Interests:Ok, so first and formost, my interest is in God and living a wonderful life, pleasing to Him. Band to the max, dogs, aminals in general, my bent toe, my friends, riding horses, selling chicken, acting, watching sports (wishing i could play), music, laughing, sleeping, and being the person that is me. Expertise:WAIT, I KNOW ONE!!!! I am really good at being SMALL! yesssssssssssss Occupation:Student Industry:Hospitality
laughter is the very best medicine...remember that when your appendix bursts in three
So whenever I go to the movies with my family (especially if it's all five of us), there's always a couple of times that the whole theater is silent and a patch of five people is laughing hysterically. "Anderson humor" we like to call it. Apparantly other people just don't get things quite the same as we do. We are then stuck with the danger of thinking that we must have laughed at some completely innapropriate time, or that people just think we're crazy...and then we begin to think...maybe we are.
Well, as much as I enjoy this about my family I've come to discover it to be true with my non-biological family...well, my friends. I'll never forget going to see Cars with a group and the violent ruptures of immature laughter that could only be pinpointed to the boys I knew and was sitting with. And then comes the laughing at others' laughter. If you've ever heard Schuyler, or Will C, or Stefan, or Kane (just as a few examples), give out their deep and utterly amused belly laughs, you'll know what I mean. Just hearing and viewing them causes laughter to erupt and spread through every viewing member. Tonight we went to see Zodiac, the story of a serial killer from the 60's...not exactly a comedy. But there were points of trial and irony that you just had to laugh at. And of course...who are the only 4 people in the whole theater laughing??...US 4.
Well, atleast when you're with a group you have a few others to share with in the amusement and maybe even the feeling stupid. But there's not much worse then not only being the only person in theater laughing, but the only person in your group. You become comfortable enough with the people you're with to laugh when you find something funny, so you do...but ONLY you do. Oh well, who's to argue that laughter ought to be supressed? It's a peculiar thing, that uncontrollable hahaha that juts from our diaphrams. But sometimes I do think it must be the very best of medicines
Have you ever been forced out of your comfort zone? As in not encouraged to leave it but rather stuck with the decision of doing something slightly akward or not doing anything at all? This weekend was something new. I'd been told for months that this year's winter retreat would include kids from another church; kids I didn't know. But even as I packed up and got ready I was mentally geared for the same thing as every year; spending an incredibly fun weekend with kids that I already know and love.
Simply driving up to a different church and seeing different kids put preconceptions into my selfish and comfort seeking mind. I became almost determined to find nothing to enjoy or have in common with these "other" kids. Everything they said and did seemed different, weird, not like us. What if all the boys were annoying? What if all the girls were stuck up? I passed judgement based on clothing, interest, language, or whatever difference I could find. It wasn't like I truly disliked them, but I found no reason or terms to be particularly fond of them. I obliviously but naturally became indifferent to the lives of the people I would spend the next three days with.
With every encouragemnt our youth pastors gave for us to spend time with eachother, to step out, to meet a new face, things got better (on the surface). Sure I introduced myself to a couple of girls in the bathroom, a couple of guys on the ski slopes...I mean, what more could they want? It slowly became easier, I learned names, played games, pasted on smiles and sat with some new kids to make my leaders proud. But not until the last night of the retreat did God give me the swift conviction that I needed.
As I sat down in my plastic chair singing to my God, my eyes scanned the room. I saw boys whose very aquiantances I'd slighted in complete and utter worship. I saw girls and guys I pretended to know after two days lifting their hands, surrendering their attention to OUR Lord and Savior. This wasn't my God we stood to praise. As we stood their I came to realize that I couldn't possibly have more in common with these people. They were my brothers and my sisters. The very purpose of our desire to go on a youth retreat and even our lives was one and the same.
Who was I to think that I knew these children of God? How many times have I been told that only He knows the depths of our hearts and our relationships with Him? Who was I to pass judgement on the characteristic aspects of those who stood at the thrown of our Heavenly Father? I knew nothing of their hearts and lives, their goals and desires, yet I pretended to know them by shallow observation. How much time did I waste watching, opinionating, and even ignoring that could have been used for fellowship, encouragement, and ultimately love? Nothing brings children of God together like putting aside differences and comfort and choosing a love for Him as our common ground. I can't wait to get to know them. Just who did I think I was?
Since pretty much the first day of school they've been telling my class "you guys are the class of 2007". In 1994, when you're 5 years old, 2007 couldn't possibly sound farthur away. "Sure that's my graduating year," I thought, "but I doubt I'll ever even get there that's so far away." Well, last night was cuase for a little bit of unenecessary Emily freaking out. It came whether I was ready for it or not. This year, this unavoidable year that I've been anticipating since I'd heard of the year 2007, came. It came at midnight last night with cheers and sparkling cider. How can one day suddenly feel like a lifetime's difference? What's so special about the gap between 2006 and 2007 anyway? I guess it just represents the coming to an end of all I've (we've) been working at for the last 12 years. So to all of you graduating this year...congratulations...you've made it to that magical year. It's 2007 baby!
Welp, the trip was awesome! It was so exhausting, frustrating at times, and other times dying in a dark corner truly sounded like sweet relief. But besides all of those things it was an all together awesome time. God taught me so much that I didn't even expect to learn. About his hand, his love, his people, and my life. I think it was one of the first times that I've served and truly been invisible. I was a part of the team that no one besies those at home and those on the team knew about or recognized, and that was humbling. I was blessed to be able to help these people out so that they were able to do an awesome thing. But to anyone attending the conference, I was just some random teenager that they may or may not have noticed around meal times with the people giving the conference. But I'm ok with that, we don't serve for our glory, we serve for His.
Well, by no means could I feel so for myself about going. I got to do some super sweet things. I pet baby lions and we drove through a lion park, man those creatures are amazing. We went to the beach, shopping, swimming, we ate like nobody's business. On one of the last days we went to a game reserve and saw animals such as wildabeasts, rhinos, a lioness, giraffes, warthogs, impalas, springboks, zebras, various exotic birds, many many elephants, and other creatures that I cannot even think of. We also went to an AIDS hospice, and an orphanage for HIV/AIDS infected kids. Both of those experiences were heart wrenching, but also amazing. The minisitries and the people were so incredible, and it put a very very real light on the true problem that the country has.
The kids...well, they certainly could've been worse. I ended up loving each of them to death, but also was just about ready to ship them off to the closest uncharted island I could find. I had my last nerve stepped on, just about every imaginable gross human mucus on me at some point, and every boundary and button pushed. But I also had amazing times with them. Just hanging out and feeling like a kid again, and also gaining entirely new insight into the minds of a 1,3,4,5,6,and 8 year old.
Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. If you want more, ask me!
thank you everyone for your prayer and suppprt, it's good to be home.
