:37-40).

John 13:34-35 says:

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Stained by God. Jesus said, "By this all men will know that you are my disciples." Without following these two commandments, the foundation of all the others, we can't call ourselves Christians. Am I really loving God, or just his stuff? Francis Chan asks this question in Crazy Love. Am I just in it because I need some fire insurance on top of all my other worldly wealth? Or, do I truly desire to be in the presence of God and follow His commands out of love for Him and His creations?

"If you could have heaven with no sickness, and with all of your friends you had on earth, and all of the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?" -John Piper, God is the Gospel

Lord, I pray that you change my heart. In your pursuit, you help me to know what REAL love is and how I can show that to your people. Lord, I fail, but your mercy is never ceasing. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad in all our days (ps. 90:14). I pray that we love because we know that love is from You, so "whoever loves has been born of God and knows God." God you are love (1 John 4:7-8)! We know that your commandments are not burdensome and that our faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:3-4). Give us boldness. Give us Love. Teach us to Love.