Has the Lord encouraged you through someone else sharing with you? Do you ever compare yourself to someone else especially when it comes to reaching out to someone for the sake of Christ? How do you fight through the mental barriers of pride and discouragement?

Thankful that even though the Lord knows my thoughts and deeds He (1) Still loves me and  (2) still chooses to use me!

A few years ago, I had the privilege to meet Kelsey who played basketball for CSU. She is from Abilene, TX and was a stellar player. Over time she and I became close and I began mentoring her. I had a very neat opportunity to visit her and her amazing family in Abilene, TX over that summer for my Birthday. We got to see John Mayer and Colbie Callait in concert in Dallas, ate snow cones and mexican, and did the touristy thing! I also had the privilege to see her Baptized at the beach. (check out that blog http://tamodom.net/2008/09/08/kelseys-baptism/)

Over time we went different directions again with her being busy with basketball and me with work. Hard to believe that the the final game has come and gone in the Buc Dome. None the less, I am definitely one proud fan and friend!

Kelsey – I want you to know that you have so much to offer the world! My prayer is that you would seek the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding but acknowledge HIM (prov 3:5-6). I also pray that you would fight the good fight, finish the race and keep the faith that Paul tells us about in 2 Timothy 4:7. I know you have a kind heart and the Lord longs for you to bring Him and the Father in Heaven all the praise and glory. Keep your eye on the prize and always turn to the living WORD of GOD for wisdom and comfort. You’ll always be my thug even back to the rock band in Club 535, the iChat days, texting long conversations, my trip to Abilene, sonic talks, and cheering you on in the Buc Dome. Thank you for the privilege and life lessons! I love you THUG!

Check out this video by Hypermedia…

Week 1 – Jesus versus Idols

Week 2 – Jesus versus World Religions

Week 3 – Jesus versus Satan

Week 4 – Jesus versus Religious Leaders

I’m stoked about learning more about how Jesus is victorious against all of these oppositions. I am also stoked about people coming to the service station afterwards to go through some of the resources and interactive activities.

As the weeks progress I will post some highlights and photos.

I definitely can tell you that once I can get over myself then it will just come to me. I will be able to share the joys and the trials so eloquently that it will bring God the most glory.

On another note: Last Sunday’s sermon by Dr. Peter Beck was intense. The main thing that stuck out to me was how he told a story about stealing the baby Jesus out of a friend’s nativity scene. He said he took it because our nativity scenes are all unbiblical! Jesus did not come to Earth to be a baby in a manger or any of that, but He came to go to the cross. WOW! Slap in the face. Then this Sunday, Jon spoke about how do we get peace from the Lord….something that I have been looking for a lot lately! The conclusion: WE have to have FAITH in God’s promises and TRUST them with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. This is what brings about the fruit of the Spirit: PEACE! (Luke 2:8-16)

I have been extremely slack on keeping up with the blog entries, but I look forward to picking back up with them during Christmas break and in to the new 2010 year! With life tossing us to and fro I will try to articulate the goodness and mercy of the Lord on His children whether they are obedient or not. Lord help me to be more like You…increase my FAITH!

THE HEART OF THE MATTER…

Lately, I have been extremely busy with so much happening at work that I have some what pushed everything else to the side. Nope, that is not right nor is it fair to my family or friends who have to suffer from my lack of concern. (If you are one of those people, please forgive me!) I just have to let all of the girls out there that I love you and I really do want to know you and serve you and love you! Some times in this journey of learning more about ministry I feel like I am missing the BIG PICTURE! The big picture is that God is good, just, compassionate, and unconditional!  I have been reading more in the Bible, Forgotten God (F. Chan) and 50 Reasons Jesus Came to Die (J.Piper). They have been knocking me down and punching me in the face with the fact that I don’t know nearly enough about the goodness of the Lord or HIS Word. I have been missing the big picture. Tonight, I was talking to my mentor about how I have been staying overwhelmed and feeling completely ineffective. As always, she knows just the right things to say in such a GOD timing way, if that makes sense. During those weak moments I am most vulnerable to the devil creeping in and taking captive my thoughts and actions. Luckily, God has been merciful towards me and used my self-righteous and lazy efforts to reach out further than I could ever imagine. Definitely a humbling experience, but I am thankful for it! (Maybe not now in this moment, but I know I am going to be!) I’ve been missing the big picture. Are you?

HOMECOMING…

Last week at CSU we had all of the Homecoming festivities. I had a blast hanging out with students and supporting the different clubs and groups. Some of the highlights…

• Lauren beat out everyone in the Hot Wings Eating Contest in the CAF with 35 wings in a six minute time span!
• FallFest turned out to be a great evening of fellowship and music. The Elevate band did an excellent job leading. The Pep Rally went over very well and the bonfire was OUTSTANDING (thanks to REZ LIFE)!
• Friday night after the Movie Night there was a RAVE in Quad 3. At first, I was thinking this was going to be a bust but then when I showed up and had a little bit of encouragement I jumped right in the middle. Eventually, I made my way in with some water bottles to cool everyone off.
• Saturday was so encouraging because I had people telling me that they felt like they went to a real school with all of the people, excitement, and activities. Bucky made his appearance! Katie Tull (WBB) won Homecoming Queen.

DIG FOR THE CURE:

Tuesday night the Women’s Volleyball team head a fundraiser and night dedicated to Breast Cancer Awareness and Research. Just stating the facts… The Lady Bucs WHOOPED up on Coastal! The crowd was AMAZING! There was PINK everywhere! A.Hill got back on her A game and Nichole and Sam’s seniority shined during that match! (More pics can be seen on Facebook.)

TIM ELMORE:

Today we had some awesome time with Tim Elmore, CEO of Growing Leaders, come speak at our Convocation. He talked about how at some point in your life you have to make a conscience decision to move from the passenger seat to the driver seat. He used an example from 2 Samuel 11 when David slept with Bathsheba. He went from being a driver in the first part of his life to being a passenger. Tim shared 4 ways you know you’re slipping from the driver’s seat to the passenger seat: (1) drift from the discipline we demand of others, (2) Believing others owe us whatever use we can make of them, (3)Attempting fix things up rather than make things right, and (4) Refusing to accept that we could be blindly out of God’s will.

The other thing that really stood out to me was he shared one of the Habitudes with the Student Leaders called Big Rocks First. This principle is that you put in the big rocks in your life first then fill in around those. The big rocks are the things in your life that are HIGH priority. He said, “the issue is not scheduling priorities but rather prioritizing your schedule.”

Then he challenged us to take a self-examination of why we felt like people followed us. Here is a list that I would challenge you to use as a tool to self-examine yourself too!  He said figure out how YOU do it and do it THAT way!

1. insight and knowledge
2. relationships
3. sacrifice
4. character
5. abilities
6. passion
7. humility

TLC:

I have been so excited about Tara Leigh Cobble ever since I discovered her through Twitter a year ago. I have been following her and even told Clark a while back that I wish I just thought like her half the time! We ended up booking her to come to CSU and I got her book, Here’s to Hindsight. Mind you, I read this book in one day while sitting in the airport. I could not put it down because I was amazed that she was dealing with the same heart issues that I was and am struggling with! Anywho – She came to CSU today and I became an even greater fan! I will def. post some pics from lunch tomorrow and Elevate!  Follow her on twitter (http://www.twitter.com/taraleighcobble)

I want the girls I am ministering to will discover who God is and His beauty, but then discover who they are in Christ. Through this we will find ourselves to bond together and overstepping cultural boundaries. It would also drive us into community.

I hope to live rooted in the Word of God so that I can be renewed and bold!

We long to see the power of Jesus Christ come upon the people of God!

I hope this year does turn out to be “God glorified! Jesus magnified! Holy Spirit inspired!”

I have some things I have been thinking about lately. I have contemplated if I should share them. Since I think by making list I will follow my comfort and do the same here. Or in Baptist terms – a three point sermon works too!

1. Beautiful…because I am GOD’S! For the longest time I have always been so concerned with the outward beauty of myself and surrounding myself with pretty people. It has taken me a long time to get to a point where I took time and even opened my heart to see myself in light of the image I was created in. Does it not blow your mind that while you were in your mother’s womb He formed you,  before you were born Christ knew you, and he knows every intricate part of your life even how many hairs are on your head? How about that He knows your every thought, but still asks for you to come before the Lord with your requests.  (off target!) I have always heard people talk about how the guy who comes along should make you feel special and feel beautiful. I have never really felt that when I was around any one. Some how the Lord has opened my eyes and heart to see and feel this beauty through several really good guy friends. I don’t know how to really articulate it, but I know that the beauty of your character is what drives another person to express that to you. Guys like Corey and Joshua and Justin and Michael have made me realize the image I am truly representing.

2. Why do we leave God out? I was thinking about that after Clark came home from that Collegiate conference in TN back in May. He shared some points made by David Platt about how we’re all focused on the production that we forget to incorporate or acknowledge Christ in the matter. Why do we do that? How do we bring Him back to the center of everything we do? I believe we have to stay in constant prayer and deep rooted in the Word of GOD! As I begin a new year I want to keep that in mind and attempt to be more intentional in living out scripture.

3. I always said I was not a fighter. I read some blog updates by a friend of mine who just found out that she has breast cancer. Check out her blog http://warriorswearpink.blogspot.com. It might bring some tears out of you, but its also going to make you want to pick up some pink boxing gloves and enter the fight! I want to be a fighter like her. To know that she has breast cancer, but it does NOT have her. I want to know that I would have that much drive to fight off a disease like cancer or fight for the love of my life.

Do you have any thoughts or comments or suggestions to add? Please do!

I just thought I would look back over the past year and look at where we have come from. Yes – WE not ME or I, because you have been right there beside me or behind me as we accomplished a lot of it.

Coming off a hard, but great summer! I went to St. Maarten’s Island with my Aunt and Dallas/Abilene, TX. I got the PRIVILEGE to mentor Kelsey and meet Kelsey’s family. I took three MBA classes and worked the rest of the summer.

Then it all begins with 2 weeks of Orientation! We had the best time this year preparing for OTLs from Party Walks to Team Contests to showing up the RAs in the lobby at the Orientation meeting. How about when we played the Magic Shoe game at the OTL retreat and it took three times to get everyone across the river but we did it (right nick!)! I remember the night after move-in day when I stayed up all night in the Brewer Center and Michael brought me SONIC at midnight (like I usually do) to make the video for the Saturday morning meeting to keep everyone engaged in the boring tradition of blah blah blah!

Freshman Week went off well and the OTLs loved each other….always a NICE goal to accomplish!

Once we get into the routine of classes then people’s schedules get crowded and they tend to go their own way. I know for most of my days in the Fall semester I did the work in the office thing during the day and the evenings I tended to find myself in the library working on that 80 page business plan for my photography and videography company! Yes, 80 pages! And YES, I did make an A!

A major thing that sticks out in my mind was the blessing of such a wonderful Elevate leadership team. Dustin and Kristen were the head-honchos for Elevate workers and the logistics. Deeter was the worship leader for all of our services. Their hearts to serve and learning to lead were such an inspiration. I can honestly say that when you put the right people in the right place with their gifting then you have a more dynamic and passionate team. You know the saying…”Great minds think alike!…” It is so true!

We had a great semester at Elevate. There were many other events that I took many pictures at…Jocelyn Culver won Homecoming Queen 2008! Aimee Connor won Miss CSU 2009 as a freshman! Fall Fest was a hit and I got to introduce the Men’s and Women’s BBALL teams to the student body! I got to speak to the Volleyball team a couple of times and fell in love with those girls! (GO LADY BUCS!) Midnight Breakfast in the CAF is always a big hit too! I remember the goofballs who busted into the walls and ate cereal during the Exam Study session in the CAF (which lost that privilege for everyone else!) How about Soccer was rocking it as they beat Coastal at BlackBaud stadium! The Blue Patrol emerged from the ground at the end of the Fall semester!

So I finished the semester and everyone was counting down for that semester to be over with…mainly because I think they were ready for me to be finished with complaining about school. haha! Ami made me a countdown chain for the office and we all enjoyed removing rings each day! It was fun to sit through that graduation because me and my home slice Tuesday sat there textin’ and playing solitaire on her iPod touch. It was amazing! We laughed a bunch!

It was not until the end of January when we went to Converge at Myrtle Beach that the Lord truly grabbed on to my heart and really opened my eyes to see what He had been doing through me and IN me too! At the beginning of the Fall semester I had talked with Clark about my intentions after Graduation from the MBA program which was in December. That was to fulfill the school year and then decide if this is where I would stay or if it was time to move on to the next season in life. So as people began to hear of this they began to pray (apparently)!

I tried to think about some of the things that took place in the Spring semester: Obama was elected into presidency and the party in the CAF (or the chaos that took place the night of the election???)! March Madness was a good time despite the rain and W. Soccer won the Ladies Intramural BBall Championship! We had an official Greek Week with an Ultimate Soccer game! Downtown Elevate had the most people we’ve ever had downtown in Marion Square Park! Spring Break Mission Trip to Baltimore was a great time especially on the Silver Bullet! Watched new relationships blossom like they usually do with those April Showers (its in the water)! SGA held an outdoor movie on our new big inflatable screen that Carolena did NOT help setup (j/k)! I took probably 6,000 pictures just in this semester!

God definitely taught me some great things about Himself and His love that He wants to show to His children! I have decided to stay for one more year at CSU and from what I can tell people are okay with that. I believe that there are a couple of students who God really used to speak to my heart on the issue of “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” (kinda sounds like someone’s been playing Rock Band too much!) Just to name a few that I know for sure God has used…Allison, Kristen B, Koryn, Meghan, Casey, Savannah, Clair, Kylee, Amber, Kaitlyn, and Carolena. Yes – these are all females…because I believe that the Lord is calling me to focus more time on loving, leading and learning from the women on this campus.

I ask for you all to continue to pray for me as I seek the Lord on HOW He would have me accomplish these acts of service and love. I am excited to be here to witness the good things that will come through relationships and worship! Thank you for all of you who have opened your heart and lives up to me! I love you all dearly….

Have a great summer and be thinking of how we will blow this school year out of the water with more FUN and OUTRAGEOUS EVENTS!