Lists....

So many of you may know this about me.. but I lovvvee lists. I make lists for everything: at my job.. what I need to do for that day. At home ...what needs to get done after work. Packing, finances- you name it I have probably made a list for it. So, that is where my "doer" mentality comes in with my faith. During my Monday night DVD series with my Bible Study, Tara brought up Colossians 3:12 "Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." So what do I look at when I read this verse? The list of qualities I need to clothe myself with, obviously. So, this is what my list would look like:

• Compassion
• Kindness
• Humility
• Gentleness
• Patience

I write those down, pray about areas of my life where I need to be more gentle, patient, etc., and then do my best to be those things.

So what's wrong with this? Well I was super convicted when I realized that my interpretation of this verse was focused on "doing better." Sure I prayed about what specific areas in my life needed more patience, but how did I expect to change those areas? Well, on my own strength. What I was missing was the most important part... the beginning of the verse where it states that we are chosen by God, that I am holy and dearly loved... basically the Gospel.

Oh, the Gospel. For some reason the Evangelical church has just had this huge push toward focusing on the Gospel. (ie: the Gospel Coalition) I was just talking my friend Caroline at lunch, and there possibly is even a new field of counseling called "Gospel Centered Counseling." It may seem absurd that Christians have to refocus on Christ (The reason for our whole faith) but then again is it? Have we really gotten that far away from focusing on the Gospel? Well, this week I have been pretty vividly convicted that I have gotten away from the Gospel. I am the Galatian that Paul was talking to when he said "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" So back to Colossians 3:12. I realized the only way I am going to be patient is if I take myself back to the Gospel and realize how patient God is with me and my sin. The only way I am going to be humble is if I take myself back to the Gospel and realize how Jesus humbled himself and became a man, making himself nothing, dying on a cross for my sins. My sanctification needs to be fueled by the Gospel, not self sufficiency. So what am I slowly starting to learn? Let me make a list lol :)

• Preach the Gospel to myself every day
• Lists don't change people; the Gospel does
• Running to the cross and not the law
• There is much freedom that comes from the grace provided through the cross

Trinity

So Dan and I moved up to Chicago after we graduated and got married because of his job with Kraft Foods. Although we requested Georgia (where Dan did his internship the summer before his senior year) mainly because of the warm weather and Andy Stanley's church, we ended up in Chicago. (which we're definitely thankful for now- even though at the time we weren't thrilled!) Once we got up here, I started the wonderful job search, and heard about Trinity International University through Mark Brown, our campus director for Crusade, because he was working on his Masters of Divinity here. After awkwardly applying to the college instead of the Undergraduate Admissions job posting, I got the job and started working! I honestly can't imagine having a better first job!

One of the perks of working for a University is that you can take classes for free- and we had NO idea we could do that! It was really great when we found that out, because before Dan took the job with Kraft, we made an important decision to hold off on going into ministry of any sort (whether at a church or raising support for an organization like Crusade) because we had a good chunk of undergraduate debt left to pay off (even though we both felt a calling into full time ministry). So, for the past year and a half Dan and I have been verrrrry slowly working through the seminary here at Trinity. We have both learned a ton and I am sure we will talk about that later on, but currently we are both in a counseling class. Although Dan was skeptical at first because he found out that people potentially cry during our practice counseling sessions, I have really enjoyed the class and am pretty sure I am going to change my Masters from Christian Studies to Counseling Ministries. Not only did this class show me the importance of counseling as a profession and the practicality of counseling skills in every day life, but the book "Peacemaking Women" by Tara Klena and Judy Dabler showed me the importance of Biblical thinking and how to embrace the principles in the Gospel every day. Now, my Monday night study is going through a video series led by Tara and I am super excited to learn more from her! I'll keep you updated on what I'm learning through that series and the book :)

Jay High

Thanks to my co worker Marla again, I have another entertaining video. Apparently, Dan already saw this when we were at Miami ... so it seems this isn't new and probably a lot of you have seen it before, but this was my first time and I couldn't stop laughing.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDzcYerwE4s

On another note, Dan and I help out with the Jr High ministry at our church, Harvest Bible Chapel and we LOVE it! We have made such great friends and have been so blessed by the kids. It's definitely not easy- the kids are at VERY different places when it comes to their faith which presents a whole set of new challenges that we have never encountered before in being involved in a ministry.

It's kinda funny how we got involved, because when Dan and I first started attending Harvest, we thought for sure we would get involved with the college ministry since we were so involved with Crusade at Miami. But when we were getting baptized, the lady who we shared our testimony with thought we would be great with jr high kids. We probably awkwardly said "sure".. with no real intention of following up or contacting them. (I had images of my awkward jr high years and vowed never to return to them again...) But, apparently God wanted to use us with jr high students because ten minutes later we were exchanging contact info with Ed, the jr high pastor, and I am so thankful it turned out that way! You will probably hear a lot about our time spent with this ministry because it is a big part of our lives! The kids are hilarious and fun to be with... and they love Dan to death. I mean, I'm sure some of them like me.. but the 6th grade boys loooove Dan lol

And, I know for a fact that Dan would NEVER want these pictures posted on our blog ... but I wanted to take a moment to brag about my incredibly handsome and godly husband :) Dan has had the awesome privelage to talk to the kids and Bob, another leader in the ministry, got some great pictures of him during his last talk on 1 Peter 2:9 and how awesome it is that God chooses to use us (totally sinful and inadequate) as ambassadors on this earth- to represent Him and share with others the amazing sacrifice Jesus made for us. I may be biased.... but he did a great job :) :)

Resting and weddings!

God is always so good to me (stef- well He's good to Dan, too, but this is Stef :) and He is always faithful in telling me when I need to slow down- it shouldn't surprise me when He does this since He created me and knows me inside and out, but it always does lol

When Christmas break hit I was in total need of a break, emotionally, spiritually, and physically because I had run myself dry. (maybe that's how I got mono.... lol) This isn't new for me. Really starting in college is when I guess my "busyness" tendency started - I was known as that girl that was always on the go- doing homework, involved in something, meeting someone for coffee, etc. I lived my life responding to people and deadlines, not really actively living. Over the break I was convicted to really think about my priorities and what is essential. In my Bible Study on Thursday mornings we read Chuck Swindoll's book "Paul" and one quote in particular really spoke to me: "Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people."

He proceeded to talk about how a life marked by depth can only be cultivated in protracted periods of time spent in solitude, quietness, and obscurity where we rearrange our private world, rethink priorities, and simplify life. It was in Arabia that the apostle Paul learned these things, where self reliance and his people pleasing tendencies wore away and he found himself content in Christ. My prayer is that I can do the same this year- to not get caught up in making lists and getting done everything I need to get done so I can appear "put together" but to slow down and just walk with my Savior and rest in Him.

Well, why this all has come up was because yesterday I get these Proverbs 31 daily emails and it discussed how leaving a legacy doesn't come from being busy, it comes from living a life of purpose. After a somewhat busy but fun weekend, I found myself needing some much needed down time :)

Speaking of this weekend.. I traveled to the wonderful state of Ohio to visit with one of my roommates/ friends from college, Kylie who has recently gotten engaged!! I went down to visit and in hopes of helping her find a dress and we were successful! It was such a fun and encouraging weekend- I l.o.v.e my Miami girls :)

Here are a couple pictures:

This is Kelsey (Kylie's sister!), Kylie, Christy, and me!

Cynthia, Kylie and Me :)

Also, has anyone seen those huge energy windmill things on 65 in Indy?! I think they are sweet and seriously look forward to seeing them everytime I drive on 65 lol So... I decided to take a couple pictures of them. Although I almost died pulling over on the side of the road with semi's driving past me going I swear 90mph, I got some pics :) It was kinda gray.. but look at how cool they are! And although the picture doesn't show it.. they are HUGE in person lol

So we started a blog....

So we decided to start a blog! Why you might ask? Welllll.. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading other people's blogs. So I told Dan I wanted to start one and here we are :) We hope to share what we're reading and what we're learning about each other and life along the way. We can't promise it will all be entertaining and that you'll agree with everything we share, but our hope is that you will be encouraged in one way or another :) So to start out, thanks to Marla my (Stef's) co worker, I have found this great comedian named Tim Hawkins and he has got some pretty funny stuff. Take these videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsJHqstPuNo and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q2wD6HHdUY

And on another note... how much does this kid on American Idol look like Dan?! Crazy....