Joni and Friends has stirred another idea into my head. Actually this idea first entered my human brain last year at Joni and Friends. Starting a disability ministry at a church. I should start by looking for churches with such a ministry. My old home church had one...Most ppl when talking about Churches don't mention such a ministry so looking for one might be hard. Is there one in my area of school? The I realized...what if there isn't one? Many students are going into PT,OT, and RT at my school...surely someone there has the same desire for following God's will. Maybe God is working on someone Else's heart about starting a disability ministry in the local area as well. The reason why I am wondering about someone being able to start such a ministry because I am not able (right?). I am only a sophomore at school. I have no training, no medical knowledge, (though is that really needed?) and no other contacts/networks... at least not yet... IDK how caregivers will feel about me (only early 19-25yr old) starting a group. How will the world feel about this group? Maybe I should figure out exactly what kind of ministry I want to start (if it really is God's will)
Definition of a chruch (to me): A group of believers gathering together in worship and love to God so that they are able to not only reach those lost but to support EVERYONE by giving of resources and time to glorify God. (of course this is MY view of a church...I should probably re-evaluate my definition to match with verses from the bible...)
I picture a ministry with a small group class specifically for people who have a disablility (ppl making friends with others facing the same issues, not just medical), the same ministry should be able to provide resources to families and others. The church needs to be loving to EVERYONE! think of the poor mother who can not find a loving church home because of her son with autism creating disturbances. Think about how hard it is for the torn family with out a support of others even if the others do not truly know what it is like to have a member with a disabliity.
But then doubt sets in. I am so young... yet I want to. IV has been giving me the tools to start a small group... But is that enough? What else is needed to start and hold a ministry together? People who have experience. A missions ministry doesnt really do its job unless a missionary or someone who was once highly involed in missions is behind the sences right?
I have to be patient and in constant prayer about this. Maybe God has someone on this mission. Idk its just another thought as I enter another season of my life. <3
Aug 17, 2010
Aug 15, 2010
Joni and Friends and Sacrifice
Well Joni and Friends was amazing! The theme was vacation on a crusie ship so everything was decorated accordingly. This is really going to turn into a topic that i thought about for an hour on the way home....
Constantly people kept talking about how much of a sacrifice us STM’s were giving to serve at Joni and Friends. To me sacrifice is doing something you demise doing but it is as an act of worship to God. Something you really don’t want to do but you desperately want to do God’s will so you do it. Sacrifices were used as away to cleanse people of sins right? People killed the choice/prized animal from their flock and it was usually a lamb (or a dove?) to kill. This took time and the chance of selling something for big bucks! I never felt like I was sacrificing anything except maybe money but my parents can help me with that. I am paying for the trip all on my own but if I ever need help with finances they will chip in for my needs. I never wanted to go to Joni and Friends. I love it! I am so willing to work and do whatever is asked of me (yes even change a 10 year old’s pull-ups). But, while writing this, I think I realize the real sacrifice is once I return home (or I should say being at home). Once at home it seems my patient, grace, willingness to serve, is gone. I become easily frustrated again. I snap at my parents over little things just like before I left for Joni and Friends. My sacrifice is changing for God. To be Christ-like in my house…which feels pointless now. I am leaving for school in 4 days but I will start now and truly focus on my words, attitude, and actions. It might be too late to start but its better late than never right?
Ways I shall act more Christ-like in my house:
1. Help mom around the house.
2. Think before I snap or accuse.
3. Share how much they mean to me.
Constantly people kept talking about how much of a sacrifice us STM’s were giving to serve at Joni and Friends. To me sacrifice is doing something you demise doing but it is as an act of worship to God. Something you really don’t want to do but you desperately want to do God’s will so you do it. Sacrifices were used as away to cleanse people of sins right? People killed the choice/prized animal from their flock and it was usually a lamb (or a dove?) to kill. This took time and the chance of selling something for big bucks! I never felt like I was sacrificing anything except maybe money but my parents can help me with that. I am paying for the trip all on my own but if I ever need help with finances they will chip in for my needs. I never wanted to go to Joni and Friends. I love it! I am so willing to work and do whatever is asked of me (yes even change a 10 year old’s pull-ups). But, while writing this, I think I realize the real sacrifice is once I return home (or I should say being at home). Once at home it seems my patient, grace, willingness to serve, is gone. I become easily frustrated again. I snap at my parents over little things just like before I left for Joni and Friends. My sacrifice is changing for God. To be Christ-like in my house…which feels pointless now. I am leaving for school in 4 days but I will start now and truly focus on my words, attitude, and actions. It might be too late to start but its better late than never right?
Ways I shall act more Christ-like in my house:
1. Help mom around the house.
2. Think before I snap or accuse.
3. Share how much they mean to me.
Aug 7, 2010
Bring on the Trip!
So its 11:08 pm and IM almost done packing for JOni and Friends (see this for complete info: http://www.joniandfriends.org/family-retreats/)
Anyways Im hoping to come back with stories and greater insight about the God I love. We shall see. This week at Joni and Friends Im going to seriously monitor what I eat cause I remember last year the space between meals were SHORT!!
Well i need to finish packing. Im praying God teaches me alot and uses me in His plan.
Anyways Im hoping to come back with stories and greater insight about the God I love. We shall see. This week at Joni and Friends Im going to seriously monitor what I eat cause I remember last year the space between meals were SHORT!!
Well i need to finish packing. Im praying God teaches me alot and uses me in His plan.
Aug 4, 2010
What to do/say
So What do you do when someone close to you (best friend, boyfriend, sister, whoever) loses something/someone close to them? What should you do?
I am very bad when it comes to these life questions. I feel like I should be able to say some amazing bit of wisdom that will make this person feel better. I just want the pain to go away in that special person. While thinking about death and how to handle it I have realized one thing... (maybe im wrong and this doesnt apply to everyone) people tend to show their "understanding" by comparing stories. "I remember when..." "I know its hard..." I thought about those statements and I wonder how effective that really is in helping the other person. Maybe the person originally sought you out because you have been through a similar person or maybe you are just a really close friend. Either way, dont those statements take the focus away from the person and back on to you? Humans are naturally prideful and long for attention. But without trying to show our understanding do we feel worthless? I do. Most of what my friends go through I do not truly understand. I except an array of emotions and I long to just make them smile, and I feel worthless when I can not compare situations and offer any sort of hope.
Now what if the very fact you do not understand your loved one's situation causes you to have lack of sympathy. Im not saying you dont feel bad that they are sad, but that when they are not talking to you about it you truly can live on day-to-day with out a least bit of worry. For example, if your friend's dog dies and you never had a pet before...there is little understanding in why someone would care and become so distraught over an animal. How much of your day would be affected by that news? Im sure you would go and comfort him/her in the way you do but does your heart hurt?
Does it make me a bad person when i feel that way?
I am very bad when it comes to these life questions. I feel like I should be able to say some amazing bit of wisdom that will make this person feel better. I just want the pain to go away in that special person. While thinking about death and how to handle it I have realized one thing... (maybe im wrong and this doesnt apply to everyone) people tend to show their "understanding" by comparing stories. "I remember when..." "I know its hard..." I thought about those statements and I wonder how effective that really is in helping the other person. Maybe the person originally sought you out because you have been through a similar person or maybe you are just a really close friend. Either way, dont those statements take the focus away from the person and back on to you? Humans are naturally prideful and long for attention. But without trying to show our understanding do we feel worthless? I do. Most of what my friends go through I do not truly understand. I except an array of emotions and I long to just make them smile, and I feel worthless when I can not compare situations and offer any sort of hope.
Now what if the very fact you do not understand your loved one's situation causes you to have lack of sympathy. Im not saying you dont feel bad that they are sad, but that when they are not talking to you about it you truly can live on day-to-day with out a least bit of worry. For example, if your friend's dog dies and you never had a pet before...there is little understanding in why someone would care and become so distraught over an animal. How much of your day would be affected by that news? Im sure you would go and comfort him/her in the way you do but does your heart hurt?
Does it make me a bad person when i feel that way?
Aug 1, 2010
A KOA story created for a friend
So before I put up this long story Im going to give you the reason behind my craziness. I wokr at KOA. We have what is called a hot box where ppl can come pick up bikes they are renting and play putt-putt. I normally work in the office but one day I was put in the hot box for 30 mins while a girl who always works the hot box has a lunch break. I found a notebook and started writing. Well I did not get far when she returned. She liked the idea of writing a story, read mine and added to it...so I thought. During my dinner break I returned to the hot box to retrieve the story my friend wrote to add on to her but she wrote more of an actualy journal about her life. The poor girl is worried about ACT's and getting into college. Her dream is to become a Dentist and ger her Dr. degree as well. This story was crated for the enjoyment of all as well as to make a dear sweet friend feel a little better in a crazy way. There is always a pt to my craziness unless im really tired then i just lost my marbles...again...
So here I am, sitting in what the great KOA calls the Hot Box, waiting for people to arrive and receive these yellow chairs with three wheels called banana bikes for how ever long they decided to pay for. The Hot Box is currently living up to its name. This little 3X5 shack is where all the yellow banana bike magic happens while simultaneously collecting all the sun’s amazing, warm, bright rays and heating the inside of this already 91 Fahrenheit prism.
While sitting in this magical heat collecting little shack, I pondered the existence of life, my future in general, and how many calories are in Ed’s chocolate covered cherry fudge. From caloric intake to my personal life my mind was too preoccupied to notice the swarm of screeching, flying monkeys coming over the mountains for an attack! Sun-burnt customers running out from the pool and creek could easily be heard from the Casino 20 minutes away, screaming. I, also fearful of the Wizard of Oz looking monkeys closed up the one window in the Hot Box. While rocking back and forth in a curled up position in a corner in the barely standing shack, I heard a pounding, similar to the sound of hail hitting a tin roof, all over the sides and roof of the uncomfortably warm Hot Box. Gathering the courage to stand up and peek out of the only window. What I saw in the little crack were flying gumballs and suckers! I could only assume (due to the fact I could only see the ground through my slightly lifted window) that the monkey’s evil scheme was to pelt us with the hard, sugary, candy and then create massive amounts of pain in children by the creation of cavities and rotting teeth. How could the children ignore the delicious treats painfully raining down around us?
“Eeeeekkk!” I gasped. I swooshed back into my corner thinking about the possibility of escape from this doom or if there was anyone who could save the KOA kampground from this horror!
“This looks like a job for Dr. Krystal!” I shouted while standing up in a corney, yet heroic superhero position (you know, hands on hips, chest out head held high). “Only one problem,” I stated out loud. “The only phone is in the main office! I am going to have face the monkeys and their sugar-filled ammo!” I exclaimed as I were in a movie. Off to the door of my one-window shack. I thrusted the door open with a bang and shot out of the Hot Box in to the rain of gumballs and suckers and into the sound of screeching flying monkeys! Trying hard to dodge the evil, bruising candy, I ran to the office in a zig-zag like fashion only to discover that running in such a manner only works for avoiding hungry lions and alligators.
Feeling the sting of the candy I arrived into the air-conditioned office trying hard not to burst into tears from the pain. I blindly stumbled inside with tears beginning to arise in my eyes. Oh the pain of hard candy! I ran, (or at least attempted to run) to the nearest phone. I dialed as fast as I could the number that I had memorized for emergency purposes like this one. 1-828-555-6739014 (Dr. Krystal had an argument with the phone company and this was their revenge…)
“Dr. Krystal here. I am in the mid-“
“Dr. Krystal, the KOA kampground needs your help!” I yelled. “Evil candy-throwing monkeys are trying to harm the precious KOA kampers by giving the kids pain cavities!”
“Oh dear! But what am I to do?” Dr. Krystal asked.
“Dr. K!” I yelled in shock of her doubt. “You are the most qualified person to save the day! You are the nation’s top Dentist in all 50 states of America and have been named Dr. K Super-Dentist! You have the skills and the knowledge to protect and help the innocent KOA kids!”
“I do have this new advanced product I have wanted to try,” Dr. K Super-Dentist replied. “it has the ability to keep teeth clean and cavity-free for 368 days (that’s right more than a year) straight!”
“Perfect!” I yet again yelled into the phone (Dr. Krystal now has a hearing aide in her right ear thanks to me ). “The monkeys will become frustrated by their failing plan and fly to the Yogi Bear campground and rot the teeth of whoever stays there!”
“By Pigeon Forge, we have a plan,” Dr. Krystal exclaimed. “Sherri (her nurse), please inform Ms, Jen when she wakes up that I will remove the other half of her wisdom tooth as soon as I save the day. I am on my way to the KOA!”
I protected myself in the safe room of the office, positioning my body back into the rocking baby movements in the corner. Hearing the screeching of the monkeys and pounding of the candy, I shivered…or maybe it’s the temperature of the office. I am use to 90 degrees and in here it was kept perfectly at 71 degrees. Either way I shivered.
Then the screeching became more of a horrified squealing and kid’s laughter started to take the place of terrified screaming. Dr. K Super-Dentist must have arrived for kids were enjoying the candy with out the formation of cavities and the monkeys were heading north to the Yogi Bear Campground. I shot out of the main office into the heat to see Dr. Krystal giving the kids dissolvable teeth protectors.
“Dr. K, You are my hero!” I shouted over the laughter.
“Well if it wasn’t for you, I would have never come.” Dr. K Super Dentist replied.
When the last child had his teeth protected and ran off to join everyone in the sweet sugar feast, Dr. K drove off into the distance to become a normal dentist…for now.
THE END
(I returned to the Hot Box and enjoyed the fact that I did not work housekeeping because kids were eating too much candy and candy and heat do not go together if you get my drift)
So here I am, sitting in what the great KOA calls the Hot Box, waiting for people to arrive and receive these yellow chairs with three wheels called banana bikes for how ever long they decided to pay for. The Hot Box is currently living up to its name. This little 3X5 shack is where all the yellow banana bike magic happens while simultaneously collecting all the sun’s amazing, warm, bright rays and heating the inside of this already 91 Fahrenheit prism.
While sitting in this magical heat collecting little shack, I pondered the existence of life, my future in general, and how many calories are in Ed’s chocolate covered cherry fudge. From caloric intake to my personal life my mind was too preoccupied to notice the swarm of screeching, flying monkeys coming over the mountains for an attack! Sun-burnt customers running out from the pool and creek could easily be heard from the Casino 20 minutes away, screaming. I, also fearful of the Wizard of Oz looking monkeys closed up the one window in the Hot Box. While rocking back and forth in a curled up position in a corner in the barely standing shack, I heard a pounding, similar to the sound of hail hitting a tin roof, all over the sides and roof of the uncomfortably warm Hot Box. Gathering the courage to stand up and peek out of the only window. What I saw in the little crack were flying gumballs and suckers! I could only assume (due to the fact I could only see the ground through my slightly lifted window) that the monkey’s evil scheme was to pelt us with the hard, sugary, candy and then create massive amounts of pain in children by the creation of cavities and rotting teeth. How could the children ignore the delicious treats painfully raining down around us?
“Eeeeekkk!” I gasped. I swooshed back into my corner thinking about the possibility of escape from this doom or if there was anyone who could save the KOA kampground from this horror!
“This looks like a job for Dr. Krystal!” I shouted while standing up in a corney, yet heroic superhero position (you know, hands on hips, chest out head held high). “Only one problem,” I stated out loud. “The only phone is in the main office! I am going to have face the monkeys and their sugar-filled ammo!” I exclaimed as I were in a movie. Off to the door of my one-window shack. I thrusted the door open with a bang and shot out of the Hot Box in to the rain of gumballs and suckers and into the sound of screeching flying monkeys! Trying hard to dodge the evil, bruising candy, I ran to the office in a zig-zag like fashion only to discover that running in such a manner only works for avoiding hungry lions and alligators.
Feeling the sting of the candy I arrived into the air-conditioned office trying hard not to burst into tears from the pain. I blindly stumbled inside with tears beginning to arise in my eyes. Oh the pain of hard candy! I ran, (or at least attempted to run) to the nearest phone. I dialed as fast as I could the number that I had memorized for emergency purposes like this one. 1-828-555-6739014 (Dr. Krystal had an argument with the phone company and this was their revenge…)
“Dr. Krystal here. I am in the mid-“
“Dr. Krystal, the KOA kampground needs your help!” I yelled. “Evil candy-throwing monkeys are trying to harm the precious KOA kampers by giving the kids pain cavities!”
“Oh dear! But what am I to do?” Dr. Krystal asked.
“Dr. K!” I yelled in shock of her doubt. “You are the most qualified person to save the day! You are the nation’s top Dentist in all 50 states of America and have been named Dr. K Super-Dentist! You have the skills and the knowledge to protect and help the innocent KOA kids!”
“I do have this new advanced product I have wanted to try,” Dr. K Super-Dentist replied. “it has the ability to keep teeth clean and cavity-free for 368 days (that’s right more than a year) straight!”
“Perfect!” I yet again yelled into the phone (Dr. Krystal now has a hearing aide in her right ear thanks to me ). “The monkeys will become frustrated by their failing plan and fly to the Yogi Bear campground and rot the teeth of whoever stays there!”
“By Pigeon Forge, we have a plan,” Dr. Krystal exclaimed. “Sherri (her nurse), please inform Ms, Jen when she wakes up that I will remove the other half of her wisdom tooth as soon as I save the day. I am on my way to the KOA!”
I protected myself in the safe room of the office, positioning my body back into the rocking baby movements in the corner. Hearing the screeching of the monkeys and pounding of the candy, I shivered…or maybe it’s the temperature of the office. I am use to 90 degrees and in here it was kept perfectly at 71 degrees. Either way I shivered.
Then the screeching became more of a horrified squealing and kid’s laughter started to take the place of terrified screaming. Dr. K Super-Dentist must have arrived for kids were enjoying the candy with out the formation of cavities and the monkeys were heading north to the Yogi Bear Campground. I shot out of the main office into the heat to see Dr. Krystal giving the kids dissolvable teeth protectors.
“Dr. K, You are my hero!” I shouted over the laughter.
“Well if it wasn’t for you, I would have never come.” Dr. K Super Dentist replied.
When the last child had his teeth protected and ran off to join everyone in the sweet sugar feast, Dr. K drove off into the distance to become a normal dentist…for now.
THE END
(I returned to the Hot Box and enjoyed the fact that I did not work housekeeping because kids were eating too much candy and candy and heat do not go together if you get my drift)
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