God is Love

"Love...always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

1 Corinthians 13:7

Beware of the Butt Spider

http://www.snopes.com/horrors/insects/telamonia.asp

Life in a couple of years...

In a couple of years I want a St. Bernard puppy. I know they don't stay little for long, in fact they get huge, but isn't he adorable!

"Give Me Your Eyes"

I am obviously not a great blogger but I decided that I want to share a little bit about what God is teaching me and doing in my life.  First, a little bit about me.  Ever since I was little I have loved the outdoors and adventure. I have always dreamed about living on a ranch in the middle of nowhere with tons of horses or going overseas and living in a remote village.  I have never wanted to live in a big city. In fact, I always thought that would be awful.  I have heard it said that people are moving to the cities, and that is where we need to be sending missionaries to reach people.  This has never convinced me.  Others can go to the cities but not me. never.  However, a couple of months ago at church the praise band played "Give Me Your Eyes" by Brandon Heath with a video of people in the city in the background.  God broke my heart.  Sometimes I am a shy person and reserved when it comes to showing my emotions or talking to other people, but I also love people and their stories.  I realized through this song that God was giving me a little inkling of a desire and a passion for the city.  I never expected this.  Of course I would still love to live on a ranch or somewhere away from the city.  I would love to live in a different country for a little bit and learn more about their culture, preferably in a village type setting.  But I would also be okay if God sent me to the city.  I am now ready to go wherever God sends me.  The cool part is I am thinking about applying to work for an organization like World Vision when I graduate from college.  I want to do finances for them, which could place me in a large city, but could also let me travel.  I am just excited to go wherever God wants me and I hope that I always follow his will for my life.

Traverse City Summer Project

I have never really kept a blog before...I am bad enough about writing in a journal.  But I want to record some of my cool experiences and just how awesome, mighty, and faithful God is on this summer project and then hopefully I will keep writing even after summer project is over.  God has already blessed me more than I could have ever imagined coming into this project.  I have been here in Traverse City for a week now.  First of all God watched over me and got me to Traverse City safely and without getting lost.  I normally get lost, especially when I am driving by myself.  Second of all God has put amazing people in my life and has blessed me with friends that I am sure will be my friends for a lifetime.  However, most of all I want to praise God for giving two of my friends and I a job at Sbarros in the mall.  This might seem like a little thing but with the schedule we have to work around, its not.  We have to be done with work at 5 pm, we can't work on Sundays, and we have to have half of another day off.  When my two friends and I went to apply to Sbarros the manager set us up with an interview the next day.  All three of us went to the interview and all three of us got jobs.  Thats not the cool part.  The manager told us she never does interviews right away but she felt something telling her to interview us.  (That something HAD to be God!!)  Also she told us that she would never hire anyone that couldnt work after 5 or on Sundays, but she loved our personalities and she wanted to make it work as best as possible.  (GOD!!!)  But then the bad news, she could only schedule us each for 14 hours a week...and we need at least 25.  So we asked her if two of us could just work and the two could take the third person's extra hours.  She told us she really wanted all three of us to work.  So she called us back a little later and she had worked the schedule out so Jenna could have close to 40 hours (because Jenna really needs 40 hours :)  )  and Heather and I could have 25 hours.  Praise God!!  I do not know how she could go from having each of us work 14 hours to two of us working 25 and another working 40, but it had to be God.  God is so faithful and he wanted the three of us working at Sbarros for a reason.  Heather already had a chance to talk to our boss about spirituality and she seems really open to hearing more about Jesus Christ.  I think this is going to be an awesome opportunity and I am looking forward to meeting my other co-workers when I start work next Monday :)  Ok well this was really long and drawn out, but I am not a blogger so it will have to do.

Welcome Marissa

Hi Marissa. This blog is my gift to you for summer project. I hope you find it useful for documenting your memories and reflecting on what God is teaching you this summer in Traverse City and beyond.

"Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight."

[1 Peter 3:3-4]

~brad.

[ps. Feel free to delete this post if you want.]