Moving Forward

they just keep on rollin'

I just got back from Naperville last night and can I just say that I wish my parents still lived there? I had so much fun. I stayed at my sister, Liz's house on Wednesday. On thursday I met Ashley Dudich for lunch and then hung out with John. He had me listen to some stuff he's written and recorded and it was all breath-taking. This kid has amazing talent. Before I left he told me he wanted me to come to church Sunday because he was going to be leading worship at WSUMC like old times. I wasn't planning on staying because I had a wedding sunday night. Then I went to Meg's and we just hung out and rented movies which is always good. A New World...awful. Never rent it! Waste of time. Friday we met up with friends and saw X-Men III: the last stand. It was really good! Then we went out after that. Saturday I went out to Liz's again and I was planning on leaving to come back to Marion from there, but I decided to stay so I went back to Meg's. How often am I going to get the chance to hear John Dudich play anymore and for whatever reason he cares what I think, so staying to hear him was important. It's a good thing I did stay because Blake called to say he was in town with Emily, Laura and Tripp called and were in town, and Lindsey happened to be in town too, so all of us plus Carley hung out for a while Saturday night. Sunday I went to church and got to see everyone again for a bit. They had all gone to earlier service so I found some other peeps to sit with. After the service I got to talk to John for while before I left to come back for the wedding.
I then drove straight to Ft. Wayne where I met my roommate who had my dress and shoes. We got ready in a Wendys... real classy, I know. Then we went to the wedding (Dark Almond (Josh) and Allison Yankey's). It was a beautiful service and a very cute reception. It was great to see IWU people who I probably won't see again or hadn't seen in a while. I left the reception fairly early because I was beat from getting up for church and then driving for 3.5 hours.
All in all, good times have been had for the past two weeks. I wish I could see more of everyone from youth group and back in the day. I can't even tell you how amazing the times we had were.
Anywho... this week is officially 'get a job' week. Money supply is diminishing rapidly and there are lots of fun times ahead. I got my ticket for Creation Fest yesterday and I'm very excited about it! Nervous because it's out of my comfort zone to spend 4 nights with people I don't know, but it'll be good I'm sure. PLUS I'll get to see Third Day for the second time in 6 months!
Even through all of the craziness the past few weeks, God has made his presence known in a few big ways to me. I love that. Who doesn't? I'm not gonna lie, that's been a lacking area in my life for a while, but I'm working on it. I was encouraged by some amazing people and reminded of the sovereignty of the Lord. It's good, real good. I know this post is getting kinda long, but I really want to stress something real quick...
It is sooo important to be in the body of Christ and involved in some way. this is a very "duh" statement, but it's just a reminder, I guess. If you're not involved in a church, how are you being fed? I've heard a lot of people talking about how they used to be when they went to youth group. Do you know why you were so on fire? Everyone around you was either on fire or just encouraging you. There probably wasn't a time when you went to church and there wasn't somebody excited about something God was doing. God works through others so much and by not being involved in the body, you're not allowing Him to work. It's part of having expectations of God. How can you expect anything when you're not willing to work?
Again I know this isn't something new or some great revelation, but its just really important and something people seem to look past as they start getting older.
Enjoy Memorial day, eat some good BBQ and rest in the Lord. Peace!

posted by Moving Forward @ 1:08 PM