Thursday, March 21, 2013

Jesus Calling

There is a devotion book called Jesus Calling that I am going to start soon. Many of my friends have been reading the book and have posted some excerpts from it and they have all been really good.

         On Warner University campus, there is a fire spreading among the students.  It is pretty inspiring to see God moving among people here. We have something called Student Alpha. It is a weekly meeting on Thursdays about what it means to be a Christian and lets students talk about questions that they have about it and there are two leaders per group (of about 7) who are there to help guide discussion and answer questions. 

         I think it is a really awesome thing for sure, but like I was talking about in my last post, I've been reading Weird and in the last chapter I read, Groeschel was talking about how to choose the wise thing to spend our time that God has given us.  Sometimes even when the choices we have in front of us aren't necessarily bad, we "have to start saying no to good things so you'll be able to say yes to the best things."   For some of us, that's a very hard thing to do because we are good at making excuses.  We can think up reasons why one thing will be really good for us because we want to do it so badly, but in some cases, the one thing really isn't.  Groeschel talks about making choices based on our self awareness and where we are in our lives at the moment we need to make the choices. So in other words, even though Student Alpha is a great ministry, my time, I believe, can be spent better elsewhere.

         Based on my above decision, and having been given a copy of Jesus Calling by my friend, Kalyn, I am going to tell you what I have been thinking about doing, and I would really like some feedback PLEASEEEE :)

         It can take many different ways to reach people for Jesus and to inspire each other to follow God's will.  I want to propose this:  Myself, along with a few other people who would like to be involved, do this devotion and post, daily, our thoughts and motivations that we received from it and in doing so, hopefully be able to inspire each other, and whoever else reads this blog or wherever else we might post it.  Those who do the daily posting can send me their thoughts and I can post them on my blog so that everyone can read them.  Also, the comment section can be open to anyone who wants to comment on what someone has said, or add their own thoughts.  If you are interested in helping, please comment or email me!! kstephens1991@yahoo.com  Guys, we have to get out of our comfort zones and choose things that will reach out to others.  Sometimes it takes more than just living out our lives. Sometimes it takes action on our parts.  So if you would be interested in being one of those people, and it can alternate people per day so you don't have to post everyday, then please give this some thought.

God Bless!!  Have a great day :)

Monday, March 18, 2013

Gettin Weird

Hey Everyone!!

         I am sorry that I haven't blogged in months.  Let me tell you, when college gets hard, it gets HARD. I haven't been able to take a break for quite some time.  I seriously feel like I've been jumping from one thing to another and the only time I get some rest is the 5 hours of sleep I get at night, then I'm up and going again. It is incredibly stressful to have all of this stuff to get done and feel like there is no time to get it done in.  I've got so much going on that everything I'm involved in, I feel that I am doing them half-hearted or with half the effort I could be.  I've got classes with lots of homework, I've got track practice, I've got a campus job, and then I'd like to think that I've got somewhat of a social life. 

         Because my track meets are almost always over 2 hours away, I usually read on the bus.  I just started the book called Weird by Craig Groeschel.  Basically, it is about being different than everyone else because of the effort we put into becoming like Jesus and striving for God's will.  The first few chapters caught my attention.  They were about time.  
         First, let me tell you, when I read books like this, I highlight and underline the heck out of them.  I've only gotten through the first 3 chapters of the book, but almost every page has something underlined or noted. I'll list a few of the things that I underlined.  Again these are from Weird by Craig Groeschel.

         "Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change. But pretty soon, everything's different." - Bill Watterson.

         "If the devil can't make us really bad, then he'll try to make us really busy."

         "It's time to create a margin in which you can not only focus on your true priorities but also simply breathe and begin to enjoy life again."

         "When we follow Jesus, we're about our Father's business, not about the world's busyness."

         I know that God gave us 24 hour days and everything that He wants us to do can be accomplished in that amount of time.  It just that most of the time, we prioritize things that the world tells us is important over what God tells us is important.  Having no time to spend time with Him in His Word is no excuse.  So basically....  My first paragraph is irrelevant. Haha.  I am terrible about prioritizing my time.  I know that, my mother knows that, a lot of people know that.  It's definitely something that I need to work on.  God made me for something and I'm pretty sure it wasn't for this daily struggle of juggling homework, practicing, and all the other stuff I'm involved in.  He asks us to lay our burdens on Him.  And I believe that if we put Him first, everything else will fall into place.   

         Anyway, there are some things that I want to do with my blog in the upcoming weeks and I will post about it in a day or so.  

         The worst part about all of this is having the feeling that all of it is for nothing.  Maybe I don't know where I am going or if I am going in the right direction.  I've been doing a lot of thinking (when I can seem to find the time) and I've been feeling that I've been thinking in the wrong direction as to what I am going to do with my life.