Roses and Raspberries of 2011

Seeing as it’s the end of 2011, I figured this an appropriate time to reflect back on the happenings of the year.  So here they are, folks, my very own roses and raspberries of 2011:

Roses to being an RA

Roses to student teaching.  I can’t imagine a better career choice: your students think you’re way cooler than you actually are, you get all sorts of notes, pictures and presents, you laugh every single day, and there is nothing like the energy you get from spending your day with 8 year-olds. 

Roses to being an RA at Corban University, the girls in my hall, and my RA team.  I never thought I’d be an RA, never planned on being an RA, but I’m so glad the opportunity landed in my path. 

Roses to beginning the final year of college!  A mere 4 months separate me and my diploma.

Raspberries to broken hearts.  Cheers to being smarter next time! 

Roses to spending the summer in Costa Rica

Roses to spending my summer with Royal Servants in Costa Rica instead of at the grocery store washing lettuce and rotating apple displays. 

Raspberries to the tarantulas encountered in Costa Rica. 

Raspberries at my failed attempt to run a marathon… maybe 2012?

  

Roses to being asked to be the Maid of Honor in my beautiful, best friend’s wedding. 

Raspberries to teaching licensing tests

Raspberries to the excessive testing, work samples, and loopholes necessary for teacher licensing. 

Roses to passing my first teacher licensing exam.

Roses to finally finding the infamous “gum wall” in Seattle. 

Roses to awesome housemates

Raspberries to a slightly disappointing Husky football season.  That final loss at the Alamo Bowl was the last straw… how does a defense give up 777 yards?! 

Roses to having mascara run down my face and a sore stomach from laughing everyday with my 4 housemates.  I am blessed by my friends.

Roses to writing a blog post that received over 100 views!  (“No Material Things?!”)  And by association, roses to YOU who read these blogs.

Here’s to a new, fresh, and blessed 2012.  May your New Year be filled with more roses than raspberries. 

No material things?!

During my long car rides home from Salem to Blaine, I listen to a fairly wide selection of music.  Feeling really bored with all my current additions to my ipod, I decided to go back to the good old days.  You know, to see what the 14 or 16 year-old Jill liked to listen to.  I was listening to the song Good Life by Audio Adrenaline when I heard these lyrics:

            “What good would it be

            if you had everything

            but what you didn’t have

            was the only thing you need.”

Hmm.  I don’t recall the 14 year-old Jill making much of a connection with those lyrics.  In fact, I don’t remember the pre-teen me ever really hearing them.  But as I heard them as the current 22 year-old Jill that I am, I found new meaning. 

From the time I became a Christian to the age of 21, my idea of a mission trip was probably similar to most other people’s idea of a mission trip: building houses, making wells for villages to get clean water, and bringing shoes to children in Africa.  Right?  Maybe not completely right. 

Mission trips, in my mind, were about building and bringing people things… material things.  Giving people more comfort.  More material comfort.  Bringing people joy.  Material joy. 

When I was invited to take part in a mission trip this past summer, I was confused why Reign Ministries did not send out mission trips that built houses, brought clean water, and gave comfort to the hurting people of these foreign countries.  What kind of a mission trip was this?  No material things?!  Nope, no material things.  Reign Ministries goes out with a specific purpose: to bring people to Christ. 

What good would a house be if the people living in it never came to know salvation?  What good would clean water be without eternal life?  Doing acts of service like this is a great thing that makes a tremendous impact on the lives of those people, and can be a segue into sharing the gospel.  But the key is to keep the focus on the eternal. 

So maybe mission trips aren’t about building “things.”  Maybe mission trips actually have nothing to do with life on earth.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” Matthew 6:19-20. 

As I spent my summer preparing for the mission trip and going to dozens of villages in Costa Rica, my idea of a mission trip changed drastically.  Mission trips are about changing lives eternally, not about giving a material change.  It’s not bad to build houses for people who don’t have them, or give a couple of poor Costa Rican girls your candy, but the focus should be on the eternal.  Like the wise lyrics of Audio Adrenaline reminded me, what good is it to have everything but to not have the only thing you need?

So what about life back in the states?  A lot of people here have pretty much all they could ever want… what many of them lack is the only thing they really need.  We don’t have to worry about building houses for our neighbors who have 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, and beautiful backyards.  What we do have to worry about is the eternal.  “Missions” are everywhere.  People everywhere are missing the thing they really need.  You can be a missionary, too.  Build relationships with people, pray for them, share your eternal hope with them.  Help them find the one thing they really need.  

If you’re at all interested in Reign Ministries, I would encourage you to visit their site (and download an application for a mission trip!)  http://reignministries.org/

I'm just sayin.

I know it’s been said before… but it hasn’t been said my way.  So here we go: what the age of technology has done to our grammar, spelling, and literacy in general.

1.  Conventions have gone down the drain.  I am not sure why getting your pinky over to the “shift” or apostrophe key has become so difficult, but clearly it has.  Why do we drill our kids that we ALWAYS capitalize our “I’s” and place apostrophes in our contractions, but then fail to take our own advice?  maybe im the only one who thinks this, but its seeming ridiculous now.  lets all try to use the keys weve been given.  the ones weve been given for a reason. k?

2.  Spelling has apparently been washed down the drain with conventions.  The most ridiculous part of this one is that the misspellings or shortened words don’t really make typing any faster.  Why are we leaving out vowels?  Just use your thumb, index finger, or whatever finger you use for texting/typing and push that “a”!  but i guess if ths is bttr 4 qck txting, then whtvr.  i guess it does make me feel coolr than the way i uslly typ and txt.  but lets try a lttle hrdr to get those vwls in there. k thx.

3.   Have you noticed those stupid abbreviations?  Or even worse, have you used  them? “Totes presh?!”  Bleh.  People don’t even just reserve these stupid abbreviations for texting and typing, but they actually say them.  in my humb opin, its totes unnecess to abbrev everyth we say.  but peeps probs do it cuz it makes things sup awk when someone doesn’t know what ur sayin.  but whateves. 

4.  Is it just me, or do those superfluous “y’s” drive anyone else crazy?  Does “happyy birthdayy” somehow make my birthday happier?  Does “heyy” grab my attention better than the old-fashioned “hey?”  Is “Fridayy” more Friday-ish than “Friday?” Not really.  Let’s stop holding down the “y” key so long.  One “y” is good.  Okayy?

So if you write something on my Facebook wall like “heyy! whatcha up 2 fridayy?  im hopin we can get 2gether. maybs ice cream, a movie, or whateves.  txt me!” … you’re probably driving me crazy. 

On the other hand, if you use “there,” “their,” and “they’re” correctly, you’re probably on my favorites list. 

I’m just sayin.  

[Oh, and if you're wondering what my biblical tie in for this blog is... ask yourself this question: Do you see any of these literary crimes being committed in the Bible?  No.]