High School...

I just returned from Thanksgiving break with the family. It was a weekend full of food, board games, movies (Twilight again, of course), and fun with the sisters. I was supposed to go to a high school reunion when I was home, but at the last minute, I changed my mind.

So much has changed about me since high school - I don't really think I even resemble the person I used to be. I feel so separate from that life, and I realized that I had no desire to retrace my steps.

I remember that in high school, fitting in and being liked was the goal of my life. I wanted to have people to sit with at lunch, friends to drive home with so I didn't have to take the bus, and desperately wanted the boy-of-the-month to say hi to me in the hallway.

Leaving home and living on my own really did something to me. I realized the importance of friends - not just people to have around, but true, Godly, intentional friends. I have realized more than anything that my hope is in my God - not in the fleeting desires of my own silly superficial desires to be liked and accepted. I have fallen in love with my Lord, and I no longer feel the need to have the praise and acclamation of the world.

So, while I was getting ready for the reunion, I began to feel those old emotions creeping up on me. I hope they think I'm successful. I hope they don't judge me for coming alone. I hope they accept me. I hope I have someone to talk to. I hope they remember me.

I like my life now. I have a Love beyond measure. I have hope and a future. I have family and friends that know what matters - and love me unconditionally. That's all I need. I am satisfied.

The Beginning...

When I was in high school, I had a conversation with my English teacher in which she told me to make sure that I never stop writing after becoming a teacher. I have to admit that I haven't really written anything for a long time. So, this is my attempt to start writing again about my life, my classroom, and the things I've thinking about...

Today in church we had a guest speaker who talked about the failures of the church to be like Christ since it is Global Impact Weekend. He spoke about what the mission of Jesus was when He was on earth, and that that mission had to be ours as well if we truly consider ourselves followers of Christ. If people aren't being transformed by Jesus, then we are not doing our jobs.

I found this article earlier in the week that I found interesting - a commentary on Christians embedded in an article about the new documentary Religulous. It made me really upset to have such a strong confirmation of the opinion that the world has of people who are supposedly "little Christs." How this knowledge should move us to reevaluation - and then to action.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200811/religulous