Monday, April 30, 2007

church, blessings, and prayers

first off, i want to say that not this sunday(cuz i had no ride), but the sunday before that i went to a pentacostal church, for the first time... it so not at all what i was expecting. sure there were a lot of hallelujah's and there was an hour of singing, and then the service so altogether it goes from 11-1..thats a 2 hour service people:P but the teaching was good, really giid and the people are fabulously friendly, all so excited to have you there...instead of the "why are you here" stares you tend to recieve at some churches. there is about 5 minutes where everyone goes around the church and greets everyone else. oh and its a huge church and its absolutely packed right full! its hard to find a seat!! and the teenagers sit up front..its a crazy thing...people actually want to be there, and so do i. as soon as i got in i said to my self " this is my new church". i love it. i dont think i know a single person there, except a kid from justin's school, who is a 16 or 17 year old cool kid, a guy even! who goes there without his parents cuz they dont go to church, just because he wants to be there. sweet eh? God's pretty fabulous. anyway, obviously there are still things i dont agree with that pentacostals would tend to, but oh well. the teaching was good that one week and i hope to see what its like every other week too. oh and they also have a tone of out reaches and stuff...im excited.

next topic.

people are never goping to learn they arent better than other people. there were parts of the klbc grad when i just wanted to walk out when mister Phil Barnes was speaking. not cuz his speach was bad, but because it was sooooooo good. because i felt i was sitting with a bunch of hypocrits(part of his address), who were just sitting there nodding, and not even listening to the man. the things he said were dead on. they are probably the things that are said every year, to live the life and so on...but this year i guess it extra hit me. maybe cuz hes a good speaker...maybe because im not living it...maybe cuz i know most people, sadly are not living it ...and there was a time i was naive enough to think they all were. anyway that was the klbc slogan this year, live it. and like mistr barnes said, that doesnt mean just going to church, it doesnt mean just reading your Bible, it doesnt mean just praying. it means really, actually living your live for Christ, in everything you do. and that means A LOT of change for pretty much everyone. cuz whats the point in reading the instruction manuel if you are just going to ignore the instructions? i was thinking of this thing....where if maybe we always carried some water....just an extra bottle or two, or a case if you have a car...so that when you see homeless people on the streets in the summer frantically searching through garbage cans for just a little drink...you could give them a bottle, and maybe tell them God loves them...whle showing them through your actions. i hope to be able to do this when i can. i got the idea from two sources. the first was last year i saw a man searching for water in trash cans and it soooo broke my heart, and so i gave him mine, because it was like 35 degrees that day and i could certainly buy another, but clearly he couldn't. then the second part...somehow let them know something about God through words...that came from no frills. a man asked for change and all i had was like 15 cents in my pocket, so i gave him that tiney bit of money and he said somerthing along the lines of "thank you, God bless you." then i emptied the cart into the trunk and brought it to him so he could return it for a mere quarter...and he said the same thing again. then i had time to go in my purse and find a bit more and he again said thank you and God bless you. it was so strange...because clearly...God has blessed me, hugely! yet this poor homeless man, who is excited at such a small sum of money, said those words to me. as though he felt so extraodrdinarily blessed that he wanted me to feel the same. we are blessed people. in two ways. if you are reading this, clearly you have money, a place to live and obvious luxeries many people dont have, so why not share a little in some form, a sandwich? water? change...? but if you are a Christian you have an even more important blessing. thats also something we should be sharing. i know its hard, im not quite sure how i can really do that yet..but i think its important we do...more important than the physical things we give, but they are a good way to get close enough to share even a few words.

next topic.

yesterday my parents brought home from grandpas a bunch of things, including the bible i gave him. at first it seemed as though he didnt open it at all...but one of the pieces of paper marking a verse was moved to genesis from psalms...maybe it just fell out...but the book mark had a verse on it to, and had i love you written on it. i know he read the alpha pamphlet. but yeah it was just sad to get it back. i miss him and my grandma so much. please pray lots for our family...that we make it through together and dont break apart.

next topic

i sooo need a job. i have my resume out at a lot of places, please pray i get something. but also know God is providing even though sometimes i feel im going to fall short, i always get a babysitting opportunity, or my mom gives me some...the money for my payments always comes from somewhere. i just would like to leave here and i cant do that without a job. also pray i can soon get my liscence.

thank you all for reading this huge blog. i love you.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow, that was long, good to read it though, glad you found such a great assembly to go to, and i'll be praying for your family and your job and desire to get out of the area you've been in for a while. God truly is amazing!
-Brad

Anonymous said...

Hey Nicole,
I really enjoyed reading this post. Keep blogging...I really enjoy reading how God is working in your life. Praise Him!
God BLESS you!