While I'm Waiting...

This week has been an extremely crazy one! We have had some extraordinary guest speakers come in to talk to us throughout the week. Friday was Dr. Dobson's last day at FOTF so all the employees gathered for a special service to honor him. It was unreal to see how many people He has impacted over the past 33 years. At one point, they presented to Him the 30,000+ pieces of mail that have come in over the past month. It was so neat to get to be a part of such a historical time... except it lasted 3 hours.

Dr. Dobson speaking for the last time.


Mrs. Dobson

Then on Saturday, we were part of the live audience for the 2nd annual Focus on Marriage Simulcast. Despite the fact that I am not married, and its not looking like marriage is anywhere in my future for now, it was extremely good. The speakers included Francis Chan, Gary Chapman, and Kirk and Chelsea Cameron, just to name a few. John Waller also led worship. It was a super day... even though we had to be at Focus at 6 am, dressed professionally.

The common theme of the week seems to have been that it is absolutely possible, though not easy by any stretch of the imagination, to live out your faith in or crazy, secular society. Some of you, especially those in the business world may remember a few years ago when the CEO of Tyco International, Dennis Kozlowski, stole hundreds of millions of dollars from the company. Prior to Tuesday, we were all given information about a person who played a role in this case, and were asked to memorize the information and "be" that person. Then, on Tuesday, Eric Pillmore, one of the guys who came in and helped straighten out the mess Kozlowski had made, came in and helped us to reinact the whole case. Afterwards, he talked to us about what it was like for him, as a Christian in a position of power, to be in a place where there was still a lot of scandal and wrongdoing going on. I really enjoyed this experience and feel like I learned so much from Mr. Pillmore about how difficult it really is to be a person of integrity in the midst of so much evil.

On Thursday, we got to hear from and interact with special guest, Tim Goeglein, who served as Special Assistant to President Bush and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison from 2001 t0 2008, when he resigned after getting caught in the act of plagiarism. It was amazing to hear his story of how he got caught up in the ways of the world, later realized how his poor decisions had affected his colleagues and essentially, the whole country, and how he was able to learn from those mistakes, ask for forgiveness, and by the grace of God, start over. He is now the VP of External Affairs for FOTF in Washington DC. I found it scary to hear how easily one can get caught up in such actions that we all know are blatantly wrong. Even scarier is that I know that it could just as easily happen to me as it could to anyone else.

During the simulcast on Saturday while Francis Chan was speaking, I really started thinking about what it looks like for me to be a Christian entering a secular workplace, especially a public school where there seems to be even more restrictions put on sharing your faith than in other parts of the secular workplace. Then I had a revelation. This revelation was something I have thought about before, but quickly dismissed as not that important. Yes, the simulcast was about marriage, but while Chan was speaking, he posed this question: Why do we think we can just study the WORD and not actually put it into action? After that, I dont remember the whole thought process that actually took place, but Chan continued to talk on this subject giving the example of Matthew 28:19-20 when Jesus tells us to go and make disciples. God does not necessarily care whether we have that verse memorized, he would much rather us GO and DO IT! For some reason, so many of us think that having a verse memorized is good enough. Well, it's not! I started thinking: I have always been so excited about being a teacher and being able to educate students and have an impact on their lives. That's great. That's what teachers are supposed to do. But then... here's the revelation: Being called, as a Christian, into the profession of education is about SO MUCH MORE than just the students. Thinking that it is, I feel, may not be allowing God to use me at my full potential where He has placed me. So I posed this question to myself: What if God has placed me (or any other Christian teacher, for that matter) in the school not only for my students, but also to reach out to my colleagues, to bathe them in prayer, and to make disciples of them? I feel that's exactly what He has done. That's a lot to swallow. Now I am trying to figure out exactly what that might look like.

Interesting statistic: Several time this semester, Dr. Leland has shared with us the statistic that the average person will change careers at least 5 times during their life. Not just jobs, but CAREERS. Wow. So maybe I'll be teacher for the next 35 years. Maybe not. Its probably not worth my time to worry about that though. I can't plan what God wants me to do, so... in the words of Dr. Del Tackett... Dont try and dont worry about!

On Saturday John Waller played his now famous song, "While I'm Waiting". It talks about the process of waiting on God as you journey through life and being obedient to his call even in the uncertainties of life. What a beautiful song and a beautiful message for us all to hear as we strive to seek His will in all that we do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb7TSGptd3Y

Before I go (sorry for the super long post!), I just want to share with you all that I absolutely LOVE the church I have found to be a part of while I am here, Calvary Worship Center. The diverse make-up of the population is a huge draw for me, as it is, to me, a perfect picture of what worship in Heaven will be like, worshipping among believers of all ethnicities and races. The pastor is great too! You can go online and listen to some of his sermons at http://www.cwccs.org/ . I especially reccommend the sermon from today, which was about "being about the Father's business", taken from the text in Luke when Jesus is found in the temple among other teachers after getting separated from His parents on their trip to the Passover feast.

And... because I am so ahead on my reading, I have to have something to do while everyone else is doing theirs. Ha. So I have taken up painting. Here's my first one:


So.... there you have it!

Keep praying that I would continue to allow God to :teach me to be bold in my faith, keep my mind open and constantly soaking in all that I am learning, transform me into the woman of God He wants me to be!

Til next time... Grace and Peace!

Snow Capped Mountains and Other Crazy Antics

Hello friends!

The past couple of weeks have super busy, and super fun... and even though Ive been here for a full month now, I still cant believe that God has given me the opportunity to be in this beautiful place for this short time. It is still nothing short of breathtaking to be able to gaze at snow-capped Pike's Peak every morning as we drive to Focus, or to be able to look up at the stars each night and actually be able to make out Orion in the sky, or to be able to drive 5 minutes and go hiking at the Garden of the Gods. I hope and pray that I dont ever begin to take God's glorious creations for granted during my time here.

I feel like I have learned so much here lately that it is so hard to know what to write about and share with everyone, so here is my best attempt to share what I think are some pretty important and/or interesting thoughts.

Lately, we have been learning about our strengths and how to focus on becoming better at the things we are good at, as well as using our strengths to manage our weaknesses. In my time on the Leadership Team at BCM we spent quite a bit of time on this topic, so it was something I was familiar with. But I also feel like I am at a much better place in my life now to understand exactly how this concept should play out in our lives. Although we are generally taught throughout our lives that we should be focusing our time on getting better at things we arent too good at, is that really a biblical concept? Does God ask us to be well-rounded Christians? No. He calls us to do our part to help make the body of Christ complete by using our spiritual gifts, which I believe to be closely tied to our strengths. Just as God did not give us all the same spiritual gifts, he also did not give us the same strengths. That said, we should all be team players in the Body of Christ. If I am not a people person, being a greeter is probably not a good job for me. But if you am very hospitable and enjoy making people feel welcome, then being a greeter is probably a great place for you to use the strengths God has given you. I fully believe that if every Christian would take the time to truly discover how God has shaped them for ministry with their spiritual gifts, passions, abilities, and strengths, then nothing could ever hold us back from accomplishing some powerful and Kingdom-sized things in our churches, communities, and world. As it stands now though, weve got a small portion of people doing a large percentage of the work. Just imagine how God could use us to bring people towards Him if we all simply knew our place in the Body of Christ and acted on it. Wow! My answers from the Strengths Test were a little different than the past time that I took it, which is normal. Some are the same, and it is likely that the ones that are different are still in my top 10. These are my top 5 strengths: adaptability, belief, connectedness, futuristic, and responsibility. Adaptability is self explanatory. Belief means that I have a core set of values that are the base for everything else I do. Connectedness means that I see the connections between all things and believe that all things happen for a reason. Futuristic means that I have a vision for the future and am able to relate that vision to others. Responsibility refers to loyalty and means that I take psychological ownership of what I say I will do. Although those were my top 5, I adopted a couple of others that I felt fit me to a tee-- achiever (a person who gets stuff done... they are usually the ones who finish the work that other people start) and harmony (someone with harmony likes for everyone to get along... they are a peacemaker). I would encourage you to buy either Living Your Strengths or Strengthsfinder 2.0 and take the Strengthsfinder Test online in order to help you discover even more about how God has shaped you as a person and leader.

There's so much more I could write about right now, but I'll save it for later. Maybe I can write again in the near future since I am currently over a week ahead on my readings... yay! Now for some fun little tidbits...
For Valentines Day, the FLI guys hosted "An Evening of Elegance" for all 40 of us ladies. The 13 of them picked us ap at our apartments and drove us to Focus. They had a special dinner for us which started off with a chocolate fondue bar. Then we had a salad, lasagna/chicken penne pasta, and cheesecake/tiramisu. After our candlelight dinner, they had prepared some special entertainment for us. They spent hours and hours on this and it was probably the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. Therefore, I feel like I should share it with you. I can promise you it is worth the next five minutes of your time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agM-TJVLk-Y :) .

So, if you just watched the video, you are now FULLY aware that FLI is not all about the books. According to the staff, every group that comes through seems have their own personality. I feel quite confident that we have already established ours as the "class full of clowns". :) Last Monday, my birthday, we had secretly planned for it to be Secret Agent Day. Imagine the surprise of Dr. Leland when all 53 of us came into class wearing all black. What a sight! When we went to the cafeteria for lunch, some of the guys decided it would be a good idea to stand along the walls like secret service agents (keep in mind this was the day after FOTF's Super Bowl commercial aired). Some old lady started freaking out and asking what was going on. This past Monday, we dressed in red/white/blue or "Presidential wear" for President's Day. How much fun it has been to surprise Dr. Leland each Monday morning with our crazy antics!

Here are a few things you can be praying for:
- That God will continue to open up my mind and teach me how to think critically about what I believe and why I believe it.
- That I would continue to grow deep friendships here
- That the beauty of God's creation would continue to amaze me and take my breath away every single day

That's all for now. I'll update again soon. In the meantime, here are some pictures:



My roomies and I at the Garden of the Gods


Another super cool view at Garden of the Gods


My friend, Duncan, and I at our Gangsta Gitdown party (another one of our crazy antics) :)


A few of us at our VDay get-together


Secret Agent Day

Grace and Peace.

Sh'ma, Yisrae'al!

Hello friends!
So it has occurred to me that I havent really completely explained the classes that Institute students take or any of the stuff we do. So, I thought Id take a quick second to do that, as well as share our reading list with you.

Okay... so each day of the week we have one class from 8:10 - 11:30. We have Christian Worldview Studies; Marriage and Family Studies; Family, Church, and Society; and Gender and Leadership Studies. We are also assigned to a Practicum within the Colorado Springs community and we meet every few weeks for a Practicum Class. Each class starts out with Matins, or devotionals, that tie into the class in some way. In CWS, we discuss what it looks like to have a Christian worldview and how to defend the Christian worldview against other worldviews. In MFS, we discuss what the biblical marriage and family should look like, as well as how to go about building a healthy, functional, and enjoyable marriage and family. FCS is taught by Dr. Del Tackett, the creator of the Truth Project. He is an absolutely remarkable man and his class is, so far, my favorite without a doubt! This class focuses on helping us to understand God's design for social order and the relationships between the social spheres, and essentially helping us to answer the question of "what is truth"? Finally, in GLS, we discuss the issues of gender and leadership and the relation between the two. We will be learning a lot about what God's Word says to us about men and women and their roles in family, church, and society. Sometimes we have open forums with our professors after class where can ask any questions we want for an hour. Thats always fun!
My Practicum is working with an organization called Northern Churches Care. It is an emergency crisis clinic that offers help with food, clothing vouchers, gas vouchers, rent, utility bills, and much more. To be honest, I wasnt thrilled with my placement when I received it and I still am not. I am trying really hard to be positive about it though, and am constantly praying that God would change my heart and use me at NCC despite my selfishness.
Each of the classes have been very interesting so far, and it is always neat to get to class each day and realize how much each previous class ties into the next ones. And I think that's exactly how God intended it!
If you know me well, you know how much I despise writing papers. For that reason, I have really enjoyed these classes, which are primarily based off of the readings we do each night. As I have talked about before, there is soooo much reading to do, and although I dont necessarily agree with everything I have read, it is definitely enjoyable and provides me with plenty of food for thought. That said, I have typed up our reading list for the semester below. It doesnt include the countless articles we have to read or the audio recordings we listen to (Bold=the books we actually had to buy). Here it is... Get ready...


CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW STUDIES
To Everyone An Answer: A Case for the Christian Worldview by Beckwith & Moreland
Faith Has Its Reasons: An Integrative Approach to Defending Christianity by Boa
Cross and Crescent: Responding to the Challenge of Islam by Chapman
Faith, Film, and Philosophy: Big Ideas on the Big Screen by Geivett & Speigel
Five Sacred Crossings: A Novel Approach To A Reasonable Faith by Hazen
Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Kreeft & Tacelli
The Abolition of Man by CS Lewis
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
God Is Back: How The Global Revival of Faith Is Changing the World by Micklethwait & Woolridge
Love Your God With All Your Mind by Moreland
The God Conversation: Using Stories and Illustrations to Explain Your Faith by Moreland
Eyes Wide Open by Romanowski
The Great Evangelical Disaster by Schaeffer
The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalog by Sire
Postmodernism 101: A First Course for the Curious Christian by White
MARRIAGE AND FAMILY STUDIES
Revolutionary Parenting by Barna
When I Get Married by Clark
Boundaries by Cloud & Townsend
The New Dare To Discipline by Dobson
The New Hide and Seek by Dobson
The New Love Must be Tough by Dobson
Love and Respect by Eggerichs
Safe Haven by Hart & Morris
Hooked: New Science On How Casual Sex Is Affecting Our Children by McIlhaney & McKissic Bush
Finding the Hero In Your Husband by Slattery
Guilt Free Motherhood by Slattery
Complete Guide to the First Five Years of Marriage by Swihart & Wooten
Sacred Marriage by Thomas
Sacred Parenting by Thomas
The Blessing: Giving the Gift of Unconditional Love and Acceptance by Trent & Smalley
The Case for Marriage by Waite & Gallagher
FAMILY, CHURCH, AND SOCIETY STUDIES
Life Together by Bonhoeffer
Roaring Lambs: A Gentle Plan To Radically Change Your World by Briner
Democracy in America (Vol. 1) by de Tocqueville
Marriage Under Fire by Dobson
Not Yours To Give by Ellis
Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers by Kavanaugh
Abortion: From Debate to Dialogue by Lee
Why You Cant Stay Silent: A Biblical Mandate to Shape Our Culture by Minnery
William Wilberforce: A Man Who Changed His Times by Pollock
Idols for Destruction by Schlossberg
How Christianity Saved the World by Schmidt
The Vision of the Anointed by Sowell
The Fathers Speak—For Life! by St. Benedict Center
Common Ground—Without Compromise: 25 Questions to Create Dialogue on Abortion by Wagner
GENDER AND LEADERSHIP STUDIES
Every Man’s Battle by Arterburn & Stoeker
Desires In Conflict by Dallas
Bringing Up Boys by Dobson
Beyond Appearances by Focus on the Family
The Feminine Mystique by Friedan
101 Frequently Asked Questions About Homosexuality by Haley
Ethics: Approaching Moral Decisions by Holmes
Hope, Help, and Healing for Eating Disorders by Jantz
Leading Change by Kotter
Christian Reflections on the Leadership Challenge by Kouzes & Posner
The Way of the Shepherd by Leman & Pentak
The Search for Significance by McGee
In The Name of Jesus by Nouwen
Feminism: Mystique or Mistake? by Passno
When Good Men Are Tempted by Perkins
Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood by Piper & Grudem
Spiritual Leadership by Sanders
Genesis In Space and Time: The Flow of Biblical History by Schaeffer

Soooo... wow. Thats A LOT of books. I havent read them all yet, and for some of them we only read specific sections. However, if you are interested in one of the topics I have talked about and want me to recommend a book, let me know! :)
Since I have already talked a little about social activities in my previous post, I'll skip that for now...but I do feel it necessary to say that I have found that the whole Institute experience, above all, is about learning what it might look like to truly live out the love of Christ in a way that is relevant to our culture today.
Before I leave ya for tonight, I thought Id share a few other thoughts besides just the logistics of FLI... On the second day of class, our matins time was based on 1 Corinthians 13 and 1 John 4:7. As I sat and thought I just began to write whatever streams of consciousness came to mind about these pretty common verses. I encourage you to read them and really think on them. Here's what I wrote, and thought it was worth sharing, although Im not promising it will make complete sense, as I am copying exactly what i wrote-- how I wrote it:
-God is Love- If God is in us, we should have Love- A choice to make... to keep that Love bottled up OR to let it be poured out into the lives of others...
-To keep that Love bottled up would be SELFISH- Love is not selfish- IS THERE REALLY A CHOICE?
-LOVE = HUMILITY/SELFISHNESS
-Love humbly. Love selflessly. Love joyfully. Love justly. Love relentlessly. Love without boundaries. Love like Christ. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.LOVE.

Last, I have always been told that whatever you take in, is what comes out of you. As I spend my semester I am finding that to be more and more true. One of our practices/traditions here at FLI is to recite the Sh'ma togthether each morning. The Sh'ma is part of the prayers that the Jewish community recites at their morning and evening prayers together. It is astounding, how even just making these words a part of your daily routine can totally change your outlook on how your day is going to go. It is my prayer that each of you would join me in beginning to truly live out the true meaning of the shema in every single moment of every single day. Be a world changer. Here it is below... (Hebrew scholars enjoy!):

Sh'ma Yisrae'al!

Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad

Ve'ahavta et Adonai Elohecha

Be'chol lava'cha

Uve'chol nafsch'cha

Uve'chol me'odecha

Ve'ahavta rayacha kamocha

Hear O Israel!

The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Love the Lord you God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your strength.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

Grace and Peace.