Spoons Profit Share

This Tuesday we will be at Spoons with Bari and Sam trying to earn some money to fund our internship. "Spoons" is a frozen yogurt place here in College Station, and they have graciously agreed to give us 25% of all sales associated with our group from noon to 2pm. While our main sources of funding are the A&M Church of Christ and family/friends who choose to donate money, we also have a couple fundraisers set up to help!

So I know most of you reading our blog at this point are family who live a ways away, but if you happen to be reading this and live in the B/CS area, come by and visit with us and support our team!!

Oh...and Happy Easter! What a blessing it is to be the child of a risen, living Savior

A Silent Weekend Away

John 15: 1-17 

1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me."

5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples."

9 "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this:  Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this:  to lay down one's life for one's friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit -- fruit that will last -- and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command:  Love each other."

"Give your servant lebh shomea (a listening heart)
so as to be able to discern" 1 Kings 3:9


This passage was put on our hearts and minds last weekend, soon after we arrived at Lebh Shomea, a House of Prayer, and a place that gave us the opportunity to be silent in the presence of our Creator. The specific part of this passage that has kept reoccurring in my head is in verse 5 when Jesus says, "...apart from me you can do nothing." I have to constantly remain in Christ because without Him I am nothing. Apart from Christ the efforts we make in our day to day lives are unfruitful. I had to ask myself a pretty tough question:  am I receiving the nourishment and life offered by Christ, the vine?

We each had our own "dwellings"

Over the weekend of silence and solitude I learned a lot about myself along with being able to rest and find a sense of peace I haven't felt in a while. Being silent and alone is something I look forward to doing more. However, I need to mention the fact that at Lebh Shomea we weren't always alone. At breakfast, lunch, and dinner we were sitting across from strangers along with being silent. It was a unique experience and a lot easier than I thought it would be to not talk to people when I'm sitting at a table of 6.

Seeing as we were in Sarita, Texas (just south of Corpus Christi), Chelsey, Traci, Bari, and I decided to drive down to the beach before heading back to College Station. It was a great way to end our weekend and a great start to our somewhat long car ride back home!

Preparation: Quality Time

Weekends as a senior in college have become a time for last-minute studying and paper-writing, frantic searching for those graduation essentials (cap & gown - oops!), and more! This weekend, however, Lyndsay and I are taking some time off to hang out with special people in our lives. Might I add...in two very different ways.

This weekend is the iHouse spiritual retreat - where Lyndsay will be going with our friends Carina & ZJ.

This is Carina, but I can't find a picture of ZJ

Carina and ZJ are two people (they're married) that Lyndsay and I have come to know through the iHouse. ZJ is getting his PhD in some type of engineering, I believe, and Carina just moved here a few months ago and is studying English to prepare for all of the tests she has to take to apply for a degree at A&M. Carina has been involved in our conversation clusters since the beginning of the semester, and has started to become really involved in our iHouse activities.

The retreat this weekend is at Camp Creek Lake (about 45 minutes from College Station). There will be food, games, and other activities, but most importantly the weekend focuses on questions pertaining to Christianity. Whether these questions be from the international students or from the American iHousers who are already Christians, the idea of the retreat is not to push our ideas on anyone but to listen to each other in hopes of learning more about life, especially in how it connects to Jesus.

Pray for this weekend at Camp Creek Lake, and especially for Lyndsay as she continues to share her faith with the international students we love!

As for me...did you know that this weekend is the Sprint Cup Series for NASCAR? Well, if you would have asked me 6 months ago, I would not have known either, nor would I have cared. But here I am - getting ready for the weekend by rotating about 10 drivers and numbers and sponsors through my head so I'm not totally lost on Saturday. I'm going with this guy

Joshua, aka my boyfriend/the one and
only reason I'm going to NASCAR this weekend :)

I am pretty stoked about seeing people drive super fast, (which I like and can be noted by the ticket I got earlier this week), and experiencing the "culture" that is NASCAR. I really want to see an almost-toothless, mullet-rocking man, wearing cut-off jean shorts and a cut-off, short-sleeve, red flanel shirt yelling for his most beloved left-turn-maker. Alright, alright...all joking aside, I'm excited! Not to mention, I have the weekend off work, I get to spend time with Joshua, we scored free Dallas Maverick's tickets from my mom, my precious Grandma is making lunch for us on Friday, I will get to see my brother David, and we get to hang out with Joshua's family too! WHOOP! to all of the above.

Thank You, Father, for giving us family and friends to spend time with and for giving us weekends that can renew our spirits!