Sitting here, basking in the glory of the Chargers taking the title to the AFC West (and therefore a trip to the playoffs) by routing the Broncos by more than 20 points. Man... this is nice.
But it has also caused me to reflect. I'm very happy right now, and I can do nothing but praise God for all of the wonderful gifts He has given me recently.
First off, a trip home to see my parents. How fortunate am I! Wonderful that in today's economy, we are comfortable and able to bring me (and my brother) to North Carolina for a family celebration.
Secondly, a good support system. The longer I am in Miami, the longer I am content with where I am and who I'm with. From providing me with a supportive boss and wonderful site director, to a growing network of friends, to a new man in my life, I'm really being blessed with wonderful relationships that are aiding me in my continuing search for human interaction. I'm also becoming more comfortable in my position, my place, and more.
Thirdly, a great home to live in. And I don't just mean the building. My housemates are increasingly wonderful people, the more I get to know them. I'm inspired by them and encouraged by them.
These are really only the smallest of samples of ways that God has blessed me, but right now, those are the ones I'm feeling the most. (That, and, of course, Jesus Christ himself.)
I'd like to encourage all of you to take the time to really sit down and think about what blessings God has given to you. God is over-generous in His gifts and sometimes we are so blinded by our own ideas that we don't see the wonderful things God has provided. So please stop, look around, and realize where you are blessed. I know I am.
Happy Holidays to all of you! I hope it was a rewarding and contented season.
I'm heading home to Florida on Tuesday. Safe travels to all of us!
Cheers,
Em
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Spiritually Charged
So I'm sitting here, cheering on my Chargers (and the Dolphins as well, of course) and listening to my roommates play a game together. It's been a good week and I'm really happy right now.
Saturday was an amazing day. I woke up bright and early (530 am!) and put a casserole in the oven. It was a breakfast casserole and at 7am, members of our over-18 band, Toolbox, came over for some coffee, breakfast and then an early departure. We left for a local prison and played a concert there. This was an amazing experience. The prison we went to is the reception center, so it's where all male prisoners go at the beginning of their sentence before they get placed in their permanent facility. It's a very interesting environment. First off, most of the men in there are probably not in a very good place mentally. They are either in jail for the first time and facing all the emotions that we could imagine, or they are having whatever self view of themselves being reinforced by yet another trip to custody. It's a rough mental environment. We even walked through a room with a mass of inmates, all not allowed to talk. It was a silent room. That was tough to see.
But when we got to our location and set up and the inmates started to come forward, it was amazing! The concert was great and so many of the inmates were appreciative. Many of them sat and listened to us even though they didn't need to at all. They were under no obligation to hear our message. There were even inmates from another recreation area all pressed against the fence into the section we were playing so they could hear our music.
Some of them said "God bless" and "thank you" to us when we finished. The looks on their faces were amazing and some of then danced and raised their hands to the music. How wonderful it was!
I've been on a spiritual high since then... how great it was. Church on Saturday night was again, wonderful. I loved it.
Then last night, my housemates and I had one of our classic dance parties, accompanied by home-baked treats and cheap champagne. It was pretty fun. :)
So things are pretty good around here right now. Tuesday, I go home to North Carolina for a week to celebrate Christmas. I get to see my parents, my brother, my cats and snow. Should be a great time and I'm very excited.
I hope all of you have a really wonderful Christmas. I'm so excited about the promise of our savior. Let's not forget Jesus this Christmas!
That's all for now... cheers!
Em
Saturday was an amazing day. I woke up bright and early (530 am!) and put a casserole in the oven. It was a breakfast casserole and at 7am, members of our over-18 band, Toolbox, came over for some coffee, breakfast and then an early departure. We left for a local prison and played a concert there. This was an amazing experience. The prison we went to is the reception center, so it's where all male prisoners go at the beginning of their sentence before they get placed in their permanent facility. It's a very interesting environment. First off, most of the men in there are probably not in a very good place mentally. They are either in jail for the first time and facing all the emotions that we could imagine, or they are having whatever self view of themselves being reinforced by yet another trip to custody. It's a rough mental environment. We even walked through a room with a mass of inmates, all not allowed to talk. It was a silent room. That was tough to see.
But when we got to our location and set up and the inmates started to come forward, it was amazing! The concert was great and so many of the inmates were appreciative. Many of them sat and listened to us even though they didn't need to at all. They were under no obligation to hear our message. There were even inmates from another recreation area all pressed against the fence into the section we were playing so they could hear our music.
Some of them said "God bless" and "thank you" to us when we finished. The looks on their faces were amazing and some of then danced and raised their hands to the music. How wonderful it was!
I've been on a spiritual high since then... how great it was. Church on Saturday night was again, wonderful. I loved it.
Then last night, my housemates and I had one of our classic dance parties, accompanied by home-baked treats and cheap champagne. It was pretty fun. :)
So things are pretty good around here right now. Tuesday, I go home to North Carolina for a week to celebrate Christmas. I get to see my parents, my brother, my cats and snow. Should be a great time and I'm very excited.
I hope all of you have a really wonderful Christmas. I'm so excited about the promise of our savior. Let's not forget Jesus this Christmas!
That's all for now... cheers!
Em
Saturday, December 13, 2008
It's been a while...
Well, happy thanksgiving all... and into Christmas we go! I had a lovely visit with my parents here in town and really was happy to have them here. I'm glad I'll be seeing them again soon though because I miss them.
A few weeks ago I wrote to you from Orlando, courtesy of a gig for the youth band and a night without sleep due to transport. Well... here we go again, folks! Once more, I'm embarking on a sleepless night and an over night drive up to Orlando... this time, though, we'll leave at 3am, arrive a little before 8, grab a quick breakfast, go to the gig, play, eat a quick lunch, and drive home. I'll be back around 6 or 7 pm. Whirlwind, I know! But school is in the mix and finals are going mad for many of our band members so this trip must be quick.
Things have been okay for me here. I'm learning a lot, especially about forgiveness. I've been gearing up for a play here lately. It is a Christmas play and ready to get going for production next Saturday. I was director and actor and had assembled a cast for the show. It was going along well until one of my cast members stopped showing up to rehearsals. Essentially what it boils down to was this cast member lying to me, avoiding my phone calls and attempts to contact her and never showing up. So I talked to my supervisor at the music ministry and he called her and she immediately answered the cell phone that was supposed to be broken (when I called her). He asked my cast member straight out if she was going to do the play and she said no, flat out. That was 9 days before the play. To summarize, the play had to close - no replacement could be found and there wasn't sufficient rehearsal time even if we could locate someone. By the way, this person still has not said "I'm sorry" or actually told ME that they were leaving... only told my supervisor.
Because of that, I'm learning a lot about forgiveness. I think I'm actually learning something interesting. Most people think you have to abandon your pride in order to ask someone to forgive you. This is true, of course. You can't be ready to ask for forgiveness if you still have pride for yourself. But I've learned that it is also important to abandon all pride for yourself before you forgive someone also. You can't truly forgive someone until you let go of your pride. I can't hope someone will come to me and apologize and I can't hope that they secretly feel bad for hurting me. I can't hope that they feel guilty if I'm nice to them after they've betrayed my trust. I have to be totally okay with the idea that someone will brush off anything bad between us and not really even care if I truly want to forgive. It has to be selfless.
So that's one of the many lessons God is teaching me this week.
Other than the play, lots of little things have been keeping me busy. I'm going to my parents house in 10 days, so yay for that! Funny as it is, I'm almost more excited to see my cat than I am to see my family. It's too bad my sister and nephews can't make it.
I'm also really loving Christmas right now. Not the typical Christmas idea, but I'm just so blown away tonight about how God came down to earth. I really just can't get over it. I usually think about it, and acknowledge it, but tonight it really hit me. This world that is so dirty and gross and sad... why would God ever want to come here? I don't even know how to describe it. I just really feel it tonight.
So happy Christmas to you all. I hope you all feel that unconditional love of God too. I promise to write more soon.
Cheers,
Em
A few weeks ago I wrote to you from Orlando, courtesy of a gig for the youth band and a night without sleep due to transport. Well... here we go again, folks! Once more, I'm embarking on a sleepless night and an over night drive up to Orlando... this time, though, we'll leave at 3am, arrive a little before 8, grab a quick breakfast, go to the gig, play, eat a quick lunch, and drive home. I'll be back around 6 or 7 pm. Whirlwind, I know! But school is in the mix and finals are going mad for many of our band members so this trip must be quick.
Things have been okay for me here. I'm learning a lot, especially about forgiveness. I've been gearing up for a play here lately. It is a Christmas play and ready to get going for production next Saturday. I was director and actor and had assembled a cast for the show. It was going along well until one of my cast members stopped showing up to rehearsals. Essentially what it boils down to was this cast member lying to me, avoiding my phone calls and attempts to contact her and never showing up. So I talked to my supervisor at the music ministry and he called her and she immediately answered the cell phone that was supposed to be broken (when I called her). He asked my cast member straight out if she was going to do the play and she said no, flat out. That was 9 days before the play. To summarize, the play had to close - no replacement could be found and there wasn't sufficient rehearsal time even if we could locate someone. By the way, this person still has not said "I'm sorry" or actually told ME that they were leaving... only told my supervisor.
Because of that, I'm learning a lot about forgiveness. I think I'm actually learning something interesting. Most people think you have to abandon your pride in order to ask someone to forgive you. This is true, of course. You can't be ready to ask for forgiveness if you still have pride for yourself. But I've learned that it is also important to abandon all pride for yourself before you forgive someone also. You can't truly forgive someone until you let go of your pride. I can't hope someone will come to me and apologize and I can't hope that they secretly feel bad for hurting me. I can't hope that they feel guilty if I'm nice to them after they've betrayed my trust. I have to be totally okay with the idea that someone will brush off anything bad between us and not really even care if I truly want to forgive. It has to be selfless.
So that's one of the many lessons God is teaching me this week.
Other than the play, lots of little things have been keeping me busy. I'm going to my parents house in 10 days, so yay for that! Funny as it is, I'm almost more excited to see my cat than I am to see my family. It's too bad my sister and nephews can't make it.
I'm also really loving Christmas right now. Not the typical Christmas idea, but I'm just so blown away tonight about how God came down to earth. I really just can't get over it. I usually think about it, and acknowledge it, but tonight it really hit me. This world that is so dirty and gross and sad... why would God ever want to come here? I don't even know how to describe it. I just really feel it tonight.
So happy Christmas to you all. I hope you all feel that unconditional love of God too. I promise to write more soon.
Cheers,
Em
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