GO!!!!

Pretty crazy, right?? Second post this week?? What has gotten into me?!?! Well, first of all, I have figured out how to be a teacher that has a life outside of school! And with that life outside of school, I have had more time to think and reflect on some recent things so I just thought I'd share!

One of the things that I LOVE about Fondren Church is their commitment to serving.  And when I say serving, I do not just mean bringing money or food or clothing to give to another organization.  While there is nothing wrong with any of that and Fondren Church definitely does some of that, Christ calls us to SO much more! The Great Commission says to "GO and make disciples of all nations".  In order to GO you have to be active.  Since the short time I have been attending Fondren Church, I have had the opportunity to help a missions organization in Jackson clean up their facilities so the people they serve feel welcomed, pray with and talk to people on the streets of downtown Jackson, bring and serve a meal to homeless people, cheer on children at their basketball game who would otherwise have no fans to make them feel special, and participate in an event to raise money for a tutoring program just around the corner from the church.  In addition, our pastor has interviewed and spotlighted various mission organizations and opportunities ranging from adoptions in the Ukraine to human trafficking in Cambodia.  I have been so encouraged by the faithfulness of the people at Fondren Church in their desire to GO and DO whatever the Lord calls them to do.  I have seen true ACTS of faith and love.  As  Acts 20:22 says about Paul, we ought to be "compelled by the Spirit...not knowing what will happen to [us] there".

Happy Tuesday everyone!!

Adventures and Convictions

It's been a while so I wanted to update all of you on various adventures.  Since January, I have been to New Orleans twice (once on a spur of the moment trip at 8pm one Saturday night after prosat with two other crazy teachers!) and this week I made a surprise trip to Rome for Rebecca's birthday!! Basically caught everyone off guard and enjoyed a little get away myself from Hazlehurst and almost felt like I was back in college for a day.  I have stayed very busy with grad school work and as much time as it consumes, I know I will not regret it come December when I graduate with my masters!  We are only two weeks away from Spring break and my desire to be back at Berry grows even stronger as the weather warms up.  I am currently writing this sitting in our $10 rocking chair we saw for sale on someone's lawn while wearing a tshirt and my chaco's!!  Went on a nature walk in Clinton today with Angie and Jenna.  I am so blessed to have such awesome friends here that love Jesus, make the hard days of teaching much more enjoyable, and go adventuring!!  Angie and I have also been attending a new church and as much as we hated the idea back in August (and even in December) we drive twice a week to Jackson for church and small group at Fondren church.  After our first visit at the beginning of January, we decided it was well worth the gas and time to worship with more people our age, be challenged by the word that Robert brings each Sunday, and be encouraged by our small group as we talk about our lives and how we should be living to point everyone we meet to Christ.  Not only is Fondren an incredible place to worship and grow, they also have so many opportunities to serve the community both in Jackson and across the globe.  Yesterday, I got to meet and work with a handful of missionaries at We Will Go that live and serve in inner-city Jackson.  Their hearts have been broken for the brokenness of the people of Jackson and the are committed to working in whatever way the Lord leads them to help restore different communities within Jackson.  After being so encouraged and challenged by the missionaries at We Will Go, I checked out their website and the first thing I saw was a mission trip they are taking this summer to the Matamoros Children's Home in Matamoros, Mexico.  Please pray with me as I seek the Lord's guidance about participating in this trip or some other global missions opportunity this summer.  Through conversations at Fondren and one-on-one time with the Lord, I have been really convicted about my attitude towards my students and some staff members at my school.  I have found myself freaking out and being really hard on one particular student for something so small and it throws everything off in my classroom.   It is evident that the Holy Spirit is not working through me at times like this and I am really trying to work on biting my tongue and letting the love, compassion, and patience of Christ spill out instead of words that could hurt my students.  Lyrics to the song "Give Me Faith", which we sang this morning, could not be more fitting...

I may be weak, butYour Spirit's strong in me.My flesh may fail, butMy God You never will
I'll post some pictures from my adventures.  Also, huge thanks to those of you who helped sponsor my classroom!! My DonorsChoose project has been fully funded and some of the materials already shipped!!

Trip Number 1 to NOLA with Becky and Taylor over MLK Jr. Weekend!

Trip number 2 to NOLA with Jenna and Molly (a week later).

Sunday adventures in Clinton with Angie and Jenna!

Housemate craziness...so glad it held us!!

Love these two girls so much!

Jenna and I...before the ants attacked us!

I couldn't post an update without mentioning our newest addition, Jackson!!

If you are interested in the inner-city Jackson ministry, check out We Will Go's website.  They do incredible work and are so obedient to whatever God tells them to do!

Love you all! Micah 6:8