Dot. Space. No Space.

I found out yesterday only one space bar click is required between typed sentences--not two! Where have I been?!? This news catapults my journalism majored world into another grammar biosphere. I refuse to teach future generations of college students what I must personally reject. The Great Commission previals despite this mind-blowing news. But rebel, I must! How's that for a personal issue? Even counseling intervention will not help me at this point...only prayer.

Breathless!

I can’t breathe.

My legs ask me to buckle with every agonizing step up the 14,118 foot mountain. As I bend over to regroup in the thin air and muster up the enough strength for the next two minutes before my body must pause again, a few tears trickle down my cheek. I cannot do this.

I hesitate to glance up for fear of seeing the rest of my teammates resting atop of the mountain while I struggle to put one foot in front of the next.

As I lift up my head and wipe my damp eyes, I see more boulders and rocks to conquer, but I also see Thomas (bottom right in photo), our student intern waiting for me.

Exhausted and weary, I ache my way up to Thomas and he steps in behind me. As we work our way up to the mountain summit, Thomas asks me if he can share three verses he recites while he hikes.

If anyone else other than this sweet college student intern had asked me this same question while I was sucking wind up the mountain-side, I probably would have bitten their head off and carnally responded, “NO! I don’t want to hear the Bible! I just want to get up this wretched mountain!” But Thomas loves Jesus and he loved his sister-in-Christ well to wait for me and to gently speak God’s words of strength.

We all reached the mountain peak and sat in silence as we soaked in God’s speechless splendor.

I am pretty sure I never want or need to hike a 14,000 foot mountain again. Yet I still get teary-eyed when I think back to this moment when the body of Christ worked to support each other and point each other to Jesus, even when I could not inhale another breath and I craved surrender above victory.

This story shows one of many incredible glimpses into my summer in Westcliffe, CO on the SnowRidge Summer Project. I loved pouring into the college students who in-turn poured into their campers.

In heaven I hope you get to meet the many dear kids and teenagers that came to Christ this summer and the college students who developed a deeper heart for Jesus because of your partnership to take the Gospel to them.

Me-Me-Me

So many times, I can focus on the here and now. I can take hours of time thinking on how to make my life easier. And when things don't go my way, my heart kicks and screams with a sense of entitlement. My selfish heart thinks, "I don't deserve this treatment."

Examples of this abound in my life, but here is a snapshot of one...

Being the city-girl that I am and spending seven weeks in the middle of no-where, CO on the SnowRidge Summer Project, there are days that I long for home; where I crave solitude from the screaming band of 18-22 year-old college students. I don't like eating the camp food here. I miss my home church and my neighborhood friends. I want my comforts. I want my computer to work. I-I-I!

But in the middle of my selfish rantings, the Lord gently speaks to my soul. He shows me that I don't always get what I want. He shows me that even the comforts that I crave, many never experience. He points me to the cross and says, "Gaze at me awhile and I will be your comfort." His Holy Spirit gradually changes my I-I-I to Him-Him-Him.

And while I kick and scream, he shows me that His heart for the lost. "Derrick" came to camp with earrings that looked like 4-inch large spike nails in his ear lobes. This brooding Denver teenager arrived with a scowl on his face and an attitude to match. And when you heard some of his story, you could understand why. Derrick's dad is homosexual and hated that Derrick came to church, much less a week-long youth camp where he would learn about Jesus. And that is just the beginning of his pain. Derrick shared his story with his camp college counselor, Caleb. Caleb was undone by Derrick's life, but pointed him to Jesus. On Thursday of last week's camp, Derrick trusted Christ as his personal Savior. Derrick stood before his teenage peers, not with a scowl, but with a grin on his face as he told us the story of his transformed life.

Jesus patiently reminds me that this life is not about me and my comforts, but about Christ rescuing and redeeming teenagers like Derrick. Praise Him for not giving us what we want, but what we need.

Mountains of Sand!

Well, I've been in Westcliffe, CO for almost three weeks. Where is Westcliffe you say and what are you doing there? Westcliffe, CO is in south-central Colorado, near the breath-taking Sangre de Cristo mountains.

I am here on a Summer Project with Campus Crusade for Christ. The 45 college student are running adventure camps for urban youth. The staff here mentor and develop the students.

In the photo at right, before the students arrived, the staff hiked and camped out at Sand Dunes National Park. (I'm in the far back wearing pink and looking exhausted!) Let's say it wasn't my most comfortable night o' sleep. ;-) I never knew sand was so hard to hike in until our excursion. The best part was "skiing" down the sand dunes! What a blast.

If you want to see more photos of my first few weeks here, click on this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010731&l=60115&id=170100721

Tomorrow our entire project is off to Denver for five days. The city-girl in me can't wait!

Govenor Rendell Slaps Me Five!

I groggily turn off my 5:45am blaring alarm still half asleep. I roll out of bed, slide on my running clothes and shoes to take part in the 10mile, 2008 Broad Street Run with 22,000 of my Philly friends and neighbors.

But I am not alone in my exercise insanity. My sweet peeps, Sarah, Becky and Bethany (pictured with me when we finished) ran the race too, along with about 11 others from our Liberti church, and a handful more cheer us on from the Philly street sidelines.

One might think, how could you have a good time running 10 miles? Well, don't knock it until you try it. What makes this race such a rush is the bands and drum corps at the mile markers struttin' their musical stuff and the thousands shouting encouragements from the city sidewalks. And it sure helps that the course goes straight and slightly downhill. One of the highlights was getting to give Govenor Ed Rendell (the former Mayor of Philadelphia) a high-five just below City Hall. Doesn't that make us BFF's now? ;-)

My goal was to run the entire 10 miles, except for refueling at the much anticipated water stations. And I did it! Another highlight was around mile nine. I wanted to start walking pretty bad and this fellow runner comes up beside me, bellowing out like a boot camp drill sargent,"QUITTING-IS-NOT-AN-OPTION!" Okay! You heard the man. Get it into gear.

I finished strong.

The morning topped itself off with brunch at Marathon Grill (appropriate name :-)) with a bunch of my running day buddies and part of our cheering section.

Muscle aches creep in as the hours after the race accumulate. The aches will subside, but I will savour the fun day with friends.

And I won't be waking up at 5:45am tomorrow. But I will be flying to Chicago to visit my dear friend Stephanie and her family for four days. No running required or desired.

Talkin' Trash!

Signs that God restores His creation are everywhere, including within the streets and parks of Philadelphia. I witnessed the transformation three days ago!

Last Satuday I, along with many friends from my neighborhood church, Liberti, were able to take a small part in Mayor Michael Nutter's "Philly Spring Clean Up." The goal was to gather thousands of volunteers for the largest, citywide clean-up event the city has ever seen.

In a follow-up email letter today from Mayor Nutter to all of the volunteers, he said, "Keep America Beautiful--the organization responsible for clean-ups across the country--has confirmed that the Philly Spring Clean-up was the largest single-day, citywide clean-up on record in the United States."

Mayor Nutter went on to talk about how the clean-up day far exceeded their original goals:

• Goal: 1 million pounds of trash; Actual: 2.56 million pounds of trash collected!
• Goal: 10,000 volunteers; Actual: estimated 15,000 volunteers!
• Goal: 50 commercial corridors; Actual: 71 commercial cooridors
• Goal: 10 Recreation Centers; Actual: 28 Recreation Centers
• Goal: 10 Fairmount Park sites; Actual: 27 Fairmount Park Sites
• 186 abandoned cars removed from the streets

Supplies used:

• 65,000 biodegradable paper trash bags
• 14,050 biodegradable paper recycyling bags
• 17,000 pairs of gloves
• 9,804 brooms (much of which were donated)

Over 200 community organizations were involved. If you want to see the media coverage, you can view it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-8oNUOzmOQ.

As fun as it was being a tiny part of making national history in this city, I find it equally as fulfilling that the glory of God is shining brighter in this city...a city desperately in need of Christ's healing and ultimate redemption.

(Logo from http://www.phillycleanup.com/)

Triple Decker Surprize!

My life in Philly seems to get sweeter and sweeter as the years go by. One of the sweetest parts of my life this year are some of the dear friends in my life. One such woman is Becky (pictured in the middle in the first photo and on the right in the bottom photo).

Becky is like a younger sister that I didn't have growing up. Her love for Jesus and others shows in her smile and as she cares and serves those around her.

So I was more than excited to be a part of Becky's triple surprize weekend, pulled off by her roommates (Catharine, pictured on the right), Bethany, and Becky's boyfriend, Lars (bottom photo, on the left...if you're wondering, the bottom photo is from an 80's Party).

Surprize #1: This weekend was Becky's 30th birthday, so Lars slyly arranged for one of her dearest friends, Kimicko, to fly in from Kentucky on Friday night and surprize Becky. The look on Becky's face when she saw Kimicko was priceless.

Surprize #2: A few minutes later, as Lars, Becky and Kimicko were driving back to Becky's house, Becky casually says, "I really prided myself on thinking no one could surprize me." No sooner do the words exit her mouth, she walks through her front door to discover 30+ of her friends hiding out in her house shouting "Happy Birthday!" at the top of their lungs.

Surprize #3: If that was not enough...on Saturday, Becky's boyfriend Lars proposes to her near the Philadelphia Art Museum! Even in the midst of yet another surprize, she joyfully tells Lars, "Yes!" We were all able to celebrate their engagement on Saturday night at her originally "planned" birthday party at a restaurant in our neighborhood.

I am so extatic for Becky. It's so fun to rejoice and celebrate with her, since Becky always does the same and more for her friends. And Lars should receive the "Stupendous Boyfriend/now Fiancee Award" for succesfully helping to orchestrate a triple decker girlfriend surprize!

Congratulations Becky and Lars! You are more like Jesus together than you are apart!