Avoiding Evil

{POSTED BY MY LOVELY WIFE}

Life has been so hectic lately! It seems like the summers go by quicker and quicker, the older I get! I need time to stand still for just a few moments so that I can catch my breath, and then, maybe, I can get all the things accomplished that I need to before school resumes in August!

Amidst all the hustle and bustle of life, though, God has been doing some awesome things, that’s for sure! The mission trip was amazing, as I wrote about in a previous entry. God moved in so many ways in the kids’ lives and it was so exciting to see. VBS was this past week, as well. We took a Ramblin’ Road Trip and learned about different places, all while growing in our knowledge of Christ. It was so neat for me this year because I was one of the singers in the worship rally and so I learned all the motions to the songs and was able to help with the program on Thursday. Just to stand back and watch the kids’ faces was priceless. This experience makes me excited for what God has planned for me in the future regarding Children’s Ministry….at this point, I’m not sure what’s going to happen with all of that, but I know that God has a perfect plan and I’m waiting on His timing to reveal all that to me.

On Saturday, Craig and I went to St. Louis for a date…I LOVE dates!! We went to the Science Center, which I have never experienced before…I’ve been to the Omnimax twice, but never to the exhibits in the S.C. That was so much fun! I couldn’t help but reminisce about when I used to visit my grandparents’ house in Louisville and go to the science center there…how fun! Another reminder to me of how quickly life is passing me by. *sigh* Then we went to the Cheesecake Factory, and let me tell you, yum! It was so delicious and the atmosphere is great…what a fun, fun time! We had to wait for a little while so we went and Craig bought some cards and we played Rummy…it was lots of fun!

I am so thankful for my Craig. He is such an amazing man of God and we have so much fun together. I feel so blessed to have been given somoene so special as he is. Our relationship is so dear to me and I love him so much and YAY! (For those of you who know me, you understand the sudden exclamation, for those of you who don’t…that’s just a Kendall thing). Someday, I will post the story of how our relationship even came about…it’s too long to add to this post. For those of you who don’t like sappy stories, I don’t recommend reading that one!

Life is great, though, and as the summer quickly comes to a close, I am so grateful for the experiences of this summer and I know the things that God has done have forever changed me!

Kendall

My summer story for the last two summers has been an emmense amount of travel and being away from home. My travel has not been in the sense of a vacation, but mainly in mission trips, convention, and seminary classes. Last year my entire month of June was consumed and this year my July has been pretty busy. In June I went to Nashville for the convention and then a week later I left to go to Nashville for our youth mission trip with M-Fuge. I came home on Friday July 8th and left again on Sunday July 10th. I came down here to Kansas City for my summer class in apologetics and once again I get to return home today. I am ready to be at my own house with my own bed.

One of the things I consider home to be is something that is secure. When you are at home you can relax and feel safe at least. Two weeks of being away has made me long for that security and relaxation. When I am home I am with family and friends and I am in surroundings that are familiar. I look around here and K.C. and I feel so deeply that this is definatly not my home.

I have been considering all of this in the morning hours as I prepare to go to class for my last day. I compare my thoughts to how I feel as a Christian. This earth, the things here, and all that we do is only temporary, and as Christians we can look around and understand that this is not our home, this is not final reality, this is not where it all ends, but in fact this is only the beginning of what will be an eternity. I long to be home, where it is safe and secure in the presence of Jesus. The hope that gets me through this life is the hope I have in the future, I know one day I’ll be going home.

As many of you know I am an extention student at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The campus is in Kansas City and I have attended extention classes in St. Louis. The idea being that you can get up to 30 hours of internet courses, 30 hours of extention courses, and that you are required to have at least 30 hours of on-campus courses. They set the program up so that if you take everything they offer in a period of three years you should have taken almost everything you need to graduate. I did that and now I am in a bit of a tight spot.

It has come down to where I need only two more required classes in order to graduate with my Masters degree of 89 hours. The problem is that they are offering those classes online and at my extention center, but I can’t take anymore online or extention classes because I need on-campus credits. This leaves me in a bit of trouble because now I have no idea when I can get these courses. It could take another two years just to take two classes when they are offered on J terms (weeklong seminars in January, June, or July).

The other ingenious thing about the campus is that they like to offer services to their students only during the hours that students can’t come. For instance, my class starts at 9:00 and goes till 12:00 and then starts again at 1:00 and goes till 4:00. Now the registrar’s office at MWBTS closes at 12:00 (The perfect time for me to go) and then reopens at 1:00. They close for the day at 4:00 which is what time I get out of class. Obviously the goal of offering student services for the convenience of the students is lost in the shuffle here.

Needless to say I am frustrated with the school right now, but I am enjoying the apologetics class that I am taking. Dr. Lemke from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary has flown up here to K.C. in order to teach the class. It’s been excellent thus far. I hope that there is a way I can work out the schedule in order to graduate soon, but that is dependant upon my ability to be able to talk to the people that I need to talk to. More on this once I make my rounds…

We came back from M-Fuge Nashville on Friday. We took 45 people this year and managed to get there and back with only a few injuries. Outside of a hurt ankle, a broken finger, a scraped up face, and two vans getting dented up we did ok.

This year I was a driver for a new track group called peer ministry. After going to M-Fuge for 5 years now I have found myself stuck in the same ole, same ole. In order for me to feel as though I am actually doing mission work I need a greater challenge and it was in peer ministry that I found that challenge. We went to juvenile detention centers across Nashville and witnessed to teenagers from 14 to 18 who were locked up for numerous crimes including drugs, violence, sexual offence, gang related crimes, and several other crimes. This is something that I had never been a part of before. When we went to the juvenile development centers I thought it would be tough to talk to these teens. I couldn’t imagine that they would be open. I found out that I was completely wrong. I found out that these teens are no different than the teens I minister to at home every week. They wanted to talk, to play games, to hang out, and they were open to all of us. It was something else. Through the week there were two or three of them that were saved through our track group. It was an amazing experience.

As soon as we got home we began working on our mission trip video and finished it at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday so that we could show it on Sunday morning for our mission trip report service. Our youth led worship, read scripture, prayed, and got to watch the video of their week. It was an awesome service. I’m proud of our youth, the commitments they made and the lives they touched through the week. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us now that we are back home.

Unfortunatly I had to leave monday to come to Kansas City for class, so I don’t even get to be home for Wednesday night services on the week we are back. I am really bumming about that, I don’t like it when I am not home and when I am unable to be at youth on Wednesday nights. It is one of the highlights of my week.

This past week, I was a sponsor at M-Fuge, Nashville for a group of youth from our church. It was my first year as an adult sponsor and was definitely an experience I will never forget. I will have to post about my adventures soon! What I want to share, though, came from both this past week’s experiences and some happenings in my life lately.

With Craig going off to school this week, I can’t help finding myself eager for Friday when I get to see him again. A week is a long time, and yet, I know that it will fly by. I text-messaged him yesterday to tell him that I was eagerly anticipating his return.

As a parallel, all week at M-Fuge I found myself so excited to see God move in and through the youth I came in contact with. I looked forward to going to our mission sites to see what would happen with the children that we met there and how God would use us to make a difference in not only their lives, but in the kids’ as well. I prayed, constantly, that God would continue this spirit of anticipation deep within me and that it would not leave when I returned home.

This is how it should be with regard to Jesus. We should wait for His return and His call on our lives just as we wait for a loved one to return to us. We should constantly be seeking the Holy Spirit and listening for His voice with an eagerness and earnest that far surpasses the anticipation for anything else. While we’re waiting with expectation, though, let us be sure to serve God with fervence and devotion. While we wait and expect and hope, let’s be diligent in growing in our relationships with Him.

If our lives were lived in complete and utter devotion to Him, what a witness that would be to the world!