Room and Roomy

So, a lot of people around here are interested in my blogs. It's weird. So I'm giving them the YouTube reference, rather than the Blogger one, 'cause sometimes I get royally cheesed off, and this blog is where I vent. If I have any rather personal junk not to be shared with the world, then I'll write it here. Sound good?

Practical Application

I was just standing there. Just standing, holding for dear life to the "DANGER: Do not dive or jump" sign which, according to the locals, is the marker for the best cliff-jumping spot in that area. "10, 9, 8..." I hear from below... But when the count reached zero, I still hadn't made a move. I know it won't kill me. I'm not even the first to do it. I've seen other people do it, and how glad they are that they did it... But still, to jump off the edge into that deep blue below... Butterflies bellydance in my tum-tum just thinking about it. The boat full of people below go silent for a moment, and I have time to pray. "God, do you want me to do this?". "Well DUH!" seems to be the immediate reply. This time, I begin the countdown, "10, 9, 8..." and at zero, butterflies fly through my belly, around my throat, then back down, and then I realize that I'm still on my way to that deep blue. This is taking so long! I'm still anticipating. Butterflies have begun dancing in my toes, but are immediately stamped down as they're pounded upwards by the water below. "Poor things," I think, until I realize that a similar fate awaits me at the end of the moment. I hit the water, and am fully immersed. No regrets on my end.



Here it is, practical application of holiness. It's time for one big "YES!!!" to God, with a million implied "no"s to all the stupid things the world throws in my face.

I told my dad what God told me to tell him while I was in LA (he needs to be teaching, 'cause he studies and watches Christian preachers and junk all the time, but he doesn't pour out). And a simple apology came out after an incident involving my new sunglasses going for a dive, which was a confirmation in the realm of the little things. This family is gonna make it after all.

I move into my dorm tomorrow. And one of my dad's stock deals is supposed to go through tomorrow too. I didn't invest, but maybe I can make a few bucks off of it, being the poor college student I am.

A Few Important Tidbits.

What I LOVE to do, and never get enough chances to do, is to give hundreds of dollars' worth of stuff away to my friends who would be really blessed by it. They only get the item; I get the joy of giving.

I got to hang out with a bunch of my really good friends this past week, which I was hoping to do before college. First was at a closed-invite party at the lakehouse with Bri, Brett, Cameron, Trish, Cassie, James, and Josh Newman. I couldn't ask for a better weekend with friends.

Chad Rush has been spending the night the last few nights. He might be living here soon.


We ordered my Macbook Pro on Tuesday.

I need to pack for college

I'm looking at four panda masks and a pirate flag, deciding whether or not to take them to JBU.

After talking with both Josh and Chad, I've come to realize how jealous some people are of my gifts of the Spirit, and how I feel the same about theirs a lot. Don't get me wrong, I like wisdom, but being able to sense demonic junk sounds more fun to me sometimes. Anyway, we are the body of Christ, and we all work together. I just hope I can find some people with discernment when I go to JBU. I seem drawn to that type.

I am a revivalist.

New Things

God freed Alexandra from a spirit of fear.

God is telling me a bunch of what will happen with me and others at JBU, and in daily life before, during, and after that. I've just gotta keep in mind the fear of God thing, and be obedient.

For one thing, that book on the Holy Spirit that I used for small groups may be helping some guys out in a Bible study where we learn to work in our spiritual gifts together.

Oh, and I went shopping for dormroom stuff and clothes today. Suprise! My bed matches my eyes a lil' bit. Just sayin'

JaBUe and UT

I didn't wanna blog till I could put pictures up, but since my computer at home seems to be the only one capable of reading SD cards, I'll make a temporary appeasement blog. JaBUe was great. The weekend began with a road trip, where I got to hear a hilarious Nate Williams make conversation after sleeping for awhile. We watch a lot of the same shows, like Arrested Development, so he was easy to get along with. The JBU campus, although cold and windy, is full of very nice people. And, upon interviewing some McHones, I have found that the education ain't too shabby neither. Katie's play was great. She rocked it out, along with Christa and Jessa (or some name like that). This is my way of bragging about remembering names, which I tend to be horrible at. Oh, and Lauren, who knew about me through Katie. Saturday night, Katie, Nate, Michelle, and I all had a private party where we took some good pictures, which I should have up later.

After I got back and went to small groups, some CFNI kiddos and I went to D. Andrew, Zach Shey, and Juddson's pad to watch Undercover Kids. It was quite a showing, and I got to meet the English-accented friend of theirs, Danielle (again with remembering names!). After spending the night, I was off to Austin.

I arrived this afternoon to learn that Chas's life is boring. He works and plays video games during the weekdays. Anyway, we drove through the UT campus, and it was alright, but I thought of JaBUe for a lot of it. Anyway, I've been playing Call of Duty and getting licked by his dog, Turtle, for most of the day.

A Good Talk

For anyone who hasn't heard yet, I got accepted into John Brown University with a $2,500 scholarship. The enrollment people are way nice, and I'm visiting tomorrow. This is my chance to get a feel for the school, and see if God gives me any heads-upses about it.

This may ramble a little, so brace yourselves.

So after school, I went to Starbucks, then to meet with Jason Holland, the Kenya trip leader. Our conversation varied a lot. I told him about the bad spirit that was on me before the retreat, then this God-spirit that fell on me the other day. As we talked, I came to understand that it was the Spirit falling on me in power. Not only that, but, as I shared on how my giftings seemed to work, it sounds like I may have a lot of prophecy going on. I need to cultivate it and whatnot, but that manifestation of the Spirit is there. Oh, and he gave me a chart thing that told the difference between motivational gifts (from God the Father), ministry gifts (from God the Son), and manifestation gifts (from the Holy Spirit). Those had been confusing me a lot.

He answered my questions about deliverance, but told me that he did more of prophecy and the other manifestation gifts. I want to know about deliverance so that if I ever come across someone manifesting, I'd know what to do. Other than that, manifestation gifts are the things I wanna learn about. Anyway, it was a good talk, and he offered to do it regularly. It'll be hard on me, 'cause I've gotta think of good questions.

Visions

In the Paradigm service tonight, Lance talked for a lil' bit about visions and things that God has spoken to you, and if you've been following after them. My mind brought back the vision I had a few months before going to Kenya. I saw myself praying for someone, then feeling a shift underneath the clothing, like bones moving into place, and my eyes widened in surprise. In response to this, I had prayed for hands of healing while in Kenya, but did not see this fulfilled, though I had believed that it would be. This put God and I on bad terms for awhile, but I came to terms and dropped it. One thing new I noticed tonight was that my eyes widened when I felt the change. That means that I was aware of the change.

Maybe it could be translated in a different way. I dunno.

OTHER NEWS

I was texting with Katie the other day about what she had been doing at JBU, and she said at one point, "You're gonna love it here." I replied with, "You're sounding like I'm gonna be going there for sure."

The funny thing was, my spirit was open to the idea of JBU. BU has been my focus, but now JBU is not off-limits. It makes me wonder...(AND ASK GOD FOR ANSWERS!!!)