Camp Your Face Off 2014

This weekend is one of my favorites of the whole year!  I get to race one of my favorite races, Bristol Cross, on Saturday morning, then I get to come back to Morristown and camp my face off!  I get to spend the whole weekend outside and doing two of the things I love most:  running and learning about God.

Because of the race, I miss Friday night and Saturday daytime, but I get there in the evening.

The food here is cooked big boy style.

Saturday night we had chicken and steak on the jumbo griddle with all the trimmings, including sauteed peppers and onions from the griddle!  The parents here at CYFO work so hard nonstop all weekend.

Our church is so fortunate to have this beautiful bit of land on the lake at Harrell Park.

From the notes I looked over from my friend who was there for the messages I didn't get to listen to, I found a couple really neat points:
"Religion says, 'I obey, therefore I am accepted.' The gospel says, 'I've been accepted, therefore I will gladly obey.'"
There is a big difference in the heart of true believers and followers of Christ and those who do not possess the deep, heartfelt relationship with Him.  It is an attitude, a lifestyle.
However, if anyone is stuck in a rut, where serving the Lord feels like a chore, bother, or interruption, there is always room for change of heart!  "We are not just temporarily fixed, but eternally transformed."  When Christ takes over your heart and fills you with His desire and love, our blemishes are not only washed away for the day, but life is changed forever!

Dinner time!  I always enjoy spending time with my fellow youth group members.  We are SO different, yet can relate to each other on so many levels.  At this table, we have girls from different schools, family styles, and interests and personalities.  We go through each day with totally different schedules and obligations, yet when we come together, we share and fellowship like no other!  I love hearing about what my friends do and their lives.  They are so interesting!
 If we all did the same things, where would the adventure be?

When it is time for worship, we all head inside the big building where the stage and chairs are set up for the message and music.
Each year Jay Hardwick from North Rock Hill Church in South Carolina comes as the guest speaker for the first two days.  He is a great speaker, very honest and dedicated to the truth of the gospel!

This night he spoke about disciples on mission for Jesus.  The scripture passage used was Acts 8:26-40 about Philip and the Ethiopian.  It is so simple what he did.  God told Philip, "See that man in the wagon?  Go to him and tell him about Me," (paraphrased verse 29) and that's just what he did.  The Bible even says, "Then Philip ran up to the chariot..." (verse 30)
This is a summed-up version of the Christian calling every day!  God says go and we are supposed to go do whatever he wants us to do every day!  Christians are missionaries, ALL Christians.  God's goal for us is to go preach to the lost people of this world, which is not limited to third world countries.  Right here, wherever that may be for you, is the mission field as well.
The Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, says "...therefore, go make disciples of all nations..." and Acts 1:8 says, "...you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem (like our hometown), Judea (like our state), Samaria (like our country), and to the ends of the earth."

A great Christian teacher Charles Spurgeon once said, "Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter."

Next Jay divided this call for us into 3 sections:
1.  God sends us.
2.  God sends us to people (random and day-to-day people we see)
3.  God sends us to people to show them the gospel.
It all starts with us!  Romans 10:13-15 lays out how the lost hear about Christ.  If it doesn't start with us, if we the Christians don't preach, no one will hear!  >>>>>  "How can they preach if they are not sent?..." (verse 15) Point 1
"How, then can they call on the One they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" (verse 14) Point 2
"For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved." (verse 13) Point 3
Therefore, if we don't preach, they won't know, then they can't call upon the Lord if they do not know Him.

Later that night, we had an ice cream bar with tons of flavors and candy toppings!

      
Good morning!  Cassie and I were halfway ready, but Jenna back there was up super late both nights, as she is an intern and has to go to "meetings" and organize stuff all the time, especially late at night.  This weekend wore her out!

This is Kristen, whom I love!  She is a sweetheart, always hugging me when she sees me.

Breakfast is big boy style, too, of course.  This morning they whipped up pancakes and bacon on the big griddle, and laid out all the left over breakfast and snack foods, so we had a huge buffet!

This is Joy Rogers, one of our most involved youth moms (of Erin and Jenna).  She was here this weekend cooking and working hard, and Sunday was her birthday!

This is one of the youth adults' children, Gretchen.  My mom works with her mom, and her dad used to be my middle school assistant principle.  They are one of the sweetest families, and they're funny, too.  Gretchen and her older sister Claire are two gorgeous little girls with even more gorgeous hearts, even at such a young age.  It cracked me up to see her trying to eat this apple that was almost as big as her head.

Tessa is one hip chick.  She has a lot of awesome photography, art, dance, and more!  She even leads classes and takes big trips (her last one was to Oregon) to work on her stuff!  Her instagram shows a lot of her activities.  She also has a blog that you could check out or follow, too!

I was so glad to get to spend such a long time in quiet time study this morning, as we had a long down time.  I reviewed my notes and went into the quiet time notes they gave us for the mornings.  This leaves with such a great feeling!

One passage that was in Saturday's quiet time was something that I found is part of what I want my life to be:  "Whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3:21

The last session that we do is always cool!  All the leaders get an opportunity to share what has been laid on their hearts.  These people are so dedicated and care about us, they honestly share their hearts and teach us so much.  This share session was filled with things that directly fit my life!  There are no coincidences in God's plan.  It is all planned!

Kristen, same girl from above, was ready to go this morning!  She jumped right up wanting to share first.  Her words were exactly what was in my heart.  She talked about how she is often selfish, but doesn't want to waste her time worrying about her schedule and all the work she has to do, and me, me, me.  This was exactly my same problems!  I have really struggled with time, schedule, and all that I have to do...and it has been a battle and still is!  I was so thankful to hear this from her, too.  She tied this in with James 1:22-25.  "Do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says." (verse 22)

Lindsay, our youth pastor's wife, was also on point.  Her phrase was "paultry baubles" that we become so easily distracted with.  I am one easily distracted human!  A passage that I use to encourage my mind away from these worldly distractions is 1 John 2:15-17, and that is what she read as well.  "Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him...The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."  In all the happenings of life, I have to remember what will last and what will not.  

Camp Your Face Off is always finished off with the Amazing Race.  They split up everyone onto several teams (we had around 7 this year I think), and give us a paper of the name of the stations, tell us the rules and some instructions, give us a few minutes to get the game plan, then off we go!  All the stations must be completed and signed off on by the leader there, and  one member has to wear a diaper that will contain something from each station.  This included baby food, Pepsi, tape balls, eggs, pumpkin innards, and more.  Yummy right?  It is intense!  My team was pretty loaded, but we still didn't win.  We did awesome in my opinion, though!

Here are some action shots from the Amazing Race.

This retreat is such a blessing to my year.  It had stressed me out having so much homework all fall, but I had a little poison oak mishap that put me out of running as much during the week, so I got to catch up on a lot, allowing me to go to CYFO with little worries!  Even serious pain and fear is a blessing, not just sometimes, but ALL times, even when we can't see where the light could be.  It is there.  We just have to look for it, and it will come.

Equip Senior Night

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Every year after school is out for summer, my youth group has one Wednesday night at our property on the lake at Harrell Park.  We have a cookout, play games, sing worship songs, then any seniors who want to share can tell the rest of us whatever is on their heart.  Then we hang out and have dessert of some sort.

This is my friend Trey who went to UT last year but is back here for the summer.  He's like me!  Short! I'm not actually taller than him; in this picture, I'm just in front of him. 

Meals outside are always so pretty, but it's even better when it can be at the lake! 

You never know what kind of games you will be playing when Rob Walters is in charge, but you can bet on it being interesting and original.  The one we played at Senior Share Night was what he called foosebultimate:  a cross between fooseball and ultimate Frisbee, played with a football.  In the middle of our game, some random wet dog decided that he would join and chase the ball wherever it flew!

This is Will, who graduated from East.  He is also my cousin and the brother of my other cousin...of course!  Just kidding; his sister is also one of my best friends from church.  They are both great athletes and students, as well as Christians and role models for other kids.  They seem quiet, but are really great when you get to know them and hear them talk.  This was actually the most I'd heard Will talk in my life!  He talked about how important building relationships is, with people to influence you, be by your side, and for you to influence people.  It is also crucial that we love people!

Over the years that I have been in youth, this amazing girl has become one of my good friends, supporters, and role models.  Not only is she gorgeous, but also has a beautiful singing voice and heart for serving the Lord!  Everyone in our youth looks up to her for her life and knowledge.  She is someone who would send out sweet surprise texts some days, that would be just what I needed to put a smile on my face!  Her dad is the children's pastor at our church, so she is there often and is always ready to help.  Last year she was a counselor at Camp Bethel in Wise, Virginia, and she left the very next morning after our cookout to go again this year for most of summer break!  She reminded us how important it is to "recklessly abandon" the cares of this world, because they don't really matter;  God's got our life planned out, and as Christians, it will end in eternity, so life is all His!

Tyler and Josh led worship before and after the seniors shared.  It is so nice to have church outside in God's beautiful creations!  Tyler is in college now, and working toward being in the music ministry.  One of the other senior girls that spoke made a good point about not only working to do good things, but God's things.  "We can have good intentions but miss God's intentions."

After all this, we gathered around all our seniors and prayed especially for them as they go into the next chapter of their lives.

Campfire time!  My favorite!  There is just something about roasting marshmallows.

I got creative with my smores.  The one on the left has a York Patty in it, and the one on the right is with dark chocolate Reese's!  Dark chocolate is the bomb, but try adding some other things, too, and smores get even better than we thought they were!

Here I made a mini one with a piece of Reese's.

I also ate several plain marshmallows after I roasted them!  A warm, slightly golden one is perfect.  Smooth outside, gooey inside.

Motown Madness

 Motown Madness is an area-wide discipleship weekend that my chuch, First Baptist, and another large church in town, Manley Baptist, take turns hosting each year.  This year, Manley was the host church, where we had our worship services in their brand new sanctuary!

 

Friday night, February 28th, we started out the weekend with an awesome service before heading to our host homes.  (Unless there is too few people in an age group and they have to combine) each gender of each grade, 7th through 12th, is assigned a host home where they sleep, eat some meals and snacks, and have small group.  My group, the sophomore girls, stayed at Cassie's house.  We have a large Sunday school group, and most of us got to come along with some that we invited from other churches.

 

Here's some pictures and things we learned and shared over the weekend.  You can find more from anything that anyone posted at Twitter #Motown2014 and Instagram #Motown2014.

Jenna inspired me to draw this picture.  Being rooted in faith, you grow, and when you grow, people can see it and you can give off seeds to make others grow, too!
"So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness."
Colossians 2:6

Along with being firmly planted in the faith, I gotta stay firm!  I know through lots of experience lately that there is nothing in this world that I can put my trust and hope in.  The only One who can always satisfy my soul is Christ.  I often get distracted then disappointed by things that I want to do, but I know that my efforts are pointless if they are not backed by Christ.
"The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer; my God is my Rock in whom I take refuge.  He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."  Psalm 18:2

More roots...
"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how long and high and wide and deep is the love of Christ."  Ephesians 3:17-18

This is a collage posted by the girl in the bottom picture wearing the purpleish scarf.  Her name is Katie, and she was one of our college leaders with our group for the weekend.

Up top left is Bella, who like me, loves to sleep.  And she loves cats.  How convenient we got a picture of Bella sleeping next to a cat. 

On Saturday, everyone gets free time between lunch and dinner, and since the weather was gorgeous, Panther Creek Park was a the hotspot!  In the top right, Bella, Katy, and Maddie set up their Enos and "hung out" for the afternoon.The bottom picture was Saturday night after small group.  From left to right is me, Abby, Katie, Patty (our amazing Sunday School teacher), Sara, and Olivia.

Here again is Olivia, who used to be one of my absolute best friends when we were in elementary school.  We had the craziest sleepovers and laughing fits, and of course I had to have a crush on her brother at one point.  Seems like everyone had that friend when they were young.  It has been great getting to see her at church again lately; we were all thrilled she got to come.
Abby has also been a great friend of mine for a long time!  We went to preschool together, but then went a long time without getting to see each other.  Now, we are both at the same church and are growing together all the time.  We even have the same birthday!

Katie is a new friend, but we're all glad she joined us!  She has a home church and church she sings at on Sundays, but she gets to come to FBC on Wednesdays.  She is one of the many college leaders we are blessed to have with us!  It is so important to have older, yet still young, people in our lives to share with us and encourage us in what they have learned.  Something that she said that I really liked was, "It's just as much of a sin to think that you aren't good enough," because God has made each of us to be used for His purposes.

This was while we were waiting around before worship on Friday night.  In the back is one of my best friends since preschool, Parker, and his friend who moved to the other side of town for high school, Ed.  They're such fun and goofy guys, but they're also sweet, too.

This was also at the park during free time.  Cassie and I tried to get a picture swinging, but those swings were hard to get high on!

Everyone always love the food at Motown.  It's a lot of people's favorite part!  Around here when kids her Motown Madness, they think of the awesome worship services and food.  We had all kinds of yummy stuff Saturday morning like muffins, coffee of course, fruit, sausage balls, ham rolls, and any snacks and sweets people brought to share.

I took a group of girls on a hike up to the highest point at the park, on a trail called "Point Lookout" where you can look over the lake from wayyyyy high up, and it is gorgeous.  We had a ton of fun!  One of the things we talked about in worship was being rooted in our faith in the Lord, so we had to get a picture with some major roots!

We also went to Sonic during free time, and Patty thought it was hilarious that the cat loved to lick milkshake off of a spoon.

 

I don't have any pictures to go with this, but the speaker/preacher who does Motown Madness is the one and only Chad Poe!  If you ever hear that he is near your area, you should really go listen to him speak.  He is not here to tip toe and make you love yourself, but to be honest and really share what life with Christ is all about.  He always says things that push me to be a stronger Christian.  He is also hilarious, so I promise no matter how long he talks, you will not get bored.He really hit me head on that weekend with plans, the way for my life.  I have plans.  I have a ton of plans and my own ways that I want my life to go.  But ya know what Jesus says? 
"I am The Way, The Truth, and The Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."  John:14:6.
Christ is not a suggested route of travel to eternity or a rest stop along the way, He is The Way.

Another tree analogy:  "Without roots, it is no longer a tree, it is an obstacle."Remember that the service, the music, the people, the clothes, the weather, the day, the circumstances won't always be the same, but the God we worship will always be the same.This is something that he said that I remember to stay humble:  "Until I realize that I deserve the wrath of the Lion, I will never get the mercy of the Lamb.

This is a picture I took a screenshot of on Instagram.  This is the man and his band who have been leading the worship at Motown for the past few years.  He is Chuck Hooten!  Not only does he have a great name, he has a fantastic voice and opportunity to use it to glorify the Lord.  I also just now found his blog!Having a strong worship leader is very important because music is a sermon in itself.  It is beautiful, teaches and inspires us, and gives us opportunities to worship our Savior!  Chuck did a great job of getting us fired up to learn and grow.

Here is a picture I took of Chuck up there doin' his thing!  He was a little panicked at one point, because the batteries in his earpiece died, and he had never sang without his music.  We encouraged him to wing it, and he did, with great success!  Now hopefully he will be more confident to burst out anywhere sharing his love for the Lord!

This poetic picture as she called it was taken by my friend Morgan, who I think is just super cool!  Today is her birthday as well!  She takes very pretty pictures when she goes places, like here at the park, the beach, and even overseas and on mission trips.  She also loves sports and is always up for something fun and challenging.  Her hair is also really long and silky, and she almost always has a smile on her face.  Her Biblical knowledge is amazing; we always go to her when we have questions!  I love her spirit for the Lord!

This beautiful girl has a terrific future ahead of her; she has an amazing voice and can play the piano and sing like a pro!  Her name is Hope, and you better just watch out because she will be out there singing and performing one day like those on KLove, like Laura Story and Mandisa!

 

Here's a final picture I threw together to sum up our adventures.
Small group, worship, happy hour at Sonic, and a walk in the park.

It's Beginning to Feel a lot Like Christmas

I have been so busy, I am totally exhausted and not ready for Christmas at all!  However, now that I'm out of school, things are starting to feel more like Christmas!  It's just a shame that we didn't get out of school earlier so that we could all enjoy the pre-Christmas excitement more fully.

Friday, school let out at 11:15, and I headed home.  I cleaned/organized some stuff then worked out.  This is part of my lunch I had after that.  I had pumpkin and cream cheese-topped waffles with this "almost smore."  It's some Bee's Knees peanut butter on graham crackers with some fudge in the middle!

After having a breakfast for dinner (turkey sausage, egg whites, feta and goat cheese with hummus bowl and a serving of quinoa with Planter's Cinnamon Raisin Granola PB, extra raisins, and a banana-talk about protein) I drove to church to enjoy some Christmas music and worship.  These are two of my friends Kristen and Mattie.  We matched with the crimson!

Latte Moon was also in operation for this event, and I topped my decaf with marshmallows and whipped cream!

This is our contemporary worship leader Brooks.  He is so great at what he does!

"Oh come, all ye faithful

joyful and triumphant

Oh come ye, oh come ye

to Bethlehem"

Mom and Dad had gone out to dinner with some friends from their Sunday School class and brought them home for dessert that Mom and I had made the day before.  This pie (that we've made twice this Christmas already) is easy to make, so it's great for a last minute party dessert.  And you can't go wrong with cream cheese!  Called "Heavenly Caramel Pie," it sure lives up to it's name.

This is what I have been wanting to do for a long time!  I have several alarms pre-labeled that I use for repetitive events, but this is not just a joyful run; it is a run to Starbucks!  I saw that the weather was going to be great and warm Saturday morning, so I texted my friend Katlyn (with whom I often do fun runs with) to see if she could come "on a surprise breakfast run with me."  It would be a surprise because we had never gone here before, and I did not tell her where we were having breakfast.  I didn't tell her to bring money either, so she didn't know whether we were even eating out or if I was cooking for us again!  I was super excited!  I had two Starbucks gift cards, one new and one partially used.  Starting from my house, we ran on the highway and through various neighborhoods and made a 180 degree turnaround, all of which confusing her breakfast guesses.  When we arrived at Ingles (where our Morristown Starbucks is located), she knew then!  We went in and ordered.

Starbucks in general makes me think of Christmas.

Here we are with our breakfast at a table in the little Ingles café.  We both got oatmeal-theirs is my favorite!  I add honey, blueberries, and a seed/nut mix they have as options.  I also mix in from the "drink decorators" the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and chocolate powder.  Those went in my coffee, too.  Katlyn did the same, except she got a peppermint mocha.  When Mom came to pick us up, she also brought Katlyn's Christmas present from me.  I enjoyed catching up with Katlyn, as I hadn't seen her hardly at all since cross country had ended!  We talked and laughed so much, a great way to start my morning.

After lunch, Mom, Dad, and I headed to Knoxville to finish the final Christmas shopping.  Now I am disappointed because I have recently found things that I would like for Christmas, but it is too late.  That's what happens when you're too busy to look for gift ideas until the week before.  However, Dad and I walked around while Mom shopped for me (which I have no idea what I may get!).  We had dinner at Chili's then went to my favorite dessert place which is conviently two stores down from Chili's on Kingston Pike, Yogli Mogli.  I was super excited about this, too, especially with seasonal flavors!  I feel bad, because Dad got super mad at me.  I am embarrassed to say that this was over $19.00...BUT I have decided that I am going to make better choices with my money, so this is most likely my last one of these unless someone else treats/takes me.

It looked a lot prettier before I put the whipped cream on, but oh well. 

The flavors:  Cheesecake, gingerbread, red velvet, dulce de leche, cake batter, praline pecan, cake batter, peanut butter

The toppings/layers:  cheesecake, Recees, Heath, Butterfinger, brownie, and some little "unidentified" things that looked like brownie/chocolate cookie dough shaped bites that were super tasty!

(I eat very large portions of this stuff, so do not fear; I highly doubt, even if you get the largest size bowls like I did, that anyone else's dessert will cost this much.)

On our way home, we drove through Chilhowee Park to look at the lights.  This was the best-looking part in my opinion.  These lights go over a bridge that crosses a large pond.

Today, I was finishing my final Christmas odd-and-in gifts.  I love to decorate and make cards and crafty things, so on this envelope for the letter to my aunt and uncle, I made it real Christmasy!

 

I'm so excited that I have finally had some joyful and more relaxed feelings!  Better late than never, right?