Lisa's Blog

Letter

2010-07-08T11:22:00.000-05:00

Friends and Family,

Just wanted to drop you a quick note to let you know about something that is going on in my life. You all have walked with me through this crazy journey of trying to get into Law School. As I am sure you all know back in May I was put on a waiting list. Though this was frustrating, I was oddly at peace with it. Because I did not want this to be a summer of anxiousness and wanted to continue to be at peace I intentionally did not learn the dates which they would be offering “seats” in the fall class to a few individuals on the waiting list.

Well, apparently yesterday was one of those days. I received a phone call that morning telling me that a seat had opened up and they would like to offer it to me. I had about 48 hrs to decide (until noon on Friday). Those of you who know we particularly well will not be surprised to learn that my first reaction once hanging up the phone was to break into tears. You see, God has been teaching me a lot during this journey. A lot about faith, trust and what my heart really desires; especially about living one day at a time and not being anxious about what tomorrow will hold. Because of this, I had not ever said that I would say “yes” or “no” if I was offered a position.

So, I spent a good portion of yesterday seeking wisdom from some wise people in my life. After spending some serious time with Jesus I really realized that neither choice is “bad.” I firmly believe that I could be in the will of God both at law school in Birmingham but that I could also be in the will of God here in the Houston area. The conclusion that I came to was that this wasn’t a matter of making the ‘right’ choice but rather, which choice would bring God the most glory and which would allow me to enjoy God the most (“What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and to enjoy him forever.”)

After much wrestling, tears and prayer I have decided to decline the seat. I do not do this with a promise of a job in Houston, or really a promise of a job in general. This is just merely the path that I feel will allow me to serve God and allow for His glory and grace to be most exalted through my life. Again, this is not to say that that couldn’t and wouldn’t happen if I went to Birmingham. My thoughts are not an argument against Birmingham but rather, why I think that Houston is the best choice for me right now. Grad school might be in my future eventually, but not this fall.

I promise this is about to end, but I wanted to share a verse or two that are helping me in this decision.

“Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time.” 1 Peter 5:6

“Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13:20-21

“Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.” 2 Timothy 1:8-9

*side note on this verse: this is not me saying that what I am going through is “suffering” because I have food, a roof over my head and more than enough clothes…this is just a bit of a trial/difficult decision. My inclusion of this verse is for the last part and the emphasis of our calling being “holy” and based on God’s purpose and grace rather than my works.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support during this whole process. Blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.

Blessings,

Lisa

Breathe.

2010-02-18T12:20:00.003-06:00

I needed to take some time today to just calm down. It's amazing that I forget how helpful some of these things are sometimes....was reminded by someone today to do them.

*Turn my phone off. (sometimes, I forget that I can do this)
*Find a corner of a coffee shop (I went with Panera...I wanted some soup...and hazelnut coffee)
*Download a Frank Sinatra album
*Read a book..for fun!

It's amazing how helpful these things are to my sanity.

Why I Love My Major(s)

2010-01-26T10:55:00.002-06:00

I always cringe a little bit when people ask me what I am majoring in because when you say "Biblical Languages and Political Science" people always look at you funny. In fact, I am always very careful to enunciate very clearly when answering that question in hopes that the confused look on their face will be somewhat diminished. And, it never fails that that first question is always followed by a second, "What are you going to do with that?" My common answer, before I was trying to get in Law School and could use that answer, was "Whatever the Lord tells me to...just waiting for Him to tell me." And though, yes this answer is true, it really is a cop out because the confused face would only get worse if I answered "Oh you know, write speeches, get someone elected to a political office, teach Government."

But, even though "Biblical Languages and Political Science" gets me many weird looks, the books that I get to read make it totally worth it. I find it highly entertaining to go from reading a book on foreign policy to translating portions of Psalms and asking crazy grammar questions. Here are some of the books that I am currently reading this semester:

*"Praise and Lament in the Psalms" by Westermann
*"Diplomacy" by Henry Kissinger
*"Understanding Public Policy" by Dye
*"Linguistics: An Introduction to Language and Communication" by Akmajian
*"Interpreting the Psalms" by Miller
*"Reflections on the Psalms" by C.S. Lewis
*"An Empire If You Can Keep It: Power and Principle in American Foreign Policy" by Magstadt
*"Presidential Command: Power, Leadership, and the Mkaing of Foreign Policy from Nixon to Bush" by Rodman

And this is why I (most of the time) enjoy my homework.

Thursdays....

2010-01-22T08:57:00.004-06:00

Thursdays are quickly becoming my favorite day. The combination of free time fun and time to be productive are just so good for my mind. It's a day where I am really able to focus on the little things that bring me joy as I slow down to enjoy them. Here are some of the little things from this Thursday:

-time to visit with my Roommates in the morning
-a Library visit with one of my favorite little girls where I am able to totally focus on her
-splitting a brownie (and fighting over that brownie) with the same little girl :)
-finding out about a free concert and getting Ashley to go with me the next night
-chatting with Holly
-interesting reading for school, hot tea, coldplay and my favorite seat at my favorite coffee shop
-standing next to Kathlyn during the ODK picture and not being the only tall female
-being a nerd with Amber (one word: "mesmer")

My hope is that the practice of enjoying and noticing the small happy things on this day of the week will overflow into the rest of the week...

Day Off

2010-01-14T15:32:00.002-06:00

Alarm snoozing
Roommate visiting
E-mail checking
Target shopping
Jeans drying
Sweatpants wearing
Lunch eating
E-mail sending
Ashley seeing
Veggie chopping
Soup cooking
Pepsi drinking
Conference organizing
Speech writing
Book reading
Show watching
Food delivering
Homework finishing
This is my day off....

Christmas Break To-Do

2009-12-15T19:36:00.002-06:00

Leave it to me to make a to-do list for Christmas break :)

*make chocolate covered pretzels
*finish law school apps
*celebrate Christmas with Loren and Andrea
*make the "pink stuff" with my mom
*see a movie alone
*read non-educational books because I have time to
*read super nerdy, amazing books because I have time to
*clean out my closet in Conroe to get rid of stuff that just sits there
*wind up not getting rid of anything because I am a pack rat
*see friends who are in town for the holidays
*help my grandmother cook for Christmas day
*watch as many cheesy, Hallmark Christmas movies with my mom as possible
*go look at as many Christmas lights as possible
*find a TV show to watch a season of and wind up addicted to (any suggestions??)

I'm sure there is more....I forget anything?? :)

Monday Thoughts

2009-10-26T10:04:00.002-05:00

* I claimed yesterday as my last totally-calm-no-schoolwork day (except for my b'day) between now and the LSAT. Took a nap. Read a fiction book. Only problem is that last night I was up until 1am. Stayed up too late reading the book and then couldn't fall asleep because of my previously wonderful nap.

* This morning, everything I was worried about forgetting, I did in fact forget. Thankful for a roommate who is at the apt. and coming up to school later.

* On days when it is raining like this, I am very thankful that all of my classes are in the same building. Also, I might be an evil person because I like sitting on the second floor and watching all of the people running in the ran. Rather entertaining.

* I saw someone on campus today wearing a FL!P shirt.....weird

friends

2009-10-23T23:26:00.003-05:00

This little girl is one of my favorite people in the world. I've watched her grow from the little baby who I pushed in a stroller up and down our street the day her family moved (the first time) as she screamed and screamed to the little girl who reads and runs and talks and plays...2nd graders are so grown up! Tonight I got to spend time not only with my family, but with her family as well. I could not have asked for a better Friday night. It began with her and I playing on photo booth on my computer (thus, this picture...it's our suprised face in case you were wondering) and it ended with her falling asleep in my lap while we watched a movie with everyone else. Best Friday night of the school year. Love you sweet girl.

Let's play a game...

2009-10-22T13:28:00.003-05:00

So I'm reading for my "Women in American History" class and it is talking about men and women in Frontier America. And I thought of a question....and I want to hear y'alls answers just because it's fun :)

(Mom, after I asked a friend this a few minutes ago I realized that this is something you would totally do to us, ask us random questions and make us answer them...you have taught me well :)...)

Here are the questions, answer them in the comments section:

1) If you lived in America during the time when the West was being settled would you want to live in the East (the states) in a city that was settled or would you want to move West and settle a new part of the country? (there is no correct answer...curious to hear people's thoughts)

2) Of those who choose to go West, some left their families in the safety of the East while they went to build a house and make sure things are safe while others brought their families along
with them. If you are a guy, which would you do, leave your family or bring them with you? If you are a girl, which would you want to do, hold down the homefront or go build a new home?

Leap of Faith

2009-10-21T14:07:00.001-05:00

I just registered to take the LSAT.

Not really sure how I should feel right now. But, I do know that I am excited to see how the Lord uses this, even if it is in ways that I don't expect. This is me waiting, seeking, trusting and following.

Let the journey continue.

Reminder.

2009-10-20T11:30:00.001-05:00

He who has called is faithful to bring about His work to completion.

I wait.

I seek.

I trust.

I follow.

The End is also The Beginning

2009-08-09T16:11:00.002-05:00

Well, BT09 is officially over. On our last night of camp I became so overwhelmed by the fact that God allowed me to serve him this summer but not just serve Him in any way, I got to serve Him while doing a job that was perfect for me, travel the country and make some of the best friends. What an awesome God I serve.

We just left the home office in Birmingham where I told the majority of our team bye. I cried. Lots. Right now I am sitting in a hotel room with 6 other girls who were on my team. We are just hanging out for a while then going to Iguana Grill (YUMMY!!) for supper in honor of Michelle's birthday! yahoo!

I will fly into Houston tomorrow and spend a few days in Conroe with my family and then on Wednesday I will move into my new apartment!

Gotta go take a shower and start getting ready for supper!

Peace!

Hope.

2009-07-27T14:07:00.001-05:00

Read this blog post. It is an example of how Compassion International is carrying out the mission of the gospel all over the world. What are you doing to further the gospel?

http://blog.compassion.com/michelle-tolentino-brasile-family/#more-4439

Sights and Sounds of the Summer

2009-07-24T07:28:00.004-05:00

I've sat down to write a blog about 5 times in the past two weeks and just couldn't think of what to write.....Totally stole this idea from Ashley Hatchett.

Sounds:
*campers asking Micah if they can touch his hair
*7000 campers worshiping at Daytona
*BA singing "Boom Boom Pow"
*hammers echoing off the walls of the worship room
*Three Dog Night singing in downtown Chattanooga on our night off
*printers jamming
*lots of music....LOTS of music

Sights:
* 25 people wearing the same shirts as each other. every day.
* "kids in the quad" aka campers sitting around in a circle playing a guitar and singing (bonus points when there are numerous guitars present and being played)
*a room full of beautiful MACs
*lots and lots of dancing
*the sun rising in Gatlinburg as we walked out the Convention Center after our all-night load out
*beautiful mountains and the wonderful views from on top of said mountains
*my favorite Kenyan experiencing many American things for the first time
*hundreds of Compassion children being sponsored
*numerous dance parties (including the dance part of ALL dance parties on July 4th)

Tastes:
*Cinnamon biscuits at Covenant College
*Fast food on travel days
*Dove chocolate on reg days/day 2
*snacks from Decatur!
*coffee after staff devo in the mornings

Smells:
*Antibacterial hand sanitizer
*Lysol (thanks to Alicia)
*air freshner in the office
*smelly feet on the end of reg day from wearing our closed toed shoes all day
*funky smelling bathrooms

Christlikeness

2009-07-03T08:48:00.003-05:00

Last night I was readying through 'The Valley of Vision' before I went to bed. You guys probably get sick of reading about this book but I love the pure sincerity of words. The prayers in this book express the words of my heart that my mouth does not know how to verbalize. I was reading through a pray titled "Christlikeness" and the last few lines really hit me...

"Help me to walk as Jesus walked,
my only Saviour and perfect model,
his mind my inward guest,
his meekness my covering garb.
Let my happy place be amongst the poor in spirit,
my delight the gentle ranks of the meek.
Let me always esteem others better than myself,
and find in true humility
an heirdom to two worlds."

I'm still here...I promise

2009-06-27T14:28:00.002-05:00

I've done such an awful job of keeping up with my blog this summer. So sorry about that...the camps I am working at might be smaller this summer but things have been super crazy.

I spent the last week in Gatlinburg, TN. That place is just odd. It is by far the most touristy, commerical place I have ever been in my life. That week was not a normal week of camp, there was no recreation or missions during the day. Instead, churches came to Celebration (our morning worship service), left and did their own thing (shopping, white water rafting, etc) and then came back at night for another worship service and on nights 2 and 3, a concert. Leading worship was Steve Fee and our Camp Pastor was Louie Giglio. On night 2 we had a concert with Leeland and on night 3, The David Crowder Band. Our typicaly weeks of camp have had between 550 and 650 kids (though some are larger, around 1200-1500 campers). But, in Gatlinburg, we have 4500 people attending....CRAZY!

It was a great week of worship and ministry. Sadly, I was not able to go sit in on worship much because of work that had to be done.

We finished there at 10:30pm on our last night of worship and started loading out. Due to some different situations, we were up ALL night working. We finished around 7:00am the next morning. Thankfully, we had a few days off and were able to sleep all day (I love me some Hampton Inn beds!!).

We are now at Lee University in Cleveland, TN. This is our largest week of "traditional camp" with about 1500 campers. It has been an interesting Reg day....camp is full and I am short on mattresses. I hate SO MUCH not having beds for people....but, camp still happens :-)

Off to do more work....

~Lisa

Boom Boom Pow

2009-06-08T10:50:00.002-05:00

Well yesterday was the long awaited, much needed, afternoon off.

It. was. lovely.

After 1 week of training and 10 days straight of camp, we were all very very tired and in much need of rest. So yesterday we went off campus for a really fast lunch. We also got to make a Wal-Mart run (where we accidently left someone....sorry about that Beth). Once back on campus it was time for a nice lonnnnggggg nap (3hrs for me...yay!). Once we were rested, the girls got all pretty and had a mini-photo shoot. One of the girls on our team, Caroline, is an excellent photographer who loves taking pics and us girls like having our pics taken so it is a great combo :-) After pics, we met up with the guys and went to downtown Chatanooga. I ate at Big River which was VERY yummy. We then wandered around downtown for a bit, took some more pics, ate some Ben and Jerrys. The evening was made extra fun by the random fact that Chatanooga is in the midst of hosting a large music festival and we got to watch Three Dog Night...we walked back to our car listening to them sing "Jeremiah was a bull frog."

This morning, while walking to our early morning meeting, we decided that an afternoon off, combined with 8 hrs of sleep, makes our team much happier and nicer :-)

Off to do Registration Day 3....

~Lisa

Where's Lisa??

2009-06-01T07:18:00.002-05:00

Oh. My. Goodness. These past 2 weeks have been crazy and yet so amazing. Here is my attempt at a quick overview.

Training Week
During this week I met my team, who are all fantastic. There are a lot of returnees from different teams but there are also a good number of people who this is their first summer working for Student Life. Everyone is a very harder worker and I am so excited about serving with them for the next 2 1/2 months.

Doing my job the second time around has its own challenges but the actual "housing" portion of my job is so much easier now that I have had 3 months last summer to figure it out. :-)

1st week of camp
After MANY late nights or preparation we started our first camp. Registration Day, which is always pretty crazy, went really well. The craziest part of the day was when the fire alarm went off in the building where our camp office is, which is also where we were/are housing all of our female campers and where the cafeteria is. Needless to say, keeping 600 people outside when it is supper time is quite the adventure.

Towards the end of Reg day, when I was hurrying to get to a meeting on time and had not gotten to eat yet (and had a feeling I smelled a little bad) I realized how much fun I was having and how glad I was to be doing this and how greatful I am that YHWH has placed me here with this people, working in this job.

Overall
Honestly, I am a little fearful about this summer. Our world is so sinful and broken and it seems that a large portion of this is manifested in the youth of America, whether it is because of their own mistakes and sin or because of the actions and sin of their parents. God is, and has been for a while, in the process of breaking my heart more and more for the hurt that is present in our world because of sin. The thought of being surrounded by about 15,000 broken and hurting teenagers in a 2 1/2 month time period is frightening because I know how emotionally and spiritually draining it is. It is my prayer, though at times I want to be selfish and not pray this, that God will teach me about the healing that He brings through His overwhelming love.

My prayer is, and will continue to be that "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of YHWH as the waters cover the sea." (Habakkuk 2:4).

Thanks for going on this journey with me and being patient with me as I am slow in communicating. The Lord is working in lives, and is it a great thing to be a part of.

Blessings,
Lisa

Poor Wayfaring Stranger

2009-05-21T19:46:00.003-05:00

So I'm not begging....a lot....but you should write me letters this summer. If you decide that you love me enough to do that, here is how you should address it:

Lisa Lund
Blue Team
P.O. Box 36040
Birmingham, AL 35236

:-)

If you want to send my hungry stomach some cookies or something like that, then you will need to send them to the actual location of where I am. For that address, sent me an e-mail/fb message and I will gladly get that to you.

But more importantly, please pray for my team that it will not be about us, but that everything we do will bring much glory to God.

Georgia on my Mind

2009-04-01T18:31:00.002-05:00

So summer is fast approaching and today was the day that many people have been waiting for....the day that Student Life announces who is on what team and where those teams are going. Thus summer, I will be on the Blue Team working for Graham and BethAnn Hill. Graham was my camp director and I went to his and BA's wedding back in November. My friends Michelle, Caroline and Madison will all be on the team with me and I am excited about working with them again but I am also really excited about meeting new people!

My schedule is different this summer...in fact of all of our locations I have only been to one of them before. Most of my summer will be spent at locations in Georgia but Covenant College is actually right near Chatanooga, TN (I can't spell...forgive me). Here is my schedule:
covenant college, lookout mountain, ga--may 30-june 3
covenant college, lookout mountain, ga--june 3-7
covenant college, lookout mountain, ga--june 8-12
covenant college, lookout mountain, ga--june 12-16
gatlinburg conference center, gatlinburg, tn--june 19-23
lee university, cleveland, tn--june 27-july 1
georgia baptist conference center, toccoa, ga--july 3-6
georgia baptist conference center, toccoa, ga--july 6-10
daytona beach, fl--july 13-17
covenant college, lookout mountain, ga--july 20-24
covenant college, lookout mountain, ga--july 25-29
covenant college, lookout mountain, ga--july 29-august 2
tuscarora conference center, mt. bethel, pa--august 4-8

My prayer is that God will begin to prepare all of the summer staff for SL's hearts now so that when we come together we may serve and glory Him in abundant ways.

Weekend Fun

2009-02-09T22:25:00.002-06:00

So a few weeks back I had kept having the same conversation over and over in my head.....should I go to my church's women's retreat or go to Dallas for Student Life Conference there and hang with some dear friends who I miss a lot? You might ask why I just didn't go to both (since they weren't on the same weekend). The reason is it would have been too much...I know my limits and I needed at least ONE weekend where I didn't have anything.....plus I wound up with two babysitting jobs the weekend of the retreat.

So, this past friday I skipped both of my classes and headed for Dallas. On my way there I stopeed and suprised my mom. I then went to lunch with both her and my dad. Lunch was actually kind of sad because our favorite Tex-Mes resteraunt closed a few months ago with no warning. So we went to the eat at the resteranut that opened in the same building. It was lovely to spend time with my parents but that was by far some of the yuckiest mexican food I have ever had (my mom and I tried to convice my dad to leave the second we opened the menus but he wouldn't...oh well...now we know not to go there again).

I actually enjoyed my drive to Dallas. I listened to some great podcasts by Ben Stuart and just enjoyed being alone on a beautiful day.

When I finally got to DBU, I was greeted by Alyssa and Raychelle, both of whom I have not seen since AUGUST! Oh my goodness it was just LOVELY to see them. Dani got there about 30 minutes later and we were off to the church that the conference was at. While there we got to see the amazing Jessica Dodd! Oh how I have missed my hotel-roomie! (This summer, almost everytime we stopped at a hotel while traveling I roomed with Dodd....good times). While we were standing around talking with her one of the guys working Tour walked up to us. He told us they were short on staffers and were wondering if we wouldn't mind helping them out by working the Compassion table (Compassion International is a fantastic organization and Student Life has a booth for them at every event they do). Being the ever devoted (and crazy excited...I mean come on, we were part of OTOCHO) Student Life summer staff we were we said "sure! why not! can we have staffer shirts??" (cause it is not like we don't have enough SL shirts anyways). He then proceeded to ask us if we knew how to work the Compassion table. Our response was to look at him like he had a 2nd head.....we spent 12 weeks doing camp....yes, we know how to work the Compassion table. A bit later Ben Cranford and Maddie showed up....we also got to see Ross for a bit. Once tour started we got to enjoy the ever-so-amazing Kristian Stanfill lead worship.

The highlight of the evening took place after the event was over for the evening....we all go to hang out with Dodd. Let's just say, we had some very OTOCHO moments. (side note: for those of you who are wondering what in the world OTOCHO is, it stands for Orange (O) Team (T) 08 (OCHO).

The next day (of which I was running off of 4 hours of sleep...just like camp!) was great....friends interviewed for summer positions, saw some people we knew from the summer and just over all had a great time.

My drive home that night was the first time in my life I have ever wished that I went to Sam Houston University. My reason? Because my drive would have been 1 1/2 hrs shorter :-)

I have some observations I have made and been learning about worship but I must go study for a test so those will have to wait until another day.

Blessings

15 things about me

2009-01-20T18:33:00.001-06:00

1) I don’t like “Care Bears.” I had a bad experience as a child. I will never buy my children a care bear movie or stuffed animal. If you love me, you won’t either
2) If you had told me 4 years ago that I would study languages in college, I would have laughed at you.
3) I prefer Hebrew over Greek (and think it is weird that I know which I prefer).
4) At some point in the near future I want to spend an extended period of time living and working at an orphanage. I don’t want to teach a VBS, paint, etc while there. I just want to sit on the floor, love on the kids and be a part of their daily life.
5) I get more homework done while sitting at Starbucks or Panera than I do in my own room.
6) I took piano lessons for about 10 years and ballet/pointe for about 12 years (it seems like at lot of people at HBU don’t know this).
7) I hate shopping for pants just as much (if not more than) as I hate shopping for swimsuits
8) My calendar on my computer (ical on my mac) is color coded, has EVERYTHING on it, and makes some of my friends want to throw up my at OCD-ness
9) I only like hugging people that I am very close to so when random people come up to me and try to give me hugs (ESPECIALLY frontal hugs) it kind of weirds me out.
10) I want to adopt at least 2 kids...
11) Certain phone rings and other noises make me jump because they sound like a fire alarm at first and fire alarms are WAY too common in all the dorms I have lived in the past 3 years.
12) I love driving long distances at dusk…sunset, good music, driving down the freeway, it doesn’t get much better than that.
13) I want to work in family ministries that help equip moms and dads to be better parents (i.e. crisis pregnancy center, etc) and am looking at pursuing a Master’s Degree that will better equip me for this ministry.
14) I didn’t think I was one of those girls who a really cute pair of shoes made her day better but a few weeks ago, I learned differently.
15) I tend to act like I am on “Mission Impossible” while I am on RA rounds in the dorms with Scott.

The Year of Prayer - A Disciple's Renewal

2009-01-11T20:43:00.002-06:00

Hello my friends

Welcome to 2009 :-) As you might have gathered from the title of this blog, 2009 is a year of prayer for me. It is something that God has been laying on my heart and convicting me of : to be more spiritually disciplined and to me on my knees praying for my family, friends, and direction for my life. In all honesty, these first 11 days have not been the most successful but God is growing me and teaching me how to make prayer a part of my day-to-day life. Sometimes prayer is frustrating to me because I feel like I should know how to pray but then when I start my mind wanders, I don't know what to pray for/who to pray for etc etc. So I have been searching the scripture to see what God teaches about prayer (if you have any thoughts/scriptures, I would love to hear from you...lundlf@hbu.edu) and am learning much (i.e. sometimes, the best thing is just to "be still and listen"). But if you think of it, I would appreciate your prayers for my prayer journey.

There is a book called "The Valley of Vision" which is a collection of Puritan Prayers. I have wanted it for a very long and got it for Christmas. I wanted to share a prayer from this book that is a perfect expression of my heart right now.

A Disciple's Renewal
"O MY SAVIOR,
Help me, I am so slow to learn,
so prone to forget,
so weak to climb;
I am in the foothills when I should be on the heights;
I am pained by my graceless heart, my prayerless days,
my poverty of love,
my sloth in the heavenly race,
my sullied conscience,
my wasted hours,
my unspent opportunities.
I am blind while light shines around me:
take the scales from my eyes,
grind to dust the evil heart of unbelief.
Make it my chiefest joy to study thee,
meditate on thee, gaze on thee, sit like Mary at thy feet,
lean like John on thy breast,
appeal like Peter to thy love,
count like Paul all things dung.
Give me increase and progress in grace
so that there may be
more decision in my character,
more vigour in my purposes,
more elevation in my life,
more fervour in my devotion,
more constancy in my zeal.
As I have a position in the world,
keep me from making the world my position;
May I never seek in the creature
what can be found only in the Creator;
Let not faith cease from seeking thee
until it vanishes into sight.
Ride forth in me, thou King of kings
and Lord of lords,
that i may live victoriously,
and in victory attain my end."

And so it continues....

2008-12-02T17:29:00.002-06:00

So there has been a request for me to update my blog so here it goes.....A lot of this you guys already know but I included a few stories that I don't know if I have told anyone.

Once the summer was over I had less than 24 hours until I headed back to school for RA Training. When I got to HBU, the RA's that work in my housing area were in the middle of a meeting with Erin (our RD) about programming. I sat right down, hadn't even brought in my stuff from the car yet and thus, my 2nd year as an RA had begun. :-)

The girls on my hall are fantastic. I decorated my hall in polka-dots and, I think it looked really cute if I may say so myself. I have about 33 girls (the number has gone up and down this semester).

For my birthday weekend I went to Birmingham, Alabama to see my friends from the summer (19 of the 24 of us were there). That saturday was my 20th b'day and my boss from this summer, Graham's wedding. The night before my b'day and the wedding, a bunch of us went to eat at a Mexican food restaurant. All summer long, everyone sang happy birthday to me most everytime went out to eat. Well, they actually got to sing happy birthday to me on my actual (well, the night before at least) birthday! Oh the irony.....

The next morning a few of us go up and went to Oak Mountain State Park. It was beautiful, fabulous and....actually fall!!! The leaves were beautiful colors and the weather was fantastic! What a perfect place to spend my 20th birthday!

That night was the wedding which was beautiful! Yummy food, fun dancing and just being with friends that I love and miss was great. At one point that night I was walking across the room with my friend Jessica and we both just looked at each other and smiled. Her and I both agreed that it was great to be just walking across the room with each other. It was also really fun just to get all dressed up....let's just say, after seeing everyone in shorts and camp t-shirts all summer, my team cleans up nice :-)

I'm really ready for Christmas break....I want to do lots of reading, movie watching and, of course, sleeping. If you guys have any suggestions on books that I should read (I'm up for anything except for a weird sci fi stuff). In fact, if you are reading a book, I would love to read it too and then get together for coffee/tea/pie with you and discuss it! One thing I really want to do is go see a movie alone while I am in Conroe....sounds like fun to me!!!

May Christ always be at the center of our mind and lives, especially during this holiday season.

Blessings.

California...

2008-07-29T12:54:00.003-05:00

UPDATED LATER THAT DAY: 5.8 Earthquake today....wasn't too bad here but in some places it was pretty crazy....oh California

So....we, the orange team, have officially done at least one camp in every time zone in the US (besides Alaska and Hawaii).

We got here, Riverside, on Saturday and then went out to eat that night. It was really nice for all of us to spread out and eat where we wanted to (I ate with some of my team at California Pizza Kitchen). It was also nice to just wander around for a bit. I got to wander around Borders for a bit....it was amazing how many people from my team wound up in the history and religion sections. :-) The next day was our load in day. Typically, we load in at 1pm but, as it was Sunday and a church was meeting in the gym which was going to be our worship center we were not able to being load in until 9:30pm that night. So, that day we got to experience "real life" outside of the camp bubble! I ate my first In-and-Out burger and then headed to the mall and Target! (Found a really cute dress at Gap for really cheap for those of you that care :-) ) We then headed back and took naps (on command from our leadership because we were going to be up most of the night). Needless to say, the majority of my team was up until around 3:30am loading in.

Camp this week is a lot smaller than we are used to but it is going to be nice to be able to know Youth Pastor's and camper's names.

Well, I have more to tell but things are going to be slow in the office this week so I will save those stories for a later time.

Grace and peace!

The Promised Land?!?

2008-07-22T08:09:00.004-05:00

Two camps in Durango, Colorado really skew your view of "good weather." Doing camp literally on top of a mountain is quite lovely. Doing camp in Shawnee, Oklahoma is....like doing any other camp, really hot. We got here on saturday, loaded in on sunday and started camp on monday.

A few things....

First of all, a funny (well, not so funny to me) story for all of your delight. On saturday, my team went out to eat Mexican food for supper. While there, I, of course, spilt my drink. Right after that, I felt something on my head....it turned out to be a large sombrero. At first I though "what is going on?!?! do they do something really cruel and mean to people who spill their drinks?!?) and then, I saw that a group of people were standing behind me. This guy asked my name and then how old I was turning. I wouldn't answer him so someone else did. They then proceeded to start singing happy birthday to me. All I could do was repeatedly mouth to my team that I would kill them all. I, of course, turned as red as the salsa. Then the next day, at Chili's for lunch, I see all of the waiter's walking out and I was like "no way!" not again but...oh yes...they come over and sing happy birthday to me again. THEN! Yesterday! on Reg day (my stressful crazy day) while we are in line for supper they all start singing it again! and everyone in line joins in! The only problem is....MY BIRTHDAY IS IN NOVEMBER! So, I have come up with something.....they can sing happy birthday all that they want to but....they must start to give me presents! (Though, that does scare me just a bit :-)

So, we are now doing camp in Oklahoma. It is hot. My camp director, Graham, went to school at the campus we are on (Oklahoma Baptist University) and kept referring to it as "the promised land." Though we like where we are staying and the fact that there are comfy couches and a TV in our office, it is def. not the promised land.

Off I go.....grace and peace!

Welcome to Fort Lewis

2008-07-08T11:10:00.002-05:00

9 states in 2 days
25 hours of traveling
2 dramamine

what does this add up to?

DURANGO, COLORADO!

So we finished up two camps at Lee University, celebrated the 4th of July, didn't sleep much, ate yucky food, loaded out and drove for two days. We spent the night at Fort Smith, Arkansas and then got up and drove some more. We got to Fort Lewis College around 11:30pm mountain time and started grabbing our blankets because....it was kinda chilly! That's right...after week after week of humidity, we are now going to do 2 camps on the top of a mountain. While waiting for our keys last night a bunch of us curled up in our blankets and lied down on the parking lot and looked at all the stars (thought of you mom....knew you would be proud). It was crazy how many we could see.

The dorms we are staying in don't have a/c which I have heard can be a bit of a drag during the day but that means at night we sleep with our windows open. I woke up this morning feeling like I was camping except my bed was comfortable and I didn't have any bug bites...it was glorious!

Well, I'm now off to straighten my hair (which will actually stay straight here!) and then off to eat lunch and begin load in.

Grace and peace!

Lee University...the second time around

2008-06-28T21:22:00.002-05:00

So last time I was here I had NO CLUE what in the world I was doing....this thing called camp was overwhelming and I was working with a bunch of people who I know that I liked but I didn't really know them....

Now, I have somewhat of an idea of what I'm doing (or at least I have gotten good at acting like it :-)) and I know why I like my team.

Our week of camp was really great. I did learn something though: Florida people are a bit weird...not always a bad weird (a good number of people on my team are from Florida) just a different weird. Our speaker that weeks was Sam Bhatt. I didn't know who he was going into the week but this man was AMAZING. He is a minister in every sense of the word. He cared for the students, the youth ministers and our staff. He would get up early and stay up late just to come to our staff meetings (we meet every morning at 7:30am and after worhsip every night) just so that he would better know how to help us and help the students.

The third night of camp was possibly one of the most authentic times of worship that I have every participated in. As a staff, each morning we are studying the book of Joshua together. In the third chapter, the nation of Israel is preparing to cross over into Jericho but must first cross over the Jordan River, which is in the midst of it's flood stage. In order for the people to be able to cross over, God tells Joshua to have the priests step into the water and when they do, the water goes back and the people are able to cross on dry ground. Our camp theme for this summer "The Way" taken from Acts 19:23 ("And about that time there was a great disturbance about the Way"). So, that night, Sam re-created the crossing of the Jordan River. The students, if they felt so called, were able to walk done and cross through the water, step onto dry ground and pick up a stone as a reminder of their commitment to the way, just as the people of Isreal did in Joshua 3. As a staff, our job was to line the "river area" and pray for the students as they walked through. For some reason, that week I had felt this extra burden on my heart for these students...things I had heard from youth pastors about the students just broke my heart. To be able to sit their, surrounding these students and vocalize outloud my prayer from this was...an opportunity I would not trade for anything.

Moving onto this week...today was registration day, which is normally my hardest and most crazy day of the week. But, for some reason, today was CRAZY easy! I still had hard things to deal with (toliets over flowing and needing to move people to a different room because of it, churches adding 14 people the night before camp and wanting all of them to have beds...etc) but, I never felt the desire to cry! :-) In fact, I even bought some stuff online from Old Navy today! I definatly count today as a blessing!

My team and I have started joking about the little things that we now are so much more grateful for because of the fact that we live in camp world...be looking forward to a list in the near future of these things...I think all of you will find some of them quite humerous. :-)

By the way, you should leave me a comment so that I know who all is reading this and that I'm not just typing to myself....that's too much like talking to yourself and I'm weird enough without doing that....:-)

Well...off to sleep I go!

Grace and peace!

Registration Day in Florida

2008-06-22T15:11:00.003-05:00

Well, today is registration day in Florida. I'm sitting in the camp office waiting for one more church to get here. All in all, today seems to have gone pretty smoothly....I had a few rough spots to overcome but, don't we all :-)

Florida is....humid! We got spoiled last week in North Carolina with FANTASTIC weather and WONDERFUL food at Wake Forest and here at Stetson it is back to regular-ole cafeteria food and lots of heat and humidity.

We got here at midnight on friday and loaded in starting at one on saturday. Most often, it seems that the production staff is up really, really late doing last minute touches on the set, lights and sound but.....yesterday....EVERYTHING was done by 8:30! It was great! Me and some of my team went swimming and then hung out at IHOP. It was great to relax and just hangout with my team.

We have just over 1000 campers this week...which is our smallest camp so far.

Overall, I'm doing pretty good. I finally feel confident in my job and like I actually have a clue what I am doing. My team has made it through the "honeymoon" phase and have become a lot more real with each other.

Office just got crazy....I'm off

Wake Forest University....Reg Day

2008-06-16T19:54:00.003-05:00

Hey all...

Well my team and I finished camp up at SFA on Saturday, loaded out and drove to Birmingham. Spent the night in BHAM and then drove all day until about 6:00 when we arrived and loaded in at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Normally, we start load in around 1:00pm and finish about midnight but, because of the distance we had to travel, we started much later and thus finished much later. In spite of tiredness, today has been a really GREAT day. Registration was crazy as usual but went really well especially considering that this is our first time in about 10 years at this location.

Before I left for the summer, many of us joked about how I was going to become an expert at which cafeterias had good which and which had.....really yucky food. Well, so far this summer, I have had some NOT good food but this week....the food is AMAZING! When my team walked in for our first meal today before the campers arrived, we got so excited when we saw all of the fresh food that we started hugging each other. MaDe much of the sleepiness go away.

Well, it feels like my summer is really officially in swing. We don't have a day off until the end of summer. Each day will either be spent at camp or traveling to a camp. Normally, this would not sound fun at all but my team is really great to travel with. We have kind of un-officially divided ourselves into vans and the people that I have been spending most of my time with in the vans are GREAT.

I would love to hear what's going on in everyone's lives whether in form of an e-mail or a letter. A phone call would be great, but I am not really able to spend much of my time on the phone.

Well, it's almost time for a quick group meeting so off I go.

Grace and peace to all!

Stephen F. Austin Day 3

2008-06-12T14:08:00.002-05:00

Hello all...

Well, camp at SFA is over half over. This has def. been a very crazy week. We have just over 1700 campers this week and a very large campus; both of which make life interesting. On the upside, next week we will be doing camp in North Carolina and for what we have seen so far, that week will be much easier than this week, even though it will be Student Life's first time ever at that location.

One of the highlights of this week so far was most certainly last night when one of our guys put at turtle in one of the girls showers.....needless to say, she freaked out just a bit....VERY funny!

I got to see my grandmother yesterday. She was in town and called me and I was able to go to lunch with her. Tomorrow, my parent's are driving to see me :-) They will be here just in time to help make nametags for next week of camp! I will take all the hands I can get when it comes to name tags. I'm really excited about seeing them because I will not see them again until I come home August 11th and then I leave the next day for RA training.

Well, today is my day to help lead a FTO (free time option) so I'm off to get ready for that!

Grace and peace!

End of Lee University week 1

2008-06-06T22:15:00.003-05:00

Greetings from Birmingham!

Today, we wrapped up our last week of camp, loaded out, drove three hours to Birmingham (I slept the entire way :-) ), loaded yet MORE stuff into our trucks for the next few weeks of camp, headed to our hotel and then ate fantastic Mexican food for supper. Now, I sit here in my hotel room (my roomate for the next two nights isn't back yet) and am enjoying the peace and quiet.

Tomorrow, we have one of our very few days off and I plan on enjoying it to the fullest. I will get more than 5 hours of sleep, do some housing work (which I don't mind cause I get to do it in my PJ's) and then head to a minor league baseball game. We leave on Sunday and drive from here to SFASU in Nacodoches (sp?) Texas for our second camp where we are expecting around 1500 people. It is also there that I will get to see my family which I am VERY happy about!

This first week was a great week. For the majority of our team, this is the first week of camp EVER for us to be staff. Lots of us (the majority in fact) have never worked for SL before. This had made for some rough patches as we figure out what in the world we are doing but our team has fantastic leadership who do a great job of teaching us how to do our job. Without them, we would be a mess.

Well, I think I'm going to go read a book because I can :-)

Grace and Peace!

Michelle, Alyssa and me at a mall in Tennessee two nights before camp started.

Lee University day 2

2008-06-03T09:47:00.000-05:00

Hi blog world friends!

Today is day two of week one of camp. Yesterday was registration day and I can honestly say that I have never worked so hard in my life. Oddly enough, I really enjoyed it! (I guess there is a reason I am doing this job).

We have just under 1200 people at camp this week. I got to worship late last night so I sat in the very back and as I sat down I was overwhelmed as I looked around the room and saw the students and it hit me....all of these kids have a place to sleep....it might be on the floor, but it is still a place to lay down their pillows. It was another "insignificant" moment in that there was NO WAY that I would have done that on my own....only through God taking the rooms and multiplying them (my theme verse for the summer is from Matthew 15 where Jesus has compassion on the people, doesn't send them away and feeds them). I am also blessed to be working with an amazing staff. Our products girl did housing last year and our event coordinator did housing her first year. They have helped me in SO many ways!

Well, I'm off to work again!

Grace and Peace!

Lee University

2008-05-31T15:05:00.000-05:00

Hello all!!

Greetings from Lee University in Tennessee! We have loaded in our camp office and are loading in the worship room tomorrow. For those who are wondering what exactly my job is this summer it is as follows....I take the schematics of the dorms we will be using and figure out where all the people in our database are going to stay. Then I e-mail the lists to the Youth Ministers and wait for changes to come in and take care of them. I also am in charge of name tags (with the help of my team since this week we are doing 1185 name tags.) There are a few other things I will be doing throughout the summer but those are the biggest two. Camp starts on monday of this week so today and tomorrow are a bit of "off days" though we are still doing some work.

I'm really ready for camp to start and cannot wait to see how God is going to move this summer!

Off to do laundry I go!

Training Week

2008-05-29T11:40:00.000-05:00

Hello friends! I am still at training week! It is going great so far. God has really blessed me with a fantastic team who I really enjoy being around. I am working hard learning how to do my job (housing is crazy but oddly fun). On the first day (sunday...the day I flew in and then began training) I typed up my thoughts from the day and what all had gone on that day and I thought I would share it with you.

"Today began at 5:00am, was at the airport around 6:20 and once I shuffeled a few things aroundso that one of my two bags was not over the limit of 50lbs and then went to the right terminal, made my way through security, found my fate, got sprite and a muffin, alked back to my gate just as they began loading. The flight was fairly uneventfl, especially condidering that it was my first time flying alone. Though i did get sick on the plane and the fact that my ears were still popping 5 hours alter. Once I got my luggage I found the SL van (or rather, they found me) and we picked up the rest of the airport people we were off the the SL office. Honestly, being att he SL office waiting for training week to really begin was the most overwhelming part of the day. There were TONS of people all looking around at each other's name tags hoping to find more people with the same color name tag. Though it was overwhelming, it was great to finally meeeting the people who had just been a name, face and some words on facebook. After a quick meeting and lunch we were off the Shocco Springs where we would spend training week. The ride was quiet att imes, but I really enjoyed getting to know some of the people a litte better. Once we arrived and got into our rooms, the day REALLY began. This day, as will the rest of the week, held lots of meetings. I really enjoyed some of the, my favorites being the teaming meetings where people take turns telling about themselves and the meeting where we learned about how to use MAC computers (even though this meeting was from 9-10 that night, about which time all of the office staff was falling asleep). So now, as I sit on my bed and refelct back over today there are two moments in particular that really stick out in my head. The first took place on the airplane before ite ven began to taxi. I sat there and just thought "What am I doing?!?! I don't know how to do this job! I don't know these people! I'm going to travel across the US (literally) and I get car sick!" After I thought these things all I could do was sit and rest in peace that God is in control. He uses us in ways that we don't think we can be used. And as He taught me when I was applying for this job, He knows what I need and will supply accordingly. My second highlight of the day was much more peaceful and invovled much less freaking out :-). During out second Orange Team meeting I couldn't help but looking around at the circle and be thankful. I am so very thankful for my team. Though I don't know the well, I think I have been able to talk to almost every member today at least at some point and I am so excited about getting to know them, being a member of their family for the summer, being their friend for a long time and serving and stretching alongside of them this summer. Indeed, God is in control."

Sorry for all the typos...don't have time to fix them....off to lunch!

Grace and Peace!

Grace and Peace!!

Mail

2008-05-20T14:01:00.000-05:00

Finals have ended and I have spent the past few days at home relaxing and getting ready to leave on Sunday for 13 weeks of camp. Many of you have asked about sending me letters etc. this summer. To answer the most common questions, yes you can send me mail and here is how you do that!

If you are sending me a letter, mail it to...
Lisa Lund
Orange Team
P.O. Box 36040
Birmingham, AL 35236

If you are sending a package you will need to send it to the location that I am currently at. E-mail me and I can let you know where I am and what the address is.

Random

2008-05-10T01:27:00.000-05:00

*So today was the last day of classes of my sophomore year which means I am almost halfway done with by undergrad. degree....crazy
*4 finals and 16 moveouts until I am done for the year.
*I found out yesterday that the computers in the camp office are MACs :-)
*I went to the beach tonight....it was really fun.
*I absolutly am so excited about this summer and yet, I am also really looking forward to a few days home with my family.
*My brothers both went to a formal tonight and they were so handsome in their pics that it almost made me cry. They have grown up into such handsome young men!

This was short, I know, but I must get some sleep

~Lisa

Intro...3 weeks til bham

2008-05-05T22:23:00.000-05:00

Hello All!

Well, most of you know that this summer I will be working for Student Life Camp's Orange Team as their housing coordinator. I thought I would set this blog up so that I can keep you guys up-to-date with everything that is going on as I get ready to leave, and most exciting, as I spend the summer serving with my team.

For those of you that did not know that I will be working for SL this summer....I will be leaving May 25th at 7:37am in the morning and spend a fantastic summer with amazing people and will fly back into Houston on the evening of August 11th. If you want to know more...then just ask!

I ask one thing of you....that this summer, you will cover me and my team in prayer. As time goes on I will have more specific 'prayer requests' but for now, pray for us as we individually pack (yikes!) and as we prepare to meet together for our first time as a team and that when we do meet, the Lord will draw us together.

Grace and Peace,
Lisa