To a gentleman who made a difference in my life.

You would stop me every Sunday and touch my shoulder...made me look at you while you said, "Do you know how loved and appreciated you are?".

Thank you.  I don't know if I ever expressed how much those words mean to me.  

Thank you for noticing.  Thank you for stopping me and sharing.  Thank you for being the kind of person who encourages and builds up so many.  

Thank you for being Jesus to me.

We will miss you George Olliff.

Will you help me fight Multiple Sclerosis???

It's that time again.  I am in the middle of training to run the Akron Roadrunner Marathon on September 24th!!!  And I am running this marathon to raise money and awareness for the National MS Society, the Ohio Buckeye Chapter.  I was so honored to be supported last year by so many of you - we raised over $3000 which at the time was the largest amount for RUN MS!!!  


Multiple sclerosis interrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body and stops people from moving. With the help of people like you, the National MS Society addresses the challenges of each person whose life is affected by MS and helps them stay connected to the great big moving world. I am writing to ask you to join the movement by kindly donating to this cause that is so dear to my heart.


Your help means so much to me and all of those who live with MS. It is because of fundraisers like these that my sister, Julia (who I'm running in celebration of) and the millions of others with this disease are able to lead a somewhat normal life. Please join me to end MS. Help the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s ultimate mission of finding a cure possible, and, in the meantime, provide the crucial services to those living with multiple sclerosis.

Things are going to be a lot harder this year. The economy is at an all time low and many people are losing their jobs. These times are most likely negatively effecting you as well, which is why I understand if you cannot donate as much as you previously would have. Every little bit counts and adds towards our goal. I am asking you to visit my MS page at the following link:http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Run/OHAGeneralEvents?px=5065216&pg=personal&fr_id=15931

I honestly didn't know if I was going to be able to run a marathon again this year.  I really stopped enjoying running this past spring.  I've run multiple 1/2 marathons and marathons over the past 6 years and trained for them in the Florida heat and I really wanted a break.  But last week I decided that if my dad(who was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia in 2006) can run a marathon every year and if my sister(who is living with Multiple Sclerosis, can run, bike, and tri multiple races this year)then I better get my happy tail out there and run!!!!   And honestly, I am excited about it!!!


Here's to running 11 miles tomorrow in the Florida humidity and heat - and here's to the National MS Society finding a cure!

Please invite your friends to join! ANY DONATION, big or small, helps. Your support means more than you will ever know!

Hiking with my students...WT 2010

I am always amazed when I come back from Wilderness Trail by how much joy everyone of our students has after hiking 45 plus miles through the mountains of Virginia.  This trip is not a “fun” trip by any standards.  It is a hard trip.  But we all love it!  At least when we get off the trails.
It’s an experience that in my opinion makes you realize how good you really do have it.  You also realize that even if something is hard – that doesn’t make it bad and that you can still have fun.
I love watching the students come together in small groups as the body of Christ – they listen to each other, share food, wait for the slower hikers, encourage one another, try not to complain too much when it rains an entire day, push through even when the feet hurt, wonder how badly they actually do smell and attempt to figure it out, laugh as campfires are built, allow their feet to be washed by leaders and/or peers, see God all around them in mountains and meadows and at the end of their hike – they are changed.  Shoot, I am changed.
I have hiked these same trails with different students for the past 6 summers – and I come away stronger, humbled and in awe of how our amazing Father works in our lives.
I am so thankful to our church for allowing our students to experience God in such a unique way!
And I am thankful that the students hunger for the stillness and beauty of God’s presence that you find while hiking in the mountains.

Tension. Hope. Contradiction. Light. Shadow.

Whew.  I tell you what.  Life is sometimes more than I can handle. 

The ride I am on is definitely calling me to more.  More trust.  More hope.  More letting go. 
Allowing God's light into my shadow life.  

John 3:19-21 - The Message
"This is the crisis we're in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won't come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is."

Parker Palmer talks about "living the contradictions"..."Here we refuse to flee from tension but allow that tension to occupy the center of our lives.  And why would anyone walk this difficult path?  Because by doing so we may receive one of the great gifts of the spiritual life---the transformation of contradiction into paradox...a larger truth than we had even dreamed." 

Where we live in the great dramas of life - the place where God and the world interact.  Living a life with God only points out the contradictions...the contrast of the truth of the spirit and the lies of our lives.  The Spirit wholeness and the brokenness of our lives. 

It seems to me that most people don't sit well living in the contradiction.  We either have such a HARD time with the contradiction that we walk away from God's love and light...or we try so hard to live as far away from the world and to stay "pure". 

So I am attempting to live in the contradiction.  The light and the darkness.  The risk and the hope.  There are many things in my life that I would have NEVER expected even 5 years ago.

I drove to Dairy Queen on Scenic Highway on Tuesday at 6:10 a.m. this past week.  The sky was changing and I had to see it over the water.  The contrast of the dark sky with the beauty of the coral/yellow light piercing through...  I am so thankful for that time that I had with God. 

 

Lamentations 3:22-23 - The Message

God's loyal love couldn't have run out,
   his merciful love couldn't have dried up.
They're created new every morning.
   How great your faithfulness!
I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over).
   He's all I've got left.

Merry Christmas Letter

Hi to all -
I decided to actually write a letter this year...so I am going to write it on here. For whatever reason I do not feel compelled to send any cards or letters out this season but I do want to connect with friends and family in some way...so I guess this is where it will happen.

2009 has definitely left a mark on my life. I would say this has been one of the hardest years that I have experienced. I don't know if it is because I turned 33(which some people have said was a hard year for them as well - possibly because it's the year Jesus was crucified?) or just because sometimes life is hard. When I say hard - I don't mean that hard is always bad. Just hard. 

I am still serving at the Director of Youth Ministries at FUMC in downtown Pensacola, FL.  I have been here for 5 years and still absolutely love what I do.  I get to walk with 7th-12th grade students as they figure out what they believe and who they are in the Body of Christ.  I also get to pray, cry, laugh, serve, ask questions,  travel, explore, hike on the A.T. every summer, sing, get messy, tell stories and so much more with all of them.  It is truly an honor when I see each one of them really work hard to hear God's voice and respond in their own unique way. 

In April, I had the opportunity to take 7 students along with two dad's (supposed to be three dad's but one wasn't able to go at the last minute) to Ihiala, Nigeria to help dig a clean water well in a village that didn't have access to clean water.  After 6 months of raising money and awareness - we boarded a plane that took us to Nigeria.  It was an honor to watch the students from my church adapt to the heat, the attention, and the overwhelming need that surrounded us every where we went that week.  They played with children in the village and at an orphanage.  We were invited to lead songs for 4 hour long worship services.  We attempted to help with the well.  But most of the time...we waited and shared and talked and watched and prayed and learned and laughed...and cried.  I don't know if any of us will ever experience the kind of attention that we received that week and I know that none of us left that country the same.  It is an amazing and frustrating experience to know that there isn't much we can do for the people in that area...but we offered our time and our lives.  Here is a link to a video that one of the students created when we got back.

I also was given permission to take a month off to hike this year.  So on October 3rd - I flew to Sydney, AUS with one of my dear friends and explored the eastern coast of Australia for two weeks with her and then hiked around different parts of New Zealand by myself.  It was one of the most incredible experiences I have had in my life - the people that I met were amazing AND I got to hike across glaciers and volcanoes and near fjords.  Seriously.  It was incredible.

But the best part of the trip - was the time I had to be still.  I am learning that I need to give myself time to be still so that I can hear God voice through all of the chaos that echoes around me most days.  My favorite day was in New Zealand - I was sitting on the side of the road looking at beautiful NZ scenery and listening to a Derek Webb album.  I cried.  I prayed.  I wrote.  I listened.  I was able to just feel like I wasn't alone and that I was particularly loved.  At this point - all I know is that I long to be a willing participant in the story that God continues to tell through my life. 

I get to see some of you every week. I miss many of you.  But no matter what I am thankful because each one of you is in my life. 

Blessings and prayers to all of you as we enter into 2010 together!

Emily

Advent. Waiting. Hope.

One thing about life that I love AND struggle with is waiting.

Not knowing what is coming. Just as soon as I decide I know how something is going to turn out...it changes. Right?

Advent is a time of waiting.

I remember one time when I was about 6 years old while laying in bed in my grandma's home, I could smell the stale smell of being in a room that isn't used much any more blended with pine, soap and pecan pie. I was listening and trying so hard to keep my eyes open as I stared out the window. I just KNEW that I was going to see Santa and his sleigh that night. I just knew it. So...I actually heard bells ring that night and am pretty sure that I saw the bottom of the sleigh pass by the window. I was soooo excited that night! I mean, I heard and saw Santa! I still remember feeling like I was the luckiest girl alive that night...

Waiting for our King to be born. Waiting for Christmas morning. Waiting for people to really get it.

I spend a lot of time hoping. Hoping that my students will see how amazing it is to follow a God that wants to know each one of us individually. That as we struggle through life - we are not alone!

Do we still wait for God to move in our lives? Or have we given up on him and are just going to do it our way? Are we trying so hard to keep our eyes open to be the ones to catch Him in action as He steps out of heaven as a baby or a friend or a stranger...to bring hope into our lives?

What are you really waiting for?

My prayer is that we really do wait. With Expectation. Start listening. Looking out your windows. Watch.

Action Sports International - www.asiorders.com

Action Sports International - www.asiorders.com

Rain.

Monday, October 26th

I woke up to the sound of pouring rain this morning. Packed up my
stuff and hit the road in the rain...

Really it was pretty boring.

I stopped in Dunedin for lunch- today is New Zealand's Labour Day,
which means that most restaurants and stores are closed today. But
luckily Dunedin has the University of Otara so they had lots of stores
and some restaurants open. I had the best sushi and udon soup...then
I walked around to see what was in their "mall". Surprised to see an
Athlete's Foot- ha.

I am staying at the "red kettle" THA in Oamaru on the East coast.
This town has two diferent Penguin colonies that live on their
beaches. And you see stuff about penguins everywhere on the streets.
I went to the beach at 4:30 pm to watch the Yellowed-eyed penguins
come onto the beach. There are about 40 penguins who live here.
These are only found in New Zealand. So I stood outside in the rain
and wind and was so cold. I got to see one penguin...it was so cute!
I was pretty cold at this point so decided to come back to the
hostel. I also stopped by a cheese cafe... So I have local cheese, a
baguette and soup for dinner.

Have a short drive to Christchurch in the morning, then my afternoon
flight to the North Island.

Cheeky Kia...

Sunday, October 25th

I did get my tent a bit tighter- so I had no problems with the light
rainfall that started early this morning. But it's pretty cold and
wet outside...

I am dressed to hike but since the rain is falling steadily I passed
the Divide where I was planning on hiking on the Routeburn Track- and
came on down to Milford Sound.

Wow. It's a little spooky to drive through these humongous mountains
and gorges with fog and rain. I am the only one on the road this
early- which I am thankful to be able to take my time to take it all in.

Raw. Vast. Stark.

Mountain walls still covered with snow. Trees are clinging to the
mountains. The valleys of green with wisps of fog moving across.
Rivers so high the water is moving over the rocks quickly...

And then a tunnel. Into a massive stone wall. Um. I can't see the
other end...and it starting to move deeper into the mountain. I
definitely don't like going down in a dark tunnel without seeing the
other side.

At Milford Sound- I spent some time talking to two gentlemen from
Norway. They are going to take the cruise through the Sound in an
hour. I had a coffee and than walked all over the walking trails and
out onto one if the shores... The rain let up enough for a little over
an hour.

But now the rain and the thick fog is back. So I am going to head
back toward Te Anau.

10:00 pm -

So I managed to get it all in. The started and stopped the rest of
the day...I stopped by a few view poinyts on the road back to Te Anau.

My absolutely favorite thing to see was the Chasm. It's where a river
has worn down these huge rocks in a way so the rocks look like Swiss
cheese. It makes a roaring sound as the water passes through the
rocks- I took pictures but I don't think it shows it well.

Then I started my hike on the Routeburn Track. It was sunny(sort of)
when I started but it was pretty rainy, foggy and windy when I got to
the summit of Mt Key. It was a fun hike though- and on my way down, I
actually passed the hiking group that I considered joining for 4 days.

Then I drove to the hostel and showered...and got take out Chinese- mmm.

Ive met a girl from Denmark, Heidi. She is a trip! I went on a walk
after dinner with Ying, a girl I met at the last hostel. She was fun
to talk about all the places we've been and where we want to go.

I start my slow trip home tomorrow. Will drive towards Christchurch
to return the car and catch my flight to Auckland on Tuesday.

Blessings.