Odds And Ends, And Recent Happenings

Ok, this post is just sort of random stuff that's been happening in my life lately, and I thought I'd share it...

This is just something small that happened about a week ago, that reminded me that the Lord just likes to make us smile sometimes!
I have a keychain that a friend gave me for my birthday years ago, but it is probably my most treasured possession next to my Bible. It is a sturdy little metal cross with ivy engraved on it, and the words, "With God, all things are possible." I was getting ready for bed the other night about a week ago, and thinking about some things I'd like to see happen, but that seemed almost impossible. I flipped back the covers to crawl in, and there was that keychain, in the bed! "With God, all things are possible" My mind immediately jumped... maybe it would happen! Then, almost as soon as I thought that, this verse popped into my head, "...I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. ..." Of course, this is the Apostle Paul addressing the Athenians on Mars' Hill, but the timing was just so perfect, that it made me laugh out loud! I believe the Lord truly does have a sense of humor!

I've been working on a crocheted shawl for about two weeks now, and finally finished it Sunday! It didn't quite turn out how I thought it would, but it works, and was fun to make! Here are a couple of pictures of it:

Thanks to my friend W. for "modeling"!
If you want to try it yourself, click HERE for the pattern. Just a warning though, if you want the triangle to be very deep, you've got to make the beginning chain longer. I have a friend who made one out of the same yarn as the pattern calls for (I made mine out of maroon acrylic), and hers turned out BEAUTIFUL! She even wears it to church over a black top, and it looks so elegant!

Well, in about twenty hours my grandparents, Mom, Trissy, and I will be headed on a six-hour car ride to attend the wedding of one of my cousins! Trissy is going to be the 'bride's assistant", and I'm a photographer! Not the main one (I'm not THAT good LOL), but she (the bride, our cousin) liked some of the just personal pictures I've taken at other cousin's weddings, and she wants me to be sort of a 'candid photographer'. I'm really looking forward to it! The wedding's Saturday afternoon, we'll be staying for church Sunday, and come back on Monday. I hope it's not too hectic, 'cause I have classes early Tuesday morning! Oh, well, it'll all work out. :)

This past Saturday we (Dad, Mom, Trissy and me) went to an evangelism study being started at the church. Justice and another man in the church have been 'trained' to teach the material, and it's designed to teach how to share your faith in a non-confrontational but thought-provoking and loving way. Saturday was the all-day introduction, and now classes will be every Wednesday night starting Mar. 4th. My family, Oliver, Landon, two older ladies in the church, and Ashlyn ( I haven't told about her yet, but I'll try to soon) are the ones who are taking this class. I'm hoping it'll help me share my faith in college. We'll see how it goes.

Tonight's college Bible study, and I'm (of course ;) ) looking forward to that little boost. I still haven't told about last week, and it was about the best one we've had so far, I think. It was so good. Maybe I'll get a chance to tell about it, but with the trip and everything, I may not.

One last thing I thought some of you might enjoy: Hannah Paige is having a photography contest on her blog! The theme is "Color". I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of entries she has! Click HERE to find out more, or to enter!
I'm going to accomplish two things here at once :) This is my entry in her contest, and it's also a mystery picture:




Several of my blogging friends have done mystery pictures, and they have been alot of fun, so I thought maybe I'd try one! You have until next Thursday (a week!) to guess, mainly because I probably won't have much blogging time between now and
then :[ ...

Ok, I'm at the college and class is about t0 start, so I'd better go. Maybe I can come back later today :)

In the mean time, have a wonderful day, and Keep looking Up!

-Kyrie<><

Thurs. Night College Bible Study - the lesson

So anyway, the lesson was titled, "The Stress of Crisis" It was on suffering, reasons for suffering, and how we do, and should, react to it. Strange, but this topic has seemed to come up alot lately in different situations, conversations, and lessons at church:

In our Sunday School college class we are studying Appologetics - how to defend your faith. It has been an excellent and extremely challenging topic, spanning several months and requiring deep thinking (Bro. Dennis loves to challenge us to use our minds! So much of what's taught in churches now is so watered-down and shallow). Recently Bro. Dennis decided to have each student pick a controversial topic from a list he compiled, study it, do research, and then present what we found to the rest of the class. One of the young men had the topic "Why would a supposedly loving God allow or inflict suffering?" We ended up taking three weeks on this one, instead of just one. Some of the truths/points we discussed:

1) We (humans) deserve NOTHING from God!

2) We shouldn't ask, "Why am I having to go through suffering?" but instead, "Why am I given so many blessings?"

3) God allows and causes everything that happens, for a reason.

4) God will always get glory in everything, and if we choose, we can be privaleged to be the ones to give it to Him.

5) If we are saved and going through difficulties, He may be using those things to show His power in our lives.

I wish I could go into detail right now about all the different paths we took in these discussions and the verses we studied that led us to these deductions. Maybe someday I will.

But anyway, this Sun. School study is just one area where the subject of suffering and why God allows it has come up recently. In our lesson Thursday night, we continued with some of the above points, but also (since there were more of us, therefore more lives and experiences to give input) some new ones. Like:

1) Sometimes we are guilty of, perhaps subconsciously yet intentionally, prolonging our own suffering simply because our selfish nature enjoys the pity.

2) Often our suffering could be significantly alleviated if we would follow the Bible's advice when it says to share our burdens. We could often have our heartaches eased if we sought the help, advice, counsel, or just the understanding of a Christian brother or sister.

We talked about how the Lord gets glory out of everything, even when evil people accomplish great wickedness, and we just can't see how that could bring God glory. But the Bible says that even Pharaoh was allowed to rule over and persecute the children of Israel, so that His power might be revealed.

We went alot farther, but there is no way I can capture for you how deep we got into it, and what a blessing it was to be in the midst of a group of young people who had gathered just for the purpose of encouraging one another in the Word, and to learn more of God and His plan! I think I could almost say though, that this was about the best lesson I think we've had so far!

Thurs. Night College Bible Study - before the lesson

*I jotted this entry down on a piece of scratch paper 'cause I didn't have access to a computer at the time. So I'm putting the actual writing date at the beginning, but the post date is today's. In the future, if I've got to compose a post on paper before I can post it here, I will put the actual date of when I wrote it at the top of the post.*

Fri. Jan. 15 ~

So anyway, since it had been such a long time since we'd had a 'real' Bible study meeting as a group, everyone was really 'in top form' so to speak, and as everyone was arriving, the good humor and banter was going strong. Bro. Mike, Justice, Oliver, and Landon had all gone Monday to a three-day missions meeting about eight hours away, and were supposed to get back just in time for Bible study. They ended up being a little late, so as we waited on them, we were all just sitting around the long table "talking life", and just generally giving each other a good-natured hard time :D ! It was great! Trissy 'got' Bro. Dennis good at one point. He is such a jokester, and he's always waiting 'til she gets within hearing range and then he'll get his fake seriousness face on and then will start just really lamenting to whoever he was talking to, over the fact of how she's such a trouble maker and he can't get her to see how important it is to be respectful in Sunday School and all this... Trissy is about the most opposite of that you can imagine! But it's hilarious, and she loves it just as much as he does, she just hasn't always got a good comback ready. So anyway, last night we were just sitting around visiting, and she was going to ask him something, and so to address him she of course began, "Bro. Dennis..." Now, most, if not all, of the other young people just call him "Dennis", but we've always been taught to address adults (especially ones in positions of authority) as "Mr." or "Mrs." or, if it's a Christian man, as "Bro." But anyway, I guess most of the other kids just don't think about it. When Trissy said that, Camille (Bro. Mike's daughter) said sort of in a questioning voice, "Bro. Dennis?" and kind of gave Trissy a puzzled look. So Trissy decided that she would "get" him (she knew he was still listening with one ear, even with the other conversations going on at the same time) so she just piped right up and replied, "Well yeah, I've always tried to be respectful of old guys" Oh boy! everybody howled at that, 'cause they knew she had gotten him good! and that he would think of something to come back with... and it's a never-ending circle of friendly 'ribbing'.

This is getting off the subject just a little, but seriously, Bro. Dennis really has been such a blessing to my family in this church. He has such a heart of fun, but also of gold; and he knows so much about the Bible and how to defend your faith. He has taught Trissy and me so much just in this past year about what really matters in life, and that Christians can be CHRISTIANS (like Christ) without feeling like it's inappropriate to crack a smile or enjoy their Salvation!

So Bro. Mike, Oliver, Justice, and Landon finally got there and we got started on our lesson.

*I'll tell about it in my next post, Lord willing*

College Class AR Trip

Fri. Jan. 15 ~

Last night was, of course, our Thurs. night college Bible study class. It was SO great to get to be there again! It had been so long since we had had a 'regular' meeting, and to have it going again felt great! We hadn't met the Thurs. before Christmas, and the next Thurs. was the trip (more about that in a minute), then it was cold and icy last week, and Dad didn't think we should get out on the roads, so Trissy and I missed that one, and something came up the week before Christmas... So anyway, we hadn't met all together since about Thanksgiving, and we've been missing it!!


The 'trip' I mentioned above was one the class had been planning for quite a while, since sometime in the summer, that when it got colder, we would go to Arkansas to a Christian children's home there, and help them clear some land for a new dorm building. They didn't have the kind of money it would take to hire someone to come in and do it, and they were really needing another building for the kids. So we decided we could go and help them out, and consider it a sort of 'mission trip', since even though we weren't going to be involved in evangelism exactly, we would be helping these 'missionaries' who were sharing Christ's love with abandoned children. As it turned out though, Trissy and I didn't get to go after all, but neither did Archer or Tanner, so the group was kinda split up anyway. But from the stories the others were telling when they got back, it seemed like it really did them some good. They got alot of work done, and really seemed to get a blessing out of the 'get-away'. Oliver shared that he felt like, before he went on this trip, that his spiritual life was probably the lowest it's ever been. But to just get away from everything for a few days, to have time to spend in the Bible in the evenings, and to be around up-lifting friends really helped him get his eyes and focus back where they needed to be. There were similar stories from several that went. I can't help feeling that I'd been cheated just a little bit... But my first responsibility is to my parents, and I guess (no, I really know, it's just hard to admit it sometimes) that if they say I can't go, well, then, that's it.


The Lord has blessed in several strange ways after all from us not going though. I won't go all into detail, but let's just say that when you choose to be satisfied with the way things work out, and just let Him handle the details, things will turn out for the best.