On That Day...

Heard a really good sermon at my little white steeple church today.  Reverend Jim addressed the recent famous deaths we've had this week and what heaven may or may not be like.  We might see our family.  We might follow Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Mother Teresa around.  And then I thought - why would I do that?  LoL.  I think our reasoning for reading up on these people is because they've found what it means to live like Christ and to make Him everything they are.  We read up on them to learn more about Jesus.  To interpret together what we think He meant when He said this or that.  But why would we do that if we have Christ himself to give us complete understanding?  It reminded me to, yes, go to other believers for their views and beliefs on Jesus in order to refine my own, but to essentially go to the Maker Himself for all I need.  For all my wisdom.

This sermon also helped me bask in what heaven will be.  I think some people get scared when they think they may not see their loved ones in heaven.  But Reverend Jim said something along the lines of the idea that our satisfaction, our dependency, our need is Christ, and Christ alone.  He got some "amens" for that, and I understand why.  I'm so excited to just be with God.  To just be with God.

I typically disagree with something or another in any given sermon.  I find within myself a critical spirit and I haven't figured it good or bad yet.  But what I do know is that it's makes me discontent.  It makes feel alone in some of the things that I believe.  And feeling alone in that makes me feel wrong.  

But it was so refreshing to just be filled up by a sermon.  To love it.  And get excited by it.  And to not have my heart say, "Wait a minute..." once.  

LIONS and TIGERS and BEARS...

A few weekends ago, I visited the Great Cats of Indiana, a large cat sanctuary for neglected, abandoned, and unwanted felines of the, uhm, larger scale.  They have lions, tigers, cougars, pumas, a blank panther, bears, wolves... 

Uhm, where do I sign up?  

The sanctuary is a small piece of land out the back end of Indiana - Idaville.  Yeah, I had never heard of it before either.  They're always in need of donations and more food, and from the sound of it, sometimes have a hard time even feeding their cats.  

Yup.  Had to resist the urge to cuddle with this one : )

This is why he's the king of the jungle.  Oof.

Yup.  A pissed off lion running at me.  TG4 that fence!!

This cougar was declawed by its owner, making it impossible to groom.  See those dreds around its neck? Yeah, painful.

This is LSU's Tiger Mascot Mike's Mom.  Woah.

The playful one.  Playing games with the staff through the fence : )

Beauty.

Chucky.  HUGE lion.  Seriously - huge.

I wanna be a people person

Camp is officially planned!!  We as a staff have spent the last two weeks brainstorming, building, and organizing.  And let me tell ya - camp is going to ROCK and lives are going to be changed.  : )  I'm stoked.  We leave Sunday for our high school camp.

We have a devotion every day to start out right and on Thursday, we decided to try one of the quiet times that we had planned - "Java with Jesus."  Ha.  We went out to Caribou coffee (yum) and each split off to have some time just listening to the Lord.  The idea of this is to have a physical space where Jesus is sitting.  To make Him more real in your mind and to really focus on what He wants to say to you.  The handout includes different questions you can ask Jesus, my favorite being, "What do you think of me?"

So refreshing.  

At first, God just poured into me.  He's given me phrases in the past when I've needed encouragement.  Phrases that make me stop striving to be something when all I can be is myself.  

"Keep being you, for I made with hands of joy."

"Only the best deserves you."

Those things were just reiterated.  

I also felt how Christ was so utterly present with me.  If He had eyes (wait, does he?), they were on me the entire time.  But I could also feel myself getting distracted.  It happens easily and people intrigue me - I'm definitely a people watcher.  So I wasn't so present with Jesus.  It made me realize that I'm not as fully present with people as I'd like to be.  There are times I have a hard story just listening to people because I'm distracted by what's going on around us or by wondering who else is around.  Kinda sick, I know.  But if I'm passionate about something or someone, I have no problem just doing that thing or being with them.  Because I'm captivated.  

Basically - I want to change my own heart to be more passionate about people.  Even if I don't start a conversation or a chat very interested in someone, I believe that I can change my heart by really hearing what they're saying and taking an interest in that.  Ask questions.  Inquire.  Get excited.  Push myself to feel what they are feeling.  

After all, it's people that matter, right?

My big sigh of relief

So I've made a decision.  This fall I'll be going to University of Wisconsin Madison to study Zoology.  

Stoked.  

And it feels so good to have to definition!!  Things have been so up in the air these last few months.  My final three came down to UW-Madison, Ball State, and Colorado State.  It escalated until I had a stressful day in which I visited Ball State and my housing contract to Madison was to be postmarked.  Quick decision.  Let me tell you, it feels good to be on the other end.  

It feels like life is coming together.  Moving forward.