GLORY WEEKEND

Last week was the 7th week of class out here in Kona, Hawaii. I have been here for a total of 9 weeks and looking back I can't believe how much has happened in such a short amount of time.

So, Week 7 was the busiest week thus far. We had our regular schedule of working in the cafe, class, prayer room, corporate worship, community outreach, small groups and One-on-One's. On TOP of that (not sure which word would be emphasized but TOP sounded like a good one.) we have an excellent teaching team that came in from Taiwan to teach us how to prepare sermons for Outreach. So everyday from 1-3 I learned how to effectively write and present a sermon. At first I wasn't sure if I would ever need this, but it ended up being SO interesting. I know in Cambodia I will be in situations where I will have to give my testimony, lead worship, lead intimate groups in bible study so the teaching came in handy!! GO TAIWAN TEACHING TEAM.

Needless to say, this weekend was MUCH needed. On Friday night I helped out a little in the cafe where the cutest little Open Mic Night. I usually work early in the mornings, so it was so much fun to be in a different enviroment at night. I have fallen in love with the cafe. My mom worked at Starbucks in high school and she always came home radiant, smelling of coffee and smiling like a lunatic. I now understand why. It is so stinkin fun to make people happy by making their Chai Latte tasting divine.

Afterwards, I went and hung out with the lovely April Cossey. We stayed up late, watched tv shows on Hulu, and drank Dr. Pepper. It was WILD AND CRAZY.

Saturday, my school went on a "field trip" to the beach. Who the heck takes a field trip to the beach? My best trip in school was when we got to go to the 100 year old schoolhouse and re-inact the land run. Bring your own stakes, and covered wagons and sprint across a huge field in awesome outfits that your grandmother would make you. That's my kind of field trip. So, I consider myself INSANELY blessed that I got to pile into a school bus and lay out all day. That's why I never liked college. Oklahoma City University should have added a "sunbathing, cliff diving, snorkeling" class and I would have had perfect attendance.
Best thing about the beach day: got over my fear of jumping off cliffs. Sure, It was only like 15 feet high, but I jumped alright. And I LOVED IT! So much so that next weekend I am going straight for the 60 footers.
Saturday night I enjoyed a DELICIOUS meal of steak and potatoes cooked by the radiant Troi Barnum. I can only handle so much campus food before my stomach starts audibly screaming "I just want a steak". So, good thing she heard the cry and could help :)

Time out.. I feel like this post is like those people who make their facebook statuses every little thing they do throughout the day. You know the ones I am talking about.. "just tied my shoe!", "just ate a BLT for lunch", "just showered and now picking out what I am going to wear". Is it wrong that I usually end up deleting these people? I don't need to know everything you do throughout the day.. but apparently I want you all to know everything I did this weekend. Oh, well, its too late to start a new post.

SUNDAY. I like to call it sunday funday. Woke up, went on a 6 mile power walk with Lindy Conant. and then went back to Kristen's and stuffed my face with blueberry pancakes. Heaven definitely has blueberry pancakes. And, you won't need to exercise before you eat them. I CAN'T WAIT.

Basically, my weekend was epic. So refreshing and much needed. But, I am back in the flow of class and everything again. I am about to start writing my book report over Heidi Baker's book Always Enough. Next post will most likely be about that since every page has made me cry. No joke.

Love Love Love,
Kellye

OBSESSED

This is my current read. ( Crazy Love by Francis Chan) I actually opened the book, and on the first page fell in love with what it had to say. So much so, that I went on Amazon.com and bought a copy for my older brother for his birthday. Risky, since I was still on the first page, but I'm still perfectly happy with it.

The first chapter completely shifted my paradigm of what it meant to pray. Majority of us say a quick prayer in the morning, before each meal, and if we are really lucky, get an hour of quiet time in and call it good. But, even in that "quiet time" we are just making alot of noise and lifting our worries and needs to the Lord. We are called to worship Him. We have become so immune to the creation around us, and even the beauty in our own lives, that we miss so many opportunities to praise Him that we focus only on casting our cares to the feet of Jesus. Once this revelation soaked into my heart, my prayers have been completely shifted. No more giving my daily worries to Him, but in turn worshipping Him.

Sidenote:
Let this just set in and shift your paradigm a little....
We are made in the likeness of Christ. (Gen 1:26) So, if Christ lacks nothing, then we lack nothing. Then why are our prayers filled with things like "o Lord, heal the sick." or "Lord take this pain away"? Why are we lifting up weak requests to God instead of acknowledging who we are in Christ, and then DECLARING that we have power over sickness, power over pain? Can you imagine being one of the disciples, walking with Jesus for 3 years, seeing signs, wonders, miracles and then having Him look at you and say "It's better that I go and I send the Holy Spirit to be with you". What the heck could be better than having Jesus walk on Earth in the flesh next to you? I can't imagine how they felt. But yet we need to receive this revelation and proclaim that Jesus himself said that when the Holy Spirit comes, we will be able to greater things than Him. Because instead of one Jesus, in one spot on the Earth, we have the Holy Spirit living inside each one of us. AHHHH Mind Blowing!!!

Back to the book...
Chapter 8 is called "Profile of the Obsessed". (Now, I am really bad at the whole citing thing in literature.. so bare with me cause there might be some paraphrasing going on. I know my mother might be the only one who really reads this blog so I shouldn't care.. but since she is a journalism major and English teacher, I will probably get a phone call or two addressing my lack of citing... and this ridiculous run-on sentence. Just love me mother)

Obsessed: To have the mind excessively preoccupied witha single emotion or topic.

Now, I have been obsessed with a few things in my lifetime...
Third grade: Zac Hanson.
ALL of elementary school: wanting to be a Spice Girl
Right now: Cheetah print everything.

Now, what if I was completely OBSESSED with prayer. What if I was OBSESSED with worship? Most of you know how singing is an active part of my life. I have always been on a stage, always had a microphone in my face, am always singing even when I don't realize it. It's become so habitual that I have even been caught singing my order at to the cashier at Taco Bell. I want that same obsession, that same love of doing one specific thing and being consumed by it to be in my prayer life. That I become a habitually obsessed prayer warrior that I don't even realize when I am interceding for someone. That it will just flow out of my mouth

A person who becomes OBSESSED with Jesus starts to look like Jesus. It will overflow into other aspects of your life. Now, I totally admit that I have alot more transformation and healing to go through until I look like Jesus, but I DO KNOW that He has put a burning hunger in my heart after reading this book to start stirring up things in my life to become obsessed with him.

I understand this post is kind of like my comeback to my blog. If I ever go a couple days without tweeting I feel obligated to make a comeback with an awesomely funny tweet. Because, if I am really honest, my tweets are HILARIOUS. So, today I feel a little obligated to make this post an epic comeback. To tell everyone how much the Lord has done in my life since I have began living in Kona. But, that would take all day and night and nobody wants to read three pages of my past 5 weeks.

Here it is in a jist.
1. I have experienced new freedom in Jesus.
2. I have encountered Jesus in a way that I can't write into words. I might not ever be able to talk about the way He encountered me on May 12th, 2010.
3 .I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in April 2008, but have been lukewarm in walking in the fullness of the Spirit. NOT ANY LONGER MY FRIENDS. I will walk in signs and wonders and miracles and healings and pray loud in tongues (which probably freaks many of my family members out) but I am a lover of Jesus, and if he walks in those things, then so do I.
4. Forgiveness is true Freedom.
5. The Lord has shown me my original design and I am walking in it and no longer buying into the lies of the Enemy.
6. Now, this one might stir up some controversy and offend some, but Jesus came to offend and make us feel uncomfortable.. so BOOM here it is: I AM A LOVER OF JESUS. If that looks like a charismatic to you, call me charismatic. I dance, and shout, and speak in tongues.

Whew.

This book was the first one assigned to me through my school. I have two others that I cannot wait to read, but I am going to meditate on this one and the Word for awhile. Because it is bringing me some heavy revelation.

LOVE LOVE LOVE,
Kellye Rae


www.crazylovebook.com
(I encourage you to watch the videos on the homepage. Especially "Awe Factor"