Dinasours

So I went over to Sir Robert and Johanna’s for dinner this evening, and Johanna was showing us this coloring book that she got at a Christian store. Good ol’ Christian coloring books. I have to say this is one of the best I have ever seen. It was of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs and Christians you say, how does that work? Well let me tell you. This coloring book included pictures of naked Adam riding on top of a dinosaur and Eve nurturing a baby dinosaur behind a fern bush. The book described how sin effected the dinosaurs and they turned mean and begin to bit each other, with pictures included of course, this is a coloring book. So next time your looking for a good coloring book……

Day #1

totally awesome. Get out of bed 10:45 2hrs later than I intended. Read a little, took shower got dressed, unpackes a little. 11ish jared and freya came over, we go to mom’s for lunch. Mom makes great lunch, I meet her boyfriend Chuck. We have great conversation over lunch about God, I get to speak truth about who God is into Chuck’s life, while also learning about what he thinks about God and where he is coming from. God is awesome! We then spend atleast a half an hour trying to figure out a riddle. 1ish we leave and pick up job applications, and I get unexpectedly grilled by the hiring manager at mad hatters bakery (he wasn’t even wearing a hat). more applications, then head home. Look at the 100+ small groups that grace church is having this next season, and pick out which ones I want to go to before the job fair tomorrow, my top choice :doing life well. A small group for women, basically on how to rock at life, biblically. I’m psyched. Finish the evening with a bowl of rice pilgrims progress, a little bit of game night, some more pilgrims progress on our giant luxurious suede couches curled up with a blanket, some blogging and then bed. Things are going well. I like it here so far, and am just trying to
take things one step at a time.

arrival

arrived at 9ish, got lost getting to my new apartment. Got to apartment, and realized apartment was more the size of a house. Spacious living room, dinning room, bedroom, own bathroom, everything looks more than great! Got a welcome present from the Jesus corps, which pertained of dried mangos ( probably my most favorite snack), peanut butter, yougurt, granola, one necturine, and a small bar of maya dark chocolate. It really couldn’t have been much better. By the way, I now sleep in a queen sized bed, total upgrade in sleeping arangment.

p.s.- I like my roomates!

to live by…

” The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them away.”- Unknown

I love this quote, I stinkin love it, so I thought I’d share, that’s all.

see

where your eyes go you go, so does your heart. Where do your eyes go?

A walk in the park…

I saw and learned a lot today, and it all started by walking in a park in downtown portland. I went there today to hang out with friends, and we spent a good couple hours just walking around down town and taking the MAX. For one of the first times I saw two men sleeping on newspaper and blankets in the park in mid-day.  Portland has a lot of homeless people, and seeing this for the first time, revealed the realities of the town and my own shelterdness of this world. I was not afraid of them when I saw them lying there, more than anything I wanted to cover them and clothe them and was saddened when I realized I didn’t have a jacket to give them, food to fill their bellies or money to leave by their side. As I walked the streets of Portland I had multiple people ask for money, and I saw probably a good 50 homeless people in the few hours I was there. When I saw them the thought that continued to run through my mind, the thought that rang true as I made my way through crowds and crowds of people who were different ethnically, physically, mentally and spiritually was, “they are all made in the image of God.” This was crazy for me to think about. That each one these people, individually unique, somehow projects part of the almighty God. It made me want to know them, and help them and be apart of their lives. It urged me to want to help. I have heard time and time again that when we see the homeless or poor we should see the face of Jesus. For the first time I really started to understand what that feels like… and I loved it. I was moved, I wanted to know these people, who had a part of my Jesus in them. Then I was thinking how great it would be to photograph them and write about their stories, really spending time getting to know them, getting to minister to them and share Jesus with them, and provide for them in anyway I could. And how awesome would it be to make a book of all those people with their photograph and story, and how Jesus was seen in them. And then I was talking it over with a friend and she wanted to do it too, so I think I may have a project to work on.

Berry picking

So yesterday Benita and I drove up to Portland, because we have this weekend off, and camp was one day shorter than it ususally is. We are staying at her parents house and her mother, a small sweet chinese, who loves cooking for us, asked if we would want to join her in blueberry picking, a weekly ritual she has. We woke early because the farm opened at 5:30 a.m but people can start picking before that, and apparently many people come. So we woke up at 5:30 and went to the farm. I love picking berries, it was so much fun getting to think about whats been going on, and to learn about the analogy of a blueberry bush and how it relates to me. God was reminding me of the verse in John 15:1-17 where Jesus is talking about the vine and the branches. I was thinking about how the purpose of bleuberry bushes is to give fruit for others to eat, and how our purpose is the same, except our fruit is the fruit of the father. I got thinking about what it would mean to not produce fruit, and what that would mean for a blueberry bush, and how it would probably have something to do with not getting enough sun, not being watered or having a parasite. To me this related to my walk with God, if we are not spending adequite time with Jesus, if we are not feeding out Spirits with living water and if we are allowing the lies of satan to infultrate us, we will not be producing abundant fruit. I also thought about, how some fruit is hidden and cannot be picked unless it is searched for. Some people have gifts and blessings in them that are unknown even to themselves if the time is not taken to search for them. And sometimes it is us, that need to look for the fruit in others that we may taste and see. The fruit isn’t just for the vine it is for the picker too, and is a reflection of the work of the vinedresser. When we finished picking, we had a total of 22 pounds of blueberries!! Oh to see the bounty of a father who labors over his vines and sews good  seeds.