SBPCB09

My last Spring Break. One would assume that my senior year I would be gallivanting off on some extravagant adventure to celebrate the ending of my collegiate career. Well I did just that. ...Okay, maybe not extravagant or extremely adventurous, but I did go to the beach and relax with some of my favorite people in the world. It may have rained 4 out of the 5 days we were there, but despite the ominous skies, we had a great time. To avoid a post that involves way too many details covering my 5 day adventure in Baypoint, here's a synopsis via bullet points:

• we got lost 5 minutes from our destination
• we ran
• we read
• we drank a lot of coffee
• we ate great seafood
• we asked/answered a lot of questions
• we went shopping [yes, we made it to Alvin's Island, don't worry]
• we ate some more
• we played a hilarious card game that will inevitably be too hard to explain
• we ate desserts, lots of dessert
• we found out 'Hannah' really does translate to 'Anita' in Spanish
• we attempted to use spray-on sun screen

On Tuesday we got to celebrate Jason's birthday and it ended up being the prettiest day outside. We drove to Destin to get breakfast at the Doughnut Hole [if you haven't ever eaten there, I suggest you stop reading this, get in your car, pick up a friend, road trip to Destin and order a cinnamon doughnut] then met up with his family and spent the day out on the beach. Most of us managed to leave the beach with random sections of sunburn. And most of those burns were a product of application error [*refer to the last bullet point]. We wrapped up the gorgeous day on the beach with a shrimp boil, compliments of Mr. Orme. Needless to say, it was fantastic. After staring into gray skies for the first few days, it was such a gift to have a warm, sunny day on the beach. Wednesday, a few of us headed back to Auburn, only to disperse again for the second half of the week.

The first half of SB '09 was lovely: a nice little break from reality with great friends.

awe. wonder. the rescue. encounter.

[this picture is provided compliments of bek] last night: december 8th: was the last encounter in america. i walked into the student center with mixed emotions. saddened, obviously by the thought of grace campus ending in auburn next fall. ecstatic, with the thought of how God has called grace campus to HK and the ways he is going to bless the obedience to that calling. but even in the ending of our weekly gathering on thursday, God has already stirred new beginnings. i don't think i can articulate how my heart felt sitting in the student center last night hearing the story of Jesus with a new wonder and awe; but i do know that i left feeling refreshed, feeling God pulling me into His heart and thankful for the great things that he has done. matt shared with us the story of Jesus from his son's storybook bible. matt read portions all the way through and as i listened i was humbled at the simple words telling the story of our rescue. i pray that the story of our God never becomes too familiar and i never cease to be amazed at how he has so perfectly orchestrated his story so that we would know him and have a relationship with him. He is running towards us with love and mercy and grace and freedom and redemption. may we respond with praise. may our lives reflect the love and grace that we have been shown. may we be overwhelmed by His goodness. may His name never been far from our lips. we are the children of His great rescue. we are the children He sent his humble son for. we are the children of grace, given unmerited favor and love because of our faith in Jesus. i am anxious to see all the ways God continues to begin beautiful new works in his children. thank you grace campus family for loving me out of the overflow of the Father. my life has been changed because of your presence here. last encounter in america: next encounter in HK

thursday

tonight encounter took on a new shape. periodically throughout the year we are going to be meeting separately at different locations in auburn. the different groups are all meeting under the same mindset that whatever we do whether in word or deed- do it all in the name of Jesus [colossians 3:17]. the groups were separated by different aspects of grace campus : prayer, service, vocational ministry, missions/international students, reading the word, and community. tonight i went to the meeting about serving our community in auburn. i have to say that it was incredibly encouraging. whenever a group of believers gather for the purpose of God being glorified it excites my heart more than i can articulate. as i sat and listened to all the amazing things that are happening in auburn, i began to look around the room and just dream over the people that i was gathered with. He has equipped us all with different gifts and passions and He is going to orchestrate something beautiful through this ministry. i feel it. our group was led by jason orme. i have just recently had the chance to get to know jason and his heart is incredible. as he spoke to the group gathered in his living room, it was evident in his words and his eyes that the Lord has placed great vision and wisdom upon him to be a leader in our community of believers. i'm really excited about being able to know a new group of faces from my encounter family. i'm amazed again at the wonderful people i have the privilege to call friends.