Summer Nights...here I come :j

Sorry I haven’t posted anything in a while…it’s just crazy how busy everyone gets at the end of the school year. Wait, let me correct myself: actually, it’s crazy how un-busy (is that even a word?) everyone gets because all you find yourself doing is studying, and writing note cards, and re-reading science chapters, and reviewing, and studying and studying and studying. Yes, that is ALL I’ve been doing the past week. Safe to say, all that crazy studying paid off! I did fairly well on all my finals, ending with: B, A, B+, A, B, A = 3 -point- something GPA :) WHOHOO!!

Right now I’m sitting on my bed writing this, and I can’t even describe what I’m feeling at this very moment. You know, it’s the same exact feeling I get every single year the night before the last day of school…something between overwhelming happiness - relief - and excitement. It seems like only yesterday was I wide awake, dreading the morning and heading off to school for the first time as a freshman…haha, I must have looked so ridiculous walking around like a zombie clenching a school map in my hand and not knowing where a single thing was. 1 year down, 3 more to go :)

Oh! Did you guys see the “Google” logo’s today? I must say, they were the cutest things ever!! The perfect way to welcome the first day of summer!! -Hmm, maybe this is why I've been listening to Rascal Flatts "Summer Night's" all day?

Speaking of summer, this weekend I got a chance to get away from typical Washington weather and catch some sunshine in British Columbia, Canada. My family, my sister’s fiancé and my future in-laws all went…let me tell you, definitely one of the best Saturdays I’ve had this year!!! Turns out that my future sister-in-law (Juliya) is literally my fraternal twin! The minute we met, it was like a stoplight turning green…we clicked instantly! It was overall one amazing day….(the first one just cracks me up, we all have such different expressions! :)





Next stop: Kansas City! I'm so excited to head on the airplane Wednesday morning and jump from Washingtons high 60's to Kansas high 90's! :D I hope everyone has an amazing last day of school...and i'll keep you posted on some of my summer adventures! :D Be blessed!!

Summer, please hurry up?

The best way to get something done is to begin. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s that procrastination always has a way of coming right back and hitting you square in the face. That’s been proven true in 4th grade, in 8th grade, and yes, proven true once more these past couple days. For some reason, we high-school students (well, actually…any kind of students) think that putting things off will make the stress somehow disappear. Well…here’s your wake-up call: It Doesn’t. If anything, it makes it worse. I’ll do it later, I’ll do it in an hour, ugh, I’ll wake up earlier and do it in the morning…um, I’ll do it 5 minutes in class before it’s due. Ha, yeah…unfortunally, I’m one of those hopeless procrastinators who leaves everything school-related to the very last minute. If it weren’t for that last minute, I would never get anything done.

Before I started writing this post, I typed “procrastination” into Google to do a little research beforehand. The screen flickered to a bunch of “Help your teenager stop procrastinating in 4 easy steps” pages (keep on dreaming parents). Yeah, as if we’ve never heard it all before: make a list of the things you need to do, turn cell phone off, etc. I was getting pretty bored until I scrolled down and read: “And for the last and final tip...STOP DOING ON-LINE RESEARCH ABOUT PROCRASTINATION, AND START DOING ALL THOSE THINGS YOU SHOULD HAVE FINISHED YESTERDAY!!!” Pretty funny, i must say.

Anyways, this school year is finally winding down…finals and tests for the next two weeks. I just hope that God gives me the strength to focus, stay on top of my game, and finish up the school year strong. That’s why I’ve just been praying…give me strength to survive the next two weeks and most importantly stop putting everything off!

A friend reminded me of this verse and I’ve just been saying it over and over in my head all day:

“But those who hope in the LORD, will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Isaiah 40:31

I need to write this down and post it on my binder…as a daily reminder. Our heavenly father is there for us, no matter what we’re going through. If you trust him and put your hope in him alone, he will give you the strength to overcome any battle. So, the Lord is our strength. We just need to truly believe in that. Here’s another one:

“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
Philippians 4:13

Isn’t it good to know that he has your back? No matter what? Now, that’s one true amazing friend if you ask me:)

I just want to wish all of you students…just hang in there! Summer will be here before you know it!!! Plus, in 100 years, will it really matter how you did on that dreaded algebra 2 final?? Hmm, not really:)

*Seashells*

There’s this billboard for a cell phone company on the freeway near where I live and it says that if you get this new phone, you’ll be able to “Get it done”. Ha! Someone should rent the next billboard down the freeway and put a question on it: “Get what done?” Because I’m not that convinced many people really need an even better cell phone with more features.

It seems like so many people never stop moving…going from place to place: school, work, their jobs, meetings and errands. And yet life, with some sense, is simply passing them by. Their doing so many things, a little bit of everything, and yet it isn’t much of a life.

There is a story of Jesus in the book of mark. He’s in this village and he’s healing all these people. The next day, his disciples go out to look for him and once they find him, he’s all alone…praying. They say to him “everyone’s been looking for you!” Why would they be looking for him? Because he’s been healing the sick, restoring lives, giving hope, teaching, and doing that thing that he does…making things right. Jesus answers them, “Let’s leave…let’s go to the other villages so I can preach there also because that’s exactly why I’ve come.” And then he leaves.

There’s this whole village that wants him to stay, and he basically says “nope, gotta go”. There’s this opportunity to do so much good, to help so many people…but he turns them down.
Jesus doesn’t do everything. His reason is that he needs to keep on moving.

We see this movement continue in the book of Luke. If you look back, he’s constantly moving, setting out to a new place. After a while, we get a sense that Jesus is headed somewhere…and that somewhere is Jerusalem. No, he wasn’t some pre-programmed Robot who didn’t have any control over his own life…he gets erupted along the way and even most of his teachings were about his responses to the questions people asked him. You see, he can’t be everything to everybody. It’s not the fact that he’s going to Jerusalem….it’s that he has a compass, he has an orientation...he has a way to orient his life, a path that he follows. Jesus say’s no because he’s already said yes. He’s very clear about what his life is about.

Do you have a hard time saying no? Or here’s a better question…what have you said yes to? You can’t say no until you have said yes to something else. It’s not a surprise that Jesus is alone when his disciples find him. He’s been surrounded by this crowd that has so much expectations, strong opinions about what he should be doing, and who he should be doing it for.So Jesus steps back and checks himself. He listens to God and makes sure that all these voices aren’t leading him off track. You never see Jesus doing anything out of obligation…that’s actually the tension in the Gospels…because he is willing to go against the expectations of the crowds in order to be true to the few things he is pursuing. He doesn’t let what everyone wants direct his path. You never see Jesus stressed about letting someone down or worried about what people are going to think. You never hear him saying, “Oh, I’m just so busy.”

You have a life, these God-given energies. And if they aren’t focused and disciplined in really specific way…they fall off track, they fade, and they just aren’t as strong as they could be. But when you will the one or the few most important things, you’re focusing your God-given energies.

We all find ourselves, on a daily basis, saying, “I’m just SO busy” or “Man, I just have SO much going on”.

Why?

Look at your calendar…all the things your involved in, all the things you have to do, places you have to be…just ask that question again: Why?

In our culture today, being busy is a drug that millions of people are addicted to. Obviously, sometimes there are specific situations in life…exceptions: when a loved one gets sick, you may be starting a new job, whether its school or family…whatever it may be. But, we MUST examine the rhythms of our life if we are ever going to will that one thing.

Have you ever heard someone say that they are, “drowning in good”? You see, the enemy of the best isn’t always the worst. Sometimes the enemy of the best is the good. It’s when we become so busy doing all these good things that we have no energy left to will that one thing.

Whenever I go to the beach, I love looking for seashells. Walking along the shore, I never actually find shells, just these pieces…fragile fragments and parts of shells. I mean, they’re still amazing in their complexity and design, but they’re just the pieces of what used to be …whole. So I’m just walking, collecting all these pieces of shells when I look a little father ahead and see this beautiful starfish just floating up on the surface of the water. As I reach down to grab it, I notice something’s stopping me from reaching out and seizing that starfish…
My hands are filled with shells.

Are you too busy? Doing so much that your hands are filled with shells? And some of it, maybe even all of it may be good, but you just can’t grab hold of the starfish…

Drop your shells in the pursuit of a simple, disciplined, focused life in which you pursuit the few things God has for you. Be like Jesus, say no because you’ve already said…

Yes.