Tuesday, April 24, 2012

5K…. Check!

I have tried not to make a big deal out of getting my camera stolen in Nicaragua… even though it was a HUMONGOUS deal to me.  But I keep wishing I had a new one.  Someone at church even generously gave me some money to buy another one, but I was just so attached to the last one, I can’t commit to a different one yet.

Anyway, I keep having all these important things happen, where I would normally pull out my camera and snap a few great pics.  Things like Melissa’s gender reveal party of April 6 (It’s a boy!), Easter on April 8, the Ladies’ Retreat on April 13-14, End of the Year Youth Event on April 18, my great run on April 21, and one other thing that happened yesterday during our day to day life.

I guess it is better for you mysterious readers out there…. because there would have been a post about every one of those things. ha.  In the mean time, I am getting by with Nate’s phone and trying to put on a brave face about not getting good pictures :)

Anyways….. If you know me, you will fall on the floor when I say… I ran a 5K!  At least I tried.  I have a little problem that is TMI for the blog that kind of slowed me down, but I finished the whole 3.2 miles, so that is all that matters.

Nate plans on running a marathon in October… all 26.2 miles, so he ran the 10K.  I was proud of my sweaty, fast-running, active husband!

This is us before the blessed event ;)

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I learned a few things about running a 5K through this first experience:

1.  Invest in a really good bra before the race.

2.  Don’t skip your training days, because you will feel like a loser when people pass you.  Like people that are 90 years old, severely obese or even 7 months pregnant.  It will happen, people!

3.  Check the time you have to check in.  Cause it bites when you have to get up at 6am to go run.

4.  Remember that 1 kilometer is different than 1 mile.  I was siked when I got to 2K and felt great because I thought I was over half way finished…. Not so ;)

5.  And last but not least… Celebrate your run even if your time was horrible, because by golly you put yourself out there and did it!

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Hollie and I after the race.  She was super excited for me… and I was about to fall over.

“Remember the Ten” at OSU

April 21, 2012

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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Stand and Fight!

Last weekend, we got to go to the Oklahoma’s Ladies’ Retreat at Falls Creek.  It was a great weekend away with some great ladies!
Ladies Retreat Group We heard from some great speakers like Kelly Minter and Angela Thomas.  Had some great worship with Matt Roberson.  And the best entertainment ever with The Skit Guys.  (Click on their names for more information.)
 
In one of the sessions we went to, Cari Trotter talked about how we are spiritually asleep, and we are raising spiritually asleep children.  Even though I don’t have children of my own, I can think about the youth we have in our ministry right now, and I completely agree with her.  She went on to teach us how to fight.

“Lift up your heads, O you gates;
be lifted up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle. 
Lift up your heads, O you gates;
lift them up, you ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is he, this King of glory?
The LORD Almighty—
he is the King of glory.”
~Psalm 24:7-10

Have you ever heard of the movie Saving Private Ryan?  It is one of Nate’s favorites, but I can’t make it through the first five minutes.  Anyway, there is a great lesson in the middle of this movie.  They are in a battle… guns going off left and right… bullets flying in every direction.  One guy had one very important job, and that was to hand out the ammo.  Everyone else would do the shooting and killing, all he had to do was hand out the bullets.  So just picture this young man, in battle gear, covered with ammo to hand out so they could defeat their enemy.  All his fellow soldiers were screaming at him for help, but all he could do was sit there and cry.  He was frozen with fear.  He had all this ammo, but he wouldn’t get up.

This is a picture of our lives.  God gives us everything we need to get through whatever circumstance we may face, but we won’t get up and fight.  O don’t you want to stand up and fight?  Like the scared soldier, we don’t even have to do the work…. We just have to be willing to help defeat the enemy.  We have to release and surrender.  We have to understand that fear is intentional.  We have to define our areas of war, and not be afraid to go through the knots of our life.  We have to reject areas of darkness and run to our King! 

If we are daily in the Word and constantly in prayer we will be able to use the ammo God gives us.  We will be spiritually strong! We will be able to define the things we need to reject, and recognize the things in which we need to immerse ourselves.

O to be that mighty soldier… ready to stand and fight!
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What do you think?  Are Hollie and I scary enough to fight the enemy ;)
 
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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Spring has Sprung

Nate and I have always enjoyed fixing up things…. especially our house.  We both take a lot of pride in our home and want it to look as good as possible.  Just the other day, a lady from church was coming by to drop off something and Nate was frantically cleaning everything… even our closet.  I was like really?  I don’t think she is going to be looking in our closet… But then I thought about how much Nate liked to show off our house, and he may just take her on a tour (and even in our closet). ha.  So I folded my clothes and put my shoes up ;)

Anyway, we will never take having a home for granted.  Especially after being without a place of our own for 10 months, and seeing people living in cardboard houses in Nicaragua.  I am actually currently looking for a really cute sign that says, “Home, Sweet Home” because that saying hits me right in the gut.  It is so sweet to have a home… There is no place like it.

Even though we bought a newer house, after the big move, there were still some things that we wanted to do to bring it up to our very picky standards.  We already did the painting and the new kitchen counters/backsplash.  Now to the outside.

Desktop5 The bare foundation had always bugged me, so Nate and I took at whole Friday and made a new flowerbed.  It was some hard work (and a little too much money) but I think it was totally worth it.

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I hauled each one of those 15 lb. blocks from Nate’s truck to the window.  I felt like I was in a Biggest Loser challenge.  We definitely got our work out that day.

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This was our third trip to Lowes this day.  We actually needed to go again for more dirt, but I said forget it. 

I am so in love with this hard working man of mine.

Desktop3-2We also took a few more minutes and put these small stones around the flowerbed that was already there.  They match the others, so it really spiffed up the place.

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Next up, we need to paint the outside…. I’m thinking blue front door…. and build a pergola in the backyard.

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Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Lessons Learned

Mission trips are a great opportunity to open your eyes to things we don’t think about.  Or maybe we do think about these types of things, but seeing them with your own eyes is a whole different ballgame.

I have been blessed to go on several mission trips.  The best ones are always out of country basically because people in third world countries are starving for a Savior.  Let’s face it… we are selfish North Americans that fill our lives up with everything besides Jesus.  I wanted to write a quick post about the things that touched my heart in Nicaragua.

 

Their Worship!

His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth. ~John 4:24

Almost the first thing we did was go to church.  Churches there are a little different than in the states too.  For instance:  they go every day of the week except Mondays, the services last around three hours, the music is super loud, they may have 10 different solos… and so on.  But the main thing that was so wonderfully different was the freedom to worship however you wanted.  I could just tell that nobody was concerned with the others around them.  If you wanted to stand, you stood.  If you wanted to sit, you sat.  If you wanted to raise your hands nobody was staring at you.

Genuine worship.  Why can’t we do that here?  There are too many distractions and we let ourselves be concerned with everything around us.  Being in the church office, and the wife of a minister, I hear complaints everyday.  The lights weren’t right, the music was too slow, the music was too fast, we stood up to much, the lady in front of me put her hands up and I got distracted.  I do it too… every Sunday I am thinking about how the service is going, how we look to visitors, or how our song service is led.  Nothing should be on our mind besides Jesus.  We should be unashamedly praising His Holy Name!

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In our very traditional church, people would flip a lid if I started to pray out loud while someone was praying on the stage.  In Nicaragua, when the pastor would pray the congregation would start praying their own praises and needs out loud.  It was a beautiful moment where the Holy Spirit was so evident.  The whispers of genuine worshippers calling out to their God is something I will always remember.

 

Their Boldness!

Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.

~Acts 28:31

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. ~Acts 4:31

Not being able to speak Spanish, we had interpreters with us everywhere.  Getting to know them was one of the greatest parts of the trip!  They were always willing to help and wanting to learn.  I explained to Juan one day how much I appreciated his boldness to go up to a person and tell them the good news.  In the United States, it is almost impossible to just go up to someone and say, “Hi, I’m Whitney and I want to tell you about Jesus.”  But that is literally what our translators did everyday.  They went up to their own people and talked one on one about Jesus.  O that we would be that bold!

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                Nate and I with Oscar!                                             Salvador and Jonathan

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                 Oscar and Juan                                               Hollie and I with Javier

 

Their Poverty!

Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.

~2 Cor. 8:2

I don’t think of myself as materialistic at all.  Nate and I are happy with less than most people, but at the same time… I got really depressed when we were without a house of our own for a year… I wouldn’t mind having an iphone someday… my closet is full of clothes… and just the other day while Nate was watching basketball, I was looking up prices for a new truck.  After going on this mission trip, I would confidently say that nearly all North Americans are materialistic.  Even when we try not to be, it is just ingrained in our world full of newer and better.

We went to a small village where every house was made completely out of trash bags and cardboard.  It was extremely humbling and honestly sad.  They were relocated to this small lot of land after a volcano took out their homes.  They worked the sugar cane fields for the government.  And, hearing what we did about their corrupt government, I wonder how often and how much they were paid.  I am sure it was next to nothing.  Actually a really good wage in Nicaragua was $100/week… $400/month… $4800/year.  Makes me think twice about every dollar I spend.

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Their Hunger!

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ~Matt. 5:6

I’m talking about two types of hunger here.  Yes, they were physically hungry.  When I went to help cook for one of the feeding centers, I learned that they like to cut the bones of the chicken into bite size pieces because the marrow is nutritious.

But, the real hunger that stood out was how they were starving for a Savior.  They needed Him to provide.  They needed Him to heal.  They needed Him to be a friend.  They needed Him to listen.  They needed Him to perform miracles.  They needed Him!  A lot of times we run to everyone else when we are in need of anything, when we should have God as number one on our list to call.  We simply don’t need Him here as bad as they do in Nicaragua. 

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There are so many stories and so many other things that impacted me from this great trip.  If you have never had the opportunity to go…I encourage you to pray about it.  It is something everyone needs to see and experience at least one time in their life.

Today, take some time to think about your own worship, boldness, poverty, and hunger.  Let God work on your heart…. unless you’re perfect, we can all find things that need to change.

 

For more information on the organization we worked with, to schedule your own mission trip to Nicaragua, or to feed a child for an entire year for $45, please check out:

Voice of Hope Ministries

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