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Heaven! My dream vacation.

But as for this physical Earthly realm

Hawaii.

summer without a purpose

hehe. I feel like I wasted my summer because I didn't do anything truly meaningful. I slept, ate, cleaned up a little, went to church, taught my Bible class and went to my part-time job. Basically, I existed. I feel like I let God down by not contributing anything BIG (for lack of a better word) to His kingdom. I know I contributed by teaching my 2's and 3's about Elijah, David and other Biblical characters but sometimes I feel like I was just going through the motions. In retrospect, I look back and see that it wasn't a summer spent on fire for Him. It was just....a summer. I went through a bad break-up and I am preparing for college ,my excuses to soothe myself don't judge me :). At the beginning of the summer I wanted to volunteer at a pregnancy crisis center, raise money for BloodWater and begin to sew pillowcase dresses for a children's clothing ministry. Now as my summer is coming to an end I realize that I have not done any of it...Eek! It's a bad feeling but I feel that God has led me to look at my goals that I had that beginning of the summer and discover what went wrong. Too many distractions. I spent too much time looking at the Word instead of living it. As I write this the Scriptures that God immediately impressed upon my mind were in the first chapter of James (NIV):
:
23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

As I venture onto a secular college campus I am grateful there are clubs in which Christians can fellowship. I know God is the one who truly holds us accountable but I think I will fare better as I enter this new season in my life (away from home, living with a friend) if I also have a friend as an accountability partner that can encourage me to stick to my goals. I am still nervous about moving away from home because I am unsure if I made the right decision..More on that later I just felt like venting.

Hospitality

The picture above is typically what comes to mind when we think of hospitality. It is the art of entertaining guests by making delicious dishes, having a pretty table setting, pushing all clutter into the closets so our guests think our home is spotless -or maybe that's just me when I have a sleepover :), along with a myriad of other things aimed at keeping our guests happy.However, hospitality is more than entertaining our guests with cutesy desserts and board games.

Hospitality is described as hospitable treatment, reception or disposition (Websters's).Today I began reading Radical Hospitality by Father Daniel Homann and Lonni Pratt. It was a reminder that our view of hospitality today is starkly different than that of the past. In Biblical times, it was considered a cultural norm to take care of the strangers and foreigners living among you. Deuteronomy 10:19 commands God's people to show hospitality because they were once foreigners in Egypt. In the New testament Romans 12:13 reinforces this by stating: "Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality." This verse takes it beyond just strangers commanding us to share with god's people who are in need. Hospitality goes beyond the 4 walls of our dining rooms but it also needs to happen in our dining rooms-whether guests are present or not! We should strive to be hospitable in our everyday lives. Our sisters, aunts, the single mom who could use some help with her kids, friends invited into our homes and strangers.

An excerpt from Matthew 25:

34"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Boundless Summer Challenge

excerpt from the site--> "The purpose of this is to give practical examples of how we can live out our faith daily in different ways we might not always think of. We want you to think about being stewards of your time and abilities, and experience how doing even the smallest things can make a difference in others' lives and your own. It will require some time and dedication, but we hope to see you grow spiritually and bless others through this challenge."

I feel that this will be a great opportunity and everyone that enters will be entered into a drawing for a free iPad (if spiritual growth just isn't enough for you hehe)


For More Info Click Here

Traveling around the Blogosphere

Food for thought from various Christian authors-We must continually renew our minds [Romans 12:1-2]

A Preoccupation with Beauty-Sheworships

Never Been Kissed-(In)courage

Shedding Some Light on Twilight-True Woman