Standing on the beach, or safe on the mountain top?

On December 26, 2004 a Tsunami of 9.3 magnitude rocked the countries of Thailand and Indonesia. These countries had cities and people that were left changed forever because of it. How easy it is to not be changed by such an event when you live so far away from it. How easy it is to forget it happened. How easy it is to be in America, safe and unharmed, and not want to do anything to help out.

At the Chik Fil A opening the other day we were having a conversation with a lady whose son worked in Thailand when the Tsunami hit. Neither her or her son are christians, so she didn't intend for the story to have a spiritual parallel. But, it was one of those stories where you could see a beautiful illustration coming to life. She said her son had been sent with his family to Thailand to be a medical doctor. He had just finished training two weeks before the Tsunami hit. In this training they covered what happens when a Tsunami is getting ready to hit. Her son was going about his normal business on December 26, when someone stopped by his house and said,"Come look at the water. It is all dried up. The water from the ocean is gone." He knew immediately (because of his training) that a Tsunami was about to hit. So he grabbed his son and headed to higher ground immediately. Because of his training he knew exactly what to do and he was saved because of it. However, there were countless people who were just walking along the beach, excited that the water was gone so they could pick up a bunch of amazing sea shells. They didn't know that they should run. They had no clue that they were in grave danger. What was about to kill them, they saw as something exciting. Those people died on the beach where they were picking up sea shells. If only someone had educated those people on what it is like when a Tsunami hits. If only the government had taken necessary precautions, those people might still be here today.

I know that's a depressing thought. But, our lives parallel this in so many ways. Because we know the Gospel and we know Christ, we are on higher ground, safe from the destruction of the waves that will come crashing back in (we are safe from hell and eternal separation from Christ). Unlike us Christians, there are so many people on the beach of life oblivious to their own destruction. They are side tracked by the hundreds of beautiful sea shells they are picking up, unaware that a huge wave is about to come back in and take their life. If someone would just come along and tell them what they need to know, their life could be saved!

It might be a cheesy example to you. But, the point is that there are so many people out there waiting to hear about Jesus Christ and no one is educating them. No one is telling them what they need to know! If someone would go! If someone would take the Gospel to them they could be saved from destruction!!!

God has called us to go! Too bad Americans (myself included far too many times) are way more worried about being cool than ever being a witness for Christ.

Verse 1:
He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

Pre-Chorus:
And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us all

Chorus 1:
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.

Verse 2:
We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…

Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
Chorus 2:
He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.

Verse 3:
Well, I thought about You the day Stephen died,
And You met me between my breaking.
I know that I still love You, God, despite the agony.
...They want to tell me You're cruel,
But if Stephen could sing, he'd say it's not true, cause...

Chorus 3:
Cause He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us.
Whoa! how He loves us.
Whoa! how He loves.
Yeah, He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves us,
Whoa! how He loves.

Chik Fil A is good to me!

What do you get when you combine 100 people + 36 hours of free food/games + sleeping in a tent in a restaurant parking lot? You get a Chik Fil A restaurant opening!

This past week I experienced something I never had before. When I moved into the apartments up here my two room mates kept talking about Chik Fil A openings. Natalie had been to one and she had a lot of fun. Ginny had never been and really wanted to go! I had never heard of it before. But apparently it is a pretty big deal.

Who knew, but apparently Chik Fil A has a big celebration every time they open a new restaurant. You can look on Chik Fil A's website and read more about it. But the gist of it is that they allow people to line up at their restaurant @ 6:00 AM, twenty-four hours before the grand opening of the store. They will then give each person there a raffle ticket. They draw for 100 people. The 100 people who get picked are allowed to camp out in the parking lot of the Chik Fil A for 24 hours until the stores grand opening. The 100 people picked get free food for those 24 hours. They also have games that are played to keep people entertained. We had a DJ come out and there was a dance party. There were also tons of other games.

Also, when the store opens at 6:00 AM the following morning, if you were hadn't dropped out or gotten disqualified you won 52 tickets for free combo meals at Chik Fil A.

There were a couple rules. The 100 who were picked HAD to stay in the chik fil a parking lot for those 24 hours. The premises were roped off and no one was allowed to leave. You were only allowed inside for short bathroom breaks. And, they had a couple of rules: no cussing, no smoking, no drinking, no crude humor, no voilence. If you didn't obey the rules you were disqualified and sent home.

It was really funny. It was like survivor meets Chik Fil A. It cracked me up. I had never heard of it before so I found it really amusing.

Of course, me, Ginny, Danae and Christina were there together and we decided to go the night before. We ended up getting there around midnight. Which was about 40 hours before the store even opened. There were policeman patroling the area so it was safe. However, I didn't get any sleep because we were in the car. The next day we all stood in line and luckily, all four of us got picked from the raffle. So we set up a tent in the Chik Fil A parking lot. ha. It was insane. There were 100 tents in the parking lot. It was such a weird environment. I met a lot of fun people though and it was just good to hang out and do something random. I had never done something like that before and I will probably never do it again. But it was a good experience and I got 52 free Chik Fil A meals out of it.

Chik Fil A has been pretty good to me lately. I won a free prize basket from them, then they hired me as an employee, and then I got 52 tickets. haha.

I did start work there on Friday. It is an easy job. It doesn't take much brain power. However, it is pretty exhausting. I am on my feet the whole time and I am constantly going back and forth and giving people their food. It's not going to be my favorite job but it will be good. I work with a lot of awesome people. And I am even more impressed with Chik FIl A now that I am an employee. Let me just tell all of you: Chik Fil A HAS to be the cleanest fast food chain that exists. And I even go in the kitchen. If I can say that AFTER having watched people prepare the food that means something! HA!

Anyways, classes are still going well. Just trying to learn Greek and understand it. I am enjoying school still. My friends are still awesome! Jonathan moved up here about a week and a half ago! So life is good!

Fall is in the air..

The past week was really good! Just like every week since I've been here. I am sure things will start picking up and getting a little bit more overwhelming. But, that hasn't happened quite yet.

Greek is pretty overwhelming. There is SO MUCH to memorize. It can be kind of confusing sometimes. But, I am getting it and it is really exciting to already be able to read greek phrases and things! I can't wait until I am reading and understanding greek even more than I am right now! I am ready to be able to do that! I have done well on both of my quizzes so far. We have two lessons per week and a quiz every thursday.

Baptist History is really good too! I have never known much about Baptist history and I haven't even learned a lot about what Baptist's believe. I think I was more a baptist because my parents were and it was in line with what I thought was right according to the little I knew about Baptist doctrine. But being in the class has opened my eyes more to what Baptist's believe and why we believe it! And, it is nice to be able to figure out where I stand on issues and to be a baptist for a deeper reason. I want my faith to be my own in every aspect. I never thought this class would be so interesting! But, it is by far my favorite class to sit in and listen to the professor.

Women's Counseling is something I wanted to take because my desire is to work with women and children overseas. And since that is my goal, I know it would be helpful to go through women's issues and figure out how to help someone through all sorts of problems. Southeastern is solely Biblical Counseling. Which means they don't bring in psychology at all. They only use the Bible to help people through their issues. It's been a good class as well and I believe it will be helpful in the future! My heart is to help women and children!

I have enjoyed the seminary schedule more than the college schedule. I only have classes three days a week. So I have enough free time to do my homework and have fun hanging out with my friends. It definitely makes me feel less stressed to not have class five days a week! My friends and I spend a lot of time playing cards. haha. It's a free way to have fun.

I got to hang out with Cameron last weekend! It's really nice to be close to her!

I am still looking for a church to attend. I have visited two different churches and am not a big fan of either one. But, I hear there is a really good one in Wake Forest we haven't been to yet.

I have a job interview tomorrow afternoon so pray I get the job! I need a job for sure!

Unlike at Toccoa, I actually really like chapel here! They get really amazing people to sing and speak. WE took up an offering for christmas in August. For those of you who don't know, the IMB has had to completely cut out the 2+2 program they had going. That is where seminary students can do two years in seminary and then finish up their degree overseas getting experience. Once they come back the IMB counts them as ready to go on the mission field full time. They are MAJORLY cutting back on the amount of journeyman they are allowing and they are even pulling missionaries off of the field. The number of missionaries they are allowing career status right now has gone way down. They were 60 million lower than normal for the Christmas offering they take up.

Anyways, all this to say they have arranged for Christmas in August to be taken to help out with the budget being so low. Our seminary participated in that and we raised over 60,000 dollars to help out! I thought that was really awesome!

And, considering I am wanting to go overseas with the IMB I have been sad about what is happening with them. But I know God has called me overseas and he will take care of it.

I have heard two really good quotes lately and wanted to share them.

"you are more evil than you ever feared, you are more loved than you ever hoped"

"The Gospel will only become good news to them AFTER it has actually become good news to us."

I am thankful my friends have a camera since mine is broken right now. Here are some pictures Ashleigh took of me and my friends: