Thoughts on the New Year

     The end of a year. The beginning of a new one. This time around, the shift from one year to the next feels more significant than before. For me, this transition marks a lot of change that has happened and will continue to happen. In 2014, I turned 18, a weird milestone since I never thought that I would reach it. I began taking college classes. A whole lot of other things have happened that have made me feel so darn old! As 2015 arrives, I know it will bring with it more changes and unexpected twists and turns. In the spring, my brother and I will graduate high school, Lord-willing. This also means that my brother and I will be "graduating" from our church youth group as well. Which is sort of sad to think about. I've been in the youth group for five years and boy is it going to be sad to leave!
     But, of course, the biggest change looming ahead is college. Ah, the dreaded word. It seems that with this one step into that next chapter that all that is familiar and special to me is left behind. It's a scary and sad thought to think that I will leave all of my family and friends and everything that I've known for my whole life!
     So, the shift from 2014 to 2015 is significant. A lot of change is heading my way. Thinking back on all the indescribable memories that I've made with my family and friends in 2014 and beyond makes me wish so badly that I could go back! If only for a moment. I have these thoughts sometimes.
     But then the good Lord comes in and reminds me of His faithfulness. And His love. And His goodness. And His sovereignty. And I am reminded that my job is not to dwell on the past or worry about the future. My job is to be still. To look ahead with hope, knowing that my Father has a perfect plan for my life, hardships and all. He did not spare His own Son. He will provide. He will bring me through.
     So let the change come. Because no matter what familiar things I leave behind, my God and my Rock will always be at my side.


Here's some lyrics to a song I wrote while considering some of these things:

Sometimes I wish that I could start over

Looking back to the past is almost too much to bear

All the memories that have been created

Now they're just memories and nothing more

Every good thing must come to an end

And though it might be over, I'll never forget

I will open my eyes and look ahead

I will remember Your faithfulness

It's not over yet

It's not over yet

Brother, sister: God is not done sanctifying you. And He will be glorified as you draw closer to Christ. Happy New Year.

--Rye Bread

Summer, Part 1

      Okay, I`m back again, this time for awhile. Until I go to Colorado anyway. ;) Anyway, like I said in my last post I will share with you die-hard readers all about my trip to New Orleans and my family`s vacation to Yellowstone and all that jazz. =D But I will only have time for one today. The other will have to wait until part two. So first things first: New Orleans.

Wow. What an amazing trip!! I will briefly sum up what I feel God showed/taught/blessed me those ten days. One of the things would definitely be contentment and joy. The kids we were with at the day camp we ran and the "Challenge Circles" that we did were so happy just to throw a football around with you or even just to talk to you. That just made their day. And they have next to nothing materially. And yet they`re always so content and happy. I look at myself and think, "Wow. I complain and grumble ALL the time!!! And I have all this stuff!! A lot of these kids don`t have one or both parents!!" But the thing that God really pricked my heart with was that I had Christ, and most of these kids didn`t and that as a Christian, I should be one of the most joyful people because I have been given LIFE!!!!! Shouldn`t that make me so uncontrollably joyful?!? Jesus Christ lives on the inside of me!! Crazy. I don`t know if any of that made sense, because I`m not very good at taking what`s inside my head and expressing it clearly to other people, but, I hope you got the gist. Another thing that God taught me during that time was that it is SO important to start off your day with His word. The first couple of mornings, I was like, "Ah, I don`t really have time, we have to leave really soon, I`ll just try and read it tonight." The main reason though was because I didn`t really have a desire to those first couple mornings. But, oh man, throughout those days when I didn`t read my Bible in the morning I just struggled in my spiritual battle. I`m just like, "Why is this happening?? Why am I struggling so much with this?" But then for the rest of the week we started off our morning with our personal devotions first, and then group devotions. And there was definitely a spiritual battle just like there always is, but I felt ready to take on Satan and whatever he threw at me, with God`s strength. And I probably wouldn`t have read my Bible that week, just for lack of desire, but because of those personal devos, I did. I learned that even when you don`t really feel like reading your Bible, it is so important just to do it anyway. Again, I hope that kinda made some sense. There is sooooo much more to tell, but it would probably take up a whole blog, so, if you want to talk to me about it, I`d be happy to tell you guys everything. :) Thanks for reading, and now I will post some pics from the trip.

Luise, Naomi, and Cassandra. Out cold. :)

At the church on the way down in Tyronza, Arkansas. Pretty cool story behind our stay there for the night.

Lots of card playing. This is a rendition of Spoons. Played with pew pencils.

And Ginger turning them into breath-taking art. That`s a cat if you couldn`t tell.

On the road again. FUN FACT: We got over 50 semis to honk on the way down.

The forever bridge. No other name fits it.

Super Dome.

The Yellow House. This is where we stayed the whole week. It`s pretty legendary.

Noah DeRoos up top and Dean in the middle.

FRENCH QUARTER!!

Cafe Du Monde!! Beignets. Amazing.

They were filming a movie while we were there. Pretty cool.

We went inside this really big Catholic church.

It was huge.

One of the guys I met from the Texas group that was there too, Joel. He was a cool guy. And a really good saxophone player. And he hit his head on the ceiling fan spinning at top speed. Yeah. There`s a lot of stories about Joel.

Waterslide at the day camp for Fun Friday. It was actually pretty fun.

And a bouncy house. I didn`t go in there. But I bet it was fun.

Me and one of the other Texas guys that roomed with us named Holden. You can`t really define Holden. Let`s just leave it at that. :D

Picture of all the interns that are there throughout the summer. Amazing, Godly people.

Me and one of the interns, Jordan. Really cool guy.

On the way back home, staying at a college.

   There are a lot more pictures and stories, but those will have to wait. Thank you for reading about our trip and there is a LOT more to tell, so please, ask me or any of the other people who went for more!!! Hope you are all having an awesome summer, and I hope you guys have a great Fourth of July!!!!



--Rye Bread

Randomness....what a surprise!

   Random. It`s a word that applies to me a lot. This will be, like so many other posts, a random one. So please, if you don`t enjoy reading random rambling things, press the x button on your screen; although I would really love it if you read this, but, whichever you choose is fine with me. :) Anyway, life has been CRAZY, getting ready for my sister`s grad party, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, etc... But hey, at least we don`t have school! =) For now, I guess. Our youth group has been reading this awesome book called When Helping Hurts. Since most of the youth group (including myself and T-bird) are going on a mission trip to New Orleans, we thought it would be a good book to read before we go, not just for the team, but for the whole youth group. It`s been a really good, eye-opening book. You should definitely check it out. :) We had a really fun frisbee game with some of our peeps after Bible study last night (including JD). My team lost all two and a half games (of course), but we were outnumbered, and the other team had The Big C, who probably could`ve beaten us all by himself. Oh well, we are planning another, more official game next week at 5:30 (5:00 if you want pizza) before Bible study, and I will be coming to win. Haha I`m horrible at frisbee, so, that`s not really saying much. :D And one of our friends was driving T-bird, me, and this other guy home after frisbee, and we were driving down this guy`s street to drop him off, driving reeeeeaaallllly really slow, banging Tedashii and putting on our gangsta faces because we knew no one else was around, and all of a sudden we`re like, "Uh, there`s a car right behind us." Whoops. So, we sped up really fast and we didn`t feel very cool anymore. Ah well. Sorry, I really like run-on sentences. Anyway, in the past couple weeks we`ve had two drama performances, a symphony concert, T-bird`s piano recital, AVENGERS!!, de-sandbagging 2,000 sandbags, building a hoop house, chopping up tree branches, taking down our raspberry bushes, dusting ceiling fans, cleaning windows, and desperately trying to get the grass to grow. And it`s only just begun. But it`s pretty amazing to know that God is sovereign, even over the grass growing or not growing. It`s pretty awesome that we serve an all-powerful God. Sorry, that was a lot longer and way more random than I thought it was gonna be. I apologize. T-bird said he will post soon. :) Have a great day and an awesome weekend!!



--Rye Bread