Inside the mind and thoughts of Beth

last night was the annual volunteer celebration at northwoods. this is always a good night! last year Lincoln Brewster came and gave us a concert, that was great.
this year they had a christian comedian come in….still it was great that they had the celebration night, but not as fun. the comedian was not that funny, to me and most the people i was sitting with, the lady behind us however thought he was hilarious. he had the typical jokes you would expect. he was trying hard to be Jim Carrey-like with the physical humor, he would be better off finding his own style. Don’t get me wrong i laughed a few times. he had a story about renting a movie and getting the wrong one, that was humorus.
honestly the funniest part was when we played hot potato with these red clown noses they had given us and this guys dvd. the group i was sitting with and i had fun with it.
The staff also did a video for thier volunteers, it was nice to see how most of them describe thier volunteers. there were a few ministries left out, but i am sure it is hard to get everyone’s put together and ready to go by the time of the event. it was kind of funny because the 3 ministries i actively volunteer in were the 3 that were not in the video. haha!! i feel so unappreciated! just kiddin!!
(Positive Note) They gave out Legacy awards to older individuals in the church that have served from the beginning, and that is always an awesome thing to see. It is neat to see people who have dedicated so much of thier lives and time to serving God.
(On to my rant) I know this sounds really harsh and judgemental. i do have high standards when it comes to stand up comedians. there are few i find all that funny. i have yet to hear a christian comedian that has kept me laughing like Jim Brewer, Adam Sandler, Jimmy Fallon, Robin Williams, Bill Cosby, Tina Fey. It is just another expample of the standard of excellence being lower in the christian arena than it is in the secular. I know i just mentioned some very sucessful comedians, like i said i have high standards. But seriously, there is a lower standard…christian music, fiction, movies, ect. music is getting much better, fiction is still kind of sad, movies…have you seen any of the left behind movies!? If we are doing these things to further the Kingdom shouldn’t they be done with a higher standard of excellence than the rest of the world?!

sorry i have been a bad blogger recently. there has been a lot going on in my life, here is an update…

i still have 2 turtles, i got a better bowl, so i think they are stuck now! haha!!

i went to a ton of graduation parties a few weekends ago, so that was fun, but i was stuffed and it took up the whole weekend. it was strange to see this group of students graduate, doesn’t seem like i have been voluntering with them for 4 years! it will be even stranger with the next class.

reality is done for the school year so are hs life groups. so that frees up some time for me and that is exciting!! we still events during the summer but i am not going to all of them, maybe half. i still have some stuff planned with my life group girls this summer so that will be fun. including a road trip to Mars Hill!!

the 2nd annual goodwill formal was a blast! miley and i were in charge of planning that this year, it was a lot of work but we had a lot of fun doing it. we danced a ton, ate a lot of spaghetti and bread, and looked so snazzy the whole time. haha!! the students stepped it up a notch this year and had really great outfits! we even had a blues brothers rendition. a good time was had by all.

this past weekend my uncle passed away. he had been really sick for a long time, so it was expected. we have been busy with trying to get his affairs in order, he had nothing done, and i mean nothing…no will, life insurance, nothing. i am more prepared to die as a healthy 27 year old than he was as a terminally ill 53 year old! oh well. so that has taken up a lot of time, but it should all be over soon. everyone is doing well, and dealing with it well, so that is good.

other than that i have been working, planning a baby shower with some friends, and trying to keep up with life in general.
i will get back to blogging regularly after this week when things calm down. see ya soon!!

this morning as i was leaving for work, i found my turtle!!
After a week of wandering my apartment without food or water that crazy thing was still alive.
I went and got the dust pan when i saw him sitting there figuring he was dead, and when i brushed him up in there he pulled his head in. so i put him in the little carrier with the lid on it, so he doens’t escape again, gave him food and water. he was happy to be in the water again.
so i guess i’m not such a bad turtle mom after all….hahaha!

highlights…..
jan flips out
dwight crying in michael’s office
shrute bucks vs. stanley nickels
pam being named secret assistant to the regional manager
bringing back the yogurt lid office olympics medals!
ryan getting the job!!
and the best part…….
jim coming back for Pam!!!

jim needs to grow his hair back, this is NOT a good look for him.
didn’t like ryan in this season, he was kind of a jerk so i am not sad to see him go.
i am betting karen stays in new york

on to season 4!!!

my mom bought me 2 baby red ear aquatic turtles in Texas a few months ago, I named them Jim and Dwight. Well, about a month ago i came home from church to find Jim was no longer in the bowl….hmmm…trying to find a 1 inch diameter turtle in a 725 square foot apartment is not an easy task. so i found him a week and a half later, sadly he was dead. how did he get out of the bowl? well i dunno, he was a super-turtle. or so i thought…..
Sunday my mom and i saw there was a reptile show at Expo Gardens, so we stopped by and bought another baby red ear turtle. so i put new Jim in the bowl with Dwight and everything seemed to be fine. they were getting along, no problems. Until…last night i had life group, and after my friends left i went to clean up my kitchen, i look in the bowl….you guessed it, just Dwight. WHAT THE HECK!!!??? so i do a search for the new Jim and do not see him anywhere. I have no idea how this keeps happening!! the edge of the bowl is rounded back so they would flip trying to get out, or so i thought. Either Dwight is really lazy and doesn’t try; he is happy in his little turtle home; or i have bought 2 super-turtles that are very good climbers.
i really hope i find new Jim before he dies…….
If not, I think i am just going to stick with Dwight, and not waste anymore money on runaway turtles!

this weekend we had IHOP (international house of prayer) come to Northwoods and set up a prayer room for 2 and a half days. We did this last year as well, and i was blessed by the time i spent there so i was excited they were coming back.
Friday night we had our monthly leader’s meeting for Reality, after a short meeting we went over as a group to the prayer room. eric had it set up that we could go in for personal prayer or prophetic prayer if we felt lead. this is something that had been on my mind all week leading up to go that night, so nerves and all i decided to go for it. it turned out to be one of the most encouraging and edifying things i have ever done. there were 3 people on each team that would pray for you. all of them encouraged me that God is pleased with all i do and have done for Him, which is always good to hear.
2 of them talked about a new chapter in my life that God is excited to start. That was awesome as that is what i have been struggling with, feeling stuck in my life. One guy explained it as God sitting there with this huge scrapbook of my life, and He loves looking at all i have done in my life, since i was a little girl. He said he could picture God looking at the page that represents my life right now, and it is full of so many amazing things that God loves looking at and is pleased with, but He is so eager to turn the next page and start a new chapter in my life.
I left that night feeling more at peace and encouraged than i have in a long time. I am not sure what this next chapter all entails, but i do know it is going to be an exciting and God filled time. This also helped me to take the steps to set some boundaries to get my first priority straightened back out. I need to cut down on some very good things that i do in my life, to make sure i had time for the best thing in my life, God.

this is a women’s leadership blog that i read. it is a good reminder for us all what serving should be about….

“Don’t just do what you have to do to get by, but work heartily, as Christ’s servants doing what God wants you to do. And work with a smile on your face, always keeping in mind that no matter who happens to be giving the orders, you’re really serving God.”–Ephesians 6:6 (The Message)

The heart is the very seat of our soul, our emotions, and our passions. It is the very essence of our being and that which drives our thoughts and our motives. No wonder God tells us to guard our hearts (Proverbs 4:23).

The heart of a leader is the foundation of her life. It is what drives her passion for the Lord and her passion for service in the kingdom. No doubt most of us feel called to lead in a deep way from the bottom of our hearts.

great episode tonight!
i am starting to like new Andy. not just because he has a sweet last name either. It was great when he was floating in the water, “My name is Andrew Bernard, I am with a group called Dunder Mifflin” haha!!
GO PAM!! She was awesome tonight!!
“If Micheal organizes some sort of a group hug, make sure you stand by me.” Dwight to Angela. Aww! How romantic.
“Game on!!” Stanley

this morning i grabbed a can of ravioli to bring for lunch. (i know it isn’t the most appealing thing to have for lunch but i need to go to the store.) when lunch time came, i opened the can and began to pour it into the bowl with a surprise…..peaches were coming out. hmmm. OH YEAH!! i have friends that love to play pranks on each other! haha!! it made me laugh, i ate some peaches and went to Casey’s and got some pizza. SO, if you, the prankster, is a blog reader of mine. Good job!! I needed the laugh today. Thanks!!!

this is a line from Rob Bell’s book, Velvet Elvis. I am going through this book for a 3rd time, this time with my high school life group. The girls and i talked about this for quite a bit last night. The fact that we all feel we can and should do it all because all the things we get ourselves wrapped up in are “good things”.
when i got home and was spending some time with God, this line kept coming to my mind.
i have to kill supervolunteer.
my fear…if i don’t, i will be forgetting what is supposed to come first, and that is my relationship and intimate times with God….loving, listening to, talking to, and learning about the one i put so much time into serving. i am already starting to feel the effects of just that.
i need to weed out what is bogging me down.
i am starting to feel suffocated.
i NEED to do this before it feels like another full time job instead of serving the God i love with all my heart.
friends, pray for me in this journey. saying no and cutting things out is a very hard process for me.