Boys

Nope, there is not a boy, that is not was this post is going to be about. Sorry if I got your hopes up! :D This post is about my high school boys here in Knoxville who I have kind of adopted as my brothers. I love and miss my little brothers ( Cyle and Cole), but having these boys here in Tennessee makes me miss them a little less. Don't get me wrong, I miss my brothers a lot, just not as much as I would because I have these boys to pick on me, make fun of me, protect me, defend me and fight for me just like Cyle and Cole do (they pick on me more than Cyle and Cole do) and I do the same to them just like I would to my real brothers.
      The young men here have shown me that even though they've grown up in a really bad part of town, they know how to be gentlemen. These boys have been there for me all summer, and I am extremely happy to have them in my life. Without them I wouldn't have much to laugh at! They can tell when I'm upset and will come give me a hug, do something stupid to make me laugh, or they'll ask me if they need to beat someone up, and I do the same for them minus the beating someone up. The past few weeks have been extremely difficult. From dealing with fighting elementary kids, disrespectful little middle school boys, being sick, and a million other little things, they always found a way to cheer me up and make me feel better, no matter what I was going through.
      They are a respectful group of young men who are defeating the odds that are against them and I pray that God continues to work in their lives and would shape them into His image. I am extremely thankful that God has placed men and women in these boys' lives to be positive role models. God is going to do Beautiful Things in their lives!

 Some of my "brothers" are in this picture. This is the best picture I could find!

Friends

This summer is totally different from last summer. Why? Because I have friends this year. Last summer I had no friends, part of it was because I didn't want to make friends only to leave, be forgotten, and possibly never see them again. This year, I have friends! The thought of loving these people then leaving them and being forgotten still scares me a little, but I need friends. The fear of what would happen if I didn't have friends far outweighs the fear of making friends then being forgotten once I leave. I took a risk by going to a small group gathering where I knew absolutely nobody, but it definitely was a risk worth taking. I now have new friends who will speak truth into my life, I can speak truth into theirs, we can share each others burdens, rejoice with one another, take communion together, watch basketball together and just be part of each others daily living. I love that! People are wanting to get involved at the Baptist Center where I work, and are wanting to join me on mission there and I just feel like this is where God wants me. God's hand is all over this summer! He has blessed me with some amazing new friends here in Knoxville, a wonderful church community to be apart of,  great co-workers, and fun kids to challenge me daily. I know that leaving here at the end of July is going to be one of the hardest things I will ever do, but I also know that God has a plan, and my prayer is that part of His plan involves me moving to Knoxville, working at the Baptist Center, and becoming heavily involved in the church community I am in right now. God is doing some pretty Beautiful Things in my life right now, and I can't wait to see what else He will do!

Praise God for friendships and community they are truly a very Beautiful Thing designed by Him!

(P.s. Sorry if this seems all over the place, random or sloppy. It's 1am!)

Girls...

Middle school girls... need I say more? I love them, but they drive me crazy sometimes. How do you have a normal conversation with 8 middle school girls who seem to only be concerned with boys, that girl who cussed her off, boys, looking hot, boys, who's dating who, and boys. I was never one of those girls, I hated drama, I was never boy crazy, never got in verbal or physical fights with girls, I grew up in the church, never wanted to date, and wanted to look cute, not hot. What do I have in common with these girls? I feel like I have absolutely nothing in common with them. But, they're girls, and I'm a girl. It's a start right? They like guys, and I like guys. (Although we are as different as night and day when it comes to what kind of guy we are attracted to.) They want to look hot, I want to look pretty. I guess I do have things in common with them after all. We sort of want the same things, we're just going about it in very different ways, maybe that's why I'm having a hard time communicating with them. I've always hung out with girls similar to myself and communication was never hard with them, they always know what I'm saying, even if it doesn't totally make sense when it comes out of my mouth. I like communication to be somewhat simple and easy. I don't really want to have to work at it, I mean, who likes to feel uncomfortable and awkward around people? Not me! But in order to spread the Gospel, being uncomfortable and awkward is going to be necessary in some situations.

             

     2 Corinthians 12:6-10 says this " Though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."  My prayer is that His power will be seen through my weaknesses, that He will use my communication (or lack thereof) with these girls to bring glory to Himself, and that I would lean into Him and rely on Him to speak through me.

He will turn this into a very Beautiful Thing!

Fun day with the guys!

I have been in Knoxville for about a week now! This week included the following activities; Market on Tuesday morning, worship service, decorating the bulletin board, cleaning Shannon's office, and cleaning both the men's and women's bathrooms Wednesday, Market again Thursday morning, middle school girls Bible study Tuesday-Thursday afternoon, Nail painting party Thursday afternoon with the middle school girls, and Fun Day with the high school guys Friday. Friday we took close to 15 high school boys to one of our volunteers lake house where Mike (the volunteer) took the guys out on his boat, fed us and allowed us to treat his house as if it were our own for the day. It was amazing, I got to look at this beautiful scenery for the entire day, watch the guys play darts and pool, I played 3 games of checkers and won 2 of those games, and had a lot of fun getting to know the guys better. It was a great day.

On the way home I rode near the back of  one of the vans with 3 of our high schoolers and Jared who is one of the other summer staff, and just had fun listening to the guys talk, teasing them, being teased back, and asking them fun questions like "What animal would you be and why?" and listening to their responses. Then, when we arrived back to the Baptist Center at almost 10pm, we were all told to go back into the prayer room, where Jay (one of our high school graduates) gave us this announcement; "On the way here Mike called Shannon to say that someone had taken $50 from his wife's purse. He isn't concerned about the money, he's concerned that he just lost a group of friends." The room was silent. Nobody said anything, we all just sat there in silence. Jay continued to talk saying that "whoever did this needs to man-up and take responsibility for what he has done, that it's wrong to steal and that whoever did this has hurt Mike a lot." It broke my heart when I heard all this. I love being with the guys, I had a great time with them at the lake house, and they're a great group of boys. It just takes one mistake to ruin the day for everyone, to break the trust that one man had in the whole group is now damaged. My prayer is that God will convict whoever did this, that He would cause this young man to just feel sick to his stomach, and cause him to be miserable to the point that he has to tell someone. I also pray that whoever this young man goes to, whether it be Natalie, Shannon, Mike or any of the summer staff, that we would handle it in a way honoring to God, not condemning him, but loving him through his actions and showing him the love of Christ. Yes, stealing $50 from someone is terrible, but God can take this and use it as an opportunity for us to share the gospel with the young man, who knows, maybe this is what it takes for this young man to realize that he is in need of a Savior and he can't do it on his own. God will use this for His glory, we just don't know how. God will use this and turn it into something beautiful.