LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well it's been a few months since I've written and I felt like it was time to write again! I have been so busy with schoolwork, but I wanted to share what God's been teaching me for the past few weeks!

I will be honest in saying that I am struggling in my walk with Christ. I feel lost, abandoned and I know it's my fault. I have not been seeking Him like I should. I have my quiet time every morning, but I don't feel like I'm learning anything. Even though, I take the time to read it and try to study it, I don't get anything from it. I am desperately wanting to have a closer relationship with God, but am struggling on just how to do it. I know that I want to be a radical Christian, but not sure how to go about it. I still want to go to India and any other mission trips I can, but not sure if that's what I am supposed to do. I am lost.....and don't know which direction to go. My ultimate goal is for God to start a revival within me, so that I can turn my life around and get started on what He has planned for me! Please pray with me as I seek to know the Lord better, not just as my master, but as my friend!

The Decalogue

So I realized today that I haven't posted in a while. Mostly because I've been so busy keeping up with school and going home every weekend for Stronghold. It was a very stressful weekend since this was the performance weekend, but I know that God was there throughout all the injuries and mess-ups that occurred. God protected everyone from very serious injuries and any serious mistakes. It amazes me how much God is always there protecting us even when we don't expect it! When we pray and ask God to be there for us, He will always be there! Anyways, I just want to thank God for protecting us and giving everyone the strength and stamina to finish strong!

Something that has interested me this past week was in my Old Testament class, which happens to be my favorite class. We have been talking about Moses and the Israelites. And this past Tuesday, my professor broke down the Ten Commandments for us, also known as, the Decalogue. I would like to tell you about it, even if you already know! ;) The Decalogue is broken down into two tables, the first one is known as the "Love God table." Basically, commands 1-4 have to do with loving God from "You shall no other gods before me" to "Keep the Sabbath day holy." The second table is known as the "Love your neighbor" table and consist of commandments 5-10. Something else I found interesting is that the 'Shema' is the summary of the Decalogue found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. When it says, "love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength," this is the first table of the Ten Commandments. I know that this may seem so simple, but to me this is just simply amazing! It is so cool that God does this with His word. Showing us that loving Him comes first in our life, and then loving our neighbors, but we have to love that is the overall message! Just thoughts from Elissa!!

Weekend Trip

I decided that I would also post some of my writing on here, just so y'all can give me feedback! So enjoy! :)


 

Weekend Trip

    The ringing phone filled him with dread. Scott Langer recognized the number as being his best friend from high school. He didn’t have time to answer it. He had so much work to do before his dinner date with Mackenzie. He looked at the phone and sighed. “Hello, this is Scott,” he answered. “Hey man, this is Danny Anderson from high school,” a loud voice said over the phone. Scott pulled back, wincing as the loud voice continued pounding in his ear. “So how have you been, man?” “Doing good, Danny. Busy as normal, I have a lot of work right now,” Scott said, hoping Danny would get the hint, but he didn’t. “So I got a call the other day from Mandy Collin, well her maiden name, Simmons, Mandy Simmons. Do you remember her?” Danny asked. Scott starting typing on his computer, trying to get some work done while carrying on this conversation. “Yeah, I think I remember her; she was a cheerleader, right?” Scott asked. “Yeah, that’s right. She’s the one who flirted with Mack McGuire, the quarterback on the football team. Anyways, she called me last week and said that they were trying to get a 10-year reunion for our graduating class,” Danny said. Scott felt his heart sink. He could tell this was coming. He hated class reunions. He had never gone to one before, so why should he go now? Danny continued, “Mandy heard that you were in the hotel business and she wanted to see if you could hook us up with a conference room somewhere.” “What city does she want to have it in?” Scott asked. “She wanted somewhere like Cancun,” Danny said. Scott stopped, “Cancun? As in Mexico?” “Yeah, she thinks that it would be fun to have it somewhere exotic. Do you have any hotels down there?” Danny asked. “I think so, but won’t it be expensive for some folks to try and get down there?” Scott asked as he typed in the name of his hotel in Cancun. “Yeah, probably, but Mandy wants to try it. She thought that it would be fun to have it somewhere different instead of the normal “high school gym” setting,” Danny said, “Do you think you can get your hotel to let us reserve the conference room?” Scott inwardly moaned. “I’m sure I can,” he said. “Great! Well, Mandy wants to have the reunion in two months; the date is June 21. Let me know if we can’t have room on that date, ok man!” “Yeah sure, Danny,” Scott said. Scott knew that the room would be available on that day, but he didn’t want to tell Danny now. “Great, man, say it was great talking to you, but I need to get back to work. Let me know what you find out, so I can tell Mandy,” Danny said. “Will do, Danny. Have a great day. Bye,” Scott said as he hung up. He leaned back in his chair, regretting the reunion. He knew that if he had it at his hotel, he was obligated to go. Maybe Mackenzie would go with him. That would make it a little more fun. Mackenzie was his girlfriend and loads of fun. She wasn’t loud and rambunctious like his last girlfriend, but she wasn’t shy either. She was just fun to be around, and Scott liked girls that were like that. He had been with Mackenzie for a year and half now and was considering asking her to marry him. Scott still didn’t know why he had hooked up with his last girlfriend, He hated every moment with her. Well anyways, that was the past and he was looking to a beautiful future filled with him and Mackenzie. He looked at his watch and realized he only had an hour to get work done so he could actually make it on time to his date.

   Two and half hours later, he was sitting in Mackenzie’s favorite restaurant sipping a cup of hot decaf coffee with the love of his life. He was having a hard time concentrating because he kept thinking about the class reunion and dreading it. “Scott,” Mackenzie said, breaking his thought. “I know that you haven’t been listening to a word I’ve been saying. Something’s troubling you, what is it?” Scott set his cup down and leaned forward. “I got a call from a friend in high school, and they are trying to plan a 10-year class reunion at one of my hotels,” he said. “Oh, and what’s so wrong about that?” Mackenzie asked. “They want to have it in Cancun, Mexico,” Scott said. Mackenzie raised her eyebrow. “Cancun?” she said, “why on earth Cancun?” “The girl in charge of it wants an exotic location instead of a high school gym setting. I hate class reunions, and I will especially hate it if it’s in Cancun,” Scott said as he looked her in the eyes. “Would you want to go with me, Mackenzie?” Scott continued, “It would make things a little more interesting.” Mackenzie pulled out her iPhone and asked, “When is it again?” “June 21. It’s a Friday night,” Scott said. Mackenzie looked up and smiled. “You’re lucky! That’s the only weekend I have free that month,” she told him. Scott grinned and leaned back in his chair, satisfied.

   It was Thursday morning and Scott was in his condo, packing. He looked at his clock by his bed. He had 30 minutes before he needed to pick up Mackenzie and head to the airport. Going with them was Scott’s brother, Ben, and his girlfriend, Kasey. They had decided to get there a day early to enjoy the day on Friday before the reunion that night. Scott knew that despite the class reunion, this would be a good weekend. He threw his passport and plane ticket into his backpack, put the bag on his back and rolled his other luggage out into the hall. He took one last look at his condo and headed out the door.

   After Scott picked up Mackenzie, his brother and girlfriend, they arrived at the airport and proceeded to check in their luggage. The airport clerk checked in Ben, Kasey and Mackenzie. Scott then walked up to the counter, set down his luggage on the scale and handed the clerk his ticket. The clerk typed in something and asked for Scott’s passport. He pulled it out of his messenger bag and handed it to her. She looked at it and looked back at him. “I’m sorry sir, but your passport has expired.” Scott did a double take and his jaw fell open. “You have got to be kidding me. When did it expire?” “Last month, sir,” she said. Scott groaned and put his head in his hands. He stood there for a moment, trying to decide what to do. Finally he looked up and half-smiled at the clerk. “Thank you for your time,” he said as he grabbed his luggage and walked off. Mackenzie, Ben and Kasey followed. “So what are we going to do, bro?” Ben asked. Scott sat down in one of the chairs lined up against the window and Mackenzie sat beside him. “Well I didn’t really want to go so I guess you guys can go ahead and fly down there and have a good time,” Scott said. “Scott,” Mackenzie said. “We are not going to go to Cancun without you.” Ben and Kasey agreed. “I guess we are staying home this weekend,” Scott said as he stood up. “Wait a minute,” Ben said, pulling out his phone. “I have a college friend of mine who is a pilot and he flies down to Mexico all the time. Maybe he could fly us down there and we can pay him.” Scott gave him a questioned look. “But don’t you need a private landing strip so they don’t have to look at your passport?” “I honestly think he uses one of his friend’s landing strip. I’m not a hundred percent sure, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.” Ben called his friend, who did have a private landing strip and he agreed to fly them down there. An hour and a half later, they were on their way to Cancun.

    That night walking along the beach in front of their resort, Scott and Mackenzie walked slowly in silence, taking in the night air and the sound of the waves crashing upon the moonlit shore. Finally Scott turned to Mackenzie. “I’ve been thinking, which is not always a good thing.” Mackenzie grinned. “I’ve been thinking about how strange it would be for me to tell everyone at the reunion that you are my girlfriend, so I was thinking,” Scott said as he got on his knee and pulled out a ring box. “What if I just told them you were my finance’?” Mackenzie gasped. “Oh Scott,” she stammered. “I would be honored.” Scott smiled and stood to his feet. He took the beautiful diamond ring out of the box and slid it onto her finger. He kissed her and they stood there for a moment embracing each other. “This may be a better weekend than I thought it would be,” Scott said as he smiled at his soon-to-be bride.

  

Random thought of the week: God Bless America

Just to let you know, as I feel like I need to, this is just my opinion. Please feel free to comment and leave thoughts and suggestions. God wanted me to type out what I did tonight....I'm not sure why, but He does. Hope you enjoy.

So we all know the song, "God Bless America." It's words have been engraved into our heads.
"God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home."

The other day when I was home for the weekend. I thought about this song. Is this song,"God Bless America," relevant to today's culture and society? This song was written in 1918 by Irving Berlin, who was serving in a U.S. army camp in Yaphank, New York. Though written in 1918, it didn't become popular till 1938 when Kate Smith sang it on her radio show on the 21st anniversary of Armistice Day in World War I. This video is a copy of the original showing. It gave me goosebumps. Please watch before you continue reading. It will help you undertstand where I am going with this post. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnQDW-NMaRs 


Since this song was written at the end of World War I, Berlin gives us a sense of what the Americans were thinking and feeling at that time. God had brought them through a horrific war with over 5,000,000 casualties. It takes a lot to tell God to bless America and not to hate Him for bringing the war upon them, though I'm sure there were some that did. Can we as American ask God to bless America right now? Going through the World War, the American people deserved God's blessing at that time, in my opinion. I don't think we deserve it today. God has already blessed us so richly and yet we take it for granted. And people wonder why God has slowly taken his hand off America in protecting. He has stood beside us and guided us to the best of His ability, but we don't acknowledge that. "Stand beside her and guide her, thru the night with the light from above." I think the song should read "America Bless God." Shouldn't we give back to God and let Him see how thankful we are for His blessings that He has so richly bestowed onto us. Unfortunately in due time,we are not going to have those freedoms that we have now. Before long, we, as Christians, won't be able to own Bibles, much less read them. We won't be able to meet in church, but those who are fully devoted followers of Christ will still meet secretly in an "underground church" despite what might happen to them. We won't be able to say the name, "Jesus Christ" without being persecuted or martyred for it. Do we really want America to head in this direction or are we, as "radical" Christians ready to take a stand? Don't we want to sing "God Bless America," without feeling guilty, because I know I do? I want to be able to sing this unofficial national anthem knowing that we have given God credit for all that He has blessed us with. Don't you?

First Entry: Life at College

Well this is the first entry to my online journal. This journal will contain stories of my adventures here at UMHB and my world travels which will involve India next fall. So let  us begin.........this is my first semester here and I am wondering whether or not I should be here. I am without friends despite a few, a little bit lonely, REALLY homesick, and wanting to desire a deeper relationship with God. Well I am desiring it more than ever! I want God to do miracles and wonderful things in my life while I'm here, I'm just waiting......patiently.......well trying to wait patiently. Unfortunately, patience was never a good virtue of mine. I have just completed my first week of classes and it will be a difficult semester. I have five classes, the most I have ever taken, with some of the most interesting professors who I am questioning their spiritual walk. My film professor is requiring that we watch some R-rated movies........and I'm not too happy about it. I have been praying about what I should do, and I think I am just going to tell him that I cannot watch it. I am praying that he doesn't take it the wrong way! Tomorrow Jennifer and I will be visiting another church. Last Sunday we visited Temple Bible Church and it was a very interesting church. I liked it, especially the pastor. He preached an excellent sermon on desperation from Psalm 130, one of the "psalms of ascent." This is what the outline from the sermon says, "Psalms 120-134 are called 'the Psalms of Ascent.' As pilgrims journeyed to Jerusalem, the highest geographical city in Israel, these Psalms were often sung. Psalm 130 is a cry of desperation for deliverance from 'the depths.'" Some things that stood out to me from his sermon was the people who are truly desperate for spirituality do not care about the mess they make so they can get to Jesus. If we truly want to see Jesus and experience Him in our lives, we shouldn't care about the mess we make of our lives. We shouldn't be concerned about the sins we commit, we should just ask for forgiveness and continue to seek God. Anyways this is my first entry and we'll see how it goes from now on!