Hummus

48: A Slum Experience/SIFAT Lately

2012-01-31T00:06:00.000-06:00

Well, I've been at SIFAT for a total of about 1 month, still haven't unpacked all the way, and SO much has happened. Most of what has happened is wrapped up in an event called "48": A Slum Experience. (Below is a picture of our representation of an urban slum at SIFAT.)

This is one of many opportunities for experiential learning that SIFAT's Learn & Serve offers. This is our biggest event in the Winter, where participants experience life in an urban slum for 48 hours.

We had 34 staff (Holly, one of the volunteers, is in the foreground above, with participants in the background) who were representing children, families, prostitutes, gang members, merchants, and others living in an urban slum.

This year's "48" was based on a population of about 1 million people living in Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya (2 pictures above), with a population density 30x that of New York City's in an area of 1.5 square miles. Much research went into learning about the people of Kibera, as well as statistics about HIV/AIDS, mass evictions, lack of sanitation, lack of clean water, violence, prostitution, and more. A short film by Vanguard, called The Kibera Slum, was so helpful.

The book (below), Planet of Slums, has been and will be an invaluable resource for this research.

We wanted to do our best to accurately and respectfully represent the people of Kibera. So, after research, came the job of communicating with and coordinating volunteers to fill the role of representing these people. We spent hours and days mapping out who would play who, wrote character backstories and descriptions, created a sort of hierarchal representation (below) of how the people in the slum would interact, and gave the plans to the staff of about 30 college-age volunteers who began arriving anywhere from a week, to two days, to a few hours before--everyone was on time!

(Below are some incredible people--48 staff--who I feel privileged to know!)

(Below: Addison preparing college-age volunteers for representing the people of Kibera and giving direction in case of an emergency, and other such logistical info.)

(Below: volunteers listen as they share each story of the people they were depicting.)

The 48 staff stayed in the slum for 3 nights, so they were there a day before the participants arrived. The 80 participants began arriving around 11:00am on the 14th.

After preparation of adult leaders and students, as well as an invitation to experience life like someone else in the world, they began their trip to the slum.

Once they arrive, students are somewhat hesitant, but necessity takes over and they begin living life in the slum--working in order to buy food, clean water, and shelter.

They live, eat, drink and sleep there.

It's beautiful to see them begin to interact with the people of Kibera being represented by the staff. They learn a lot and come in contact with people and struggles (though only a representation of these people) that they may have otherwise remained ignorant of.

I got to play the role of a documentary filmmaker during this experience, useful for documenting the event, as well as interviewing youth and adults about their experience in the slum.

There are some pretty interesting conversations that come out of such an experience. I tend to be pretty curious and, so, getting the opportunity and freedom to ask the questions

I wanted to ask people about what they were thinking and how they were responding to this experience was fascinating to me. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that this experience provides for honesty through an extended time and intense experience with students.

One of the overarching metaphors that this experience provides, in my opinion, is the reality that we got to leave that slum after 2 days and that we do not live our lives in a slum. We get to leave, the people of Kibera don't. Whether or not we wrestle with that reality or not after we leave is the most important part of this event, so we got students and adults to post responses to questions about poverty in their communities and got responses like this:

"POVERTY I IDENTIFY WHERE I AM: (So far) Jobless which stirs hopelessness and uselessness; addictions of all kinds; students drowning in cultural expectations; people consumed by "things"; so many people without love and life and yet starving for it; ... HOW AM I RESPONSIBLE? I am responsible to engage myself with them; listen; be patient; love them in practical and relevant ways; get to know them and then as I do, understand how to best to move them forward. WHAT IS ONE STEP I CAN TOWARDS ALLEVIATING POVERTY HERE? The first step is that I must stop, look and listen to the poverty about me. Then, I need to pray to ask God in helping me to hear and see clearly the poverty around me in order that I may take a step in entering into the poverty itself and putting time and love and even sacrifice (of time mainly) in that. Yet in all this it's still a process. I know the more I'm hearing and looking the more poverty is every where and in all kinds of situations. There are even some "rich" people I see that are in "poverty." So, more answers to these questions are on the way. (I'm even planning a slum experience for our junior higher's very soon.) Lead on, O King!" -- Todd Sander, Youth Pastor, Brandon, MS

"I just went on the 48 hour Slum-Experience and seeing first hand the uncertainty of where your next meal or drink of water will come from or where you're going to sleep that night really makes you think. I have a different perspective on what poverty really is. We think of necessities as electricity and running water but there are people who are denied basic human necessities of food, water, and shelter. Through this experience I gained a greater appreciation for how fortunate I really am. Things that used to be so important suddenly carry a lot less weight in my life. There are people living without what they need to live, so why should I complain that the water in my shower isn't hot enough. It feels silly to complain about anything in our lives, we have it so good. That's why it's up to us to do something whats happening to people all over the world living in poverty. Our youth group is recommitting to raising money for H2O4K (water for Kenya) through the 410 Bridge. Our SIFAT experience has reminded us of our responsibility to care for those who are stuck in the continuous cycle of poverty." -- Elise Joyce, Student, Powder Springs, GA.

The tshirt for the event (made through American Apparel, which does not use slave labor to make tshirts--it's more expensive, of course!, but isn't it worth it?) says on the front, "I don't feel guilty..." The point of this event is absolutely not to make the students feel guilty. Instead, the point is to expose them to realities in the world--not having clean water, smoke inhalation problems, mass evictions, prostitution, gang violence, sanitation problems, etc.--and to represent as best we can the people who experience life in those struggles. The back of the tshirt says, "...just responsible." Once we know what's going on in the world and that we could possibly do something about it, we become responsible, no longer able to claim ignorance.

Sometimes that knowledge can be overwhelming and I think it's important to point to people who are doing stuff about seemingly unapproachable problems in the world, like Raphael Ogbole from Nigeria, a graduate of SIFAT's International Practicum.

(Above, teaching students about the problem of and a simple solution to smoke inhalation; Below, Raphael in Nigeria, where he is sharing a simple and life-saving technology--fuel-efficient cook stove.)

He is teaching a simple technology in his own community--fuel-efficient cook stoves--that is making an impact on the fourth leading cause of death in developing countries, smoke inhalation due to cooking over an open fire for every meal. Raphael works in his own community, teaching about a seemingly small thing. The size of our response is not the issue, but responding is. I think to say that you can't do anything is a cop out and often is a denial of help for the suffering due to our own desire to not experience their pain even in sympathy. I think you just have to go to work at it and chip away at it bit by bit.

After 48 was over, we did a lot of debriefing and self-critiquing and got on to a checklist of what to do next. We recently represented SIFAT at Meltdown, a conference in Panama City Beach, FL. We led a slum experience there, which is something new we are doing--on-location slum experience/tour of struggles that exist in slum-life. More than 700 students went through the experience of the course of 2 days. (Below: line for slum experience)

It was hard work to build the slum and represent people struggling with dirty water, smoke inhalation, HIV/AIDS, child prostitution, children forced into the military, and malnutrition, but well worth it. We do the best we can to have up-to-date and accurate information from reputable sources.

Though it may seem weird to do a sort of slum experience for people on-location, my fellow SIFAT staff usually remind me of the reality that some of the kids who attend Meltdown who are from the States may never come in close contact with someone who is in poverty and so we are making that happen. I think I can speak for the other staff members when I pray for this experience to lead to much more contact with those who are in poverty domestically and internationally. We always make sure the students know that they need to address poverty in their own communities, schools, and homes, and so we provided a wall (below) for them to post poverty that they see in their community.

And today, I had the day off. :) Ironically enough, I joined Wedowee Fitness, the first gym I have ever joined, near SIFAT. I went there today and listened to Mariah Carey's #1's album while I ran. The guy beside me was wearing some sort of cologne or something that smelled awesome, though it smelled like that Glade air freshener--I think it's the one called White Lily... :) And now I'm finishing my blog after finishing a cup of the Guatemala Blend of Coffee from Starbucks (thank for that, Mom--'twas delicious). It's a beautiful day here at SIFAT!

Also, let it be known that I love the people I work with. I also love the people I get to meet through SIFAT--domestically and internationally. Pretty good stuff.

2011-12-12T23:08:00.001-06:00

UAB students get a reality check at SIFAT from uabnews on Vimeo.

On the Trampoline

2011-11-18T09:26:00.001-06:00

Below is a guest blog from Bailey, kid enthusiast, detail-oriented wonder, campus programming intern coworker, roommate, and friend at SIFAT. What she has written is an authentic and heartfelt look into our favorite part of the week at SIFAT, being with the cutest of kids at a local trailer park on Thursday afternoons:

"If, as a kid, you never spent the entire day on the trampoline with your friends, let me apologize for two things. First, I'm sorry you never got this amazing childhood experience. Second, I'm sorry that this post might not resonate as deeply with those of us who still have scars from trampoline burns to this day.

When I was a kid, my best friend down the road had a trampoline and we literally spent every day on it during the summer. Not only did we have fun, but our friendship grew stronger and I would like to give credit for that to our old pal, the trampoline.

Never in a million years did I think that, at age 21, a trampoline would teach me how to grow friendships again, but my old pal came to my rescue and has shown me just how easy it is to bond with someone so different.

Above is a picture of some our new friends (they are posing for a Congratulations picture for Mary and Dave, who just got married). Every Thursday we spend our afternoons playing on this trampoline with all of these beautiful kids. We laugh and joke, make monster noises and do flips, and on crazy days there are even a few tears. These boys and girls have a fire for life that keeps things exciting.

Each week is different in the sense that you can never be too prepared to go out and play that Thursday. You never know what kind of mood kids will be in or even who is going to be home that day. Some afternoons we go on adventures, play soccer, or just sit and color. It never fails that we will somehow find our way to this trusty trampoline.

I sometimes wonder how many little feet have bounced on the black service of this giant toy, or how many different voices its ears have heard. The two holes in its surface provide an accurate representation of just how much this worn out trampoline means to the ones who enjoy jumping on it daily. And just like the trampoline, each child is special, each is different, and each has a story to tell.

Below is a video of a family that is near and dear to place we play each Thursday. They are a family of five children who, through many trials and obstacles, still maintain joy and innocence. At first glance, you would notice that the place they live doesn't look like most of our homes. If you talk to some of the other kids you would hear that their dad is out of the picture and that there are problems at home. Yet, the mother of these five children donates an old bag of clothes or a bag of toys and books to our ministry each week.

This small act of giving reminds me of the story in the Bible where the widow gives all the money she has even though she knows she will not have enough for the week.

I love this trailer park because each week God is faithful in showing me the beauty of one of his children, young or old, in a way that I would never get to see anywhere else.

I am so thankful for this place, for the joy that is found in coloring, for the refueling that is found in the laughter of an 8 year old boy, and for the friendship that is found on a trampoline."

--Bailey Hazouri

A lot has happened at SIFAT (a.k.a. "The Longest Blog Ever, but At Least There Are Pictures")

2011-10-25T00:39:00.022-05:00

"I love this work," and "is this really my job?" are things I keep saying. I haven't had a lot of time to blog because we've been running around a lot and there's no wireless in the bunkhouse we live in (that I blogged about previously). We are at a conference at Asbury Seminary (hanging with John Wesley a bit) in Wilmore, KY, near Lexington--it's beautiful here!

Also, they have wireless in our rooms, therefore here comes anexplanation of the aforementioned phrases/an update on what's been going on at SIFAT through pictures and words:

Well, Top Left, that's John's (the gardener) office. So, there are trees in our office. :)

All three of the pictures to the right and below are what's called the "chocolate milk room." The walls are the color of chocolate milk--they give fun names for things around here :). Top Right: My usual office chair/work space. Sitting right here I'm currently working on organizing and writing curriculum for pre/post SIFAT Learn & Serve Experiences. Bottom Left: Bailey--my friend, roommate, detail-oriented coworker--sits here, in her usual work area. She concentrates a lot on ourAround the World (formerly called CARES) program. She's so great with kids! We both work on coordinating volunteers for Learn & Serve, Around the World, Slum Experience here in our office. Bottom Right: This is also Bailey's work space--she's doing more organization for Around the World here. The boots in the bottom of this picture were donated to our international practicum students by Soles for Souls. So cool. And on the table, there's a note from Nate, the campus director:

I've been learning a lot on the job. I've been learning in class, too, though, alongside international brothers and sisters from Haiti, Nigeria, Bolivia, India, and the United States. We learned about Leaf for Life, a way to bring nutrition in areas where malnutrition is rampant (this exists in the US as well), by using leaves that grow all around us to give vitamin A, Iron, Calcium, etc. I'm astounded by what I've realized through leaf for life: That hope is literally growing all around us. Here are a few representations of my pages and pages of notes from leaf for life--we learned a lot from the founders Dave and Theresa Kennedy (Dave is the science-minded genius and Kathy is a social worker who helps Dave, her husband, implement Leaf for Life):

Now that I've learned all of this, I present Leaf for Life when we have college classes, youth groups, and other groups come and learn about appropriate technology and thereby connect them with what our international students are implementing all around the world (in over 87 countries). Below, on the left, is the outline given to us for our presentation. To the right...that's my outline for presenting Leaf for Life... That's just a look into how I "organize" presentations... :)

We have the privilege of sitting in class with brilliant and bold community leaders (executives, pastors, social workers for Compassion International, psychologists, etc). One such community leader, Prasuna, from India, runs a school for, as she says, "only the poor and the poorest of the poor." She also runs a co-op where girls/women come and learn sewing skills and when they graduate, they receive a sewing machine with which to support themselves so that they don't have to turn to prostitution. One day, after class, Prasuna got out her money--below--and gave it to me so that I would remember her and her work and pray for her. I was and am still humbled that she would do such a thing. (All of their money has Ghandi on it. They revere him as the father of their nation.)

This is a page from my journal when I first got to SIFAT a month ago and got to meet the practicum/international students/community leaders/friends.

This is a page from my to-do list (these notepads called knock knock pads are awesome and give me aesthetic incentive to use a to-do list...therefore, I use a to-do list now! :)

There's a lot to do around here, especially when groups come for Learn & Serve: Slums (experiencing life in a slum), Global Village Overnights (living and cooking at houses from 8 different countries that have been built by people from those countries--Bolivia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Philippines, Nepal, Liberia, Nigeria, Uganda.), Appropriate Technology (defined as "using what's around you to provide for your basic needs, which are food, water, and shelter; we teach everything from water purification, to fuel-efficient cook stoves--smoke inhalation is the 4th leading cause of death in developing countries, to leaf for life, sawdust cookers (so cool), etc. Here are some schedules from all the different groups that have come to SIFAT, each with different memories and impacts:

This is the schedule from Tennessee Tech. I was nervous about our first group coming in and nervous about playing my role as a store owner in the slum village. I took a lot of notes on this schedule about where to get things, which volunteers were coming in, responsibilities and what to say to the volunteers. This was a group of educators and it was exciting to see the connections made with those educators who are involved with youth who will be able to give the youth they work with opportunity to come to SIFAT because their professor brought their class. This wasn't the easiest group because they were made up of adults who had a difficult time really engaging in the experiential learning because they, of course, had kids back home to care about. It was good, though, to know that the Slum Experience and Global Village Overnight are equally impacting for adults as they are to youth.

UAB had a cross-cultural retreat at SIFAT. The newspaper came and covered this group's trip to SIFAT. This was a diverse and intelligent group. I loved having the opportunity to tell them about Leaf for Life and challenging them as young leaders to think about malnutrition in their areas of interest (they are in some sort of International/Global Leadership Honors Program of sorts) and how Leaf for Life might be implemented there. I love the idea of leaders having this kind of knowledge about Appropriate Technology and bringing healing to wherever they are simply by bringing that knowledge to the people it needs to get to.

Whitesburg Christian Academy was a great group. They bring their 8th graders every year. There are just some groups that are encouraging because the kids are curious and interested and the leaders are so supportive. It rained a lot while they were there. We had worship in the Quonset Hut and had to stop devotion to wait out the rain because it was so loud, but it we were worshiping God just as much while waiting on the rain and listening to His creation. We sang "Grace Like Rain" and "Revelation Song" ("flashes of lightning/rolls of thunder") to worship with the rain. Loved that worship time. This schedule, as you see above, is pretty dirty because we made bricks that day. We make bricks from our Alabama red dirt, straw, and water. It's super messy. We explain to the kids that working with Appropriate Technologies like this connects us with people around the world--some making bricks all day, which is no easy job, for less than $2 every day. This is the way they earn their living, build their homes, etc.

I remember this event with Alex City Methodist for a few reasons... They made their own food and cooked for themselves and gave us leftovers :). They are a group who has been a few times and have had a long relationship with SIFAT. It was a family event of sorts. Also, the volunteers that weekend were people who had been counselors and flex staff over the summer at camp. Casey Taylor, the worship leader from camp this Summer, led worship that weekend and it was great to hear songs like "All the Poor and Powerless" (by All Sons and Daughters) again. It reminded me of the Sunday I went to the youth worship service at CUMC a week or three after I wasn't one of the official youth pastors anymore and I watched the youth praise band, Bekah Hughes, Sam Taylor Gochey, Alissa Hadden, Taylor Kaiser (now of internly status), and Andrew Robin sing and play that song with all the youthers there. I teared up a little because they were all singing, "Shout it, Go on and scream it from the mountains/Go on and tell it to the masses/ That He is God." I loved hearing them sing that because I know their hearts for helping and loving people. I'm reminded so often of the youthers at CUMC. I think I pray every time I remember them. So, youthers, if you're reading this...You're one of the main things that makes me remember to pray. Pretty good. So, thanks.

Ozark was a fun group. Two of the kids in their group talked like they were from New Jersey, but definitely weren't from New Jersey--they most likely like the show Jersey Shore I think. They were definitely fun, though. They went through the Slum Experience and the next day they did work projects and worked really hard in our Uganda house and redid the beds there in the Global Village. Their event occurred at the same time as an event with University of Montevallo, so we were very tired at the end of that day from teaching Appropriate Technology to University of Montevallo students and figuring out how to have two groups (three, actually, because Alex City was there that weekend, too) there at the same time. We pulled it off, though, and were pretty tired at the end.

University of Montevallo brought their Global Community Development (or something like that) class to learn Appropriate Technology and experience the Slum and life living in a Global Village. What I loved most about this group were the conversations while we were hiking to the Global Village (about a half-mile past streams/creeks, through beautiful woods--one of my favorite jobs at SIFAT is hiking the group to the village), while waiting on our water to boil over sawdust cookers, and while waiting on everyone to devein their leaves while teaching Leaf for Life. I found out that one of the students goes to Guatemala often, to Casa Para Ninos Aleluya, where Jessie is about to move, and where I've been numerous times as well. Another student spent months in Uganda, learning about community development there. And my favorite conversation was with a political science major, Haley, who is going into Law. She said she wants to help people understand the law and know the law so that they can use it and not just fear it. She wants to help people through Law. I mentioned International Justice Mission (IJM) to her and asked her if she was familiar with it. She was because she goes to the Church at Brookhills where she had heard of the work of IJM. She knew that they worked to free people trapped in bonded labor and to release people from sex traffiking, but she didn't know that they hire lawyers to create legislation that outlaws bonded labor and sex trafficking and counselors for aftercare. She is going in to law and her sister is a counselor who wants to do something like the aftercare work that IJM does with girls who have been rescued from the sex trade. It was a conversation that I knew was ordained for the sake of God's kingdom. Loved that. I believe great things will come through Haley. I love meeting people like her and connecting them with organizations like SIFAT and IJM.

And this was Mountaintop Community Church's elementary group (4th and 5th graders). As you can tell, the more we do these retreats, the less notes I have to have in preparation. I picked the flower on this one after the group left. Bailey and Addison had to leave on this day and I was left to finish up with the group by myself. I was well-prepared for it, too. Addison, our boss has taught us well how to operate Learn & Serve. He's more of a natural at it, of course, but I love that he trusts us to do it. This group reminded me of Lord of the Flies whenever we were in the Global Village with them while they were trying to figure out how to start a fire. There were ideas flying everywhere and they had the hardest time listening. We have to learn how to facilitate that and sometimes it's pretty hard, but they pulled together and figured it out. It probably took two hours and it was pretty cold that night. We led them through the SIFAT Challenge Course (low ropes course) after they had slept in the Global Village and a bunch of tired and hungry 4th and 5th graders doing a team-building challenge course together is no easy feat. It worked out, though, and those kids were super cute, especially Rosa--she was sweet and pretty funny too. I believe Mountaintop decided while they were there to bring back their men's group to do work projects around SIFAT--that happens a lot, people deciding to come back with a different group once they come here. There's just something about coming to SIFAT that explains it better than any words could do. I picked the flower on the paper after the group left and I was walking back, tired, by myself from the cafeteria, over the busted dam, through the woods and up the hill to our bunkhouse. It was a peaceful afternoon alone. After the group left, I was so tired, that I laid down for a nap without lunch (no, i didn't shower first and, yes, i was gross) at 2pm and didn't wake up until 7pm. Then, I went to watch a movie with Mary and Laura, two of the other girls of SIFAT whom I love along with Bailey. More on them in a few blogs.

This is an ATW (Around the World) Schedule. This is where we give in-depth tours of our houses in the Global Village. I represent the Philippines and Uganda usually. I love that part of my job is to learn about other countries!!! Bailey heads up the Around the World activities/planning/ideas. Around the world is usually for kids or youth, and we do less formal tours for adults--basically, we don't dress up for the adults in the garb of the country we're representing. Bailey loves kids more than life. She's great with them and can pretty much get them excited about anything. So, next blog will be written by Bailey, about the trailer park we go to every Thursday to play with some great kids.

There are a few more pictures and a few more words to be said, and so many other things that have happened, but I'll save that for a later (and hopefully less lengthy) blog.

Yes.

Love,

Becca

List of things I like about Sifat today (Monday):

2011-09-26T19:33:00.003-05:00

1.Eating Meals with men and women/community leaders from Haiti, Bolivia, India, Nigeria, and America, too. It's like heaven.

2. Sitting in a room learning about Leaf for life (leafforlife.org) from its founders around people who are actually using this appropriate technology to save lives and allow for sustainable sources of nutrition in their countries.

3. Translation happening while learning (Spanish and Creole and English simultaneously)

4. Trying to learn Spanish and Creole and Tamil (turns out I'm humbled by the international students'/people's ability/willingness/discipline in learning more than one language)

5. My coworkers. Pictures to come...maybe...

6. Getting to study slum issues/finding out so much about issues around the world

7. Feeling connected with the rest of the world through education about the rest of the world, learning about appropriate technology that's used all around the world, and sitting with people from all around the world and discussing issues of malnutrition, poverty, and such together.

8. Struggling with what it means to know all of these things and live in the 1st world.

9. Riding my bike to the office

10. Sharing food with each other (you have cheese and bread, I have soup, let's bring it together and call it dinner--we share food around here a lot. it just makes sense)--thanks for the grilled cheese, Mary.

11. New friends.

12. Support from old friends and family. Such overwhelming support makes me realize how beautiful the church is/how beautiful community is/how beautiful you are. :)

I'll add more pictures soon hopefully:)

Week 1: This is different... I like it.

2011-09-12T16:19:00.005-05:00

This is the view from our (Bailey is my roommate and she is great and we have a lot in common) porch:)
This is our porch. I read here and play my guitar.
This is our kitchen where we fix peanut butter & jelly sandwiches a lot :)
This is our beautiful hallway.
This is our house (they call it the "bunkhouse").
This is my bed. It looks barren because I neglected to bring pictures/art. My bad :)

Anywho, Things are a lot different here. The pace is slower and there is more time to read and right and pray and think and be. I'm reading this right now and it is SO good:

This book talks a lot about putting all else aside for the sake of being with/near to God. It's interesting. I had gotten so caught up in media (tv, netflix, etc.) and I knew it. I often use movies and tv to escape from life, responsibility, and even my relationship with God. Here, there is really not an option for that. I consider it a privelege to have such time when I'm not training (I'm training this week) to really seek God again at a new time in my life. They (psychologically intelligent folk/counselors) say that you go through different stages of life where you develop trust, identity and whatnot. Well, the stage of life for my age (23) is that of developing intimacy. You either head towards isolation or develop intimacy. So, here, I'm working on that intimacy with God. I do not want to be isolated from Him by way of distraction (tv, movies, etc). From intimacy with God, all other intimacies (relationships) will be helped, I think. Not to say that everything will be peachy in 3 months, but I do think God has me here foremost for Him. Obviously, I suppose.

So, for the internship/work side of things, I'm taking in a lot of info and hoping to remember it. Once we start doing things, it will be better and I'll get into the swing of things, I think. I'll be working in the global village, teaching kids/youth about how the rest of the world lives, and how Jesus lived and loves them. Our training hasn't just been a lot of information, though. We spent the night in the global village (pictures will come later, I'm sure, though you could look on sifat.org and probably see better ones than I could give) and cooked over a fire that we made ourselves and then spent the night in hammocks--which is pretty ok, actually. It's funny when the hammocks swing, because I feel like I'm being rocked to sleep. So, yes, just training right now. More to come later. I hope this blog will suffice as an update. I probably left something out.

Miss you all. See you soon. :)

Dreams are good

2011-08-22T17:58:00.006-05:00

Had a dream recently that I was leading a lot of kids in worship. There was a sense of excitement and expectation and peace (wholeness) there. Steve Sisk was holding some of the kids and looking on in support as we started worship. When we started singing it was really loud and there was a sense of heaviness or weightiness in the air. It got really loud and then everything went dark, though it didn't seem dark in the dream. Then everything started shaking, including me. I was afraid, though I wanted to push through the fear and keep worshiping God, 'cause I knew the fear was coming from being overwhelmed and unfamiliar in the presence of God. I woke up trembling and felt like God had filled me with His Holy Spirit.

Not sure exactly what I think about this dream at the moment... other than feeling like Steve Sisk is the representation of all the support that God has given me through people all of my life--in every season. Not sure who the kids represent...perhaps the youthers, perhaps other kids soon to come, perhaps people in general. I know the trembling, though. I know that it was the Holy Spirit falling. When I woke up I felt frightened almost by the nearness of God that I felt. And then I fell back asleep, 'cause it was 3am.

Had another dream recently that I was in India and it was peaceful and colorful (beautiful). I was asking some of the locals for directions. It was a simple dream. I've never had a dream about India before, but I knew it was important, because my friend, Neesha is in India. So, when I woke up, I prayed for Neesha, that she find direction and support and peace in India while she is working there with International Justice Mission, with aftercare for girls who have been rescued from the sex trade. Simple.

Dreams are important. Not all of them mean that much, but I've learned to pay attention to God speaking through dreams and I've asked God to speak to me when I dream. It's not an every-single-dream--all the time situation. I know he speaks, though. And a lot of times, dreams bring up things that we don't think about, but that are really on our hearts. Sometimes, just the emotion that you feel in the dream is important, sometimes it's the details, but look, listen and feel for God in your dreams.

Post modernism post

2011-07-11T15:09:00.002-05:00

This blog dedicated to Hannah Wilson, Courtney Coxe, Taylor Kaiser, Bill McLarty and Steve Sisk:

The other day I realized something about myself. While I have thought for some time now that I am part of the era or generation or saga which has been eruditedly entitled postmodern, I now realize that I have been transforming into something that I would not even call a category: postmodernpost or postpostmodern, whichever you prefer--postmodernpost. I would like to take a minute to elaborate (and illuminate the reader) on what it means to have transformed into this way of being.

Here are a few signs of being a member of this existence:

First, one finds his or herself having a love for artforms (music, movies, etc.) not belonging to your generation or even the generation immediately preceding yours (in fact, a love for anything in any generation--sinced a postmodernposter, as we're called, does not, in essence is not confined by and does not belong to any one generation).

Next, one possesses a fascination with, excitement for, and general knowledge of all things unimportant (this can be very helpful for trivia nights at local coffee shops, but the postmodernposter finds it hard to actually make it on time for the trivia night due to the ease with which he or she is distracted by all things less important than trivia at the local cafe).

Also, the postmodernposter enjoys creating new things to celebrate in addition to the previously organized holidays. For instance, a special day of the month may be organized to celebrate the postmodernposter's favorite restaurant. This is a genius idea and the postmodernposter child knows this.

The final symptom I will give--since there are many, many more--in this rather enjoyable ontological conversation you (the reader) and I (the author) are having, is the likelihood of the pmp (for short) creating his or her own age or era or category or state of being--as we have discussed-- in which the pmp is allowed to thrive and make sense of his or her creative (because, obviously that's what it is) way of living.

For more information on postmodernpost, please click here.

Some good stuff

2011-06-30T11:42:00.007-05:00

Music! Well...it's always good. Correction: There is always good music happening. That is more of a correct statement, indeed, 'cause I guess music isn't always good in that there is a time for everything under the sun (Ecclesiastes 3, everyone:) and in that sometimes music isn't good :). So, now that I've clarified that, here's some good music:

Dan Craig's Skin Grows Thin Album

is beautiful and grassrootsy:

Flags by Brooke Fraser

is upbeat, deep, smart, and moving, etc.

And, watch this if you get a chance:

Love,

Becca

Broadcasting Christianity

2011-05-06T23:57:00.007-05:00

I get frustrated with the way that Christianity is portrayed on TV. I get frustrated that it seems like real Christians aren't usually on TV--or broadcast at all. I get frustrated that some of the most amazing people in the world, doing the most amazing (world changing, healing, etc.) things will be the people to rarely--if ever--be on TV (though CNN Heroes is a good place to look for those type of people).

When I thought about it a little more, I figured it's fine that way. Maybe Christianity isn't meant to be broadcast the same way our entertainment is. Maybe Christianity isn't meant to be entertainment. Maybe it isn't meant to be simply watched. I think it's meant to be worked out for each of us in our own worlds (I don't mean we're to go it alone without counsel, but I do mean that we aren't all in the same place emotionally, physically, spiritually, culturally, etc). It SURELY isn't meant to look the way it is often shown on TV. I don't think that everything broadcast in the name of Jesus is wrong--though I think most of it is. I do think that what is portrayed on television isn't the expression of Christianity in general. Even what is broadcast in podcasts and on the radio is a bit off sometimes. It just seems like when Christianity is broadcast, we start to get... hm... what's the word... oh, narcissistic. It happens to everybody, I think. It just ends up turning into a competition of cool or novel the same way different networks and shows compete for viewers. Unfortunately, since we seem to give a lot of authority to TV in our lives, it's easy to get the wrong impression of a lot of things and, in this case, Christianity or what Christianity is supposed to be.

So, the solution is what?

Don't put so much value in TV, first of all. Second, if possible, can we cancel some religious channels, please? Last, I don't think there's anything wrong with enjoying TV (ask anyone, I LOVE TV). There is something wrong, though, with waiting for someone to broadcast the way to live like Christ. It just seems an unlikely place to find any sort of real life like Christ's. However, I do think there are beautiful pieces of art that can help us with that that do exist on TV and that are being broadcast. A lot of those things do not go under the name of Jesus, though. So, if you're looking for Jesus on TV, you may want to avoid things under the guise of his name. Is he hiding? Or are we just narrow-minded a lot?

Perhaps this is a sort stating-of-the-obvious. I just needed to develop the thought a bit. Also, if I'm completely off, let me know. Or maybe there is something good happening on TV, religiously speaking (though I'm cynical in that regard). If that's true, please let me know! I'm not ruling out the possibility. I see hope on TV at times, of course. Usually, though, I don't see it on "worship" channels.

Good things

2011-05-02T15:19:00.005-05:00

2 suggestions per category. Special for you.

Music:

Flags by Brooke Fraser

Travel II by Future of Forestry

Books:

Stumbling Toward Faith by Renee Altson

After Shock by Kent Annan

Opportunitiesssss

2011-04-25T16:03:00.003-05:00

I think it's good to get involved in local volunteer opportunities, so... if you're interested... This website is super helpful in leading you to those kinds of opportunities... I think I should use the word "opportunities" at least four times in this post, so... "opportunities":

About to leave for Ecuador

2011-04-14T11:35:00.004-05:00

Jean Tippit & Emily Carol Jackson just prayed with me about the mission trip. Emily was just coming to visit Hannah and Jean was just coming to return a projector. Neither knew we were leaving for Ecuador today. Just so happened... And Jean told me that she led her first mission trip when she was 22 and she said she hadn't travelled as much as I have. Then we prayed in the parking lot.

It's like the cashier at Wal-Mart, Flora, told me yesterday after quoting Psalm 139: "The LORD takes care of us. Even when it's dark and we can't see, He can see everything."

It's ridiculous how much encouragement He's sent me lately... Right down to lunch with Sharla yesterday, Jessie bringing me coffee @ a whoopie pie yesterday and helping me with espanol, Erin remembering when we were leaving, etc. Privately and publically, He's helping me.

What wondrous love is this... No denying it for me, even in the dark when I'm prone to wander, He loves us, deserving or not.

Worship Can Wait

2011-02-09T13:48:00.006-06:00

Video from the workofthepeople.com:

"Worship Can Wait, Reconciliation Cannot"

People

2011-01-31T11:31:00.008-06:00

It's hard for me to express myself on this... but I'm gonna try:

I have this thought sometimes about people... that if we could be around each other longer, we could probably be really good friends. Then I get frustrated with not being able to be friends because of distance and time. That doesn't happen all the time, but sometimes. Anyway, I was thinking about it this weekend on the LONG drive back from SIFAT and figured that it's not such a bad thing to be inhibited by distance from friends. If we were all together all the time, just adoring each other and spending time together, we probably wouldn't be any good to anybody. However, if we're spread out, all around the world, we're better. That doesn't necessarily feel very good, but it's better I think. We can love more people when we're spread out and not together. We can come back together every now and then when we need each other. Even if we can't come back together, though, God can still provide people for us who will encourage us and build us up. I've experienced that. I guess I'm a needy person, but I just really need people to both be around me and say encouraging things to me. When people move away from me or leave, I hate it, but I've had so many new people come into my life after other people left who filled that void. It's just a matter of letting them in. I have so many great friends all over the place. I may only talk to them once a month or even just once a year. I have great friends here with me, too. It's all by the grace of God.

There's this quote from a movie that I love, The Secret Life of Bees, that says, "...they are the moon shining over me." I think that about all the people God's put in my life. Through every season of my life, like "Desert Song" talks about ("this is my prayer in the desert...this is my prayer in the fire...this is my prayer in the battle... this is my prayer in the harvest..."), God has always provided people who the Holy Spirit works through to pull me closer to God, like the moon pulls on the water of the Earth and makes tides (click here if you want the scientific explanation of tides:). So, just like that, through laughter, dancing, tears, confusion, hurt, fear, joy, pain, etc, the Holy Spirit has been working through people to pull me closer.

So, I guess, what I'm telling myself when I get frustrated with not being able to be with the people I love all the time is, "It's better this way." I'm not promoting loneliness, 'cause Lord knows that's no good at all. I'm just saying, "Trust God for the grace of friendship." Whether the friendship is far or nearby, our God is the God who provides.

This whole bit has come off as a bit sappy. Instead of disclaiming it, I'm gonna embrace the sappiness and end with a quote from my favorite, Barbra Streisand:

People,
People who need people,
Are the luckiest people in the world!

If you really want to embrace sappy with me, watch this :)

New Interview: Eric Karlstad

2010-12-16T15:41:00.004-06:00

Becca: First question: What pandora station should we listen to while I interview you?

Eric: Pandora station? First of all, I don't even listen to Pandora.

Becca: Ok, um, then what music do you like?

Eric: I mainly like rap and country and throw in some Christian every now and then.

Becca: Ok, i'll find a Pandora station that works for that...

Becca: Ok, I'll endure Kenny Chesney just for your interview.

Becca: Question 2: What is your favorite question?

Eric: What's your favorite sport?

Becca: What's your favorite sport?

Eric: Basketball.

Becca: Why?

Eric: I love to play it, it's fun, it keeps me in shape.

Becca: You worried about your figure?

Eric: No. lol

Becca: What do you wanna do when you get older?

Eric: Be a pharmacist and be married with 3 kids.

Becca: just 3?

Eric: It's just a random number I'm throwing out there.

Becca: What school do you go to?

Eric: Cottage Hill Christian Academy

Becca: Do you learn how to be a Christian there.

Eric: Not really, i mean, that's kinda like a yes and no.

Becca: How long have you gone there?

Eric: Since 8th grade.

Becca: What's Cottage Hill like?

Eric: You'd expect it to be more of a Christian atmosphere, but the students aren't really like that... they're like... I don't know how to put this...

Becca: It's just like a normal school?

Eric: Yeah, people do as much stuff there as they would at a public school.

Becca: Favorite Movie

Eric: Sweet Home Alabama or Forrest Gump

Becca: So you love all things Southern.

Eric: Yeah! Especially sweet tea.

Becca: What's your favorite song we sing at youth or at ICON?

Eric: Revelation Song

Becca: Why do you think you like it so much?

Eric: We haven't sang it in a while we should play it... (as he plays it on his phone-click here to hear)... I don't know it's just a good song. It has a good message.

Becca: When do you first remember really loving worship?

Eric: Probably this past summer.

Becca: What am I going to ask next?

Eric: I don't know it's your interview.

Becca: Ok, fine. Why?

Eric: I just felt more connected this summer than I have in a while--ever.

Becca: What do you mean by connected?

Eric: I just felt like God was more present then during worship than any time.

Becca: And that had never happened before this summer?

Eric: Nope.

Becca: How has feeling like God is present made things different?

Eric: It's help me stay more in His word and stay at church and help me not go back down the wrong path.

Becca: So God being present and not people telling you not to do certain things makes more of a difference?

Eric:...yes...

Becca: What is your favorite food?

Eric: Fried Chicken. (as Toby Keith's "How do you like me now?" plays in the background)

Becca: What do you like with your chicken?

Eric: French fries, mashed potatoes, or macaroni and cheese. (as he sings to "How do you like me now?")

Becca: Not a fan of vegetables?

Eric: Not really, haha, but I will eat them.

Becca: Where is your favorite place to be?

Eric: Fast food or sit down?

Becca: Oh, we're still talking food?

Eric: Didn't you say eat?

Becca: Sure, eat.

Eric: Fast food: foosackly's; sit down would have to be the original oyster house.

Becca: What's your family like?

Eric: Uh... ha... that's a good question. I guess like the average family.

Becca: What does that mean... average?

Eric: Just go day to day doing the same thing.

Becca: Ok, what are their names?

Eric: My mom is Karen, my dad is Danny, and my brother is Tyler.

Becca: What's Tyler like?

Eric: Uh, lame. All he does is sit inside and play xbox.

Becca: I'm sure his friends don't think he's lame.

Eric: Well I think they're all lame, so...

Becca: So you don't get along?

Eric: Not really.

Becca: How old is he?

Eric: 15.

Becca: How old are you?

Eric: 17. I like how we get half-way through the interview and you finally ask me how old I am.

Becca: It didn't matter earlier.

Becca: How long have you gone to CUMC?

Eric: 6th grade.

Becca: Why did you start coming here?

Eric: That's another good question... it's too long ago to remember. It was like 7 years ago.

Becca: Do you still have the same friends you had here in 6th grade?

Eric: No, 'cause none of them go here anymore.

Becca: So, new friends.

Eric: Yep.

Becca: What do you think your role is in the youth group?

Eric: Being a leader/setting a good example.

Becca: Why do you think you're a leader? Is it just 'cause you're tall?

Eric: No, it's not 'cause i'm tall (with a smile). It's 'cause I'm a senior and a lot of kids look up to me.

Becca: Does it make you nervous that little kids wanna be like you?

Eric: Ha, no.

Becca: Why not? You think you're awesome?

Eric: yeah, i'm awesome, duh!

Becca: This is a question I ask everybody: How do you think of God?

Eric: I think of Him as a Father.

Becca: So when somebody says "God" you see...

Eric: A father figure.

Becca: What does that look like? Like, what is His posture?

Eric: Posture? Hm... I guess just somebody you can go and talk to and he's always there for you.

Becca: So, is He sitting or standing?

Eric: Haha, either or

Becca: If you could be doing something anywhere right now, no matter the cost, what would it be?

Eric: I would be on a cruise with all my friends around the Jamaican Islands and the Bahamas and to Atlantis.

Becca: Like the underwater city?

Eric: You know that movie with Mary Kate and Ashley where they...

Becca: I'm so putting that

Eric: No you're not (he tried to erase, but i won)... you know what i'm talking about?

Becca: No!

Eric: Whatever, I'm still taking a submarine to Atlantis and finishing the cruise around the world.

Becca: Favorite weather?

Eric: I don't have a favorite weather. I like it hot and I like it cold. Bam!

Face!

2010-12-10T17:08:00.005-06:00

Face to face...
You just need to sit down with people and talk about important things like your spiritual life, love, hurt, church, Jesus, injustice, poverty, and whatever else together.

Podcasts are great for education.
TV preachers are ok for inspiration.
Your music aids in your chosen emotion.
There's healing in conversation.

Sit down with someone you can talk to about important things and talk about important things.

It's just good.
Me and Nolan say so.

This

2010-12-02T12:45:00.000-06:00

IJM Gift of Freedom 2010 from International Justice Mission on Vimeo.

Everybody's called to this...

2010-11-28T03:07:00.002-06:00

I'm up way too late as usual and watching a repeat of CNN heroes. What a brilliant group of people presented from all over the world. These real heroes are being honored by the celebrities we obsess over. God is being glorified by these heroes who are providing basic needs like light for school children and families in Kenya, giving homes to injured soldiers, and rescuing people from human traffiking.
This year's winner was Anuradha Koirala. She is working in India to free girls and prevent girls from sex traffiking.
To me this just confirms this swaying that I've sensed. The whole world is waking up to the reality of human traffiking and we are all called to help rescue these victims and end human traffiking and modern day slavery in our day. IJM.ORG...

"fill the ranks of modern abolition" -- sixpence none the richer (off of the IJM benefit album disc 1)

I'm encouraged that the seemingly superficial celebrities are being placed in front of people like Anuradha Koirala. May the inspiration they receive change them in such a way that they change their fans, if that's how that has to happen.

To do and to listen to

2010-11-18T16:29:00.004-06:00

I nearly weep every time I see this information and am not led to despair, but spurned on to action. I pray this for you, as well. Please watch the link to this video and if it does to you what it does to me, then this song by Brooke Fraser, "Albertine," is helpful to hear. Click on the links below to watch and listen. Mark 14:34.

International Justice Mission (they work against modern day slavery and sex trafficking).

"Albertine"-- Brooke Fraser

If you want more information, ask me. I believe the LORD is blessing the efforts of the youth who are trying to send money to IJM to free slaves.

Psalm 12.

Concerned,

Becca

Things are happening...

2010-10-25T12:14:00.005-05:00

I remember a while back when our youth group used to do silly things like gross games and stuff... wait... we still do that. :) Anyway, I used to get really embarrassed about it, like friends of mine were judging us for doing stupid stuff as the church. It's just easy to be really critical of the church, especially when the church isn't acting like Jesus.

Lately, though, I can't be ashamed of what's happening with us. God's doing big stuff. I looked at the wailing wall in the youth area this morning, first thing, and realized the weightiness of life--the lives of the youth that enter this building every week. You guys come in with heaviness and hardships in your life and you are saying, by your commitment to God's ministry to the poor and the weak and the outcast in the world, that following Jesus is bigger than your life.

I hope what I am saying is making sense here.

I am saying that I am so proud to be identified with the youth @ Christ UMC.

I know that we should take no credit here, because it is God's leading. I am saying to the youth: As, I guess, your older sister in the faith, I am so proud to see that you are growing in the grace and the knowledge of God. I have prayed that our worship on Sundays would be more than just a time of superficial singing. I prayed when we started Engage in the Movement that it would be more than we even knew. More than just emotion. And it is. I have prayed for the Holy Spirit to be among us. The Holy Spirit is among us. God is answering prayer in this ministry.

On the wailing wall, a prayer was put up (on a neon orange post-it) that said, "I'm losing myself." I don't know who put up that super honest prayer, but right above it was what was obviously an answer to prayer. Right above it (on a neon yellow post-it) read this: "I want to hug you. Come find me. Love, Bekah" God is moving. He is moving by giving us genuine love for each other and by moving us outside of our own lives to care for the lives around us. What a beautiful community!

It is so refreshing to feel like, in small but big ways like above, we are really being the church, really being Jesus' disciples because in simple ways we really love each other.

John 13:34-35

I am not saying we are altogether perfect or wonderful.
We are trying.
Thank God.
We are trying.
I am saying what's happening is wonderful.

May we recognize that this is the movement of God.
This is not our movement.
This is not by our power.
May that recognition create thankfulness in us.
This is God moving.
This is what we prayed for.
He hears us.
He's answering.
Things are happening.

This is God's glory.
Psalm 57:5

Love,

Becca

Something to Die For - theworkofthepeople.com

2010-10-14T14:33:00.000-05:00

Michelle McLaughlin Interview

2010-08-16T15:56:00.004-05:00

Becca: What is your favorite question?

Michelle: If you could be anywhere in the world doing something, what would it be? And where would you be?

Becca: If you could be anywhere in the world doing something, what would it be? And where would you be?

Michelle: In a third world country doing mission work.

Becca: what school do you go to?

Michelle: Baker.

Becca: How long have you gone there?

Michelle: A week and one day, so six days.

Becca: What's it like?

Michelle: Different.

Becca: Different how?

Michelle: There's a lot more violence and cussing than a private school.

Becca: How have you been at handling that?

Michelle: Better than I thought I would.

Becca: How many new friends do you have already?

Michelle: You really want me to count or estimate?

Becca: Yeah.

Michelle: Twenty? No, 19.

Becca: Favorite Music.

Michelle: Type?

Becca: mmm... whatever...

Michelle: Alternative

Becca: Who, then?

Michelle: Like, We the Kings and... if it's Christian...TobyMac, Barlow Girl... other than that... Eminem... i can't really think and i don't have my iTunes library

Becca: Favorite Movie

Michelle: Um... The Breakfast Club... or the new Alice in Wonderland.

Becca: Tell me how you feel about SIFAT.

Michelle: It helped me realize a bunch and... makes me want to do something and I felt like I was a Christian, but I wasn't really doing anything. I was coming to church and being with God, but I felt like I wasn't like spreading His love to other people, and when you got home, for the first little while I felt depressed because I left SIFAT, but now I'm just ready to put the things we learned there into practice, I guess.

Oh, and I realized I'm never alone.

Becca: Cool, so, first, what did you learn at SIFAT that you are ready to put into practice here?

Michelle: Not using as much stuff and... it really does no good to be upset about stuff, so i'm trying to help other people with that... I don't know if that makes sense...

Becca: Upset about what?

Michelle: worrying and feeling lonely that causes people to feel depressed... and you're really never alone, and I never really grasped that until I went to SIFAT.

Becca: How did you realize at SIFAT or what made you realize at SIFAT that you're never alone?

Michelle: I don't really know how to answer this... like, seeing people who have gone through a lot of stuff in their life that's really hard, and seeing them now being so happy, and realizing that God was with them the whole time through everything, and I realized that it's a lot easier to think that you're never alone, 'cause you aren't. And I have a bracelet that makes me realize I'm never alone that Carter [camp counselor] gave to me.

Becca: What's your favorite spiritual thing?

Michelle: Worship.

Becca: What do you mean by that?

Michelle: Like, I feel most connected to God when we're worshipping, like singing.

Becca: Why do you think that is?

Michelle: Way to make these questions so difficult. Did you really just type that? Haha.

Um... I guess it's just 'cause I'm most happy when I'm worshipping, 'cause it's like a happy thing to do, and I feel closest to God when I'm happy and being around people who are happy all the time makes me feel closer to God.

Becca: Have you ever felt close to God when you're sad?

Michelle: Mhm. Yeah.

Becca: So, another tough question.

Michelle: Great.

Becca: So, is it the happy that you like best as far as worship is concerned, if you've felt close to God when you're sad, too? What is it that you really like about worship?

Michelle: I guess because we're doing something for God, like praising Him.

Becca: What is your favorite food?

Michelle: Mexican.

Becca: I've heard you be called a leader, why do you think that is?

Michelle: Sigh... I really don't know, 'cause i don't necessarily agree with that statement, but so many people have told me that, but I don't really see myself as one.

Becca: How does it make you feel that people say that about you? It's okay to be honest.

Michelle: I mean, I guess it makes me feel good, but then bad, because if so many people are telling me that I'm not really doing anything about that helps God, I guess. Like, if i'm a leader I should be leading people towards God and I don't feel like I've done that.

Becca: When did you start feeling bad about it?

Michelle: About a month and a half ago.

Becca: Why then?

Michelle: 'cause somebody told me I'm a leader and could use those qualities for God and I haven't.

Becca: So, was that before or after SIFAT?

Michelle: Before.

Becca: So, are you doing stuff now or trying to do stuff that makes good use of your leadership ability?

Michelle: I'm trying to, but I don't really know where to start.

Becca: But I bet you have some kind of idea?

Michelle: Not really.

Becca: Ok, we'll see.

Becca: What extracurricular activities do you do?

Michelle: About to play basketball, but i don't really like basketball, i just kind of have to play. And I play volleyball in the spring.

Becca: You ride horses, right?

Michelle: Not so much anymore.

Becca: Alright, last question... maybe. How do you think of God? Like, what's He like? What do you think of when you think of God?

Michelle: I don't know if this is bad, but, I don't think of him like our Father, like we're supposed to, but like a really old big brother who knows everything, but not a know-it-all, and can protect me from everything.

Becca: Cool.

Becca: If you could be doing something anywhere right now, no matter the cost, what would it be?

Michelle: With all my friends up in the mountains somewhere camping like by a lake and just hang out in the woods and all be together.

Becca: Favorite weather

Michelle: Cold.

The End.

Q's With Sweeney!

2010-05-12T11:30:00.003-05:00

I sat down with Sir Nicholas Sweeney (in the green), asked a bunch of questions, here are some of his answers:

Becca: what's your favorite question?
Sweeney: why do you look so awesome in those shoes?

Becca: why do you look so awesome in those shoes?
Sweeney: 'cause i'm a natural born gangstuh and gangstuhs in gangstuh shoes 'cause they're gangstuh

Becca: who's your mom?
Sweeney: valerie sweeney
Becca: no, i mean who IS your mom?
Sweeney: valerie sweeney
Beccadefine her.
Sweeney: VALERIE REAH SWEENEY!

Becca: what's your favorite spiritual thing?
Sweeney: God.

Becca: have you ever heard God's voice?
Sweeney: yeah.
Becca: what did it sound like?
Sweeney: sounded like a father-figure talking to me, but it was like my voice, but he didn't sound like me. like i heard some words i had never heard before.

Becca: are you royalty?
Sweeney: no, i come from a history of irish mercenaries who were hired by a royal family in sweden to assassinate people
Becca: what kind of people?
Sweeney: i don't know. their enemies. looked it up on my family tree. it's legit.

A question from jeremy: what is the meaning of life?
Sweeney: to worship God and spread his word
Jeremy: what would you say to somebody who's not your youthpastor?
Sweeney: exact same thing.

Jeremy: besides peanut butter and bread, what can you put on a peanut butter sandwich to improve it?
Sweeney: pickles, mustard, alfredo, etc...(I-Becca- couldn't keep with all the toppings...) scrape off the peanut butter and jelly 'cause that's nasty

Becca: where do you go to school?
Sweeney: Mary G Montgomery

Becca: what's it like?
Sweeney: a war zone.
(Someone else asked this...): ww2 or desert storm?
Sweeney: ww1-trench warfare

Becca: where was the first church you went to?
Sweeney: springhill ... a lutheran... no, a catholic church. or a lutheran church in florida

Becca: how do you think of God? what's he like?
Sweeney: father-figure. since i've never had one, he's like been there. like if i had a bad day i could just sit there and talk to him or when [i'm in trouble] for my bad grades, 'cause i do get them a lot and i go to summer school.

Becca: do you have a favorite bible story? or verse?
Sweeney: when those kids are mocking elisha about being bald and God called the female bears to kill them, it's pretty brutal.

Becca: what's the weirdest thing about you?
Sweeney: there's a hole in my chest

Becca: who's your best friend?
Sweeney: i haven't seen him in forever, but i still text him. alex scrimpshire. he looks like me, but blonde. met him in 5th grade it was amazing. we sat on the bus together.

Becca: if you could change anything in the world, what would you change?
Sweeney: the way people feel about drugs, 'cause there's some messed up things going on today with drugs.

Becca: what kind of things are you involved in?
Sweeney: ROTC, life, church, and i owe my mom lots of money

Becca: what makes you mad?
Sweeney: drugs. they make me mad. and spiderman. he's has no real super powers

Becca: what's your favorite song?
Sweeney: "golgotha" by With Blood Comes Cleansing. it has like the most amazing breakdown.

Jeremy: look at becca's posterboard area, at those two bananas, which will taste better? (one is brown and spotted, the other normal)
Sweeney: neither, 'cause bananas give me acid reflux, i can't swallow them, 'cause i'll be like ughghghgughgugh!

Bill: shortest hair cut?
Sweeney: centimeter

Blake via cell phone: do you believe that jeremy steele knows what a defensive back is?
Sweeney: no.

Becca: what do you wanna do when you get older?
Sweeney: be a marine.

Becca: what do you wanna do tomorrow?
Sweeney: i want to play xbox and stay home

Becca: what do you wanna be known for?
Sweeney: i wanna be known as the person who helped the other man who had nothing. gave him something.

Post-q's: Sweeney is gonna try and write a little about his past that God has redeemed him from, it'll be posted here when that comes in.

Q's: with THE Sarah Grace Kirkendall

2010-05-04T11:03:00.002-05:00

I sat down with Sarah Grace Kirkendall (she's the 2nd from the left), asked lots of questions, here are a few of her answers:

Becca: What is your favorite question?
Sarah Grace: "What's your favorite question?".

Becca: What is your favorite question?
Sarah Grace: "What's your favorite question?".

Becca: What is your favorite spiritual thing?
Sarah Grace: Is worship a spiritual thing?
Becca: yes. so, that?
Sarah Grace: yes.

Becca: What is your favorite song?
Sarah Grace: Ever?
Becca: Ever.
Sarah Grace: Ever... "Revelation Song".

Becca: Who is your mom?
Sarah Grace: Sarah Glenn Connell

Becca: How many siblings do you have?
Sarah Grace: Step included? 4.

Becca: What is that like?
Sarah Grace: annoying

Becca: How often do you ride your bike?
Sarah Grace: As often as i need to come here, As often as I feel like and need some exercise.
Becca: How often do you think that is?
Sarah Grace: At least 3x a month

Becca: Where do you go to school?
Sarah Grace: St. Paul's episcopal school.

Becca: What is the real world?
Sarah Grace: nothing...

Becca: Who is your best friend?
Sarah Grace: I have lots of best friends. Payton Sibley. Bronwynn Bunce. Courtney McLarty. Hannah Kraljevic. Ellis Glass. Eveline Edens. Becca Griffin (nice). Zachary Lott. I dont' know the rest.

Becca: How do you think of God?
Sarah Grace: King of Kings.
Becca: What's he's like?
Sarah Grace: How should i know, i've never met the guy!
Becca: What do you think he's like?
Sarah Grace: Amazing.

Becca: If you could solve one thing in the world, what would it be?
Sarah Grace: Drama. (she answered before I finished the question.)

Becca: What's your favorite food?
Sarah Grace: Cranberry chicken with green bean casserole and orange salad, that my grandmother used to make. she didn't make the green bean casserole though, that's me

Becca: Are you royalty?
Sarah Grace: What kind of question is that? ... If God's the king of kings and i'm his daughter, technically I'm royalty.

Becca: Who do you stalk on Facebook?
Sarah Grace: i'm not a stalker, like becca griffin, i don't stalk people on facebook

Becca: How do you feel about Justin Beiber?
Sarah Grace: Since his voice changed, he's lost most of his talent, but he's still hot.

Becca: What's your favorite bible story or verse?
Sarah Grace: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" Phil 4:13.
my favorite story is joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat.
Becca: why?
Sarah Grace: it's interesting.
Becca: how?
Sarah Grace: 'cause the dad likes joseph more than he likes the rest of his kids.
Becca: what else?
Sarah Grace: even though he's put in a well and sold to people for being a slave, he still gets through and becomes powerful and gunk.

Becca: What's your favorite TV show?
Sarah Grace: i don't watch tv. ha, yeah i do. no favorite.
Becca: what do you like?
Sarah Grace: all of it. tv is tv.

Becca: if you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?
Sarah Grace: exactly where i am, 'cause that's where i have to be and that's where i am right now.
Becca: youre not answering the question.
Sarah Grace: yeah i am.
Becca: no you're not.
Sarah Grace: yeah i am. are you really gonna continue on with all this?

Becca: without looking, what time is it?
Sarah Grace: 5:37. ah, i was off! it's 5:57.

Becca: what do you wanna do tomorrow?
Sarah Grace: go to sleep. i don't know what i wanna do. i kinda wanna go swimming, but i always wanna do that. what do you wanna do tomorrow?
Becca: nothing
Sarah Grace: nothing? you lazy bum.

Becca: what do you wanna be when you get older?
Sarah Grace: a youth minister!

Becca: last question: what do you wanna be known for?
Sarah Grace: in what?
Becca: life
Sarah Grace: what kinda question is that? ...knowing what i'm known for

Becca: favorite body of water?
Sarah Grace: gulf shores?
Becca: you mean the gulf of mexico
Sarah Grace: sure. i don't know what i mean.

Becca: favorite thing in the universe?
Sarah Grace: God.

Becca: favorite country?
Sarah Grace: what kinda question is that?
Becca: well?
Sarah Grace: america. i haven't been anywhere else.

Becca: favorite subject?
Sarah Grace: math

Becca: favorite movie?
Sarah Grace: steel magnolias or the notebook

Becca: should i ask you another question?
Sarah Grace: no.

Becca: is there a question you would've asked?
Sarah Grace: no. i 've already asked a lot of questions.

Post story:
...Sarah grace will interview me next time, since she has already started that process here. Later... (though she insists on now)

Next to be Q'd: (drum roll, please)... Sweeney!

Nick Sweeney on shoes, drugs, God, life, and the real Nick Sweeney

2010-04-22T00:43:00.005-05:00

Coming Soon to a blog near you...

Great Book You Should Definitely Buy

2010-04-21T00:33:00.010-05:00

Peter Rollins wrote this. You, my friends, should read this. He writes his own (I believe they are actually factually his own.) parables that really make you stop and consider what they are saying. Actually, you don't have to think about what they mean all that hard, because he writes a short commentary on each parable that follows. Each parable is anywhere from 1-3 pages long and the commentary is the same. It's brilliant. Not that there aren't already relevant books that exist about Christianity and Jesus and the world and whatnot, but I haven't found any as pleasing as those written by Sir Peter Rollins. It's just good. Read up.

amena brown your words

2010-04-14T17:37:00.001-05:00

she's a great poet:

Coming Soon...

2010-03-08T01:16:00.002-06:00

I'm putting this here, so that I remember to post something soon on one of the youth at our church. I must decide who 'twill be, then I will interview them properly and relay the interview straight to whom it may concern. I'm excited... I think I'll start doing that fairly frequently: bios on the kiddos. Lovely, just lovely. Enjoy the music.

Yes.

Becca

Ash Wednesday Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer

2010-02-17T10:46:00.004-06:00

I like liturgical things, where they give you already written prayers to read/pray to God and they lead you toward scripture for specific occasions... I have found it helpful recently, when a family friend was near death (he is better now, Praise the Mystery of God's healing), and today on Ash Wednesday. I think uniting with the church in liturgical traditions like Ash Wednesday and shared prayers is splendid. So here's the Lentin saying and prayer for Today, Ash Wednesday:

Dear People of God:

The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord's
passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for
them a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a
time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was
also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from
the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and
restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation
was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel
of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew
their repentence and faith.
I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a
holy Lent, by self-examination and repentence; by prayer, fasting, and
self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God's holy Word. And, to
make a right beginning of repentence, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us
now kneel before the Lord, our maker and redeemer.

Let us pray:

Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you
have made and
forgive the
sins of all who are penitent: Create and
make in us new
and contrite
hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging
our wickedness,
may obtain of you, the God of all
mercy, perfect remission
and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen.

Then it gives you apropos (I had to look up how to spell that, but...now i know) Scripture:

Old Testament: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58:
1-12 Psalm: 103 or 103:8-14 Epistle: 2 Corinthians
5:20b-6:10 Gospel: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

So, that's that for Today. Happy Ash Wednesday... If you read all of that, nice. If not, still nice.

Becca

P.s.--I'm writing this in between classes at school (University of Mobile) and just so you know, this is one of the reasons I came here. It hangs in the stairwell in our arty building we call Martin. PG: Pretty Good...

Something New ...and Old... perhaps blue... that's up to you

2010-02-08T16:46:00.008-06:00

So, I added (on the right side of this blog, as you can see ... there...) a list of my favorite poems. I'll be adding to it occasionally. I won't be sorting it alphabetically, which is an option, so i think the new ones will show up as I add them to the top. Whatever, my favorite poems coming your way! I think i'll add them to the right panel of my creative writing blog, tambien ("also" or "too" en espanol--"in spanish" :)) The first poems added are from the surrounding poets. Lovely, right?

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

2010-02-03T23:11:00.001-06:00

MyHeritage: Celebrity Collage - Free genealogy - Family websites

Avatar

2010-01-04T21:46:00.005-06:00

It's just good.
Spiritually.
Emotionally.
Special Effects.
Storyline.
Creativity.
Beauty.
Etc...

I will most likely buy this movie. Initially, when I saw this trailer, I didn't want to see it, but it is So good! I'll probably start saying, "I see you," now. I liked the movie.

DISCLAIMER: There is some strong language, so beware of that.

Delightful

2010-01-04T21:22:00.001-06:00

I like this...

2009-09-16T22:29:00.000-05:00

Summer has gone on vacation...

2009-08-20T01:13:00.007-05:00

Indeed! And it has left us alone with our friend school. :) Oh, school. Hope you all are enjoying your school mates...mates... I always rather liked my school mates. I still hang out with the same people I hung out with in high school. AND I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER ABOUT IT! I like mis amigas. (Translation: I like my friends.) I am supposed to be reading for a paper I have to write right now. Instead, I'm avoiding doing hard things...by doing this. It's actually not a bad bit of a book to read, but I got distracted by the song on my...ahem...new iPhone! Yeah, I got one and it's pretty nice and handy. I have an art appreciation class and I have this art app where I can just look up the paintings by the artist she's talking about and stare at it as long as I want and THEN save it to my favorites within that app. It's beautiful. Well done, apple! ANYWAY, yes I got distracted by my iPhone, which seems to be a common occurrance as of late. I was listening to Pandora and a song came up and I was like wow, this is such a good song, I'm going to put it on my blog. True. So then, I went to add it to my blog and I have two blogs so I was like which blog should I put it on? I think I was listening to a song by the lovely Corinne Bailey Rae at the time. Then, I got the place where you get the codes to add songs to your blog and I got distracted thinking about other songs that I like. SO, I ended up not putting a Corinne Bailey Rae song on my blog at all. Ridiculous, I know. I put a song by Jars of Clay on this blog, it's one of my favorites and has been for a long time, and I put a song by India Arie on my creative writing blog. Yes. That's what I did. The song by India Arie makes me smile a lot and sometimes laugh. Because it's funny and clever. No, those aren't the same. Jessie would say that they are the same because they are both words she would use to describe me, but other than that...they're different. You can tell Jessie I said she thinks I'm clever and funny. She may deny she thinks that, but that's just because she's embarrassed to reveal how much she admires my wit. She's shy about things that mean a lot to her. Where was I? Right, I got distracted from my homework to put a song on my blog and now, here I am doing this... and looking at my toes... I got a new color of fingernail polish called "Canal St." It's like a brownish-reddish-blackish color. I like it a lot. Well, I should probably go now. I might read some more of this thing I was supposed to already have read now. Do good in school! Don't get too distracted, although, distractions are sometimes quite nice. Yes, quite. Gute Nacht! That's for Anna :).

Yes.

Becca

P.s.--Anna taught me this German word that's as big as the Earth the other day, and I can't say it, but here it is: haifischzahnfleiscgentuendungstropfen. Yeah, i think it means "matchbox." That's just uncalled for. Anna is cool. Ja. Es ist wahr.

P.P.S..--Anna corrected me... haifischzahnfleiscgentuendungstropfen is some sort of shark medicine for toothaches... this word: schtreichholzschaechtelchtelchen, actually means matchbox... I stand corrected ;) I think I got that right... see her comment... it's below... she's right... She's also German.

This is good. Watch all of the parts that follow, if you like. I liked.

2009-07-19T01:26:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sRsOhy_WWA&feature=PlayList&p=B9E3E8FF329EB156&index=7

2009-07-06T01:41:00.002-05:00

Yay Relevant Classes!

2009-06-16T02:19:00.004-05:00

I took this class at Integrity that's offered through mi escuela, University of Mobile, and it was really wonderful. I'm still finishing up the course work. I took the class part of the course last week. It's pretty sweet because we only have one full week of class. There is a lot of post-seminar and pre-seminar work, but not an overwhelming amount, though making time to do the work requires some discipline. Discipline is something I struggle with a lot. Anywho, the class was really good for seeing what the church is and our functions as related to Acts 2 and numerous other scripture that speak of worship and what the early church did. It was an enormously informative and edifying class. It opened my eyes to some pretty cool creative ideas and mostly brought the realization of all the possibilities for creativity in the church. It was really encouraging. I like creativity. Also, one of the books we read for the class, Discerning the Spirits, by Cornelius Plantinga Jr. and Sue A Rozeboom (both strange names), was GREAT. It's about the church and worship and such. It's pretty good, to say the least. I highly recommend it if you're wondering about church issues and worship and practical advice about dealing with current issues in worship. The book is sort of a compilation of dialogues between different people concerned with the church. It came out of a big meeting where lots of people discussed this sort of stuff for a long time. I believe I just made this book sound boring. I didn't mean to. It's really good and my review of it may not do it justice. ANYWHO, I just wanted to recommend the book. Main point of this blog=book recommendation. Here's a picture of it. DON"T JUDGE THE BOOK BY ITS COVER, like I do all the time. :) Ok, it's good. The end.

We Need Your Help

2009-04-15T16:30:00.006-05:00

That's the title of a song I wrote a while back, so I decided to let it do what it was best at... being a title. Anyway, I was talking to mi amiga Amanda today at lunch (around 11:30, if you like specifics). It was a more intense conversation than we have had in the past because we were talking about what it looks like to live like we believe that the Bible teaches the best way to live. Right, so we were fellowshipping biblically, me and Amanda. We were talking about when Jesus is coming back and the excitement and terror that thinking about that brings. It was a really encouraging and challenging conversation.

You know how after a really intense and Spirit-filled conversation you just feel like everything you do and every decision you make is more important? Well, sometimes I feel that way anyway. Or maybe conversations about important things just make me more aware of how important I make unimportant things like coolness (I don't know why I still chase after that one), composure, television, outward appearance, and whatever else...

Anyway, then I found myself in choir (to say you found yourself somewhere makes it sound like a surprise...funny...). Sometimes I feel really uncomfortable in choir. I'm not sure why, but I have never felt at home or myself there. A lot of times when I am uncomfortable in a situation like that, I try to act "cool." By "cool" I think I mean composed and hidden. I start to get this mindset like everything everyone else does is stupid. What a hypocrite this makes me because I am quite good at doing stupid things. :) . Well, today, as I have before, I realized how ridiculous it is to make my aim being cool or chill, if you will, when my aim should be sharing the love of Christ, the love in me, the kindness he gives me with the people around me. How selfish it is to hold back the love we have from the people the Lord puts around us. I think I do this all of the time. I mean, what if me showing love means me making a dumb joke about something in choir. Who knows? And if I'm trying to be cool and I don't say anything then I am withholding this love from them. My discomfort shouldn't make me withhold love. Right...

Then, I went home and I was really tired. So, instead of typing out my paper, I sat down on the couch to eat lunch and watch TV. Why is TV so addictive?! I just kept watching and kept watching. I think it's okay to watch TV, but it's like I can't break my trance when I'm watching it by myself. When I'm by myself. That's the problem--being alone.

We just need each other's help. We need the help of the Spirit. We just can't do all this living, following Jesus, caring, thinking, having self-control, being encouraged stuff by ourselves.

Friends and family=good=from God. See video below for further edification about us needing each other :).

Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. --James 1:16-17--

I like Barbra Streisand, that's all.

2009-03-24T00:05:00.004-05:00

The Cross

2009-03-10T02:09:00.005-05:00

I wonder what the equivalent of the cross in our day is? I mean, people say that it's the electric chair or something like that in our day. However, leaving it at that seems to be a simplistic comparison. The cross that Jesus took up had in its path scourging, being spit on, hearing ignorant attempts at insult and jeering and accusations from religious fools. What is the equivalent in our day? Hm...I don't know. I guess we'll know if we follow Jesus? Jesus said (Mark 8), "deny yourself, take up your cross, follow me...." To describe his words as a challenge is an understatement. He's always more. Always higher, deeper, cooler, closer, etc. Just thinking. Just sayin'. Click below for some audio-visual-thought-provocation: http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/index.php?ct=store.details&pid=V00011

Yes.

Becca

"Your love is strong." --Jon Foreman

Amazing Grace

2009-02-18T23:48:00.012-06:00

I loved it. With music constantly the background, we studied hymns, spiritual songs, contemporary worship songs, and even a few pop songs. We looked at grace and love and who God is in hymns like "Amazing Grace," "Come Thou Fount," and "O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing." We looked at the story of John Newton and his life and convictions that lie inside the song, "Amazing Grace." We learned God's grace for wretches and how God often uses the least likely people. We talked about how we sing songs so that they remind us of the truth of God. They are easy to remember and they have the ability to touch our hearts, since they are music (beauty). We learned so much. We talked so much. We read the poetry of the people of God. I loved it. Then we talked about the difference in a hymn and spiritual song a little bit, which are mentioned separately in Ephesians and Colossians. Yup, in that one we talked about "God of This City" and the story of the band Bluetree singing it in Pattaya, Thailand over a city plagued with immorality. We talked about our favorite worship songs and hymns and why we love them and when we loved them first and how God reveals Himself to us in them. Through songs like "Mighty to Save," "From the Inside Out," and "Grace Like Rain," we talked about God. We shared the images that these songs bring and what those images teach us and how they inspire us. We talked about our favorite songs in all genres of music. Through these songs we realized how much we desire love...BIG LOVE. Carter brought in a song called "Agape," by For Today. It was a screamo song with a great message from scripture (Deut. 6 and Mark 12...) about loving God will all of our heart, soul, mind and strength and about his love. From that song we went from a song about lost love (1234) by Feist which Noel brought in, to a song about great love (The Way You Love Me) by Faith Hill, to a song about relentless love (Ain't No Mountain High Enough) sung by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell and originally written by husband and wife writers--one of my personal favorites:). We talked about other songs to for a bit. I, of course, can't remember them all. It was so great to talk about music like that. We talked about different motivations behind music and characteristics of music. We talked about what kind of things people bring into music. We saw clearly how much we, people, desire love. We have seen, I believe, in all of these songs written by the Bride of Christ, the Church, that God offers us this love that is beyond any love we know. His love satisfies and stays. We looked at the words and melody of "Come Thou Fount." We talked about the truth of mercy and grace in Jesus. We saw how music can show emotion. We looked at the extreme language and imagination of this song. There is so much. I love, as I told the class, how we can use this extreme language with God and for God, like "teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above," and "let Thy goodness like a fetter bind my wand'ring heart to Thee" (or God, I like you so much that I want you to handcuff my heart to You). We took home cd's with the music from class on them. We talked about God being glorified in music and our lives. We talked about the song "O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing" (today). We read the poem of the song by Charles Wesley. We talked about Revelation 5:11, from which this song arises. We talked about why we think God is so great and why we love Him so much. From that we answered the question, "What does that say about who God is?" Some of the girls and guys answered personally and some quietly considered. We just sat and talked about God. I believe just doing that was worship. Then, after talking about why we love God and who He is, we went and listened to the choir sing "O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing." It was powerful to me, personally to hear all those voices singing that song after having talked about who God is and wanting to praise Him with 1000 tongues. I think I heard one of the guys or girls in the class remark, "...imagine if there were actually 1000 people singing that." I was like, "I know! Have you ever just wanted to praise God that much?" Just to be able to drop everything, go get your own personal choir of 1000 and praise God. Yup, He's worth it. One of the girls in the class, Allison asked, "Have you ever heard a song that was like better than going to church?" I said Yes. The Holy Spirit speaks in cool ways. I believe the Spirit of God has spoken to us in this class. Just getting to sit around and talk about what God has done and is doing and who He is in Jesus has been good. It was a new song of a class. Kinda like a freshly picked flower or a bird song or fresh squeezed orange juice or a new friend or an old friend or fresh air or ...

Yes.

Becca

Jude 24-25

Good Day!

2009-01-24T00:42:00.008-06:00

Things that were good about Friday, January the 23rd:

1. The 2 & 3 in this date add up to 5, which is a number that represents grace...at times...I read that somewhere...

2. When writing this date, one writes 1, 2, & 3 in order...which is pleasing.

3. I wore Nolan's large Alabama sweatshirt to school today and it's big and comfortable. I love being comfy. I wore it with my black jeans... which are my favorite pants...

4. I was on time to all of my classes... even the eight o'clock one... rarity...

5. I had my southern literature class today and got to talk about how a society of industrialism is bad for humans

6. I got to teach Catherine guitar, kind of. She's funny.

7. I went to my little cousin, Abi's basketball game... she loved that I was there... which made me feel special and made her feel great, so it was cool... it made her happy, sweet!

8. I ate Greek food with Courtney. Thank you, Zorba the Greek! I ate HUMMUS! They have the best HUMMUS in town, if you ask me.

9. I sang at Gov't St. Baptist's "Strung Out" thing: "A night of laid back music..." and stuff. There were three stages of singingness that played. Twon Mai, The Normandins, and I (Becca Griffin), not in that particular order, had a great time and played some SWEET MUSIC! It was fun and cool. I like the people there. Jessie and Richard came and I think they enjoyed it, too. It was fun to see them there. Also, I had a really cool conversation with a friend of mine, Brittany Henderson, before I went up and sang. Nice. I like good dialogue, indeed. Indeed! After that I got some coffee from Mary and she's cool. Some people are just cool, ya know? I don't even know her that well, but I just get the cool vibe from her. By cool I mean many things I suppose... You could ask me what I mean if you're really that interested... but yeah, cool. It was a good night and I felt priveleged to be there. A good use of an evening, indeed. Indeed!

10. I called Jessie (seen to your right :)) as I was on the way home from the "Strung Out" thing. Yes, she did come to the strung out thing, but I do this thing sometimes where I will call people after they have just left. It's fun. I talked to her for a while and it was fun. She told me not to sleep 'til noon tomorrow (Saturday--which is now today...hm...). I gave her no guarantees... More on that at a later date...

11. Yeah, and now I think I'm gonna go read mi Biblia, porque Jessie, mi amiga Amanda, y yo (Jessie, Amanda, and I) are doing this thing where we read through the Bible in one year. I need to finish reading for today. Um, I love doing this. I know this is a novel thought, but: READING THE BIBLE IS SO GOOD. The word of God is so so so so true and trustworthy and proven and wise and loving and encouraging and provoking and troubling and uncomfortable and different (holy), and it does what it says it does and is useful for what it says it is useful for... pierces betweeen soul and spirit, joints and marrow... it's living and active (it's like it means different things to you at different times in your life... not that it changes, but that you change, grow older, learn stuff...and your perspective makes you see what's written differently than you may have seen it five years ago...), also the word is useful for teaching, training and changing us toward Jesus' ways (2 Timothy 3:14-17)...in this song I wrote it says: "Jesus, Right is the Way You are"... Yeah... it's just right... it's a good fit... it's peaceful and whole... Good. So yeah, thanks to mi amigas (my friends) who are doing this with me... It really helps and spurs me on. Woot woot, we need good friends, right? Indeed. They help. I need it.

12. Goodnight. I hope to have cool dreams. Oh and sweet dreams to you, too.

Yes.

Becca

P.S.--Mad props to Aretha Frankline for singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" at the Inauguration! Beauty.

A LOT

2008-12-20T23:42:00.010-06:00

Okay, so there's a lot to talk about since I last blogged, I suppose. The only way that I can briefly summarize these holy days (a.k.a. holidays :)) is with a list-ish type of thing...

Okay so here are some things I have enjoyed lately:

1) Going to atlanta to visit one of my most favorite people to ever grace this planet... Lauren... with two others who are also in the list of most favorites... Amanda and Jessie. I'm not sure why I always say Amanda's name first, must be an alphabetical thing, since spelling and things of an alphabetical nature are amusing to me. Anyway, it was splendid. We ate...a lot... watched a lot of movies... saw The Secret Life of Bees (see below:)), which is WONDERFUL. Seriously, it was beautiful. LOVE it... a lot. All in all, grade A film, grade A+ friends, and grade A trip... definitely.

2) Making a ridiculous amount of origami ornaments for Jessie's Christmas tree. Seriously, it was... a lot. I made foxes (an entire family full of flavor/big and small foxes made of paper). I made grasshopper that jump when you very carefully hit the end of them (it's cute... I also made lots of those). I made a small family of penguins. I made a large community of hearts (because I'm not sure that you can say hearts have families... maybe you can). I made 2 boats (one boat is named "JENNY" like in Forrest Gump and the other boat really doesn't look like a boat, it looks like a sombrero). I accidentally made a sombrero. I made a butterfly that flaps its wings when you do this weird thing with it (it's cool). I made the star of David... very cool... I think that's it, really. Good stuff. Jessie liked them and they were a nice accent to her candy canes and angel tree angels with friends and family names on them and also Friends' (yes, the show) character names on them... Most random tree ever. I like it. Oh yeah, and I made a bird, too... it's a dove, for peace... "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me! Let there be peace on earth, a peace that was meant to be! Other words and other words and something eternally! Let there be peace on earth and let it begin.... with me!" Great song... great song... Peace!

3) The 50's Christmas party where John Johnson and Sweeney both dressed as if they were from the 70's... Sweeney looked like John Lennon and John looked like the host of Match Game, at least his suit did... :)... we got to learn hip 50's dances... there was hulla hooping, there was tinsel, there was tin foil all over the place... we made awesome cars out of cardboard and inhaled lots of spray paint in the process... Josh Kaiser used his air brush machine thing to put fire on one of the cars... cool. Very cool. We had milkshakes, we took a group picture... We ate burgers and fries... Jessica Stallworth was the ultimate 50's house wife... splendid!... All in all, it was the best Christmas party I believe I've ever attended. Yes, indeed. Good people, good fun, good times, good eats (which is a good show on a good channel-known as the food channel... notice that food and good only have one letter that makes them different and that letter is only one away from the other in the alphabet... just sayin')... Good Party... woot woot!

4) Not having to think about school. Wait, I just thought about it... ugh... that is all I have to say about that... We're not prolonging these school thoughts.

5) There's so much more... I'll add to this later... it's getting late... :)

6) Okay, back to listings of things... I love the unity that comes with Christmas... the joy of the Lord that mysteriously appears when people give of themselves... It's just good... It is no accident, I think, that on the holiday that we celebrate Jesus entering this world there is such unity and joy and giving and friendship and smiling and laughing and beauty and lights... It's cool.

7) I got a new Bible! It's neato and so nice. I feel like it's too nice for me :). But i like it. It's leather, it's got this weird strappy thingy... anyway... i'll show it to you if you ask... I just hope I make good use of it. Sometimes I'm so unmotivated to read scripture, but every time i read it's so cool (and i'm not just saying that). Every time I spend time reading God's word, it just pierces me. Anywho, so i hope to read more in the coming year, 'cause i need it. But yeah, so this Bible should be good motivation. It's just such a nice gift from mi familia.

8)What else...Christmas services where i get really overwhelmed before-hand by the amount of people that I am seeing that I haven't seen in a while... I can't have a single really good convo with anyone because I can't focus because of all the people that are around that I want to have really good convos with... Whew, visciously joyous cycle... or whatever.

9)Other stuff... this blog is too long...

10) Jesus. The perfect 10 to complete the list, right? But really. Greater love has no man than he lay his life down for his friends. I wonder what his favorite things about Christmas are... hmmm... I mean, other than the movie Elf, I'm sure he has his things he likes...

Joy to the World the Lord is Come!

Yes.

Becca

Visual Liturgy

2008-12-02T11:58:00.006-06:00

The following should be read out loud with a British accent:

Hullo! So, there's this website called "theworkofthepeople.com" it's cool 'cause it's got really awesome videos, but it's not like youtube, which is also pretty wonderfulness. Every now and then I go to this website, 'cause it's totally/mostly relevant to what's going on in the world and our culture and Christianity and stuff as such. Anywhy, it's really encouraging and sometimes challenging as far as our life with Christ is concerned. It has inspired me, made me cry (i know, that's always somewhat awkward to say, but i'm a girl so perhaps it's expected, and also, I'm me, so maybe that makes it somewhatishness predictable, too), made me mad, made me sad, made me glad, made me plaid... Okay, it didn't make me plaid, but if it did, that would also be cool... momentarily cool... if i stayed plaid, that would not be cool. Then I would have to mark "other" when some kind of form asked me my race and in the blank beside "other" i would have to put "plaid." No one would believe me until they saw me and then they would be like, "What happened?!" And I would be like, "I turned plaid because of the awesomeness of this website called, "theworkofthepeople.com." But really, it gets me thinking about stuff, like Christmas and what that was like back in the whoa-Jesus-was-just-born days. Sometimes, we just realize the lie that our culture feeds us. And then it gives this sick feeling of how am I caught so deep in this worldliness and its shallowness. Caught deep in shallowness, that's a nice paradox. Well, yeah, so ... oh yeah, and "Liturgy" literally means "the work of the people." And the website is visual. That's why my title.... right right. Careful of turning plaid when you visit this sight. But hey, maybe turning plaid won't be so bad. You might stick out a bit, but maybe that's not such an insufferable thing after all... hm? Thoughts! Good day.

Yes.

Becca

Thanks!

2008-11-19T16:23:00.007-06:00

Guess who started Thanksgiving??? Yup, that's right. Abraham Lincoln. Maybe He only looks unfriendly, kinda like Jessie. She really is fairly friendly deep down. Maybe she'll become the first female president and declare another holiday. To that I am not opposed. She'll do great things. She is doing them. Being mi amiga is no small task...Yup, Jessie and Abraham Lincoln...close to being the same person...gender excluded... Abe had a hard life (which may account for the solemn facial expressions)... read about it if you're curious... and then he went off and started a day where we stop and thank God our Father for his mercy... Nice! Here's What He said:

President Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation

October 1863

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

So, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. It's even cooler to know that it was started to thank our God for His mercy. Yup, he's gracious. I am so thankful for our church, the community we have, the people I love. I was driving home today and thinking about how blessed I've been in mind, thought, gift, time, wisdom, etc. by the people around me. It's good. Anywho, so yeah... I'm pretty thankful. I don't express it enough. Hopefully this holiday i'll find some way to express my thanks.

Yes.

Becca

1 Chronicles 16

2008-09-27T10:40:00.002-05:00

"The Noon Sweat"

Alone in shame & defeat
You speakFailure & lies screaming
You whisper,"Be still and know
Who I am.
If you knew the gift
And Who it is that speaks
I ask from you
In order that I may give
Water for life.
You doubt in the deep darkness
When you can't grasp the water.
I tell you
It's not that the well is too deep.
In fact, the opposite is true.
Water will not quench
Unless it lives
And it is I who can give.
You have five.
But You have none.
This is true.
Confusion is not
For you
Not on this mountain
Nor in the city of peace I weep for
There is so much more
The wind blows where it wishes
Not seeing where home is
Knowing it is as Spirit
We are, too.
Spirit & Truth
Exhaling our only life
In order to breathe,"Glorious!"
To Father King seeking daughter
She needs Spirit-Knowing Truth
Looking for redemption,You are.
I am he
Who is speaking.
No food do I want.
With fields white
Harvest time.
The beauty of the field
Vastness of the sea
You are
For I call you clean.
Drop your jar and run.
Tell them you've fallen in love...
With the King's Son.
They will know Because I told you.
And you will see
Water welling up to eternity.

Inspired by *John 4*
by Becca

2008-09-20T13:51:00.013-05:00

The story begins.
Like the wind,
I do not know from
Whence it comes.

The herald shouts (as if to sing):
THE KING! THE KING!
All fall in line behind THE KING!
THE KING!
Celebrate HIS victory!
He's won the war!
He is victorious in all He does!
MAY HE LIVE FOREVER!

And then HE turns and speaks to me- me!-
The peasant falling behind.
He looks at me with a steady gaze of love as He rides high on his horse.
His robe is more beautiful than anything I've ever called beautiful.
His face glows with something so weighty and powerful and significant,
That I know this must be what GLORY is.
His eyes burn like fire.
But they do not pain me.
The fire is wild in His eyes, this must be PASSION.
And He says, "Fall in line."
Now,
Had anyone else said that it might not sound exciting.
But to fall in line with the KING,
This makes me a noble Knight,
Worthy to fight on His side,
Worthy to sit at His table
Worthy to wear His crest.
As I walk behind,
As I fall in line,
All this time I see Him
Up ahead, leading the way.
His presence is one of majesty.
Then I take a look at the people around me.
I make a practice of looking at Him
And back at them.
Again and again, for days as we ride home
I continue staring, noticing
He and His people
(Including me!).
I notice, some (like me!) have joined along the way.
Some joined the journey a few days earlier than me,
Some a few days later.
And I notice, I see that the longer we all fall in line behind the KING,
The more I see we become like the KING.
He has let us ride on His horses,
And though at first we didn't know how,
Now,
We are riding high like the KING.
Becoming like Him, we become inviting.
Like Him, we ask people on the road to join us.
Saying, "Fall in line," isn't so much a demand.
It is an invitation to come join the ride on the way to the kingdom
Of the One who rides high.
Sure, we don't know where exactly we're going.
Looking around at the faces who were dingy and discouraged when they first mounted the King's horses,
I see something familiar on them all.
I see that fire I saw in His eyes.
I see that beauty I saw in His countenance,
Now taking over them.
And I think, "Could it be,
I, too, am becoming like the KING?"
We stopped to rest on our way
To the unknown place.
The KING came over and took my face in His hands.
He said softly,
"What a man!"
I felt like I was the Prince Himself.
Again, with the fire forever blazing in His eyes,
He looked at me.
He looked at me!
He led me over to the bank of the river we had stopped beside.
He pushed me closer to the edge
And told me to look out.
"See the sky and the sun blazing bright?
What beauty,
What passion
Must have created this?"
He said it with a smile.
Then He looked at me.
He then looked down
And I did, too.
After all, when a KING like Him does something,
Of course, so do you.
Why wouldn't one want to see where He's looking?
Then I realized
What He was looking at was me.
He was looking at me!
My reflection was in the river.
He gave a sigh
And then a laugh that sounded like He just heard the best news ever spoken.
He took me in His arms
And said something I thought beyond belief.
In all my confusion,
All my curiosity,
All my joy that he was embracing me-
Embracing me?!-
He said something I had never seen,
Something I thought I'd never hear.
What I wondered,
What I noticed,
What I asked,
Apparently He knew.
I had been looking at my reflection as he was
And then He looked at me
(I know He was because of the reflection, you see).
Again, he was looking at me!
So without the ability to see what He was seeing- me!-
I looked at Him,
Right back into the fire (those eyes!).
And I felt like all at once He knew everything about me.
I asked in my always curious way,
"What do You see?"
I asked because I knew He knew all things
And maybe He could tell me something
About me.
Maybe He would tell me what potential He could see.
I had no idea
What He would say
And I wasn't expecting
Such an answer as He gave.
With His words I was amazed.
For how can a peasant become a KING?
He said, "I SEE ME."

"Hoof -Hearted"?

2008-08-14T15:39:00.011-05:00

School started yesterday... Isn't it ironic, don'tcha think, that school would start on the 13th? Yup, me, too. Actually, as much as I may complain about reading and papers and waking up at a normal hour for classes, I am a nerd deep down. I guess I'm just slightly competitive about school... I love trying to make good grades, challenge myself, write good papers, and learn stuff. There's just so much information in the world and I want to know it all. Not that I can, there's too much info for that. I'll leave the all-knowing characteristic to God, I guess, but in the mean time I'll enjoy learning the random information. Hm... in the last few sentences I just proved myself to be an enormous nerderific person and I think I'm okay with that. I'm taking a lot of music classes this semester and I'm excited/nervous about them. Excited for learning cool stuff, nervous about realizing how much I don't know.

BORING! What else can I talk about?

Oh! This PAST SUMMER! It's been a busy/ unbusy summer. The busy and the unbusy have been in spurts. When camps came around it was really busy here at the office at church, but then there were times like two weeks ago when Jessie and I went to Atlanta. We spent about three days there, I guess. Jessie can correct and will correct me if I'm wrong. :) Anyway, we slept in slightly in the mornings, did random stuff in Atlanta in the afternoons, then hung out with one of my favorite people of all time, Lauren (who we stayed with in Atlanta), in the evenings. Wow, Lauren was my youth intern when I was in high school and she really came into my life at just the right time. She was such a great example to me. She's fun and loves the Lord and isn't afraid to be completely honest with you as a sister in Christ if you need to be told something that might be hard to say. Actually, I'm not sure if anything is particularly "hard to say" for Lauren. She's a great talker :). Yeah, but wow, I could write longer about her, but mostly I just love her and I am so grateful to God for someone who has shown me what it is to be a woman who fears the Lord. Plus, she's super fun and I laugh and smile so much around her. I saw picture of me while I was at her house and honestly, I've rarely seen pictures of myself where I look that happy. I pray that I would follow her example as she follows Christ and that I would be such an encouragement to you girls around here at church. Wow, I just went on and on about that and feel a bit awkward about how emotional and girly that all sounded. Oh well, it is as it is and I'm a girl, so whatever! Anyway, I could've spent longer there, but alas, I needed to return. It was so nice to just hang out and do Whatever there in Atlanta.

The week before that was Lake Forest. The camp was pretty cool, the best parts to me being Codie and Josie (Spelling?), knee boarding, Adventure in Missions, and most of all just hanging around and talking with middle school people. I was really impressed by how God moved in some of the middle schoolers' hearts while we were there. Some of the stuff I heard you guys talk about in church group time and at the campfire thing were pretty cool. I'm glad you guys are tasting and seeing that God is good.

Oh yeah, mission trip... yes the trip was nice, and God healed and spoke powerfully to us. The getting home part was indeed interesting, but some of the funniest things I've ever heard came out of Sir Nick Sweeney's mouth on the ride home. I was actually tired from laughing by the end of the trip after Sweeney had said "Hoof Hearted" for about the fiftieth time. Oh, and I think the reason we didn't get home in time... because i really wanted to finish my book on that trip. Yeah, sorry guys for not reading faster. Oh and the book I read... WoW! If you've got time or want to read something that's not assigned by your teacher (unassigned books are always exponentially more enjoyable), read The Shack. It's good. A few of the now high schoolers are reading it, like Bekah Hughes. It's a great read and opens up your mind a lot, makes you think a bit abstractly. It's just good, like hummus.

Oh! Music Discovery of the Summer: BROOKE FRASER! I love her! Her music is Deep, Relevant, Moving, Powerful, etc. Oh, and Beautiful, too. Anywho, check her out! This is what the album looks like...
So next time, I'm not going to write this long. I think it's a bit much for short attention spans such as mine. I'm bad when writing things like this because I get distracted mid-way through a paragraph and have to remind myself where I am. It's much too difficult. Next time, I'm going to put a poem up. Haven't decided which one, yet, but i'll get there! I love poetry. It's cool so I like to write it. Hopefully I'll have one to share with you soon. Peace out!

Yes.

Becca

1 Corinthians 13

Hmmmm....Us...

2008-07-08T17:23:00.008-05:00

I figured it was time I did a blog that involved hummus, even if only in a small way, right? Right. So today I went to lunch at ZORBA the GREEK! Beautifulness is in essence encompassed in this restaurant. If you have not been there, you should. Anywho, I went with Jessie and a friend of mine, Amy. It was splendid. We ate hummus, which made it even more splendiferous. Then, when we got back to the office, we smelled like ZORBA, which is roughly the smell of lamb and cooking meat and various asundry Greek seasonings... basically we smelled wonderful mixed with not so good. Then we planned a few things back here at work which I am very excited about. Yeah, I'm really excited about upcoming events... Planning them is pretty fun. I think I can't tell you about what they are yet, though. I'm super top secret like that. Let's just say... be excited about the future here at church... yup. Hm... what else? Oh yeah, Hummus, I should probably talk more about hummus and why I chose it as the title of my blogger bloggy blog. Well, first of all, hummus is good, obviously. Also, the word hummus encompasses two words that are immensely important and enjoyable: Hum and Us. They are combined by the letter m, but I have no reason for enjoying the letter m... perhaps i'll think about it and get around to explaining the letter m combination later. I like to hum and so does everyone, right? Yes. Music is most enjoyable to me and is even more enjoyable when it's spontaneous or laid back... you know, coffee shop/spiritual/comforting/loving. Like singing in a car to a song everyone knows by heart or... singing along at a concert or... a mom humming a kid to sleep or... a random person singing the music they love to people in a coffee shop regardless of whether or not people are listening because someone might hear and enjoy with them and that possibility makes it worth it or... someone singing that song that soothes your soul at just the right moment when you couldn't have needed it any more than you did just then... or love songs, which are amazing... ANYWAY, music, it's beautiful and humming is one of those things that usually brings joy in any situation... so there, humming... and us... well, i think all those ways of singing/ humming/ music kind of talk about people, that's US. People. Us. Hum. People singing together and then when God joins in on the singing... it's like hummus. It's just good. Psalm 34:3. Psalm 133. Zephaniah 3:16-17.
By the way, one can also use hummus an adjective. You can describe types of music as hummus... for example, say you really enjoy a band. Well, you might describe that band as "hummus" because you really enjoy it, like you enjoy hummus. Or... if you don't like hummus (which I think is completely uncalled for)... you could describe your favorite music as your favorite food. You enjoy the music, you enjoy the food, might as well interchange the two words. Another example, for those who aren't catching on: Say you like bread and you also like Jack Johnson. Then you could say that Jack Johnson is really bread. You might also say that bread is really Johnsonny or Jacky, whichever way you choose to make the noun into an adjective. It's really quite fun. I'm having a lot of fun just doing it now... Now you go out into the world and do it yourself! It should prove to be quite hummus.

Yes.

Becca

P.S.-- as for the m in humMus... it's a Mystery. :)

7+1=8

2008-07-01T12:43:00.000-05:00

Today is July the 1st, 2008. The month of July is represented by the number 7. Today is the 1st of this month entitled "7." The year is 2008. Therefore, today adds up quite nicely, 7/1/08. Today is a mathematically beautiful day. Almost as beautiful as March the 14th (3/14), informally known as day. I'm sure a lot of days add up in some mathematically nice way. For instance... 6/2/08, 5/3/08, 4/4/08, 3/5/08, 2/6/08, 1/7/08... and if you get into multiplication... 2/4/08...4/2/08...1/8/08... Yes, quite nice.
Read from Ezekiel this morning... it's so stinking weird! I have a hard time picturing the four-headedness of the cherubim... Each of the creatures has four different sides to their head, a lion face, an eagle face, an oxen face and a man face. Weird! The lion is like the king of the animals, the eagle is like top bird, the oxen is top working animal I think and then the man is like the cherry on top of the creation sundae. So all together, the four faces are just super duper great. I think they're supposed to symbolize the greatness of God. It's really weird what these creatures look like, but anyway, they move wherever the Spirit moves them... which is cool and then later in Ezekiel 2 and 3 and then other places, what God says to Ezekiel is really cool. He basically tells him that the people he's sending him to are stubborn and some of them won't listen, but God is sending him anyway. Anywho, then later he eats a scroll and it tastes like honey to him. The symbolism is super cool and weird and hard to imagine. So if you've got a crazy wild imagination and enjoy symbolism and metaphors and stuff, you'd like this. It's got a great message of God's redemption of a disobedient people.
Well, that's all for now...
P.s.--I recommend listening to Future of Forestry (cd shown in the ginormously big picture below)... They're a super cool band... Yup!

7+1=8
7/1/08

Yes.

Becca

Adventure Island Trips

2008-06-05T16:49:00.000-05:00

I know I went on these a while back, but... The Adventure Island trips were a lot of fun. It was great to get away and go to the beach, hang out, dominate at some lazer tag (I had the most points among the girls AND second most to Jeremy among the boys), play some mini golf (only 11 holes with the girls, we were pooped), go in a simulated roller coaster/flight thing with Jordan Richburg (it was so fun!), get bit by jelly fish (ah!), ride go carts that nearly gave me whiplash and gave me cramps from pushing the pedal, play ridiculous video games like the one you dance on and the drumming one, earn tickets that i didn't use, and get strangely bad tan lines. It was incredible! Anywho, i really did enjoy it! Thanks to all who went, you guys and girls made it so fun! I look forward to the next Hotwireds. It's fun to just hang out. I was nervous about planning them 'cause I'm not the greatest planner in the world, but they turned out pretty cool. We had 11 boys on the boy trip and 4 girls on the girl trip. It was fun getting to know you guys and girls a bit more. It was funny noticing on the rides over and back that the girls talk a lot more than the guys. I mean, the guys made noises and stuff and goofy comments, but the girls talked in full sentences more. I like both ways, the way of boy noises with funny commets every now and then and the girly way of conversation and goofiness. Boys and girls are different in case we weren't all aware.

Yes.

Becca

So...

2008-06-04T15:12:00.000-05:00

Happy June FoRe!th... Ha... I'm trying out this "blogger" thingy 'cause copying Jeremy often seems as if it's a good idea, right? Anywho, here is mine first blogger blog. I guess there'll be more to come, unless i find a way cooler blog site than Jeremy, in which case I hold no loyalty to "Blogger.com."

Yes.
Becca