To be a part of something larger than me.

     I was sitting in church a few weeks ago, and for a moment I withdrew from my literal surroundings just long enough to realize one specific element- the overwhelming feeling of connection within the concept of gathering together for a central reason.

• Being together "as one" to acquire wisdom, offer praise and to perhaps evoke change.  

     I Work for my school newspaper. We work together to bring light on important issues, tell incredible stories of otherwise unknown people, and maybe even make certain "wrongs" right.

• The purpose of our work, whether we realize it or not, is much bigger than ourselves. 

     There's this beautiful thing called Young Life. Through Young Life, I get this incredible opportunity to befriend some beautiful high school girls and to walk through life with them. 

• The purpose of Young Life is much larger than me. The organization impacts the lives of others.

     There is just something so unexplainable and beneficial about associating with something larger than your life. The impact on my character is irreplaceable, and the sensation is unique to most everything else.

     I believe experiences like these will impact people if the motive behind the action is truly to help, or love other people; if your motive is truly absent of selfish gain.

     So, whether you serve at a soup kitchen, or adopt, or volunteer at a food bank, or work with mentally challenged individuals, or travel overseas, or medical missions, or sing at a retirement home- the action is larger than you. 

     If you are not already, may I encourage you to be a part of something larger than you. Make time for it in your life, because I might just argue that it IS life at it's origin. I feel most alive in the midst of selfless activity. I believe every single person should take part in this in some way. Even if you're not a "people person," there's a way to benefit the world around you. 

     Check out some amazing stories related to this topic like the For the Silent story or the SKAD story located to under "silly little reporter girl" in the right column of this blog.

Natural disaster is close to my heart.

Thinking of, and praying for Japan. 

 In the midst of busy American life, disasters taking place in Japan are resonating in my thoughts.

I traveled to Sri Lanka in 2005 to do tsunami relief in the tiny village of Kosgoda. 

Recently I have felt as if I am revisiting Sri Lanka and all the emotions that accompanied the journey.

Here is a look into my memory:

 Over 1,200 people were killed on this train during the Tsunami. It now stands as a memorial for the lives lost.

 This house was destroyed by the wave, as well as the people in it. Sadly, this house was one of the least destroyed that I saw. Months after the Tsunami, the rubble was still knee deep.

 

 

 

 

 Pastor Isaac. Truly one of the most beautiful souls I have ever met.

 

 

 Some of the girls on my trip after a day of work. We are wearing skirts we bought locally.

 

 

 The breathtaking Sri Lanka sunset.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sri Lanka: I am thinking of you. I have not forgotten your brokenness. 

Japan: Praying for you. Look to Him who stands outside of time. May he bring peace that surpasses all understanding.

Friends please take time to think about the world around us. While we continue on with buying our Starbucks, being concerned with gaining five pounds, and sports scores..thousands have lost all rights to humanity. So let us simply recognize that this place, this world, is much larger than us. If we do, beautiful characteristics manifest in our person. Selfish desires of any kind, personal suffering and loss become minimized through the lenses of world magnification.

Behind my red reporter glasses: personal thoughts on Muslim belief

Currently, I am writing a series for my student newspaper entitled Student belief. In each article I explore and present a certain type of religion/belief, as well as illustrate the spiritual journey of a particular student who holds the given belief.

The religion I most recently wrote on is Muslim belief. I thought I would share the main elements of Islamic belief, since prior to my research I really had a non-existent grasp on the essence of the belief.

ISLAM is derived from the Arabic root "SALEMA": peace, purity, submission and obedience according to Jannah.org, a web source for Islamic belief information. 

The religion has two halves. the first half had five main components which are essential to being a part of Islam. The components include: belief in one God "Allah." Belief in the angels. Belief in the prophets such as Noah, Moses, Abraham, Jesus, and the prophet for Islam, Muhammad being the last. Belief in the holy books: The Quran, Bible and Torah. The last element is belief in The Day Of Judgment.

The second half of the religion, from my perspective, is the application side of Islamic belief. people who practice the Muslim faith must pray five times a day, and are required to abstain from all substance use and premarital sexual relations. They must not curse, and are urged to be extremely moral with clothing.

I found the moral side of the religion very intriguing in context of the college years.The years following high school are often deemed with the period of time where people "find themselves," or explore spiritually, and I find it incredible that many people in the Muslim religion continue to withhold from straying from the faith, or joining in on culture's version of the college years.

Here is an article that presents another point of view on Muslim college years:http://www.jannah.org/articles/dating.html.

When I spoke with an Islamic student, I asked her if it was hard to keep the moral code, and if she has ever questioned her faith. She told me that some of the moral standards  are hard to maintain when an individual is saturated in mainstream university culture, but she overall has not had trouble with it. She was quick to say that she has never doubted her faith and believes very strongly in it, despite the fact that she is occasionally publicly chastised with comments like being called a terrorist.

The strength of her faith, and the other people I interviewed, honestly stopped me in my tracks. It's so unique to meet people who are so rooted in what they believe. I am not claiming that all of the reasons why their faith is strong to be pure, but I can say that it was different and striking to hear the confidence in their voices.

While I do not profess Islamic belief to be my religion, and am in fact rooted firmly in truth I have found, it was amazing to research and learn about the religion.

I encourage everyone to learn about different belief systems and new concepts.

Even if you do not agree with other concepts and belief systems, it will strengthen what you believe to challenge your beliefs with difference and opposition. I do not mean challenge as a form of rebellion, but to find truth. However, if you do challenge what you know I believe it is important to have a good grasp on what you have found to be truth, so you do not lose all sense of self in the midst of different philosophies and beliefs.  

Additionally to perhaps strengthening your current belief, speaking with people about there beliefs can help you "meet them where they are." Whether you agree with them are not is not the purpose, but instead, to love them well.

we don't have to be tolerant, but open-minded to the point of genuine care for souls. 

They are people.

So, then, we must love.

Check out my article on Student Belief: Muslim college students article under the  'Silly little reporter girl' section in the right column.

The Broken, Blissful Journey.

Life- what we consider to be anyway.

Lessons. Lessons learned. Everything blossoms new character, and experience which defines the soul we become.

People. People penetrate all corners of everything. Some stay and some leave. Some break your heart and few lift you up, but oh how you love them nonetheless.

Love, give, give, give. Serve, love. Care, worry, provide. Listen, council, waiting in the silence. It’s really just breathing.

Heart breaks. You observe the brokenness and suffering, and some brings you joy and some inflicts your broken heart. There is…
LIFE created for them.
But
They
Do
Not
Hear.
And so we wait. Once we have spent everything we have physically and mentally, we wait in urgent patience- in constant petition for their souls.

Soul. Ours. Time slips through cracks as we ponder and develop soul. Challenging instincts, and recognizing truth discerned by something outside of ourselves.

Outside of ourselves we find LIFE.

Millennials: My voice in the midst of the sea

I recently requested that people submit subjects they would like me to blog about, and the following subject is one of the requests:

"Id love to hear your take on the growing movement among 20-somethings to ignore the traditional 'American dream' for one more minimalist, as well as, much more spiritual in life's approach."

---

I am a "Millennial." 

Millennials are defined as people who were born in the 1980's and 1990's who's behavior seems to contrast that of previous generations, according to several surveys.

We are: confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change. We are more ethnically and racially diverse than older adults. We're less religious, less likely to have served in the military, and are on track to become the most educated generation in American history according to the Pew Research Center.

 Just as this definition seems to glorify my generation for our characterization, in many ways these perceived positive characteristics may also account for the severe amount of negative backlash we lavish on the world as well. The description is a double edged sword.

The way I would define my generation would be: uninspired, demotivated, unwilling to settle for the status quo, as well as being full of potential, humanistic and brilliant. 

I think the lowered interest in the "American dream" could stem from several concepts. From a simplistic point of view, perhaps this generation is redefining what "successful" actually is. The "American dream" is/was considered to be the definition of success by the preceding generations, but maybe that is changing, maybe the framework for success is being replaced by a new structure created by Millennials. This new structure could be identified as one focused on moral concepts rather then money and business etc. On the other side of the spectrum, maybe this generation is demotivated to achieve the "American dream" because the use of technology has conditioned us to immediate gratification and in turn stunted work ethics.

Spirituality among my generation is extremely interesting. From my perspective, I see a lot of people who are very passionate about what they believe, and also many with no belief at all. I am currently writing a series on Student Belief for my college newspaper, which can be accessed on my blog page under "silly little reporter girl." During my research, I have come across some striking information which all points to the idea that my generation is less interested in religion than any past generations. This could be due to the religiously saturated environments millennials may have grown up in, or the lack thereof; the environment may cause them to stray the opposite direction simply because of our built in desire to boycott the status quo.

I know and believe that many in my generation are just not willing to settle for what is normal. Sometimes this causes a spirit of change, accomplishment, and determination, and sometimes this causes neutrality to progression.

Either which way that truth is on this subject, I have high hopes. My dream is to see this generation live up to the capabilities we have, and to not settle for anything less. There is such raw, wonderful potential within the characteristics we have been deemed with possessing.

Let's do it.

Millennial Statistics:

• We embrace self expression 

Nearly one-in-four have a piercing in some place other than an earlobe. 75% have created a profile on a social networking site. Nearly four-in-ten have a tattoo.

• We have decreased work ethic/ availability of jobs

37% of 18- to 29-year-olds are unemployed or out of the workforce, the highest share among this age group in more than three decades.

• We are disinterested in religion

One-in-four are unaffiliated with any religion, far more than the share of older adults when they were ages 18 to 29.

Source: The Pew Research Center

Inspiration from the Inspire-er

I want to fall deeper in love with you. I know you are my source of comfort. I seek refuge in my secret place. Thank you Lord. You are the cornerstone of my existence, and I all truly desire is to please you Abba. Please give me the strength to die to myself daily and carry my cross as I run toward you. I will persevere in this race. May everything I do be intentional, everything to benefit your kingdom. I delight my self in you, and I know you will give me the desires of my heart. Your promises are emotionally unaltered, thank you. You have told me: “For I know the plans I have for you… plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Your grace overwhelms me. Help me to live a life worthy of you, so that others may see you working in me and believe. You are life to its full Lord, and I never want anything less! I love your people, and because of this I desperately and urgently want them to know you. I would truly rather live a life of poverty and bless the poor and defiled, rather then live a wealthy life from the world’s perspective. To me the earlier mentioned is a rich life indeed. Help me father to not love in word or talk, but instead in actions and in truth. You alone have captured my heart. 

Sometimes We Need Help to Get to Help

This passed week I had the privilege of hearing a friend share a story of a life-threatening car wreck he had been in last year. 

If I recount correctly, an older man hit his vehicle almost straight on leaving him injured to the point of immobility, and stranded in his crushed version of a car in a ditch on the side of the road. He continued to describe details of what he was experiencing emotionally, since he never slipped out of consciousness. 

The volunteer fire department and medical help arrived on the scene to find that he was going to have to be cut out of his vehicle. Previous to their arrival, he tried to relieve himself from the jaws of the car, but he couldn't, he couldn't because he was injured and stuck. 

He knew his legs were damaged and his head was bleeding.

With the help of necessary equipment and personnel, the fire department was able to get his body out of the car and rush him to the local hospital. He was also air lifted to the hospital in Tyler.

He went on to speak of a beautiful parallel to his accident and life in general.

The parallel is this: Sometimes we need help to get to help.

When I think about this concept I can't help but see the truth within it. This idea has been resonating in my mind all week and I have recognized how many times this metaphor has taken place in my own life. Sometimes we are so far gone in various ways that we NEED to be carried by a source of help, just to arrive at our help.

Perhaps our destination help is the doctor, or our faith, a counselor etc.

The above story illustrates a beautiful picture of what that looks like physically. He COULD NOT get to the doctor to be healed without the help of the fire department and paramedics. Sometimes it is a personal choice, or a series of personal choices that cause us to arrive at a place of self immovability, or the life taking place around us that causes us to find ourselves "stuck." Whatever the way we end up in that place, sometimes we just cannot get to help alone.

Many times have I found myself in the midst of a life situation or choice thinking: "I can't do this by myself; I need help." 

There are people in our lives that are our source of "help to take us to help" like a mother or father, like a friend or mentor...whatever it looks like, I hope that you have that in your life and listen to and accept their help.

We need them because sometimes we find ourselves injured to the point of immobility (emotionally, spiritually, or physically), but there's help, help that can get us to help when we cannot get there alone.