Missing Texas...

Well, I am currently in a drought of trips to Texas...praise the Lord I am out of debt, but that means I can't just put a plane ticket on the credit card and pay it off later...therefore, I won't be going back to Texas until the end of May for my brother's wedding. This has inspired a blog about some of the things I miss most while I'm living up in the land of College Basketball, sweet tea and Nascar!

1. I miss alot of people of course...so if you are reading this and you live in Texas and I know you, then I miss you!!! I'm just posting one of the littlest people I miss seeing and loving on!!! Miss Kennedy Wood, Auntie Lor misses you!!

2. Food is a big part of my life...I love to eat! These are a few of the things that I can't get up here and am dreaming about having someday soon!!!







3. Watching Texas high school football in person...the best I get up here is Friday Night Lights on DVR!

4. Wearing my Aggie Ring and having people not mistake it for a high school ring...therefore, I do not wear it up here!

5. Going to the movies with Ali and running random errands with Sarah!!!

6. Access roads...don't ask about this one...just be grateful you have them there!!!

7. Knowing my way around town like the back of my hand...last night I led a group of people to the wrong house (way out of the way) for a St. Patty's Day party because I trusted Google Maps and it failed me!!!

8. Getting to hug people I love anytime I want to!!!!

So, I'm missing Texas and all the people in it tonight, but am praying God would continue to use me up here in North Carolina!

On an exciting note, 8 high school students accepted Christ this morning at church and about two dozen middle schoolers rededicated their lives to the Lord and vowed not to continue following a religion but live in a Relationship!!!! Praise God!!!

now that I'm thinking about that, it doesn't make me hungry for Texas food as much!!! God is good!!!

Surprise appearance by Nick, Joe and Kevin

If you are over 18 years old, you might not know who this is referring to...but if you work with teenagers, like I do...these boys are a household name and their last name is Jonas...as in the Jonas Brothers. When I saw on Good Morning America the other day that they were making "surprise" appearances all over the country at movie theaters showing their movie, I had this weird feeling that Charlotte might be on that list. Why would I think this? There has been this strange phenomenon here in Charlotte that people have ties here or connections to this place in some way and big things happen. Michael Jordan playing with Tiger Woods a couple of years ago in the Wachovia Championships, talking to Sergio Garcia on the links this past year, Pat Green loves coming to play here because he has family nearby,Davidson College was the cinderella story in the NCAA tournament last year, Will Ferrell played Ricky Bobby and lit himself "on fire" at Lowe's Motor Speedway, and now we can add the Jonas Brothers appearing at a movie theater to shocked and amazed teens here in Charlotte this weekend!!! Check out the story HERE
So, I have gotten to witness some awesome things while living in Charlotte, but this was not one of them. I instead chose to go see Slumdog Millionaire and I can honestly say, I don't regret my movie choice one bit! This was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time and I encourage everyone to go see it and open your eyes to the reality of what children experience in the slums of India! Hopefully it will touch your heart and remind you to pray for these children, as it did for me! So, while I didn't get to meet the Jonas Brothers (they are WAY too young for me anyway!) :), I did get to be reminded of what God tells us in His Word.

LoveMercy
Lu

P.S. check out this. But because of this I am just going to say that these guys are hilarious and are friends of friends in Dallas!

One of those moments...

So, this past Wednesday night was our first ever Emerge Baptism service! Our group has done believer's baptisms before but we have always either done them with adults or with children. This was the first time we were able to have a special service with just our middle school students and celebrate each person individually!~ It was AWESOME! We had 43 students, leaders and even some parents get baptized that night! Being the emotional person I am, I usually cry every time someone gets baptized...there is just something so special about it to me! Anyway, I saved my tears til the end, because I was the emcee for the service and had to announce each person's name as they got into the water with Ryan. But when it came time for me to get into the water and baptize one of my high school girls who is now an Emerge leader...it was hard to hold it in! Ali has been one of my girls from day 1 when I moved here. She has been in bible studies, life groups, accountability groups, countless mission trips to Pittsburgh and Brazil with me over the last 4 years and so needless to say, I was completely honored when she asked me to baptize her last Wednesday night! I got choked up talking about her and how much she means to me and it was so true when I said it was one of the best moments of my life to get to baptize her! God showed up big time last week and I can't wait to see the fruits of these students who have now professed before their peers and parents that they will live to make Christ famous!!!! AMAZING stuff!!! Here are some pics of me and Ali during her Baptism!







So how do you follow up a Wednesday like that? Well, this week we are packaging 20,000 meals for Stop Hunger Now in 2 hours!!!! Yeah...we don't mess around!!! God is moving in the hearts and lives of students!!!

Honest Scrap

So, my sweet friend from seminary,Kerri tagged me to do this thing called Honest Scrap and since i haven't blogged in a while, i thought i would incorporate it into telling you what has been going on in my life this past month.

Here are the rules: you have to list 10 random things about yourself that are true and then tag 7 other people to do the same. So onto the game:

1. I am obsessed with YouTube and all the crazy videos on there...but not the random stuff people think is funny, but actually good stuff like this (T.I./Rihanna "Live your life"): (Thanks to my friend Taylor who put this on his blog...I'm stealing it from you!)



2.One of the things that makes me cry is seeing people get baptized...notice I said one of the things...I cry at just about anything...but for real, there is something amazing about watching someone get baptized. We are having a service for our middle school students at Emerge on Wednesday night where we are going to baptize students, leaders, and even our Middle School pastor Ryan Carson. It is going to be amazing...I am going to bring a box of kleenex for sure!

3. I hate going to the grocery store more than anything else! I would pay someone money to go to the store for me...well, not in this economy...but i wish i could!

4. Sometimes I watch ESPN....for fun! Most of the time though, I am watching something on Food Network, TLC or a DVRed show like 24 or the Office.

5. My celebrity crush is on Chris Tomlin.

6. I have to drink at least 1 Diet Coke a day or I get a splitting headache...I know, that is called addiction and i am working on it!

7. I don't like to fly any other airline than American Airlines...I am brand loyal to them! They still give a complimentary beverage...guess what mine is?...Diet Coke! :)

8. I run a red light every Sunday morning going to church. No one is around and the light is SO long! I am usually running late to our 7:30am meeting, so it is necessary...but i know it is wrong. I feel better having confessed that!

9. I have 2 cell phones that I carry around. 1 work phone and 1 personal (my I Phone)...long story, but it works for me!

10. I have read the book Sex God by Rob Bell 3 times! It is SO good! Read it!

Well, that didn't really tell you as much as I thought it would about what I have been up to. Maybe i will post pictures in my next post from our LockOut, Live Show, Emerge Baptism, etc! So, I am tagging:

Ryan Carson
Ali Wood
Karen Kimmons
Allison Wendler
Kalli Sterling
Brian and Aleisha Stephens
Cheyenne Schultz

Name Dropping...

Well since my last post, a couple of my close friends have joined the blog world and so it has inspired me to be better about keeping this up to date! One of these said bloggers (Ryan) has said that blogs should be updated at least 3 times a week...so that is what I am striving for...not sure if I have enough interesting stuff to say that often, but we can try it out! This has been on my mind lately...I am a name dropper and sometimes a celebrity stalker...not the big celebs, like Brad or Angelina or Britney...I wouldn't think it was that big of a deal to see them up close or have a conversation with them. No, the ones that I tend to drop that I am "friends" with...and by "friends", i usually mean I know someone who knows them or used to be in their circles, or someone I have met for all of 5 seconds and therefore think that I am their new best friend...here is a list of my most popular names dropped:

-Chris Tomlin - friends go to the church he used to lead worship for in Austin, Texas
-Shane Barnard - have met him multiple times and we are both Aggies :)
-Pat Green - met him also multiple times and his violin player went to college with me
-An unnamed bachelor from an unnamed reality show - I really am family friends with him...he was my first boyfriend :)
-The current American Gladiator winner - worked at Kanakuk with him and he is my cousin's best friend; so have spent some holidays together
-Jon Foreman (lead singer of Switchfoot) - met him at a conference this past year
-CJ Spiller (Clemson RB) - had dinner with him in Anderson, SC - apparently it was a big deal to those we were with!
-Multiple contestants on The Amazing Race, The Bachelor, Average Joe and Survivor have gone to high school or college with me.

So, I was thinking how cool it is that I have connected with all these "famous" people...but then it dawned on my how seldom I drop Jesus' name. Why is that? As my "friend" Chris Tomlin sings, the "famous one" is Christ. He is the biggest name I could drop anyway and I have a real relationship with Him and... He knows my name! So, I am going to work on name dropping His name for a while!

Tell Your Momma about these SHOES!

I stole this from another person's blog but I really want to plug this ministry/company. I bought a pair of TOMS shoes a couple months ago. Here are mine. I love these shoes and get compliments and questions about them all the time! Last month in EMERGE and THE HEIGHTS we talked about issues around the world and asked our students this question: ARE YOU OKAY WITH THIS? My topic was Human Trafficking and it was one of the most powerful messages I have ever given and our students jumped at the chance to do something about these issues around the world. TOMS shoes was one of the ways they could act now! We gave away two pairs of shoes to middle school students and then gave all the students the information to order them. Alot of our students will be opening a pair of Toms shoes under their tree this Christmas and the word will keep getting spread through SHOES!

So if you are looking for some tangible ways to make a difference in the way you give this Christmas...here are some links and a video about TOMS~!

Love 146
To Write Love on Her Arms
Support a Child
Buy a Goat

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