Walk of the Cross

 Each Thursday and Friday before Easter, Pastor Joe puts on an event called "The Walk of the Cross".
People in the Church can sign up to go through this hour long journey which allows you to reflect on the crucifixion  of Christ, and his astounding love for his people. There are several rooms throughout the church which lead from the last supper, to the empty tomb. Families go through together as they take communion, wash each others feet, watch a clip of  "The Passion of The Christ" movie, meet Pilot, and reflect on the empty tomb, worshiping Christ for his unfathomable love.
This is a very visual, hands-on journey that really brings to light the story of Christ's death on the cross for our sins in a very powerful way.

This event is not something that comes together easily. There is a lot of effort, thought, and detail that goes into this great event. Tonight I hung out at the church, helping PJ with odd jobs, as people from the church steadily flowed through in their groups every twenty minutes. It was very cool for me to be able to pray for the people that came to do the journey, seeing the crucifixion come to life for them.
If you live here in Salem, I hope you were able to take advantage of this awesome "Walk of the Cross" experience; it truly is moving. If not, that's okay too. You can still take time to reflect on the true significance of the sacrifice God made by giving his son up because of his love for his children; you and I. I hope you take a few minutes, or maybe even an hour or so to think about this absolutely marvelous event that took place 2000 years ago. Read your Bible and pray, reflecting on this by yourself, with your family, or even with some close friends. Thank the Lord for his inexplicable amount of love for his people, and all he has sacrificed for us.
Happy Easter, everyone! Have a wonderful time celebrating the death, burial and resurrection of our Savior who died for our sins.

Audience of One

 Tonight the Lord opened my eyes through a very unique first time experience in my life. My youth group band and I had prepared a 25 minute set of worship songs to play for a weekly hour long study session we have each Saturday night from 9:01-10:01 pm. (Based off Matthew 9:1 in the Bible). As we stood in the foyer of the church before the activity began, our youth pastor asked us to all put blind folds on. We put the blindfolds over our eyes, and darkness was the only thing visible.
 As Pastor Joe led me into the auditorium, he asked me what instrument I was playing. I said the piano, and he led me to where it was on the stage. As my hands found the keys, I immediately felt for familiar keys and positions. The room was silent and panic began to creep up on me. As more people began to enter the room silently, I began to think I would be playing our set with the blindfold on. I had seen the chord progressions for the first time just two hours before to a few of these songs. Pastor Joe told us that we indeed would be playing with our blindfolds on, and the reality of this began to settle in. I tried my hardest to remember the notes position of my fingers for the first song. 'take it one song at a time' I told myself. At first I was consumed with the thought of how everything would sound, and how I would do the job right. Then realization came that no matter what I did, it wouldn't be perfect. In addition, I realized it didn't matter. I realized that this time was to worship my Savior, not worship what I was doing, how it sounded, or who I was playing for. Because I was only playing for One: my Savior. It was all in worship to Him.
As we played our set, I definitely didn't play perfectly. I missed many chords, and struggled to find my position on the familiar keys. However, I did my best, and I was proud of my band, and friends. Because even though it wasn't perfect, we had the right mindset, and we really did do a good job. We really did do it in worship of God instead of to impress others. No distractions from our surroundings, just worshiping our Savior with all that was in us; from our hearts.
After the time of worship, we gathered around a candle in the dark auditorium with our Bibles. We talked about how we felt as we played. PJ told us that there was only one person in the audience. This was to represent the fact that in ALL we do, we do it for one person, and one person only. The other three people that had come to 9:01 were sitting across the stage as they worshiped the Lord as well. It was cool to see their perspective as they listened and in their own position, worshiped God.

As a result of this incredible, eye opening experience, I am reminded that in ALL I do I need to do it not for my surroundings, not being distracted by them either, but rather for the only audience that matters: my Father, Jesus.

Psalm 86:12 " I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever."

Revelation 5:12 "saying with a loud voice. "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!".

Update

Hello again, blog friends!
 This past month or so has sure been a crazy one! Since my mom and sister came, I was very consumed with spending every waking moment I possibly could. After I had some intense catching up to do on homework, and cleaning my room! HA! I had such an amazing time with Morgan and my mom. I am thankful beyond words that they got to come. All the catching up to do afterwards was totally worth it. They were such an encouragement to my spirits, and it was a blast just giggling, talking, and hugging them!
Now that I had to say goodbye to them until July, I'm just counting down the days until school is out, it stops raining, and I can go running outside.
 When the year began I had absolutely no idea what I would do with my life this summer. I knew I wanted to spend as much time in Mexico as possible, but realistically it probably wouldn't be much time, because there's this thing called tuition that needs to be paid for this fall.
After much prayer and patience, God has laid out the perfect plan for me, and I stand in awe of how incredible he has laid this out for me in the perfect time in the perfect way of every detail.
After God laying some incredible opportunities in front of me, I will be spending my summer up in the tiny town of Trout Lake, Washington.
 My friend and her husband are living up there, where their relatives run a Christian Bible camp that I went to when I was younger. In the town there is just one coffee shop and one Cafe. I have been given a full time summer-long commitment job at the cafe/coffee shop. I have also been given a room to stay in, which is connected to my friend Sherri and Tomas' apartment. I will be working at the cafe full time, but I will also be helping out at camp whenever I can.
I'm very excited for this summer and all that it has in store. I am so thankful God has blessed me with a great job, place to stay, and opportunity to serve Him all at the same time!
 I am sad that I don't get to spend my whole summer in the country that pulls so hard at my heart; Mexico, but I trust in the Lord's plan. My boss has also given me two weeks off so I can go to Mexico to visit my family. I will go down in July with a missions team from my home church, Bethany, and then stay a few extra days to be with my family.
I know that was kind of a scattered update, but hopefully it gives you all a little insight to some of the crazy stuff God has been doing in my life!