Beginning...

Well, it's officially day 1 of #reverb11, so here it goes!

Prompt: Where did 2011 begin?

2010 ended and 2011 began with one of my best friends, Lauren. She drove up from Alabama to spend a few days in Gatlinburg. We ate dinner, walked around town, watched fireworks, and I'm pretty sure stayed up way later than necessary giggling like 5th graders. It was both of our first times to ever be in Gatlinburg to see New Year's festivities. Yes, even though I've lived there my entire life, I've never taken part in the craziness of New Years. Lauren and I even ran into another staffer from our 2010 CentriKid team, so we had to document the event.

Peter happened to be in town, as well, for the holiday. So fun getting to reunite! CK4Life!

Now that I've relived where I was physically in the beginning of 2011, where was I mentally and spiritually?

Mentally, I was preparing to student teach in a middle school and high school. I was busy writing lesson plans and thinking about graduating in 6 months. Typical college senior, I suppose.

Spiritually, I was trying to trust the Lord as to my future plans. I remember stressing about getting a teaching job and still working Centrikid Camps. It wasn't until several months later that my plans (for at least the next year) were set in place--my internship at LifeWay.

And that's where I began 2011, a year of new things, of transitions, of firsts, of friends, of fun. Stay tuned for more on 2011!

Reverb11...

As I'm sure you've noticed, consistent blogging has been a failure for me. I even wrote a blog post today for work that posts in a few weeks about writer's block. Ahhh! I'm tired of having nothing to say! So, I'm going in a different direction. Last year several of my friends participated in Reverb10, where a community of bloggers wrote or tried to write on a prompt every day in December. This was done so folks could reflect on the year and what they had experienced. Even though Reverb11 isn't an official project like last year, after reading my friend Laura's blog, I decided to try my hand at this project. It's not going to be easy, but I'm hoping it will turn into sort of a journal for me. Confession: I hate journaling. I don't do it. But, alas, I want to challenge. So here we go!!!

While there aren't official prompts this year, one of the creators has written some "unofficial" ones for her followers. So, I'm going to use those. Here they are:

1. Where did 2011 begin?
2. Who did you meet?
3. What books did you read?
4. When did you struggle?
5. What did you discover?
6. Who was important to you?
7. What do you hope to remember?
8. Where did you spend money?
9. When were you most scared?
10. What questions did you ask?
11. Who surprised you?
12. What did you learn?
13. When did you feel the most relaxed?
14. Where did you leave a mark?
15. What movies did you see?
16. What did you accomplish?
17. When were you the most grateful?
18. Who touched your heart?
19. Where did you visit?
20. When did you cry?
21. Where did you spend your time?
22. What were your favorite songs?
23. Who did you miss?
24. When did you take the easy way?
25. Where did you eat?
26. Which blogs did you enjoy most?
27. When did you celebrate?
28. What are your dreams for next year?
29. Who will attract into your life?
30. What do you want to do in 2012?
31. Where do you hope to be on Jan 1, 2013?

Friends, I'm really going to try to stick with this. For real.

Thankful...

Sorry it's been so long since an update on my life. Not a whole lot has been going on. Just working and what-not. I don't have a lot of wisdom to impart this evening, but I would like to take time to enjoy this season... no, not the Christmas season (check out my last post to see my opinions on that), but the Thanksgiving season. I really do love Thanksgiving. It has all the great aspects of Christmas, without all the things I hate about the Christmas season. Feel free to take time to read my cliche-ness--things for which I am thankful.

- My family. Yes, they are crazy. Yes, I want to kill them on occasion. Yes, they embarrass me. But I still love them. My family has always been there for me. They've loved me and taken care of me, even when I've screwed up and let them down. I'm so excited to get to sit down with them and each 29874 types of pie and casserole, watch football, and pester the heck out of each other. It's what we do!

- My friends. Words cannot express how thankful and blessed I am by the non-blood family the Lord has placed in my life. They truly are an extension of my family. My best friends are always there for me. They're there to encourage the heck out of me, but also there to call me out when I'm being dumb and irrational (both of the latter happen more often than I would like. Some of them have seen me at my worst. They've let me cry and tell them my hurts, and they've been there to love on me and pray for me. The thing I love and am thankful for most, though, is how they constantly point me towards Christ. My sisters in Christ are always directing me towards that Gospel, and for that I am ever thankful.

- My job. I love my job. I work at a place where I feel comfortable to be me. I enjoy (most of) the work I do, and I love the people I work with.

- The Gospel. I am thankful most for this. I'm thankful for the Gospel because without it, none of the above things in my life would matter. I was reminded on Sunday of the intense power and necessity of the Gospel. This song is a great picture of it in its entirety...

In Christ Alone

In Christ Alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, My All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ Alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe.
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones he came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath.
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I'll stand.

Three Reasons Why I Tend to be a Scrooge...

Now is the time of the year where people begin playing Christmas music and talking about the holidays and what-not. This is also the time of year where at some point in the conversation it gets revealed that I'm not the biggest fan of Christmas. Actually, I could care less if it was Christmas. Friends usually respond with a sense of disbelief when I divulge my apathy towards this season.

Please don't get me wrong, I am a strong Christian and believe in the power of the Gospel; I just hate what this season has become about. It is no longer about Christ and the fulfillment of scripture, but about these things:


Commercialism -- "tendency to turn everything into objects, images, and services sold for the purpose of generating profit. There is also a tendency for intangible things such as happiness, beauty, or health to be given a monetary value and to be spoken of as commodities. Commercialism can also refer to the domination of things by business/corporate interests, or the exploitation of intangible things for private gain."

Conflict--So many people have family issues that holidays are a rough time. Families no longer get together to invest in and love one another. They (might) get together because that's what is supposed to be done, not because they genuinely care about each other. I've seen this first hand.

Craziness--The Christmas season turns into pure craziness. Whether it's families rushing from place to place or insane parents waiting in line for days to spend hundreds of dollars for their child's gift from "Santa."


I know that sounds a little weird and unnatural, but it's not that I don't love Christ, I just hate what Christmas has become.

Here is the real story from Luke 2:13-20...

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

The 100 Workout...

I stumbled across this workout the other day and decided to try it since it's chilly and raining outside. This is a great workout to do in a small place like a dorm room or small apartment (like mine). It only takes about 20-25 minutes. Here are the exercises:

100 Jumping Jacks
90 Crunches (I did different types of crunches)
80 Squats
70 Leg Lifts
60 Jumping Jacks
50 Crunches
40 Squats
30 Leg Lifts
20 Jumping Jacks
10 Minutes of Running

It was a pretty good workout. Not the most intense cardio workout, but great strength training. I'm going to try to do this every day in addition to my usual workout routine. I'll definitely do it on days when I'm strapped for time. Comment below on your thoughts and let me know if you try it!

Leadership is a Balancing Act...

Have you ever handled a situation differently than you anticipated? Were you more relaxed than expected? More rigid?

In the past year, I have been placed in several leadership roles that have challenged me. They grew me. They made me a stronger leader and a better communicator. Ok, I may have shed a few tears at times, but I grew :) I feel like I talk a lot about CentriKid, but that's where I am in my life. Right now, most of my life experiences focus around camp/LifeWay/directing, etc. This summer at camp I thought I knew the type if leader I would be. If you know me very well, you know that I pay attention to details, follow the rules, over analyze on occasion. Sprinkle in a few other Type-A personality characteristics and you have something similar to me. Fun? Not always. Effective? Mostly. But I'm not here to tell you about my personality; I'm here to tell you about how I didn't lead the way I had anticipated.

I was surprisingly more relaxed and relational than I thought I'd be. Sure, I still had high expectations for camp, CK1, and myself, but I realized that just because something worked the way I did it didn't mean it was the only way. And just because something was important to me, didn't mean it was important to 32 other people. I learned to pick my battles and to be a stickler for the "essential/big" things, but to stay flexible on the small stuff. I don't want you to think that I've got this all figured out. Trust me, I was NOT (and still am not) a balanced leader when I first met my CentriKid team. I was like a teacher (guess my degree stuck with me). I was horrible! After a few cycles of camp, I began to loosen up a bit, and really invest in those around me. Thinking about it, this is still hard for me. I have to make a conscious effort to not be so task-oriented and to just love people and love getting to know them and encourage them.

Long story short, I quickly figured out that a leader gets farther from getting to know people, not just getting things done. If people know your heart and the intentions behind your actions and requests, they are going to be more likely to follow you, trustingly. This is one thing if many that I'm still learning about leadership, but it's one thing that I love putting into practice.

What is your leadership style? Does it match your personality?

Be in the 3%...

Two coworkers and I have been "book-clubbing" it. We're going through the book "21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership." It's been great to get to learn and discuss leadership. This is something that I could use a lot of improvement in. Yes, experience and knowledge are great, but there's a ton more I'm learning about leadership. One thing that JE, Jen, and I have spent quite a bit of effort thinking and discussing is goal-setting (something none of us are particularly gifted in). Even with us being challenged by this, we know how pivotal it can be to set goals. I learned recently that only 3% of people actually set goals and strive for them. Even with this fact, I resisted "official" goal-setting for a long time. Actually, I just gave in about an hour ago. JE and Jen began a book this past weekend where they outline their goals and journal daily about how they are striving to reach that goal. Confession: I've had the book, too, but didn't fill it out (until tonight). Further confession: I'm not much of a goals person. I'm not saying I'm not driven, because I am. But I'm not a dreamer; I'm a realist. I think rationally. So I like to set deadlines... not goals. But, alas, I gave in to peer pressure and filled out the book tonight. I made 4 goals that I'm going to strive daily to work my way towards. Rome wasn't built in a day, right? My goals aren't anything crazy like be president or become a millionaire, but they are things that are incredibly important to me.

Here are my 4 goals:
- Work out 5 days per week: Working out is important to me. It used to be easy. Being a college athlete, my workouts were always scheduled for me-- not anymore. I'm gonna step up!
- Read something everyday: This doesn't necessarily mean a "book," but anything, a blog, a magazine article, etc. I want to increase my knowledge and my perspective on life.
- Save money during my internship: I don't make a lot of money, but I do want to come out of my internship more financially stable than I was when I moved here to Nashville. Just call me Ms. Frugal!
- Grow in spiritual leadership and knowledge: There's no way to quantify this goal, but oh well. It's still a goal! I am going to become more intentional in growing my faith and my knowledge of the Gospel. I want this to transfer into my life and spiritual leadership. I want this to reflect in my CentriKid Camps team next summer. This is my weakest part of leadership, and I want to fix that!

So, here's where YOU come into play. I need your help in holding me accountable to these--ALL OF THEM!!! Ask me about them . Ask how I'm growing. Ask what I'm learning. YOU have my permission to ask me and give me a kick in the tail (proverbially, of course) if I need one. I know I can't do it on my own, so help me out.