Huge-r(is that a word?) than my expectations... from myspace

Grace - being loved by God and others when I am unloveable...

Grace - the absolutely free expression of loving kindness

Grace - God's strength, insight, love and in my weakness, blindness and complete selfishness

Grace - something that is given to me constantly, that I have a hard time passing on to others at times.

Romans 5:6-8 "...when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, although for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God, demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

I am learning more and more - that all most people really long for is to be really known. By God and by at least some of the people in their lives. To have someone know our story and still love us! But we are so afraid to be really known because...then we can be rejected.

I don't think that I will be able to capture what this past week has been like. I was in the great state of Tennessee - with a small group of my youth on a mission trip. Well, I wasn't looking forward to the trip last Saturday - because lots of kids had backed out or weren't sure if they were going and then our bus was broken into and another one broke down...

BUT we left early Sunday morning and all I have to say is what an honor it is to be used by God. Cheesy I guess. But this week had NOTHING to do with me. And it was possible one of the best weeks I have gotten to be apart of. We worked hard and together, challenged each other, the youth stepped up in a variety of leadership roles, got to see gorgeous views from the TN mountains, were fed by the home owners (and they had very little to give), sided a house with vinyl and the house was completely uneven...windows didn't match - the top and bottoms were choppy...wow...and I saw each of these youth reach out to each other and the home owners. Community - the way that it can be. Allowing God to use us - putting our ipods, tv's, and cell phones away so that we can hear God's voice. And we did. Vibrant. That might be the word I would use. Thank you to all of you that did go on this trip and serve - and here's to bringing the love and light to our homes.

I pray that I can look at each of my youth and the people in my life and truly see them - and extend the grace that I have been given to them.