yay for friends! 

The Aladdin show...check out those lips! 

Another favorite...Indiana Jones! 

Rambaldi! 

Our all-time favorite ride...THUNDER MOUNTAIN RAILROAD!!! 

Allie and I on thunder mt. 

Allie on thunder mt. 

I love this picture... 

Iain looks like an old man...

Summer!!!

I will post about senior trip eventually...there's a lot to blog about but I don't feel like it right now. :)

I only have about six days left with my sister...for 4 years!! I can't believe it. If anyone has any ideas of fun things to do let me know! We're going to get our ears pierced together and see Mr. and Mrs. Smith when it comes out on the 10th. But other than that we don't have much planned. Oh...we might drive up to IKEA. Who knows.

It's summer! And I still don't have a job...ugh! please pray about the possible one at the children's place with kylea...I am going to call them today. I'll keep you posted.

I'm reading the Chronicles of Narnia this summer. Yahhoo! I want to read them BEFORE the movies start coming out...I made that mistake with the Lord of the Rings and now I am not as motivated to read them...alas.

I want to go on a road trip this summer!...i really want to go to the Gramd Canyon. Other than that I'm really up for montana :)...anyone? anyone?

We (my mom and I) bought our tickets for Hillsdale! We leave August 20th. I can't believe it! Aaaahh...I'm SO excited!

I now have to go pick up pictures at Wal-mart (from senior class picture day...woohoo) and drop hannah's graduation present off at her house (YAY!)

Have a fantastic day...all of you!
Andrea

I am graduated! I can't believe it....acck. I'm done with high school! It hasn't officially hit me yet. I think once I get back from senior trip it will and then again (big time) when I leave. I got all kinds of "college things" for graduation from my family...its so weird. But it was such a fun night...all full of excitement. Here are a few pictures...some of the party at Kyle's after also. yay!

Woohoo!

Yay! Me and Luker...

Hannah, Kyle, and I

Me and Allie!

Allie and Hannah dancing...

Me and Megan!

Last Night As Seniors

So...today was awesome. I had graduation rehersal from 1-3:15 (ish) and then allie, hannah, and I all went over to eat and hang out until Megan's. We went over to Megan's at six to watch Rob and Amber's wedding (from the Amazing Race). It was cute...despite the weird preacher guy, uugh. Then we went over to Allie's to watch the season finale of Alias (rather disappointing). It has gotten super wierd...I have no idea where they're going with things or how they will do things next season. Hopefully it will get better....?! It was good, just not very good. :)
After that (mark came over), we drove over to Kyle's and played the trunk game...stick someone in the trunk of Hannah's car, drive around to some place and make them guess the location. Allie and I went in it together (see picture below) and ended up at the Lovrien's. It was amazing but super scary. Then Kyle and Mark each did it a few times...It was a blast.
We went back to allie's to drop her off and then to kyle's. Hannah went home from there and I hung out with Mark and Kyle for a little bit while they played video games...:) Then they took me home.
It was such a fantastic night! A real blast! :) I must say...my last night as a senior was wonderful. I'm glad I got to spend it with good friends!

TODAY I graduate!!! AAACKK....


I love you hannah and allie...you're the coolest :)

Just hangin' out

Awww...

Allie and I IN THE TRUNK....yikes

On the road...crazy!!!

Kyle coming out of the trunk....a little confused

Sister Fun

Kristen and I had a night of sister fun last night! We went to Bookmans, summit hut (woot woot), the mall, the Gaslight (yay!), and target. Talk about F-U-N! I bought Billy Bragg and Wilco's Mermaid Avenue and I LOVE it. It is so, so good!
I love sister fun...sigh. There won't be too many more nights like that one before we both have to leave...sad. :(

Graduation tomorrow! I can't believe it....acck.

Nearing the End...

Baccalaurreate was yesterday! It was SO fun! Mr. Nielson's charge was "Don't be a Putz." With an acronym (sp?) for Putz...Graduation is coming soon...crazy!

Senior trip is a week from today! yahoo!!!..

Wow

Can I just say that Alias this past week was amazing?!...Alias this past week was amazing!!! It was like the old ones--so good! Yay for Irina...

Today was my last day of high school...AAAAH!! It's crazy. I have one final next week (math...blah) and that's all. Graduation on Thursday, yahoo!! I can't believe I'm done. I don't think the realization of it all has fully kicked in...My emotions about it fluctuate a lot. Weird.

I love you all!

Writing, writing, writing...

I'm trying to write my english paper...ugh! I really don't want to. I just want to sleep...sigh. I even slept almost 12 hours last night. I am so tired all the time! Wierd...
I suppose I should get back to that paper (blah!).

(A month ago today I was leaving with Advanced Bio. for California!!...woohoo)

Cravings

I am up late doing homework....and craving everything. I want olive garden breadsticks, red robin chicken fingers and french fries (YUM!). I want eegees french fries, chips and salsa from On the Border. Uuuh, I want Rex's Revenge from Beyond Bread. I am super hungry! Wow...i really get hungry when i'm up late. Wierd.
Anyhow...It's 1:30 and I'm about done so I think i'll be heading in the direction of my bed soon. Aaah, that sounds wonderful! :)

Oh, P.S. I love Shawn McDonald

WEDNESDAY'S ARE THE BEST!!!

So, now that I am officially off of my media fast I can tell you all about the wonderful adventure that Hannah and I had Wednesday night. It was SO FUN!!!
Ok. Since we couldn't watch Alias, Hannah and I decided to pull an "alias" prank on Mr. Dalton. We couldn't come up with anything super clever but we came up with something. We made him a plate of brownies and dressed all up in black to deliver them. We wanted to call, say "joey's pizza" and hang up, have a note on the door that he would find when we knocked, and then run away. The note on the door would be a clue that would lead to another, which would lead to another, which would eventually lead to the brownies (hiding somewhere in his yard). However, the brownies took longer than we had planned and it was getting late fast. We decided to call, say "joey's pizza, hang up, ring the door bell and be standing on the porch with the brownies.
When we got there, we were super excited and nervous. Hannah handed me her cell phone so I could call. Two people (a guy and girl) both picked up at the same time and said hello. It didn't sound like Mr. Dalton so I hung up. We walked to the door and saw a sign that said, "don't ring door bell, child may be sleeping." So, we knocked...and knocked...and knocked. We could hear them talking but no one would come. So we continued to knock and finally, when we both knocked loudly, Mr. Dalton answered. He was super surprised and very excited. We told him about our plan to call and it turns out I HAD called the right house...ugh! Oh well. We stayed a little while and talked with both him and Mrs. Dalton. They are lots of fun. It was a BLAST.
Though we weren't able to do something HUGE, it was still amazing--definitely an adventure we won't forget. I documented most of the night on my camera and posted a few pictures below. I love hannah so much and I love Alias. What a wonderful combination for a crazy, secret agent adventure!
(Yay for wearing black!!!)


Our humble gift to Mr. Dalton. BROWNIES!!

Yes, Hannah is driving while I'm taking the picture.

On the way to Mr. Dalton's...

Secret Agent style is right!!!

haha

crazy dad!

He cracks me up...

Popsicles and Expos...

So I am skimming through the new issue of the Christian Counter Culture newsletter. I don't have much time to read it right now...I am supposed to be working on putting together my final expo presentation tomorrow. However, I am currently looking for distractions! The first was eating a popsicle........mmm....I got my mom to buy some! There's even a joke on these ones....
Q: What were the two talkative computers doing?
A: They were having a disc-cussion
DUMB!...I could do better.
Anyhow, my second distraction was looking through all my friends' blogs hoping to find updated posts...sigh, not too many I'm afraid. So my third, and final distraction, I'm afraid, is posting on my own blog while looking through the new issue on the Christian Counter Culture site. Next month is about the Gospel. I am really very excited about it...

Mark turned to me in Christian Living today and said, "In about three and a half months we'll be in michigan." How weird is that?! I can't believe that in three and a half months all of us will be gone...and spread out all over the place. It's exciting but so weird. I already miss my family. :(

AND NOW...! A tribute to my sister...Today she is 23, woohoo! She feels rather discouraged because she isn't married yet. But I am holding out for a guy to come along this summer in oregon (keep your fingers crossed)! I love you Kristen and don't worry, he just needs to look harder! Perhaps I'll look harder too... :) Anyway, have a fantastic day and be excited that God has given you another year! I LOVE you!

I think that's everything. I really must go work on my power point (ugh). I'm ready to be done with this project!!

A Fantastic Night

Last night a bunch of us went over to Nathan's to watch E.T. (Nathan, Kylea, Darren, Katie, Hannah, Allie,Me, Isaac, Eric, Mark, Kyle B, Stacey, Susie). In actuality (much to our delight;)), we ended up watching X-men 2 (woohoo!) and it was so fun! Afterwards, we all went over to Mark's to watch Equilibrium (upon Kyle Baril's recommendation) and it was SO, so good! I love it!!!
It was an incredibly fun night with friends...woohoo for friends and fun!

ALIAS

Just some cool ALIAS pictures I wanted to share...I am very much in an alias mood right now....sigh.


Everyone! (season two)

Sidney...

woohoo Sark!

Marshall's the coolest :)

I miss Will!

6th Period

I'm sitting at school during a free period! ugh!! I wouldn't be here except that I am waiting for Mr. Kabel to grade my math test (yikes!). I'm hoping for a better grade than I have been getting lately....sigh. Math...bother! I have a C-in the class and hope to bring it up to a solid B before the end of the year (ehehe). So, we'll see.
That's all...
Andrea

Ouch!

I've been working on my advanced bio catalina island journal for almost two hours, while sitting on my bedroom floor. I've gone through approx. four cd's (some of them twice). My legs are officially cramped and it hurts so bad! When I stood up, I almost fell over...haHa.

Sigh...anyway, I've decided to quite on that project for the night. I can only handle so much tedious cutting out and pasting at one time. But I still have a few more journal responses to do as well as some "not so directed, directed notes" for english. Hmmm, I don't really want to do it but I've been in a strange mood today. I have done a fair amount of homework (nice) and feel like getting more done. I don't want to do the work but I want to get it done....Does this make sense to anyone but me?

I really want to watch a movie. Oooh, I want to watch Top Gun again...either that or While You Were Sleeping. I've had an urge to watch that one for a long time. Perhaps I'll get to it sometime this week...woohoo, what a wonderful movie.

Ok, this is getting long and boring so I'm outa here! See you all tomorrow...

Andrea

Friends are Cool

Today was wierd because I was exhausted and drained and not motivated at all but at the same time it was really cool. It was super layed back and spontaneous (which I like)...
Hannah and I went over to her house to watch While You Were Sleeping and eat swedish fish. We sat on her bed to watch it on her laptop (woohoo) but decided we didn't really want to watch it. So we didn't. We hung out for a little while and talked...Then, later on I was working on my advanced bio journal and Kyle B. called to see if I wanted to go with him and his sister to the fair. I did and it was so fun...We didn't really do a lot but it was fun to not do anything...and just hang out and walk around. I like making last minutes decisions to hang out with friends. And I like it when I can be with a good friend and decide not to watch a movie but to talk instead. Friends are cool.

I am going to miss days like this next year.

~Andrea

PS I'm really sad about it...

Just a Thought

I really like this song and as I was listening to it today (while trying to write a paper...blah) I decided I wanted to post it. So here it is, for all of you to enjoy :). But I think it would be perhaps more meaningful if you heard it...Oh well.

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified
Follow Christ to the holy mountain
Sinner, sorry and wrecked by the fall
Cleanse your heart and your soul
In the fountain that flows
For you and for me and for all

At the wonderful tragic mysterious tree
On that beautiful scandalous night you and me
Were atoned bu His blood and forever washed white
On that beautiful scandalous night

On the hillside you will be delivered
At the foot of the cross, justified
And your spirit restored by the river that pours
From our blessed Savior's side

You carried the sin of mankind on your back
And the sky went black

Go on up to the mountain of mercy
To the crimson perpetual tide
Kneel down on the shore
Be thirsty no more
Go under and be purified

In my senior Bible class we've been studying Romans 8. It has been so wonderful and has, for me, given a whole new meaning to this song. What a great Savior we serve.
Have a blessed day!

CATALINA ISLAND

I got back from Catalina Island last night (or rather this morning at 3:30). It was an amazing trip...full of fun times and relaxation. We saw so many super cool organisms! Marine life is incredible, I love it!

AND, during a live dissection lab I ate sea urchin gonads (otherwise known as testicles)....I know, sicko. I didn't know that's what they were when I tasted them but Mrs. Chandler said they were a delicacy in Japan and others were tasting it....So I said what the heck and tried it. It was rather gross but I am still super proud of the fact that I actually tried it! Maybe later I'll post a picture of the internal structure of the sea urchin and point it out for you. (Kristen, I'm one ahead on unusual foods...)

The trip was a blast and I am so glad I was able to go on it. There are so many stories but you'll just have to hear them in person because I don't want to right them all out. Oh, and I have a kazillion more pictures too...
these are just a few.

The whole gang

The dolphins!!! They were incredible!

Chris, Brian, and Isaac on the back deck

Kylea and Nathan before we got on the boat

Senioritis?...hmmmm

Obviously, as seniors, we are feeling ready to move on. We are getting excited, nervous, anxious, antsy, and hopeful. We are looking to the future, whether it be one at the U of A or out of town. We are feeling unsure and yet strangely ready to step into the next phase of our lives. Mr. O'Hair identifies the transition and, as he also mentions, so do we. Only we give it a different name: senioritis.

I don't deny the feelings that accompany this "transition." I too feel anxious and excited, ready and hopeful. However, I have recently been overwhelmed by the presence of great bitterness, laziness and rudeness, all hidden under the guise of "senioritis." Does feeling unsure and nervous, but also excited, give anyone the right to treat people badly? Mustn't we still press on, seeking to proclaim Christ in our daily living?

Paul wrote "To live is Christ and to die is gain" because it was true for him. He sought to live each day fully for the sake of Christ and the Kingdom. He lived to glorify God. For him, each day was a race. But he wasn't racing for a temporal prize. He was racing for the eternal--life in Christ and with Christ. To live is Christ.

I feel sad because I see people acting so bitter and angry. We aren't running with excellence anymore. And I AM NOT saying that we must get A's on all our work this quarter (or that we ever should have). That is not the point at all. I'm tired of people thinking that I am a goody goody who thinks doing your best means getting straight A's. If you think that then I'm sorry. I don't think you ever truly knew me.

Be excellent in your atittude, in your treatment of others, in your adherence to authority. Most of all, be excellent in your faith. I don't believe "senioritis" is permission to give up and throw authority and committment out the window. I know that there are many feelings associated with being a senior. I'm not immune to them. But I also believe that Christ still holds us to our higher calling. To live is Christ. So why aren't we living each day for Christ?

Woohoo! Luke in his kayak! He is amazingly cool because he likes to do things outdoors...like KAYAK.



Oh....and by the way....34 school days until graduation!!!! Even less because of the Catalina Island trip and no finals. yahoo! I am so extremely excited...

(I'm having lots of fun posting picures, can you tell?...)

This Just In!!!...

Derek Webb is releasing a live dvd on October 11, 2005. It has the song "Blood of the Lamb" on it (it is so good) along with many others. The dvd is called “How To Kill And Be Killed.” I am oh so excited.
If anyone wants to buy it for me, feel free! :)

SISTERS!!!

Glacier National Park 

Jars of Clay's new cd is AMAZING

I recommend it to everyone...This is one of my favorite songs on the cd (though there are many).

GOD BE MERCIFUL TO ME (Psalm 51)
God be merciful to me on Thy grace, I rest my plea/Plenteous in compassion Thou/Blot out my transgressions now/Wash me, make me pure within/Cleanse, oh, cleanse me from my sin/My transgressions I confess/Grief anf guilt my soul oppress/I have sinned against Thy grace/And provoked Thee to Thy face/I confess Thy judgment just/Speechless, I , Thy mercy trust/I am evil born in sin/Thou desirest truth within/Thou alone my Savior art/Teach Thy wisdom to my heart/Make me pure, Thy grace bestow/Wash me whiter than the snow/Gracious God, my heart renew/Make my spirit right and true/Thy salvation's joy impart/Steadfast make my willing heart/Steadfast make my willing heart/Broken, humbled to the dust/By Thy wrath and judgment just/Let my contrite heart rejoice/And in gladness hear Thy voice/From my sins, oh, hide Thy face/Blot them out in boundless grace.

What a glorious, merciful, majestic God we serve!

We're in a battle...so why don't we act like it?

Life is War. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

"Life is war because the maintenance of our faith and the laying hold on eternal life is a constant fight." John Piper

But most of us do not believe it...We show by the way we live (priorities, casual approach to spiritual issues, etc.) that we actually believe we are living in peacetime.

If we truly believed we are living in wartime, we would be living differently. In wartime, we are on the alert. We are armed. We are ready to do battle.

The number one weapon in this spiritual war is prayer. But until people believe they are living in wartime, they will not pray as they should. We cannot know what prayer is until we understand the reality of a life of war.

O that we would have a passion for battle, that we might fight the good fight for the glory and praise of God. When this is done, we will experience and understand for the first time the awesome power of prayer.

Put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20).

Well....

I really, really like my friends. Amazing Race was fun tonight but it made me kind of sad. I am going to miss hanging out with my friends! Afterwards Hannah and I dropped by Mark's house and it was just so much fun. Next year is going to be so different...sometimes I really don't feel ready. Sigh...

It's a good thing God is in control and is sovereign...

The Mark of the Christian

"Love--and the unity it attests to--is the mark Christ gave Christians to wear before the world. Only with this mark may the world know that Christians are indeed Christians, and that Jesus was sent by the Father."
-Francis Schaeffer

T-shirts (what we should be known for) by Derek Webb
They'll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
They'll know us by the way we point and stare
at anyone whose sin looks worse than ours
who cannot hide the scars of this curse that we all bare
They'll know us by our picket lines and signs
They'll know us by the pride we hide behind
like anyone on earth is living right
and isn't that why Jesus died
not to make us think we're right

When love, love, love
is what we should be known for
Love, love, love
it's the how and it's the why
we live and breathe and we die

They'll know us by the reasons we divide
and how we can't seem to unify
becuase we've gotta sing songs a certain style
or we'll walk right down that aisle
and juts leave it all behind
They'll know us by the billboards that we make
just turning God's word to cheap cliches
says 'what part of murder don't you understand?'
but we hate our fellow man
and point a finger at his grave

They'll know us by the t-shirts that we wear
They'll know us by the way we point and stare
telling them their sins are worse than ours
thinking we can hide our scars
beneath these t-shirts that we wear"


"The world has a right to judge whether we are christians or not on the basis of how we manifest substantive love to each other as christians--and to all men and women, because they are created in God's image, deserving dignity and honor."
-Francis Schaeffer

Joy in the Midst of Suffering

"In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1:6,7

Head/Heart Issues

"The heart never takes the place of
the head: but it can, and should, obey it."
--C.S. Lewis (The Abolition of Man)

I am struggling to have my heart obey my head.

Outrageous Love

Praise Him because His love is better than life! (Psalm 63:3)

Made For Something More

"C.S. Lewis, in his second letter to me at Oxford, asked how it was that I, as a product of a materialistic universe, was not at home there. 'Do fish complain of the sea for being wet? Or if they did, would that fact itself not strongly suggest that they had not always been, or wd. not always be, purely aquatic creatures?' Then, if we complain of time and take such joy in the seemingly timeless moment, what does that suggest? It suggests that we have not always been or will not always be purely temporal creatures. It suggests that we were created for eternity."
Sheldon Vanauken (from A Severe Mercy)

Something to think about. As Vanauken also write, this is proof or at least a powerful suggestion that eternity exists and is our home.

We were created for another world.

Think about this daily as you live in a world that is not your own. What are you called to do? Who are you called to be? How are you called to live? What is our duty in this, a foreign land?

She Must And Shall Go Free

This is a short article by Derek Webb. It is wonderful!

"German theologian Martin Luther was once asked by a member of his congregation why he preached the Gospel to them week after week, thinking that surely they were ready to move on to some deeper, more spiritual teaching. Luther’s reply was, “Because beloved, week after week you forget it.”
Luther’s church back then was just like our church today, and his response is still so appropriate. Throughout our history, God’s people have exchanged one idol for another.
In preaching and practice, the church today works hard to be ‘relevant.’ At first glance, it’s a noble cause. But with some reflection, we find that the compromises that appear to make us ‘relevant’ can also strip us of our distinctive and transcendent characteristics. Our hope of being truly relevant to our ever-changing culture here in America, is to be who we are as the Body and Bride of Christ. Franky Schaeffer in his book Addicted to Mediocrity said, “The church’s effectiveness in the world is stifled proportionate to the extensiveness of its blind spots.” Maturity is learning the language of repentance and reformation as we uncover our spiritual blind spots.
Contrary to appearances and “best selling book” racks in Christian bookstores, the church’s greatest need is not spiritual stimulation. In fact, I’d say that we are thoroughly over stimulated. We’re just dying to hear and experience new things, to have our spiritual lives revolutionized, and to be in the ‘inner circle’ of the latest spiritual trends and ideologies. It seems that every few weeks there’s a new book outlining the newest spiritual formula by which we can get all that God has to offer us, be it ‘victorious’ Christian living or spiritual blessings of all kinds. And we can’t wait to get on the bandwagon hoping that maybe this will be the missing piece that we’ve been looking for.
But for the same reason the newest mouthwash or soft drink can’t make us more confident and assertive as their marketing promises, these spiritual ‘products’ can’t satisfy us. The good news is that new soft drinks, best selling books, and failed church formulas expose the fact that we never get over our need for Jesus. Nothing else can satisfy us.
So maybe our blind spot is that we’d rather be a “sub-culture’ than a ‘counter-culture’. When we make an idol of ‘relevance’ we become a Christian ghetto enslaved to the rules of pop culture. But Jesus makes his Kingdom to be a ‘counter-culture’, where every order of this world is turned on its head. The poor are rich and the broken ones are exalted. The church community is not like a membership to a health club of your choosing. It’s not like a shopping mall where you bring your visa card. The gospel shows us that we can’t heal our sickness, we have no money, and we have no heart. But the gospel invites us to a great feast, teaches us how to love, and trades consumerism for service.
The 21st century church still needs to hear the same gospel that Luther spoke of week after week. Will we confess the sufficiency of Christ or will we continue to worship a false sense of relevance? Will we continue to put warm coats on spiritually dead people or will we preach to them the Gospel in all its offense and beauty? Come to Jesus and find maturity in repentance, vision through scripture, and mercy in our great Savior. By His grace alone, His church will be victorious, and she will be set free." Derek Webb (2004)

Beautiful, Painful Love

"Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable." C.S. Lewis (The Four Loves)

I Love It

ALIAS is on this week and i am soooo excited. I hope it's a good one....hmmm. It's a sisters one. YAY FOR SISTERS!!! Kristen and I are excited...well, I am. :) They even played THE song on the previews. woohoo!
That is all I wanted to say.
Have a fantastic day...everyone!
Andrea

Sigh...

I just watched all the "good" parts of Anne of Green Gables (the second ones). Ok, so I watched all the romantic parts...So good!

I have noticed that I seem to be growing increasingly discontented with my position in life (mostly in the area of finding a boy). How pathetic of me. There is so much I have yet to learn.
It is hard at times to remind myself that my job is to seek Christ and find satisfaction in Him and Him alone. It seems to get harder, too, when so many around me are stressing relationship. It seems to be especially prevalent as I face the transition from high school to college. In my opinion, this is one of the worst possible times for me to be committed to someone. So I'm glad I'm not. It's difficult, though, when I know i'm not ready but want to be ready.....I do desperately want my Gilbert....alas. I must remain asleep in the will of God--though it be a difficult thing to do.

The Church's Lost Vision

I've been contemplating missions and the Church's lack of passion for the work of God in the nations. I don't understand it. Why isn't the church excited? Why doesn't the Church care? Why is the Church living so passionles for God's vision in the world? Hmmm...I have thought of three reasons (not that there aren't more...):

1. We don't believe "missions" is applicable to all believers.
2. We are blind to God's love and glory.
3. We have been sucked into the American mindset of comfort and ease.

I have three things to say in answer to these questions:

1. Missions is applicable to everyone (we are called to send or be sent).
2. We are blind to God's glory and therefore must fight to unveil it, love it, and savor it, in order that we might proclaim it to all peoples.
3. We must not buy into the American dream. It is a lie and it holds no eternal joy.

I am shocked and dismayed to see very little passion for missions in the Christian community. I don't think we understand that this is God's plan--to make much of His name by having it proclaimed to all tribes, tongues, and nations. This is huge! Yet there is so little excitement and enthusiasm...

"Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!" Psalm 96:3

"The purpose of world missions is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church. This assumes something about "disciples" and something about "nations." These terms are used in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations." My assumption about "disciples" is that they are people who have seen "the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6), and who cherish "God in Christ" as the supreme value of their lives (Philippians 3:8). My assumption about "nations" is that they are not geographic, political countries but "tribes, languages, peoples and ethnic groups" (Revelation 5:9; 7:9). Based on these two assumptions, then, the purpose of world missions is to spread a passion for the supremacy of God into people groups where there is no indigenous, evangelizing church." --John Piper

The result is eternal, ethnic worship...

"After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" Revelation 7:9, 10

The price is great, but not so great that the result is not even greater. Oh, what joy stands before us!

Asleep in God's Will

I HAVE ONE THING TO SAY...

"No one warns young people to follow Adam's example. He waited till God saw his need. Then God made Adam sleep, prepared for his mate, and brought her to him...we need more of this "being asleep" in the will of God...I must go on, asleep until God sees my need of Eve--if such a need ever arises." -Jim Elliot (Shadow of the Almighty)

...It is easy to get caught up in the emotion and desire for love and the intimacy of finding a "mate." However, God is sovereign and He holds the future--perfect and planned. I am frustrated with the lack of trust and dependence on this sovereign grace Christ has covered us with.

We need more of this "being asleep" in the will of God...

We Come To You

As you came to us so we come to you
Fragile as a baby hopeful and new
But learning fast that to walk is to fall
Soon we've done it all

We come broken and we come undone
We come trying hard to love everyone
But we come up short in all that we do
Because we do
So we come to you

As you came to us so we come to you
Dirty and hurting then dead in the tomb
But raised redeemed to show off the scars
'cause you've brought us this far

You came to show the way not around but through
So through it all we come to you

(Derek Webb--I See Things Upside Down)