Across the Land of Potatoes

The trip goes on! I've made it across Idaho and tomorrow I will head to Portland. I got a hook up there and I am going to be staying at a community house where 10 people live. I'm super excited. And also pumped to see Multnomah Falls on my way into town.

I had some adventures yesterday at Craters of the Moon and today...Bailey and I googled things to do in Boise. At the top of all the travel people lists...was Old Idaho Penitentiary. So naturally, we went! ha. Kind of creepy. But also interesting. And took a couple funny pictures.

Here are collections of little thoughts I've had...

• There's some cute foreign guy and his dad at Craters of the Moon. Maybe I should take a little extra time in the caves and let them catch up...
• Battle would. Not my idea of taking extra time. I really have got to start taking better care of my head. At least I was caving with some Canadians if I passed out or something. The wound came after I had already made a 127 Hours reference.
• There was blood. Not much thought. I just slapped a bandana on it so as not to gross anyone else out with the blood in my hair.
• There are so many different license plates at National Parks. I even saw a Pennsylvania one in Idaho! I guess we're all the same breed. Road trippers = National Park visitors = Wilderness lovers

Sermon thoughts:

• About prayer (and could apply to other things): You shouldn't say, I'll do this because if I do it, He'll be for me. He's ALREADY for you. Rather, the attitude should be, because He's for me, I put forth this effort.
  

I decided to start adding quotes I've overheard:

• "Ohhh, you got that Super Mario song stuck in my head again. I should hit you with my purse!"
• "Are we seriously clapping for a geyser?" (My sentiments exactly. I laughed. As did the Asians sitting between me and the man who made this comment at Old Faithful.)
• A dad, as his family walked away from "Inspiration Point" at Yellowstone after only being there about a minute...."I guess we're not feeling very inspired."

Pictures from Idaho!

 

I got little kid excited to go up this thing @ Craters of the Moon. It was fun.

 

Tree on top of the black rock hill.

 

In Boy Scout cave! Pre- head bump.

 

Bailey and I at Old Idaho Penitentiary 

Just in case any of you readers need to make a phone call....

Here are some links to the FB albums of the rest of my photos.

Tetons/Yellowstone

Idaho

God bless! 

Grand Tetons & Yellowstone

(Ok so my blog might be slowly changing...how do I get my own picture in the background?!)

Anyway! Here is what this post is going to contain:

1. All the brief thoughts I have jotted down in my iphone notepad while I did not have 3G...or perhaps any service at all in Wyoming/Yellowstone.

2. Pictures!

Longer trip thoughts will come later. So here it goes:

• I feel like I'm going to have to pull over and highway wilder-pee. Fo real. It's that bad.
• I have a bug bite the size of China on my forehead, and I "showered" this morning using a Coleman handiwipe. How hardcore are you? ha
• If you want to see our economic recovery plan in action...just drive west. You can't miss it when you have to waste chunks of time sitting in one way road construction traffic.
• I feel like I'm going to smell like a rotten egg by the end of the day. Yellowstone...kinda smells.
• Seen one geyser...seen em all. Idk. Much more impressed by the canyon and falls than the weird geothermal stuff.
• There is some New Yorker next to me making a video about Yellowstone Canyon. I had to turn around to smile to myself about his accent and enthusiasm.
• There is a young couple walking around, and the guy has no shirt on. I've seen them multiple times today. What's the name of that MTV show where girls date dbags?
• Just sayin, if you feel like taking a legit cross country road trip, you really need to know how to read a map. I haven't had service 80% of my trip thus far. 
• The way people stop for wildlife around here...I mean am I heartless if I just totally do not care? Animals schmanimals.
• Okay...so I have taken a picture of a bald eagle (kind of sweet) and some buffalo just because everyone else was. ha.
• Apparently a bear killed someone in Yellowstone for the first time since the 80's the day before I was there. So they closed the road where the guy and his wife were hiking. Like bears never travel elsewhere.
• I love nature but I also love civilization. I was dying for a cheap bed. So I drove on to Idaho Falls for a cheap hotel room. And I'm glad I did!

A couple of notes from sermons I listened to:

• If something stops growing it stops living.
• Comfortable faith is no faith at all.
• Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get neither.

And a couple of bigger, deeper thoughts from myself:

• Science-type or some philosophical people say they don't believe in God because you can't actually see him. Like it's ridiculous, because we believe in something we can't see. Some of them think we are just nuts. But when I look around at such grand nature.....I have to conclude that they're the nutty ones. To think that this all came out of some big bang?? Are you serious? How can you look at such beauty and not know it had to come from something bigger...something beautiful and loving? Jesus might not be walkin' around today, but I tell you what, I see God EVERY day.
• And then...if God can make things as great as what I can see in nature, how much greater works does and can He do in His children...US...whom He loves??

Oh, dude. My Prius MPG so far has been 45.5 Apparently when I'm not in a hurry to get somewhere, I actually get the EPA. Lovin' it.

A few photos...many more to come later on FB.

 

Grand Tetons...so beautiful.

 

 

Bison...through the window. Careful, they could kill you.(That's what they say)

 

Old Faithful.

 

Paint Pot. Whatever the heck that means. Lots of these. Smelled.

 

The best part of the day...looks fake in pictures.Yellowstone canyon.

 

Lower falls. 

Well....that is all for today! Thanks for keeping up. Tomorrow it's off to Craters of the Moon and Boise with Bailey. Still looking for any connections in Portland or San Fran...hit me up if you've got em! 

God bless.

"...to the wilderness for prayer..."

There are multiple instances in the gospels where we see Jesus withdraw by himself to the wilderness, mountainside, somewhere alone...all for the purpose of spending time in prayer to His Father. (One of these occurs in Luke 5:16).

I have never been more serious about my prayer life than I have been these last few months, and I have been looking forward to this time in the wilderness like you wouldn't believe.

My soul is thirsty to not only vacation with my Lord, but to be surrounded by His majestic nature that has ALL been created solely by the works of His hands and breath. I just can't help but praise Him when I'm surrounded by such beauty!

I serve a GOOD God. And it's gonna be a great two weeks of just He and I.

I was gonna put some photos...but this wifi stinks. Check my twitter for now. @GetLoew.

Love you all and God bless!

Back to the Palms

I never thought I'd be in Missouri this fall. I was trying to go anywhere...everywhere...wherever would take me. I wanted to move to Dallas and live around a lot of great friends.

And then...the LORD finally spoke. Or maybe, I finally listened. I've decided I'm no longer going to use the words "my plan is..." because they never seem to work out. haha. From now on, I think I'm going to say "This is what I'd like to do....and we'll see if the Lord agrees or has something else in mind."

This time, He had something else in mind. And that something else...is taking me back to the land of Springfield, Missouri. Add to that, it turns out I'm returning to a studio apartment in Palm Village Apartments.

It all started with thinking about some of those feet up there, and feeling like there is more work to be done in their lives that He wants me to do. Since then, in other conversations, other job possibilities have opened up as well. I have no doubt that He is taking care of the details and will take care of me in this year!

I am moving there in August and am committed to staying a year...after that, we'll see! I would love to get on to Dallas or elsewhere...but I would love even more to follow God's call on my life.

In the words of Lecrae:

"Let me finish my race,
Let me answer your call"

I will miss Kansas City and many of the students and people I have met here...but that's another good thing about Springfield. I'll still be able to be around. And come to town to watch my brother play football and basketball in his senior year, which is wonderful.

But anyway...Springfield, I'll be seein' you soon.

In the meantime...I'll be seeing Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Cali, Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Kansas. Prepare for blogs of my time in the wilderness with my Savior.

I. CAN'T. Wait.

God bless. I have to go pack. :)

This Week, I am Proud.

Today, I want to take some time to tell you a little bit about the person that belongs with those black & white Nike's at the top of the page. :)

_______________________________________________________________________


Kaitlyn Brooke Smith walked into my life a mere 2 years ago. Actually, it won't even be 2 years until August. The previous year, my junior year of college, I had been having a rough time and thus took a break from leading YoungLife. After a series of events unfolded the summer before my senior year, I ended up coming back to leading and being the only Kickapoo girl leader to attend camp with 10 lovely ladies. Only one of whom I really knew. I was so nervous I think I cried to a parent the night we left. And I had never before had a conversation with Kaitlyn Smith.

Within a day or two of the trip, I was already clicking with several of the girls, and some of them, including Kait, were already jokingly & loudly declaring the fact that I have a "donk" to basically the entire camp. It was hilarious. It was such a rough week in some ways - my grandpa had a heart attack back home, there were stealing issues, kids who got sent home from camp, and much more - but it was so beautiful because it also forever bonded me to some girls I may not have ever met. And even in the midst of the chaos, God was most definitely moving.

I'll never forget my first deep one-on-one conversation with Kaitlyn, sitting on a rock outside the snack shop at Sharptop. Or the way my cabin of girls rallied together on the rocking chairs after cardboard testimonies and talked through some of the most intense moments of their life with raw honesty and emotion. Or the fact that our cabin was called "Skunk's Nest." HA. I mean, seriously? :)

Over that next year, my senior year of college, Kaitlyn and I became super close. I'm not even sure how exactly it happened - but it did. I would come to know all about her family and life, and she came to know all about mine as well. When I moved back to Kansas City, she would come visit - in some ways, becoming like an extra member of my family. Everyone who is close to me has either met her or has heard me talk about her.

Well, this Tuesday, May 17th, Kaitlyn graduated from high school. And you bet I was there to see it! I am so proud of her. Here are a few photos:

Kickapoo Class of 2011

Standing in line to get her diploma

(white medal)

After graduation :)

Me with Kait & her beautiful mom, Pam

Despite many sadnesses and hardships in Kaitlyn's life, which shoot, my heart still breaks for, she has pressed on. Instead of letting them set her back, she just grew up - yes, probably more quickly than she should have had to. But she has allowed herself to see the good God has worked in her situations - and it is a beautiful thing.

She has a beautiful relationship with her mom, and values her many family members. She is respected by a wide range of her peers. She served on Student Council Cabinet as the Arts Commissioner this year. She is so talented in those ways. She gave up a month of her life last summer to serve the Lord. She goes out of her way to love on and work with special needs students. And a few weeks ago, she was voted Prom Queen.

I almost cried the other night as she stood in line to receive her diploma. I am so proud of her - and I am so excited for the life ahead of her. I know that God is going to use her talents and her huge heart to do big things. Some of which, I strongly believe through visions that I've had, we will be doing together. And that...brings a joy to my heart that I cannot even being to describe!

Kaitlyn...you know how much I love you. I'm so blessed you came into my life and I can't wait to continue on journeying together as you enter the next phase of your life.

This is my prayer for you...

"¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,
¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength
²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms."
                                                      -Ephesians 1-

That you may come to realize that as a believer, the same power is in you as the power God used to raise Christ from the dead. That knowing that would give you hope. And a reason to further study His Word and learn of all His promises for you. That your heart may be enlightened and encouraged to dream big, and to DO big.

I love you kid. Thank you for being such an important part of my life.

"Constantly in Prayer"

I will be the first one to say that I have pretty much never been consistent in prayer.

I was always one of those people that was aware of its importance...but just didn't have the attention span or the motivation to actually make it happen. Because of the attention span thing, I used to journal my prayers. But when I didn't have motivation to sit down and journal, chances are I didn't pray much.

All that to say - my heart has been crazy changing about prayer recently.

We are doing two different studies on prayer in our youth/college bible studies - one is called Sun Stand Still by Steven Furtick, and the other is When God's People Pray by Jim Cymbala. I am also reading the book Radical by David Platt. The study by Jim Cymbala & the book Radical have both been blowing my mind about the way I (and my team) should be doing ministry.

So often I have come from a place of ministry where you get together, plan a bunch of stuff. Strategize how to have the best events, how to get the most kids to show up, how to be relatable, what cool funny things you can do, how to make Jesus attractive in that....and so we sit around plotting. Discussing. Even arguing over what we think is best. We have all these meetings that are steeped in just that. Strategizing. And then we pray at the end of it. We pray for our events to go well. We pray small prayers over logistics of the events, we pray over all our plans. And we add in some prayers for our students.

What I am realizing...is how RIDICULOUS this is. 

In Radical, as Platt is talking about the start of the church in the book of Acts, and as he talks about the disciples huddled together in the upper room, he says this:

"So what are they doing? They are not plotting strategies. They are 'joined together constantly in prayer." They are not busy putting their faith in themselves or relying on themselves. They are pleading for the power of God, and they are confident that they are not going to accomplish anything without his provision."

That paragraph hit me hard. Sometimes I think we can get so caught up in the gifts we have been given that we start to rely on ourselves, and we convince ourselves sometimes that it's okay because God has given us these gifts and therefore it is still God's work.

But no. God gave the disciples all kinds of gifts. Yet here they are, "joined together constantly in prayer." And I highly doubt they were praying small prayers. I doubt they were sitting around praying for no technical difficulties, that the worship would sound just right, that God would give them the financial resources to be culturally "cool." No. My guess is they were sitting around crying out in desperation as they realized their limited ability apart from Him. My guess is they were sitting around praying for God's POWER.

I think one of the reasons that I was never consistent in prayer is because sitting around praying little, monotonous prayers was never attractive to me. It almost felt like another chore at the end of another meeting. But I think my heart was on to something. Because when we realize how helpless we are...when we realize how little of power we have in ministry when compared to relying on the power of God...we can't help but be moved to pray. To pray BIG, passionate prayers. To pray for the impossible.

It's a risky thing, praying big prayers on a regular basis. It might open our eyes to some "crazy" vision for our lives, or lead us to take some "crazy" action. It will probably call us to be obedient in ways that we've never been.

But I think the flip side is riskier. Scarier. To never pray big prayers. To miss out on the true, amazing power of the Lord in anything we do in our lives. What is our ministry...what is our journey if it isn't marked by total dependence on Him? What, then, is the point of even knowing him?

I don't want to miss it. I want to be dependent on the Holy Spirit and its power every day of my life. I want to be ready for bold visions and actions and be ready to be obedient in radical ways. I want my ministry to be birthed out of powerful prayers, not out of good planning.

At the end of that chapter in Radical, Platt says,

"It is the way of Christ. Instead of asserting ourselves, we crucify ourselves. Instead of imagining all the things we can accomplish, we ask God to do what only he can accomplish. Yes, we work, we plan, we organize, and we create, but we do it all while we fast, while we pray, and while we constantly confess our need for the provision of God. Instead of dependence on ourselves, we express radical desperation for the power of his Spirit, and we trust that Jesus stands ready to give us everything we ask for so that he might make much of our Father in the world."

I want to do ministry that way. I also want to do life that way. May every day of my life and my ministry be a day that is born of the overflow of passionate prayers for God's power and love. And may I live my life in a way that makes much of my Father in the world.

If this post causes you to do anything, I hope that it causes you to put down your phone or computer...to take even five minutes...and pray to a Holy, powerful God who can do infinitely more than you ever could alone.

God bless.

7 New Things

Remember the "25 Random Facts" that went around facebook a few years ago? Well, for some reason I've been thinking about that recently. Things have changed in the last few years though, so here is an updated 7 facts about me...or brief snippets of things I've been thinking lately.

1. Coffee now runs through my veins as much as pepsi. (Starbucks Tuesday's will do that to you.) I am halfway to having a Gold Card.

2. The older I get, the more I realize I might not want to have kids. Like, birthing them. I will always have teenage kids. But we will see?

3.. I find myself having to work harder at not getting a complex about relationships that have gone awry in my life. I find it to be scary that people can grow apart so quickly, either from things like spiritual breakdowns to simply just learning different things and growing different ways. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it's just natural. Nevertheless, it makes something like marriage more nerve-wracking to me. But I'm trying to work through this.

4. Thanks to Sarah, I now enjoy eating celery. I'm still not sold on the veggie chips though my friend. And I still can't believe I even ate a dried mushroom.

5. I 'm ready to move out of this state. I actually have been going through all my stuff, preparing to downsize and peace out. The thought of living in basically the same place forever (as in, living where I grew up) really freaks me out. A LOT.

6. I have some friends that dream really big. And the thought of journeying with them, or brainstorming what it would be like to start a church someday (with one of them in particular), is actually really exciting to me.

7. I think I just decided this morning to move to Dallas in July/August. 

(Unless I feel called elsewhere between now and then.)

...I'm just going to chew on that for now.

So did you learn anything new about me? ha.

God bless.

Oh yeah, and this used to be my hair. Have a great day. :)