Life Lessons in Los Angeles (Part Two)

Ok, so I’m super pumped to not only comment on the blog but to also help write it! (just a side note, Alicia and I both have our own blogs if you ever have some time down and are in need of inspiration and reflection; Alicia’s is http://anotherjoy.wordpress.com/ and mine is http://www.foodforthoughtwithasideoflaughter.blogspot.com/ – ok, commercial over) As Alicia said, L.A. was awesome. The trip was surreal for me – though we were most definitely not in Knoxville anymore it still didn’t feel like we were in L.A. either. So much happened during the course of one week that I don’t think I’ve been able to process it all. We did so much – from sightseeing to serving – and it’s a lot to take in. Even though Alicia and I shared for about an hour Tuesday night, there is so much more we didn’t say.

For me, the trip was a time of breaking out of my ordinary and doing things I wouldn’t normally do. I wanted to really make the most of this trip because we were only there for a week so why not go crazy (but in a good way)? Before leaving for the trip, I had so much going on and was at the point where I felt so bogged down and tired. I was successfully able to leave all of that behind in Knoxville as we headed to Nashville in order to catch a plane to L.A. Our second night there, we ate at this cute Italian restaurant (how we got there is a story in itself) and Rachel asked all of us two things: why are you here and what do you want out of this trip? For me, I wanted to go because I realized I needed to refocus my priorities and shift my attention back to God and not on everything else vying for my attention. That week was a really good time to focus on God since we didn’t have the distractions that we have here (we didn’t have a tv to watch or homework we were avoiding or a job tugging on us – we could solely focus on our purpose for the trip). What I wanted out of the trip was to continue in the process of becoming who God wants me to be. I was reading just last night in Jeremiah about how a potter will take a piece of clay to mold it but will sometimes have to re-mold it if there are lumps in it. I feel like L.A. and camp were both opportunities for God to work out any “lumps” I may have – it was a time where all the things I had once thought were important were suddenly stripped away and it was just me and God.

I think we mentioned it the other night, but the worship and teaching were probably two of my favorite things. We were able to witness and participate in such unashamed worship and hear some really good teaching. The youth pastor spoke on Saturday night about David and how his life really began at the point of Saul’s failure. Sunday morning Matthew Barnett spoke on “You Are What You Think” and how we’re only limited by our thinking. Tuesday night all the girls went to church for a girls’ only service to hear Patricia Heaton and then on Thursday night, we heard from Ken Hart who spoke on “When Your Dreams Get Stuck.”

Even though I’ve been rambling on and on, I still don’t feel like I’ve said anything that can fully portray what we experienced. It was something I want to always keep with me and not forget. I will probably always remember the freakishly tall Australians (please don’t be offended if you read this girls – just stating a fact), Cody (who said to remember his name by thinking of Odie), or Bernice (who made us all laugh when she talked about adding nuts to her brownies). I want to end by sharing something Matthew Barnett said on Sunday morning that has stuck with me. He said, “Nothing in the Bible is realistic; it challenges a non-realistic lifestyle. Things like not compromising and doing the impossible are what God tells us in the Bible. We need to be obsessed with what God tells us to think about. Our thoughts can propel us or paralyze us. Whatever you are right now, if you don’t change, you’ll become more of if you don’t change.”