OCC

*This post was originally written on 11/5/2017. I just found it in my drafts and am publishing it today.* 

What does a person who has been lousy at tithing do with all the money that should have been tithed? 

Spend it all on shoeboxes, of course. 

This year, I packed 6 Operation Christmas Child boxes, one for each category, as well as stocked up on some extra supplies that our school will use at our packing party. I had never done a toddler box OR  a guy box before, so this was a new experience for me. 

WHAT I INCLUDED IN EVERY BOX

• Washcloths
• Soap and soap box
• Toothbrush

GIRL 10-14.

This was the first box that I packed, and it was also the easiest box for me to pack. 

Contents:

• The basics: soap, toothbrush, washcloths
• Pencil pouch with 3 compartments.
• pencils, pens, pencil sharpener, markers, erasers.
• nail clippers, emory board, band-aids.
• compact mirror and blush
• Stuffed animal dog 
• Hairbrush
• Notebook

BOY 10-14.

Danny helped me with this box. I was surprised at how much he cared about what went into it. It turns out he has expensive taste and would veto almost everything I suggested. Regular notebook? No way. The $8 sketchbook must go in! LEGOs? Nope! How about Magrific Tiles! Unfortunately, we didn't end up buying the Magrific Tiles because they were ridiculously expensive and in a fairly large box. We did however pack a soccer ball and pump (he spent a LOT of time picking out the right soccer ball), sunglasses, harmonica (not up to his standards), and a baseball cap. 

The contents:

• The basics
• Soccer ball and pump
• Pencil pouch with pencils and sharpener
• Harmonica
• Dice
• Sunglasses
• Baseball cap
• Sketchpad
  

GIRL 5-9

This was Betsy's box. She packed it at the same time that I was packing the 10-14 box. I had gone to Walmart and bought the supplies for both. As I went through what I bought we separated them into 2 piles (hers, and mine). She took such great care packing this box. 💗💗💗

Contents: 

• The basic toiletries
• Stuffed animal dog (with zipper! She put the washcloths, toothbrush, floss, and kleenex inside).
• Twisty Crayons
• Kleenex
• Pencil pouch with markers, pencils, erasers, and pencil grippies.
• Notebook

BOY 5-9

• The basics
• Pencil pouch with markers, pencils, erasers, and pencil grippies
• Notebook
• PAW Patrol Playing Cards
• Squishy baseball
• Recorder
• Bird stuffed animal
• Cars tote bag

GIRL 2-4

\

Ahhh, the toddler boxes turned out super cute. I loved buying stuff for them. The adorable thumper leggings are from Lularoe Emily Jang. She's such an awesome consultant, and when she heard they were for a shoebox, she shipped them to me for free and gave me an awesome deal on them! She is super sweet. 

I also stuck in some hair bows, a stuffed animal, 32 ct. crayons, a coloring book, a waterbottle, plastic utensils, soap, washcloth, and a comb. 

BOY 2-4

• The basics
• Coloring book
• 32 ct. crayons
• Long sleeved athletic shirt
• Bouncy ball
• Squirrel stuffed animal
• Waterbottle and plastic utensils
• 2 large Ticonderoga pencils

Last but not least the boy 2-4 box (feat: horrible wrapping job). 

I would highly recommend doing this project. It is a great way to put others before yourself. I am usually a very frugal person, but I found that while shopping for these boxes I was not as concerned about costs as I was about the quality of items. (I do NOT recommend dollar store toys.) If you have kids, make sure to include them on this! We did these boxes when I was a kid and I have very fond memories of packing them and even going to the volunteer location in Minneapolis to help sort and ship the boxes. 

For more information you can go to:  https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/

You Can't Get Normal Sick Anymore

It all started Saturday night.

 I was curled up on the couch watching Psych with Danny when I felt this lump in the back of my throat. I tried coughing it out, clearing my throat, and making some sort of weird gagging noise.

Nothing worked. 

The next morning I woke up with a sore throat.

I HAVE THE 'RONA. (Symptom count: 1)

Frantically, I gargled salt water, brewed some tea, took a shower and hey-the sore throat went away. 

Only to be replaced with nasal congestion.

IT'S THE RONA. (Symptom count: 2)

At this point I began freaking out and thinking about how now I have to do virtual school, I've probably already infected some of my kids, parents could sue me, parents will be mad we have to go digital and could switch schools...

And then I remembered- this happens to me every. year. 

Every fall I get sick with a head cold at the beginning of the year. The weather is changing, I'm around a bunch of new germs, I'm busier than usual. Any other year I would think nothing of it. I'd power through and go to work. 

But this year? Well, you can't get normal sick anymore. 

According to the MDH, if you have: 

1 more common symptom= you and everyone else in your family needs to quarantine for 10 days unless provided an alternate diagnosis by a medical doctor.
*More common: fever, cough, shortness of breath, loss of taste/smell.

2 less common symptoms= you and everyone else in your family needs to quarantine for 10 days unless provided an alternate diagnosis by a medical doctor.
*Less common: nasal congestion, sore throat, nausea, diarrhea, chills, headache, fatigue

1 less common symptom= evaluate whether or not you are well enough to go to school.

After talking with my principal, since I figured the sore throat was mild and just right away in the morning, we decided that I was really only presenting ONE symptom and I was free to teach. 

I totally get these guidelines. We are trying to keep everyone safe and healthy. But if I- the teacher- don't want to follow them, you can FOR SURE guarantee that parents will not be keeping their kids home for two weeks just because they have a cough or are stuffed up and tired. 

Covid is very real. All four of my uncles and aunts on my mom's side have had it. 2 with mild symptoms, 1 with none, and one was even hospitalized. However, I think some of us have lost sight of the fact that-

It's not the only disease on the planet. 

You can still get a cold. You can still get the flu. You can still have allergies, strep throat, and pneumonia. 

Not everything is Covid. 

It is GREAT to be cautious, keep sick kids home from school, stay socially distanced, and wear masks. But for the love of all that is good--if someone COUGHS that's normal. If someone sneezes, that's NORMAL. 

PEOPLE CAN COUGH AND SNEEZE WITHOUT HAVING THE CORONA VIRUS. 
(side note: actually they probably do have a corona virus since the common cold is a type of corona virus). 

All I ask is if someone coughs can we not look at them like they are a leper? That would be great. 

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

A Day on the Town

First week of teaching is in the books!

Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day, and after a morning of lesson planning and getting ready for week 2, the lovely Adrian stopped by and we went out on the town for a time of relaxation, eating and window shopping.

Unfortunately, it was also Mankato's Pridefest, so we probably got mistaken for lesbians no less than 5 times. Especially when we were perusing wedding dresses in the consignment store, because why the heck not. They were prettyyyyyy.

There are so many fabulous stores in Mankato that I didn't even know existed. There's a few antique stores, a bike store, and a new thriftstore all within walking distance of my apartment. Also an ice cream shop, a couple coffee shops and an adorable (and delicious) bakery (this is the classy part of the downtown we're talking about).

(I'm sorry to say, I've got no pictures of our day to share). 

Our first stop: Mom and Pop's Ice Cream! Yum! I tried Fat Elvis and Adrian got some sort of pumpkin flavored ice cream which she *claims* was good. Jk I'm sure it was. :)

We walked around for a while, visiting the antique stores and such. In one store, the owner was singing along to some karaoke tracks. He sang a song about taking care of your woman. Unfortunately I think his song fell on deaf ears, because the whole store was just women and 2 gay guys.

At Thrifty's, I bought These Happy Golden Years to fill out my Little House collection and at the bookstore, we stopped to pet the cat. That's pretty much the only reason we went in. Then Adrian bought something else pumpkin flavored.

Last, we stopped into New Bohemia for their happy hour ($3 loaded potato bites!). I tried my first beer that I didn't hate. Harvest...something (pumpkin flavored :P), and I also had a darn good "roasted duck and cilantro" brat.

Whew. Such a great way to relax and celebrate my first week of teaching. God is good!

Tithing...to Charity?

Traditionally, we are supposed to give our first 10% back to the Lord. My question is, does that have to specifically go into the church?

Let me know if this is a crazy idea, because currently I'm thinking it's a pretty good one.

As of now, I don't have a church body that I am regularly attending here in Mankato but I do have a full-time job.

Meaning, there's a substantialish sum of money (as in, more than I've ever given before, because I'm making more than I've ever made before) that I want to give to the Lord. But, I don't have a home church. I could just give to my church back in Plymouth, but I don't really want to do that. I want to do something different.

Traditionally, we are supposed to give our first 10% back to the Lord. My question is, does that have to specifically go into the church? I've been thinking about supporting Christian charities.

Since Christ died and fulfilled the law, Old Testament laws are no longer required of us. Meaning, the "give to the Lord the first 10%" isn't as much a requirement as it is a guideline. We can give 10%, or 15%, or 5%  (or anything in between). The Lord loves a cheerful giver and so when we give, it should be cheerful and not because we're "forced" to do so.

Thinking about the amount that I am going to give, I would be much more cheerful giving to a charity that I really support or giving directly to the hurting and impoverished people. I really want to give, and to help them out, yet when it comes to giving to the church, it's more like something I feel I have to do.

If we're not under this law any more, is it okay to give to a charitable organization instead of a church? How about a missionary? I would say, yes!

Here's a list of some charities that I researched yesterday that I am thinking about sending my first 10-ish percent. (I picked a number that's a little over, but I mostly picked it because it ends in a nice "00").

Feed My Starving Children
Chicken! Veggies! Soy! Rice! FMSC is the classic youth-group field trip. I love this place and I love what they do here. They pack food for Starving Children in Africa (and other places). It's staffed pretty much completely via volunteers and 90% of donations go straight to the food. At 25 cents per meal, my donation could buy an awful lot of meals at a charity that I love.

Baptist World Missions
This organization supports Baptist missionaries.

Christian Relief Fund
I liked this charity as soon as I saw their mission:

I love that it's specifically based around Luke 2:52.

CRF also has the option to sponsor a child for $35/month. I've always wanted to sponsor a child! $35 is well under my alloted amount, so I would be able to write to the child and share the Gospel, while financially supporting this child.  I would also have some extra money available to support CRF or to support a different charity. Or I could support this child and then use my whole "tithe" somewhere else.

Once I really started researching child sponsorship I found 2 other Christian organizations that also involve sponsoring children: World Vision and Compassion International. While they were both very nice, I didn't feel like they emphasized the Gospel as much as CRF does.

Christian Community Action

"In the name of Jesus Christ, Christian Community Action ministers to the poor by providing comprehensive services that bring hope and change lives" 

 It looks like right now the focus of this charity is school supplies, but overall this charity looks very Salvation-Army like. They have a re-sale store and a food pantry.

Compassion International
This also has the opportunity to sponsor children. On their website it shows what each sponsored child will receive. I love that faith is so important to this organization!

As I type, I think it more and more likely that I will be sponsoring a child! In fact, I've actually spent the last hour or so researching the differences between the different sponsorship organizations and trying to pick which one I want to go through. I've also been looking at all the pictures of the children!!

That's all!
If I kept researching, I'm sure I could find COUNTLESS charities that I could donate to, but if I did, I'd have to pick one and I'm not great at making decisions in a timely manner. I deliberate for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time. I am my father's daughter, what can I say? ;)

Which one should I pick? Which one would YOU pick?

ROAD TRIP!!

This past weekend, 14 people from my church headed down to Kentucky for the weekend. As in, we left Friday morning and got back Sunday night. It was kind of a whirlwind trip. Here are the highlights: 

ARK ENCOUNTER: 



Wow! The ark was huge and I was pretty impressed. Mostly with Noah and not as much with the crew of construction workers that put this one together. I mean, he built (by himself, by hand) what it took a modern construction crew a year to do! Plus it's not like Minnesota where there's snow half the year. It took them a year in Kentucky, with only a little tiny bit of snow here and there. I know this because I watched a time lapse ;)



Here's a perspective picture. The thing is HUGE! I definitely had a lot of fun going inside and touring the ark. I enjoyed seeing how they might have stored all of the animals, and also how their living quarters might have looked. 

CREATION MUSEUM: 

Raptors are my LIFE.

The Creation Musuem (45 minutes from the Ark) was more informative than impressive, and I thoroughly enjoyed going through it and reading up on fossil records, seeing the bug and dino rooms,  and walking through the 7 C's of History.

There was one part of the creation museum that oddly made me super emotional. You know the feeling where your heart feels heavy and your chest constricts? I got that as I walked through the "corruption" C of History. The Fall into Sin. It showed some sins of today and it made me internalize how sinful we all are and how we desperately needed a Savior. Our world is so corrupt. More than that, our hearts, MY heart is corrupt. The heart felt SO heavy as I walked through here, and as I exited this section into a gloriously lit chamber with pictures of God's creation and glorious pictures of the sky, my emotions changed into happiness and thankfulness for God!! He is good :)

CHURCH: 

In lieu of my church stacking operation which would have been a little hard to complete, being that I was in a different state, I enjoyed great fellowship with my road trip companions and attended a Baptist church in Illinois.

I liked it! And I've decided to rate this one as well for several reasons. First, I think it's important to line it up with other churches to get a picture of what I'm looking for and not looking for. Second, I did have a couple of requests and people wondering what I thought about the church.

The sermon at this church was really good. The pastor focused on the Bible the whole way through and it was about loving God. The music was more praise-and-worshippy, than I'm used to, but weirdly so. Usually praise songs are pretty easy to get the melody and even harmonize, but these had some weird melodies and I could just not get the hang of it, so I kept making errors. Mostly they had good words though, although a few were a little weak. I really liked one of them that I had never heard before. I wish I remembered what it was called so I could look it up and post a link to the lyrics here.

At any rate, here's what I'd give this church, using my 3 scores.
Doctrine: 10
Music: 6
At home-ness 7.5

THE FELLOWSHIP: 

So I wasn't 100% a fan of spending all that time in the van, but uncomfortable seats, late nights (ahem, rolling into the hotel at 3am) and boring roads aside, I had fun. We had fun. The girls and I in my van laughed and laughed and laughed. I am coming out of this experience knowing them so much more than I did when we started the trip. 20+ hours of sitting next to someone will do that to you.

Photo Credit: Analisa (The one with the longest arms) ;)

Would I do this trip again? Absolutely.
No questions asked. :)

Church Stacking: Week One

Week One: Here we Go!

If you're confused about what I'm writing about or why I'm doing this, check out my original "church stacking" post HERE! ---> "Church Stacking Background & Explanation"

I'm going to rate each church service on three things. Doctrine, music and at home-ness (how comfortable I felt in that service). This MIGHT offend some people. Im going to try to be as objective as I can about what I saw so please don't take offense if you personally love one of these churches. All had great things about them! :)

Hosanna (Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod)

Saturday evening service

I'd heard a lot of great things from people who go to Hosanna and I knew that it is a fairly large church with two buildings. Honestly, I wasn't quite sure what to expect! (I went to the main one, not the MSU campus one). If you're one of my friends that goes there, please don't be offended. It honestly just wasn't for me.

I had a really strange emotional reaction upon just walking into the sanctuary (worship center, as they call it). I pretty much cried all the way through the service and I'm not really sure why. The service started with a video about the youth mission trip and I just thought it was so cool. Then the worship songs were moving. They dimmed the lights, tears were streaming down my face, and it was just like me...and God...and

WAIT. I'm sorry. But that "worship song" didn't really say anything. All I was singing was "beautiful one I love, beautiful one I adore." Like, am I singing to my boyfriend? Ha. Cat? Excellent lesson plan?? I'm confused. Then when I started doing upper harmony, the guy a few chairs down from me gave me a dirty look. So much for just me and God.

One thing I did really appreciate about this church was the sacraments. I thought they did a great job presenting the Lord's Supper in the typical Lutheran viewpoint. There was also a baptism (infant, mind you). It was clear they believed this was more than just a dedication. They welcomed the young girl into the faith and it was really sweet. And...I cried.

I don't even believe that and I cried, so I really don't know what was going on that day.

Overall impressions:

Doctrine: 6

Music: 3.

At home-ness: 5

Mt. Olive- Evangelical Lutheran Synod

8:30 Sunday Morning

This church is ELS, meaning that it was one of the churches that originally I was very opposed to back when I started attending Bethany. Now I'm not sure why that was...

The hymns were fantastic.  I felt comfortable singing them loud and proud, knowing that they lined up with my beliefs, meaning I didn't have to analyze every verse for what it would have me sing. There was more content in just one verse of the hymn than in all of the worship songs from Hosanna...combined. Plus, everyone was singing, and I could sing whatever harmony I wanted without getting a dirty look. Win-win!

The sermon, which was challenging and definitely gospel centered, focused around Matthew 21. It was a fantastic sermon about how Jesus ate with the tax collectors and the harlots. It is with repentant hearts that we enter the kingdom of God, not with hearts that boast about how perfect we are.

I think if I spent more time here, I'd probably feel more at home. I'm giving that section a slightly lower rating than the doctrine/music ratings because the liturgy was unfamiliar to me. 

Overall Impressions: 

Doctrine; 10

Music: 10

At home-ness: 8

Grace Baptist

10:30 Sunday Morning

I have never heard hellfire and brimstone preached like it was here. 

I have never heard a sermon based so much on a person's own works. 

I have never wanted to get up and leave a church as much as I wanted to do with this one. 

I brought 3 of my Mount Olive attending friends to this church with me. I trust and value their opinions and wanted them to experience this church at the same time. I have never been so embarrassed to be a Baptist. 

This church was a polar opposite of  Mount Olive. Mount Olive preached hope and repentant hearts. The full gospel was apparent in the hymns. The point was clearly made that it was no work of ours that saves us, but solely Christ's death and resurrection.

Grace Baptist preached condemnation and the necessity of living a good life. He focused on the eternal consequences of sin, specifically adultery, with little focus on the hope that is in Christ. At one point he yelled at us all from the pulpit with hellfire-and-brimstone preaching. Yet, through all of this, the pastor hardly touched the Bible and mostly just told stories of his own life and how he did a great job in his marriage and managing money. I was so embarrassed, and kept telling my friends, "not all Baptists are like this! I promise!" 

I'm so glad I went to Mount Olive this morning as well as I was able to clearly see the stark differences in the two churches. One was ridden with shame and guilt, while the other convicted my heart with a message of hope and peace.

*EDIT 8/09* There WAS a guest speaker at this church. I have heard from several church attendees that this sermon was not the norm for them and they were irritated by it as well. I think I'll add it to next weekend, and go to the evening service. 

Overall Impressions: 

Doctrine: 2

Music: 4 (the hymns were really weak, doctrine wise. They didn't really say anything). 

At home-ness: 4 (only because the service type was familiar to me. I certainly didn't feel at home when told to NEVER COMMIT ADULTERY AND NEVER GO IN DEBT)

Our Savior's (LC-MS)

Sunday Night 6pm

Oops! Turns out that Our Savior's 6pm service is actually on Saturday's! Looks like I'll be going to this church next week on Saturday. :)
Next week's line up:

If you think of it, please pray for me as I try to find a regular church here in Mankato! :) 

Church Stacking: Background & Explanation

Church Stacking? What....is church stacking? 

I'm back in Mankato, and I'm searching for a home church. To find it, I have to "church shop". But that's a term most conservative Christians don't like for some reason.....so we'll go with church stacking instead. And by stacking, I mean fitting in as MANY churches as I can into one weekend. Like, 3 or 4.

Wait a second, Madelaine. You were in Mankato for four years, and you still don't have a "home church?? What've you been doing???

Well, uh. You're right. That is sad. Let me explain.

My first 2 years at Bethany, I was staunchly Baptist. I went to a spattering of Lutheran churches, because I could walk to them, but I was pretty opposed to becoming a member of, or regularly attending a Lutheran church at that time. Especially one that was *gasp* ELS. A synod that for some reason, I felt was just a little too Lutheran for me.

However, I was in luck because I had a good friend who was also Baptist/non-denominational AND she had a car! What luck! We tried out a couple different churches- a few Lutheran ones, a non-denominational one, and 2 Baptist ones. We settled for a church that was perhaps less than perfect in our minds, but hey! It was Baptist! So, we attended, and it became "our church".

Looking back, I'm pretty sad that we went to that church all of those Sundays. Doctrinally, it was alright, but there were a quite few errors that our Lutheran friends were quick to point out the Sunday that we brought them to church. They played a little game of "spot the heresy!" much to our chagrin. We had to concede, that yes, the pastor or the hymn really had said that, and yes, that wasn't really doctrinal.

Enter junior year at Bethany and my friend was hired to be the choir director at a Presbyterian church. Being that she was my ride to church, I went with her. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because they actually gave me a scholarship for singing in the choir, and the next year, they even hired me as the children's choir director. We went to this church for the better part of 2 years, and this one was even less doctrinal than the Baptist one, but the people were nice and occasionally the sermon would be good. Then sometimes there would be this:

I don't even remember the analogy he was making...

Anyhow, now that I have graduated, some things are different: 

1. I have a car
2. I'm not tied down to any particular church! (except for 1 Sunday/month at my school's church)
3. The church I settle into by no means has to be Baptist, but it to be a place that preaches the Gospel and is true to the Word of God. Sound doctrine is #1 on my priority list. 

I created a list of churches and service times so that I can start my "Church Stacking" Endeavor. When I told my friends what I was doing, they earnestly asked me, "what do you hope to gain from this, and what are you looking for in a church?" 

This question made me seriously think. My first impulse was to say, "to find a church that feels like home!" But I quickly realized that what I really needed was correct doctrine. Of course, also the music is important (contemporary vs. traditional. I prefer traditional hymns) and I do need to feel at home, but I think to an extent, feeling at home will come when I attend a church that preaches and teaches the Word of God without distortion. And one that preaches the entire Word--not just law, and not just Gospel, but both, in a balance.

This weekend, I attended 3 different churches. I'm going to write about them in a different post, because this one's already pretty long. My feelings about these churches may surprise you! They certainly surprised me :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Having been out of elementary school for so long, (and having been single my whole life) I forgot how fun of a holiday Valentine's Day can be. Now that I'm student teaching, I got to see it from a teacher's perspective.

This year, the kids each had a gallon ice cream pail that they decorated with construction paper. We got these from a fellow teacher who has a ice cream bucket stash (collaboration = awesome). My mentor teacher and I hot glued the construction paper on the buckets after school on Thursday, and then cut a hole in each lid.

Since I knew the kiddos were going to get a crazy amount of candy, so I opted for glow bracelets instead. What kid doesn't love glow bracelets? :)

Cost: 
Glow sticks: $5 for 25, Walmart (I bought 5 packs of 5, each $1)

Hubris

I first heard the word hubris when I read The Odyssey in high school.

My teacher described it as 'thinking you are better than the gods' (gods being multiple because this is ancient Greece we're talking about). My first thought was, 'wow that's dumb. If you believe the gods know everything, who are you to say you're smarter than them', and my second thought was 'he's probably right. After all, those were made up gods.'

But our God?

Our God is living and mighty.

But see, the word hubris doesn't just apply when thinking about the Greek gods. A quick search will show that hubris really means excessive pride or self-confidence. And that's what I'm going to talk about in this post.

I've always been considered, 'nice' and 'smart'. People tell me that I'm 'sooo nice' all the time, and I've had a few friends tell me that I'm probably the friend who is the most 'spiritual' or 'most connected to God'.

So, obviously they told me those things for a reason, because in their eyes I am super nice, or whatever, but say it enough and I start to believe it.

I start to believe that I'm super spiritual. I start to believe that I don't really have any problems,  I start to develop hubris about myself.

Excessive pride and self-confidence about who I am. About how I am the perfect child.

I mean, take a look at my life and you'll see that I
-Read my Bible every night before bed & every morning when I get up
-Listen to Christian radio or my Bible when walking to school
-Don't watch anything 'bad'
-Don't DO anything 'bad'
-Don't ever get mad or hate anyone.
-Don't drink, don't smoke (anything), don't swear

So, clearly, I'm the perfect child, right? No.

I John 1:8 says that "if we say we are without sin, we deceives ourselves and the truth is not in us". Romans says that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God".

Of course, I've never claimed to be without sin, or claim that I can get into heaven on just my works, but I feel like I need constant reminders that I'm not perfect, or else I develop pride.

Does anyone else feel the same way? How do we combat a feeling like this?

Lightning in His Fists

"He's got thunder in his footsteps and lightning in his wrists,

Our God is an awesome God" 

There's a song for everything, I'm convinced!

This morning (2:30 am) I woke up to the biggest boom of thunder that I have ever heard. It continued to roll and the lightning continued to flash for a good time afterwards. It shook the whole house. I thought, "wow! God is sure powerful!" And He is!

Then this verse from 1 Kings came to mind, and it reminded me that while God is always powerful, sometimes He can be found in the quietest, tiniest things: 

1 Kings 19:11-13

The Lord "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Incredible

The Scrumptious Smell of Falling Leaves (And other things that make me want to live in an always-autumn world)

Let's back track to my childhood, shall we?

I lived in a house in an adorable rustic neighborhood, surrounded by trees. I was an outdoors child. No matter what season it was, I would most likely be found outside, climbing a tree, jumping in leaves or digging in the dirt. I loved the outdoors (still do). But there was one season I loved far more than any other: fall. 

In 5th grade, my penpal and I got into an argument over which was better, fall or spring. She said spring. I said fall. In my mind, spring=mud. Rain. Days spent inside, and a wet sandbox that was no good for digging in. But fall?

Oh fall. How can one dispute the fresh crunch of leaves as you trod down the driveway? The beautiful colors on the trees? The crisp air, whipping your hair around and blowing leaves around in beautiful swirly patterns. 

My words don't do it justice. Others have said it so much better than I. Other still have captured its essence with photography. 

The picturesque beauty

The simplicity

The crisp, cool air

(seriously, can it stay this way forever?)

Apple orchards and harvest 

Just...everything about it
I love fall, and I always will. 

Autumn makes my heart sing

Forever His

You will never run away

You're forever mine

You will never run away

You're by my side.

These lyrics from Rend Collective caught my ear the other day. I've been listening to a lot of CCM-Christian Contemporary Music of late. Some of it's not the greatest, but  a lot of the lyrics have been challenging me to rest in God, rather than in my own, crazy, messed up brain.

I'm so absolutely fickle, and vain and gosh darn self-centered sometimes, and I don't know what I want. My entire life has been like this.

I want one thing.
Then I want another.
Oh! What's that!

But it's been so much worse lately. I just don't know where God wants me, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do in my life, and every time I think God's going to open a door for me, I start scratching at it like a cat, and then it gets bolted shut. And even then I still try to force it.

Sometimes I think I'm the most impatient person I know. A door opens a crack and I burst through and run like mad, only to find myself in the middle of nowhere, not sure where I should go or what I should do.

But God is always there. I do believe that-I know it. And I wonder, does he look at me sadly and shake his head as I continually run my head into a door that's never meant to open. As I break out my chainsaw and cut a hole in the door, triumphantly stepping out on the other side of a door that I was never meant to reach.

How does one learn to submit to God? To heed the prodding of the Holy Spirit? How do I know what He wants me to do or be? I try and try and try to listen and hear what he's saying but just end up in tears.

Maybe the problem is that I'm trying to do too much, and therefore worrying too much. My life is in God's hands. I am forever God's child. What need have I to worry?

But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord

I say, "You are my God"

My times are in Your hand

Psalm 31: 14-15

"So...How Religious Are You?"

One of my coworkers surprised me with that question the other day. People at Chipotle don't really seem to talk about spiritual matters very much. I looked up, shocked, not sure what exactly to answer, and somehow coughed up the words "well, I'm a Christian...and I go to church--but I mean I believe that going to church doesn't get me to heaven haha um.." and spewed up a few other things about my faith.

I kicked myself as soon as the conversation was over. I mean, come on. All the talk at church about how to share our faith and that's the most I can come up with? I just wasn't expecting the question. How religious am I?

To be honest, I really don't really know.

--If religious means belonging to a church denomination, then I'm religious.
--If religious means going to church on a regular basis, then I guess I’m pretty religious.

--If religious means reading my Bible daily, then I try to be pretty religious.

--If religious means following each of the 10 commandments then…I guess I try to be religious but I do fail. often. 

But even though I try to fulfill these religious requirements, I don’t necessarily know that I am religious. You decide.

--I am a Christian. 

--I go to church every Sunday morning, some Sunday nights, and even an occasional Bible study. But I don’t do it because I’m commanded to do so. I do it for the fellowship, for the sermon, for the music, and for the worship.
--I attempt to read my Bible and pray every day, but I don’t do it because I’m commanded to by my religion. I do it because I want to hear what God has to say, and I want to get to know Him more and more.

--Sure, I try to be a “good person”, as much as a sinful human being can be a good person. I make mistakes. A lot. But basically my life revolves around these truths.

1. I’m a sinner. I don’t want to sound pessimistic here, but it’s true. I am. I don’t think I’ve lived even one day of my life perfectly free of sin.
2.  God says that the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). I’ve earned death. I deserve to go to hell. That sounds harsh, but he’s a perfect, sinless God and sin is detestable in His sight.
3. Jesus, God’s son lived a perfect life and died on the cross. When he did this, he paid the price for my sins once and for all, so that I am simultaneously sinless and a sinner. I sin, but my sins are washed away through Jesus’ sacrifice. (which is so cool!)

I want these things to dictate the way I live my life. I’m not a “good person” because I’m trying to earn God’s favor and pay my way into heaven. It doesn’t work that way. No, He’s done so much for me that I want to obey His commands.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I do all of the things that "religious" people do, but having faith is more than having religion. You could be religious about anything. (There was one year that I religiously followed the Twins). But my faith is more personal than just following all of the laws, because goodness knows I break them, and going to church and reading my Bible, because I certainly haven't been super diligent about that. I'm no scribe, or pharisee of the new testament, following every law to the letter. But I do have faith in Jesus Christ--faith that he took my place in death and has given me the gift of eternal life. Maybe I'm religious about that!

Jesus commanded His disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations”. I want to share my faith with others so that they too can know the goodness of God but...I’m timid. I always get tongue tied and nervous. Anyway, this has been my response. I still don’t know how “religious” I am. I guess I wanted to write this and hopefully decide while writing it, but that didn’t happen. I have decided though that, “how religious are you” was the wrong question to ask. The term religious threw me off. Looking back, the correct answer should have been a solid “I don’t know. Here’s what I do believe”. 

ADDistracted

This isn't normal.
I'm not normal.
I mean, I've never been normal because everyone is unique, but this is really strange for even me. Why does this happen? Let me explain.

God's Fruit

The fruit of the spirit's not a cherry

The fruit of the spirit's not a cherry. 

If you wanna be a cherry, you might as well hear it:

You can't be a fruit of the spirit....

Cuz the fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control!

My little voice sang this over and over again in Sunday School and Wednesday night KidzQuest. Each time, I changed the fruit, and changed my voice to fit whatever fruit I was singing about. Teeny-tiny soft voice for cherry, deep voice for watermelon….you get the picture. Until recently, I’d forgotten about that song and about the fruit of the spirit. But the past few weeks at work, I've gotten a couple of unexpected complements...

Lyrics for LYFE

In the Midst of Earthly Life

Snares of death surround me

Where do I go amidst the strife?

To thee alone, my Savior!*

Flappy Bird Ain't the Word

Hey guys,

So I spend an awful lot of time on social media. That means Facebook,  Twitter & Pinterest, and really not that much time reading God's Word. Which is a problem.

I mean, I try to read it every night, and every morning when I wake up, but if I were to add up all of the time I spend on social media or horrid games like Temple Run (sorry, misleading title. I don't actually play Flappy Bird) it would FAR outweigh the time I spend with God, whether that be reading scripture or praying. 

I found this picture on Pinterest a while back, and it just blew my mind. It really made me think, what if we DID treat our Bibles like our cell phones. Wow.

Recently one of my friends did a presentation  in drug education on social media and internet addictions. I had never thought about internet being a drug before, but it makes sense. My friends and I are on it all the time. But why? We scroll through everything Facebook has to offer, and then go hit refresh just to do it all over again? At least that's me. Maybe you've got a Pinterest addiction, like my roommate (sorry, E). Constantly pinning and scrolling through her "pinfeed" trying to find new pictures and ignore homework that needs to be done. 

Why the internet? Why not the Bible?

This is why, for the month of May, I'm making a pledge to read my Bible every time I am tempted to go on Facebook, Twitter, BuzzFeed, or Pinterest to waste time. What kind of difference do you think it will make?

I'm Sorry For Being Creepy

Hi guys. I woke up today and my roommate told me that I probably have sleep apnea and that I also sleep with my eyes open. The things you learn. Here's what our conversation sounded like this morning.

One + One = FUN

So. Sophomore year of college and I've started my Early Field Experience. Look at this! I get a name badge! Yeah! It's kind of faded because I accidentally put it through the washing machine, but on the bright side I guess that means that I do my laundry, right? ;)

Starting on April Fool's Day I've had the opportunity to head down the road to a nearby Mankato elementary school and help out from 8-10am. I'm going every Tuesday and Thursday until May 1st. While I eventually hope to teach third or fourth grade, kindergarten is showing itself to actually be more fun than I expected.

Ok, yes. Five year olds are adorable. But in the past, the thought of having to keep 25+ snotty nosed youngsters in check has given me a headache (well, not really a headache. A virtual headache?) When I learned that I would be helping out in not fourth grade...not second grade...but kindergarten, my excitement level went down a notch. My misconceptions started popping up: They can't read. They're not well-behaved. They run screaming all over the place. They're so young! How can I teach them??

But...I like it. Yes. They are indeed snotty-nosed. They tattle on one another. They fake their reading so I can't actually tell if they can read or not. Yet...there's something endearing about that age.

One thing I've worried about is how I am going to manage to teach kids that don't understand simple math. However, I've noticed that in a young age like kindergarten, kids can learn things without knowing they're learning them! Here's some creative ways!

--Attendance Addition: Count the number of boys, count the number of girls. How many "friends" are in class today?
--Alphabet Association: Going around the circle and saying one thing that starts with a particular letter. It really gets them to think.
--Musical Memorization: Some people have a high musical intelligence and music can speak to them. It's also been proven that music aids memorization. They're  learning fun songs about our country by singing one a day after the Pledge of Allegiance.

Just some thoughts as I prepare for my future career. Oh and by the way! I passed my basic skills MTLEs!  (teacher tests) 3 tests down, 6 more to go!! (I think? Maybe 5.) ;)

Madelaine

More Than You Could Ever Know

"Marriages don't end because someone forgot to put the toilet seat down. Do people say they end because someone forgot to put the toilet seat down? Yeah, but that's not the real reason. They end because the communication was lost, there's stress, nothings going right and then- the kicker. He forgot to put the toilet seat down. And the marriage is just done."

I like this quote from my Interpersonal Communication professor the other day. Not because my marriage is ending, because, uh...that would be weird since I'm not married or dating, but because it actually kind of illustrates my life the past week. Bear with me through the rant.

For starters, I didn't get enough sleep. That's honestly probably what caused it all. We started talking about failing relationships in IPC and all I could think of was how I seem to be growing apart from my friends (I'm not really) which made my eyes begin to water/half cry in the middle of class. Then came honors auditions, which didn't go so well as I had hoped. Later, I opened my mailbox and found that I was not accepted as an RA, oh and by the way. I had YET ANOTHER late night, the blood moon WASN'T EVEN COOL and I DIDN'T DO ANY HOMEWORK. 

And then, just for the kicker, I didn't make it into Honors. 

Needless to say, I was a nervous and emotional wreck. My life basically was the marriage-situation from earlier, where I blamed the whole thing on honors. Was that it? No, it was the entire day's accumulation of events, but I just broke down and cried.

But then something beautiful happened. No, I didn't get word that they had made a horrid mistake and I was actually an RA. I didn't have my essays postponed, but I did get this in the mail, and honestly, that made all the difference.

No one could have known that all of this was piling up on top of me. They couldn't have known that it was the absolute perfect time for that note. But it was. So, I urge you friends, commit a random act of kindness sometime. You never know just how meaningful it can be to a person. 

God bless you.