So, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks! We didn’t have any classes last week because
we were given the week to visit any college campus of our choice. Of course, my friends Jamie, Emily, and I
took this as an opportunity to visit as many of our friends as possible. We started off by making the five-hour drive
to Stillwater, Oklahoma to visit Oklahoma State University (but mostly our
friend, mentor, and favorite camp counselor, Laurel Wilson). We had a great time not just road-tripping,
touring campus, experiencing homecoming, and mostly catching up and talking
about life. We left Friday morning to
head back to Branson. We stayed the
night back in our dorms, and left bright and early the next day for
Fayetteville to visit the University of Arkansas (home to many of our Kanakuk
friends). I ended up loving the town of
Fayetteville, along with the school itself.
Overall, last week was super fun, but also super busy/exhausting.
This week
started out with another Mystery Monday.
We played a game called “Bigger or Better”. We were each given a small red paperclip, and
given instructions to go out into the community to make trades for things that
are bigger and better than the item we have.
My group took the red paperclip to an office building and traded it for
a t-shirt; we traded the t-shirt for a wooden puzzle, the puzzle for a pizza
stone, and the pizza stone for a super old-school calculator, and the
calculator for one of those big bouncy balls with a handle. We traded the ball for a campfire grill. At our last stop, we offered our grill up for
a trade, and the woman, obviously a hoarder, told us we could take anything out
of her garage, AND keep our grill. We
grabbed a giant drink fountain, and as we walked back towards our car, we walked
past a small pen containing two dogs; a puppy and its mom. The owner explained to us that they had been
looking for a suitable home for the dogs, and since we had explained all about
Kanakuk Link Year, she told us that we could take the puppy home with us. I, being a dog LOVER, was ready to pick up
the dog and take it home to live with me in my dorm. Thankfully, my sweet
family group was there to talk me out of it before I got in trouble. J
We took our grill and our fountain back to campus to see how everyone else had
done. Although we didn’t win, we had a
great time with this fun game.
We were
privileged to hear from two of our very own this week- Adam Donyes, and Adam
Martin. Donyes started out Tuesday
morning by talking about time management.
He read the parable of the talents from Luke chapter 19, and discussed
how it is important to use the gifts that God has blessed us with, whether they
are big or small. He started
snapping. Every two seconds, someone, somewhere dies… where’s the urgency? At
any time, any breath we take could be our last.
We may not know it’s coming, but our lives could end at anytime. What are we doing with our time that will
leave an eternal impact on our lives? We waste so much time on things like
twitter, Facebook, or even unfruitful relationships with friends. We agree to do so many things we don’t have
time for just because we can’t say ‘no’ to people. We can’t prioritize our schedules to get
important things done. We waste time
waiting for God to come to us. The bible
considers people who poorly manage their time to be fools. We make time for the things that are
important to us. Think about it. In the past week, you have probably made
plenty time to talk to your friends, get things done for work or school, and
maybe even be a part of a team or club or group of some kind. How much time have you made for God? What does that show you about the priorities
in your life? What is important to you?
Adam Donyes shared an illustration of this with us.
A man once approached a spiritual guru of
sorts, and asked him to teach him how to be successful. “Meet me on the beach tomorrow morning at
6:00, and I will teach you the key to success.” the Guru responded. The next day, the man came dressed in business
attire, ready to learn the key to success.
“Walk out into the water.” The guru instructed. As the man waded into the water, the guru
encouraged him to go out deeper and deeper into the ocean. The guru went with him. Once they got up to their cores in the water,
the guru took the man, and held him underneath the water. He held him there for a while as he struggled
to get up, to get air, to breathe.
Finally, the guru brought the man up.
As he gasped for air, he said to the man, “as soon as you learn to want
Christ as bad as you want to breathe, things will begin to change.”
We will make time for the things
that are important to us. How badly do
you want to breathe? That breath may be
your last. How badly do you want Christ? C.S. Lewis once said, “The future
is something which everyone reaches at a rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever
he does, whoever he is.” What are we
doing to manage our time? How are we
working to promote our future, both on Earth and in Eternity?
On Tuesday, Adam Martin shared with
us about the importance of managing money.
He started out by stating that our spending habits, as students, should
NOT be like that of our parents. We are
STUDENTS. Most of us do not support
ourselves; we receive enough money to get by from our parents. We are financially dependent on someone else,
and we should not take that for granted.
If, growing up, we ate out at restaurants three times a week; we should
not expect to do the same thing now
that we are on our own. We feel as
though we are entitled to these things, because that’s what we grew up
around. We need to learn to be smart
with our blessings, especially our finances.
He taught us about the different types of accounts you can hold, types
of investments, and ways to stay out of debt.
He taught us how to use an online tool, called Mint.com. It is a website designed to help manage all
different accounts and bills in one place.
We learned a lot of very applicable information about banking, and
spending money wisely.
Thursday morning, Donyes was up
again. This time he talked about
managing ourselves. He told us that
Discipline is the key to managing self.
Three different types of discipline will be important as we learn to
manage ourselves, inward, outward, and corporate.
Inward discipline is a combination of meditation,
prayer, fasting and studying. Meditation
is the act of thinking, praying and studying scripture in a way that allows the
Lord to speak to you through it. Nowhere
in the bible does it say to memorize scripture,
but rather to meditate on it. John Piper, a famous Christian author, once
said “How anyone could walk through this devil ruled world without a sword in
their hand is beyond me.” Scripture is
our defense. We meditate on it so that
when we do face trials, we can combat them with the truth that we know through
God’s word. Prayer is our spiritual
communication with God. It allows us to
have a constant, personal relationship with our Creator and Savior. People often view God as being far off in the
distance, and call on him only when we need him. The reality is that we are called to pray
continually, without ceasing. God
created us, and seeks a personal relationship with every one of us. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-19 says, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks
in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not
quench the spirit.” Do not QUENCH the
spirit. The Holy Spirit is inside of
us. It is aching to shine through our
lives, to consume our hearts, to be on the throne of our lives. We cannot quench
it by limiting its power to the times when WE think WE need it. Fasting is an act of removing idols from our
lives. Although this was biblically
limited to food, historically, it was their most precious thing, their only
really unnecessary possession. Today, we
have computers, iPods, iPhones, television, weekly shopping sprees, sports
teams, clubs, and all kinds of other things that we use or do on a regular
basis that are completely unnecessary.
Fasting nowadays could be from Internet, social medias, television;
anything that we put as an idol before God. Studying is important because it is
impossible for us to renew our minds without this discipline. Romans 12:1-2 says “Therefore, I urge you,
brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do
not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of
your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his
good, pleasing and perfect will.” Adam
told us that God loves us as we are, but he loves us too much to let us stay
this way.
Outward disciplines include
simplicity, solitude, submission, and service.
Simplicity is important especially when it comes to our egos. We, as sinful and egotistical creatures often
think that we are good enough on our own, that we don’t need to listen to God’s
word, or ask him for forgiveness. THAT is why we are called to have a
child-like faith. Children do not have
an ego. Solitude is important to allow
ourselves to hear God. The enemy HATES
solitude. He knows that that is our time
to hear from God, and it makes him MAD.
He will do anything to take that time away from us. Submission to God promotes humility. It decreases the pride in our lives by
admitting that we are fully submitted to God.
Pride is the root of all sin.
Yes, Eve’s disobedience to God in the garden caused the fall of mankind,
but if it hadn’t been for Lucifer’s pride in thinking that he was better than
God as an angel, Eve would never have even been tempted. Service is the act of serving God through
serving others. It keeps our heart in
check, and shows us how to be more Christ-Like.
Corporate discipline includes
confession, worship, guidance, and celebration.
Confession will help to prevent future sins. When even the smallest of sins are confessed,
they can prevent greater sins from growing.
Sin will spread and grow at uncontrollable rates if it goes
un-confessed. Worship is the act of
professing our love for God, and showing reverence for his power. Guidance from those who have gone before us
is necessary to help us to grow, and help prevent us from making bad decisions. Seeking wise counsel in difficult situations
will help us to grow. Finally, when we
remind ourselves of the Gospel daily, and remember exactly what Jesus went
through for us as he died on the cross, we find a reason to celebrate daily.
This week was a great week of growth
through learning about how to manage these different aspects of my life. I am sure that this information will be
relevant to me for the rest of my life.
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