Leah: Lesson 2

So we find Leah, who is married to Jacob, who is ALSO married to Leah's sister, Rachel. Can you feel the tension? I would think so! Leah is feeling pretty helpless. I mean, her sister is better in every area in life, from beauty to talent. How can she win Jacob's love if she has nothing he wants?

Back in the beginning of the world, men valued women who could give them sons. The more sons, the more generations to carry on the family name. Well, Rachel was unable to have children of her own, but Leah was. For once, Leah was ahead. She thought that by having more sons, SURELY Jacob would love her more.

Her first son she named Reuben(Look-it's-a-boy!). She thought that it was a sign from God, saying that He had seen her misery; and that Jacob would love her now. But he still was madly in love with Rachel, who couldn't have children. Leah's second son was named Simeon(God-Heard). She named the 3rd child Levi (Connect), thinking that her husband would finally connect with her. Finally, she became pregnant with a fourth son, who she named Judah(Praise-God), because this time instead of living life all about HER, she was going to praise God for the children she had been blessed with. Even after all this, Jacob still didn't love her.

You see, Leah was looking in all the wrong places to find love. She was obsessed with herself and what she wanted, Jacob's love, that she was forgetting the most important thing, God. Doesn't that sound so familiar? But it wasn't all unintentional. The first three times, Leah acknowledged God and His role in the blessings she was receiving. But since she didn't praise God, her focus remained on Jacob. When Judah was born, her focus turned toward praising God. I think we need to find a place where we don't just acknowledge God, but praise him for the things he does.

Thoughts?

Leah: Lesson 1

This is the bible study that i told you about. If you have never heard the story of Leah, it is one that I think everyone can learn a lesson from. It is the first story of "high school style" drama that you will see in the Bible. Imagine this:

So Abraham had a son, Issac. Well, Issac had a son, Jacob. This is where our story takes place.

In the story, Jacob is this hot teenage guy who is looking for a wife. After searching for a while, he found two sisters, Leah and Rachel.
Genesis 29:17 (The Message) says, "Leah had nice eyes, but Rachel was stunningly beautiful. And it was Rachel that Jacob loved."

So Jacob fell in love with Rachel at first sight. Now back in the day a man worked for a woman's father for 7 years in order to have their hand in marriage. Well Jacob jumped right on that so he could marry Rachel. After 7 years, the wedding takes place. But instead of Rachel, Laban (their dad) gives Jacob Leah.

Jacob is furious. He doesn't love Leah, he thinks she is ugly, and doesn't want to give her the time of day. So what happens? Rachel and Leah are both married to Jacob, but he hates Leah. Can you imagine? Your husband hating you? Think of what it would feel like to be in your sister's shadow. Can you imagine the hurt she's feeling?

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt in someone else's shadow? Any thoughts?

It's Official :)

Well, that's it. I'm 100%, no backing out, ABSOLUTELY going to Memorial. I enrolled today :).

Asta la vista North!

Big Decision With Some Big Help

I had just come home from an AMAZING Bible study (which I will talk about tomorrow!), when my mom brought up a serious topic. Memorial. Now normally when the topic comes up a brush it aside, pouting and proclaiming that I'm going to North and that NOTHING is changing that. I've always been in such a mindset for North that Memorial was waaaay out of the question. There was just no way!

Well, my mom brought it up. "Jordan, I think you should consider Memorial. It would be a much better school for you in the long run anyway! Better drama and arts, better golf, no cliques, less drugs, more friends, and you live a block away! Wouldn't it be a better school for you?"
Now this is the part where i would state my "North case", but I didn't. I felt OK about the idea. I had an overwhelming peace about it all, like if it happened, it would be OK. I have never felt that way before.

So I thought about it, and prayed about it, and the more i thought, the more it clicked. I HAVE to go to Memorial. But first I had to talk to my best friend, Sheridan.

You see, we have been going to the same school for 12 years!!! That's a LONG time. To make this decision, I had to have her take too.

Long story short, God has spoken to me in so many ways. Through Him, through friends, and through my family. Sheridan is going to Memorial ( I mean, I have to have someone to take Pre-AP Spanish 3 with me :) This year is going to be great, I just know it. The most amazing part? God has spoken to me like never before. I love it. <3

Anything ground-breaking in your life right now?

A very large camp review

Well....i decided that I could go with a few blogs of each day or do a large overview of the whole thing. I decided on one BIG post...so be prepared!

Day 1-

Arrival day!!!! After a very long bus ride, unpacking, and dinner, it was the first night of worship. Man the whole place was on FIRE! All of the songs were amazing, and what followed was not what I was expecting at ALL. Andy Tilly talked about how there is one thing in life that is free that is sooo priceless. Your life! But sometimes we find ourselves living for us, and being all about us. But that's not how God wants us to live at all. We should be about serving others. Why be selfish when our life was given to us?

After service was 80's bad prom night!!! Holy cow that was quite amusing indeed :)

Day 2-This was the first official day of camp, and everyone there had waaaay too much energy. No matter, it would all be burned off by the end of camp. All of the team building activities were so fun! It just showed that no matter where you came from, we could all work together and make a difference. Too bad they didn't listen to me when it came to building the boat..... ;)

the service tonight was what really got to me, more than any other night. It talked about how we are so selfish in life, and we have a "mom-ME" attitude. you know, where life is all about you and what you want, no matter what that means.

He also talked about prayer. This is where it gets cool. In the devotional time earlier that day, I had opened up the Message to a random page. It was Luke 10:20-35 and Luke 11. It just happened to be the lords prayer. i remembered thinking that this section was really cool and that i wanted to look at that verse some more later. Well, that night, guess what Andy talked about? Yeah, you guessed it. The lords prayer. He talked about how we pray over such stupid things, like that we will ace our next test or score that hot guy over there. I mean seriously? I found myself thinking "you know? i pray stupid things all the time". It hit home HARD. I'm so bad about truly praying to God. Ah man i was bawling. to learn about the second part of the story, check out Alec's blog. :)

The days that followed we equally as inspiring, but I learned the most from the second message. Well, and then the last night of course, which has a reputation of flooding the auditorium.

Camp is an experience where everyone gets something different from it. I know i was changed,but I'm sure that everyone that went was impacted somehow. I pray for everyone this year it wont be a "camp high". I pray that it will stay with us until next year, and the years to come. Wouldn't that be AWESOME? I can't even imagine.

OH! And my injuries are good now, my back and legs aren't sore anymore either! YAY! lol.....I hope everyone has recovered from camp as well.

Camp

Wow has it been a while since I've posted anything! I've been really busy lately..you know CHURCH CAMP!!!! Man it was AMAZING. It was so life changing and eye opening for me. It was truly an awesome week.

I can't explain the experiences in any words, there just aren't any good adjectives. It was simply a God thing. I learned so much.

Camp is just one of those things that you can't miss, and you can't help but miss it once your gone. I loved hanging out with my friends and strengthening the relationships i have with all of them. Especially the one relationship that counts.

Well, I've decided its very hard to write anything when you're tired. so i think I'm going to get some sleep and tomorrow give some highlights of camp!!! love all!

~j

Alarm

It had been a long, rainy day in San Antonio, and walking was a must all day long. I was tired, hungry, i had a headache, and was cold from being wet all day from rain and shamu-salt spray. So i was laying in bed, trying to get my headache to go away when I hear an alarm going off outside our window. Well, this is helping my headache situation. So i stuff a pillow over my face and try to tune it out. However my grandma and mom think it's much more interesting and look out the window. Wow.

A guy in a white tee-shirt and mustache had broken into a car sitting right outside our window. In a flash he tore out the radio system in the car, got in his little white car, and drove off. We got the licence plate number and called the police, and it turns out this same person has been doing this for a while and they've been trying to catch him. what was scary about all this was that the car he robbed was sitting right next to ours. It could have easily been our stuff that got snatched.

Why does this happen? It just KILLS me that this happens to innocent people. Why do they find it necessary to do things like this? Uhg...it makes me sick.

But don't get me wrong, I've stolen something before. A pack of nerds from a Crest store.....but don't hold it against me! I was like 5 and I returned it in tears. OH! I also had a partner in crime, but i wont go into that....*cough cough*

Any thoughts? Have you ever stolen anything?

Trip Pictures

I'm baaaaack!!! I love Sea World! here are some cool pics! *taken by yours truly*

Sorry, some of them are kinda blurry...my camera doesn't like to take action shots very well....ENJOY!

SHAMU!!

Isn't that AWESOME?! I want to do that :)

Someones about to get wet.....

that's a lot of fat to lug out of the air.

HOW AMAZING!
Fins up! (and a squeak noise!)
Back flip!
Spinning on a platform
And spinning in the center...it was really pretty :)

look closely...there is a diver in the air!
um..yeah it's blurry...but that's one BIG horse!
Yeah, like i said, big horses. The Anhieser-Busch Clydesdale's (sp?)
I will call him squishy, and he shall be mine.
Acrobat in the air


HEY! Someone else who's sleepy... :)
AWH! How cuuuute!
The head seal...with a big head... making lots of noise...
DOLPHINS!
Beluga whale... AHHH!



The entrance :)
Feeding the dolphins
....and petting them...
SMILE!
Another sleepyhead...and i know sleepy!

WHOA!

OK....so the hotel we are staying in has a computer!!! sooo yeah! I'm typing fast because there are people waiting in line soo....

I have come to find that riding in a car with your younger brother and sister for 6 hours REALLY doesn't work out very well. I mean, i know my legs were asleep...so i can only imagine what was happening to them. but that's OK, i slept most of the time......

However during the time that i wasn't sleeping, i looked out my window. I know, ground-breaking, but i did. Have you ever just looked at the clouds? and really appreciated them? Well, i know for me they were always just balls of fluff or whatever.....but these clouds were SOOO pretty! I couldn't take my eyes off them.

...and then i was thinking WOW! God MADE those clouds....

I'm really not sure what I'm getting at by this post...BUT God is amazing, and i really liked seeing the clouds :)

Did you look at the sky today? or the stars? or trees? or ANYTHING?

Going, going, going.....going.....gone :)

yup, that's right folks, my mom, sister, brother, grandma, and I are on our annual trip to San Antonio! This is my 5Th time to go! I can't wait! We are going to Sea World, possibly Schlitterbahn, and of course no trip to San Antonio is complete without the river walk and the Alamo! We are also going to visit my aunt at her house in College Station (she goes to Texas A&M and is studying to become a marine biologist....sea lions and stuff :) I can't wait to see everyone in Texas!

For those of you who don't know, i LOVE traveling....it's my FAVE hobby!!!! ahhh....I just love the culture that comes with it (call me a dork..but yeah)

I'm kinda sad; I'm going to miss you all and my blog and the computer and all that other stuff! But we'll be back next Thursday, soo I'll talk to everyone then! OH! I will have my phone....but i won't be able to get to it during the day. So call me and I'll call you back!!! um...yeah i think that's it. wow it sounds like I'm dying or something lol. well, LOVE you all! talk to you when i get back!

PICTURES!!! YAY!!!

OK! well, it kinda worked.....there are a lot of pictures that didn't make it on here though. And they are TOTALLY out of order because I'm not sure and i can't move them. haha. ENJOY!

Kakum National Park; a walk through the canopy! (my mom looking down....)

We were there to pass out textbooks to school kids, sooo there I am! (5th grade..don't hold it against me) Nsawum Presly School.

A typical classroom in Ghana.


A preschool!!! They are soooooooooo CUTE!

5000 students in Akrapong waiting for textbooks. Whoosh that was a long day!

Another canopy view!

Traditional ceremonial dance preformed by some of the students in Nsawaum Presly school. They wanted me to dance. haha if only they knew that a white girl CAN'T dance.

The first official day in Ghana at a 4 HOUR church service. That is amazing.

Yeah, you can ask me about pronunciation later ;)

Travels in Africa

Maybe you know (and maybe you don't...) but when I was in the 5th grade my parents and I went on a mission trip to Ghana, Africa. It really has changed our lives! I learned so many things on that trip..ahh the memories. The only bad things that happened were I had to get 4 shots (by the way if you ever have to get a yellow fever shot, I'm soooo sorry. It HURTS) and I got sick because of a malaria pill. But there were soo many good things that happened too...here are some of the AMAZING things that happened.

learned to entertain myself with a yo yo and a deck of cards (for 10 days)

learned to eat food with a malaria pill

learned dutch airline food is really REALLY gross

learned to not ask what you are eating....just enjoy it

never try to stuff 9 people in a car that only seats 8........for 5 hours straight.

go ahead and try that "chocolate mouse" that's on the menu....

EAT THE FRUIT! Its soooo amazing when it's fresh

learn the language....they will take pity on you and help you master it :)

NEVER buy a "grasscutter" (some sort of animal..beats me) off the road from a salesman when there is a guy selling a dead monkey 10 feet away too. I guess the guy with the monkey wanted to get rid of it.

never rock the bridge that is holding up the canopy walk. it's a long way down.

take pictures!

be BLESSED! We have so many things that we just take for granted, like a home. or running water. or floors. right across the street from your "5 star" hotel. wow.

here are some AWESOME pics :) Hope you enjoy!....ok i lied..it wont let me upload any!!! AHHH!!!! Well, if you wanna see some, lemmie know and i'll bring some to church sometime! :)