Update #3 from #kaleo12!

First of all, I can’t believe that two weeks has passed since my last blog!  Sorry it has taken me this long to send an update, so much has happened at the project!  Instead of trying to go day by day (because that would make a pretty long blog), this time I’ll give you a few highlights of the past few weeks!

1. D-Group weekend

The purpose of D-Group weekend is for every D-Group to go on an adventure somewhere away from Gulf Shores!  A few of the popular places for groups to go are Destin, Savannah, or Atlanta, but naturally our group decided to break the mold for our weekend.  The girls in the group each made a few suggestions, but I decided it would be more fun to plan the trip and surprise them with the details as the weekend progressed!  We set out driving west Friday evening, and they finally realized that we were headed to New Orleans when we crossed the Louisiana state line!  The first night, we checked into our hotel room and got some (very) much needed sleep.  That next morning, I had planned on taking them on a swamp tour that morning, but a tropical depression brought a ton a rain to the entire gulf, so we had to reroute our plans!  We discovered a cute little pizza restaurant and went searching for a big, historic church to get some extended time with God. 

After driving around in the rain for a while, we finally decided to try out a Catholic church close to the French Quarter that looked pretty promising.  As we walked in, we were greeted by a nice Hispanic man with a name tag on, and we couldn’t help but think that was a little strange given that mass was still 3 hours away.  When we sat down in a back pew, we realized that the entire church was filled with many nice Hispanic men, and the priest kindly approached us and informed us that they were having their Spanish men’s retreat!  He so graciously offered us the side chapel to get some un-interrupted time with God. We knew that this would just be the beginning of a hilarious weekend!

We found our way to Bourbon Street and spent some time just walking in silence down the street taking in the atmosphere.  We explored Royal Street, and then decided that we would challenge ourselves by having spiritual conversations with people on Bourbon Street like we would back on the beach in Gulf Shores.  After some interesting conversations, we headed back to the hotel and went out for some delicious creole food that night and after topping it off with ice cream, we returned to the hotel and finished a great day with an episode of “Swamp People” to go with our culture-filled day!

Sunday morning we went to a contemporary church called Celebrations and headed back east through a huge rainstorm!  On the way home, Jordan wrote a song so we would never forget our incredible weekend together!

    2. Chopping off our hair

   This one only applies to Libby and I, although the entire group was present for the show. The past few weeks, Libby and I have been scheming about what it would be like to cut off several inches of our hair, and up until D-Group weekend we had never taken action on making it happen. On the way to pick Melat up from the airport, we had a sudden burst of courage when we saw a "Sports Cuts" by the Starbucks we were headed to. We knew that if we didn't do this spontaneously, we would never get it done, so that afternoon Libby lost about 10 inches and I lost 6 of our beautiful long locks! The best part was, Sports Clips usually only does men's hair, so they couldn't even style it for us. We were happy about the deal we got and were glad we brought along some hairspray and product in the car!

     3.    Kennon Vaughn (guest speaker)

Last week, we welcomed Pastor Kennon Vaughn from Memphis to our project to teach us more about Jesus’ heart for spiritual multiplication and how we can implement this in our lives. It was cool to think about all of the Biblical examples of men and women pouring into another individual’s life until they were ready to “disciple” someone else. Even applying this principle to my own life, I would have definitely not developed many of the deep convictions for sharing my faith regularly and making continual growth a priority if not for Bethany’s guidance in my life over the past few years! Kennon urged us not to make having our own disciples our god, but to intensely follow Christ like the hardworking farmer, devoted soldier, and competitive athlete in 2 Timothy 2 and we will get to see other’s lives impacted through our deep personal relationship with Christ.  Jordan, Libby, Cherie, Melat, and I definitely talked about Kennon’s remarks for days after the week was over.  

    4.    Energy Drinks

On our second training over inductive Bible study, I knew we could all use a little extra motivation to focus on some intense (but awesome) content, so I surprised the girls with their favorite energy drinks (notice Libby’s Sprite- she doesn’t drink pop)!  It was definitely easier for us to get more excited about what we were learning that night!

    5.    World Prayer

One of the biggest highlights of our weekly activities in our group is Tuesday night world prayer!  Each week after Bible study, we go to a different room in the StayBridge and pray for a specific group or religion in the world.  The past three weeks, we have been to China, Hindu, and International Students world prayer rooms.  Our favorite part is getting to learn more specific things we can pray for, and also knowing that the hour we spend trusting big things to God will be worth it as he answers our prayers!  It’s really cool to hear stories from older people at the project about how many of the people they spent their first summer or two praying with became the answers to many of their prayers as God had sent them to these places! We continually ask God to let our lives be used to impact these groups while we’re still in college and beyond!

   6.     Fire Alarm

Leave it to our group to be the first of Kaleo to set off our fire alarm!  Thanks to the dishwasher melting a plastic-handled spoon, it took us, StayBridge staff, and Heath 30 minutes to figure out how to turn it off!

   7.     Seeing the Hull’s

So this one is more of a personal highlight... but I was so excited to get to see my Aunt Susan, Uncle Wayne, and cousins Trevor, Haleigh, and Callie!  They graciously took me out for dinner, ice cream, and a fun evening at the park while they were here!  They also got to experience a TNT night with our group, which was a blast! Thanks for all of your love and support!

   8.     Relationships Conference

Who knew this would be a highlight for me? Actually, even though none of us girls are focused on relationships with guys at this season of our life, the relationships conference was a huge blessing in each of our lives.  We welcomed David and Lisa Burns, who are on staff with Campus Outreach in Indiana to speak on fellowship and also a godly perspective on singleness, dating, and marriage.  David actually led our StuMo campus director Joel to Christ while in college and has discipled him over the years, so it was really cool to welcome a very monumental individual in our ministry into the project! Some of the biggest highlights from the weekend were looking at developing deep, lasting friendships with other girls that would last for a lifetime, learning how to view our singleness as a gift rather than a waiting period, and that the purpose of dating and marriage is to make us even more like Christ! After staying focused all weekend, we finished off Saturday night in true Kansas style with a Hoedown Throwdown (dance!)

These are just a few of the many adventures of room 208 during the past few weeks! Here are a few things we would love your partnership in prayer with:

-That our group would develop deep friendships that will push us closer to Christ much longer than this summer.

-That we would each put in the discipline necessary to develop a deep walk with Christ so we can pour into others.

-That we would continually have application on our hearts so we can best prepare for maximum impact when we return to campus in the fall in the places that each of us will live.

(Specifically, Jordan, Libby, and I will live in Alpha Xi Delta Sorority, Cherie will live in West Hall, and Melat will live off campus!)

-That God would continue to develop our hearts for the world!

Thanks for your continual support and prayers! Until next time!

Week #2 Adventures

Week #2 adventures at #kaleo12 were characterized by fire, childhood, and nail polish! (Further explanations below) We focused on what it looks like to know God on a deeper level and surrender to His sufficiency. Check it out:

Day #7

Inductive Bible Study method changes lives. (Seriously, it definitely changed mine!) Monday night we learned the basics of the first step: Observation. Reactions to this new challenge in our group varied from “Holy cow, where has this been all my life?!?!” to “Why would you torture us like this, Sara?”, but the good new is that our group has adjusted very well and they are doing a phenomenal job tearing apart 1 Thessalonians 1 and learning so many new things!  So thankful for such a teachable, positive group to be encouraged by!

Day #8

Tuesday nights at the project are called “D-Group Nights,” which consist of cooking dinner together and later discussing our weekly 1 Thessalonians study and a chapter in the book “Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be.”  This week we enjoyed creating a Facebook profile page for Paul and the Thessalonians with the information we found in our 1 Thessalonians Book Overview, as well as writing down our insufficiencies and burning them right here in our room! The good news is: we didn’t even set off the fire alarm!

Day #9 

We have a little bit of free time on Wednesdays nights, and occasionally a guy’s group will invite a girl’s group over for dinner or dessert to chill for the night! This week we got to spend time with not one, but two guy’s groups! After work, we went over to Collin, Bobby, Caleb, Taylor, and Corey’s room, where they handed us delicious cupcakes to finish our dinner off with. These cupcakes actually had pieces of paper hidden in them that said, “Will you go on a group date with us?”, but I apparently didn’t get the memo and almost ate the paper in mine! Whoops! Later on, our group hung out with Andrew, Chris, Glen, and Tim and shared yogurt parfaits while we chatted about life, Harry Potter, and Kaleo. It is so much fun to hear what unique things other people at the project are learning too!

Day #10

Thursday night we attended TNT (Thursday Night Talk), which is a lot like StuMo weekly meetings back on campus.This week we talked about “Knowing God Deeper,” which outlined the difference between having knowledge of God and actually knowing him on a continual deeper level.  One of my favorite quotes of the night was: “You are as close to God as you want to be,” because it really describes the fact that the more you pursue God and strive to grow closer to him through studying the Bible, praying, and learning from others, the more you will grow! After a great talk, we hit up TCBY for some ice cream and came back to our room and took some crazy pictures together!

Day #11

After the last day of work for the week, we returned to the Staybridge and prepared to go on a group date with only the instruction of “be prepared to return to your childhood.” The guys took us out to a beautiful park next to the beach with a pier and a playground, where we made our own pizzas on the grill, drank juice boxes, colored, and played lava tag on the playground, all the while chatting about our lives! It was so cool to hear about what other people are learning at Kaleo and how they plan on applying it next semester back on campus!

Day #12

Saturday we started the morning off with spiritual leadership training, followed by an afternoon at the beach talking to the tons of people we met there about Jesus!  We had a relaxing evening complete with a Chick-fil-a run with Alyson, Hilary, Danielle, Stephanie, and Katelyn’s group, followed by a Disney movie and polish night back in the 208. 

I can’t speak entirely for the other girls in my group, but I know that God has already shown me even more how fulfilling life is when we rely more and more on his sufficiency and desire to be faithful with what he has entrusted with us!  I can’t wait to continue sharing what incredible things he is doing on our lives here in Gulf Shores!

Here are a few prayer requests for the week:

-That we would rely on God’s sufficiency in every circumstance.

-That God will comfort Melat after the loss of a great friend and use this for His glory.

-Focus on what we are learning and perseverance to continue going “all in.”

-That we would grow our hearts for unreached places in the world as we pray for them.

Thanks for your partnership in our life-changing summer!

Hello from beautiful Gulf Shores!  Welcome to my very first blogging adventure of the #summerofourlives! I’m super excited to keep you posted on what big things God is doing in and through our lives throughout the summer.  First of all, before I go into detail about what the first few days have been like around here, here are a few things ya’ll (I’m trying to further develop my southern accent) should know about Kaleo:

-Brief Description: Kaleo is a 9-week leadership discipleship summer program through the campus ministry organization Student Mobilization.  Basically what that means is we move to Gulf Shores, Alabama and spend a summer in the sun learning how to deepen our walk with God through Bible study, prayer, time with the people around us, and sharing it with others!  Talk about an ideal summer!

-We live at Staybridge Suites, an extended stay hotel only a few miles from the beach. It’s legit.  

-We’re also put with 3-4 other girls in “D-Groups” (which stand for discipleship groups), and I’m lucky enough kick it this summer with Jordan Priddle, Libby Steinboch, Cherie Nelson, and Melat Dereje!

-We land a full time job while we’re here at a variety of the gracious businesses around Gulf Shores.  Our D-Group is working at places varying from Chick-fl-a to Publix (a grocery store) to Alvin’s Island (a souvenir shop),  and Ann Taylor Loft!

-When we’re not working, we spend time learning how to study the Bible, develop a steady prayer life, share our faith with others, and learn from older people in the faith!  We also make time for lots of fun with socials, group dates, and the random shenanigans we get into every day together! More to come on our specific schedule in a later blog!

So now that you know a little more about Kaleo, let me tell you about my first few weeks in Gulf Shores!  I joined a carpool of 5 other d-group leaders in Springfield, MO to being our 2-day trek to Alabama. We stopped for the night in Memphis and stayed with the Cummins, an awesome couple who financially support some KU StuMo staff members. As soon as we pulled up to the StayBridge the next day, the team leaders were standing by the side of the road cheering and holding signs to welcome us to Kaleo 2012, and from that moment, I knew that we were in for the summer of our lives! D-Group leaders, team leaders, and staff spent the next few days learning how we could make the most of our summer by setting ourselves and our friends who would be in our d-groups up for maximum success.  

One of my personal highlights from preparation week was getting to spend time learning from the older, much wiser people around me.  It was so cool to get lots of quality time with the other girls on my team and spend hours hearing how they created beneficial traditions, consciously set a Christ-like example, and relied on God’s sufficiency to lead them through the summer. What an encouragement the women around me have been, and will continue to be!

After a few days of training, the most exciting day yet was here: the day that the participants arrived!  I think there was more anticipation among the D-Group leaders and staff than sorority bid day back on campus! I was so excited to see Melat, Jordan, Libby, and Cherie, I couldn’t help but run after the car that carried several members of my group as they parked! 

After everyone was settled, we began discussing what our summer will look like together.  One of the traditions we decided to set from the very beginning was to take a daily picture to document the #summerofourlives!  In this blog, I will use those pictures to walk you through our summer adventures! Here goes...

Day #1

Our very first picture as a D-Group! Note the mountain of bags around us...

Day #2

Wednesday night we were challenged by an incredible talk at TNT (Thursday night talks...they’re usually on Thursdays) about making the most of our summer by “throwing off everything that hinders...” (Hebrews 12) so we can freely run the race and pursue God with everything we have. We also got to see Xavess, one of Cherie and I's friends from McDonald's last summer!

Day #3

After our first day of work, we all had to unwind at “The Hangout” (a restaurant by the beach) and the beach! No one made it home without being tackled in the sand at least once... (Jordan made sure of this)

Day #4

I know what you’re thinking...We actually had a reason for dressing up like we were stuck in the 80’s on Friday!  Our first social “Kaleo Kraze” was a costume contest where we had secret themes that matched another group-- ours was 80’s and we were matched with a radical guy’s D-Group.

Day #5

Saturday’s in Gulf Shores are some of my favorite times throughout the summer! We spent the morning/early afternoon in spiritual leadership training all about how we can share our faith with others.  After lunch, we paired up and went out on the beaches to talk to people and share with them!  This time was definitely terrifying my first time doing it last summer, but God has significantly blessed my life through seeing how much people actually love talking about spiritual things and seeing lives change right there on the beach! 

After a quick nap...

We invited Jessilyn’s D-Group (Jessilyn, Bailey, Elizabeth, and Cassandra) over for Br-inner (breakfast for dinner) Saturday evening.  The evening consisted of much chatting, giggling, a punked picture, and even a concert by Cherie and Jordan. It’s a good thing Jessilyn’s group are such good sports about our goofing around!

Day #6

Another cool aspect of Kaleo is the opportunity to get plugged in to one of the fabulous local churches in the Gulf Shores/ Foley area.  We have the privilege of attending Liberty Church in Foley.  We absolutely loved the super contemporary worship and upbeat congregation who greeted us with hugs at the door!  After church, we took advantage of the beach only a few miles away for the afternoon and soaked up the sun.

It is hard to believe that we have already been here for an entire week, yet it seems like our D-Group has known each other for much longer than a week!  If this week is a preview for the rest of the summer, we are definitely in store for some life-changing experiences and an incredible bond as a D-Group.  

Each week, I will include a few prayer requests for our group, the project, myself, and K-State.  We would love to include you in our journey through the incredible support of prayer!  Here are a few things to be praying for...

-That we would have a clear view of the gospel’s impact on our lives every day and be motivated by that knowledge.

-A positive attitude, perseverance, and the opportunity to share our faith with those around us at our jobs.

-Continued unity as a group and vulnerability with each other.

-That what we learn will become ingrained in our walks with Christ for the rest of our lives, not just routine for this summer.

-Pray that God will let what we learn impact our friends back on campus in the fall. 

Until next week!

The Best Identity

When my friends aren’t calling me “Schiffdeck” or “Young Pup,” my nickname is “Babygirl.” I’ll admit it: I have a thing for rap music. This might come as a surprise to most, considering I look nothing like your typical hardcore rapper. Keep in mind: looks are deceiving. In fact, my skills rival Lil’ Wayne, depending on how much I practice. I recently discovered the absolute best thing since sliced bread in the world of rap music: Lecrae. No longer do I have to worry about selecting the “clean” version of a specific song, thanks Lecrae’s status as a Christian rapper. His songs are filled with uplifting messages about missions, the gospel, and my personal favorite, our identity. In the song “Identity,” the chorus goes a little something like this:
I’m not the shoes I wear.
I’m not the clothes I buy.
I’m not the house I live in.
I’m not the car I drive.
I’m not the job I work.
You can’t define my worth,
by nothing on God’s green earth.
My identity is found in Christ, found in Christ.
(here’s the entire song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7W4I0tQZps)

Our identity is a constant worry for most people. We want to participate in the “right” things, hang out with the “right” people, and create the “right” legacy so we will never be forgotten. Our identities are quickly made into what we spend our time doing. As an example, some of my identities might be an “AZD member,” “agricultural education major,” or “Alyson’s dorky friend.” As awesome as those things are, we can never be fully satisfied with an identity because that doesn’t encompass all of our lives.

In fact, who hasn’t felt some frustration from their identity? My teammate Johanna and I were so incredibly excited to serve as state FFA officers and loved that part of our identity, however, we were just talking the other day about how frustrating it is when others don’t see past that one part of our life into the other things that make us unique. Everyone can relate to the frustration of “identity confusion,” whether it is confusion about someone else’s identity, or even your own.

The fact of the matter is, there is only one identity that we can have that is perfect, all-encompassing, and eternal. But the catch is: this identity is not found in a career, organization, or even group of friends. Going back to my boy Lecrae’s widom: this identity is found in Christ.

Right now you’re asking, “How on earth can we identify ourselves with Christ? We’re imperfect humans!” You’re exactly right. On our own, our identities are far from perfect, even if we strive for “good” qualities. An identity that is is Christ is found through complete submission of our lives to Him. An individual whose identity is in Christ has a personal relationship with Him and through that relationship adapts His character!

Check it out-- In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul describes this identity as “a new creation. The old is completely gone, and the new has come.”

The book of Ephesians is full of descriptions of our “new identity.” Eph. 4:22-23 says that “you were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self... and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” So according to this verse, we can be like GOD! That’s as classy of an identity as we can possibly get!

There are countless other places in the Bible that point out all of the qualities of our “new identity.” Here are just a few:

I am God’s Child... (John 1:12- “... to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God.”)

I am powerful, loving, and disciplined... (2 Timothy 1:7- “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love, and self-discipline.”)

I am secure... (Ephesians 2:20- “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.”)

I have peace... (Ephesians 2:14- “For he himself is our peace...”)

More qualities of our identity can be found here: (http://www.persevering.org/perceiv.html)

“I’m not the clothes I wear, I’m not the car I drive...” Whatever it is we are currently known for, we can all find our identities in Christ if we surrender our lives to him. The rewards of this identity include the short-term benefits of peace, a purpose in life, and a great character, but the eternal reward is that everlasting relationship with our Savior, which is infinitely priceless. If you haven’t already found your identity in Christ, I encourage you to pursue the most rewarding identity imaginable!

A Coke and His Composure

Until Thursday, I was pretty sure that I had been completely desensitized from most hurtful words. #epicfail. Side note…word of wisdom for any fast food purchaser (no worries, I will compile more of these at the end of the summer): never, ever be mean to the drive-thru girl for fun. Not nice. So there I was, just chilling in the back drive-thru, minding my own business and attempting to decipher the noise coming through my headset enough to take orders, and all of the sudden THEY pull up.

After the “Can I take your order?” was stated, it began like a normal order. I heard the man on the other end say that he wanted a #10 with a diet coke, then it sounded like the microphone was submerged in water. I asked him to clarify, and changed the order to fit what I thought he had said. Then he asked to take off the initial item on his order, and asked to put it back on again. Needless to say, I was very confused. The volume of his voice increased as he began shooting demands my way. Every time I pushed a button on the screen, he yelled, “No!” quickly correcting me. My face was probably a very nice bright shade of pink at this point, because I was so incredibly frustrated. Regardless, I said a quick prayer for patience and poise. After asking him to repeat his entire order because I had absolutely no idea what he currently wanted, he freaked out even more. Being a people-pleaser, I have never actually had someone cuss me out. Well, I can definitely check that one off my bucket list. My new friend yelled words I have never heard before all the way up to my window, not even finishing his order. Thankfully, I managed to stay calm and professional during the entire fiasco.

I quickly called back one of my guy friends to handle this out-of-control guy, partly because I was fearful of being shanked, and partly because I was nearly in tears. Thankfully, Ray Ray efficiently handled the situation. Good thing my patience and peace did not come from my own power, or they might have run out very quickly.

As much as I like to sarcastically describe the situations in my life, I can honestly say that this was one of most tempting times this summer to lose control of my emotions. When people are attempting to push you over your limits, you can do one of two things:

1. Give in

2. Ask for help

It’s that simple. Believe me, self-control is not the easiest thing to will ourselves to have in any light. Especially when everything inside of you is screaming to panic. Let’s face it, to get anxious about the situation at hand seems like the go-to response. That is why it is so important to reach out for help. When we ask, God provides peace.

“Do be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” –Phillippians 4:6-7

AKA—Instead of getting upset, ask God for help in any situation. He will give you his peace that gives you a new way to look at life, and will guard you from further hurt.

This is not just a little dash of peace to make things easier, he follows this up with a huge band-aid for our hearts to guard them from further worry and anxiety. The power of prayer is one thing in life that is truly amazing.

So giving me the will power to stay calm with a bully in the drive-thru is not exactly the biggest miracle God has performed. But this just goes to show that he truly cares about every single thing that makes us tick. He is waiting for us to ASK him for help so he can give us this slice of his character.

Hopefully you don’t have people yelling at you this summer, but you may be caught in the midst of a stressful summer job or class. Instead of panicking when things get crazy, I challenge you to simply ask for His help and be amazed by how quickly he can transform your life.

McQuestion: Are you asking God for His peace in stressful situations?

Striving for the McPossible

In my entire life, I have never encountered anything nearly as intense as the lunch rush at McDonalds. This situation can only be described with the crazy mental pictures of drinks pouring everywhere, fries being shoved every which way, and angry customers who don’t understand that the dilemma at hand was created by their own lack of communication. As the front drive thru food-shover (my self-proclaimed title), I am usually the first one to take the blame for a slow moving line of cars. As much as I’d like to, sometimes it just does not seem like I can move fast enough. The biggest problem is, I also receive negative feedback if I miss a drink or forget to grab the second bag for the order. In the midst of the chaos, my manager Miss Barbara summed up the grand purpose of the McDonald’s drive thru. “We are striving to operate at 100% efficiency and 100% speed.” Seemed like a lose-lose situation to me.

The front drive thru is an art. Perfection is attainable for a certain amount of time, but it is still a constant struggle to keep up a fast pace while being diligent to double check every single order. Sometimes opposite traits aren’t so difficult to obtain after all when you are striving for total excellence instead of in each area. During a life chat, I discovered another situation in which we are asked to accomplish two things that seem so very different:

1. Humility:

Adjective: A modest or low estimate of one’s own importance

2. Confidence:

Noun: The feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something

Life confuses me. As we go through high school and college, we place a huge emphasis on building one’s confidence, specifically on ourselves. We love to preach the importance of “believing in yourself,” and “trusting yourself,” and other various cheesy things. At a first glance, it is easy to assume that the more confidence you have in yourself, the easier things are going to be and the more success you will experience. But let’s face the facts, it seems like the more chips you accumulate on the confidence board, the more you lose in the game of humility. The confidence we preach about is shallow and can be easily taken away from us.

So we also like to talk about this cool thing called humility. We hear all the time that “we should be humble,” never taking credit for the awesome things in our lives or “assume we are better than another person.” Confidence and humility seem to contradict each other.

In my own life, it seems like the more confidence I have built over the years, the harder and harder it is to not have pride in everything I have invested my time and energy in building up. My problem was that I connected the words confidence with the word pride. Confidence is different from the word pride in the fact that confidence has a deeper root than just oneself, because it is connected to a deeper purpose. In the same way, my view of “humility” was the same as of “shyness.” The truth is, “humility” is simply a humbling of ourselves that is caused by a greater purpose in our lives. Confidence and humility are one in the same in that they both describe how we view the purpose of our lives, and especially how we view the greatness of our Creator. We can be both confident in the faithfulness and ultimate purpose of Christ, and humbled by his perfection.

Connectedness (connecting the dots between different situations in my life and others) may be one of my top strengths, but there it is no stretch to make the connection between this week’s look at 2 Corinthians and Paul’s view of his creator.

“Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God. We have done so not according to worldly wisdom, but according to God’s grace.” --2 Corinthians 1:12

Paul has full confidence in his actions because they were for the purpose of glorifying God by teaching and rebuking the Corinthians. He uses the word “boast” because God’s presence in our lives and His work through us is truly the only thing we can boast about, because nothing else is substantial enough. He is also humbled by this and realizes that he has no part of his, and in fact, all of the earthly things that surround him (worldly wisdom) are separate. He is so focused on God that he does not even see the presence of his talents and abilities and the world in the picture.

Paul knew that our lives are not our own. Every talent, ability, and even life situation we are blessed enough to experience and use was given to us. Since we have nothing, we have nothing to be confident or try to be humble about. Functioning on opposites is difficult, but easy when we can see the situation from a more encompassing point of view. This week, I challenge you to make confidence and humility in your life one of the same.

McQuestion: Are you functioning on the 100/100 vision in your life? Or is one side (confidence or humility) heavier than the other?

(The Real) Panda Express

“I don’t need to order anything, but I was just wondering if you have the panda toy?”-the most intriguing inquiry of the day at the drive thru from a very desperate mom. While I searched through the already pre-packed Happy Meals bags for the toy she was on the hunt for, she informed me that she had tried every single McDonald’s from Tennessee to Gulf Shores for this toy. Her daughter had all of the toys but the panda, and she would not, could not, rest until she completed her collection. Thankfully, our McDonald's was the end of their unique journey, and the Mickey D’s-toy-collecting little girl went home happy as a clam.

Funny thing is, I still remember my own Mom pulling this kind of stunt at McDonald’s many, many years ago. I also recall a story in which my Dad would ride his motorcycle over to a Wendy’s 20 miles away every week to buy my Mom a new Smurf’s collectable glass. Love makes parents/people do some pretty crazy things.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!” -1 John 3:1a

Our parent’s love is incredible, but even their Happy Meal toy-searching love looks tiny in comparison to God’s love for us. In fact, he loved us so much that he gave up his only son to die for each and every one of our sins. Mom and Dad love us so incredibly much, and it is mind-blowing to think about that there is a love greater than even that.

Give up perfect son > Happy Meals toys.

McQuestion 3: Will you accept a love far immeasurable than people are capable of?