Youth retreat, moving out, and so on...

Okay, so I’ve caved and made a cup of tea. I’m freezing. For some reason I can’t seem to regulate the thermostat in my work area to a comfortable temperature. The rest of the building is fairly warm, but I’m cold (and I’m even wearing long sleeves today!) Oh well, tea it is… I was trying to not drink hot drinks in the mornings, in deference to the fact that it seems spring has finally arrived, and the weather has warmed, trying to stick to water and iced teas, but today, I’ve caved, and made a cup of hot tea.

And, while I was in the kitchen, someone gave me a couple of shortbread cookies to go with my tea that were extra food from what they’d brought in for a meeting. Fantastic!

I wrote the second half of my talk for the weekend last night. This part covered “God in the Silence,” and flowed much more easily than the first part. I think it quite nicely covers the points I’m hoping to draw the kid’s attention to. However, I still can’t figure out how to wrap the first part up and make some points. I’ve had no trouble figuring out how I want to tell the story of Elijah on Mt. Carmel, highlighting certain parts, but can’t figure out exactly how to turn from that story to a bit more practical application. So, my evening tonight will have to be devoted to packing, reviewing what I want to say, and figuring out how to wrap this up into a cohesive package… and I might preach it to myself in my bedroom, just to make sure that I’m around the right amount of time for what we’ve allotted for each section. Maybe no one will be at home tonight to hear my weird behavior!

If you have any big ideas, let me know!

Other than that, life moves right along. It’s beginning to look very possible that if I curtail my spending by a chunk (no more impulse purchases I guess!) I’ll be able to afford to move out in July (providing the roommate situation works out) and that I’ll also be able to add to my independence by buying a car. YAY! It might actually be better for building friendships anyway – lots of eating in, hanging out watching movies, instead of eating out (which I really do LOVE) and then just going our separate ways because we don’t know what to do next, or don’t have a place that works for inviting people over. Megs and I were talking about that last night – how we’re both looking forward to living in places where we feel comfortable inviting friends over, instead of in places where you have to wonder what your parents or in her case aunt and uncle, are doing, and whether you’re infringing on their plans. We’re looking forward to living in places where we don’t have to hole up in our bedrooms if we want to have a friend over and talk about personal stuff, but can have nice, open conversations on the couch in our living rooms. Whoo hoo! (And by the way, if I end up moving out, I’m accepting donations of furniture – so I have the aforementioned couch on which to have a conversation!)

Alright. I’m going back to work now. Not that I have all that much to do, just that I don’t particularly have anything further to say here right now.

If I don’t post tomorrow, please remember to pray for me this weekend. My great desire is that the words that come out of my mouth as I speak tomorrow night would be ordained by God, and directed by His Spirit to be the very words necessary for this group of young people to hear. Pray that I would feel free to be who I am, and not worry about what people will think.