I was reading in Zepheniah today, and was struck by several verses. For those of you who (like me!) might tend to forget to read all those books at the end of the Old Testament, let me give you an overview. Zephaniah was written warning that the day of the Lord was near, and those who didn't repent would be judged. Most of the book is predictions of judgement, but the last six verses are a beautiful promise to Israel.

However, the verse that jumped out at me was chapter two verse eleven.  "The Lord will be awesome against them; for He will famish all the gods of the earth, and to Him shall bow down, each in its place, all the lands of the nations." It's so easy to look around at our world today and think that everyone has forgotten about God. Even if that's true now, it won't always be!

A quote I heard once that made me laugh, and then on second thought made me really happy, has to do with this. "See, the devil thinks he's going to win, but I've read the end of the book, and God wins!" In other words, everything is going according to plan. This helps me be able to let go of things that are worrying me. So my challenge to you? If you're upset about how the world is going downhill, or how bad things are getting, go read the end of the Book. =)

Ever been upset about something happening to someone else? I have that problem a lot. Especially when it comes to my brother. Weird as it is, I'm pretty protective of him, even though he's older than me. Anyhow. Yesterday I was a bit upset over something going on with him. Then I remembered a little lesson a friend taught me earlier this year.

She told me that taking up offenses for others is a form of judging. If we take up their offenses for them we're making assumptions about the person or situation that is opposing them. I hadn't ever really thought about that before. But it kinda makes sense, doesn't it? We tend to hear one side of a story, and draw conclusions based on that. However, if we heard the entire story from all parties involved, we would often come to a different conclusion. Interesting thought... and something I wanted to share with you.

All I can say is that I'm very glad that God has blessed me with a friend enough older than me that she can give me advice like that. Even when it's not something I want to hear, what she tells me is normally what I need to hear. So I guess you can also go away with the thought that good advice comes from unexpected places: keep your ears open!!

Since we're nearing Thanksgiving, I thought I'd put up some pictures of fall. :) All of these were taken at Mt. Nebo. Sadly we don't get this much color here in Texas.

I love fall. It's such a gorgeous time of year! =) Hope you enjoyed looking at these as much as I enjoyed taking them.

"I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. 
So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.-  Nathaniel Hawthorne

The past few days have been a bit on the rough side. I have bounced back and forth from silly and happy to frustrated and upset. Things went on a rollercoaster from being just peachy to having an argument with someone to getting super mad at someone else to being excited about hanging out with friends. I know, I know.... I sound ridiculous. But that is my last two days in a nutshell.

I guess the most important thing I've had to remember again and again in the last few days is that even when I can't see the reason for things, God can. Isn't that neat? When I feel like everybody hates me and I'm never going to figure out how to fix that (a.k.a. having a pity party!), or when I'm hurting for someone else, HE knows what's going on. He knows if the problem is because of my attitude (which it is about 90% of the time) or because of something else.

I guess the most important thing I'm trying to say here is that God is in control. Even if it feels like the world is falling out from under you, or you can't see a way out of the problem you have, He is there to help and guide you. The big thing is that you have to let Him. I often forget that. I take the "steering wheel" but then get mad at God because things are all wrong. Then I look down and realize just who is the one with the hands on the controls. Ouch. It's painful but necessary to do control checks occasionally.... in other words, almost every day!

Well, thanks for sticking around for my wanderings there. Sometimes it just feels better to get something off your chest. Not to mention that as I write things out I learn more about/from them. So, until my next confused and sporadic post, God bless!

Monday night, ALERT did a Veteran's Banquet to honor the men and women who have and are serving our country. Part of the evening's program was a Mixed Chorus that I got to be part of. It was really fun, but also neat to be such a blessing to the people who had come. Here's a couple of pictures. (Please forgive the fuzziness and bad lighting!)





The quintet consisted of (left to right) Kyle Horsman, Drew Ludvigson, Evan Tuuk, Jesse Boulden, and Keon Pendergast (my brother!)

Friday night I had the really neat opportunity to watch the Multiply simulcast by Francis Chan and David Platt. It was on discipleship, and was really challenging. So here's (some!) of my notes on it. Hopefully they're readable and understandable. If not, I apologize!

First Francis Chan spoke on conviction. Here's the main points I got out of that:

~ We tend to totally underestimate God!

~ I can't just be "convicted" by a message. I have to repent and change.

~ At the end of my life I want to be able to say "I completed my work on this earth."

~ I nead to learn from Scripture. People then didn't outline some in-depth plan of how they were going to reach out, they just called out to God and stepped out in faith.

~ I am here on a mission, so I need to live like it. That's easier when I think about the fact that my mission is guaranteed to succeed!

Then David Platt spoke on our call, from Matthew 28:16-20.

~ "I want to be part of something that can only be explained by the hand of God!"

~ We have to believe in the authority of Christ. His authority compels us to go and share His word, as well as giving us confidence as we go.

~ We have to obey the command of Christ. It wasn't just a command for the apostles, it's for EVERY Christian. (Every Christian is a disciple-maker.)

~ We have to depend on the presence of Christ. This mission isn't based on who we are or what we can do, it's based on who Christ is and what HE is able to do in and through us!

~ We need to not just receive the word, we need to reproduce it!

Finally, the two had a conversation about how they wanted to/are applying that.

~ As we help others encounter and follow Jesus, we will also be encountering Him.

~ We need to be equipping others to stand on their own feet spiritually by equipping them to become teachers and disciple-makers.

~ We can give those around us courage by encouraging them.

~ Always remember: Saying "I can't do this" is doubting the power of God!! (OUCH! this is something I really struggle with!)

So this was just what I got out of the teaching. Hopefully something in here will speak to you as well! I would strongly recommend looking it up online, if that's possible. (I don't know if it is or not....?) Oh, here's one last really cool thought: Discipleship = the intersection of community and mission. Something to think about as I come in contact with people everyday.

Really neat quote I found that I thought I'd share with you guys! =)

When you feel like you're drowning in life, don't worry: your Lifeguard walks on water!

Such a simple truth that we forget so often.

Today I faced a dilemma. I have a friend who's in a predictament. I was attempting to help this friend, and was struggling for words. It's a situation I've never been in, and will hopefully never be in. But it was really neat, because as I was talking, I was also praying. And it felt like God was guiding my words (the ones I wasn't messing up!). So I don't know if what I said was actually helpful, but it was really neat to have the feeling that I was saying what God wanted me to say. I've been straying so far from Him lately that it was nice to feel like I'm actually more "in-tune" with Him now.

Okay, if those ramblings didn't make sense, I apologize!! But here's something that should make sense (since it's not my words).

Tomorrow is never promised to anyone,

so dance until your feet ache;

laugh until your sides hurt;

 and say I love you to those you love,

 for tomorrow may never come.

Well late last night (early this morning??) I was having trouble sleeping, which is very unusual for me! I was laying there and got to thinking about my day/week. Long story short, I realized that part of the reason I was struggling was because in the last month I've really drifted away from God. So I decided to read my Bible for a while. God gave me several verses that spoke to me, but one passage in particular grabbed my attention. Here's a basic synopsis:

Matthew 8: 23-27 is about the storm Jesus calmed. In this story, I was the disciples. My boat was being swamped by a storm: circumstances that I can't control. When the disciples wake Jesus up, He rebukes them for having "little faith". Pretty much, I realized that I wasn't trusting that God was big enough to solve my problems. However, even though He had to rebuke the disciples, He also calmed the storm. In other words, God still cares about me enough to do something, even though I've been turning my  back on Him for so long. That little story, five verses long, convicted me a lot. I came out of that half hour of reading with a new dedication to the Master of the wind and sea who loves me enough to take my problems into His hands.

So here's my challenge for you... will you let God have your problems? Or will you be like the disciples and worry that your boat is going to sink?

Tonight has been a rough evening. As I was sitting and having a pity party, I heard Undo by Rush of Fools. It was definitely what I needed. Neat how God works like that, huh?

Here's the lyrics, in case you're interested.

I've been here before, now here I am again
Standing at the door, praying You'll let me back in
To label me a prodigal would be
Only scratching the surface of who I've been known to be

[Chorus]
Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can't do this myself
You're the only one who can undo
What I've become

I focused on the score, but I could never win
Trying to ignore, a life of hiding my sin
To label me a hypocrite would be
Only scratching the surface of who I've been known to be

[Chorus]
Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can't do this myself
You're the only one who can undo
What I've become

Make every step lead me back to
The sovereign way that You

[Chorus]
Turn me around pick me up
Undo what I've become
Bring me back to the place
Of forgiveness and grace
I need You, need Your help
I can't do this myself
You're the only one who can undo
What I've become