100 Days of Summer

It’s a little over 100 days between June 1st and September 11th (our official AYhigh start in the fall). While we still have some summer programing, trips, and planning, it’s summer! I typically find a goal for myself during these 100 days. So, as I was trying to figure out what this summer would look like, I took a look back for inspiration.

Many people thought I was in North Korea, or Colorado, or at an In-N-Out in Utah this past weekend. In fact, I holed myself up in a lodge with no internet, phone, or outside contact except for a few friends who came with me. We read books, wrote, played games, and ate way too much food. And while I spent time looking at this past year and where life would take me this summer and fall, I kept coming back to Galatians 5. It’s been difficult to live out the fruit of the spirit, to figure out what it means to live God’s way. In the midst of changes at work, change in my living situation, family stuff, and life stuff--it’s been tough to “put on the Spirit” through it all. So, there have been times when I’ve been angry, sad, disheartened, frustrated, fearful. There’s also been times of love, blessing, happiness, and great memories. But the dark cloud has certainly been around. I haven’t spent much time focusing on honoring God with my attitude, on honoring him by trying to live in the spirit.

I thought it’d be a great reminder and “restart” to figure out how to live through the fruit of the spirit this summer. To try to figure out how to live with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. And I don’t really think they are things we can just put on or take off like a jacket. They are things that have to permeate our being, a focus of our every moment, a lifestyle of honoring God. It’s not just about how to make ourselves better, but to really honor God through living in the spirit.

So, 100 days of focusing on these 9 traits. Scripture is very clear that if we aren’t living in the spirit, that we are living in the flesh. Yikes. I don’t want to live by my own earthly, flesh ways. I want to live His way. And not to say that I haven’t been living a life for God this past year, because I have..I’ve been learning, growing, praying, but these 9 traits have been pushed aside a bit. I think there are times when I’m loving or times when I’ve been patience, and my faithfulness has been true, but I know I can be doing better. I think we can all agree that we can be growing, learning, doing more.

We did a similar challenge a few years ago with our students- doing the Fruit of the Spirit for the summer. We encouraged students to pick one fruit a day and really focus on reading scripture, journaling, and focusing actions on that trait. So, I’m going to try to do this again. I am not making it an official challenge for our students, but if they are reading this, feel free to jump in and join me! I would love the accountability and to be able to offer help and suggestions too. Let me know if you are in.

Here’s the passage that I’m focusing on. I am sure I’ll blog about it this summer.

Galatians 5:16-23

“My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn't the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God's kingdom.

But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others (love), exuberance about life (joy), serenity (peace). We develop a willingness to stick with things (patience), a sense of compassion in the heart (kindness), and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people (goodness). We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments (faithfulness), not needing to force our way in life (gentleness), able to marshal and direct our energies wisely (self control).”

Fruit of the Spirit:

LOVE- affection for others

JOY- exuberance about life

PEACE- serenity

PATIENCE- a willingness to stick with things

KINDNESS- a sense of compassion in the heart

GOODNESS- a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people

FAITHFULNESS- involved in loyal commitments

GENTLENESS- no needing to force our way in life

SELF-CONTROL- ability to marshal and direct your energies wisely.

Times

Wow, it's been awhile since I posted and I'm sorry for that. I haven't had anything worthy of writing about so I've stayed silent.

Today I heard a song that reminded me of God's love. I wanted to share it with you all. I hope it's a reminder that God's love never ends.

Here's a portion of the lyrics. Be sure to check out Tenth Avenue North... you can also find a cover done by two of our AYhigh students on my Facebook wall.

Times by Tenth Avenue North

I know I need You
I need to love You
I love to see You, but its been so long
I long to feel You
I feel this need for You
and I need to hear You
is that so wrong?

I hear You say...

My love is over, its underneath, its inside, its in between
the times you doubt me, when you can't feel
the times that you've questioned 'is this for real?'
the times you've broken, the times that you mend
the times you hate me and the times that you bend

well my love is over, its underneath
its inside, its in between

The times you're healing
and when your heart breaks
the times that you feel like you've fallen from grace
the times you're hurting
the times that you heal
the times you go hungry and are tempted to steal
in times of confusion and chaos and pain
im there in your sorrow under the weight of your shame
im there through your heartache
im there in the storm

my love I will keep you by my power alone
I dont care where you've fallen, where you have been
I'll never forsake you

my love never ends, it never ends

AYhigh Girls Questions Part 3 (Final Part)

Hey girlies! Here is the last of the questions from our girls night at AYhigh. This was so fun! Feel free to send any questions you want. I'd be happy to answer them. If you missed the other posts, see below for links. Thanks again for your questions! Love you all!

Why are no guys asking me out?

Probably because they are stupid. But, seriously, I have 3 possible reason.

1. Confidence. Guys are sometimes scared to ask out girls because we are confident and have goals. Guys might say that you are “out of their league” because their own self confidence is low. Ew, unattractive. Guys need to be confident too. So, a guy might not be asking you out because he’s not sure what to do with the fact that you like yourself, are confident in who you are, and have goals. Any guy who isn’t willing to see confidence as an attraction isn’t worthy of your time anyway! Now, don’t be too confident and mean-girlish or have a too good for you attitude, but be yourself and be confident! Someday, a guy, a real guy, will think that is attractive. And he will ask you out.

2. Low Self confidence. Ok, so on the other end of the spectrum is to have low self confidence or low self esteem. The needy, low self esteem girl is unattractive to a guy worthy of dating. If you have low self esteem maybe it’s not a good idea to be dating anyway. Work on valuing yourself and finding who you are in God, the worth you are to Him first.

3. The third reason why a guy isn’t asking you out: They are stupid. End of story.

What standards should I set when looking for a boyfriend?

See traits question in part 2 for the answer to this.

What s your favorite animal out of platypus, mongoose, ostrich, white-tailed deer and sloth?

Sloth. They have so much patience. Wow.

What’s your most embarrassing childhood memory?

Oh wow. There was this one time I went to the bathroom in a public pool. It wasn’t number one.

How do I handle a serious relationship in high school?

Well, let’s define serious. I mean, how serious can a relationship get in high school? I suppose it’s all relative. Everything in high school seems like it can’t be better than what you have. But my word is “perspective.” Having perspective in a relationship is important. I would define a serious high school relationship as something that is 1. long term (longer than 6 months) 2. You talk about everything together, not just make out all the time, 3 you are more than dating, you are friends. As always, know your boundaries. Talk about it with him. Boundaries in how far you go physically, how much time you spend with one another verses with your friends or family, and someone you can talk to about things that are important to you (faith). If you aren’t willing to talk about these things, it’s not serious.

Tell us the craziest party you ever went to.

I went to a New Year’s Eve party in downtown Columbus one year. That was pretty crazy. Sorry, I’m kind of boring!

How do you resist fighting with your siblings?

Well, I think it’s somewhat inevitable but there are a few things you can do. First, don’t instigate or push their buttons. You can resist fighting by not starting the fight. If they start the fight, just ignore them or walk away. If they continue to persist, go in for a hug. Just start hugging and kissing them. They’ll most likely run away, leaving you without a fight... and a laugh. Scripture tells us to honor or father and mother. One way to honor them is to be a good example to your siblings and try to get along with them. If you have younger siblings, see yourself as being an example to them. I don’t know any younger siblings who don’t look up to their older siblings. Be a good example to them and love them. Even when they read your diary!

What should I do if a friend who is a guy tells you they love you and you don’t feel the same way and now you still want to be friends but it feels awkward?

Say it with me “AWKWARDDD!!” Well, if you still want to be friends, go up to him and just say, “let’s move past the awkward, yeah?” And maybe he’ll say yes, and you’ll laugh about it and move on. That’s pretty flattering, and maybe someday he’ll win you over, but try to talk to him about it. If he’s a real friend, he’ll listen.

What is your greatest regret in a relationship?

Ever dating a guy who didn’t love Jesus. All problems stemmed from that. It’s a non-negotiable for me.

What should you do if you don’t really like one of your pretty close friends and you don’t want to be that good of friends anymore?

Well, why do you not want to be friends with them anymore? I’m guessing they either hurt you in some way or they are doing things you don’t approve of. If they have hurt you, I would talk to them about that specifically. If they are doing things you don’t approve of, then start choosing to hang out with other friends instead of them. People do fall away from each other, but really investigate why you don’t want to be friends. If you can fix the problem by communicating with your friend, then do it. It’s worth it to fight for friendship.

Amber- will you sing me a song?

I’m singing right now. Can you hear it?

What’s the airspeed velocity of an African Swallow? Kidding! What’s the worst show on TV?

Worst show on TV hands down. Jersey Shore. Second worst: Real World. Third worst: Teen Mom. Basically, anything that exposes sex, alcohol, or goes against Philippians 4:8. (look it up).

What house would you want to be in if you were to go to Hogwarts and why?

Gryffindor. I would have been BFF’s with Fred and George.

What is your biggest secret?

If I told you, then it wouldn’t be a secret. But, here are a few things I perhaps don’t share openly. I secretly want to be in the CIA and do missions like Sydney on Alias. I secretly pick one or two people in the crowd to focus my attention on during my messages at AYhigh or in the X Service. I secretly make up stories about people sitting around me at Starbucks.

I don't like that my friend always flirts with the guy that I used to like and may still have feelings for, what do I do? I don't want to call her out, yet it really has been bugging me.

If you aren’t dating him, everyone has rights to flirt. So, don’t get mad at your friend, maybe she likes him too. If that’s the case, get to flirting and let him decide! JK... talk to her about it. Tell her that you still have feelings for the boy and if she’s a good friend she’ll stop. Communication is key! Always...

What is the best way to start a chat with someone on Facebook? A simple "hey" sounds boring.

I was just thinking about Facebook chat the other day. Facebook chat is the equivalent to me and my friends going down to the YMCA and sitting outside waiting for the hotties to walk by and play bball when I was in high school. We would always just stare or giggle. It never worked. The boys never stopped to chat. So, don’t just stare at the green dot by his name... here are a few starters...

“Hey boy”

“What up kid?”

“Hi friend”

“Hello”

“Dear ________, let’s chat.”