29!!!

So, I decided that as part of my countdown I am going to record for each day something that I am thankful for having in my twenties.

For day 30: My awesome parents who have always been there for me, have always loved me unconditionally, and who introduced me to Christ at a young age. Thanks Mom and Dad!!! :)

Countdown

Ok so ... the countdown begins. I realized today that I have exactly a month left of my twenties. I am slightly nostalgic about it, but also very excited about it at the same time. I am nostalgic about leaving a decade of my life behind. My twenties has brought MANY changes, rough spots, and high peaks. My twenties made me into what I am today, and it changed the way I will approach my 30's. I am leaving behind a series of bad choices and consequences and looking forward to a new start. The difference is going to be that I will not rely on my own understanding to make those choices anymore. I am going to trust God and lean on Him to guide me the rest of the way. I know it won't be easy the whole time. I know I will still go through valleys, and I know I will still make bad choices. The difference is that I will NOT take my eyes off of Him. I will not get stuck in the troubled waters and let myself drown. I will keep my eyes on Jesus and keep my faith and trust in Him. I know if I do that He will pull me above all of those rough waters and keep me close to him. Every once in awhile I will get a little wet, feel a little splash on my feet, but it won't last long. All I have to do is reach out to Him again and he will pull me up again. My hope is that there won't be so much of Him having to pull me OUT of the water. I pray that I will be able to stay above the water and actually begin WALKING toward him instead of staying where I am. I want to use this decade of my life to continue with the never ending process of giving up everything to Him. I know the more I do this, the more Joy I will get from Him. I can't imagine loving Him any more or appreciating His character any more than I already do right now, but I know it is possible.

So I feel like I should be doing something to go out of my 20's with a blast, but I'm not sure what it is. Actually, I do have an idea of what it is. More on that later ..... Dum, dum, dum ....

Conversation with a student

So yesterday, after school, I had some students and former students that visited me in my classroom. They noticed I had my phone on my desk so, of course, they had to comment on it:
"Ohhhhh ... you have your phone out!!" on of them said accusingly. Because they aren't supposed to have their phones out, they always like to comment if they see a teacher with one.

To which my response was: "I've been to college. You can have your phone out if you've been to college." Sarcastically, of course.

"Really? Is that the rule?" one of them said innocently. And then it dawned on him. Duh.

"Well, it's kind of an unspoken rule." I told him.

To which another responded, "Unspoken meaning you made it up?"

"Yeah, pretty much" I said.

Ha ha.

"I would die for You"

As I was singing along to a Mercy Me song, part of the lyrics said "I would die for You". As I sang that I felt very humbled because lately I have been having a hard time letting go of things that I know He doesn't want me to be involved in, that are causing me harm, but I can't seem to unclench my hold of. How in the world do I expect to give my physical LIFE to him if I can't even do that??

And then I had the thought that this line doesn't necessarily mean that I would literally give my life for Him, as in die. It most definitely could mean that I would die for him in a figurative sense, meaning I would let my selfish desires die and give, or let go, my life to Him. Doing that, I think, is just as hard as considering the concept of literally dying for Him. It is a struggle EVERY DAY, but it is a struggle that I will eventually get my reward for when he decides it is time to TAKE my life from me.

Thank goodness I know I don't have to try to measure up before I get to that point.

First timer

Well, since I have so many blogs on myspace and they seem to be fairly popular, I figured I would join the crowd and start my own blog page. This is mainly for my own amusement, but if I can amuse someone else in the process, well, that will be fine.

I really don't have much to share for what is going on with me for the moment. It has been a very "up and down" few weeks for me, but I seem to be on an upward slant right now so that is good. I can only thank God for that. Anytime I get in a slump I know that I can cast all my cares on Him and know that He is the reason I am alive and that He is there to comfort me. When I do that, everything else seems trivial.

"For our light and monetary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:17-18