Madness!!

As if I weren't already, I will be unusually concerned with the TV and espn.com in the coming weeks. Thursday is the first round of the NCAA tournament and until March 28th, it's all about March Madness. For the past 4 years I've planned my entire spring break around Winthrop's first round game but sadly this year I don't have much planning to do. Winthrop didn't make it, nor do I get a spring break so it all works out. But I will be watching my Duke Blue Devils who are the current ACC champions! and a #2 seed in the tournament. I will also be pulling for Michigan for the first time ever as they play Clemson on Thursday. My other passionately hated team is North Carolina, who plays Radford in the first round on Thursday. Radford beat Winthrop and everyone else in the conference out for the Big South Tournament this season, and while I wish it was Winthrop instead of Radford, I have to laugh because they have no chance against North Carolina.

December is probably my favorite month with Christmas and all. July is a close second because it defines summer. But March is a joyful month of the year for sports fans and I'm happy. Go Blue Devils!

We could run away, thinking it over

Lately this weather has me sort of discontent. A good kind though. I don't want to be in Rock Hill, I don't want to be even 100 miles from the office. I want to be camping or at the beach or both. Unfortunately I don't have a free weekend to do such things for as long as I've looked ahead in my calendar. Things are busy, but not necessarily a bad type of busy. Things at work are picking up really fast and soccer season starts this week and church duties never end and the house search i can see will be a task in addition. While in college I took trips every weekend and saw lots of good people and good things but I don't really do that anymore. There really aren't enough weekends in a year.

This week apparently is spring break for winthrop kids and I realized this is the first time in like 18 years I haven't had a spring break. Even though I didn't get a full one last year because of my internship, I still went to the beach so that counted. I guess it just shocks me because I got a week off at Christmas, so that wasn't terribly different. But man it's kind of depressing. Along with the many other things that I've found depressing as I've lately grown up. When I own the Carolina Panthers one day, the company will take a mandantory spring break in late April.

It's a close call, but I think Spring Oreos are better than the Halloween ones.

It's too hot for penguins

I mean how great is South Carolina? It snowed on Monday and it's been 75ish degrees this saturday and sunday! That is the very reason I love the south, but our state in particular. I do love New York and the big city-ness, but only for a few days at a time. Even though their summers are hot, it's too cold for too long. We have a nice long span of warm weather for a good amount of time, and usually we avoid the path of hurricanes or too many tornados or tidal waves. So yea, I love living here. But this morning in church I realized mentally I'm best suited for California or somewhere cool like that maybe. We had a really great pastor preachin in church this morning. And the way he talked about the church and what the world has made of it and what Christians have made of it, makes me want to leave the south, which in my opinion is where you'll find the heart of most issues. I wouldn't consider myself a liberal thinker, by however that word is truly defined. But with the southern baptist church being where I got most of my religious influence, I feel like my opinion can have some personal credibility. The church that I've been attending for 3 years now is not perfect. Shocking. In fact, I have had several thoughts of moving to another church, most of those thoughts within the past few months as we've searched for a new pastor. The former pastor was wonderful and it's taken a really long time to find a new one and that has bugged me. Not that I have many consistency issues, but not knowing what you're gonna get or who you're gonna get each sunday will make you tired as a church-goer. But within recent weeks of really trying to understand what a church is, I find that it's not about pastors or youth groups or vbs or coffee. It's about community. And not just the type of community where everyone has their part and each part does IT'S part, and then it stops there. Even though that is true, our "part" individually doesn't stop inside the church walls and it's not confined by a certain ministry or bible study or sunday school class. Sometimes churches today have it right when they say everyone in it has gifts and we should each use them to unite the body, but then it ends with that.

I was so convicted this morning in all the talk about what a church is and the difference in what the culture has made it and what Jesus desires it to be. I was convicted in a way that I haven't been in a really long time about how I treat other people, believers and non-believers. How I really use the gifts the Lord has given me and just how far that reaches. We are very set in our ways in most churches. I've attended churches before that have tons of programs with little or no effect on anyone as a result. Those programs and activities please the Christians. Not that I think this is different in all churches in California. I just use that as an example because I lived there for 10 weeks and the spiritual conversations were very different than they are here. I talked to people who literally have NO idea what you're talking about when you say the name Jesus. And here in the south we have this Christian culture that pretends like it's ok to go to church but you can live however you choose. I know this because I've been a part of it for 9 years now. I hate books that just throw out all these things that are wrong with the church, so I'm trying to avoid that here. Truth is the church is a bunch of sinners and it would be better if we acted like it sometimes I do beleive. This idea of loving unlovable people, people who are significantly different than I am, makes me want to get out of this state. Makes me want to spend my Sunday mornings on Blackmon Rd in the trailor park rather than inside the perfectly constructed church walls. That also goes for those churches full of twenty-somethings who meet under a tree. Some churches might meet inside a run-down high school building or a tent, but still have those selfish and close-minded attitudes because their focus is coolness instead of Jesus and his desire for the world.

Rant! sorry. but not really.

Can I get an Amen?

You know I had to update on the 30-hour Famine so here it is. Friday was a horrible day at work and I felt an unreasonable amount of stress from the lack of sleep I got the whole week because of all the work that had to be done for the weekend. So I wasn't feeling so peachy going into the church Friday night. But as I knew I would, I snapped right out of it and we had a fantastic weekend! I was really surprised by how mature the youth were. I know those two words typically don't go together, but we had some great discussions and they were really into it. On saturday morning we went to Blackmon Road, here in rock hill and took clothes to some of the homeless people out there. We got to give them clothes and pray with them and hang out with some kids all while it was flooding rain. It was really cool. For most of us, including myself, it was so unreal to see how bad the conditions are just a few miles from where we live. Rock Hill is the 3rd largest city in South Carolina, and in that particular area (among others) they don't have running water or electricity. Something is wrong with that, to be one of the biggest cities in the state. Over the weekend we played "tribal games" which were aimed at getting us to think about the lack of food around the world, as well as just to have some fun. We had great discussions about the food situations around the world and we really got slapped in the face with the realization that we have it made here in America. People say that everyday but taking a weekend to give up food and help others really drove it home. The 30 hour fast wasnt that bad. I think it was the 3 hours of sleep and 24 hours of running around the church that wore me out. We all took communion at the end, and for that bread to be the first thing you swallow after 30 hours just broke me all to peices. And it was awesome!

Another thing that was encouraging about the weekend was the realization that we (as in the church) have nothing to offer these young people really. I mean, we had an acoustic guitar for worship and we chose to sit on the floor to do most of the teaching and discussions. No praise band, no "professional" teachers, no huge church to play tons of games. That little detail got me fired up for youth ministry because ministry is what God makes of it, not all those other things that the culture around us seem to add on. And if this youth group grows to 700 students and we get David Crowder to do a concert for us one day, then that will be splendid. But until that day, the Lord will be pleased with what we do because that is our prayer for the ministry. God really taught me a lot in 24 hours not only about how rich I really am, but how much he satisfies me. He will take care of every need I have and I'm so helpless without Him.

In a sidenote: the pastor that took us on our outreach told me he was going to pray for me a boyfriend. Amen!

Greater things are yet to be done

Have I ever put out a prayer request on my blog before? Well, here is one. So the youth group at Manchester will be doing the 30-hour Famine this weekend. We are doing a lock-in for 24 hours at the church, with lots and lots of fun things going on! This is probably the most excited I've ever gotten over a youth event, mainly because I know how great of an experience it will be for everyone involved. I've also never done THIS much planning for an event before. I think I've taken on entirely too much, including giving the final teaching saturday night as well as worship. Teaching and playing guitar being the two of my weakest gifts as far as "leading" any kind of anything in the church. So, I'm on the border line of stressed out currently, and to top it all off I get to starve for 30 hours. I've only had this feeling a couple of times in my life honestly. One of those gut feelings that no matter how much you plan or how much worry you put into it, God is going to blow it up. I feel like I'm going to get a complete slap in the face over the weekend. A bed time doesn't exist, the wake up call for me will be 6am, and no food. Rock on Jesus.

The prayer request part would be for the youth. A couple of them have done a famine before, and others have no idea what they've signed up for. I just want everyone there to be so empitied and to come to realize even a little bit that only God satisfies us when we are. I really want the point of fasting for 30 hours to sink in and for them to understand WHY they are doing it, instead of it just being a weekend of fun. Also pray I don't die. From teenagers, not starving.

New Adventures, Same Company

Lots and lots of cool things happened this weekend. My 2 best friends came up and we discovered a few new things. On Saturday we took the lightrail, which was new to them, to The Mez in Charlotte. The Mez is a place that is overall far too expensive for my liking, but this trip was totally worth it. It's a big movie theater where you sit in really big comfy chairs and eat real food. Good food. I ate gourmet cheese pizza while watching The International. It was a fantastic movie, and the screen was especially big and loud and it was a good movie for that. We even got to pick which seat we wanted when we payed for our ticket. I felt like I was in Hollywood or something. After the movie we went to Starbucks downtown where we got told we were "bad, sexy, and off the chain" by a stranger walking beside us on the street. Never heard that one before, but I think I just found my new favorite pick-up line. After the movie we ate with Laura's family at this really awesome place called Jackson's, that even after almost 5 years in Rock Hill I'd never heard of. We also tie-dyed shirts on Saturday night and since I'd never done it before, everyone laughed at me because I had no idea how to fold it to make a cool pattern. So mine will look interesting im sure. Oh it was SO good to have those girls in town and I wish we could quit life and move to Hawaii together. We mentioned it.

It's time for another quote of the day...this was our leader Kristen, in reference to the book we are studying in Bible Study, Real Sex.

"It talks about Cosmopolitan magazine, I don't have one of those. I have Paula Dean. You don't read Paula Dean and think whoooo! She likes butter."

Noteable quotes of the week

Grace: "That's the thing about NASCAR. It's just whoever gets there first."

Chris: (on my valentines card) "It's been a good college experience with you. Remember that time we flew across the country and missed our flight. yea...good times."

Grace: "I live at 706 Sumter avenue. Did you know that?"
Kerin: "Nope."
Grace: "Me neither."

Me: (referencing facebook chat) "You know how your name comes up above everything you type on this thing? I just noticed it says katie....both times!"
Ktb: "I know! I noticed it last time and I was cracking up for 20 minutes."