Come, Holy Spirit. . . Summer Youth Retreat 2013

      Sorry, that I have not written a post in a while.  I had Vacation Bible School (VBS) at my church and then I went to a youth conference.  At VBS, the theme was, "We Believe..."  We were blessed to have around 50 to 60 kids attend per night.  I taught the last lesson which was on the Holy Spirit.  Throughout VBS, I was so excited for the youth conference that was on Friday night.  On Friday night was also the closing ceremony for VBS, but I wanted to go to the youth conference and had already paid for it.
        So Friday, my sister (Julie Waldvogel), my brother (Kenneth Waldvogel), and I drove up the first time alone to Pilgrim Camp.  I had an amazing time and was really blessed by the lessons, but also the youth around me.  The theme during the meetings we had was, the Holy Spirit.  Some things that I learned was:
- the Holy Spirit is God living in us, a divine being that comforts us, guides us in practical ways
- the Holy Spirit does not just show through us once, but is always with us
- the Holy Spirit gives us the ability to live more like our savior Jesus Christ
- the Holy Spirit is given freely to those who ask for him
- first we have to clean ourselves of the old and then ask for the Holy Spirit
- the Holy Spirit is practical!
- our spiritual fruit ( Galatians 5:22 ) is proof that the Holy Spirit lives within us
        My favorite meeting was the Saturday night meeting when we had our prayer meeting.  The youth split into some smaller groups and prayed, which felt more like we called out to God.  I felt God so strongly in that meeting.  God was definitely there and was pleased with what each of us were praying.
        There were also games that we played and watched.  There were basketball and volleyball games that I watched and then there were some games on Sunday which I participated in.  There was a penny-chin game where you had to balance a penny on your chin and knock everyone else's penny off without knocking yours off.  Then there was a doughnut eating contest where you had to eat a doughnut hanging from a string without using your hands, which was fun to watch.  On Sunday a hike was organized which ended up being pretty exhausting and fun (some of us got wet ).  When we on the hike though there were some complaints but not when we made it through.  The weather turned out wonderful and got to have two campfire's!!  
          I thank God for meeting us this past weekend!!

 "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him" ~ Luke 11:13  

Thank You God for Today!

Happy Birthday USA!!  I thank you God for giving us this country we live in and the freedoms that are given to us..  I am so thankful for the wonderful time I had with my family yesterday (and Tuesday night)!  I was very blessed this week by a couple of things.  First, I got the chance to see a cousin that I do not get to see very often since she moved away.  Secondly, my uncle got sick with the mumps and yet God started healing him right away and thankfully he was able to be with us yesterday at the gathering because the mumps were not contagious anymore. Thirdly, it was my mother's 50th birthday!  I just want to say that I am incredibly thankful for my family, both my mother's and father's side and I would never want any other family.  I am also thankful for my family's health!  Lastly, I am thankful for the country God gave to the forefather's and now us, even when things are not going great.  We Americans still have a country and a place to live in that is okay, while some people have it a lot worse than us, so we should all be thankful for that!
        Now a song has been going through my head all morning since I got in the shower and it is "Every Good Thing" by The Afters!

                                            

I guess this song was put into my head by God to remind me to be so thankful for every thing that God has given to me, even when I am not fully paying attention to him.  Well since the fourth of July was yesterday i just want to pray for this country : 

Dear God, 

I just want to pray for this country and all the leaders leading at this time.  

I pray that all the leaders will turn more toward you and follow what you want them 

to do in every situation.  I pray that you will open our presidents and countries 

eyes and teach them who you are in a closer way and through a closer relationship.  

I pray that you will use me to be a light unto tall the people in this country.  

Thank you for this beautiful country that we Americans are blessed with and bless 

and protect those who are fighting and who have fought for this country also.

I pray this in your name, AMEN

If everyone who looked at this post would pray either this prayer or another prayer for this country God will move through the prayers and will do a work in this country even when it doesn't look like its happening.  If you liked this post feel free to comment on it. 

D-Day - Invasion of Normandy, France

        On June 6th, 1944 a group of 156,000 daring and heroic men from America, Britain, and Canada invaded  Normandy, France to liberate western Europe from Nazi Germany control.  The battle started a operation that was code named Operation Overload.  During this invasion the forces landed on five beaches along a 50 mile stretch of heavily fortified coast.  As the map shows, the US first Army led by Lieutenant General Bradley was split into two forces one that attacked Omaha beach and one that attacked Utah beach.  The Canadians and Britains attacked Gold, Juno and Sword Beach.  A part of this operation was that there were tons of troops that fought which helped the mission succeed.  This invasion of Normandy did succeed therefore pushed back the Germans (Nazis) to Paris.  By the next spring Germany  was defeated.  This invasion was known as one of the largest amphibious assaults in history.                           Last summer I went to France with the Honor's Program I am in at Molloy College, and one day we went to Omaha Beach which is actually American soil.  Me and my sister collected a container of sand from that beach and still have it.  It was beautiful and we walked through the part of the cemetery and one of the girls with me found one of their relatives grave their.  I thank all of the soldiers who helped out and who died for their country during this invasion.  Some say that this invasion was the beginning of the end of war in Europe.  Thank You brave soldiers!

    

Memorial Day!

        Memorial Day is a day that is every year observed by Americans all across the United Sates of America.  This holiday was first called Decoration Day and was first established as a federal holiday in 1971 following the civil war.  This holiday is usually celebrated with barbecues, visits to cemeteries, parades, and gatherings in family's, but we should always honor those men and women  who have laid down their lives for our country.  I had a wonderful day with my family, but I also prayed fro those who have died for our country and those who are still fighting for it, even if I disagree with the conflict.
        I just wanted to say thank you to our troops who have given their lives throughout our countries history and all who are buried in cemeteries such as Arlington cemetery, United States Soldiers' & Airmen's Home National Cemetery, and also those US cemeteries over sea's.
        There is a hymnal that came to mind while i was writing this, our national hymn "God of Our Fathers".  Here are the lyrics:

God of our fathers, whose almighty hand 

Leads forth in beauty all the starry band

Of shining worlds in splendor thro' the skies,

Our grateful songs before thy throne arise.

Thy love divine hath led us in the past,

In this free land by Thee our lot is cast;

Be thou our ruler, guardian, guide and stay,

Thy Word our law, Thy paths our chosen way.

From war's alarms, from deadly pestilence

Be Thy strong arm our ever sure defense;

Thy true religion in our hearts increase,

Thy bountous goodness nourish us in peace.

Refresh thy people on their toilsome way,

Lead us from night to never ending day;

Fill all our lives with love and grace divine,

And glory, laud, and praise be ever Thine.

There is a clip of this sing being played by the National Marine band:

Just Saying . . .

        While I was reading the book, Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper,  i was reminded of my philosophy class in my freshman year of college.  One of the key philosophical concepts we discussed was existentialism.  This was mentioned in his first chapter.  Existentialism is described as existence precedes essence.  Many people today in this world still believe this although this is a century old concept.  He mentions that many people believe that, "there is no essence outside you to pursue or conform to . . . it is not there until you create it by your own courageous existence" (Piper 14).  I believe, like John Piper that God created our essence and gives us a purpose to live.  
        I thank you God for giving us a purpose to live so we can follow you and not waste our life!  i was also going to post a song the last blog but here it is:

         

Don't Waste your Life !!

        It has been almost a year since I have written a post on my blog.  Today I want to talk about a book I received about the time of valentine's day from my parents that I have started to read.  It is called "Don't Waste you Life" by John Piper.  I got a gift edition so I also got the DVD of when he talked about this at a conference.   So I watched the DVD and was so touched by it.  

        When John Piper first starts talking at the conference, which was in 2003, he mentions an earthquake that had happened in southeastern Iran, near Bam.  he mentions that more than 25,000 people were dead  and about 30,000 more were left injured by the time the earthquake was over.  He then goes on to talk about a time in Luke 13 when the Jews come to Jesus to ask questions about the past tragedies like the how the tower in Siloam fell on eighteen people and how Pilate kills Jews and mixes their blood with their sacrifices, and Jesus answers in a sense of saying "unless you repent, you  will likewise perish" (Luke 13: 5).  Jesus responds as if he is saying, are you astonished at all the tragedies that have happened?  Well i will tell you what to be astonished at, be astonished that you were not under the tower or that you were not in Jerusalem at that time with Pilate, because everyone here deserves to die, unless you repent.  Jesus does not respond to get God off the hook but to make the Jews realize that they have to repent and not waste their life   He then goes back to the earthquake and relates it to what Jesus might say to us about the earthquake, "our wonderment shouldn't be the 25, 000 perished in a moment, but that we have not yet been snuffed out" (Piper).  

        John Piper then concludes with this point that our lives hang by a thread of God's grace and that God made us and knows our purpose and also has the right to take away and give life whenever he pleases.  he relates Job and Hannah to this.  Job had his ten children taken away in a moment and Job says in Job 12:10, "In his hand is the life and the breath of all mankind.".  Hannah wanted a baby so much and prays about it so hard and he gives her a son and she sings praises to God and he relates this to Deuteronomy 32:39.  We should know that every day and every moment we live because of God;s choosing and grace.  It is only by God's will that when I am done with this message I might not fall dead right on the spot.  We live every moment by God's grace and the only way to not waste our life is to keep on living with God.

        Then he mentions Matthew 16:24-25 and starts to talk about his book and mentions a poem that used to hang in his kitchen that said: 

Only one life,

 'Twill soon be past;

 Only what's done

for Christ will last.

This means that only what we do for God will matter in the end, not we do for ourselves and others.  He then mentions that one part of life in the United states that draws people to waste their life is retirement, which is a time when older people sit back and "play" while the states, sink under poverty and no evangelism.  he says this retirement draws healthy sixty-five year old to play golf and bridge right into the presence of God, the judge of life to come and he says that we will be pulled in unless there are choices made in earlier life of where our treasure will be. 

        John Piper then goes on to explain the life of unwasted life.  he gives the text of Philipians 1:20-21.  In this passage he explains that Paul's wish and our wish to honor or magnify God through our life and death.  Paul shows this example in Philipians 3:7 when he acknowledges everything compared to his relationship with God as loss.  How do we honor and magnify God in everything we do in life?, by doing it all to show that that thing on earth is not our treasure, but God.  We should eat to show that food is not our treasure, but God is, and we should use money to show that God is our treasure, not money.  In death there may be certain ways God may plan for us to die to honor God.  This is shown in Philipians 1:21 when Paul says "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."  This means that in order to honor God in dying we have to experience "our dying as gain because it means more of Christ" (Piper).  Christ has to be more precious to you than everything you leave behind.

Essentials in an unwasted life:

1. life and death are given to you as a gift in order to display the supreme value of Jesus.

2. The way to do this is to consider God above everything in your life.

3. This treasuring is seen by what you risk and sacrifice for more Jesus. 

This movie was amazing and taught me to embrace God above everything else and so should our generation!!

France!!

      It has been almost two weeks after me and my sister came back from our trip to France.  It went from May 22nd to May 31st, 2012.  We went with the Honors Program at Molloy College.  There were 37 students and 3 professors.  I thank God for keeping everyone safe and letting us have really nice weather and no trouble while we were in France.  We had three main stops to stay in France.  First we went to Caen; in the Normandy region (4 nights), then we went to Chartres (1 night), and finally ended up in Paris (5 nights).  
       First we were in the Normandy region in Caen, France.  We saw some castle ruins in Caen, which are the center of Caen.  These ruins were made of limestone and were amazing.  There was a moat that used to surround the castle, but now it is all grass and open to the public. While we were in Caen we also saw the University of Caen, which was huge.  It was kind of funny when we were in Caen because our whole group of 40 people went to a restaurant that was closing, but then they saw us and kept it open although none of them spoke English (luckily three of our people spoke a little french).  When we were staying in Caen we also went to Omaha Beach where the USA marines and armies invaded on D-Day (June 6, 1947).  We were actually on US territory for a little while.  One of the girls on the trip found her grandfathers grave in the American cemetery.  I was a little disappointed because we only spent about 45 minutes having a tour and we had no time to just walk around on our own.  We also went to Rouen while we were in the Normandy region.  We saw the first cathedral of our trip.  It was beautiful, and like all the cathedrals there was beautiful stained glass windows and a very nice designed facade.  There were many shops, so the group split up into smaller groups and we went shopping for a while.  We saw where Joan of Arc was put to death, on a stake.  She was accused of cross-dressing as a man.  The people in charge of her trial told her to stop, but while in prison still, she was tempted by the guards and put the manly clothes on again.  This is what sentenced her to death.  There was also a church built in her honor, after she was dead and found not guilty.  

      My favorite part of the trip is when we went to Mont. Saint Michel which is an island off the coast of Normandy.  There is a causeway going to this island, so it is not completely surrounded by water, but in three years there is going to just be a bridge to connect it to land, so it will be an island again. This island is unique because it has an abbey on the top and it was also a fortress.  This was the only part of France that the English could not conquer.  Today there are 26 people who live on this island, including; 5 monks, 6 nuns, a few storekeepers, a baby, and a young girl. This abbey also had beautiful stained glass, although it was more romaesque than most of the cathedrals which were gothic.
        The last five days were spent in the fashion capital of the world, Paris.  This was such a fun city.  Although some parts of this city are historical, it is still pretty modern.  As a group we went to see the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Conciergge, Saint Chapelle, and the Arc de Triumph.  Me and my sister went with 5 other girls up the Eifel Tower the last night and it was beautiful.  This is when the group was allowed to go to different locations all around Paris and shop.  We also walked down champ d'alesse and walked into some shops, and we saw that they were overpriced. 
         Overall France was an amazing country and it was fun to think that I had went to a different country when I was still 18.