Tuesday, September 25, 2012

One Bad Call but Love Overcomes All

Evening to all! Oh boy has it been a long few days since I wrote last.  Life of a college student thats working and involved in a bunch of things gets crazy.

Bad. Call. Wrong. Call. That's all I can say in response to the GB Packers and SEA Seahawks game last night.  Really?  Was that not an obvious interception?  I mean, seriously, I don't even like the Packers!!!  Just had to throw out my two cents on the biggest piece of sports news out there right now.

Anyways, over the last few days I have been digesting a sermon from youth group the other night by a good friend.  We started our series on Fruits of the Spirit, and Brian talked about love.  He referenced one of my all-time favorite Bible verses... like ever! 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 reads, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
This verse has just been marinating in my brain for the last few days, and I must say it has totally over took my thoughts.  Who do we love?  When do we love?  How do we love?  Where is the line between this love and romantic love?  These questions are some of the hardest to answer I have found.  I mean the answers are easy, but the execution is not easy.  Love everyone, yeah right! Loving your enemies can be the most difficult thing.  Trust your enemy, don't keep a record of wrongs against your enemy, be kind to your enemy.  I think that is where love becomes complicated.  When someone does wrong to you, you put up your guard and are jaded towards them.  I find myself in this situation quite often, especially throughout high school.  I found myself swimming through a sea of people that I did not always agree with or get along with.  I moved from group to group based on the situation at hand.  I did have a close group of friends, but of course, it was high school, so there were issues within the group.  With distancing myself from many of my classmates for the majority of my high school career, I realized how many lost opportunities I had to love my peers and make a difference in their lives.  Now in college, I talk to a few people in a couple classes, but for the most part, I keep to myself.  Go to biology, walk to Spanish, talk to a couple girls in Spanish, go to American Civ, talk to a few others in there, finish in Criminal Justice and don't talk to anyone.  My days are so monotonous and I have realized that through this I am not necessarily negatively impacting anyone, but I am sure not positively impacting anyone by loving them!  I have proposed a challenge for myself, and I want to propose it to others as well.  Each day, find someone new to love.  It can be someone you already know, someone that you need to reconcile former issues with, a family member, a stranger on the street, whoever.  Be kind.  Trust them.  Hope for the best for that person.  I have a feeling that by trying to do this, and without expecting anything in return, I can see my life just becoming happier all around.  Not only that, but it will help me work on my issues at hand, like anger issues or excessive competition.  I can't wait to see the outcomes (:

Ta Ta for now (;

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Just Another Crazy Day

Hello all(:

Today I had a very interesting class period today in my American Civilization class.  We had a guest speaker that is a professor in the CJC department at Metro and she is also an attorney for some hot shot professional sports players.  Wow was it a crazy class.  She comes in and first thing she says is that all the women in the class are prostitutes and all the men are solicitating prostitution.  Imagine having that as the first comment a teacher makes; takes ya a little off guard!  After looking at all of Colorado's prostitution laws that are so vague its ridiculous, then we went into common law marriage.  Wow was that shocking too.  That totally blew my mind.  If anyone is specifically interested in what she had to say about both topics, just let me know, because it is a little much to be posting on my blog... I would be writing all night trying to explain these ridiculous Colorado Statutes.  I can't wait to continue on in the CJC program though because her one class period was so interesting and informative, I can't even imagine what an entire semester would be like!

Joleigh had a volleyball game at Bennett tonight, and I was fortunate to drive the extra hour ish east of Denver to watch her play.  Little did I know that the libero from the other team was a victim in the Aurora Shootings this past summer... Crazy, right?! I was totally amazed that someone could have been shot in that and been back to playing a sport this soon.  The power of God is so amazing because there is absolutely no way that she could have bounced back and done as well as she did tonight without His strength.  After witnessing that, my favorite bible verse, Philippians 4:13- I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, has a whole new meaning! I see myself constantly applying this message to my life from the little things like being able to finish a killer workout to graduating college and so on.  Things like this make me wish that everyone could see the power and love of Jesus Christ because obviously He is working in so many ways.  I have no idea if that girl was a believer or not, but I hope that after this she can find the Lord because I can only imagine the great things He has in store for her.  I want to use this verse to try and show others and testify that if you believe and pray that God will deliver when the time is right... Showing others how to overcome obstacles, big or small, and to persevere is such a big testament in my eyes for others to see Christ in me.

On a total tangent, I bought three classic books today- The Scarlet Letter, Wuthering Heights, and Pride and Prejudice- so I plan to post my thoughts on all three, assuming I can push through them all (:  Any opinions before I read the books?

Hope to right soon with some actual news of something exciting happening around here! Until then...

<3 Yours Truly <3

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Aspens <3

This is why I love fall. Plain and simple <3 <3 <3





















Addition and Friendship

Goodmorning all!

As I sit here in the Tivoli trying to kill time at school, it has come to my attention that I missed something in my first blog! Loneliness doesn't come only from the lack of interaction with others and excessive use of technology, but not walking with Christ creates loneliness. I've been in some of the most crowded places and felt lonely when I am not talking with God. He put us on this earth and wants a relationship with us and He loves us... Just thought I would throw in that little side note at the beginning of this entry(:

Today I went to my first meeting of our church's Brewble Study (brewing beer+ Bible study). Wow have I been missing out! While I am not allowed to try the beers ):, I hear these guys are pretty good. Tonight we didn't get to brew anything new, so we just sat around and talked. While talking with some of the guys and observing others, I realized how this group, that is doing something that seems so off base for a church, still brings people together. That is how we start reaching out to others with Christ. Developing strong relationships with others is such a big part of this life because we can band together to act as the Body of Christ. While things of direct Bible knowledge may not have come up, it still applied! As Proverbs 27:17 says, As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. That's what they were doing tonight while just enjoying good time together. We talked about life in general and this allows for fun stories but also for advice giving. It is made clear throughout the Bible that we need to maintain relationships with our brothers so that we can spread the gospel to everyone.

I saw this as a great opportunity for the members of this group to start to reach out into the community. Brewing homemade beer is a fun, casual thing to do with friends, and it doesn't have to be in a church setting. This allows them to build relationships with non-Christians and bring them to God through their actions.

By watching this tonight, it inspired me to be more pursuant with acting as a Christ follower, but showing it in non-church settings. I want to bring as many people to the Lord as I can, so I can say that my time spent on the earth was worthwhile.  I want to say that I conquered part of the world for Christ, and for Christ alone.

Who knew that I could get such a great lesson from such a casual setting of sitting around talking to good friends all night?  Just thought I would share my two cents on the topic of outreach and friendship(:

Have a good week!
Ellie

First Blog Post(:


Hello all (:
For months I have watched people near and dear to my heart become obsessive bloggers, so I figured why not?
I am quite excited to share my life with everyone as me, a small town native, begins in exploring a big world.  Journey said it best when they said a small town girl livin in a lonely world... That's how I see the world now.  Because of all of the social networking, texting, and other technological advances, you can hold relationships totally online.  That becomes lonely eventually, with not actually experiencing life, so here is a glimpse of my journey going out to try and change the world just one step at a time.  Hopefully I can even affect someone's life by writing about my crazy days as a teenage girl turning into a young adult.

Ellie