Play that funky music...

I love music. Like...a lot.

No, seriously.

It's a pretty safe bet that 99.9% of the time, i'm singing one song or another in my head (and sometimes out loud...my apologies to all my cube mates at work).

So today I was driving in my car with my iPod on shuffle. It never disappoints me. It's like an unending game of "name that tune." Each selection arbitrarily fluttering from genre to genre. There are some songs that have been sitting in my ipod untouched for quite some time. If it were an actual cd, you'd likely need to wipe off a layer of dust before playing them.

In the midst of my eclectic mix, I look down just in time to see Deana Carter's "Strawberry Wine" pop up on the playlist. Oh, but not just any version...the karaoke version. Oh yes. You can guess what happened next...

I rocked the entire song. (at the top of my lungs, mind you, like I was Kelly Clarkson singin' for her supper)

Of course I was by myself in my car (thank goodness).  But nonetheless, for a few moments I was transported back to my senior year of high school when my friends and I, with our freshly earned driver's licenses, used to belt out this song as loud as we could. And then I also recalled another line in the song. The one that says "I still remember when 30 was old..." Yeah. That one.

I recalled how we used to say "umm...30 IS old."

Aaaaand then I looked at my calendar and realized that I have exactly 60 days until I hit the big 3-0.

Ouch.

Funny how 30 doesn't seem quite as old to me now as it did then. And funny how a song can remind you of a specific time and place in your life so vividly...like a soundtrack.

So that got me thinking...as i'm about to exit my 20's and enter the world of "thirty, flirty and thriving" (a little throwback to all my 13 going on 30 movie fans), what kind of soundtrack do I want for the last days of my 20's? How can I wisely and purposefully use these next 60 days?

I can tell you I don't want to leave my 20's kicking and screaming...I want to gracefully exit singing and dancing. I have a feeling i'm going to look back on this decade as some of the hardest, yet most amazing times in my life. I want to celebrate that. And I want to look forward to what God has for me next.

I haven't always felt that way...in fact, this is something i've really wrestled with for the better part of the last two years. Mostly for stupid, stereotypical reasons. But i'm coming around, and beginning to get a little excited about the next chapter. I'm excited to enter with a much better grasp of who I really am rather than who I thought I was when I entered my 20's.

So, here's my top 5 selections for my life soundtrack for the next 60 days:

1. Glory to God Forever - Steve Fee
2. Footloose - Kenny Loggins (did you really think I wouldn't have an 80's throwback in there?)
3. Typical - Mutemath
4. You Can't Hurry Love - The Supremes
5. My Next 30 Years - Tim McGraw

Ok, your turn...what's your current life soundtrack?

Jamie

Singleitis

Do you remember much about the last half of your senior year in high school?

Yeah, me either.

By then, we had all "checked out" and were so ready to move on to being a college student, that it was all we could think about. In fact, in our minds, we were pretty much already there.

Many call this phenomenon Senioritis.

I mean think about it, you're at the top of your game...you rule the school, you're basically coasting to the graduation line...but you're so anxious to get to the next level that none of it matters. All you know is that you're done, and you're ready.

So what do you do when you get this kind of feeling in the singles world?

I like to call it Singleitis.

You know the symptoms: you've reasonably established yourself and your career; you're feeling like you're finally comfortable in your own skin and have a solid sense of who you are; your social calendar is never lacking; you spend no less than 1/4 of your annual salary on wedding gifts, bridesmaids dresses and baby shower gifts; you have at least one relative ask you about your dating life at every family function...

Don't get me wrong, it's a fun and exciting season - one that I feel has blessed me and challenged me in more ways than I can even imagine. But lately, in various conversations with many of my single friends male and female alike, we've found ourselves anxious for what's next...

The problem is, that unlike high school, there is no definitive "graduation date" into the marriage world. So how do you navigate this season without "checking out?"

Whether we're willing to admit it or not, it's a tension that many of us have felt at one time or another.

(whew...there, I said it.)

So how do we navigate this tension?

I mean sure, you could sign up for every online dating/speed dating/blind dating opportunity you could find in your city as well as threaten to annihilate anyone who comes between you and the coveted prize during the bridal bouquet/garter toss at any of the 10 weddings you're attending just this year...

OR...

You can resolve to know that it's OK to live in that tension a little bit AND still know that God's in control and isn't going to leave you high and dry. You just have to make sure you don't let the anxiousness control you or cause you to completely abandon a perfectly good path the Lord may be laying out in front of you...one that might require you to remain single a little longer than you originally thought.

Just tonight, I was talking with a dear friend about this very topic.  I told her that I LOVE my life, I love where i'm at, and I also LOVE the possibility of having a husband and family one day.  Would I like that "one day" to be soon? Absolutely. 

But what if it's not? Will I be mad at God or resent Him for it?

Absolutely not.

I mean, if God were to tell me He wants me to be single another 10 years, i'm not going to lie...I would probably do a bit of pouting and stomping my feet along the way, but I would obey. I wouldn't settle just because my life doesn't look like what I had mapped out for myself. And I wouldn't take it out on God, because I have confidence that He sees way more of the big picture than I ever will.

And that's what it's all about anyways...the big picture.

His big picture, not mine.

I never want to lose sight of that.

Jamie

In God We Trust...?

I have a confession to make. I never did the "trust fall" at camp as a kid.

(gasp)

You know the one I'm talking about...where you stand on a ledge, and your friends are supposed to catch you all together with their arms? Yep. Couldn't do it. Was it because I didn't trust that my friends wanted to catch me?

No. I think it was more my fear of what would happen if for some reason they couldn't.

In the same token, why do we find it easier to trust God with things that we have absolutely no control over, as opposed to those situations where we could trust Him, but often choose to rely on our own strengths and talents instead?

Is it because our view of trust has been tainted by disappointment from imperfect people? (Insert cheesy salesman here saying "heeey, you can trust me" while winking and shooting his super-cool finger gun at you) Or is it because we allow our fear of losing control of a situation to take over and instead we faithlessly manage the things that we think we're capable of on our own?

There are so many areas of our lives where it's easy to say "ok God, you're in control...until you do something I don't like, or I become fearful that things aren't going to go the way I planned..."

• Finances
• Relationships
• Work

(I could keep going, but you get my point)

We claim we're surrendering these things to God, when in reality, we never fully loosen our grip.

And then there are the times where I know there is absolutely nothing I can do about a situation, and so I really have no choice but to trust that God is in control.  But then again, is that really trust...or just submission by default?  

Our daily currency says "In God We TRUST"

Proverbs 3:5 says "TRUST in the Lord with ALL your heart"


What do you need to loosen your grip on today?


Jamie

Keep your eye on the ball...

Hello old friend, how I've missed you. It's been a while since I've written, I guess you could say I got a little distracted. I've let other things garner my attention, and the next thing I know, I haven't blogged in almost 8 months.

How did that happen?

Apparently it doesn't take much.

In the last month, I've had at least two friends get in a car accident because they took their eyes off the road, for a moment. A slight distraction was all it took to lose control of their vehicle and send them crashing into the car in front of them.

You ever wonder how a dancer can spin around and around without falling over? They're taught to have a "spot" or "center" that they constantly focus their eyes on and follow all the way as they turn around. Know what happens if you lose your "spot" for even a half second? You guessed it...you get dizzy, lose your balance and everything around you all of a sudden seems to be moving in the wrong direction.

Even a baseball player at bat is told to keep his eye on the ball. I don't think he's going to be able to hit a 90mph fast ball by focusing on the 1st base that he's hoping to ultimately land on.

So what happens when you take your eyes off of God, even for a moment?

You wind up where I am tonight: frustrated, a little defeated, and feeling a whole lot like everything else in your world is out of whack.

And it only takes a moment.

A moment of getting caught up in the things of this world that don't matter. Or even caught up in the things that do.

A moment is all it takes to let a desire, a goal or a dream all of a sudden become an idol to us, momentarily taking our focus off of His path for us. It doesn't mean God doesn't want those things for us, it's just that these things aren't where our eyes should be focused...they should just be in the periphery, while our eyes are constantly on Jesus...the ultimate prize.  It's an act that isn't always easy to do, with all of the distractions that are readily available to us today....i'm just thankful that even though I may lose my focus from time to time, He never takes His eyes off me.

"Our God is, jealous for His own
None could comprehend, His love and His mercy
Our God is exalted on His throne
High above the heavens
Forever He’s worthy...

We will keep our eyes on You
We will keep our eyes on You
So we can set our hearts on You
Lord we will set our hearts on You!"

Creative Corner #3: No Music Mondays

"Creativity is God's gift to us. Using our creativity is our gift back to God."

- Julia Cameron (from her book, The Artist's Way)

Ever since I was a little girl, people all around me have told me that I'm creative. 

I'll admit...I love it. 

I love to be able to dream up unique ideas or stories, or even use my creativity in my wardrobe design. Heck, by the age of 10, I think I had started about five different "businesses" i.e., trying to sell my crap that I had created to my poor unsuspecting parents & grandparents...I mean, who really wants 10 little multi-colored dolls made out of yarn anyways? But often as we transition from a childhood dream world to a working reality, we tend to loosen the grip of our creative side.

I have to say I'm incredibly blessed to work in a place that encourages creativity constantly.  But i've found recently that when I'm not "exercising" my creative muscle regularly, it's increasingly more difficult to be "creative on cue" when I need to come up with an idea for a specific project.  After thinking it through and evaluating my regular routine, i've come to the conclusion that I don't carve out enough time to just intentionally think, be creative or simply dream.

Thus the purpose for "No Music Mondays!"

I love music. Or, maybe I should say I LOOOOVE music. I have it on all the time, and if I don't, I can often be found dancing or singing along to whatever song is in my head (even though no one else can hear it). 

It's a disease, I know.

It's also a known fact that at any given time, if you pull up next to me at a red light, the odds of you catching a glimpse of my latest song & dance performance are quite good...and probably rather amusing.

But as much as I love to rock it out in my car, I've realized that the hour+ that I spend in the car each way to work is a great time for me to squeeze in some intentional creative thinking space. So from here on out, every Monday will be considered No Music Monday. I will purposely not listen to my radio AT ALL any time I'm in the car, every single Monday. I can't even turn on the radio to hear the traffic report. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

And you know what's crazy? I've already seen God use that time effectively.

My 2nd week in to this routine, I found myself almost running off the road trying to furiously jot down the ideas in my head that were coming faster than I could write! All related to a vision for something that I feel God has been slowly but surely stirring in my heart for some time now.  Wouldn't you know it, I carve out a little time to be silent and BAM...it was like the vision was just exploding in my brain!  (that's all I'm going to say about it for now, but stay tuned...something big is around the corner!)

So what do you do to keep your creative thinking juices flowing?

Might I recommend a little bit of regular intentional silence? It just might be music to your ears...

Jamie

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: A Review

There’s a reason that we’re all drawn to a good book or movie…we’re captivated by the story.

We get swept away amidst the twists and turns of the plot; wondering if the main character will come out victorious, all along knowing that it will likely resolve happily after 2 hours or 250 pages. We walk away envisioning our own life following a similar suit…full of adventure, excitement, maybe even romance. But then somewhere along the road between disappointment and heartache, we often find ourselves trapped in a life of mediocrity.

And that’s precisely where Donald Miller found himself at the beginning of this book…

But through the process of “editing” his own life while adapting his bestselling memoir into a screenplay, Miller’s eyes are opened to the idea that we have the capability to create a better story for ourselves simply by choosing to engage in a life that's both meaningful and memorable.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years paints the picture of a bland story gone bold. The way Miller walks you through the editing process of his life and his quest to make his ‘story’ one worth reading had me doing just that: wanting to keep reading to see what happens next. This book is full of clever humor and insight that could inspire anyone to want to go out and create a better story for themselves…one that’s a real page turner.

Click here to buy the book and see for yourself!

And one to grow on...

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty."  ~Henry Ford

So, today I turn another year....umm....wiser (yeah, we'll go with that, I hate the word 'old'), and I have to say that I am so grateful that I am nowhere near where I had actually planned for my life at this age. God's plans have been so much cooler than I ever could have imagined. I won't say they've been easier by any means, but an amazing journey and learning process none the less. 

If there's one thing i've learned over the years, it's that we should never stop learning (no pun intended). We must constantly keep our eyes and ears open to what God is teaching us - through our friends, our surroundings, and our circumstances.

So today, instead of gifts for me, I come bearing gifts for you! In a fond farewell to my 28th year (Dear 28, you've been a heck of a challenge, but oh so good to me), I give you 28 things I've learned or words of wisdom i've picked up throughout the year:

1. All of my life, in every season, you are still God, I have a reason to sing, I have a reason to worship. 

2. Moving home at 28 can be more of a challenge than living on my own.

3. It IS possible to sleep on a 16 hour flight...all you need is a tray table, a neck pillow & dramamine!

4. We all need people in our lives to point out our "blind spots"

5. It's a small world after all

6. I want to pursue Gods heart with all of my heart.

7. God loves you as you are and not as you should be, because you'll never be as you should be. 

8. It is still socially acceptable to make music videos with your girlfriends in your late 20s. Ok maybe not, but my friends don't judge me for it.

9. God can restore friendships, no matter the distance or how much time has passed. 

10. True self awareness: the good, the bad & the ugly is necessary for authentic growth. It can be a painful, yet beautiful process at the same time.

11. There's no bad mood a motown playlist can't fix.

12. It's never too late to relive your childhood...even if it means shelling out some dough to see NKOTB

13. A red bull a day keeps the drowsiness away.

14. God's movement in my life is proof that I dream way too small for myself. 

15.  It's never too late to improve yourself.

16. Getting braces at 28 was one of the best decisions I ever made.

17. God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him.

18. Faith is a verb. What are you doing right now that requires faith?

19. Trust God to the point that you believe what he says over how you feel.

20. The condition of my heart is critical to the effectiveness of my ministry. Internal health drives external impact.

21. People who cut me off in traffic, then look at me like its my fault bring out some nasty anger in me. I need to work on this. Jesus loves bad drivers too...

22. On my best day I'm just as needy of God as my worst day.

23. No one can know God who does not first know himself.

24. Love God, love others.

25. Love is to reveal the beauty of another person to themselves.

26. Everyone needs someone in their life who can ask you the hard questions about ourselves... and we need to answer them.

27. I've come a long way baby.

28. I've still got a long way to go...

and one to grow on...

29. It IS possible to write an entire blog post while sitting at red lights on the way to work. (Exhibit A)

“The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.” -Don Williams Jr.

Grateful for another year to be alive,

Jamie

Talkin' bout my generation...

In a time where philanthropy is the new black, are we still just a generation looking for another great resume builder?

As we worshipped in church this morning, we sang a song that I know by heart...one we sing all the time. But today, God totally used the words of this song to break my heart for my generation in a way He never has before, and He gave me a whole new awareness of the magnitude of how culture can affect our faith. As I began to sing these lyrics:

I see a generation, rising up to take their place

with selfless faith,

with selfless faith...

I couldn't help but think, that's so not true. As a whole, we are completely a selfish generation.

If you think about it, us "Generation X'ers" have been raised in the most self-gratifying culture ever.  Everything you could ever want, you can have it personalized, customized and instantly at your fingertips...

You can have a car made in the factory with your exact specifications.

You can custom build a home to fit your family's personal style & needs.

Anything you could think of can be monogrammed or branded with your name on it.

Heck, even Burger King does it "your way, right away"

With just about every company and/or product you can think of vying for our attention with their ability to personally tailor to our every wish, it's no surprise that this line of thinking would carry over into our faith. Often times I think we put expectations on God to fulfill our every desire, just because He can...and just because that's the way we want it. And i've seen it happen over and over where people try to pick and choose only those parts of the bible they want to believe that don't interfere with their current actions or lifestyle...as if God were our own personal vending machine.

I'll be the first to admit...if I look back on my journey with God, I would have to say so far, most of the times in my life when i've sought after God the hardest or put the most trust in Him were not in situations when I was focusing on someone else...it was mainly when I was struggling with something, or when I needed something from Him.  This reminded me of a quote that I always keep nearby:

"Do I chase the blessings of God more than the presence? I don't want God to simply be a new vehicle for the things I want. I want God to be what I want."

I know that I don't want to be the kind of person who only goes to God for what I want...nor do I want to be the kind of person that only focuses on me, me, me...how can I grow, what can I achieve. And I don't want to be part of a generation that is known for that either. So what do we do? How do we break the cycle? 

I'm not going to lie...the weight of this overwhelms me. But Ghandi says that we should "be the change we want to see in the world." So for today, i'll start with me. 

Break my heart for what breaks yours

Everything I am for Your kingdom's cause

Jamie

I bless the rains down in Africa...

I thought the song title was fitting, because it has rained almost non-stop since our arrival…but that has not dampened our spirits at all!! We are SO grateful to be here! I have no idea how to describe all that has happened already over the 3 short days that we have been here, and adequately paint a picture for the amazing experience we have had so far! 

It has been so neat to see how well our group has really gelled as a team, and how easily we have bonded with the people of Southpoint Church.  The excitement and the passion that the people here have for Jesus and for loving others is contagious…and we are so humbled to be so welcomed by their hospitality. We feel like we’ve been treated like royalty here, when we are the ones who came to serve them. Truly some of the most amazing servant’s hearts I’ve ever encountered. And I am so proud of all of our students for the way they have been stepping up and doing whatever is necessary to help – whether it be setting up for the Sunday services, helping clean out the old building which will become the new Inside Out environment, or just engaging with the other leaders and students of Cape Town that we are here to serve. God’s hand has been so evident in bringing our team together with each of our unique skills & gifts to accomplish all we have to do here…it’s so cool to see Him at work!

A couple of fun facts so far…

After Sunday services yesterday, the church threw a traditional South African Braai (which I’ve been informed is like an American BBQ, but better…I think I might have to agree on this one!). We had SO much fun playing games, hanging out and eating South African BBQ with everyone…such a great night of connecting.

Today, we spent all day preparing for the camp that we’ll be helping with tomorrow and Wednesday for all of the Southpoint students.  We’ll be checking out of our hotel and going to camp a couple hours away to hang out with and pour into the lives of about 50 South African students…we can’t wait! After a long day of preparations, we took a break and went to this really cool restaurant in town called Moyo…where we had “all you can eat” African cuisine…basically every kind of meat or ‘game’ you could think of.  They came around and gave us all tribal paintings on our faces, and some of us were even brave enough to get up on stage and do some traditional African dancing (what….me? Dancing on stage in Africa…? Shocker, I know.) ;) We had SO much fun experiencing the African culture!

I’m including a few pics that I have so far…we won’t have internet access while we’re at camp, so we’ll catch back up with you all on Wednesday night!

Oh, and be sure to check out another update from one of our students on our team blog:

http://capetownhighschooltrip.blogspot.com/

Beautiful view on our drive to dinner tonight:

Our crazy students up in a tree...

Me and 2 of my Inside Out students, Molly & Evan...love these girls!

Yes, I found Red Bull...yes, I stocked up. :)

Setting up for Sunday service at Southpoint Church...

Some of the traditional African music at dinner....

Me getting my face painted all "African Tribal Style" :)

Some of the team with their faces painted...

Cheers!

Jamie

We made it to South Africa!

Hey everyone! We made it!

I've posted a blog on our team's blog...so be sure to check out our progress here:
http://capetownhighschooltrip.blogspot.com/

More updates soon!
Jamie