All-nighter and Date with Jesus!!

All-nighter 2009 was a big success!!!
160 students,
no major injuries,
a little drama,
(but when is there not drama when you are dealing with teenagers!)
and TONS OF FUN!

We packed out the gym!!!

2 of my favorite students; Amanda is 13 and has cancer, she is a fighter and we are behind her all the way!! big brother Andrew is never far from Amanda's side always there to look out for lil' sis!

Inflatables, dunk tank, all kinds of tournaments, pizza, pop,
doughnuts, movies, Wii, Rock Band...one very full night!!!

Trevor cheated and pushed the button!
The water was like ICE CUBES!!!!

Me and some really fun girls!!!

The boys got jealous, so they tried to be as cool as us...they failed!

After a very long weekend, with lots of fun, I realized I hadn't made a lot of time for Jesus that weekend, so on Tuesday, I ditched my friends and the plans I had made to hang out with Jesus and go on the best date of my life!!!

Singing worship music LOUD with the windows down!!

hanging out in His creation!

reading a good book!

His Word...best book I've ever read!!!

another pretty amazing book...I am crazy in love with Jesus!

everything needed for my date with Jesus
Bible, books, journal, blanket!

Hanging out with Jesus, my best friend, my Abba Father, my intimate lover!

He ended the date with a beautiful sunset!!

Oh, how He loves me!

Be still before God!

Stop Praying (chapter 1 of Crazy Love)

"What if I said, 'Stop praying'? What if I told you to stop talking at God for a while, but instead to take a long, hard look at Him before you speak another word? Solomon warned us not to rush into God's presence with words. That's what fools do. And often, that's what we do."

How often do we as Christians go before God and pray for this or ask Him for that? How often are we really still before God? I know that I, for sure, am not still before Him as often as I should be. I'm going to make that my goal...to just stop...I'm not going to ask Him to open doors as to the next step in my life, or even to heal the girl in our youth group that has cancer, but instead I'm going to just sit before my God in AWE!





Exodus 19...Wow! Coincidence that I read that chapter? I think not! God is appearing to Moses and the people on Mount Sinai. In the next chapter He will give Moses the 10 Commandments, but for now the Lord is at the top of the mount in a could of smoke. Just putting myself in those people's shoes...what if God showed up today in a cloud of smoke, I would be breathless! Shouldn't that be my attitude everyday? Shouldn't I approach the throne of God will fear and trembling? Shouldn't I come before Him silent and still, with no words, just AWE?

We serve a God who deserves to be stood in AWE of!

"Want more God? Live in Love!"

Along with digging into God's word everyday, I am also going to read Francis Chan's book "Crazy Love." Just in reading Chris Tomlin's forward to this book, I am already challenged. Chris writes:

"The life that Jesus calls us to is absolute craziness to the world. Sure, its fine and politically correct to believe in God, but to really love Him is a whole different story. Yeah, its nice and generous to give to the needy at Christmas or after some disaster, but to sacrifice your own comfort and welfare for another may look like madness to a safe and undisturbed world."

What if we, as Christians, did that? What if we really LOVED Christ? What if we sacrificed our own comfort for another? What would the world think? (Wow, and to think I haven't even started the book yet!)

"How many of you have read the New Testament and wondered if we in the church are missing it? Don't worry -- this isn't another book written to bash churches. I think it's far to easy to blame the American church without acknowledging that we are a part of the church and therefore responsible. But I think we all feel deeply, even if we haven't voiced it, that the church in many ways is not doing good."

Wow! It's so true, I've thought it, the church in general is missing it, we don't get it, but what do we do to get it? I'm intriged to continue reading, but now for Exodus!

I'm reading the Bible straight through! Right now, I'm in Exodus chapter 18, Moses led the Isrealites out of Eygpt. God provided mana for them to eat and gave them water from a rock...let's see what God will do next!!

"This is no way to go about it. You'll burn out, and the people right along with you. This is way too much for you—you can't do this alone. Now listen to me. Let me tell you how to do this so that God will be in this with you. Be there for the people before God, but let the matters of concern be presented to God. Your job is to teach them the rules and instructions, to show them how to live, what to do. And then you need to keep a sharp eye out for competent men—men who fear God, men of integrity, men who are incorruptible—and appoint them as leaders over groups organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They'll be responsible for the everyday work of judging among the people. They'll bring the hard cases to you, but in the routine cases they'll be the judges. They will share your load and that will make it easier for you. If you handle the work this way, you'll have the strength to carry out whatever God commands you, and the people in their settings will flourish also."

Wise words spoken by Jethro, Moses' father-in-law. We can not do it alone. I have seen this in the past few years in working with the youth ministry. We have to appoint small group leaders and others over our students, we can't take on every challenge. Some challenges we have to let the leaders handle, others the leaders bring to us. I love the line "you'll have the strength to carry out whatever God commands you," if we are wise and remember not to take on every task, but remember to deligate, than God will supply us with enough strength to carry out His plans, but if we are foolish and try to take on too much ourselves, we will surely burn out.

It's amazing how much you can take away from one chapter in the Bible and a few sections from a book! Good stuff to chew on for awhile and pray that God contiues to help me to LOVE Him with a crazy love!

The Jesus Experiment!

So, now that I am getting back in the swing of things being at home, I'm trying hard to keep all the commitments that I made when I was leaving Texas! One of those commitments was to continue to spend time with Jesus daily! Although I've been a Christian for a long time, it has always been one of my struggles to daily make time for Him! Several students from the youth group are doing what we are calling "The Jesus Experiment." Committing to spend time in his word, praying, and worshiping Him everyday for 30 days! We are also asking them to blog along with it and share what God is doing in and through them. What perfect timing for me, as I come back from this amazing 5 months, to continue to make Him a part of my every day life! So, for the next 30 days, I will be updating daily!! Here's to committing my life to Him, not only for the next 30 days, but for the rest of my life!!!


Commitments I made and am going to try to keep:

• Spending time with Jesus daily
  
• Getting back in shape! I love to run, why don't I do it more?
• Be really wise with my money! (Tithing, Giving to missions, ect.)
• Read...just because! (God gave me a passion for reading in Uganda!)
• More service projects! (praying around abortion clinics, serving the homeless)
• Decorate my room with bible verses and quotes!!
• Learn to play guitar! (just because I think it would be fun!)
  
• 
  

YWAM Adventures

Here is the video I made to show at youth group and other places that I shared at:

And here is a sweet video just for laughs:

My Newsletter!

Here is a copy of the newsletter that I will be sending out to all my supporters:

Emily's Adventures in:

“I thank my God every time I remember you!”
Philippians 2:3


Let me start by saying a huge “Thank You” to each and everyone of you for supporting me through the last 5 months of my life! I can not even begin to tell you how grateful I am for your overwhelming support, both in prayer and financially. Let me just take a few minutes to share with you some of the many things that God has done in and through me.


Discipleship Training School (DTS)
I spent the first 3 months, from September until December, in Tyler, TX going through the lecture phase of the school. I never would have imagined the amount of transformation that the Lord was going to do in me. I accepted the Lord into my heart as a child, but it wasn’t until this school that I really got to KNOW God in a new and powerful way. One of the most important things that I learned was what it means to truly be STILL before God and to listen to His voice. The name of our school was “His Redemptive Glory.” I believe that God really did and still is redeeming my life. I was able to lay my life down at His feet and allow Him to take the ashes, that was my life, and turn it into beauty in His eyes! The Tyler base is located on a beautiful ranch which allowed for many quiet times sitting in God’s creation and listening to all that He has made. The sunsets in Texas were absolutely beautiful as well, so often times I got to bask in His glory at the end of the day.


Outreach, Here I come!
During the outreach phase my DTS we spent the first 2 and a half weeks in Houston, TX. We worked in soup kitchens, did many different prayer walks, had cookouts in the projects, and prayed around abortion clinics. We also did several different church services on the streets of Houston, as well as a few in different churches around Houston. We went to Galveston, TX and helped with hurricane Ike relief for a few days. After that our school split into 3 teams, one team went to South Korea, another to Chicago & San Francisco, and my team headed of to Uganda. We spent 5 weeks in Uganda and visited 3 different cities during our time. We spent time in soccer fields, playing with the kids, building relationships, did our dramas and dances for them and shared the gospel with them. We delivered food to some widows who had AIDS and prayed for them. We spent a few days working in an AIDS orphanage and just holding and loving on these precious babies. We would travel for hours and go to villages to share the gospel, during one of those times we were able to pray for a woman with cancer and watch God heal her. We did many presentations at local high schools and other churches. In each city we took time and prayed around the city and around the base we were staying at. We helped the one YWAM base by building them a foot bridge, and cut grass with machetes. God did so many awesome things through us, I could write a whole book on just the 5 weeks that I was there. If you would like to hear more stories or see more pictures, feel free to ask me, I would love to share what the Lord did! Thank you again for your prayer support while I was there!

What’s next?
So to answer the questions that everyone asks, “What’s next?”“What am I going to do now?” “Will I go back to YWAM?” The answer: “Only God knows!” For now, I am home, working and just being with friends and family. What the Lord has next for me is still unknown, and when the Lord decides its time for me to know, then I will let you all know, but for now...I am devoted to living this life to the fullest! Christ deserves 100%, even when I am home! As many of you know, I came home with not only a new passion to live for Christ, but with a new look. I got dreadlocks! While many people think that a gross and nasty, it is a constant reminder to me of how Christ took the ashes that were my life and He is continuing to turn them into beauty. In the same way that God took the gross and nasty stuff in my life and made it beautiful, I am taking the knots and tangles of my hair and making it into gorgeous dreadlocks!