five-a-day.

no fruits and veggies here.  just meetings.  let me explain.  i walked out of my last meeting (at 5:03 pm) and felt like our boss man.  he has meetings a lot...anyways, here's the recap:  prayer this morning with all church staff.  communion and singing in our BEAU-tiful chapel.  our cso office meeting afterwards with two friends doing great things with their ministries.  coffee and donuts and new chairs included.  boss man asked us to all go around and share: (1) our story of how we got here  (2) our greatest success since being with camp and  (3) our greatest personal struggle.  it took a while but it was really fun to hear everyone's story, but more that than to be united in our weaknesses.  for sure.  then we asked some more questions and prayed for our friends.  i liked it.  next was lunch with said two new friends.   returned to a phone call meeting with hawaii.  then, skyping internationally.  and, finally, a meeting with supervisor/discipler/dad/friend about camp recruiting.  long and busy day.  but oh so good.  i love this place...

passion 2012.

i remember the first day of passion 2011.  i was sitting at home on my butt, unable to attend because of school pre-planning.  i was bummed, to say the least.  sad i couldn't go and was unsure if this would be my last opportunity to go (they cap the age limit at 25 and you only have so many days off in a big girl job).  to make up for not going, i bought the digital pass to get all the talks and music online.  and, i was decided i was going next year.  i was determined.  a year seemed a really long time away though.  fast forward to september or so.  meeting with stephen (supervisor) and he said we were probably gonna go to passion 2012 with camp - as a recruiting event of some sort.  wahoo!!  but, you never just can tell with camp until the ticket is bought.  (that happened in december.  ha.) 

fast forward to december.  we had off off from christmas to new year's.  yes!!  back in school again!  so, crazy me decided i was gonna see a lot of people (everybody's home for break, right?), go home for a few days, visit a friend's house, attend a handful of reunions, paint my room, go to my second nugget drop (truett's new year's eve celebration) and who knows what else.  i had so much time over break.  or so i thought.  well, in all the craziness, and with new year's falling on a weekend, i kinda forgot about passion.  namely, the excitement of last year had now faded into "i kinda wish i didn't have to go to passion so i could rest and relax from break."  point in case, the first night in community groups, we were asked to tell everyone what we hoped to get out of passion 2012.  i literally had no idea.  i haven't even stopped for a minute to even think about passion.  to even pray for the few days.  wow...with all that said, the lord was good.  i must confess that until the last night, my mind was always too preoccupied with who i was trying to find or sit with, instead of preparing my heart for worship and the talks.  (you think with a ton of your friends in one place it would be a great idea to meet up, but throw 40,000 other people in the mix and it becomes a whole lot more difficult.)  dangit samchok.  but, once again, he is still good.  and, even if my "heart wasn't prepared" for passion, i can still learn a lot.  even if it is afterwards.  in fact, i think it is going to be a conference where i keep digesting bits and pieces of it for months.

a view of the dome for a night session

here are some of my takeaways thus far:

• 40,000+ 18-24 year olds meeting in the name of Jesus.  $3 million raised for freedom.  wow.  27 million modern day slaves.  ouch.
• really read the bible.  know the one who wrote it.  don’t believe something just because some famous speaker or theologian said it.
• in the story of the good samaritan, the first two who passed by viewed the man on the side of the road as an interruption, not an object of the ministry…much of jesus’ life was spent ministering to interruptions (luke 8:40-56, for example)…where am i missing opportunities to  “minister” because of so called “interruptions”?
• “compassion is nothing unless you get up and do something.”  where am i "doing something"?
• “is the goal to arrive at death safely?”
• “is my life worth reproducing?”

i'll take it for now...

values.

i sat in my blueish-green chair in my bright green room (its name is the big green...nineties childhood, anybody?) thinking.  just a random question, based on a goals and purpose sheet i was looking at given to me by a coworker (thanks bc).   i pondered for a minute and typed out a few words.  five i do believe.  and, i had an idea.   it would totally work.  it was almost 12:30 am.  perfect.  reason number one, i am almost never up at this time.  reason number two, folks would still be up and have nothing better to do than text me back.   no doubt.  two are in med school, one is in pt school - they are always up late studying.  one is a high school kid, actually dual enrolled college student, who almost always hits the sack after midnight.  the other i have no idea her sleeping habits, but i am pretty sure she doesn't go to sleep early.  they would all be either studying or chilling or reading.  score.  so, i asked:  "if you picked five values that you lived your life by, what would they be?"

the answers:

"faith hope love joy and ummmm trust.  no.  i change trust to redeem."

"choose joy.  stand on what you know is truth.  love others.  doer and not just hearer.  sleep five hours a night...better at some, working on others."

i wrote back "my original values were just words.  humility.  integrity.  service.  love.  sacrifice.  i like your list though.  according to you, my list would be:  choose joy.  don't quit.  live it up.  love well.  remember what you know to be true."

"i'll tell ya next week sara.  test on friday.  i'll keep it in mind and give you a thorough answer because i've been thinking about it lately."

"five that i strive to live by, or actually live by?...humility, integrity, compassion, gentleness, and selflessness...hmmm...i'll have to think about 'my other list'.  p.s. i like service as a part of your list.  i wanted that one, but then i figured that between humility and selflessness, SOMEHWERE in there i'd probably be serving people.  ha.  probably shouldn't assume."

"love and faith...the other three i'm still debating.  tough question there matey."

i suppose there are a few perks of having really smart and busy friends who study a ton and are unable to hang out often.  they text ya back late at night.  ha.  i am blessed and thankful.

23 and 1/2 hours.

the cso office remodel expose...

enjoy.  a taste of life in the office.  a taste of my life day in and day out.  courtesy of dee dee.

to explain, dee (the one speaking) has worked at camp since 2006.  the office is being remodeled for the first time ever, i believe.  she is recounting her thoughts of the dramatic cubicle, desk, furniture, accessory, and decoration (aka purple wall) changes about to occur.  namely, "the pit" (an affectionately called area of the office where she and many others have labored long and hard beside each other - i think it's some sort of a cult, actually) will be no more.

community after community.

some blogs worth noting as i am writing less these days:

from co-worker, workout partner, my former CORE leader, my former director, and friend:  http://rachel-sims.blogspot.com/
the roommate, namesake, fellow intern, desk neighbor, and friend:  http://sarahgraceking.tumblr.com/
the law student, my fellow CORE leader, laser tag groupie, and friend:  http://mclainecm.tumblr.com/
the tech student, ozone CORE girl, fellow d-group leader, and friend:  http://christinapugh.tumblr.com/