There are many days. Some are great. Some are less great, but still pretty okay. Others just stank. These are historical records of these lesser and greater greats.
On Wednesday, God spoke to me in the clearest, most forceful way He's spoken in a long time. It was in the middle of worship, and he told me to go and make rapid motions for the junior highers to jump, or move, or do something, 'cause they were all just standing there, like three rows of them. God wanted to release a freedom into the place, and since they weren't acting free in their movements, it was challenging for the freedom to manifest in the rest of them. The song ended, and I still hadn't done what God told me, but then they brought it back one more time, so I obeyed, and they still didn't move. A few laughed 'cause I looked a lil' silly running to them in the middle of worship, waving my arms around, and then running back to where I was.
I texted Shayna about it later, and we agreed that the lesson this Sunday would have to be on the power of the Dance. Since our last discussion was on prophecy, and this was a prophetic word, we figured it went with the theme enough.
This picture is for Bekah (or, if you really like, it can also be for you!). I saw a kid at Harry Myers wearing a shirt with a cape sewn onto it, and I immediately became jealous. If she were to make a similar one for me, a green cape on a plain white tee would be wondrous.
We all do what we can to discomfort the lives of our teachers and those above us, but rarely do we have the chance to do it in a rather official way. A Senior Prank is a chance to do just that. I'm afraid I cannot spill the beans on this blog of what we're doing, besides one little peek. If you wanna know more, ask me in person (or through text, email, Facebook Chat, or all those other forms of communication).
I've been getting a lot more Word time in yesterday and today, and I'm very glad, 'cause I just had a long, LONG chat with my dad. For the first time, I learned some deep issues in his life. He needs healing. I think I'm about to get better acquainted with Pastor Brad, upon the advice of the madre.
Small groups was great tonight. I was already sore from a good workout and lawnmower hauling yesterday, so capture the fuzzy (I forgot what type of stuffed animal it was) took a lot out of me. Plus, I had only eaten sweets that day. We were all beat afterwards, so naturally, we had to settle down and talk about prophecy. We might talk about it again next week, 'cause we didn't get a chance to focus on how THEY can go about prophecying. There are practical guidelines that I would've appreciated at their age. By the way, Jillian Irons is helping lead our small group now. Talk about awesome! Maybe I'll get to know her a little bit through this.
I'm officially in charge of the youth and children's ministries on the Kenya trip. While the adults go to the pastor's conference, I'm kinda heading it up. Oh Jesus!
Hold on, I kinda feel like letting out my responsibilities real quick. I'm not frustrated, just aware. $1,200 due sunday, 10-12 page poetry paper due May 4th, book report and play report due May 8th, Health I online class done by May 8th weekend, three+ messages for Kenya, plus chores and homework in between. Feels good to let it out.
At our Kenya meeting today, Jason was explaining what he felt our team would be doing in Kenya spiritually. As soon as he finished talking, he said aloud that something was brewing in me, and he would wait till I shared it. I reached for what God wanted me to share and found it. I had been thinking about prophecy and how, when God gave me words in Paradigm during worship, I always told them to Pastor Nick, and they were always off from what was going on that night. But prophecy doesn't always fit right in with everything in the usual way. It's like an orchestra, with different instruments playing different notes and whatnot, coming together to make the right melody. The fact that this came to mind means I've been doing something right since our last meeting.
Also, we had our small group scavenger hunt tonight. Ours kicked some rear. We had the largest group, with twenty junior highers. We had to take two packed vans, and it was loads of fun. Some were disappointed that we placed 3rd of six. The experience exceeded my expectations, 'cause the pizza provided afterwards was so very good.
I stayed home from school today, to avoid getting sick (it can happen when you stay up way too late and stress out). It was a good choice. I'm getting caught up in a lot of things. Anyway, our mocks trial was moved to tomorrow. Since I'm pretty sure that none of the prosecution reads my blogs, here's one piece of evidence in our favor. The story is that Tyler keyed my car, but I hadn't pressed charges. I'm thinking that they'll try to deny his actions, but that's when my attorneys will whip out this picture. On the downside, I don't think we'll have time to put together our video evidence. But rest assured, we had it all planned out and ready.
I was thinking with God the other day, and a certain thought came to mind. People always want miracles to happen. But it's all for God's glory, right? The way I was thinking is this: God isn't particular about whether the miracle is done on its own, through someone, or even a sort of pre-miracle. Like, when you swerve on the road, and your brakes happen to catch, as opposed to the breaks not catching, and you whamming into a tree, breaking several parts of your back and neck, then a bunch of people coming together and laying hands on it, and all of a sudden it comes into rightness, and everyone praises God for it. The miracle was when you didn't have to go through all that crap, and you didn't have car and hospital bills to pay for the trouble. It's all for His glory. Make sense?
Mrs. Newman was taking pictures of our small group with my camera, and she accidentally took it with her back to her house, so I'll get it back tomorrow. It has pictures of our small group in action. We have fun. It was a good discussion yesterday. I didn't have to get stern and serious, 'cause the guys weren't acting up at all. We talked about how doing little nice things for people could make a big difference (Mark 4:something, about a mustard seed growing without the sower knowing).
It looks like my blogs are turning into weekly ones. My apologies. Monday was a Monday, if I remember correctly, which means that I don't have much news from my morning classes. However, I was put in charge of the lesson for the Connect Class, so I talked about making plans, which I had been wanting to share in there for quite awhile. That went well, and with Alyssa P. there to be the mean one, I got to stay polite while she bossed the class around and got angry at them for acting their age. That night, I went to sleep at around eight, which was a pretty healthy choice.
I woke up at 5:00 AM to find a text from Bekah asking when early morning prayer is (she had sent it a few minutes after I had fallen asleep the previous evening). This reminded me to go, so go I did, and God showed me something cool about Mattew 10:9 (I think). Jesus is eating with the tax collectors and sinners, but he's also got all of his disciples there. This is how he reached out. He had his group of friends, and they mixed with another one over a meal and just hanging out. Anyway, I remembered on my way to school that I had devotions, and I whipped that lesson out, and it was a good save. That evening, I had Prototype. I asked Caleb all kinds of questions, all that have been asked to me and that I have been asking (one of which was ghosts). Prototype is always stinkin' awesome.
Wednesday, I had a bit of a late start. My main problem was that I fell asleep at 7:15 AM, with the intention of waking up ten minutes later. Unfortunately, I woke up three and a half hours later, which got me zeros for participation in my first three classes. That stank. But what was left of school was fine, and Paradigm was rockin'. One of the guys from the Connect Class, Tanner, came to Paradigm. He was one of the guys questioning a lot, so I was really happy to see him there.
Thursday, I looked good. Just sayin'. I went home after school, slept till around 6:30 PM, then took off for CFNI, where I met up with some bros from the ghetto ovah deya, and we carpooled to Trish's house in A-town, where we watched The Office. Watch was all we did, however, 'cause everyone was talking too much to hear anything from the episode. It did make me dream about ethics that night, though. We followed up that episode of The Office with some political SNL and Surf's Up. Both were adequate. No more, no less.
Friday was a day for the ages. Priscilla, mom, and I, up bright and early, drove over to the Baylor Oral Surgery place. It wasn't long before I was strapped down (he said that it wasn't to hold me down, but who knows), and he had stabbed me a few times trying to get his anesthesia in me. He was successful in his endeavors, or so I assume, for the next time I awoke, I was being helped out of my chair, and to the door. Something was apparently amiss, as the doctor told me awhile later, for my face had gone terribly green and pale, so they stabbed me with another iv and had me chug some fluids through my arm. It was delicious. We all headed home, me half-asleep and throwing up a lil' blood (not much, don't worry) into a lil' vomit-holder. We soon arrived home, and I went to sleep, waking up only to eat a lil' something, drink a milkshake, or make a video.
Saturday, having been off the drugs since the evening before, I aspired to go to Tynan Barlow's birthday party. Unfortunately, the only other people there were geeky homeschoolers, and, however drugged up I had been, I couldn't endure talk about which NES game was the best video game of all time. So I texted Jake, and he told me to come over (he lives next-door). I hung out with him and his cousin Eli until midafternoon, at which point I was invited to go to the Heath Homecoming Dance. I was glad to, partially for myself, partially for my sister, who would be at this dance, and be even more drugged up than I (she with hydrocodine, me with ibuprofen). It was a fun dance, and we broke up a few grind trains by shaking our fingers and singing, "Inappropriate, inappropriate". However, I went home and crashed, and was in a terrible fit of pain, for, as some of you may know, doing things the day after surgery makes your face hurt like crap.
When I got to church today, everyone laughed at how my face looked like a chipmunk. Trish, particularly, could not go one second without laughing at me, and she was around me for many a second. I talked to Shayna about small groups, and we both didn't feel like we should talk about the "Empty Seat", which was our planned discussion. We instead decided to talk about that verse that God had shared with me earlier in the week. I went home from there, ate Ramen (my primary sustenance at the moment), and napped. When I got to small groups, I told Shayna that I thought that God wanted us to keep on with the "Empty Seat" thing, and I explained how it could tie in with the discussion. This finished, our small group played some English game, which turned into freeze tag, then we ate some ice cream sandwiches, and, finally, had our discussion. Molly Howard is proving to be one of the more outgoing of the group, and the only guy tonight, Sam, proved to be exceptional at distracting himself. After small groups, I went home, did some work, took mo' ibuprofen, and am now getting ready for bed. This week is homecoming week. I'm dressing as a frog who needs a kiss to turn into a prince. I'll be asking for kisses all day tomorrow. Wish me luck!
Once again, it took me a week to blog. Sunday, we had our last media meeting, where we previewed the promos for Small Groups. Here's the one that features me.
It convinced Priscilla to join the media small group. Anyway, that went well. The Williams' grandfather was barely hanging onto life all week, so Michelle wasn't as apt to become cheery when I talked to her. I'm saying that 'cause it took me so long to figure out why.
Monday was a day of discouragement, what with having done too much homework in one class, and forgetting to do a report in another. But Mondays they tend to be, 'cause the devil don't like it when someone works on humbling themselves and God sees fit to stick 'em with a small group, and all of a sudden, the devil sees a threat, and he starts hissing and growlin' up a storm, but a Christ-follower knows that if a snake hisses, God has given him a heel do crush his head with. I've asked around, and I'm pretty sure that God pulled a few strings for me in order for me to help lead a small group. All I remember about that day is that the night that followed was a late one.
Tuesday was similar. But I've noticed a change in my Bible reading. I use one line in my notebook every day, just jotting down what I read, and whatever sticks out to me. But ever since I finished the Old Testament, I've found that the New Testament is full of the goods. You don't have to dig around for some spiritual sustenance. Plus, I've got a small group to pastor, so God has been giving me revelations and teachings to work on for our small group. The only problem is, it takes up a large paragraph of my notebook and 30-45 minutes of my valuable time. Tough? Yeah. But so worth it.
Wednesday, I was late to school due to a stupid printer malfunction. I talked to Renee and some others about their expectations for their small groups. Renee's main concern was converting the old "Black Hole" crowd from being "not bad", to fruitful. It's a bigger step than I had thought. Anyway, that night, I talked to Shayna about our group, then it was time to show our stuff. My Dollar Tree light-up batons were a huge success, and so was my flute action. Also, our picture advertisement was the best. That night, I went home and collapsed while attempting to attempt to do homework, much to the disappointment of Mr. Harber.
Thursday, I came to the realization that Mr. Harber is on a slow downward spiral towards not allowing ANY movement or noise in the classroom. I'm dreading the day when I accidentally drop a pencil. That day, I sat in class, ignoring Mr. Harber for the most part (I like reading out of the book more than listening to him), when, suddenly, Mr. Harber said something that I thought was funny. So I let out a lil' giggle. Nothing much, nothing disrespectful. "London, there's only so much I can-- go to the office and sit at the table until you can calm down a little bit." That's the first time I've been sent out of a classroom. I'm thinking that it might not be the last. All's I know is, if I get a detention in there, I'm gonna go straight to Mrs. Horan and fight it, 'cause it'll probably be for my stomach growling or me thinking too loudly.
Friday, I went to the Texas State Fair with Jordan, Hiro, Pasha's family (Jessica, Joanna, Joseph, and his parents), Alyssa, and the rest of the Woods. It was loads of fun. I lost my voice cheering on the pig races (pig number 3 won 2/3 'cause of our cheering) and then I lost more of it by singing the Russian national anthem, very much impressing Pasha's parents. His parents were rockin'-awesome, talking about fasting on the way home, and how it's putting death into your flesh by not eating, so you're putting your love for God above your love for your flesh. Good stuff. That night, after the fair, I drove all the way to Canton.
I did little jobs for my mom at Canton, bought food for Emmy and kept her company, then went on my way home. But, having left my Bible at Jordan's house, I decided to make a pit stop over there. Unfortunately, I got lost, and then Jordan remembered, just as I was pulling up, that my Bible was in his mom's car, which was with her at work, and she wouldn't be back until midnight. So I decided to spend the night, which was plenty of fun. I learned a lil' more about Japanese culture.
Upgrade today was less great, 'cause some guy from our church talked, but he wasn't a very great public speaker, and I got incredibly bored really fast, but it's a leaders meeting, and you aren't allowed to try to distract your neighbor for fun. I went home after church, called my Small Group guys, and then headed back to the church for a Kenya meeting. A certain Sarah was there, but so was a certain Daniel Lewis. I am feeling more and more that God wants me to go, but I don't really wanna go. After this, I had small groups (spent like twenty minutes getting lost on the way there), which was fantastic. On the downside, there were only three guys. On the plus side, there were like 12 or 13 girls. So we have a big group. And, from what I heard, we had one of the more successful first meetings. Those guys are loads of fun. Anyway, it's almost 2:00 AM, which, of course, is when I find time to make a blog. Blogs away!
Wednesday night, I had bought that video game, so I spent Thursday after school being a geek, playing the Wii since I had no homework. I beat the game that night. What a waste of cash! Maybe I can sell it back for a good price since it's still new? So, Friday was a pretty average day, except that during break there were doughnuts for everyone (no explanation as to who or why). Following that, I went home and wasted time, then, when it was time to go to The Sociables (a geeky men's discipleship group), I was dead tired, so I went to sleep at 7:00 PM.
I woke up at 9:00 AM (is this a record for me?), and spent the majority of the day looking at various colleges online. University of Washington is lookin' pretty good to me (GC might be an influence). At around 5:30 PM, Cameron called me up and told me he was in town, so we went to Ghost Town, which was good. I haven't hung out with Cameron enough lately, 'cause the first thing he said after the movie was that it wouldn't have been any good without that lead actor (who was the same as the boss on the British Office). This was true.
The following day, we had an Upgrade meeting where we talked about the structure of our small groups and Paradigm and such, and then the SLs who were picked to help with small groups were asked to stand up. His words were "We also asked a few of the older SLs to help lead, too." I was pretty bitter about it, knowing that I was the oldest of the SLs, but I also had the voice of wisdom in my head telling me to shut up. I talked with Newman (second time in a row) during the prayer time, and it turns out that just about everyone is having a hard time with their Ones, so there's some encouragement. I went to WaffleHouse with Cameron after that, then to Wal*Mart, where I bought a new bandanna (but I haven't been sporting it 'cause people have been complimenting my hair too much lately). On my way home, I demanded answers for why I wasn't picked to help lead a small group (demanding of God, not pastors or anyone like that). Unhappy with the sensible replies, I continued to be mad at God, and ended up taking an angry nap until our media meeting. Of course, the media meeting was glorious, and we made what looks like a potentially fantastic promo for small groups (no shifting gears in cars this time). I talked to a few people, namely Sarah Massie (still don't know if I'm spelling that right) and Katie about my God-anger, and, naturally, they both gave me sound advice, which I halfway accepted as I went to sleep.
This morning, a Monday, I patched things up with God on the way to school ('cause Mondays can be crap if you don't have God there helping you). Ol' flappy mouth had horrible allergies today, so his eyes were flappy too. This kept him out of class more, which made my time more endurable. I asked my One (through calculator, of course) if she could come on our retreat, but she is gonna be at A&M that weekend, so I'm gonna have to try to get her back to Jesus without a huge retreat doing all the work (I know that that's exaggerating, but still). Then, just as my study hall was ending, a wondrous thing happened. I FINISHED THE OLD TESTAMENT! All the way through. I have read the entirety of the Bible now. Time to refresh on the fun parts. In the Connect class, Mr. Pryor told me that I could teach for three weeks while he was gone, and I immediately volunteered. On my way home, I texted with my One about Heroes, then I texted about God, and didn't get a reply. When I got home, I got my lil' bit of homework done, then watched Heroes, which was pretty dern good. Besides the bits of inappropriate things. Then Alyssa Kay-- or, should I say, Claire Bennett, and I talked for awhile about dating, my God-anger-problems, and the like. Lastly, iTunes said that I had $1.05 left on my account, so I went to buy a song, but then it tried to get me to put in credit card information, and now my iTunes account is gone and my $1.05 is missing. I wanted that song. I emailed them about it. Maybe hope is on the horizon?
Thursday, I went to Prototype, where Caleb bought me Starbucks, which kept me awake through the day. I talked to him about our senior trip to South Padre Island, where he had gone with a group of guys once, so he was able to tell me all about the island. Following that, I saw a truck that was on fire. It was pretty blazin' hot. Then I went to The Harbor, 'cause my dad and sister were there, and that, in my mind, means a free meal. So, needless to say, I ate some delicious Ruby Tuesdays that night.
Friday, I told Jordan, Paco, and Newman about the senior trip, and they were all excited about it. After school, I went over to the McDonalds' house, where Paco and Hiro (the Japanese foreign exchange student) were staying, and spent most of the day hanging out over there. When it got to be later in the night, I took Hiro to my house so I could get some clothes, then we picked Jordan up from work and headed to his house. I introduced Hiro to the Wii and all three of us just hung out and had fun that night and on into the afternoon the next day.
Saturday, after leaving Jordan's house, I went back home, and, despite having slept till 11:30 AM, I felt dead tired, so I slept through the evening until church the next morning.
Sunday, I went to church a lil' late, but that was alright, 'cause it was rally day. Popcorn for the kids in Children's Church was delicious. Following church, I went with Rugged Texas Landscape (Andrew when he has a sparse beard) to lunch with a few other people at Buffet City, then to Rugged Texas Landscape's house to watch some deleted scenes from The Office. From there, we went to play tennis in Royse City, then to get Italian ice. That tasted good, but made my teeth look like crap. I went to Rally Night, where some student leaders came with me, and we demanded for Pastor Nick to tell us who would be leading small groups, but he just told us to email him who we would like to be partnered with for it. I did so.
Today, Monday, marked my first horrible, horrible, horrible grade. The Physics test wasn't too bad, and time flew by while I took it. When I went to eat lunch at Jack's, the Black Hole group, most of which I had seen changed at YFN, spent the entire time making fun of female teachers' "accessories". It made me feel terribly uncomfortable, and maybe I should have walked out, but I wanted to wait and see one of them changing the subject and simply stop talking about it. But no such fortune was mine today. The talk just got more and more dirty, and as I went back to the school, I just felt horrible for what I had heard. I wrote Alex a note the next period, since he's the one who had confided in my during YFN, and I had poured into him, so I figured that I owed him that. I need to ask God whether to do similar for Rush. That put a damper on the next two periods. First thing in Civil War class, Mr. Beaumont passed out quizes on the first chapter of the book for the class, and, since none of us had read it, we all failed. I failed miserably. I doubt if I can even get an A in that class, and it's an Honors class. But I gave it to God right then, so it couldn't fester and open a doorway, 'cause it totally would. But it woke me up to the fact that I need to be dead serious about school. I'm glad that I gave that to God right then, 'cause the next class was the Connect class. The teacher didn't show, so, after spending half of the period playing hangman with Bible verses, I taught on the next section in the little booklet. It was good. Those guys totally wanna have a serious relationship with God.
