Thursday, May 30, 2013

Two Homes?

I've discovered recently that I'm in this awkward stage of life right now. I have Rockport, which will always be my hometown. The one and only house I've ever lived in will always be my home. First Baptist Church will always be my home church. I have my friends that are classified as my friends "back home" But now I have Waco. I have a home there. I have friends there. I have a church there. So now what? What is home? Is Rockport home? Is Waco home? 

I texted a friend the other day and said that I missed Waco and my life there. And then I immediately felt like a jerk. I can't miss Waco. I'm home. I'm surrounded by my family, friends, and the beach; how could I miss Waco? Then today while at the beach, I didn't want to leave. I honestly could have sat in the water all day. I wanted to soak it up as much as I could because I'm leaving Sunday and I'll miss the beach so much. As soon as I got to my car, I texted the same friend from before and told her nevermind; I don't want to go back to Waco, Rockport is home. Especially during the summer. I have no doubt that I'll get back to Waco and miss Rockport. If you know anything about me, you know how much I love Rockport. It was really hard for me to go to college because of my love for Rockport. But now while I'm here, I'm missing Waco? Man, maybe I'm just high maintenance. 

So now what? Is Rockport home? Is Waco home? Can you have two homes? When it all comes down to it,  I should realize how blessed I am to be able to call two different towns "home." But I'm not comfortable about it. I don't like that Rockport isn't my ONLY home anymore. But I love it that I've found a life I love in Waco. I suppose that's part of growing up. 

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Internship

Like I said before, I had an internship this semester through my Intro to Ministry class. I was working with The Minister of Discipleship and Young Married Adults at First Woodway. Overall, I absolutely loved getting more involved with this church. First Woodway was going through a lot of changes and it was really awesome to get to see the church body follow Christ and trust in His promises. 

At the beginning of the semester, our professor told us that this internship would either confirm our calling into ministry or show us that this isn't what God has called us to do with our lives. This scared me to death when I first heard it. Umm excuse me, I'm in my second year at college and I'm planning on going into ministry. What am I supposed to do if this internship shows me I'm not made for this? It terrified me. However, this internship taught me a few things:

1. Ministry, and the life of a minister, is a hard life.

  • Ministry is a full time job. It isn't 8-5 like other jobs so there is no telling when you may be called in to handle a situation
  • The repercussions of this job have eternal consequences. This thought is very intimidating to me. In ministry, I have to realize that literally every action of mine can draw someone closer to or further from Christ. 
  • You're in charge of leading other people and their walk with Christ which means you have to keep up with your walk with Christ. If a minister stops talking to God, stops reading scripture, and stops working on their relationship with Christ, it will affect their ministry. 
2. Ministry is also rewarding
  • This job has eternal consequences which can be intimidating but it can also be so exciting! My job will allow me to spread the word of Christ. What an awesome privilege! 
3. Keeping up with church/culture trends isn't as easy as it sounds
  • American families are drastically changing and this has a profound impact on family ministry. How does the church handle homosexuality as it is becoming legal is many state? How does the church be in the world but not of the world? It's hard to stick to your morals with a lot of big issues like this while also being loving, welcoming, and non judgmental.
4. I'm not sure I'm called to work in a church
  • Let me clarify, I still believe with my whole heart that I'm called into ministry; I'm just not sure it's ministry within a church. My heart is always pulled towards those in need. Whether it be poverty, seeking shelter from abuse, homelessness, or anything of that sort, I want to help them. I want to help their immediate needs while telling them about how God can help their spiritual needs. At this point, I feel like my calling is in family ministries within urban missions rather than within a traditional church setting. 




My internship was one of the most valuable experiences I've had in college thus far. It helped me figure out exactly what I believe with certain issues and it gave me the opportunity to see how church life is behind the scenes. It was encouraging, overwhelming at times, and reaffirmed my decision to give my life to full time Christian ministry. 

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Well hey there!

After two long and crazy months, I'm finally back!! I hadn't even realized it had been two months until someone mentioned it to me. Since my last post, lots has happened in my life. I went to Atlanta to see my sister and brother in law, lead a group of middle school girls at a weekend retreat at church, completed my internship at First Woodway, finished my fourth semester at Baylor, seen firsthand just how God takes care of His children, and thoroughly enjoyed my time home.

Since it would be overkill to talk (type?) about all of these experiences in one post, I've decided to split each one up into a separate post.  While this will be less overwhelming for yall, it will always give me something to actually talk about for awhile! I'm just not creative so this will keep me busy. Nevertheless, I am very excited to talk about everything that's been going on. *Spoiler alert* it's pretty awesome.

All that being said, since I'm not creative, I've decided to make yall do the work for me. So, in either a facebook message, or a comment on this post (can even be anonymous), tell me something you want me to talk about. It can literally be anything (within reason). You can give me a topic, a question that you've been wondering, anything. Be creative, people.


And just in case you haven't seen this video, enjoy.