Heroes

Hero is a word that has been in the background of my life lately. What does this word hero really mean and is it really real or something we made up from cartoons? If you are a hero do you feel like a hero? Or are you humble like everyone else and that's what makes you a true hero? I don't like the use of this word lightly. I feel like the real "heroes" are those men and women who fight for our country, put out fires, ride in ambulances and save peoples lives, and most important of all but least talked about when referring to heroes are those who lead people to accept Jesus.

Do Hero's accept their status and then move on with their lives to do other hero things? Do they think about all the other heroic stuff that they can do now? This hero thing is it a full time job? What if you are a hero an then the next time you are challenged you don't come out successful? What do fallen heroes do?

I feel like a fallen hero... people walk around and say that I did this wonderful thing but most of the time all I can think about is what I didn't do and what else I could have done and how tragic this whole thing is really. The other thing I think about is is this what I want to be doing for the rest of my life? Do I want the stress and sometimes uncomfortableness that come along with being in charge of people's lives? I can't honestly answer that question right now because it feels too heavy.

Here's what I do know. I have felt God's presence in all of this. Even when it seems overwhelming I have felt Him there, His hand on my back, His gentle nudge telling me to keep going forward. I trust that He will make this all alright but in the mean time what do I do? Pray, wait, cry, expend every emotion possible? In church this past Sunday the pastor was talking about moving on and not living in the past. Learn from the past but realize that God has something much bigger and better for you in the present and future. That's find and dandy with the little stuff that's hindering you from moving on and even past sins that have caught me before feel small and helpless compared to what I'm carrying around right now. How do you continue to move forward and not live in the past with something that changed your life and the lives of so many others. That's huge. I don't know the answer to that and part of me feels like it's going to take time and alot of prayer but at times right now it feels a little bit hopeless.

A fallen hero... where does he go from here? He falls at the feet of Jesus and trusts that Jesus will love him even more than the day before and pick him up, dust him off, tell him it's going to be ok, and put him back on his feet again. It's gonna take time but I have time.

Bumps in the road

The hardest day of my life happened last week... I could have gotten mad, I could have completely imploded internally but I didn't. All I could think about was a podcast I had listened to earlier in the day (there are no coincidences with our God) that talked about bumps in the road and that we are going to have them no matter who we are. She talked about how God doesn't put any bumps in the road that he doesn't think you can't handle. The growing isn't easy or fun but man does it feel good when you get to where God is trying to take you. This podcast also talked about making sure we are rushing and sleep walking through life but living every minute to the fullest and living in the here and now. This podcast left a huge impact on my life and I encourage all of you to listen to it and share it with others. The main message I took home from this podcast was this prayer...

"Lord please help me to see the good stuff in the very bad places."

Please listen and enjoy and I hope that this sermon is as encouraging to you as it was to me.

On itunes search for podcasts. Search Kairos Nashville and the sermon is Priscilla Shirer on 6/30/10. Happy listening, God Bless, and please Love Eachother :)

Summer Fun

Summers are the best and wow has this one flown by. I am almost back into the full swing of work (athletes arrive tomorrow with practice starting on Thursday whew) already which is crazy! Just the other day it was February. I have done SO much this summer and learned so much too. It was a crazy, exhausting, fun, dramatic, and thoughtful time of my life. I got to spend time with many of the people that I love and build onto some of the best relationships I've had in my adult life. I haven't been in Lynchburg much this summer but when I have been I am surrounded completely by wonderful beautiful people that love God with all their hearts. It is an inspiring thing to come back to after some of the trips I have been on this summer where I am the only one trying to spread the love of Jesus. That is an exhausting task when you basically have no support! These amazing women (and a few men although they seem to be marrying off at an exponential rate) have truly made my life in Lynchburg wonderful and purposeful and most of them probably don't understand that I haven't had these kind of relationships in my life before. I was starting to build them in Charleston but only had a year for them to grow before moving to Virginia. I truly feel that God wanted me here and single to experience and explore these relationships and learn more than I ever have at any other point in my life. I find myself whole-heartedly thanking God for the recent experiences in my life easy or hard but both rewarding and as this "season" comes to an end and the hectic schedule of work comes charging back into my life I pray that I can remain centered around Him and continue to make time and continue to build the relationships I have put time and effort into this summer. I am so blessed and thankful to have loving people around me that love, laugh, and cherrish me for who I am and not who I was or what I am not. They take the time that they can get with me and make the most out of it and that is one of the things that I love the most about them. Friends are a true blessing from our loving and gracious God :)