August 2010 Celebration and following through

This was originally written as a facebook note on August 14, 2010

So I usually write a note right after celebration, but this time I waited a little bit later. Ultreya sparked some memories, so I decided to go ahead and write.

First of all, I wanted to say that I had a great time being in a family. My first celebration staffing I wanted to be in a family, but was chosen for caritas. As you can read in one of my previous notes, I still had a great time doing caritas and loved it. I was music for #8 and #9, and loved that too. However, since I knew that we had some guitar players, I figured I would sign up for a family. It was great.

Last Tuesday I went golfing (as a side note, I must say that I am pretty sure Jesus can help my golf game also, cause I got two pars in the same round!!!) I got to thinking, our lives are a lot like a game of golf. Golf is a game that requires a lot of perseverance and concentration. You have to be able to concentrate and take your best swing on every shot. And even then a momentary lapse can put you out of bounds. And for those of you that know anything about golf, it is a lot more complicated than just swinging a club. There are several things that you have to remember for every shot. Similarly, life isn't that easy either. There are so many things to remember on each day of your life. The way you swing at a certain situation in life may put you in the rough, but you have to go ahead and take another swing. You may make a great shot and get lucky, maybe even a whole in one, but you inevitably have to come down from that high. How you respond to adversity is the real thing. You are going to get stuck in the bunkers or go into the water, but, by God's grace, you always have another chance.

So I have to say I always have a great celebration. It is so great to be in a community with you guys and worship together, and do awesome stuff with each other and everything else. I really love the way everyone is so relaxed around each other and really loves their neighbor. I also had a great time doing my talk. To understand what I am to say in this paragraph, you should definitely read my note that I wrote after NTC #9. I really tried to mirror what I said when writing my Jesus Christ talk last time. Actually, one memory that kept coming back to my mind was at #9, when I prayed for a friend right before she did her reality talk, and she prayed that she would just be a vessell for God to speak through, which I believe is a scripture verse somewhere. Anyways, as you read in my talk, that wasn't always the easiest thing to do, so often we want to put our own agendas into what we speak to others. I really tried hard when writing my talk to just set time aside to just write what God wanted to speak through me. And talks are a whole lot better when you strive to speak God's words rather than man's words. We all do not make our own light, we only reflect the light of our Creator, and anything we try to do outside of him is foolishness.

Celebration ended about a week ago. You were on a mountain top, and no doubt, like myself, you are lower know than you were a week ago. Not super low, but lower than at Gilmont. In fact, on monday or tuesday, I probably would have written a better, more inspiring note than I am now. And that happens inevitably, we all have highs and lows. But you have a choice. You can let life get you down, or you can fight that and strive to be a person more in tune with God. Do not forget how you felt at Celebration. Do not let that feeling fade away. In my mind, if Celebration or any other major spiritual experience does not make some sort of change in your everyday life, than all Celebration is is just another weekend spent doing something fun. So, as you think back, look for ways to strive to follow Jesus' life better every day.