Psalm 13

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? 

How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, O Lord my God.

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death; my enemy will say, 

"I have overcome him,"

and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

But I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart rejoices in your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord,

for he has been good to me.  

Freedom is not Free

I decided yesterday that I absolutely love the 4th of July. I've always really liked it, but I think it may be rivaling Thanksgiving for my favorite holiday (I haven't decided for sure yet, only because Thanksgiving also includes playing football).  Here's a quick glimpse into the 4th of July at K-Kountry . . .

8:45 ~ Kamp is awakened by the sounds of firecrackers exploding outside their barns. The greatest thing was having multiple kampers stick their heads out of the barn and ask us if we meant to wake them up. Yes, we did!

9:00 ~ American History WAR-ball. Warball with a twist. American Revolutionary Warball: The British counselors fighting the kamper colonists. Civil Warball: The kamper Union again defeated the counselor Confederacy.

11:15 ~ All American Free Time. Complete with the pool, water slides, water-balloon toss, ice-cream eating contest, blob wars, and Freedom Tickets which could be won a variety of ways and earned kampers a trip down the zipline!

1:00 ~ Picnic on the pool deck. I had my first bratwurst. It was delicious. Complete with apples, barbeque chips and chocolate chip brownies. An all American lunch.

2:30 ~ National Treasure showing during F.O.B. What an American movie, complete with adventure, intrigue, history, and of course some great one liners from Riley ("Albuquerque. See, I can do it too. Snorkel).

5:15 ~ Party at K-Kauai's water-park with an afternoon snack of peanut butter and jelly and watermelon slices.

7:00 ~ All American, all K-Kountry parade. Great American Heros like George W. and Lance Armstrong, and the greatest K-Kountry characters like Half Pipe Harry and the Bumble Bee (And don't forget the Ladies in Waiting, Miss K-Kountry, and Lil Jana and Big Miss).

7:45 ~ Another all American meal: Barbeque ribs, grilled chicken, pasta salad, corn on the cob, and a great salad bar. I again enjoyed a first! My first rib! No big deal, I definitely had some 9-year-old kampers asking me if I was really an American because I'd never had ribs before. I told them it was because I was a poor college student . . . they didn't buy it.

9:00 ~ K-Kountry fireworks. Grab a bompop. Grab a friend. Grab a seat. And sing along with God Bless the USA as we lit up the sky with a great fireworks show.

Whew. What an awesome day. I love that we celebrate the freedom we have in this country. Freedom to do and say what we like, and to believe whatever we choose to believe. As we were heading up to bed last night someone mentioned that "freedom is not free."

This is very true and reminds me of an essential, yet sometimes forgotten, truth.  Jesus paid the ultimate price so that I could be free. Free from sin. Free from guilt. Free from living a life of regret. Free from eternity separated from Him.  While I am so thankful for my freedom as an American, I am even more grateful for my freedom as a child of God! I did nothing to deserve this freedom, nothing to deserve my life. But Jesus chose to love me, chose to give me freedom and eternal life. He loved me more than his own life and paid a great price for my freedom. Praise the Lord! Praying that you are understanding and living in His freedom!!

"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free! Stand firm then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." Galatians 5:1

When the redbuds bloom

We have this thankful board in my apartment. Its just a dry-erase board that is behind our door. A few days before Thanksgiving Julie wrote "I am thankful for...". We've been thankful for a lot over the last few months. 58 things to be exact. Everything from school breaks to LOST, to snowflakes and flirting. But today I added something new. Redbuds.

This past weekend I went on a road trip. I headed to Branson, Missouri. Well Jesus knew I needed this weekend. Its been an incredible year. Insane almost. After listening to music for awhile I started talking. Yes, mostly to myself, but praying too. And analyzing. A lot.

I reached a point in my life this year when I realized that something had to change. That I was living in such a way that was so incredibly reliant on Missy. On Missy's power, strength, discipline, knowledge, attitude, personality, I mean I can go on and on. And Jesus finally got me to a point where He showed me that I was relying on those things not only for affirmation, but for my salvation. Jesus thank you for revealing your truth. Yes, it has been painful. and zero fun sir. But let me just tell you . . . Jesus makes ALL THINGS NEW. ALL THINGS. even things you thought were supposed to be "new" already.
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a NEW creation; the old has gone, the NEW has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

And let me just tell you how GOOD my Jesus is!! I'm driving between Knoxville and Nashville. Cruising along and analyzing (okay, over-analyzing) my life. And I realize that the entire interstate is lined with beautiful blooming redbuds. THE WHOLE thing! And not only to Nashville, but all the way to Branson. Wow Jesus.
Its as if He was just reminding me how NEW my life really is in Him. Like spring. And those redbuds will forever be a reminder of how GOOD Jesus is. How He will never leave me, even when my life is out of control and I can't see Him anywhere. HE MAKES ALL THINGS NEW!!


"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1: 8-9