Letter

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.

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)

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....

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

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

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

* 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

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...

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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??

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

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

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.