God’s Amazing Creation…

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Inspiration Point, Yosemite National Park

 



 

Today, rather than post about everything that the Lord is teaching me today, I want to just post a couple of pictures of His wondrous creation…I was in awe while at Yosemite, and I am so thankful for the 80+ pictures that I have now to constantly remind me of how big and how awesome the Lord truly is.

 

Enjoy the pictures…

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My plans…God’s plans…

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eHAPPY BIRTHDAY DUANE!!e

 

Wow…one thing that I have come to absolutely love about the Lord is how He works in so many different ways to teach you something.

 

This morning, I was reading the day’s message in “My Utmost for His Highest” by Oswald Chambers, and something made me decide to go back and read the message for July 5th–the day that God worked so much in my life.

 

Yeah…

 

Here’s what it says:

 

“God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him–that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all our planning…”  (July 5th)

 
Can I just say that I am amazed? That is exactly what happened that day! Wow…
 
It’s just so awesome to me that God put that message in the book on that day, and that He spoke to me on that day about the same thing…and He does that so often!
 
Had some great discussions about ministry yesterday, and more and more I can feel this deep excitement, this deep passion for whatever the Lord has in front of me…which I believe could be a call into full-time ministry…BUT, whatever HIS plans are, that’s what I’ll do. No more making plans myself!
 
It’s going to be a great day!
 
 

I love my church…

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Today was my first Sunday back at my church here in Glendora in three weeks (because of traveling, I was at my home church for those weeks). I was really looking forward to it, because I love the church and my church family…and I was not disappointed.

 

It was so awesome to be back up on worship team, and not because I was singing (though, of course, I do love to do that as well). I love being up there, watching the congregation worship the Lord, and during the greeting times I love to watch the love and the fellowship that takes place. My church is truly a FAMILY…which is more than I could have asked for in a church! There are no age barriers–the elderly interact with the young, the young love to spend time with those who are both older and younger…it is so great.

 

I realized today just how blessed I have been by this church body…though it is fairly good sized, most people had noticed that I had been gone and came to talk to me and welcome me back. We always have a time in the service for praises and prayer requests, and today the time was given to the team that just returned from a week on a Navajo Reservation in Arizona…hearing their amazing stories of God at work in the lives there was so encouraging…and hearing about the conditions they lived in (monsoon rain, primitive housing, etc), I was even more amazed by the amount of people who go back each year (this was the 12th year going there).

 

A few days ago I posted about being at a crossroads of sorts, where the Lord was calling me to pray and consider some major life decisions that were completely unexpected. Well, I never said what those were.

 

More and more I am realizing just how much I would love to be in youth ministry full-time. Each day, the idea of seminary is becoming more appealing…and exciting…and it is still so strange to me, because prior to my long drive on July 5th, I would have told anyone that I was NOT going to graduate school, because I am so tired of being in school…but the Lord works in mysterious ways. That driving experience was the beginning of some intense changes in my life that the Lord is calling me to. Youth ministry is calling my name, while I thought all this time that I was going to be involved in politics…and, perhaps I still will be! At this point, I have NO idea where the Lord is leading me. And I am content with that, because I am learning more each day that it is best to just let Him handle things, while I follow His lead.

 

So, yeah. My church is an incredible group of (of course, imperfect) people, dedicated to serving the Lord with the gifts they have been given…and I love that.

Update on the APU Olympic Hopefuls…

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So, I decided to look into the trials to see how our students/alumni were doing.  Here’s what I found.

 

Stephanie McCann is on the Canadian Olympic Team for pole vaulting.

 

Brian Clay finished first in the decathalon tonight, earning a spot on the USA Olympic Team!!! 🙂

 

Vanessa Wilhelm, Mary Sauer and Jesse Roberge do not appear to have advanced very far in the trials, but still, they made it that far! Only 24 athletes in each event qualified for the finals, across the entire USA. Amazing…

 

Vivian Chukwuemeka, from Nigeria, will compete later this month. Given that she already went to the Olympics in 2000, and that she is the best shot-putter in Africa, I can pretty much say that she’ll make it! I actually know her from my psychology class last year.

 

Put her name in Google and be amazed like I was–this woman is INCREDIBLE! 🙂

 

Now that I “know” some people who are in (or possibly in) the games, I am getting excited about watching the events.

Anyway, just wanted to update. Go APU athletes! 🙂  

Olympic Hopefuls from APU…

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APU’s track team has been the National Champions for at least 2 years in a row now, and we have some stellar athletes on our team.

 

Six of these have qualified to participate in the Olympic trials! Four of these are American, one is Canadian and one is Nigerian. The woman from Nigeria is the best shot-putter in ALL OF AFRICA! And she goes to our little school?! Amazing.

 

Check out this article about our hopeful Olympians! I’ll keep you posted as I know more. The trials end tomorrow, so I can’t wait to hear the results!

Newt Remembered Me!!

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Okay, so the highlight of my otherwise not-so-good day was definitely seeing former Speaker Newt Gingrich today, in Yorba Linda.

 

He was at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library today, doing a lecture and then signing his new book, Grant Comes East, which is the second book in his trilogy about the Civil War, and what would have happened if the South had won. Anyway, I was fifth in line (because I was there an hour early), and the people in line found out that I had worked for him (I can’t imagine how! LOL), so that was fun to talk with them about Newt.

 

So, it was my turn in line, and he looked up after seeing my name on the paper and said “Well, hello!” That alone made my day! He said “you look like you’re doing fabulous!” (Smiles)…we talked for about a minute, then I asked where Rick (his Communications Director) was, and went to look for him.

 

Rick was (happily) shocked to see me–he hadn’t received my email yet–and we talked for awhile. I got my picture taken with him, because he is the only person at the Gingrich Group that I had not been able to say goodbye to, and get a picture with.

 

So anyway, that was seriously a great experience!! It made my day LOADS better! 🙂

Short post today (for once)…

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Okay, so I won’t make this one as long as my past few have been. I am a writer by nature, and writing helps me to process that which is running through my mind…so the past few posts have been pretty lengthy! I apologize!

 

This afternoon I am heading down to Yorba Linda (Orange County) to see my former boss, Newt Gingrich. One benefit of having worked for him is that I will be able to speak with him, as well as his Communications Director (who is completely awesome!), even though I have not yet bought the book that is being signed today. I am really excited about seeing Newt in California!

 

I spent last night with my friend Christina, for our “weekly” (we try, anyway!) time together for accountability and fellowship. It is so incredible how the Lord allows you to find someone who is going through EXACTLY the same things at the same time…so amazing. It was so good to listen to all that the Lord has been doing in her life.

 

There are so many things going on in my  life right now that are not easy…they are not fun…and that’s okay. I am just trusting the Lord to guide me down whatever path He chooses for me…it has already been a remarkable learning experience, and I look forward to the experiences to come.

 

“Do everything in love.” –I Corinthians 16:14