Jessica Ridgeway

Hey all!

Since I wrote last, some major news events have been going on.


The Jessica Ridgeway case hit me deeply.  Even though I did not know Jessica, events such as this one break my heart.  Why would someone do such a horrible thing?  And where is the church in all of this?  Is in not our job, as the Body of Christ and as the church, to help with things like this?

I believe it is our duty as the Body to support the community.  When times are going well, we should enjoy it with our community, and when times are difficult, we should aid, support, and empathize with our community.  Before these hard times, we should be the ones pursuing the members within our community, the ones close to and far from God and everyone in between.  We could prevent so many tragedies simply by doing what Christ wants us to do, be brothers and sisters to everyone, since we are  all children of God.
One of my favorite songs is If We Are the Body by Casting Crowns.  Here is a link to a video for the song which reminds me why the Body is so important: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mvzFgqgGDI

This is part of why I absolutely love The Journey.  I have seen the passion through each and every staff member's eyes since the day I walked into that church.  Everything that these people do, whether it's greeting visitors on Sunday mornings, talking to kids at youth group or children's church, helping those who have suffered loss through their tough time, or chopping wood, they radiate their passion.  It is so inspiring to be so close with the core of this church because I get to see the effort they put into each and everything they do a little more than the average person does.  It is such an honor to get to call these people more than friends and role models.

Despite all the sadness with Jessica, I must say that this situation has fueled me to live day to day and to enjoy every day to the fullest.  It reminded me that nothing is ever guaranteed in this life, and I have to live for today, not for tomorrow.  Doing this over the past few weeks, I have totally reevaluated where I am in life, and I couldn't be happier.  While my classes are simple at school, I am enjoying the fact that I am not like a lot of my friends who are super stressed about school.  I enjoy working at Cutthroat, and I enjoy serving people there because I can make someone's day simply by smiling at them and being charismatic.  I am enjoying my time spent around my family and my friends.  Overall, this is the happiest I can remember myself being in a long time.

My hope is to be able to inspire someone through my happiness and my passion for Christ to be able to go out and change someone else's life because I know, that if we band together as the Body of Christ, we can and will accomplish anything.

<3 <3 <3