Sunday- A day of Rest? What?

Today was a great day! I got a lot done and I think I will for sure go to bed at an acceptable time tonight. This morning I got up and went to early service with my church partner- Misty- and we enjoyed a great lesson from Mike on Ecc. What a great day it was to see him preaching God's word again. Take that Satan! Afterwards I came home and did some homework while playing hearts with the cuz on the internet. That was fun- I'm pretty sure the other two that were playing with us not only had no idea that we knew each other- but were probably pretty confused! Way to be a team cuz! After that I went up to Neighborhood Walkers! Me and Kevin and Meg walked today- C/Kasey's were out again. God has truly blessed our team this semester with some new relationships that are forming on our street and praise God- our neighbors are starting to meet eachother! How cool! I am super duper excited the Ryan- who seldom communicates with little ol' me anymore :o) will be here next week to walk with us! I can't wait Ryan! Really- when are you coming to town?

I left NW early to go up to the church to be a part of the 8th grade blessing. As you know I am on the teaching team for the 8th grade class and tonight- in the midst of our series "Faith Decisions"- there was an incredible opportunity for the parents and kids to get together as the parents read blessings over their children. Some were funny, some were sweet and some were big time tear jerkers but all of them were words spoken with the love of Christ and I wouldn't have missed it for the world!!! I feel so blessed to have been a part of that!

Now I am here at work- the only time I ever blog. My fellow sisters in club are working their rear ends off at the dance studio in front of the mirrors to perfect their SING SONG FACES and moves! They rock!

I really hope that every one has had a great weekend! I feel refreshed and renewed this weekend and I praise God for being so good and faithful to His children.

Be a blessing and Be Blessed!!!

What is Moody Weekend you ask?

Well, let me enlighten you. Moody Weekend is the weekend before Sing Song where all the clubs and classes get to practice on the Moody Stage. This is an important part of Sing Song b/c it is the only time prior to Dress rehearsal that we get to get on stage and thus the only time on stage when there are less then 15 people watching. Usually Moddy Weekend runs from about 5 o'clock Friday night to around 4-5 Saturday morning. In previous years there has been given 45 min. To each club and class to practice and 15 min between them. As in life, things change. This year 2 clubs performed on Wednesday night and everyone else that performed last night, only got 40 min on stage and 5 min between clubs. This made for a much shorter Moody Weekend. Our club was last to go- lucky us! We got to Moody at 11:45 p.m. went on stage at 12:30 a.m and came off at 1:10 a.m. 20 min later I exited the building putting me back at my house sometime around 1:35 a.m. Nothin' like Moody Weekend! Maybe I'm weird- but it's one of my favorite parts of Sing Song. I think we have a really good show this year and I am really excited to see how we measure up.

Other news: I am working today for the normal "Saturday Afternoon Guy." So What do you do in a lonely computer lab for 5 hours? Beats me- I'll let you know when I figure it out! I have about 26 CD's here and I brought markers, homework and my knitting stuff hoping that it will keep me occupado for the next 3 hours and 45 min. Goodness that's a long time. I was going to go play racquetball with my roommate today but they close at 5- sad! I played 4 games in class on Thursday- won two lost two. It was so much fun! Watch out dad, I'm learning some mad racquetball skills that are gonna make you wish you never taught me what a racquet was!

So I guess I will go do my homework now! Call my if you get bored! I'll be here until 5!

Be Blessed!!!

One of My Favorite Acappella Songs!

What is your favorite Acappella song?

Walkin' That Line

I will hold up my head
Proudly march where I am lead
Now that I see the way I'm walking it day by day
I will not fear this road
Gladly I'll bear this load
And I will not think twice
Because I am walking with Christ

CHORUS: I'm walking that line -
never look back I'm walking that line -
I'm on the right track I'm never alone -
He's holding my hand
And everything's fine cause I'm walking that line
To the promised land

Why don't you walk with me
Travel eternity
Staying within His light
Keeping the end in sight
We will not go astray
Together His will obey
And we will win the fight
We are walking with Christ

CHORUS

BRIDGE: Though my feet may often stumble
I will not be down for long
He has called me to commitment
And my resolutions strong
So when satan clouds the vision
And his poison darts are thrown
I will look back at these challenges
Just to see how much I've grown

CHORUS

I'm walking that line - never look back
I'm walking that line - on the right track
I'm never alone - He's holding my hand
And everything's fine cause I'm walking that line
To the promised land

And everything's fine cause
I'm walking that line I'm walking that line


Be Blessed!!!

Mary Poppins and Harry Potter

This weekend I was sick. I spent pretty much all of Saturday on the couch writing letters and watching Harry Potter(the first two movies). I really enjoyed them. As well as watching Harry Potter, I watch Mary Poppins. Mary Poppins is probably my favorite movie of all time. I am completely in love with Dick Van Dyke and Juile Andrews. I would really like to get the 40th anniversary Mary Poppins special edition. It has interviews with Julie and Dick on it! So cool. Yes we are on a first name basis. Anywho! I would like to get the whole soundtrack too. Hugh made me a CD with some of the songs on it- the coolest of which is Supercalifradulisticexpialidocious in SPANISH! That's right- in Spanish. If you thought it was fun in English you have to hear it in Spanish! It's great! -That CD is on it's was soon cousin! So the whole point of this blog is really to ask you what your favorite movie is and to try and squeeze that movie out of my parental units for Valentines day-Remember when you guys use to send me packages for Valentines Day? I do-I miss those days; let's get back to the good ol' days, what do ya say? Mom? Dad? Yes?

Be Blessed!!!

Blurred Vision

Ok well, I have been informed that I need to update my blog so here I am. I only work 2 nights a week now so I don't blog as much as I used to and for that, Cousin, I am truly sorry.

This has been a pretty awesome week. Last weekend I traveled to Houston with Sarah Woodroof, and our make-shift Joel, to teach at the Girls Reflecting Glory Conference. Although there was some miscommunication in the middle of the day, it turned out to be an awesome weekend. The class was better then I expected it to be and I got to team up with Sarah, once again, to let God speak to some very beautiful ladies. The Theme was Lost and Found and it came from Romans 12:1-2. Great verses. Our class was titled "Dying to Praise Him" and we talked about living a life of sacrifice and worship. Awesome topic. Awesome young women of God.

On the flip side, the challenge for the weekend was to see how many thing Mandy could lose. I'm pretty sure that although the only competitor in this game, I won! I managed to lose $20, a Newsboys CD and my ACU Ring, totaling more money then I have! All that said-the game was no fun and to be perfectly honest- no one let me know I was playing. My stuff just seemed to disappear! The good news is that my ACU Ring was found in the back seat of a car that I never got into this weekend! The girl I stayed with found it there. Who would have guessed! The point is that I am now only a CD and $20 short. Praise God!

There have been a lot of things going on this week! I had a 2 page paper on the history of Paul and the Colossians due, I was in charge of the Devo in World Evangelism on Wednesday, Wednesday night 2 of the kids in our 8th grade class got baptized, 2 Sing Song practices, two nights of work and best of all......a Greek test! That right a Greek test. For those of you that know my love for Greek you can only imagine how thrilled I was to to sit an partake of this ritual with my other, less than excited classmates. Let me just say- I didn't not cry, whimpered maybe but not a tear was shed. I wanted know one to know I was weak.

Tomorrow, I get to go to class and go to Praise day in Chapel and enjoy the company of my friends for dinner at my house tomorrow night (it's spaghetti if you want to come)! I love Fridays...by the way, we had a Ryan Porche praise day not to long ago. All the good ol' Ryan songs were sung, with almost the same enthusiasm and energy! I miss ya Porche! It's just not the same friend!

As for right now I sit in the lonely lab waiting in anticipation for the clock to strike the eleventh hour so I can retreat to my home and more importantly to my bed. The dust that settled on the library books and the shifting weather seem to have taken their toll on my body. Not only an I beginning to sound like a man, but my vision is getting blurry. That the worst part.

Blurry vision. We talked about this in my Evangelism class about a week ago. Not about being sick but about our vision of God's mission. How do we look at it and how do we carry out his mission. One thing that was pointed out was that if our vision is blurred we can not lead in the right direction. The why glasses are made, so that when your vision is blurred you trust something else to show you the truth. Jesus is like our pair of glasses. We can not depend on our own sight to lead us to God but with Jesus glasses we have Kingdom Vision and can join God in his work around the world! Do you have your Jesus Glasses on? Do you have Kingdom Vision? I pray that you do!

Friends, be a light in the darkness this weekend and share the love of Christ with everyone!
Be Blessed!!!

Ok....Whatever!

Ok...So I know I said I would call this Thursday blog FOCUS but I've changed my mind. I really just like to tell stories of my life on my blog and what I am thinking and that was gonna make me have to think about something intentionally and I do that all day at school so dear blog buddies, Thursday will be a day like any other day! I know y'all are so sad!

So the big thing that happened today, besides the fact that I ACTUALLY went and worked out at the gym, was chapel. 18:38 is Moody's Thursday chapel and that comes from John 18:38 talking about the truth. The goal of this chapel is to get the student body talking about the truth behind the issues of this day in age. Today the title was something along the lines of "When Cats and Dogs Collide" or something like that. Basically it was a discussion on men and women and their responsibility to respect each other. It started off great but then the "speak your mind" part came. Random people with comments were handed the mic and given the opportunity to say their peace. All was fine and dandy until one guy totally ragged on the girl playing the "devil's advocate" of the situation. Told her he lost all respect for her and can't believe that she would generalize guys like that. Jeremy and I turned to each other and whispered-SPRINGER! SPRINGER! No but really, it was ugly for a minute but when everyone settled down it really ended up being a good discussion on mutual respect and how to do that. Good idea this 18:38 chapel experiment! I can't wait for next week.

Well, friends, I hope you got a smile and maybe possibly a little snicker out of my chapel experience today. What do you think about it? How can men and women show their respect for each other?

I am going to Houston this weekend to teach at Girls Reflecting Glory so I'll let y'all know how that goes when I get back. Have a great weekend! Be Blessed!!!

All over Abilene!

So today I had to do a BIG FAVOR for my brother and it required my to go downtown and pay for something. I had the address and the suite # but not idea how to get there; so I did the only logical thing and got on Ambler thinking it would run into the street I was looking for. Turns out, I was wrong. I just drove and found myself a block away from Highland so I decided to go in and ask for directions. I talked to wonderful Sarah Campbell and she got me to the right street. Next decision, turn right or left? I opted for left and by the grace of God it was right! So I'm going the right way on the right road but still have no idea what building I am looking for. I see TAYLOR COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT written on one building and I thought maybe that's where I should go. I park and go inside. When I told the lady at the counter what I needed to do she said "Oh, you need to go to the court house. It's cady-corner from this building." So I am in my car on my way to the other big building at this intersection. So again, in my car to the court house. I go in and ask the security guard if he can point me in the right direction. He tells me I need to go to the building ACROSS THE STREET! Are you kidding me? So here I go back in my car. This time I have to drive ALL the way around the building b/c of the one way roads. So I FINALLY get across the street and go inside. I need to find suite 110. I very quickly fin 109, 11, 107 and 102 but 110 must be lost in this brown abyss the call a building. I go into the "work force center" and ask them where to go.. Know what they said? "Next door" So I go and I am finally in the right place and I pay and I leave. I celebrate my accomplishment of hitting 3/4 buildings at one intersection in 15 min. Yes! All paid off! Brother, you owe me!

Be Blessed!!!

F.O.C.U.S.

This will be the title of my Thursday bloggings. F.O.C.U.S.- Founded On Christ. Uncovering Salvation. Theme verse is 2 Corinthians 4:18. It'll start next week.

Mom got a blog! Yes!!! www.mommac.blogspot.com Check it out. It should be good. My mom is...um..silly!? There are many other words to describe her. Let's do this, if you have a word or a group of words you would like to use to describe my mother please leave them in the comment box! This will be fun!

Be Blessed!!!

The Why

The Why is always the only question that never goes away. In case you have not heard 5 of our 6th grade boys, 2 of our 8th grade girls and 1 adult female from Highland were involved in a fatal car accident on their way home from Winterfest this afternoon. The one fatality was a 6th grade boy named Brody. Cute kid. One of the girls was treated and released today in Abilene and the rest of the kids on the suburban are in the hospital; 3 boys in Cooks in Ft. Worth, 2, a boy and the other girl at Hendricks in Abilene and the driver is in the hospital in Lubbock with what we hear two fractures to her neck. Don't know how the accident happened just know that we have a lot of hurting kids in our class at church. We also have a girl on Russell street, Dana, who is hurting because she is in school and church classes with some of these kids. Please be praying for everyone involved in this and pray for us as ministers that we will know how to help the kids. The Why will probably never be answered, but it will always be the question.

Be Blessed!!!

The Authority of Scripture

I hope that everyone has had a great week so far. As for me, there is always something about the first week of school that is overwhelming and amazing all at the same time! I'm ready for the weekend!

Here's the question on my mind. Does Scripture have Intrinsic or Extrinsic authority? In our reading for Exegesis it was mentioned that Scripture has intrinsic authority, that is it has power because it is. As a Christian I can understand this. Because it is the Bible, it has authority over my life. What about the non-Christians though? Scripture is just another book, therefore implying that it only has power if we give it power, extrinsic authority. Is Scripture intrinsic or extrinsic or is it possible that it is both? Let me know what you think!

Have a great weekend and Be Blessed!!!