great quote speech..

“Every morning you are handed 24 golden hours. They are one of the few things in this world that you get free of charge. If you had all the money in the world, you couldn't buy an extra hour. What will you do with this priceless treasure? Remember, you must use it, as it is given only once. Once wasted you cannot get it back”.
The average person has only approximately 786,240 hours on this planet earth. That’s not a lot of time. I mean, think, we have already used up 157,248 of those hours by the time we reach the age of 18. For me, this realization has something I have really taken to heart these last couple weeks, this realization that I need to live with purpose, with excitement, with awe.
I know I can kind of get into a rut with life. I will wake up, eat breakfast, go to class, go work, do some homework, and go to bed, starting and ending each day the same way as the last. Living sometimes becomes a habitual thing, rather than a chance to find ways to break out of the mold in order to glorify God. Not that following patterns and habits is a bad thing, but when it comes to life, and my daily routine I want it to be more than that.
My old job, working at the Jamba Juice in Marysville, definitely had its low points. My first couple months working there, I absolutely loved it. I loved going to work. Then management changed, and slowly but surely work started becoming something I dreaded going to, rather than something I loved and enjoyed doing. Now, I don’t want to say Jamba is my dream job by any stretch of the imagination, but looking back, I wish I had made my last couple months there more meaningful, and not just gone with the flow and stayed within my “bubble”. I wish I had broken out of the mold and pursued a higher path, something glorifying to God, rather than being dragged down by the gossip, the complaining, and the overall atmosphere of the store. I wish I had popped that bubble.
Same with school. My last two years of highschool were spent in the Running Start program at a local community college. I look back on those two years with a little regret. Not that I was a bad student, or even got in with the wrong crowd. It was the fact that I didn’t engage. I went to class, listened to lectures, and took notes without interacting with my classmates and the people around me. I didn’t take the opportunity to really “witness” and to be that Christly example for the unsaved and broken around me. I let that chance pass me by. I didn’t seize the opportunity to “take life by the horns” as the car company, Dodge, puts it. I didn’t live like there were only 24 hours in the day, only 365 days in the year, and only 100 years, give or take, to make a difference in the world.
For me, this quote serves as a reminder, as motivation to live the normal, day to day activities, like I have never done them before. That I would excited to get up, be thankful for the breath in my lungs, and go to work, to class, even to the caf with a different “spring” in my step. That I would constantly be finding ways to break out of the normal lifestyle in order to find more ways to glorify God with the days He has given me. I want to live excitedly.

the "Lighter" life...

This week I had to write a devotional for my speech class.. The devotional comes from a verse I recently read in Isaiah. For me, the verse was really eye opening and well, challenging. Here is the devotional; I hope that the verse gives you same eye opening experience it gave me.

Speech Class Devotional

Isaiah 55:5
“Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you will run to you, because of the Lord your God, and the Holy One of Israel; for He has glorified you”.

One of the goals in life I have always had as a Christian was to be a Light for the people around me; that they would see God in me, not because of the words I said, but because of the actions I did. Because of the way I spoke, the way I thought, and way I lived. As Christians I this verse really hits home, and for me personally it really is like a challenge to live the “Lighter” life. It’s says that “nations, people, who do not know you will run to you, because the Lord..has glorified you”. People will run to us because we possess that light that shines out in the darkness. We possess that “thing” that they all want; Jesus Christ. This verse I think is one that we can kind of see as a challenge, to not only talk the Christian talk, but live the Christian walk. Jesus had people flocking to Him not by just the words He said, but HOW He said them. He was kind, just, gracious, all things we Christians need to imitate.

So take this verse as a challenge to live that “Lighter” life, to be that Light in the darkness.

One week down.. uh. Fourteen to go?

I survived my first week at NU. An amazing and very satisfying feeling. I am officially an university student. Goodness. Crazy. Awesome.

Classes are good. I absolutely love my Christian Thought and Old Testament Lit. and History classs (the class not so much the homework..). I love learning about the Bible and how to be a better Christian. I love, love, love chapel and getting together with fellow believers (a.k.a. my classmates!) and worshiping God three days a week. I love my floor and the girls on it :) I've met some amazingly crazy girls and I can't wait to meet more!

Honestly, the first couple days of being at NU were frankly frightening. Sitting in my dorm room alone, not really sure what to do (I didn't have the homework I do now, which preoccupies most of my afternoon...) it was very imtimidating. I finally realized I had to come to this place where I was just there, sitting in my room, listening to music, wishing I had someone to talk to face to face when it dawned on me: I have God. He is my friend. It was an incredible realization. That no matter if I have friends or not, He is always by my side. He is always there to talk to me and "chill" with me. This feeling filled me with hope, and soon after I was hanging out with a couple girls on my floor in the caf (caferteria..) talking and laughing, having a great time. God does listen to our prayers, but it's only when we realize He is everything that He will answer them. At least that's this writer's humble opinion. That it's only when we are SMALL that He can make us BIG. When we realize He's all we have, that we will have SOMETHING.

Crazy, eh?