Sunday, October 17, 2010

Walking

My dad's dad passed away on Thursday. I was never close with him. I saw him probably about 10 times in my life and received the classic birthday cards signed with only a name and contained a few dollars.

So I really shouldn't be that sad over losing him, right??

Wrong.

I've only mourned over losing people I know I'll see again.
When Ellen Burns died, I wept but I know I can worship with her when I die.
When Grandma George died, I wept but I get to sing with her and drown out the angels.
When Grandma Guerry died, I wept but I get to dance with her at the feet of God.

I will never see Grandpa Durrant again. I never saw him while he was living but I'll never get to sing my heaven song with him or dance with him. I'm fine with losing him physically. But to know that he is forever spiritually lost is breaking me down.

He was not a Christian. Every time anyone in my family would see him, we'd start talking with him about what God's doing in our lives. We wanted to share our lives with him. He never wanted to listen. When I was about 5 years old, Grandpa Durrant had a tea party with me. I remember it so clearly. I wore my Easter dress and a hat and we had tea in my pretty, pink china that my dad had gotten me from Poland. We set the table, smoothed out the wrinkles from the tablecloth and he helped me make cucumber tea sandwiches and arranged them on little plates. We sat down to tea and I started telling him about Jesus. He tried to change the subject but I wouldn't have it. I kept talking about Jesus.

Finally, he got up and walked away.

He walked away from Jesus his whole life.

A few hours before my dad called to tell me about his dad, I got this strange feeling. The kind of feeling you get when you're standing at the kitchen counter or your desk and you can feel someone behind you. Only there was never anyone behind me. It was so strange! I was feeling this way up until last night [Saturday night].

I kept having dreams as well. Dreams of fire and darkness. And I could hear screaming. The kind of screams that come from mothers that can't find their children. The screams that come from men unable to hold their families ever again.The screams that come from children after a night terror. The screams that come from the worst pain you can ever imagine.

I would wake up screaming with them.

I was dreaming about people being separated. In the beginning of Genesis, death means spiritual death, not physical death. And this spiritual death doesn't mean you are buried in some other world or you become reincarnated. It means you are separated from God. We cannot live without Him so to be eternally torn apart from Him is the ultimate death.

I'm not mourning for the physical death of a man I hardly knew. I mourning for the spiritual death of a man that never wanted Life.

I know this sounds all "preachy" but I'm telling you the truth about what's going on in my heart.

I've made a choice to walk with God.

He made choices to walk away from God.


Which way are you walking??


Friday, October 1, 2010

I am a tad easily amused ...


The following is a mere glance into my mind and the things I think are funny in the slightest. You have my permission to dislike it, but I still find it humorous. 

The "M" means Man, because the name of the other participant in this nonsense begins with a "J" as well and that would just get confusing .
The "J" means Jennifer, because that is my name. It's quite basic.

The conversation you are about to view took place Tuesday, September 21st, 2010 between the hours of 11:45 am and 1:00 pm all by the means of texting.

M – Can we please speak in song? Starting after this message?
M – Let’s get it started.
J – I want you to know when you hold my hand, you hold my heart.
J – I am in misery! There ain’t nobody who can comfort me! Why won’t you answer me?? The silence is slowly killing me!
M – I am lost for words, so lost in love …
J – Hit me, baby! One more time!
M – Do you feel like a man, when you push her around, do you feel better now as she falls to the ground (I don’t like this domestic violence theme)
J – I’m stronger than yesterday! Love ain’t nothing but a mile away. My loneliness ain’t killing me no more.
M – You drive me crazy, I just can’t sleep.
J – It’s hard to say I’d rather stay awake when I’m asleep because my dreams are bursting at the seams.
M – These dreams, go on when I close my eyes.
J – Shut your eyes and sing to me …
M – Killing me softly, with his song …
J – If I get murdered in the city, don’t go revenging in my name …
M – Don’t go breaking my heart …
J – I won’t go breaking your heart!
M – I will survive! I will surviiiive …
J – I should have changed that stupid lock …
M – Hey there Delilah don’t you worry about the distance, I’m right there if you get lonely give this song another listen close your eyes, I’m by your side.
J – It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking in the dark!
M – Private eyes, are watching you, they see your every move.
J – I am beautiful in every single way. Words can’t bring me down.
M – Hey good lookin, whatcha got cookin
J – You’re so vain …
M – I’m too sexy for my shirt …
J – I think we’re alone now. The beating of our hearts is the only sound.
M – Stop, children what’s that sound, everybody look what’s going down.
J – You spin my head right ‘round, right ‘round …
M – We’re going down, down in an earlier round …
J – And sugar we’re going down swinging …
M – It’s getting hot in here …
J – The roof is on fire!
M – Wearing next to nothing cuz it’s hot as an oven!
J – Nothing can separate …
M – I will always love you!
J – Well I’m not paralyzed but I seem to be struck by you … I want to make you move …
M – Dare you to move …
J – Dare you to run …
M – Slow dancing in a burning room
J – I tried to be chill but you’re so hot that I melted …
M – Wait! I take that back! “If I lay here, if I just lay here”
J – Lay in open fields with me and just stare at the diamonds of the night …
M – When I look at the stars, I find myself.
J – I look into your eyes and I find love …
M – When you look me in the eyes, I catch a glimpse of Heaven.
J – I can’t wait to join the angels and sing my heaven song …
M – Ok, I’m out of quotes. Game over. Well played my friend.
J – Good, I need to shower. Perfect timing! 

**Disclaimer:**
This post really serves no purpose other than to fulfill my desire for amusement.

Goodbyes and Future Plans


Why is it suddenly so hard to say goodbye??

When we all spread out from the camp I was pretty well held together and didn’t cry very much. But when we have a mini reunion down in Pullman, I sob like a toddler in the midst of a huge temper tantrum! 

I miss it so much! Just talking about what we all learned and bringing up inside jokes just showed me that I ache to have that strong community again. ­I realize that it's totally ridiculous to be longing for it when I have so much ahead of me for this school year. I've already forgotten what it was like to tell just anyone a funny story about your day, cry with them about spilling milk [a.k.a = just about anything] and pray with them about anything!

LTSP’10 will always be in the top 4 of my favorite summers ever. 

Here’s why:
A - I grew in such strong relationships with so many people! It was like “Instant Best Friend: Just Add Water!” The people that went on projects before me were not joking about forming lasting relationships! I understand now why they say that they made life-long friends there.
B - I became much more confident in going sharing and completing follow-ups. I know the intensity of what I have in Him and I know how to use the tools I have to build up baby Christians and then go out to make more!
C - I learned how to listen to Him and trust Him. Both of these were/are very hard lessons to grasp, but I’m increasingly thankful that He is patient and loving. He knows I’m just a stupid human girl that’s going to screw up in trying to follow through with whatever He has for me. 

I find myself forgetting all that needs to be done this year and everyone we want to reach when I keep looking back in longing. It’s hard not to want it all back. 

It’s unreasonable to wish that LTSP’10 would never end and that you could just carry everyone around in your pocket with you all the time, but there’s still some fraction of my heart that wants nothing else. 

So please pray for us. 

Pray that we can all bring our passions and lessons from LTSP’10 onto our campuses.
Pray that we will continue to bring each other up with encouragement and challenging each other’s walks.
Pray that we will remember LTSP’10 with admiration.
Pray that we will push forward to show others that they may have the same growth we did.
Pray that we receive His protection and direction as we step onto the front lines of this spiritual war zone. The enemy will do everything to try to convince us that we’re not making a difference, turn us on each other and even turn our bodies on us.
Praise Him that we were able to come have our paths altered so dramatically! 

I will always miss the summer of 2010 … 

And I will always be thankful to have had this summer as a firm foundation for the rest of my life.