Life is a journey

So it is official...i have not posted in over a month.  To be honest, i have a ton of excuses but the truth is i am just lazy.  So lately my thought process has been thinking about the journey of life (cheesy I know, but i swear it will be good).  My parents are divorced and now they are both empty nesters, rediscovering who they are and their life.  My mom has sold my childhood home and relocated to a small cottage on the water in annapolis (we refer to the house as the shack).  I was there this weekend and it is quite a beautiful place to watch the sunset and to just enjoy God in all his glory.  My dad, the sailing man, left yesterday to sail by himself to Florida.  I was laughing to myself saturday as I said goodbye to my dad (for awhile) and then left my moms house.  They got a divorce because they fought all the time and seemed to have nothing in common.  Yet when all the crazyness of a day is done they both find themselves on the water enjoying the same sunset thousands and thousands of miles apart.  Life is funny like that.  It is as if you think you know what is best for you and you think your plan is so much better then any other, yet really our thoughts and our plans are nothing.

dad on his boat

view from my moms cottage

sunset at the cottage

I have been really trying to enjoy the lord in every moment of everyday.  I have been studying what that means and looking at my heart and how this all works together.  What does it even mean to enjoy the Lord when all you know around you is not joyful but rather heartache?  I have been reminded recently of the vulnerability and boldness I used to have consistently in my ministry.  I would go to the ends of the earth just to have a high school kid hear about Christ.  Over the years it seems as though I have become numb to that passion and desire.  It is as if I expect pain to come.  The more and more I have realized this I have begun to realize how little and helpless I really am.  As inadequate as I feel, God has still chosen to use me.  How can I not enjoy the simple fact that is in that.  Although we are human and contain nothing good on our own, God still uses us all daily.  Now if that is not something to seek Christ daily and enjoy him I don't know what is.
On another note...recently I have been feeling as though I need a break.  I have not had all that much to do but for some reason I have been feeling like I need rest.  The funny part of this feeling is that every time I go somewhere to rest I end up having a conversation about Young Life or Christ.  Funny how God works in that way.  The resounding gong of my life is Christ saying over and over again...rest in ME, not yourself, not a movie, not the couch....just Me.

Enjoy a few pictures over the last few weeks....

Reunions

So number one Leanne and I have both been very very bad about posting, sorry.

Number two:
A couple of weeks ago I went to a friend's wedding.  He was my Young Life teammate in college and it was soooo exciting to see how God has one been working in his life and just his joy of finding this sweet, Godly, beautiful woman to spend the rest of his life with.  I loved getting to see and watch them make this commitment before God and their friends.  It is a neat and unknown thing to me how God brings people together and the whole two becoming one.  But what a gift for me to see it in front of me with these two people.
I also got to see so many friends from college.  Not only my girls and small group leader but also my old Young Life team.  I went through so much with this team.  We were on a team for three years together- well two and a half and we went through many ups and downs.  When you are working in ministry with someone I feel like they see the good the bad and the ugly, but you also get to see such a neat friendship that ties you together because you are loving and pursuing the same kids.  And God obviously put a similar calling on each of your hearts to bring you to the same school.  These teammates pushed me towards Christ all throughout college and I love them so much!  This is also the one good team picture we have together after three years together!
I love you Auburn Eagle buddies!!

 I love the light in this photo- and Lindsey wins the award for furthest traveled!!

lost cord

SOOOO i haven't posted in a while and I have been terrible!

But in my defense, I lost my camera cord to download pictures.  So I am taking pictures I just currently cannot find the cord.
I lose everything.
I need to be more organized.
But ya know you love me anyways!!!!

Haley and Dave

Cry and I had a great day taking engagement photos for Haley and Dave!  I figured I would give a little sneak peak of a few of my favorites!

Football

One of the great joys in life is experiencing a great college football game.  I had the amazing privilege of going to Virginia Tech.  VT plays enter sandman and we all jump up and down as our team enters the field.  I always find myself covered in chills and about to cry.  I love the community that surrounds me.  I always imagine life to be in that way.  Football brings people together.  I long for everyone to live in that community through Christ.  What if Christ was always the one that beings people together?  What if a stadium of 90,000 was filled with people shouting for Christ and enjoying him.  Whenever I am at a football game I have such high hopes that one day it will indeed be that way.  Virginia Tech loss to Boise State, but I had a great day enjoying my college friends!

Haley Booe!

Cry and I have a best friend named Haley Booe.  She is amazing!  For the last year she has been out of the country serving the Lord through Manna Project in Ecuador.  Booe came to Baltimore last week and visited for a few days.  It was such a treat.  Booe is a woman after God's own heart.  She has never cared too much for worldly possessions or money, but rather she is always eager to serve the Lord.  She really goes the distance to serve the Lord and experience Him deeper.  It was so fun getting to spend a few days with Booe and really just live life together.  I would love to one day live next store to Booe and Cry.  Oh and Booe is getting married soon!  Yay!

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You, too? Thought I was the only one." - CS Lewis, The Four Loves

Simple Things

Just in case you don't know.... this is Leanne.

She LOVES LOVES LOVES frozen pizza.

I know odd thing to love right?

But she does, whole heartedly.  

We got the great privilege of spending the weekend together.  And what does she suggest for our big time Saturday night?  Frozen pizza and a movie!  LOVE IT!!  Leanne is a person that finds absolute joy in the simple things.  I love that about her.  She reminds me of the joy God is laying out for us each day. We just need to notice it.  God is always doing stuff and working but are our eyes tuned to see it.  She is tuning her eyes each day to find pure joy in Christ, through the simple and big things.  Even the simple things like frozen pizza.  

You should really get to know Leanne.  Your life would be more fun I am sure.  She is a blast and my best friend that I do not know what I would do without.  She asks me hard questions and doesn't let me get away with the surfacey answers.  She cares, deeply!  

How many things are we missing that could change our spirit or heart that day?  God wants us to thrive and see him everywhere, because He is everywhere.  What are the simple things in your life that you find joy in, or maybe the places you could find joy in.

Love you leanner!