speaking

Yep, I spoke last Sunday at church. I was quite nervous. I didn't get much sleep the night before. I pretty much had butterflies that night and the morning of. Yet when I was actually up there speaking, I wasn't quite as nervous. God certainly moved and the Holy Spirit led me. It was about relying on God and if you are interested, you can check out my notes here. Feel free to comment.

faith like a child

At the church I work at, I sometimes sit in with the kindergardeners during their Chinese school time. Although I have only gone a few times, two different boys have done actions that remind me what faith in God should look like. The first boy just came up to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek at various points during the class. The second boy (a different day) came up and gave me a hug. Then he came over to sit on my lap during various times of the class.

Keep in mind, these are boys that I just met on those mornings. Yet they showed love and trust to me. Sometimes I wish my love and trust in God was more simple and pure like that. No gimmicks or inner complexities. Just a child who feels comforted in the hands of the Father. Think about that. And listen to "Like a Child" off of Jars of Clay's first album.

another update

I just realized I haven't done an insight or personal development blog in awhile. I'll have to do that soon.

I've been able to see more out of town friends recently. Kelsey was in town from Grand Rapids, so I got to hang out with her and Lois for awhile. We ate at Potbelly's (so good!) and Lesley randomly came in with one of her friends, so I got to talk to her for a bit too. It's always good to see Kelsey. I consider her one of my heroes. Her life up to this point has been very atypical and she's always up for the next adventure life is going to take her. She's done a lot already.

Tiffanie and Gabe were also in town for an extended weekend. I went up to Zion to hang out with them at this big family picnic. It was fun.

Even though it was Memorial Day, I started working for threadless again for their new sale. I've really been starting new jobs recently on weird days. Threadless on Memorial Day. CNSCCC on Easter. What can you do?

Last night, I got to hang out with Owen (another Cornell friend) and meet his girlfriend, Rissa. Owen's always been a cool dude and Rissa is very sweet. I actually had to ditch them for a couple hours to meet up with Matiss and see Erica perform at the Hot House- which was awesome. But afterwards, I met up with them again to go to a bar in Oak Park with Peter, and meet up with David and Ashley. It was like a mini-Cornell reunion!

Coming up...tutoring Steph again tomorrow. Her algebra final is Thursday! Please pray that she does well. Also first game in our summer volleyball league is this Wednesday. Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day!

blessings

pretty awesome weekend

Saturday night I got to see my friend, Ben, display his photos in a gallery. His first time doing that. Afterwards, I met up with Kelsey and Lois- two friends I met at Cornell. It had been several months since I saw Lois and quite a bit longer since I saw Kelsey. Such wonderful people to hang out with. The kind of people where friendship picks up right where it left off.

For some reason, I could not sleep last night at all. I got maybe 3 hours of sleep before church this morning. It was my first Sunday as the full time youth pastor. I went to help the kindergardeners' Chinese class as usual, then got donuts and oj for my youth group bible study. It was also the first time I led worship songs for them. It was the first time and there lots of people wandering around so I didn't overdo it. But it still went well. CNSCCC is celebrating 30 years so we had everyone take photos for a new church directory.

After that was another algebra tutoring session with Steph. Then I went to my folks place for dinner. I found out that my uncle was involved in this crazy incident in a forest preserve. Now.....sleeeep!!!! I'm so tired.

blessings

ugggghhh

Not really feeling too well. And I've got youth group tonight too. Praying for the Lord to make me feel better. We're continuing our study of Ephesians. But before that, we're playing sardines! Can't believe I haven't done that yet with them.

I finally saw The Protector- Tony Jaa's 2nd film release in the U.S. The story treatment is pretty good, building a story on a specific group of people in Thai history. The actual plot though is a bit weak. It had incredible action in it, but the movie was too much based on that. Still, Jaa accomplished one of his main goals in raising the bar with action/martial arts. He has a fight scene against a capoeira guy, followed by a wushu guy. In his fight scene with the x-gamers he does a back handspring onto a ledge, walks along it on his hands, then flips off it. And then there's the 4-minute shot fight scene in the casino. Amazing.

in Normal

Visiting some friends in Bloomington/Normal now. Killing some time at Panera. Trying to update my blog and start another one for my youth group. Yesterday was a long day. Went to church where I sat in on Chinese class with the kindergarteners, then had bible study with the youth. Hung out a bit with Elisabeth and Stephanie. Then went home really quick to get my things together for coming here.

I met with Molly at Fazoli's where she was having a pretty deep conversation with her friend, Karen. After awhile, we parted ways so Molly and I could surprise Jill with a mini-birthday cake while she was at work. We decided to meet up after she was done closing. So Molly took me to the guys' house where I'd be staying to drop my stuff off. Then we picked up Jill and decided to drive out to the lake and look up at the stars. Molly has a convertible, too, so during the drive, Jill and I were able to gaze up at the stars. I'd never done that before and it was pretty awesome. So was hanging out at the lake because it had been awhile since I went to a more natural place and looked up at the beautiful night sky. I needed to be reminded more often how big God and His creation is and how small I am...

blessings