Lesson #71: Sometimes Life is Just Plain Unfair.

As you probably know, Wilderness Trek is something I look forward to every summer. In fact, it's one of the only things I look forward to besides getting to sleep late. Wilderness trek is a week long hike in Colorado. You get to summit a mountain! It is one of the most amazing experiences ever!

I haven't been feeling well the past few days, and since we leave on Friday we decided to go ahead and go to the doctor before trek. I'm glad we did. Turns out I have mono. Thus making me miss trek this year. You could say I was upset, but that would be an understatement. I was crushed. Why would this happen to ME? Right before trek? The only thing I look forward to about summer? The only thing I keep on my countdown on my iPhone? The one thing I do that actually gets me to exercise?

Sometimes in life, things happen that we don't understand that are just plain unfair. And we don't like it! So we often question God and why He does what He does for whatever reason. It's okay to be angry at God, but we shouldn't doubt Him or question Him. That's something I struggle with every day. I often find myself wondering if He's really up there, or if everything happens by chance.

I think maybe this is God's way of saying, "Yep, I'm still here Jenae. Just trust me." The saying "Everything happens for a reason" is one of those phrases that I do not agree with. I stepped on gum. Is that supposed to be a sign that I need new shoes? No. There are things in life we can't control. Not everything has some deep and meaningful back ground of why it happened. Some things really are just coincidence.

So what have I learned today? There's always sunshine beyond the rain. I'm a pretty positive person for the most part, but when something like this happens, I tend to just look at the negatives of the situation, and that obviously isn't going to help me. Since there's nothing I can do about this other than let it run it's course, I'm looking at the positives. Now I actually have an excuse to be lazy and sit around watching movies and reading books all day without getting in trouble. Now I won't miss July 4th fireworks! I mean, I can't go anywhere, but watching them from my roof isn't so bad! Now I'll get to watch all the shows I wouldn't normally have time for! And not to mention we are getting Netflix!

Sometimes life is just plain unfair, and most of the time, it's out of our control. So look at the positive sides. You'll often find it's a little easier to deal with. When life gives you lemons, throw the lemon back and say, "no thanks! I've already got something to drink."

Lesson #70: "We stay up late and we REMEMBER what we did last night!"

Today was a lot less emotional than yesterday thankfully! It was odd for God day today, and lemme tell you there were some interesting costumes today!

The first class we went to was called Roll your dice, move your mice, and no one gets hurt. If you've seen Veggie Tales you know what that's from! In this class, we talked about traps, the traps in life that Satan sets. He just loooves to set traps that seem impossible to escape from. One we get caught in a trap, we feel pain and we hurt, but after awhile it goes numb and we can't feel it anymore. So we leave it for awhile. But then we realize that we need to get out of there, and we need to escape. So we look to God for guidance, help, and strength, because only He can set us free from our traps!

The second class we went to was called There's An iPad in the Pyramid. This class was about things that don't belong, that shouldn't be there. He showed us movie clips showing examples of just that. Nobody believed the guy who discovered germs. They thought he was crazy! Nobody believed that the earth orbited the sun, they thought the other way around. But all through out the bible, there is proof of every contradiction that people have made about God's existence. God knew what we was talking about! Rob Bell does a video called Everything is Possible. It's a really good video, so if you have an hour or so, go watch it sometime. God made sure every little detail mattered. He knows what He's doing.

The third class we went to was called Kryptonite. When Superman and Batman were working together to destroy all the Kryptonite in the world, Superman actually keeps the last bit of it and gives it to Batman. Why? Because he knew that one day, if he let his powers take over and he lost control and was hurting himself and other people, Batman would be able to stop him. In our Christian walk, what is our Kryptonite? What is our weakness? What is it that can stop us from hurting ourselves and other people? For me, it's the people closest to me, the ones I trust the most. I know my friends, and I know that they will tell me if I'm acting up and if I need to change my life.

Tomorrow is the last day, and it's a bittersweet feeling. I've made a lot of new friends, bonded closer with my current friends, and caught up with old friends from past camps. I'm not ready to leave, but I am ready to be home. I'm super excited already for next year's Encounter! if you've never been, and you're in high school, please consider going next summer. If you want more info, go to www.lcucamps.com. And for real, thanks so much for staying with my blog this week. It's been an awesome ride!

Lesson #69: "This is how you float down the river boys.."

And the emotional roller coaster Of Encounter begins. Today was a powerful day. I'm not going to say much about the first two classes, simply because the third class was the one that stuck with me the most, and is still on my mind.

The first class we went to was called Bare Necessities. Basically the point of this class was that we don't need to wear all these different layers, such as pride, envy, jealousy, etc. And we just need to get down to the bare necessities of life: Jesus. He's all we need.

The second class we went to was called Bungalows for Vagabonds. That was also a really good class. Earth is not our permanent home. "This world is not my home, I'm just a passing through" you know, the church song. Heaven is our home, we are just wanderers here on this earth. And we are to help others find their way home.

Okay. The third class we went to was called Relationships. There were giant jenga towers and on each block there was an adjective. There were positive words and there were negative words. We were to try to only take the qualities that we wanted in a relationship, such as loyalty, respect, positiveness, etc. Well we were doing really good, and all the sudden this guy from another group comes and joins us. At first he just watches. Then he starts trying to help, which is totally fine, but he was just ripping the blocks out, like he was TRYING to knock it over. You could tell he was a bit off. We had seen him around camp this whole week, and so we knew he had to be. But we were nice to him and we let him play with us. He eventually ended up knocking our tower down and moving on to the next group. He actually went to every group I'm pretty sure. Soon after each group had played at least once, we started hearing voices from the speakers. They were conversations, and they were about that kid who went around to each group. They were saying stuff like, "Why does that guy have a fanny pack?" or "Why is he annoying us?" And that moment was when it hit me: He was faking it, it was part of the class. His name was Garret. His youth minister asked him if he wanted to help with his class, and he paid for him to come and everything. Garret's job was to be as annoying as possible. He would squirt people with a water gun, interrupt conversations, ruin the jenga game, stuff that would make people so annoyed with him. I remember watching him in one group, and this girl got so mad at him for butting into their jenga game, and she just yelled at him to stop it. After the teacher explained everything, Garret got up and talked to us. He told us that this was probably the hardest thing he's ever done. He said he wanted to quit after the first day. He gets breaks from acting this way when he's with his youth group or in the dorm, but doing this every day for the majority of the day? That takes strength. And bravery. And patience. I can't even imagine doing what he's doing. This class was like a slap in the face to me. We need to watch how we treat people. Because who knows what's going on in their life, and how even a simple word can change someone's day, whether it be for the better or for the worse. That class has been the most impactful to me this week so far. So just remember: Don't treat people rudely just because they're different. Even if they are annoying the heck out of you, what would Jesus do? (Yes, that's cliche, but it's true).

The song I chose for today isn't a song we sang in worship. As I was sitting here thinking about what to write, a song came on Pandora and the light bulb went off. Casting Crowns has a song called "Does Anybody Hear Her?" and I think that song could fit perfectly in with this post. If you haven't heard the song, go listen to it. It's one of my favorites.

Lesson #68: "Cassie is awesome, I don't know?"

Okay. Tuesday at Encounter was awesome.

The first class we went to was called Zero. He brought out a pringles can, and it was one of those low-fat, 50% less calories, sour cream and onion, delicious cans. It looked good on the outside with all those "positive features", but when you read the ingredients, is it so good? Is that how we are sometimes? We look so good, so healthy, so positive, so much in love with God, but...are we? We try so hard to look so, but on the inside we are something completely different. He then proceeded to bring out a water bottle. Zero calories, zero grams of fat, zero zero zero. Completely transparent and pure, clean. Isn't that how we SHOULD be? People should be able to look at us and see who we really are on the inside, and the outside. The tough question from that class was this: "Would you be the same if God didn't exist?" The answer for most people is kind of sad, because they'd say no.. I know for me, my life would be dramatically different for the most part, but I know there are parts of my life that wouldn't be different...

The second class we went to was called Beautiful Things. This was Evan's and Marshall's class. There were 3 pots: Brad, Hannah, and Jacob. Brad was a nerdy, quiet kid who didn't talk to many people. Brad was addicted to porn. Hannah was the sweet, well-raised girl who everyone loved. Her parents sang to her and read to her when she was little, and they raised her to be a good person. But yet she felt insecure and broken. Jacob was the perfect kid. He did everything right and he lived the perfect Christian life and everyone looked up to him. But he had leukemia. How could something so tragic happen to him? He's living out the Christian life, yet he has to go through this. After each story, the pot was broken. Smashed into pieces. Even though each person was completely different, they were all the same in one way: they were broken. But God takes us in our broken stages and He makes something beautiful. They represented this by pushing all the broken pots together and formed a cross. Even when you feel absolutely down and broken inside, God will take those pieces and make something beautiful. Like the song says, "God makes beautiful things."

The third class of the day was called Fight of Your Life. Honestly, we only went to that class because it was in the lobby of our dorm and we wanted to be able to go straight to our room to take a nap. But really, that class was awesome. And not because we got to watch guys duke it out in the boxing ring. (That was pretty cool, though). The point of this class was to get back up when you're knocked down. Like in TobyMac's song, he says,
"We lose our way,
We get back up again
It's never too late to get back up again,
One day you will shine again,
You may be knocked down,
But not out forever."
When we get knocked down, we get back up again. We won't be down forever, because God is there to help us up! Walking the Christian walk really is the fight of your life. Satan does everything in his power to mess it up, but we have to fight him. He can't win.

The song I chose for today is "Here In This Place".
"Lay your burdens down,
Every care you carry.
And come to the fountain of God
For there is mercy.
Come just as you are,
We are all unworthy
To enter the presence of God,
For he is holy."

Lesson #67: "It's so hot Sam, but I feel so cold..."

Okay, so day one (officially) of Encounter was awesome. No doubt about it. The worship was incredible, the classes were amazing, Brad Eason was the keynote tonight, and Taylor Mason was hilarious as usual!

The first class we went to was called Aliens and Exiles. Judging by the name, I'm sure you can figure out what this class was all about. He talked about how we needed to be aliens in this world, and be in the world but not of it. What is an "alien" really? And no, I'm not talking about the little green guys in outer space. An alien is someone that doesn't belong, it is someone who is out of their comfort zone and out of their normal every day life style. Christ calls us to be aliens in this world. We are called to go out and preach the gospel every moment we can to those who haven't heard. If we aren't uncomfortable, we aren't doing our job right.

The second class we went to was called There's an App for That. The main point of this class was to not take the easy way out. In our world today, almost everyone has an iPhone, iPod, iPad, iEverything. Need to find a restaurant? There's an app for that. Need to know the definition of word? There's an app for that. Need to lose weight? ...There's kind of an app for that. In the class, we were given a tub. The tub had a dictionary, a map, a phonebook, paper, crayons, and then an iPhone or android. Instead of looking up a word in the dictionary or finding the mileage from Lubbock to Abilene using the map, everyone went straight to the phone. Why? Because there's an app for all of those. Unfortunately, though, in life there aren't apps to fix your problems. If there were, I would download every single one of them. With our real life problems, we can't take the easy way out. There isn't an "app" for that. GOD is the only thing we can use to fix our lives. He doesn't always make it easy, but He does listen to us, and we don't have to download Him. He comes with the package.

The third class was called Shame. This class was probably the best out of the three, and my personal favorite so far. We all have shame, because we are human. It's natural to feel embarrassed about something in life. Whether it be what kind of music we secretly like, or what movies we watch, or even playing Just Dance. (That game is intense and can get pretty embarrassing at times). But you know what? WHO CARES?! During the class, each person got a mask to wear. It was dark and there were four different places to go. There was karaoke, Just Dance, Tron (for the girls) and Princess Diaries 2 (for the guys). Oh, and a "Female Flatulence Station" for girls (hahaha). Once every one had their mask on, nobody knew who anybody was. So nobody was ashamed to watch the movie or play the game. But would we have done that if people could see who we were? That was the main point that was made. In life, we don't do certain things because we are ashamed. We don't tell people certain things because we are ashamed. Well, we shouldn't be.

Each day I choose a song from worship that spoke the loudest to me. The song I chose today was In Christ Alone.
"No power of hell
No scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from his hand
Till he returns
Or calls me home
Here in the love of Christ
I stand."

This part of the song is my favorite. Always and forever I will stand in the love of Christ Jesus, and nothing will take me away from that. Ever.


I love the movie Holes, don't you?

Lesson #66: "ENCOUNTERRRRRRR!!!"

So this week, I am at Encounter! (For those of you that don't know, Encounter is a summer camp at Lubbock Christian University, it's like Kadesh at ACU, but better). This week I am going to blog every night and share my thoughts from the day. This week's theme is Apart. I really hope you take something from my blog thoughts this week.

Since today was the first day, we haven't had the full experience of Encounter just yet. But I expect tomorrow will be absolutely indescribable! (As Encounter always is). We sang one song tonight called, "How Can I Keep From Singing?" and it really spoke to me. God is so wonderful to us, and I feel like we don't give Him enough credit for everything He's done for us! We should constantly be praising Him. How can we keep from praising Him? How can we keep from singing His name? He is so absolutely amazing! Coming together with 900 other teens who love Jesus as much as I do is such an uplifting experience! Thank you God for blessing me in this way. :)

Lesson #65: Little Children Know Best.

Matthew 18:3, "And he said: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven'."

Every Sunday morning during church, I hear at least one child cry. And every time I do, I always think to myself, Goodness gracious, can somebody please shut that child up? (Admit it, we've all thought that at least once). This morning, a mother with her three kids were sitting in the pew in front of me, and I thought "Oh great..." But through out the service, my attitude towards those children changed. They sat there quietly, attempting to sing every song. When one of the men went up to pray, the younger sister would lean over to her older sister and whisper, "You gotta bow your head! And close your eyes!" And all three would sit there and listen to the man praying. Sometimes we just go through the motions of church, we sing, pray, take communion, and listen to the sermon, go to class, alright now who's ready for lunch? But little children... Little children love to sit and listen. They WANT to be there. (For the most part, anyways). Sometimes, actually a lot of the time, I wish I could just go back to being a child...

So I know next time I hear a restless child during church, I just remember that little girl sitting in front of me.

Lesson #64: When it's 10047292 Degrees Outside, Wear Sunscreen...

So the other day, I went swimming with some friends. And it was fun, you know, fun summer time activities. Well, the high that day was 109. The actual temperature was 114 (according to my car). Let's just say it's sad when the weather man says, "Looks like it's cooling down to a nice 90 degrees outside." Oh Texas, how I love you. Well, long story short, my friend and I forgot to put on sunscreen before we went. I had a pretty funky tanline. Some of my friends (mostly guys) enjoyed slapping my sunburn. *jerks*

On a more serious note, tonight at church we talked about being made in God's image. Well, if we are what God looks like, then that worries me. I don't think God intended for the world to be this way when he was creating it. Therefore, we seriously need to shape up and not let the devil win. Because that guy is an idiot. We, as Christians, have a purpose on this earth, and that purpose is to spread God's word and deed into this messed up world of ours. We should act as if God is walking with us everywhere we go. I know I'd act a bit differently. We all would! We need to be the image of God that He originally intended for us to be.