Are You Going To Next?

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, the NEXT conference is led by Joshua Harris, the senior pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD.

This weekend is designed to be "an even more focused way of helping see the gospel transferred and received faithfully" from a group of pastors to the next generation. The teaching received at this conference is invaluable; and the fellowship, relationships, and ministry received is equally precious.

Registration ends May 16th!

Fairy Tales vs. Real Life

So I came across this blog post and felt the need to post it on my blog because I agree with it so much. =) I am continually encouraged that there are more and more people out there who do not believe in the dream that Hollywood likes to portray as reality. Let us not succumb to the fairy dust that has been sprinkled over our lives through the media's display of life and love.

Cole is a great writer and I don't think I could possibly expound on what he said regarding today's media and "love".

http://www.colenesmith.com/?p=1536

The Dearest Place on Earth

I want to share with you a radical change of heart that has taken place in my life in the past few months.

Since the beginning of this year, my local church has been going through some really tough changes on the heels of a tumultuous, challenging season. I've never experienced the emotions, good and bad, towards my church family that I have in the past few months. I've been confused, anxious, and scared...all of which are evidences of my LACK of trust in God's sovereign plan over my life. Sadly, I chose to first distance myself from my Savior instead of first crying out to Him for faith and direction. I caused myself hours of needless worry and anxiety...not because I now realize I can put my full trust in the leaders at my church, because I can't. They are sinners saved by grace, just like me. But the anxiety and worry was needless because I CAN and should put my full trust in the sovereign God of the universe...the One who has full authority over my life, over the life of the church, and over its' leaders.

I feel like God suddenly lifted the veil from my eyes to see my OWN self-righteousness in how i was responding to these past few months. What He's revealed to me, is this: if I believe God called me to this local church, and the Church is the Bride of Christ, then why would I not treat the bride of Christ as I would my own earthly spouse? If my spouse, whom I made a covenant to stick with 'for better or WORSE', has sinned against me but is now showing signs of repentance and humility, who am I to cast judgment on them and say they don't DESERVE my forgiveness and then walk away from that covenant? If we as Christians firmly believe that a husband should not leave his wife even if she sinned against him, but that he should stand by her side and lead her to genuine repentance...why would we not take on the same attitude within the Church? Yes, a pastor has more spiritual responsibility weighing on his conscience because God has anointed him to shepherd a flock, but that pastor is STILL just a man. So for me to not forgive, or to pass judgment, or to 'flee when things get hard' is to ultimately say (I believe) that God's grace is sufficient for MY sins, but not for my pastor's. God opened my eyes to see that I was headed down a road where I was quickly allowing my heart to be governed by pride and my own judgments, rather than be governed and led by the Gospel. Praise be to God that He stopped me in my tracks!

I want to thank the pastors at my local church for how, though they are still sinners, they continue to pursue humility no matter how difficult things become.

In looking for some form of encouragement, I came across Charles Spurgeon's Morning & Evening for today. =)

The King's Highway

The wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. (Isaiah 35:8)

The way of holiness is so straight and plain that the simplest minds cannot go astray if they constantly follow it. The worldly wise have many twists and turns, and yet they make terrible blunders and generally miss their end. Worldly policy is a poor, shortsighted thing, and when men choose it as their road, it leads them over dark mountains. Gracious minds know no better than to do as the Lord bids them; but this keeps them in the King's highway and under royal protection.

Let the reader never for a moment attempt to help himself out of a difficulty by a falsehood or by a questionable act; but let him keep in the middle of the high road of truth and integrity, and he will be following the best possible course. In our lives we must never practice circular sailing nor dream of shuffling. Be just and fear not, Follow Jesus and heed no evil consequences. If the worst of ills could be avoided by wrongdoing, we should, in the very attempt, have fallen into an evil worse than any other ill could be. God's way must be the very best way. Follow it though men think you a fool, and you will be truly wise.

Lord, lead Thy servants in a plain path because of their enemies.

Moments

Do you ever have those little moments of pure freedom? Maybe you have those frequently and you know exactly what I'm talking about. Or maybe you've never had that moment and you feel as though you're being suffocated as you read this. Or perhaps you simply don't care. Regardless, this is my blog so I want to share my 'moment' with you. =)
My 'moment' came on a beautiful warm afternoon...the kind of warm that is subtle, yet readily welcomed by a Florida girl who's experienced one too many consistently chilling days. This warm afternoon, coupled with eating lunch by a lake with friends, led to driving away from the park by myself...windows rolled down, singing in that "I don't care if you can hear me, in fact I really hope you can" voice...driving with my knees, one arm hanging out the window, the other stretched across the front seat, wind tousling my hair. THIS. This was my moment of freedom. I hadn't accomplished anything in particular that day. I hadn't 'rebelled' against authority (to my knowledge) so it wasn't a "bad girl" freedom. It was simply, "I'm free. I'm alive, I am who I am because that's who God made me".

This was my moment. What was yours?

I Can Hear the Bells...

Well my sister FINALLY got married! =) And OH, what a beautiful, joyous, anointed occasion it was!

I am so very happy for my sister and new bro-in-law, though I'm still getting used to the idea of them being married. My sister was THE most beautiful bride I've ever seen. Truly. And I've seen a few. But no amount of makeup, hairspray, or curls can even compare to the kind of beauty that radiates from the soul! My sis has truly found the man of her dreams and you couldn't have contained her excitement that day even if you had held her down. ;) Her attitude throughout the whole day was amazing. Not once did she turn into "bridezilla".

Emotionally, I did fine all day...then the wedding started. :) I got goosebumps as the Pride & Prejudice music crescendoed (sp?), and then...I saw my dad walking Jenn up the aisle. Yup. I lost it at that point. My big sis was ACTUALLY getting married. This wasn't just a dream I was having because she and I had stayed up late the night before plotting and scheming our "future weddings". This was real. Dad was REALLY giving her away, they were REALLY saying their vows to each other (which also made me cry), and Jenn REALLY became Mrs Jennifer Fountain. =) What a blessing to be involved in such a glorious event as this. WHAT a blessing to be able to stand by a friend and your sister, in full confidence that God had brought these two together...not just their emotions. My sister and new brother-in-law officially began their life together on February 5, 2010 and I'm so excited to see what the Lord has in store for their future together, as a married couple. =)

Please go to Kristen's Blog to get a taste of what the wedding was like!

P.s. Even though they got married in the spring, you'll notice Jenn still got to have her fall/winter wedding that she's always wanted. Just thought I'd point that out. =)

Tales from the Motherland

So I'm going to attempt to blog our whole trip in one sitting...for real. ;) For those of you who don't know, my friends Sarah and John Morgan decided last January that they were going to take a week-long trip to Ireland. They started asking people in February, and I was one of them, if we wanted to go with them in November of this year. I initially turned them down because of work and lack of vacay-time.

3 weeks before they were supposed to leave, Sarah told me they had another spot open on the trip. It would cost me less than $800 for the WHOLE trip, and I had vacay time available. So I went. And these are the happenings...in order. =)

Thursday, Nov 5 Rebekah Schwab, Luke Holger, Damaris Wells, and I spent the night at the Morgans and our plane left around noon on Friday. We got into Dublin around 10:30am their time on the 7th. Janelle Leach met us in the airport, we picked up a rental van (no small task) and drove into the city for a few hours. Might I say that Janelle was SUCH a blessing to our group...from the very beginning! She brought her GPS (sat-nav) with her so the first few days of navigating were significantly easier!

We walked around Dublin taking pictures for a while, ate lunch at a McDonalds (I know. FIRST meal in another country and we go to the golden arches!), and then went in to Carroll's (a souvenir shop) and bought some touristy treasures. We stopped at Trinity College to walk around and were going to do the tour of the Book of Kells but it required money and time that we didn't have. So we moved on to the Guinness Brewery. We took the abbreviated tour so that some in our group could take a class in how to appropriately pour a pint of Guinness and receive a certificate for this feat. Then we went to the top floor which was called the Gravity Bar, if I'm not mistaken- floor to ceiling windows so we had a 360 degree view of Dublin. It was lovely, but we wanted to get on the road because we had to drive across the country (should've taken about 3 1/2 hours) to get to our cottage. We stopped in a city called Athlone and ducked into Sean's Bar for a few minutes to hear some musicians. But they didn't have food and our group was famished, so we left. We finally got into Doolin around 8pm and had dinner at Fitzpatricks. The food was AMAZING there! I had some sort of creamy tomato pasta dish. =) John followed the owner of the cottage out there while we sat and ate our food. He unloaded the ENTIRE van by himself and THEN came back to get us. We were very grateful!

As soon as we pulled up to the cottage, all us girls started shrieking and giggling. It seriously is THE most adorable cottage you'll ever see! So we unpacked and went to bed. =)

Sunday morning, Anne knocked on our door and had us follow her over to her family's castle: Ballinalacken Castle. This was truly THE MOST beautiful castle I've ever seen in person. Absolutely breath-taking. We spent about an hour just roaming throughout the castle ruins, taking loads of pictures/video and admiring God's handiwork. We thanked Anne for taking us there (the castle isn't open to the public), and then we left for the Cliffs of Moher (the cliffs of Insanity- from Princess Bride)! We spent ALL afternoon on the cliffs. There are no words to describe the beauty we beheld, standing at the edge of the steep cliffs, watching the waves crash into the rocks hundreds of feet below us. At one point, we were walking, and noticed that the wind had carried bits of foam from the ocean way down below up onto the path in front of us. Very bizarre for us Floridians. ;) Yes, we trespassed, along with a dozen other tourists, but it truly was well-worth the risk. Most of the time my mouth couldn't even form words to express what I was seeing. I just drank it all in in silence...for the most part!

We begrudgingly left the cliffs so that we could hit the local market and stock up on groceries. We drove into Ennistymon and stopped at a SuperValu...this store became our friend, for the next five days. =) We bought the goods and drove back to the cottage to make spaghetti for dinner.

Monday, we drove into town to go to Doolin Cave but it was closed. =( So we drove into Galway and went shopping, ate lunch (fish n' chips) at McDonaugh's, went to the famous Claddagh Jewelry store (the lady gave us a history lesson too, very interesting!), did some more souvey shopping, and then went to Kingshead Pub where Janelle and I shared Irish Tapas. Yum! We hadn't had our fill of 'live irish music' yet, so we walked over to Taffaes Bar and stayed for a while. *insert several stories here from the rest of the group*

Tuesday we drove Janelle to Shannon airport and said our goodbyes ::sniff::. Then the remaining 6 of us drove to the town of Dingle (berry!) and toured the "PREHISTORIC Beehives"...which were really just old...not prehistoric. ;) But they were still cool and we caught John on video trying to herd sheep. *grin*

This town had some of the most beautiful coast-line I've ever seen. I actually got tired/frustrated of saying "wow" and "oh my goodness" because around every corner, every bend in the road, just when you thought it couldn't get any MORE spectacular...it DID! =) We even saw a 'complete half' rainbow! ::sigh:: It was amazing.

Then we drove back and stopped in Limerick to have dinner at a 'posh' restaurant. Rebekah and I each got a Ploughman's Panini, Luke had Cottage Pie (similar to Shepherd's Pie), Damaris had 'bangers and mash', and...John got a burger. =P I forget what Sarah had..? Good food though.

Wednesday John woke up really sick and Rebekah wasn't feeling well, so we all slept in, and then Damaris, Luke, Sarah and I ventured out into the countryside on foot. =) WHAT a glorious time! We ended up being gone for four hours! We made our way down to the rocks by the shore and took tons of pictures along the way. Again, the view was breath-taking! The waves crashing up on the rocks, water seeping into every nook and cranny around you...then quickly slinking back into the sea...then returning again just as quickly as it left...it was simply splendid!

We got home around 4pm and made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup...MMMmmm!!! Then we decided to have 'movie night' so we popped popcorn (one of the highlights of our trip) and watched a movie called "This is My Father"...I wouldn't recommend it. We had to fastforward a few scenes, but our intent was to watch a typical irish film. And this movie was set in Galway. =) So we all gathered 'round the very small tv with our popcorn, cans of coke, boxes of Nerds, Whoppers?, and blankets and ended our night in front of the telly. ;)

Thursday we drove into Ennistymon to go to the bank and use internet at Ooh La La Cafe, which had only just been open 4 weeks by a girl around my age, sweet as can be! While we were using the internet to check email and send the last update to our parents, some of us got hot chocolate and I got a nutella/banana crepe! Mmm!

After that, we stopped at SuperValu and got peanut butter, jam, and bread to make sandwiches for lunch. We drove to Killarney because Luke said that a friend of his has a family castle (Ross Castle) in Killarney National Park; so we drove to find it. =) We parked outside a beautiful cathedral and Sarah and Damaris ran to find a bathroom, John and Rebekah (still both not feeling well) stayed in the van, and Luke and I opened up the boot of the van and made pb&j sandwiches for everyone (also not an easy task, as their slices of bread are much larger than in the U.S. and we ran out of jam quickly).

We all walked through the cathedral, quietly taking pictures. Then we went in to the National park in search of Ross Castle. It was REALLY windy and cold, but we didn't care. We just kept walking. Along the way we saw 2 deer, a couple dogs, and a leprechaun. John tried to chase the leprechaun down but he was too fast and magically disappeared into thin air! As we neared the road to Ross Castle (it was a BIG park!) a couple walked past us saying the road was flooded. Now in my mind, I'm thinking a few inches deep, and maybe several feet across...or maybe there would be a way around it if we got off the path. Silly Stephy. Sarah and Damaris had their wellies on so they decided to brave the flooded path. Then Luke decided to go too, since it was his idea to come here...even though he most definitely did not have wellies on. ;) The water came up above their calves in the deepest parts, but the path was flooded for at least a couple hundred feet (maybe more?) and there was no way getting around it. So obviously, Luke's shoes got soaked through but he kept going. The 3 muskateers took a few pictures then trudged back. Meanwhile, John constructed a make-shift bench for Rebekah, me and him to sit on while we waited. Since none of us had phones, we had no idea how long it was going to take them. After a short while, we saw the crazy girls rounding the corner...CARRYING Luke! Hah, that only lasted a few feet though. So we walked back to the van, the trio took their socks and shoes off to let their feet dry ;) and then we drove in to Ennistymon for a few more groceries. We stopped at a 'fish n chips' joint for dinner (but John was really tired so he stayed in the van and slept) and then walked over to Daly's to hear some local musicians play...it was GREAT! By this time though, our entire crew (except for me and Damaris) was sick so we went home after a while and had 'picture time with Luke' before going to bed.

Friday we drove into Ennistymon one last time, then drove over to LaHinch (a surf town) and walked around, admiring the waves crashing on the rocks...and the Sarah. ;) We grabbed lunch at a little 'glorified gas station' and then Sarah and Damaris made Irish stew for us...on our last night. ::sniff:: After dinner we fixed popcorn and hot chocolate and had our 'last picture time w/ Luke'. But then I think none of us really wanted to go to sleep that night cuz we knew we'd have to leave. So we all fell asleep in the living room (only for a few hours). Then gradually...one by one, we all went back to our rooms to sleep until 3am when we had to leave for the Dublin airport. The drive back was long and miserable because none of us really wanted to leave. None of us were ready to get back to 'real life'...and all the busyness it entails. None of us were ready to split up the little 'irish family' God put together specifically for this trip. But alas, our jobs and bio-fams were calling us back to the states. ;)

It was such a lovely time in Ireland, and I plan to go back again...very soon. =)

By the way, I WILL post pictures...after this.

The Epicness of Ice-Blocking

I have NO idea why I never posted this, but here it is nonetheless...

Truly, what I am about to tell you is of the utmost importance, secrecy, and frivolity. You will never experience anything QUITE like ice-blocking, so I shall leave you with detailed instructions.

1. Purchase a block of ice from nearby grocery store

2. Wrap ice block in towel for safe-keeping

3. Drive to nearest golf-course (or otherwise most hilly place in FL)

*NOTE: Ice-blocking is much more effective when executed after sunset...preferably around 10 or 11 pm*

4. Send a scout down the hill to ensure there are no lakes, walls, or other such obstacles before commencing to ice-block

*NOTE: concrete footpaths and iron grates will hinder your journey of ice-blocking*

5. Set the unwrapped ice-block on the ground with the folded towel on top

6. Sit on towel and 'commence to start'

7. Once momentum picks up, lift feet and hands off the ground to ensure increased momentum; balance is required at this point

*NOTE: always see other ice-blockers as a potential threat to your personal ice-blocking experience...steer clear of them...do not run into them. This will result in the 'human snowball effect'*

*NOTE: the hands may be used as brakes, but it is not recommended*

8. In order to end your ice-blocking experience (at the bottom of the hill), simply drive heels into ground to slow the speed of your ice block; or as some may choose, simply throw yourself off the ice-block...not recommended

9. Carry ice-block back up the hill for others to enjoy the epic thrill

*NOTE: the green stains on your hands and clothes will come off...eventually*

*NOTE: soreness the next morning is to be expected; Advil is recommended*

Thus concludes very informative instructions for ice-blocking. If you have any further questions, please do not ask Lindsay. ;)

The Never-ending Road to Cali

Lindsay and I decided several weeks ago to fly out to California to spend a week with Meghan Baird. Little did we know that our endeavors would be somewhat thwarted, and our patience tested.
On December 27th, Lindsay and I headed to the MCO airport at 4:30 pm. We got there around 5:15 pm. But as soon as we walked in the doors, a Delta employee asked us if we were on the CANCELLED flight to LA. Our spirits fell, but we had NO idea what was in store for us. We got in line to see if there were any open seats on the other LA-bound flights. An hour and a half later, we got up to the front only to find out that they had already re-booked us for a flight out on Monday morning, and there was nothing going out that evening that wasn't already overbooked.
The airline was gracious enough to give us hotel and meal vouchers, so we decided to start our vacation off with a bang. =) We took the vouchers and headed to Macaroni Grill (luggage in tow) in the airport and feasted....compliments of Delta Airlines. After dinner, around 8 pm, we went out front to Ground Transportation to get picked up by the shuttle that would take us to our hotel. Long story short, we waited over an hour for the shuttle that came and went 2 times before we realized it was our shuttle! Oh, and there was a sketchy old guy who kept staring at us while we were waiting outside and then he stole my wheelchair...pictures to follow. ;)
So we FINALLY get to our hotel, the lovely Orlando International Hotel, around 10:30 pm. The concierge sends us to our room on the second floor by pointing in the direction. We drag our tired bodies (along with our VERY heavy suitcases) down the hall, only to find that there was no elevator. So we lug our suitcases up one flight of stairs...ONLY to find out that we were on the WRONG side of the hotel. Our room was up another staircase! =) So we lugged everything downstairs, trudged past the apologetic concierge, and dragged everything up the other flight of stairs. We get to our room on a rather deserted floor, and fall in exhausted relief onto our two beds. It was a decent sized room, complete with: a tv that had about 3 working channels, a bathroom with stained washcloths and toilet paper, and an AC unit that sounded like it was going to kill us every time it came on!
We got through the fairly sleepless night (after watching a movie on Lindsay's laptop...she put it up on the ironing board in between the 2 beds so we could both watch from our beds.
Sunday morning, we packed up again and waited about a 1/2 hour for the shuttle to take us back to the airport so we could see if there were any openings. When we got on the shuttle, the driver started asking us questions about our travels. When she realized Delta had put us up in this hotel, she started talking about how that hotel was haunted!...no WONDER we had such an awful night! ;)
But I guess our gracious God decided to bless us after our day of 'suffering', because when we got back through the Delta line, even though there was still no availability until Monday, they were able to find us a room in the Hyatt (inside the airport)....WOW! WHAT a switch from the night before. The room was so comfortable we stayed in it until dinner! We only left to raid Sbarro downstairs with our meal vouchers, and brought our plunder back up to our room. =)
Through all of this....over the past two days, God has reminded me that there is ALWAYS grace for EVERY situation, every trial we may go through. And Lindsay and I were challenged this whole time to be joyful and encouraging to the employees as much as possible (of course we had our non-joyful moments as well). Anyway, we're scheduled to fly out tomorrow the 29th at 7:15 am and we'll arrive around noon in LA. Please continue to pray for our traveling safety and for our attitudes, since we lost a day and a half in California. =\

Tagging

Okay, so I got caught up in the tagging thing too...and the picture thing...duh. I did what my sis did. This is 5 folders over, and the 5th picture over. =)

This was taken under a tree in Wales last year. What you're looking at is a section of a series of gardens in front of one of the castles we visited. I forget the name of this one though, but way back in the back, there's a very secluded garden called "lover's circle" that is guarded by an old rod-iron gate. This kind of architecture is what makes me drool as a photographer. Oh, to go to places like this and just shoot rolls of film...yes, Jenn. ROLLS, not megapixels! ;)

K, nuff of that. I'm going to tag some pretty sweet blogs/people: my wonderful boss Aubrey , my dear friend Janelle, another wonderful Janelle, and my sis Jenn of course. Wow, those are some very diverse blogs. ENJOY!!

Yes2Marriage

Wow...I have not been involved in something as interesting as what happened yesterday in a long time! Yesterday after church, my best friend put on a wedding dress and one of the guys in our church wore a suit. The two of them represented marriage between one man and one woman as a caravan of cars decorated with Yes2Marriage signs, Vote Yes On 2 bumper stickers, slogans painted on the windows, balloons, and streamers. We decorated most of the cars to look like someone had just gotten married (hanging plastic cups from the trunks so they bounced along the road behind the car), and Ariel and David (the representing couple) rode in the back of a convertible with the top down, waving at people and holding up signs.

Even though it only lasted a little over an hour, I was unprepared for the adrenaline rush of being in a line of 12 cars driving down 17-92, Colonial, and 436. =) Janelle Phillips rode in my car as I drove. I think we were either the 9th or 10th car in line, with the convertible at the very front of the caravan. Fortunately there was no violence...Though, as Christians we're called to NOT shrink back from standing up for what God says is right in His scripture. We encountered a few unhappy/rude people, but we also encountered a lot of supporters!

Personal story: I was nervous about honking the horn (to get people's attention) even though everyone else in our caravan was honking, because I've been taught to never honk my horn. ;) But finally I caved, and then I had so much fun honking that I would bounce up and down every time I honked the horn! Janelle laughed at me. Oh, and Janelle and I came up with a little song/chant to sing to the people out the windows while we were driving (and to keep ourselves entertained). "Vote Yes on 2! It helps protect our ch-children! Vote Yes on 2! It helps protect our ch-children!" Yah, very simple but it was fun! PLEASE remember to vote tomorrow, on Election Day, and regardless of which candidate you vote for, PLEASE vote YES on Amendment 2! If you are unsure of WHY I'm asking you to vote yes on 2, you can click HERE for FAQ's or just general information about the Amendment. There's more at stake here than most people realize, so please take the time to be informed before you go to the polls.

Below are a few pictures from yesterday's event!