Creepy Jesus- Mission Trip VI Part 2

Every church should have a creepy Jesus, right?

You know what I mean, one that's just there in the hall or SS room and has been there forever?

Someone probably donated it to the church back in 1882....

... But let's face it, it's kinda creepy.

Chances are you don't usually say anything (well maybe to a few people), because you wouldn't want to offend Jesus by calling him creepy.

As I reached Coweta FUMC, just one week ago, one of the first things I noticed were the stained glass windows upstairs. One was a cross and flame, and the other...creepy Jesus.

I unpacked in the upstairs youth room, which was great. I got a whole corner to myself and I could look out the window and look down on the gym and kitchen. I guess I like that because I myself am creepy, but whatever.

We went to bed Sunday night, but I still had to finish my message for Monday and I wanted to journal about all that had happened that day. It was too dark to write, so I went into one of the closets in the corner of the room. The light was already on, but I couldn't find the lightswitch. I looked up and then it hit me that this light didn't turn off because it was the room that lit up creepy Jesus!

I'm not sure why, but as I sat down against the door and started to write, the creepy Jesus wasn't as creepy as before. The day had been hard for me and I was tired. I was concerned about how I would be changed that week, and even wondered if I would be. As I continued to write I could hear the Lord speaking to me, telling me what to write down. This is the part where you might stop reading because you think I'm crazy, but at one point I looked up and it was like the window Jesus smiled at me in approval. It's crazy I know, and I don't think it matters whether it really happened or not. However, whatever did happened there "strangely warmed my heart," and it was like God saying "I'm gonna be here with you, don't worry."

At this point I broke down just asked that I WOULD be changed. I realized that I did need to be redefined. I knew it would still be hard but I went to bed praying that I would be prepared for whatever God had in store.

That little corner of the church, that little closet, was my personal sanctuary for the week. It was a quiet place where I could be alone with God and try to wrap my head around all He was doing. I went there after a long day when I needed time to focus. I went there after worship Monday night when I just wanted to be alone and not deal with anything around me. It was MY place.

Who would've thought a creepy Jesus could be so cool?

I don't think God is offended when we call out a creepy Jesus, as long as we can look beyond it.

The Shape of God- Mission Trip VI Part 1

"How the heck am I supposed to "redefine" myself? I'm on the track for MINISTRY, how could redefining myself make any sense at this point? I don't feel excited like I have been before, maybe I've grown and need to search for different ways to connect with God? I'm just gonna keep my eyes open and pray that the Spirit will come, but I won't be super dissapointed if it's not as great as years past."

-What a fool I was last week, thinking that God would cease to amaze me even after I had asked him into my heart! I was willing to be changed and tweaked, but my soul did not fully expect it.

So many times did God say, "hey Carly, THIS way" during the week there's no way I could explain them all here, much less on a single blogging. I spoke on Monday about looking for God out of the norm. and in those wierd and unusual places that we don't expect God to be...to Redefine God. I definitely lived that this week in ways I couldn't imagine.

One night Pastor Linda spoke about redefining oursleves. We had a lot of time to sit and think about who we are. We had to define ourselves. That's when I realized that I didn't know who the heck I was! I could've writen down "I'm a youth who wants to go into ministry and that lives for mission trip. I've messed up a lot but I want to serve the Lord." It was true but I didn't feel it fit. That may sound dumb, but that's not who I wanted to be.

I wanted to be changed. Who I was before was who I needed to be at that time, but God knew I needed to be renewed. I could not continue to grow with weeds in my way. This week God broke me down; a tired soul and a burned out girl, and began to build it up even more beautifully.

So who am I? I am God's. It's that simple, I am God's. And because of this I now get to choose who I am, I get to redefine.

God's love is not a circle with 360 degrees. It's not someone making a 180 and turning their life around. God's love is not a shape that we can see, it stretches far beyond that. God can redefine your life wherever you are, and to say that he can't-well that's just whack.

A Prayer for Redefinition

Lord,
I pray that as I begin this week I may open my eyes to Your wondrous works. I pray that I may look beyond the reality and see the potential You originally envisioned. As I work Lord, let me not fix my eyes in certain places to meet You, but to feel Your presence in all places at all times...even if it's not the usual.

When I grow tired Lord, let me keep my focus on You. Give me the strength to persevere through. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit that I may not grow weary in doing good.

Lord, set our hearts on fire that people may see You through us. Let our hearts be pure like a child that we may listen to Your word more clearly. Help us to make a difference in this world for you. I know that the physical work I will do will turn to dust, but let me do more than that.

God, You are so great that you show Your presence in the least of service given to You. I ask that my life might be redefined this week and that I will come out ready for the real mission.

Hear my prayer, Oh Lord.

Ox Poop

If you want a manger free of ox poop, don't buy an ox. But if you want to multiply your harvest, and ox will sure come in handy." -Proverbs 14:4

I thought it would be a great verse for messy game night for the youth. As we prepare for mission trip, it won't always be fun, but in order to do good and make a difference sometimes we have to deal with the junk that blocks our way.

I'm eating my own words.

As messy game night/tie-dying time came along, I realized that it would just be Emily and I. People had camps, and work they had to do. We decided messy games wouldn't really work with two people, and we had to tie-dye LOTS of things! It took a lot longer than we expected, and my hands might be this puke green color for a while.



So technically, our seemingly wonderful event was a failure. But the shirts that were doomed from the first tie began to turn out great! Emily and I marveled at how great they came out, and of course we were having fun the whole time! So even though some of it wasn't fun, we pushed through, even enjoying our detours. It wasn't that much of a failure after all.

The lessoned I planned to teach was taught to me. And as I prepare for my mission trip, for my future ministry and my whole Christian journey, I know that if I let God in during these times, if I can work past all the mess and the ox poop, there's something better in store.

The Other F-Bomb

Fellowship. (Cue dramatic music.)

A word I've come to dread.

What is Christan fellowship? I feel like a lot of the time its used to merely fill up space on a line when there isn't another word. "Food, friends and fellowship" is always a nice alliteration to put on the flyer, right? Don't get me wrong, because I know I misname it myself, but what is true Christian fellowship?



We have youth fellowship time at church. I like hanging out with my friends, eating some food and occasionally starting a game of Ninja or Death Hack. I enjoy working with the junior high to show them how to play Concentration or watch my peers stuff marshmallows in their mouths during "chubby bunny." Even though I enjoy all of those things, this is not why I come to youth. This "fellowship" we have, I can get anywhere else. What difference can we see during this time of fellowship and at the FCCLA meeting at school?


Take the Laity Banquet for example. For those of you who haven't experienced this, let me sum it up for you. Every year all the churches in our area get together and celebrate the lay persons (everyone but the preachers) in the church. Now I imagine, quite some years ago, this was a great event. Some Methodork that was on fire with enthusiasm and the Holy Spirit probably said something like "you know, we should have a big get together for all the people in our district that we don't get to see very often, and we can recognize all the church has accomplished this year." And because we live in Texas, they said it in a hick accent, and soon decided that we would be serving barbecue at the event.

There are quite a few people who feel obligated to go, or go because someone invited them not knowing really what it was. Now I can find just about anything to be fun and worthwhile, but at the same time the Laity Banquet is pretty dull. We eat, we sit through a few speeches, we all go to Braum's afterwards. While I bet the intentions for the Laity Banquet were good, we are not unified as Christians because we are not working towards a common goal as much as we had hoped.

I think most exciting part of the banquet was putting up the chairs and tables. We all pitched in to get the job done so we could get out of there and get ice cream! In that short 10 minutes I met with new people and recollected with friends. I laughed, I worked, and I felt like I did something useful. It's kind of silly but I feel like the relationships start when we are heading down the path together and not sitting idle. We engaged together therefore grew together. Christian fellowship.


Another example of true Christian fellowship is what I see on mission trip. When I see my friends cheerfully hack away at poison ivy, sweating in the sun because they chose to. I see it there because we aren't playing games (which I love, don't get me wrong,) but because we are striving together to reach a common goal in the name of our Lord. This is true fellowship! And what is better yet, when we engage in this kind of fellowship we are also living out our call as Christians!

It seems to me like we've masked the real meaning of fellowship, turning it into a word that is thrown out like nothing. We use this important practice so that it covers up devotion, worship and mission. This kind of fellowship leads to nowhere, but the real fellowship is one of the best things we've been given.



This is my rant. Is it dumb? Tell me.


Pineapple Tidbit; While I've been getting my Jesus tidbits working at GLC this summer, I've also made sure I am actually eating pineapples also, just so I stay true to this ridiculous name.

Seriously, that was ME?

Today in Psychology we were watching the movie A Beautiful Mind, and the main character made the comment that "everyone is haunted by their past." It made me think because I don't see my past as something I'm haunted by (but then again I don't have a whole lot of past yet.) But now that I ponder that statement, and there are a few things that aren't "bad," but still make me cringe when I think about them.

• I wish that in the 1st grade talent show I wouldn't have done my Hula-Hoop "routine" to "Raw Hide." Or maybe even have had a "routine."
• I wish that I wouldn't have cried almost every day in Kindergarten.
• I sometimes regret yelling at the giant wasp during mission trip.
• I don't like to think about the time Katy and I pushed the wrong code at Barnard's Mill that caused the police to come.
• I'm beginning to question why this blog is called Pineapple Tidbits.

There are many more I've shut out of my memory or just don't care to share. I don't think I'm haunted by these memories, but they do give me some laughs, or cringes. If they didn't, it would mean I haven't grown at all. We often look at our past and judge ourselves according to it, but if we can look and see who we used to be, doesn't it mean we've allowed God to come in so that we become something a little bit better?

Do Good.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said,

"Everyone can be great because anyone can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love."

The world tells us we are small. If you've ever been to a Rangers game, or stood in Cowboy stadium with thousands of people around you, you've probably felt small. If you've ever pitched a great idea only to be shut down, you've felt small. The world tells us we can not be great, but when we turn to serve the Kingdom of God, we can be.

In James 3: 2-5 it says,

"2 For we all stumble on many things. If anyone does not stumble in the word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. 3 Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. 4 Look also at ships: although they are so large and driven by feirce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. 5 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things See how great a forest a little fire kindles!"

James is speaking about the umtamable tongue and the evil it can do, but I believe it can also have the same effect with kinds words and actions.

There once was a Christian man who went into a shoe store. Most Christians don't find that the best place to witness, but this man was given the opprotunity and inspired a man in the store. This man, in turn witness to someone who became a great preacher. One Sunday a man was inspired by his sermon so much that he went out and told someone else, and that man was Billy Graham who has inspired millions.

The littlest things we do as Christians can make a huge difference. By going a little out of our way to do God's work we can effect the world in a way we may never know. And even though we don't always see the fruit of our labor we must have faith that God is working.

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds."

-Hebrews 10:24