My Passion for Purity

Tonight I got to release some of the fire out of my bones! If anyone knows me well, they know I am passionate about abstinence and educating our youth about it. It's my soapbox. Well, it's one of my many soapboxes. Megen had planned for a 3 week series on sex for Ignite...but she was on vacation last week so Dustin talked...then she was planning on talking tonight, and I would wrap up next week. However, we bumped up next week to this week because we needed to have a coffee house night next week before our seniors go on their senior trips. So, I had been planning on talking next week and had hardly started preparing when I found out this very morning that I would be talking tonight. Megen is so gracious and she totally let me decide if I still wanted to...because she was more than willing to talk tonight as originally planned. But if you're sitting on fire like I am, you gotta get up and speak about it! So my week was crammed into about 4 hours and I did the best I could. I used Josh McDowell's "Why True Love Waits" and some statistics I found online. He breaks it up into 4 main reasons for waiting...physical consequences, emotional consequences, relational consequences, and spiritual consequences. He also states at the beginning that sex is a great thing that God has for us, but because he loves us and wants to protect us and provide good for us, it is to be done only in the right context-marriage. So all of the 4 main reasons are then broken down into God's provision and God's protection. That book is fab and so incredibly informative. Great resource. So I got up there and gave it my best shot....and I think it was okay. Not great, but okay. I did say "um..." a whole heck of a lot, and my face was burning and I'm sure I had some nice red cheeks, but I feel like I got the majority of what I wanted to say across. I just get so fired up about it!!

I haven't posted in a week so I will give a little update. Friday was the stinkin best day ever! I had to drive about 1 1/2 hrs. to a place in Kent (county) to look at a couple of retreat centres for our fall middle school retreat. It happened to be 30 deg C that day which is about 90 F!! I think I saw more sun that day than in my last 6 months here. It was sooooo beautiful! I don't have a/c in my car so I opened up the sunroof and rolled down all the windows and jammed to some Randy Travis, oddly enough, and cruised. I was driving and just thinking about how much God has blessed me and how incredibly beautiful this country is...and I came up sort of over this hill on the motorway...and there before me were massive emerald hills covered with trees and fields of thick grass, and the sun was shining and it was just breathtaking. I wanted to pull over on the side of the motorway about 15 times to take pictures, but I didn't. Man, it's just incredible how beautiful this place is. I wish I could capture it somehow, but there's no way. I hope I never forget. I got to drive down some sweet country roads too...it was just so nice being by myself on this mini road trip, because I never do things like that. It's interesting how much I enjoy my time now...I used to always want to be with people for everything, but I do really enjoy doing things alone more now. I still love being with people most of the time, but it's like I don't rely on it as much as I used to. Something like that. After I looked at the centers I had to drive through this town called Tonbridge, so I stopped and walked around on the high street for a little while and had lunch there. I bought a few old records at a charity shop and took a few pictures of a cute bridge over the river...and was on my way. I felt so happy and so energized! Sunshine sure does amazing things for me-as does Sonshine. God is so great.
Yesterday Erin and Darren came down and we went to Hampton Court Palace, which is called the greatest palace in Britain. That's one incredible place. It was Henry VIII's last I think and he really made it into something amazing. I learned a lot of history that I did not retain-the usual. The gardens are really fantastic and the sun was actually shining while we were outside (it rained in the morning) so that was nice. There is also a maze there which we conquered. When you get to the middle you're supposed to get a sticker that says you found the middle of the maze, but yesterday there were no stickers!! Erin and I were really bummed about that.

Last night was the "goodbye" barbeque for Trav, Meg, and Dustin. It was at the Millisor's of course and was extremely well attended. Well over 100 people came for the bbq/potluck festivities. Several people spoke thank you's for each of the interns...it's so awesome how much God has used each one. It's sad to think it's coming to an end for them and I will miss them sooooo much!! But they're my forever friends. I enjoyed sitting there looking at the massive circle of people that makes up my community, in every sense of the word, and felt such a strong sense of belonging and love. And as I listened to people sharing their thank you's I realized what an amazing ministry we have here and I realized again that God has given us-a few ill-equipped twentysomething's-the opportunity to bask in his love and share it with all of these wonderful kids and families. I felt so inadequate when I came on staff in February, and still do much of the time, but I decided that I would bloom where I was planted. I felt that this was and is exactly where God wanted me and so I would just do my best to let him use me...and the longer I am here, the deeper the relationships get-more honest and comfortable and all-and the more God is using me and the more I love it.