Miami March 31, 2007
I have no idea what to expect from this trip. The flight here was smooth; the first plane was small; the second plane was bigger; and the end of the day was nothing but tiredness. We strived at the end of the day to eat pizza, unpack our things, and do devotions. I was in charge of devotions last night - Colossians 3:23 and Matthew 25:40. I thought it'd be a good way to start out the trip. I talked about how we must work enthusiastically for the Lord and whenever we're serving people we are serving God directly. I feel like I'm not as connected to God as I should be. I'm always feeling so unsatisfied with my relationship with God and like I should be giving more. God, take away my distractions and help me to be more focused on your wants instead of my own.
On another note, today we woke up and went to the beach. Juliet (our leader who lives in Miami and programed everything for us) Amanda, Jessica, and I soaked up in the sun while Jordan Casey, Chad, James, and Cory walked around the beach. We were all warned of the blazing sun and I made sure to pile on lots of sunscreen. Luckily, I didn't get burned! At about 2:30 us girls went back to experience something quite new. Not the disgusting port-a-pottys, but the extravagant port-a-showers. These showers have the shrieking cold hoes water in place of the hot soothing water streaming from showers back at home. I slowly eased my way into the shower and I couldn't help but make squeaky gasps. I had my head sticking in the water as I was attempting to wash my hair, and the rest of my body was far from it. After getting ready, we made our way over to a Methodist Church where we dyed and decorated eggs for a kids easter egg hunt. After the eggs, we sat around and played with the younger kids. Jordan Casey mostly ran around with the kids and we watched. One thing that seemed pretty different about the church was that there were bars on the enterances and it had a sort of unwelcoming feeling. The church doors should be opened to everyone, but maybe it is on Sunday mornings. We ate some dinner in this church that was cooked by this girl from New Zealand. After that, we went to this young adult worship service. It was sort of cramped, but the band there was amazing! Everyone played their instrument so well and it was amazing! The sad part is I feel like I haven't been opening up my heart as much as I should to God. My attention span lately has not been much for God. Back to what I was saying, at the young adult service, i was not ready to try and let God's Spirit guide me. One thing that was pretty awesome was that I met Nadia Turner who was on American Idol! This service had about 20 people and she got up and sung at the end of it and I had a feeling it was her because she looked like her and sang as good as her. I was super excited and hyper later on when I found out it was Nadia Turner and i was off the wall - everyone made fun of me at how excited I was. Haha. I also forgot to mention that in Miami we have ridden on these subway like things that are above the ground and they are like little buses. It's called the metro mover. On the inside, we've got poles to hang on to. We got back to the church and decided we were hungry so we walked to Burger King to discover that it was closed. JB and I changed our minds and we decided to walk back to the church. We ended up talking for a while and he told me a lot of things that have been going on with his life. He's got an amazing story of God's grace and I just haven't heard it yet.
Chad was talking ambout how people can debate beliefs and other worldviews, but they can't debate you on how God has changed your life. It was a good day and I got to sleep late. I'm not really sure what I'm going to get out of this trip yet. I know it's going to be more of just giving into what God wants and being flexible. I hope that God will help me to be ready to submit to His way. God has also been convicting me for quite some time and I'm just becoming more aware of how I have to acknowledge my convictions and be ready to change. I need to get my priorities straight in my heart.
On another note, today we woke up and went to the beach. Juliet (our leader who lives in Miami and programed everything for us) Amanda, Jessica, and I soaked up in the sun while Jordan Casey, Chad, James, and Cory walked around the beach. We were all warned of the blazing sun and I made sure to pile on lots of sunscreen. Luckily, I didn't get burned! At about 2:30 us girls went back to experience something quite new. Not the disgusting port-a-pottys, but the extravagant port-a-showers. These showers have the shrieking cold hoes water in place of the hot soothing water streaming from showers back at home. I slowly eased my way into the shower and I couldn't help but make squeaky gasps. I had my head sticking in the water as I was attempting to wash my hair, and the rest of my body was far from it. After getting ready, we made our way over to a Methodist Church where we dyed and decorated eggs for a kids easter egg hunt. After the eggs, we sat around and played with the younger kids. Jordan Casey mostly ran around with the kids and we watched. One thing that seemed pretty different about the church was that there were bars on the enterances and it had a sort of unwelcoming feeling. The church doors should be opened to everyone, but maybe it is on Sunday mornings. We ate some dinner in this church that was cooked by this girl from New Zealand. After that, we went to this young adult worship service. It was sort of cramped, but the band there was amazing! Everyone played their instrument so well and it was amazing! The sad part is I feel like I haven't been opening up my heart as much as I should to God. My attention span lately has not been much for God. Back to what I was saying, at the young adult service, i was not ready to try and let God's Spirit guide me. One thing that was pretty awesome was that I met Nadia Turner who was on American Idol! This service had about 20 people and she got up and sung at the end of it and I had a feeling it was her because she looked like her and sang as good as her. I was super excited and hyper later on when I found out it was Nadia Turner and i was off the wall - everyone made fun of me at how excited I was. Haha. I also forgot to mention that in Miami we have ridden on these subway like things that are above the ground and they are like little buses. It's called the metro mover. On the inside, we've got poles to hang on to. We got back to the church and decided we were hungry so we walked to Burger King to discover that it was closed. JB and I changed our minds and we decided to walk back to the church. We ended up talking for a while and he told me a lot of things that have been going on with his life. He's got an amazing story of God's grace and I just haven't heard it yet.
Chad was talking ambout how people can debate beliefs and other worldviews, but they can't debate you on how God has changed your life. It was a good day and I got to sleep late. I'm not really sure what I'm going to get out of this trip yet. I know it's going to be more of just giving into what God wants and being flexible. I hope that God will help me to be ready to submit to His way. God has also been convicting me for quite some time and I'm just becoming more aware of how I have to acknowledge my convictions and be ready to change. I need to get my priorities straight in my heart.
posted by michelleesexton @ 5:19 PM
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