Summer Expectations

Can I just say that I am super-excited about this summer? Oh, it will be such a joy. Every summer I fall more and more in love with God and I can't wait to learn more about Him and be around people (like the two pictured below) who make me want to be more like Christ! I also get to hang out with Audrey, Aaron and Julie's daughter, this summer. That's going to be awesome.

Hot. (I know he would hate me, so that's why I put it up! Plus the reflection on his glasses is pretty sweet.)

Seriously, summer is the time when I am the happiest. I get to hang out with my absolute favorite people in the whole entire world. It's actually kind of like One Tree Hill (allow me to explain before you tune out). In real life people don't walk around town going to different people's houses to chat with them but at camp I can go find someone and we can talk for 30 seconds or 3 hours. It's so wonderful. We build such awesome relationships because of the time we spend together!

We also have lots of fun. We play games of "The Game," Gotcha, and random made up games like bouncing Nalgene bottles to each other. Oh, and we also dress up sometimes.

This summer Breehan and I are going to be kicking butt and working out. I'll update you on how awesome I'm looking throughout the summer!

God has blessed me so much with these people and this camp.

What makes a "good" Christian?

There’s this perception that a “good” christian has to be a “successful” christian. We think that our worth lies in a long list of accomplishments. (Salvations, books written, bank account, spiritual fruit, twitter followers, etc.)

Who’s the successful one in God’s eyes? Is it Billy Graham? Or the Parking Volunteer at his crusade?

I think we all know the answer to this question. They both are! They’ve both done their part… what God has called them to do. And the question isn’t even how “well” they did it, but how much love they put into it.

God’s already impressed with you. Stop trying to “wow” Him. I mean, can we really impress the creator of the universe any way? For some reason He’s madly in love with us. So just accept it!

The fruit will come. The numbers will come. The success will increase. But our gaze should be fixed on a love relationship with Him! Productivity HAS to flow out of a place of personal intimacy with God. Otherwise, the product is useless.

Have I mentioned that I love jack mooring. He wrote this. He is from the band Leeland and he has some great insights.

Celebrity Crushes

My top ten celebrity crushes in no particular order:

Adam Brody (especially his voice!)

Leonardo Dicaprio (have you seen "Catch Me If You Can"?!)

Matthew Broderick

Jeffrey Dean Morgan (if he asked me to marry him right now, I'd say ok)

John Cusack

John Mayer (because of his music and his wit!)

Jude Law (duh)

Jonathan Rhys-Meyers

Heath Ledger (I almost cried when I was told he died)

Eric Dane

My girl crush: Kate Winslet

So, who are your celebrity crushes? Male and female. Come on, we all have girl crushes and man crushes!

Praise

Isn't it nice to know that God doesn't expect us to be perfect? We have been justified through Christ. Christ is my covering. That means that instead of God seeing all of my faults, He sees Christ instead.

Lately I have hated the person that I have become so I opened up my Bible and landed on Romans 5. It talks about how Christ died for me while I was still a sinner. He didn't wait for me to get my act together. His grace justifies me before God even when I have screwed up and now I am reconciled to God. What a blessing!

From Romans, the Holy Spirit took me to Psalm 32 which says "Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered" and "Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity." He was verifying in my heart what I already knew in my head. It also talked about the reason I was feeling so broken: "For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away...For day and night your hand was heavy upon me." But there is a remedy for brokenness: "I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin."

But David left no question as to what would happen after I was forgiven: "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you." God isn't going to let me sink back into my sin; He is going to counsel me and lift me up.

The music is ok. The video is pretty great.

Jealous?