Just a small town girl...

I wish I could adequately put into words the emotions I have felt over the past five days. As some may know, it's been a particularly roller-coaster type week. Amidst the busy-ness of an amazing start to Club this Fall, this small town I have learned to love and call home experienced yet another death. Karla Brown lost a three-year battle to breast cancer. Karla is Maddie Brown's mother. Maddie is one of our Club kids, as well as an amazing athlete on the MHS Varsity soccer team.

I got the opportunity to hang out with Maddie yesterday for a while, it was such a sweet, sweet blessing. But, it is not our time together that I wanted to share with you right now, it's what happened last night...

There are moments in life that seem truly magical. Moments that you stand there and can't do anything but smile with a few simple tears rolling down your cheek. Last night was one of those moments. It seems as though Fall has finally it Idaho and last night we stood out in the cold watching the Middleton Lady Vikes take on Columbia High School in soccer. It was a special game... it was senior night, and we also had a moment of silence for Karla. Maddie came to the game. She wasn't dressed down, but she had brought her stuff in the event she wanted to play. She started the game sitting on the bench, but she couldn't sit still, watching her team play and not be apart of it. About half way through the first half Maddie decided she was tired of sitting and wanted to play. And play she did. She spent almost the entire second half in the game, and in the last five minutes, Maddie got an amazing ball, shot and scored an amazing goal. The moment that ball hit the back of the net, the entire bench, the coaches, the parents on the sideline, everyone, burst into tears.

There is nothing like watching an entire team come together to support one of their teammates. I have never seen a group of girls more unified and bonded then those girls are right now. At the end of the game the entire bench rushed the field to tackle Maddie with the biggest hug ever. It was more than the fact that they won the game, it was about a group of girls coming together and overcoming difficulty together. It was about that united front.

It's amazing what one group can do... and it's also amazing the lessons you can learn from a group of high school girls who have begun to realize that life is more about how you love and less about anything else.

I love what I do. I love so much that I get to be a part of the lives of high school students. I love that I get to watch them grow and discover that life is more than just satisfying their selfish desires. I love it. Oye.

Shocker... I haven't updated this in 8 months

I frequently think of things I could blog about but never get around to doing so. I constantly tell myself to be a more diligent blogger... to update this thing on a more regular basis and I fail miserably at that. Oye.

This summer has been absolutely crazy. On June 5th, I left with 20 Middleton High School students to go to Young Life's Malibu Club off the coast of British Columbia. We spent an absolutely amazing week there. We got home on the 13th, after a few restful days at home, I turned right back around and headed back up for my month long assignment at Malibu. I got the privilege of spending an entire month serving the Lord while hanging out with 44 high school kids from across the country. It was so fun to have a front row seat in watching what God was doing in the lives of kids while they spent a week at one of my most favorite places in the world.

While on assignment, we spent a lot of time looking at Psalm 18. Since that time I have been very stuck in vs. 19 of Pslam 18. It says... "He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me because he delighted in me." What does it mean to delight in something? What does it look like to truly delight in something? I think about the things that I love: skiing, hiking, camping, hanging out with people, my family, my friends... am I truly delighting in them like Christ delights in me? I don't know if I am! And how do I delight in things that I am not necessarily happy about? How can I take joy in the things that I'm not excited about? I am sure there are so many times that God is not necessarily happy with me, yet he still delights in me, I want that kind of heart! I don't necessarily have answers to these things, but, I just pray as a new year of ministry starts that I would continue to learn how to take delight in and have joy in everything around me. Just something to think about...

I would be lying if I said I promise to update this thing more often... but I can at least try, can't I?!