Random Thoughts on Worship

I wrote this on Sunday, after the worship service at my church. These thoughts are kind of disconnected, and don't necessarily flow too well. It's just what was flying through my mind at the time.
Why should it matter how I worship, how I praise? I don't feel right sitting down with my hands in my lap while praising my glorious, beautiful, wonderful, incredible, indescribable Savior. I want to stand and gaze at the heavens, to stand in wonder of my Lord. His Word commands me to "Shout for joy... worship with gladness... and... joyful songs." (Ps. 100) I am commanded to praise Him JOYFULLY. When truly joyful, my emotions can not be contained while sitting still.
If I raise my hands in honor of my God, why should I be judged and whipsered about? Worship is a personal act, and there is no "right way" to worship. My Lord reaches down to me every day, and sometimes I need to remind myself to reach up to Him. He meets me where I am. If I want to raise my hands, to stand up, as a symbol of being closer to Him, why should it matter what you think?
For that matter, I WILL raise my voice. I am to "make a joyful noise unto" my Lord. No, I can't sing. This will not, will never, stop me from singing out to Him with all that is within me. I apologize if my off-key voice is messing up your "experience." My Lord knows that I am singing to Him and Him alone, and He loves it. In fact, my Father thinks I have a beautiful voice, and wants me to raise it up to Him.
"Every tongue in heaven and earth shall declare Your glory, every knee shall bow at Your throne and worship" (Ancient of Days) On the flipside, maybe you praise best on you rknees. Perhaps you feel closest to our Father while you're sitting in church singing hymns. Possibly you connect with the Lord of all on a beach, under the stars. Maybe God speaks to you through the classic Gregorian chant, maybe it's through the beat of a drum. That's okay.
His Word commands us to worship joyfully and with gladness. It does NOT say "with a full band," but it also does NOT say "only with piano or organ." My Father will meet you where you are. He knows how to still your heart, how to turn your mind to Him. He will find you. You can find Him anywhere. Worship doesn't have to involve music. Worship can be done wherever, whenever, whatever, however, whoever you are. He will meet you.
Friends, I beg you, leave it to our Father to decide what is acceptable, who is using outward gestures of worship "just for attention." He knows whether we are pouring out our hearts for His glory or ours. I truly believe that our Lord doesn't care HOW we are praising Him, just so it's genuine.
Hymns, choruses, praise songs, poems, chants, instrumentals, drama, dance, speech, standing, sitting, kneeling, off key, on key, eyes closed, hands raised, a capella, as long as it's an act of love to God; an offering of thanks to Him for His love; if it's for Him and not you, he LOVES it. And if it's truly for Him, that's all that matters.

Yet Another Reason I'm Glad to be Homeschooled.

Last Thursday, Bo fell and sprained his ankle pretty badly. As he's been hobbling around on crutches, I had to help him feed his snakes last night. We got the snakes fed and back into their cages without a problem. I told him to finish putting the bricks and things on top of the cage, and left the room.

This morning, I was sitting at the table, doing school as usual. When I got up to use the bathroom, I smelled something that smelled a bit like a hot glue gun. Our fireplace wasn't on (for some reason IT has that smell), so I decided to check around.

Suddenly, it dawned on me-the heat lamp! The snakes have a light on the top of their cage that keeps them warm, and we had set it on the ground last night. The light is on a timer and was off at the time of feeding. Between Bo's crutches, the feedings, and me being on the phone (oops.), we must have left it on the ground. (This has happened before.)

I dashed (ha!) into Bo's room, and sure enough, the lamp was on the floor. I picked it up to find that the carpet AND padding had burned clear through to the wood- no flames, just melting. Just a couple more minutes and the wood would have begun to burn.

Another thing dawned on me as I returned the lamp to its proper place: I am SO GLAD that I'm homeschooled. If I had been at school, there wouldn't have been anyone home, and our house could have potentially burned to the ground- one of my biggest fears.

Thank you, Jesus!

ADDENDUM!!!! I have a new baby cousin! Ian Joseph MacMullen, 6 lbs, 10 oz.
My first cousin on the Hobson side that is NOT a canine!!! I find him rather adorable.

Another Wonderful Weekend.

Unexpectedly, we threw together a little "Mini-reunion" of our Peru team. Ruth was in the States for conferences, so Kelly brought her up to Marilyn and Doug's. It was amazing. We went out for Chinese food on Thursday night, then Ian, Kelly, and I walked from the church to Marilyn's house. It was... interesting. After the adults got back, Ian made frape de maracuYA in the blender, Kelly and I were laughing at nothing, Ian was playing guitar, and both of the guys were passing massive amounts of gas. All while the adults were attempting to carry on actual conversation. It felt so familiar. I could not believe I had missed them so much. On Monday morning Doug made breakfast for Mom, Ruth, and me, then Mom and I went to pick up Kelly from Ian's house.
Here's a small sampling of the pictures.






Top Row, L-R: A foiled attempt; Hi, I'm 5;
Second Row: Frape de Maracuya; Ruth, Marilyn, and Mom
Third Row: My big brother and Me; picking up right where we left off
Fourth Row: Family; Ruth and Me
Fifth Row: Kelly & Me

On Friday night we had the rehearsal dinner for Tina's wedding, then the wedding was on Saturday. It was beautiful and went really well, and TINA IS MARRIED! Wow.
Bo and I stayed and Nana and Papa's on Saturday night and went to Nanny and John's church on Sunday. The praise and worship there is amazing. After church we went out to eat with Mike and Tracy and their kids, then came home.

This is the Correlation Between Salvation and Love

It's been a while, but there are priorities. The biggest events in my life as of late:

Labor Day Weekend:
Per tradition, Thursday through Sunday of Labor Day weekend was spent at Piatt Lake. In those four short days, I managed one final last trip to Antler's; Antler's menu and moosehorn breadsticks. Yes.

a kayaking excursion with Kaylie; kayaking with Kaylie... always lots of laughs.
a final footbridge/basketball court night, and lots of time floating in the midst of Piatt with Angela. Beautiful Piatt Lake!

Also, my notes from my first and last Sundays at camp were identical. Encouragement.

Also per tradition, the Walkers came to our house for a cookout on Monday. Lora and Morgan rode home with Mom, Bo, and Me on Sunday, and we saw "The Chainsaw Man of Michigan" and a huge drug bust. Up: Morgan had just stolen Bo's hat... and was quite proud of herself

Down: The Chainsaw Man of MichiganThe rest of the family arrived around 4:30 Monday morning, with Kaylie awakening me to stay up until 7. Mrs. Arp and Zack got to our house around 11:00 Monday morning, and we had our annual cookout. However, this time, it was a cook-IN, since the grill was out of gas.
Top: Mrs. Arp and Me- I LOVE that woman.
Middle: Kaylie, Zack, and Me... Kaylie was slightly ill all weekend.
Bottom: Superman! (All except for Kaylie)

Hillsdale Surprise:
Jared Philip was supposed to come visit me the weekend of September 5-7, but when that fell through, my family (minus Dad) decided to go to my grandparents in Hillsdale for Friday night. I went to Crossroads to hug my friends from camp, none of whom knew I was coming. It was the best 15 minutes of September so far. The next day, Mom and I took my school pictures on the farm, and I hung out with Jocelyn for a while.Up: Me. Farm.
Down: Jocelyn and Me...

Kaylie and Sheeps Weekend:
This past weekend, Kaylie and Christy came to visit... wow. It was so much fun. We went to the football game on Friday, and I got to see Ryan, Jessica, and Ian, and I caught a miracle shirt! Up: Jessica and Me
Down: Ryan and Me... he's as tall as me now!
I had no idea how much I missed them until I saw them again.Up: Me. Kaylie. Christy. Millington vs. Bridgeport
Down: Me. Miracle Shirt. Corban. On Saturday, we had people over for pizza and rainy day conversations.Up: (start in bottom left corner) Christy. Me. Emilyy. Emistotle. Kaylie. The reasons I get through each day.
Down: Kaylie and I, having a deep conversation in the downpour.
We stayed up late Saturday night (or, early Sunday morning) talking and laughing. Sunday brought church, lunch at Applebee's, and sad goodbyes.
Up: Me. Running through the rain
Down: Me, Christy, Kaylie. Goodbye drive. :(
What's coming:
Youth group starts up again on Wednesday. I leave Friday for Piatt Lake, where I'll be until next Wednesday or Thursday. I'll drive Nana and Papa Baker back to Hillsdale, and Mom, Bo, and Emilyy will meet us there on Friday for the Fair. Saturday is Fair day, and we're meeting all of our Hillsdale camp friends there. I may have a visitor Saturday through Monday :). Debate starts on Monday, the 29th!

Hasta la vista (until we meet again)

Wrapping Things Up...

Every year, at the last service of the summer, Billy Walker Junior does a thing called "The Summer Of." This is mine... with a bit of a twist.

The summer of... learning

• ...how to truly love; what Love truly is at in its purist form...
• ...that jealousy can consume.
• ...how to give it all to Him
• ...not to be such a control freak
• ...to stop talking, and start listening
• ...there's a difference between kindness and compassion. Kindness sends a card, compassion goes and cries with the hurting friend.
• ...to stop talking and start Listening.
  

The Summer of... Loving...
This one doesn't break down into bullet points, and it kind of goes along with the learning. I learned a lot about Love this year. I need to Love with the love of the Lord. I need to love those who are hard to love, those who don't love me back. It's easy for me to love people that I enjoy and get along with, but Love isn't easy.

The summer of... Laughter...

• Oh my gosh! It's giving birth!
• Hobble along, Kaylie...
• There's something different here...
• "Everyone has stuff. Our family, we have a lot of stuff."
• Must you move so swiftly?!
• Emily! Get your dooby off of me!
• "You're going to go home and teach..." "OH MY GOODNESS WHAT IS THAT?!!!"
• Kimmee falling off the tube in the lazy river.
• Hey Buddy!
• Unnaturally cubed meat and bi-colored milk
• AHH HA! The Double Poke!
• I ♥ Cliff
  
• Going to the Stoo with the Saff
• Orca!
• It's called a yarmulke!
• Where was your hand eye?!
• force mouse abortion
• legless campers
• Hair with a capital H
• Nobody's Perfect
• Sycamore and the Pillar of Salt
• the nurse giving Kaylie too much ibuprofen
• "Dave. I heard what you did. That is disgusting... and you call yourself a Christian!" *starts to walk away, then turns back* "And I looked up to you..."
• Look at all those children...
• Well, well, well... think you're Mister Funny Man, do you?
  

There are so many more inside jokes, so much more laughter... I could go on for pages and pages.

The Summer of... Memories

• singing and prayer on the footbridge with Kaylie, Christy, and Jessica
• being real friends with Christy now
• "Jared Talks"
• waterpark afternoons
• deeper friendships
• sunsets
• Tuesday nights- decisions, bonfires, etc
• Counselor talks (with my actual counselor and also with Dawn and Kimmee)
• shooting stars and finding the Little Dipper
• "Killing the Lizard"
• Second chances
• secrets shared
• Learning His voice
• laughter nearly to the point of being ill
• Cabin 7
• much confusion (NOT the way Jared uses that word
  
• Kimmee hugs every day
• kayak talks with God
• the Beauty of the Lord
  

This summer was the best one yet, and I'm glad that I don't let it end until after the rally :-)

This pretty much sums it all up...

As I climb into the attic of my memory
I brush the cobwebs, wipe the dust away
I see a picture of a friendship that’s lasted
through the years
And the memory is in my heart to stay
It’s so easy to see why God brought us together
For you gave to me in such a special way
And the part of you, you freely gave, became a
part of me
And you’re the reason I’m who I am today

So, I want to thank you for all you’ve done for me
There were times in our life we almost seemed like
family
But time must go on, and we go our separate ways
Still you’re always in my heart to stay
And I’m thankful that we’ve had the time to
share these special days

Many times it seems I take my friends for granted
Content to know you’re just a call away
But I know deep inside my heart how much you
mean to me
Though seldom I take the time to say
But today will quickly fade into tomorrow
And I refuse to let a day go by again
Without thanking you for all the many
blessings in my life
And the greatest is to know you as my friend

So, I want to thank you for all you’ve done for me
There were times in our life we almost seemed like
family
But time must go on, and we go our separate ways
Still you’re always in my heart to stay
And I’m thankful that we’ve had the time to share
these special days

So, when we come to the end, if our paths never cross
again, you will always be my friend.

One Wonderful Day

Today was pretty much amazing.
It started with last night.
After the service, Kaylie and Hunter and I went to Guthrie's cabin.
Then Brianna came a little bit later.
We had bagel bites and watched Monk and played Apples to Apples.
Then Hunter and Kaylie went home and Brianna and Guthrie and I
sat on the boat and talked until literally 2:30 in the morning.
Then this morning, I got up and went to say goodbye to Hunter,
which was very sad.
Then after she left [45 minutes late],
Kaylie and I drove Brianna back to Bakers' Birches.
In the car, with the music at full blast.
We listened to:
I'm Movin' On
Rock What Ya Got
Crawl
and some other random stuff on my cd from Zack.
Then we got back to my cabin and my mom told us that we forgot Bo.
So we went BACK and got Bo.
On the way back with him, there was this giant truck of wood, and it blocked the road for a while.
So we just put the music on FULL BLAST.
After that, we went to my cabin and played Life: Twists and Turns
and watched Adam's dinner theater DVD.
After THAT we had lunch, then we got on the computer for a bit.
Following the computer, Kaylie and I went kayaking.
Sort of.
Then we did a footbridge photoshoot, then went to the camp and sat at Spirit Park and mocked people's annoying laughs.
THEN we went to dinner, and now I am here.
And I need to go take a shower, because service is in like 20 minutes.
I'm staying at Kaylie's tonight, and we are FOR SURE playing Apples to Apples again.
"I just don't rememmer how mamy"
=]]