Catching Up and Taking Off!

Hello, and welcome back!

Many things have happened in the six months since I last updated this blog. I've graduated high-school, begun full-time college work online with Thomas Edison State University and through testing and have now over 75 college credits, and I got accepted to Baptist Bible Translators Institute in Bowie, Texas, a 9 month training facility for prospective Bible translators and overseas missionaries. Whew! BUSY. Oh, and.......

I'M GOING TO ISRAEL!!!!

 This opportunity was given, given - for free, to me by Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum, president of Ariel Ministries and leader of Camp Shoshanah, Keeseville, where I have been working for the past three summers. Needless to say, I am incredibly excited! I will experience 5 weeks of life in God's Holy Land, walk where Jesus walked, and make new and deeper connections to Old and New Testament Biblical history. 

The purpose of telling you about this trip is so that you can experience it with me! My goal is to update this blog weekly with information and pictures, as I am able, during this tour. Hopefully this will be an encouraging and informative blessing to you all. 

Though this tour opportunity certainly is an incredible blessing, there are several things that I would like to ask for prayer about concerning it. This will be an intensive, 5-week-long, study tour. I and my group of over twenty others, led by Dr. Fruchtenbaum, will be doing a lot of hiking as well as reading and taking notes on lectures during this tour. However, I will simultaneously be taking two online college classes. This was an unavoidable decision, and though I tried to choose classes that will require a minimum of attention, I am still apprehensive about the amount of work to be done while in Israel. Also, though it is apparently stable enough in Israel for us to take this tour, Israel is still a dangerous place. My flight leaves at 7:00 p.m. from JFK on Sunday May 15th, and I would appreciate your prayers for the following:

• A stream-lined boarding process through JFK El-Al Air terminal, a smooth flight, and easy transition through Israel customs

• The discipline and strength to keep up with my schoolwork, while also learning as much as I can from Dr. Fruchtenbaum's teaching and getting the most out of my experience in Israel 

• Safety for myself and the team

Thank you in advance for your prayers! I am excited about sharing more information with you as my trip progresses! 

Until then - Shalom! :)

Happy Graduate of June 2015

Furst Pin!

All right, 

Megan again with "Fursttimes." I've been wanting to blog, but have been putting it off. I guess I just got forced into it because of Pinterest :)

I wanted to do something very nice for my special sisters' birthdays. The picture I drew for my younger sister did not turn out as nicely as I had hoped, but my next picture turned out to be the best one yet.

I spent all day Thursday drawing. I'm not as good of an artist as some but a lot of work goes into some of my doodles. If you want to see all of the pictures I consulted to arrive at this finished project you can check out my one board on Pinterest. That's actually why I posted this picture: I wanted to add it to my board on Pinterest. 

Pinterest Board "As the Eagles"

"As the Eagles"

This drawing is based on Isaiah 40:31 (which my father has also written a song about): 
"They who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings 
as the eagles." 

We all go through hard times. Even as I was drawing this for someone else, I didn't realize how much it applied to me. I've been having a lot of relationship struggles lately, battling sickness, and desperately trying to begin college classes. I've been hoping to start online with Thomas Edison State College since September! When our plans do not easily fall into place and it seems like there is nothing we can do about it, or in the meantime - that can be frustrating! and discouraging. The thought that helped me today was that, most likely, it is Satan getting in my way of the mission field, not the Lord.

 "If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?" - Romans 8:31-32

I also need to remember that it's they who WAIT on the Lord that shall renew their strength. Also,

 "Perfect love casts out fear. If we are afraid...this shows that we have not fully experienced His perfect love." - 1 John 4:18

I can trust my Lord. I KNOW He loves me. :)

Another verse that has been helpful to me during this time was shared by a friend. Proverbs 16:9

"A man plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps."

I hope that the sketch and verses are an encouragement to all of you. Please remember, when things seem to be going wrong, that the Lord loves you, is watching over you, and will never abandon you. 

1 John 4:19, Matthew 10:28-30, Psalm 139:8

After being encouraged to color...

P.S. - I hope you like it Aud!! <3

Can any good thing come out of snow? *

Hello Everybody! :)  It's Megan again with "Fursttimes"

For those of you who don't live in New York,
            
       Below-freezing temperatures, runny-noses, and snow can get pretty over-rated when you're stuck with them for 4 months out of the year.  Although snow is not necessarily the most menacing of the three hardships mentioned above, it is the one that most readily comes to mind when one says "winter."  Therefore, over the years I have, maybe subconsciously - maybe not,  mentally "blacklisted" it.

       When my nieces and nephew lived nearby, they would come over when it snowed to go sledding on our neighbor's hill, making it impossible for me to justify staying inside (i.e., staying warm and comfortable).  Of course the joy of sliding down a hill with screaming kids and then pulling them back UP the hill was always worth it.  I'm just one of those people who forgets how green the grass really is  on the other side of the fence when I have come as far as the fence dividing the two fields and am actually faced with the decision of whether to jump over it or not.

       However, I did jump!  This past week we got dumped with 2 ft. of snow and I decided that I should go outside and enjoy it with my little sister, to share in her joy like big sisters should, even if it means a little loss of warmth and personal comfort.  Plus, the power was out, inside.

       I suggested, since we were outside freezing anyway, that we might as well build a snowman.  Shannon  happily agreed.  This is the girl who is just as happy in snow in winter as she is in freezing cold mountain water in summer.  Translation - as happy as I would be in a jacuzzi or snuggled up with a book at any time of year.
    
       I had come to accept this absurdity - after all, we've been sisters for 14 years, but I was not prepared to find that she could not roll a snowball!  Of course, it could have been a clever ploy on her part, as my demonstrations became the bottom and middle sections of our snowman and all she ended up having to do was roll the head.  I must admit though, that, now that she is bigger than I am, I never would have been able to stack the snowman without her help.

       She also found the perfect material to use for the nose and buttons and hair while I went looking for the mouth and arms.  We were very proud of our craftsmanship and, taking a step back from the snowman, realized that it resembled a favorite family friend, making him even more endearing.

       Dad must have noticed that the house was unusually quiet because he came out to take pictures.    Out to the insulated back porch, that is.  :)  Shannon and I had fun posing with "Walter" for our paparazzi (or paparazzo in singular), who even went so far as to say that it was the best snowman he had ever seen!  He went too far however, in my estimation at least,  when he followed that compliment  soon afterwards with, "Please go shovel off the roofs now before lunch."

       I was suddenly reminded of the many reasons I didn't like snow.

       Walter did make good company though. :)  So I guess for the answer to the question of whether or not any good thing can come out of snow, you'll just have to look and see:

  "Walter"

            "Smile!"

"After a Second Snow"

      "Shannon's 'Snow Baby' "

* Also check out the story of Nathaneal's introduction to Jesus, in John 1, to see the real story behind the title of this blog.

Forgetfulness.... and Psychology

       Some of you may know that I am taking an online Psychology class through the Dual-Enrollment program of Cedarville University.  Every week I am required to submit a 2 page, double-spaced, Times New Roman 12 Reflection Journal.  I thought you might enjoy reading what I posted for this week.

My Assignment:

Reflection Journal

Respond to this week’s content as it relates to your life, your faith, and your ministry. To guide your writing, you can respond to the following questions:

1. Describe a time you forgot something important that negatively impacted your life, your faith, and/or your ministry.

2. How can you use the memory strategies to avoid something like this in the future?

Submit your Week 6 Reflection Journal.                                                                                                       Due in Moodle by Sunday, 11pm (EST).

My Response: 

In general, forgetting negatively impacts my life.   In fact, the only time I can think of, that it has been a good thing that I forgot something, was when I accidentally watched part of a movie that I wasn’t supposed too.  I was totally naive to the thought that my friend might start a movie which was rated R after I told her that I couldn’t watch those movies.  By the time I figured out what was going on, I had already seen some pretty graphic stuff.  I tried very hard, and prayed very hard, to not remember those scenes and, thank God, I have now forgotten them completely.  There may have been other times when forgetting something was beneficial..... but I can’t remember any ;) 

For some reason, the most memorable moments of forgetting, for me, all happened in the kitchen.  I guess because food is so important to all of us and because my Dad is sort of a pyrophobic (one who is afraid of fire.)  For instance: the time when I forgot to grab a pot-holder before I grabbed the pot; the time I forgot I was making mac-and-cheese and all my water boiled away; the many times I have forgotten to turn off the oven when I am done using it; the time I forgot that it was my turn to make dinner - probably the most memorable.   

I have also, like most people, experienced the classic cases of forgetting the answers to tests.  I think I’ve even forgotten that I had a test once.  My brain is often so busy, or so lazy, that I forget many things every day.  Today I forgot to double-check what I put in the copier and made 30 copies of something that I didn’t need.  Today a child on my team told me that they hadn’t put the vacuum cleaner away but I was so busy that I forgot about it and it is still sitting in the principal’s office.  

        So certainly I experience multiple set-backs in life because of forgetting.  It’s the times when my forgetting hurts someone else that are really regrettable.  These range from forgetting someone’s birthday to forgetting to fulfill a promise I made to forgetting to control my temper.  Forgetting to put myself under the Spirit’s control certainly hurts my ministry.  Every time someone sees me lose my temper or speak roughly to my sister is a time when they can ask, “So, why do I need Jesus?”

There are also those times when forgetting weakens my faith.  There are some lessons I seem to need to learn over and over again:  how to be thankful; how to wait patiently on God; how to seek His will.  I must constantly remember what God has told me in order to have a positive outlook and to walk in harmony with His Spirit.  When I don’t remember all the times that God has come through for me, I can’t trust Him.  When I don’t remember how much He loves me, I can’t stand myself.  When I don’t remember that He died for my class-mates just like He died for me, I can’t love them.  

It was helpful to read the memory strategies.  It shows that getting enough rest is important.  It also reminds me to take time to process information, to slow down.  I’ll only get in my brain what I put time into studying.  It also proved that it is okay if I talk to myself once in a while.  :)

The fact that God is the only one who never forgets is pretty awesome though.  (Unless He does it on purpose: He has completely forgotten our sins.)   He never forgets to provide for us.  He never forgets what we’ve asked Him for, even if it seems like He has sometimes, and He never forgets to listen to us, and to bend down and help with our problems when we need Him.

       I pray, after reflecting, that God will make me more mindful, and less forgetful.  ~

A Lesson in Hair-Cuttery

  

~ My Lovely Sister ~

BEFORE >

(By the way, my sister made the scarf she is wearing.  It's one of the products of her new hobby "Knitabits.")

  When cutting hair, there are some definite dos and don'ts.  Although it wasn't my "furst" time cutting my sister's hair (it was my second), I learned some valuable tips from the experience that I thought you might benefit from :)

   Never! 

Make your sister laugh and then expect to cut her hair in a straight line

*

*

*

  Never!

Cut her bangs while she is drinking

*

*

*

Never!

Poke her in the eye with the scissors

*

*

*

Never!

Get too close to her eyelashes

...

or eyebrows

*

*

*

this next is a big one

*

*

*

Never!

say "oops"

*

*

*

AND

*

*

*

Always!

Check to make sure your spray bottle is on the 'mist' setting so that you do not direct-stream water into her ear.

I hope you've found these tips helpful, but the real secret to my success............ is my sister :)  No matter how many tips you get on hair-cuttery, you'll never meet with as much success on your second try as an amateur hair-cutter as I have with my ever-encouraging, ever-gracious sister.  

And by the way, her new haircut is a big hit with the family ;)

~ After ~

,

"Awakening" Facts

Read this quote.  
        Discover the piercing reality of the world around us:

"The truth is that the 143 million orphaned children and the 11 million who starve to death or die from preventable diseases and the 8.5 million who work as child slaves, prostitutes, or under other horrific conditions and the 2.3 million who live with HIV add up to 164.8 million needy children.  And though at first glance that looks like a big number, 2.1 billion people on this earth proclaim to be Christians.

The truth is that if only 8 percent of the Christians would care for one more child, there would not be any statistics left."

Katie Davis.  Kisses from Katie.  2011.

I Love You Camp Shoshi!!

Soooo.. we're talking about "fursts" right?  

             [ - By the way,  Sorry Guys!!  I know I haven't updated you in a while but I haven't updated my journal either so.. don't feel too slighted :)  - ]

         Anyway - back to "fursts."  I just finished my second summer working at Camp Shoshanah!  It was another great experience, even better than last year because I got to connect more intimately with people and make some lasting friendships.  
         Many of the experiences of camp were repeats for me this summer but a new "furst" that I highly enjoyed was teaching!!  I was blessed with the opportunity to teach one class a day to our group of students ages six through ten.  I've heard people say that teaching is the best way to learn something and I've been anxious to test that theory.  It is so true!  I Loved every minute of teaching and studying for the classes and found myself having to ask my employer, and co-teacher, a lot of questions.  I am very grateful to God for bringing me back to camp this year, grateful for my employer's trust and encouragement and grateful for the attention and participation of the students.  All of these worked together to create a wonderful experience and season of growth this summer.  
          My word to young people in the church is - take opportunities to teach!  Look for opportunities to help out at your Sunday School or Children's Church.  You don't have to have everything figured out.  (No one does, you know.)  And Christian adults, give your young people responsibility.  Put them in positions of leadership and see how it challenges their beliefs and gives them opportunity and reason to grow.  Teaching is a great way to find out what you know and ... what you still need to learn.  :)  And besides,  children are amazing! 

Matthew 19:14

But Jesus said, "Let the children come to me.  Don't stop them!  For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children."

Matthew 21:15a

The leading priests and the teachers of religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the children in the temple shouting, "Praise God for the Son of David."  

John 1:12

But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God. 

         Blessings to all of you and I hope that this summer was for you enjoyable, and a season of growth!  <3