Meet my Six Pack of Beer: Brian, Judy, Katie, Claire, Mary and Johnny Beer. They are from Michigan and they are standing in as the... caretakers of the Hospitality House here in Vicenza. What a BLESSING they have been! I am so excited that I got to get to know them and be a part of their lives, and that they got to be a part of mine. Amazing family. They give me so much hope and such a great example of family done right. ;)
Everyone who encounters the Beers falls in love with them and they are just--amazing God-loving people. And super talented! Katie and Claire play piano, Swing dance, sing... Mary is an amazing dancer, Johnny is so full of energy and he just lights up a room, Judy and Brian are--ugh, you look at them, then look at their kids and think, "THEY CREATED THIS!? They raised and cultivated all of this!?" It's really mind blowing.
Judy home-school(s)(ed) all four kids and it has really given me a whole new outlook and perspective on how I want to raise my non-existent, but promised, children. Haha. I cannot wait.
I think Judy and Brian should right a book on Life. I would read it. Over and over. And over again.
Here they are...!!
We went to Venezia! After a long, long, trying day. God gave us an adventure this day, but if I had to experience crazy God sighting, I am glad it was with the Beers and not by myself. Haha.
But we made it to Venice.
I feel so bad. I am so bored with Venice, all my pictures look exactly the same when I go to Venice. So someone give me a challenge for the next time I go down there... hmm... gears turning.
I will be out and about for another week of Beach Break! I am so excited to see what God will do with the Middle Schoolers this week. Keep them in your prayers!!
So. I've been gone for a week!! Where, you ask!? Camp Darby, down south with Club Beyond! It was so amazing to be a part of God's purpose. A few months ago, I was listening as someone told me this truth: GOD DOESN'T HAVE TO USE US. He can do things all on His own. But he allows us the privilege and the honor to work for Him and to serve Him. I am so grateful for that small role in the big scheme of things.
There is so much to talk about and gush over, but I just want to take the time to thank each and every one of the students who went to Beach Break this week: Maya Swinehart, Katie McKeever, Maya Zaborek, Raven and Megan Espinoza, Brenda Sanchez, Asya Miller, Oliana Reyter, Anna Meyers, Tori Werner, Sierra George, Arden and Tyler Holderby, Saige and Shane Martinez, Jarra and Nathan Woods, Brian Johnston, Earl Denmon, Jose Echieveria, Eddie Ramos, Ramsey Marsee, and Nick Angyal.
I have never had a Youth Group experience because I was saved as a senior in high school and that was pretty much it. Haha. I didn't have the opportunity to hear the Gospel the way that these kids got to. I got to open up and make myself vulnerable to reveal what God has done in my life, my failures, my fears, and my faults all laid out in front of a few students. It was so weird because sometimes I have to play teacher with them. So breaking down my walls and barriers was so important to me.
I've never sang so much in my life. Haha.
God--I am so glad to have been invited to the party. I am so glad I get to call Jesus, my Lord. I got to see Him work and the way He softens hearts. '
I will leave it at that for tonight. We are going back on Monday to do it all over again with our Middle Schoolers--till then, please pray for the Young Life Work Crew, for the High Schoolers who just got back home, that they find encouragement in the overflowing love Jesus has for them, that they know that they are a new creation, with a new purpose. Pray for the Middle Schoolers, that their hearts are prepared for what God can, and will do next week. Pray for the leaders, who are driving up to places like Germany tonight to pick up kids and hop right back on the bus and come back with a new batch of kids.
And pray for the soldiers deployed to war. Their families are here at home while they fight a war. I ask for a specific pray for the soldiers of the 173rd ABCT. I really, really, just want to ask that they are really good at what they do, and that God's watching over them all. I pray that His glory is shown when Christians can be a light in such a dark place.
We had a County Fair and the students got to pie us in the face if they got enough tickets. I got pied TWICE. Haha. "Just means they love you," Laura says. Haha!
I also learned a NEW worship song this week! I love it!! I love that God has the time to listen to me. :) God bless you guys!! I am praying for a revival for the Vicenza Community and for the entire Church--I feel it. I feel something big coming. God is soooooo good at writing stories!!!
I cannot wait for this event!!! Come by students!! We are going to have LOTS of fun!! Watch the video here. Two teams. Five weeks of physical competition. We get points based on the games and team spirit.
AH! I am so excited!!! Can't wait! We kick off Wednesday, June 28!! Pick up Registration packets at the Luau Wednesday after school!
&& One of my overused quotes, haha!
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:1-2, NIV)
Christmas? This week I have been so encouraged. I all the sudden felt the need to celebrate Christmas. Haha. I want mas ('more' in Espanol) of Christ. ;) Por favor. I just want the world to look around today and think about how awesome God is. How good Jesus is. I had a student ask today, "So... Jesus' only purpose was to come here and die for us?" --Yep. "That sucks." --Not for us!
Yes. Jesus, from before the foundation of the Earth was always intended to come and die for our sins and take our place on the Cross. Why??
Because we suck. We sin. We are selfish. We do our thing without any regard to what it means. But God is merciful, patient, loving, and kind and is waiting for us to come to our senses. Haha!! I just want more and more of Christ. I want the world to pay more attention.
BREAK IT DOWN. This week I got to talk about why/how we are the salt and light of the world. Something happened in today's Christianity that we throw out all these 'Christian terms' that don't have that much weight anymore. People either assume they know what it means, or they don't care to know what we are talking about.
This is why I love working in youth ministry.
When I was a teenager, I as overly opinionated. I asked a lot of questions, most of the time just to stump people and prove that I was right. Haha!! Working with my students now, I get to be on the opposite end. I get to answer questions and I have to do it in a way that leaves no question unanswered, no stone unturned and do it in a way that they understand fully--who Jesus is. No big words. No overused Christian vocabulary. Just real, true, love.
For me there is a big contrast in the way other Christians talk and the way I talk. (Haha!) I hope that my audience can take me seriously when I say, "Jesus has my back" Sometimes I wonder if I am taking myself seriously enough. Or if my students take me seriously. I hope so. Because I don't want to prove anything other than God's love and Jesus' sacrifice and our role in the grand scheme of things. I just say what I know.
CLAYTON'S STORY. Last year, I watched this video. I learned about Clayton McDonald and what he did for a generation. It gets me every time I push play. His example--a type of Timothy, someone that wasn't scared to stand up and talk. To stand up and tell it how it is, and just love.
I've learned to never shut up. Clayton taught me that I may know where I am going when I die, but there are lots and lots of people who haven't given it a thought, who don't know. Or even think they know.
I would not want to live through my life and let the opportunity to talk about Jesus and the beauty of hope. (I can't wait to meet him in heaven and tell him, 'You rock. &&Thanks.')
Just watch it. Pray about it. And let's revolutionize the way we love. The way we walk. The way we talk. The way we preach. Just... the way we live.
I have a multi-faceted purpose for this discussion. So please bear with me. The biggest moitivation to 'confess' is so that someone else who may come across this, a fellow newb, they could find it useful.
Branding & Website: I've probably changed my watermarks, my logos, my website look and feel... like five-six times in the past year and a half. I havent' found anything that I am absolutely in LOVE with. I have felt inconsistent and... kind of thinking, "If I don't take my brand seriously, my viewers won't either!" So I sat down for... a good six months just thinking about what I wanted to offer, what I wanted to portray, and the character I was putting out into the world.
I asked Becker on AskDane, if his brand stayed true to his first vision, or if it had evolved. I am SO glad to hear that it was an evolution. Because... I have felt like... maybe I am not as committed to this biz because I haven't made a decision I could stick with. (Haha, is my logic clear here, or was it just me?)
I read books. Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk, Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel, and I am currently reading Linchpin by Seth Godin. Talk about inspiration.
Personal Brand: More than a logo. More than a website. More than the look and feel. It's all about who you are and what you bring to the table. When I say Jessica Claire, what do you think of? SHOOTSAC! Wear your lenses! (Not like I've ever met her, but I would venture out to say, she probably has an awesome shoe collection, because she is thinking about girls like me who are tired of that bulky black camera bag.)
I changed my 'look' and 'logo' so much because I was so focused on what I wanted to LOOK like to people. It wasn't until recently that I thought about what I wanted to OFFER people. What I bring to the table that sets me apart from others.
My Mission: For half a year I stopped taking clients and stopped promoting myself because I knew that I wanted to offer more, and much, much better. I knew that i hadn't invested my time in refining my craft and understanding the industry.
My Brand: I hope that potential clients see honesty, integrity, and passion in my work. That they see I didn't just pick up a camera and called myself a photographer. Abigail Adams said, "Learning isn't attained by chance. It is sought for with great ardor and dilligence." I hope that I have lived that.
Fellow Newbies, take a look at yourselves and your motives. Look at what you want to offer the world. Don't bank on your talent and forget about the ardor and dilligence that goes into the equation too. Develop a personal brand that you are proud of. Remember that it is a process, you can evolve.
Well this has been long. But I did say 'confessions.'
Have a blessed day everyone!!!
Let me know some of your confessions, mistakes as a newb, lessons learned, etc.
"My heart is steadfast, O God! I will sing and make melody with all my being! Awake, o harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations." (Psalm 108: 1-3)
I love that Psalm 108 shows how excited King David is about God. Look at the (!!) and that he wants to tell the world with his thanks to God. There are times when I am reading through the Psalms and my heart jumps because it amazes me that someone could love God so much. (So much that they wouldn't shut up. Hah! There are 150 Psalms!!)
I learned a new worship song recently. Hallelujah, by Lenny Leblanc. We sang it a lot during the conference in Germany. I'd never heard it, I couldn't find it, and now that I have, I haven't stopped listening to it. I love the words in the song.
"Let the worship rise from deep within, the sanctuary sing, Hallelujah. Hear the praises from the grateful ones, rescued from the flames. The song of those unchained, for the glory of your name." Hallelujah means PRAISE YAHWEH. I have learned a new spirit of praise and worship in my last year of existence. Paul reminds us over and over in his letters that we are to rejoice in all circumstances. He talks a lot about his sufferings and his obstacles in getting the gospel to the Gentiles. And still he praised God for the life set before him.
And when I think about it. I sit back and think about Jesus dying just to save me. Me. A nothing. A human. One human. And to imagine the insult, the pain, the agony...that he felt when he was mocked, beaten, and crucified--all for me. I have nothing else to say, but Hallelujah.
Praise God for the death He died so that I could have mine.
&& What am I doing with it? If I am not spending it in worship and praise to glorify His name, His kingdom, then to me, it would seem pretty pointless. I recently asked some of my students the question, "What is our purpose in life?" I got answers like, "To enjoy life. To find a purpose. To find meaning. To set goals." Those are the kinds of answers I got. No one had anything more concrete. I'm not sure whether I wanted to laugh, stick my tongue out and yell, "Suckkkerrr. I know mine!" Or feel totally heartbroken and cry and yell, "HOW CAN YOU NOT SEE OUR PURPOSE!?"
I hope that in everything I do, the motives come from a pure heart and clear intentions on the building up of God's kingdom. I want people to see Christ in His creation, in me, in my actions, in my aspirations, in my words, in everything. I was rescued from a life of meaninless, aimless wandering, uncertainty.
But I will sing forever, Hallelujah. Because my God loved me enough. Because my Jesus found me worthy. And because the Spirit works in the world around me to remind me constantly of God's promises.
What is your purpose in life? In what ways can you worship God in your daily life?? How are you reminded of His love? Your child's face? A song on the radio? A book? A movie? A loyal pet? A moving story?
Last night at the Hospitality House, we sang Hosanna for worship. Then I remembered that two weeks ago we sang the same song and it really hit me in the heart.
"I see a generation, rising up to take their place, with selfless faith. I see a near revivial, stirring as we pray and seek, we're on our knees."
I love these lines. I am not sure what makes them so special to me. It could be the 'teacher' in me that wants to foster the next generation to take its place. I also feel this stirring in our community. I am really looking forward to this summer, setting down foundations and just waiting to see what the Spirit does at the school next year.
And then I look at my peeps. The Twenty-Somethings of the Kingdom and where we are headed and what we are called to do, or be. I love it. I use to sit around and just think about when I could step up and do more, be more, serve more. And yesterday, I realized that serving God is a 24/7 thing. Someone said, "When God opens the door, I will walk through them and serve wherever he allows." And I got it. I've heard it before, but this time hearing it irked me.
Yes, I believe the opportunities we are given are doors that God opens to walk through one or another, but service to God, to me should be, and is a round-the-clock thing. There isn't a door that we have to wait to open to just live, breathe, talk, act, all to show the world that I love Jesus. I just am. I just do. And it is all in preparation for the time that it is time for me to take my place.
My prayer is that the entire kingdom of God is praying for a revival.
(Romans 1:6) It amazes me how much God calls after me and yearns for me. We, mere humans, were made to fellowship with God. && He calls after us and chases us, and I LOVE that he wants me. Loves me.
As a photographer, I was told to start blogging. But when I sat down and wrote out a list of things I would write about, maybe 2% of it had anything to do with photography. (Maybe 5%)
The rest of the list had things about how God's worked in my life, how God works in the world today, how to encourage young women and wives (very Titus 2, oriented), and how to motivate and cultivate a kind of lifestyle that is worthy of our calling.
Bottom line, in my first video blog, I talked about my peresonal brand, developing my personal brand, who I am, who YOU see that I am all over the internet. The package: I want to be known as a Christian who happens to be a photographer, not a photographer who happens to be Christian.
So this is the byproduct of that list. A little bit of everything, but all of me. I pray that the Holy Spirit be present in this. That somewhere, some day, someone will take from what God's given me and use it.
Posts
