Autumn is Here

It's Fall.

I feel kind of blah about it.

On the one hand, I'm dreading the cool weather. I hate being cold. On the other hand, I can't wait to see the beautiful colors the leaves will turn on the trees.

I also love pumpkins.

I love carving pumpkins. I love the smell and taste of roasted pumpkin seeds. I love eating pumpkin flavored everything: bread, pie, cookies, Steamers at Starbucks, cheesecake, creamed cheese, etc. I once went to a pumpkin festival with my roommate in college. It was fun. We saw some HUGE pumpkins and a giant pumpkin pie. They had pumpkin flavored everything at this festival. Fun times.

But, like I said, all of these fun things have to be enjoyed while wearing the protection of turtlenecks, sweaters, and jackets, because it's COLD!!!

I guess another reason why this particular Fall gives me mixed emotions is because it's the last Fall I'll experience in the USA for two years. Yup, I'll be in New Zealand next Fall. I guess I'm just being sentimental. Actually, my sister says I'm being overly dramatic (we're only gonna be gone for a year). Well, sentimental or dramatic, I won't see an American Fall until 2008.

Also, this Fall marks the beginning of an extended time of cold. I'll experience Fall and Winter in the USA and then arrive in NZ to experience Fall and Winter all over again. Whoopee!! :( Once again my sister says I'm overreacting (New Zealand's North Island only goes down to the 30's in the Winter). Yeah..ONLY. At least where we will be in NZ won't be as cold as Ohio.

So...

....it's Fall

....um

....yup.

Welcome to the World

Last week some friends from my church experienced the birth of their first child. A little baby boy named James. He's so incredibly cute (as all babies are). It's so weird. I've reached the age where my friends are not only getting married but now having babies. No one warned me about this phase of single life. It's a joy to see the babies but I know it means that my friendship with these people will never be the same. If I thought they didn't have time to hang out before, now they definitely won't have time (until their children go off to college). It's strange to realize this.

Anyway....back to the point of this blog entry. Little James is such a blessing. I have seen him three times in the past few days and in only one of those days was he awake (actually, he was crying because he was hungry). Seeing him made me realize how everything is so new to him in our world. He's only been out of his Mommy for a week and a half. Everything from opening his mouth to eating to feeling the cold or warm air around him is new. What does that feel like? Is it scary? Is it exciting? Is it fun? What does it feel like to wear clothing for the first time? What does it feel like to see light and the variety of colors in this world for the first time? How does it feel to use your five senses for the first time? I could just go on and on with questions.

I wonder if Heaven will be like that for us?
I kind of hope it is. That every experience we have is new and exciting. I want to actually experience and remember my first sight of Heaven......of my loved ones in their renewed bodies......of Jesus.

Wow. Babies are truly precious!
Welcome to the World James.

Ponder This

I was surfing the web today and I ran across this story:

A college professor set a large jar on his desk in front his class. He took handfuls of big rocks and began filling the jar. When they reached the very top, he asked the class if the jar was full. The class responded “yes.” The professor then took some smaller pebbles and started pouring the pebbles into the jar. The pebbles fell in between the much larger rocks. When the jar was filled to the top with the pebbles, he again asked the class if the jar was full. The class caught on quickly. “No,” they said. And the professor then began to take some sand and pour it into the jar, filling the jar to the top.

He then asked the class, “What do you think I was teaching you by this demonstration?” The class replied, “That there is always room for more.” “No,” the professor responded. “What I am trying to teach you is that you have to put your biggest things in first or there won't be room for them later on. You can squeeze your smaller things around your bigger things, but you can't squeeze your bigger things around your smaller things. There's always room for the smaller things in life, but not always room for the bigger things if you've already put the smaller things in first.”

Because we have a limited amount of time to accomplish things in this life, we need to make sure we have our priorities set on doing what we can for the Kingdom of God. Instead of being focused on the rock of Jesus Christ, most people are concerned with the sand of earthly desires.


This story really struck a chord with me because how many times do I tend to do this? How many times do I let the worries or desires of this world overshadow what the Lord is speaking to me? Jesus says, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33) Despite the turmoil and desires I have with everything going on in my life right now I need to continually focus on glorifying the Lord and seeking His will for my life. It's kind of interesting, when I fill the jar of my life with the "rocks" of God's righteousness they take up so much more space and are much more clearer to see than the "pebbles" and "sands" of my earthly desires. That's just how it should be. Christ should be more apparent in me than anything else.

It's kind of a relief to ponder this this because, let me tell ya, I am not good with organizing my life on my own. I tend to second guess everything I want to do. With me in control everything will eventually end up a mess. So, I'll let the Lord fill my life with His will first, and then I'll base every decision and desire around that.

This is nothing new to me. I just needed to hear it in a new and creative way.

Time to Gripe

Theater can sometimes be like football.

Why? Because just like football some people are in it for the love of the art and others are just there to make money. Up until this point in my life I have only experienced doing plays with community actors. The people in these shows do not get paid and yet they give up hours of their life to put on a production where the only reward is the joy on the faces of the audience who come to see the show. Many would probably perform even if there were no audience - they just love the theater world. Even in college, theater was done out of love for the art. You've gotta love theater to spend thousands of dollars on a degree that doesn't guarantee a promising job once you graduate. I consider myself one of the theater lovers.

In a few days I am about to open a show that, while still considered community theater, is with a company that hires Professional actors and community actors. They pay the community actors a small stipend for their hard work. I consider that pay not a wages earned but a gift. I would have done the show with or without pay. Some of my fellow actors, however, seem to focus on the stipend as an actual "wages earned" paycheck. As a result, they grip and complain about the long hours worked putting this show together and the little pay that they are earning for it. Some of these complainers have had bad attitudes for the past two weeks and they role their eyes when the director confronts them about showing up late for rehearsals or not showing up at all. What's amusing to me is that these complainers (there's only about four of them) are part of the community crowd for this show. They've done professional theater in the past but they can't seem to get off their "high horse" to just enjoy acting and performing, period.

These theater Divas are a reminder to me that when I do theater I need to always keep my focus in the right place, that's on Jesus. If I forget that I am acting, performing, and being a witness for Jesus, I begin to think that I deserve more praise and respect from the people around me than I really do. I forget to respect the leaders whom the Lord has placed over me like the Director and Production Team. And I lose my first love of theater (a desire the Lord has placed in my heart) and replace it with pride and greed. Even if I am truly being wronged humility should compel me to speak out against the wrong in a loving way, not in a retaliating way. I wish I could say these complainers aren't claiming to be Christian, but that's not true. They claim to know Jesus, but they do not display a very loving or Godly spirit. Lord, may they have a change of heart and attitude. (And may my heart change from griping to loving them with a Christ-like love.)

God-Orchestrated

So I have this blog but I never explained my reasoning for getting it.

I'm moving to New Zealand in May of 2007. My sister and I are going to live for one year on our own in another country because the Lord has called us to do it. When the idea was first brought up to me by my sister I thought it was a fabulous and exciting idea. I love traveling and I haven't been to another country in 4 years. It was time to go. During my initial answer of "yes" I knew God was working, in a sort of distant - "go ahead and plan your own vacation" - kind of way. But I had no idea how much it was really He who was arranging, prompting, and asking me to go.

As my sister and I began to look at how we were going to get to and stay in NZ, God began to work. First, He brought to my attention a program called Working Holiday that NZ does with many countries including the USA. This program is only for people between the ages of 18-30. It's kind of an immigrant exchange program. NZ accepts a certain number of American immigrants to their country for a year in exchange for the USA accepting a certain number of New Zealanders to their country. Only 1000 Americans are accepted to NZ per year. Through the Working Holiday Scheme you receive a travel visa to go to New Zealand and a one year Work Permit to work in the country. The Lord guided me to this program and then allowed my sister and I to be accepted into this program within hours of our applying.

Next, a few months after our acceptance the Lord pointed us to where in NZ He wanted us to live. We had previously determined that we were going to live on the North Island and in or near a city. But which city? We were thinking about Hamilton, but we weren't sure how big it was or if it was too large like Auckland. Well, by a series of God-orchestrated events we were able to have lunch with a missionary from our church who had done many years of ministry in NZ. She lived and ministered in Hamilton. From talking with her it was confirmed that this was the city we should live in. She told us how to find housing and what the housing was like, where the good and bad neighborhoods were, where a Biblical Christian church was located in the city, and about the diversity of the city. Oh yeah, and there is a large college in the city so we will be sure to find other young adults to hang out with.

Finally, a few days ago I talked to a man in my cast of Porgy & Bess who is from New Zealand, near Hamilton (Divine appointment). What are the chances that someone from NZ would be in Ohio AND in a play with me! As I spoke with him, he was excited to tell me about his home country and all the wonderful things about NZ and the Hamilton area. He also told me that he had done a lot of theater in NZ. Fabulous! I'm planning on pursuing theater while I'm in NZ. He's going to give me the name and email of a director that he has done a few shows with in NZ.

Wow! The Lord is really confirming over and over again that it is His plan for me to go to NZ. Already I know which city to search for an apartment and job in and I have a Christian connection through the missionary and a theater connection through my fellow cast member. I can't wait to see what the Lord's going to do next.

This blog is going to help me to keep in contact with all of my friends and loved ones during my year in New Zealand.

A Beautiful View

I just love driving back and forth to Porgy and Bess rehearsals. Every time I go I am graced with a wonderful view of the city skyline. I especially love driving at night because the city looks so cool with all of the lights in and around the buildings. It really makes my trip shorter and more enjoyable.
Today, as I drove home from rehearsal, I was thinking about how the day was dreary and rainy and how the skyline might not be so visible during such cloudy weather, thus making my commute not so fun, when the sun suddenly came out and a huge rainbow displayed right over the highway. It was a full half circle going from one side of the highway to the other. Wow! I have never seen a full rainbow like that. Furthermore, to make the drive even more exciting, I was able to see the city outline right in the middle of the rainbow.
I can't help but praise the Lord for this spirit lift. He knew I needed some cheering up. Sunny days make me happier than rainy days. The rainbow reminded me of how He loves humanity so much that He promises to never destroy the total human race by flooding the planet again - like He did in Noah's time. God said the rainbow would always be our (and His) visual reminder of this promise. Cool thing to ponder after a grueling rehearsal.