This year I was asked to help with the rewriting and tweaking of the narrations for our church's patriotic musical.
I listened to the songs on repeat, reading the music and listening. I puked out thoughts and words before prayerfully putting them into complete, logical sentences.
I let them sit for a few days before rereading them and sending them off to the director. He thought they were great, so I pushed them from my mind.
I still wasn't pleased. At the performance, I heard the start of a phrase and my first thought was, "I hope that wasn't my sentence." It was. The longer the narration went, the more upset I became.
Katie: Why didn't I read over that once more before sending it in? A few changed words could have made it better. That doesn't even make sense! Why? Ugh!
God: Fine, then no one can hear it.
And the sound system gave feedback for the first (and only) time all night. The mic blew and the narrator continued. When my phrase was over, the narrator's microphone came back on and the program continued.
God: I wrote that; you didn't. Those words were exactly the way I wanted them to be; I'm using them as they are. I AM the Writer; you are the pen.
Yes, Lord.
<>< Katie
Showing posts with label pen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pen. Show all posts
Friday, July 8, 2011
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Make a Difference
The following is a story requested by Wess Stafford of Compassion International requesting people tell stories about a time when an adult encouraged you as a child. A moment that has stayed with you. It is part of the push to get adults to make a difference in childrens' lives. See the whole story here.
During my junior year in high school, I ran for a position that required a certain number of support signatures before I could even get my name on the ballot.
Approaching me for another reason, my adviser (who now lets me call him by his first name) saw the petition in my hand. He grabbed it from me and reached to his breast pocket for a pen.
“Can I sign this?” he offered.
I was taken aback. We were told a signature would require a polite, well-timed request followed by a semi-brief interview. Brian asked me if he could sign my paper not vice versa.
“I’m not even going to ask you those silly questions. I know your heart is always in the right place.”
Woah!
If I wasn’t caught off guard before, I was then.
“Your heart is always in the right place.”
Always?
I might have chosen “sometimes,” “periodically,” or “occasionally.” Yeah, those would definitely be more accurate. But no, he said “always.”
“Your heart is always in the right place.”
While I still don’t quite believe that statement, it was wonderful encouragement at that time and has been an excellent challenge since then.
I would love to hear your stories about some encouragement you received from an adult! Little moments matter, especially to little people.
<>< Katie
During my junior year in high school, I ran for a position that required a certain number of support signatures before I could even get my name on the ballot.
Approaching me for another reason, my adviser (who now lets me call him by his first name) saw the petition in my hand. He grabbed it from me and reached to his breast pocket for a pen.
“Can I sign this?” he offered.
I was taken aback. We were told a signature would require a polite, well-timed request followed by a semi-brief interview. Brian asked me if he could sign my paper not vice versa.
“I’m not even going to ask you those silly questions. I know your heart is always in the right place.”
Woah!
If I wasn’t caught off guard before, I was then.
“Your heart is always in the right place.”
Always?
I might have chosen “sometimes,” “periodically,” or “occasionally.” Yeah, those would definitely be more accurate. But no, he said “always.”
“Your heart is always in the right place.”
While I still don’t quite believe that statement, it was wonderful encouragement at that time and has been an excellent challenge since then.
I would love to hear your stories about some encouragement you received from an adult! Little moments matter, especially to little people.
<>< Katie
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
3:42am
Let's admit it: we all face writer's block. I've heard arguments that it deoes not exist, but reality is that sometimes the words just don't come. Some days it's because you can't find the time and other days the blank piece of paper (or blank "Document 1") is just too overwhelming to produce anything, much less anything worth while.
A few weeks ago Nikki and I were emailing about the hectic schedules we face this summer and the lack of free writing time. I suggested she take five minutes and just write. Pen to paper... three, two, one GO!
But what to write?
1. Peanut Butter Bagel
"I had peanut butter on my bagel today instead of cream cheese, and I feel the need to write about it."
2. A funny or sad or embarassing or random story
It could be from fifteen years ago of fifteen seconds ago, no one really cares. You don't have to justify why you thought about it right now. Just write it. Embellish if you feel like it.
3. "I don't know what to write but Katie told me to write so I am doing it."
MercyMe actually has an entire song about this (ok, without me). It's entitled "3:42am" and it's my prayer for life.
Don't wait until you have time to write or you'll never write. Make time. And let Him use you. Let the Writer write; you be the pen.
<>< Katie
A few weeks ago Nikki and I were emailing about the hectic schedules we face this summer and the lack of free writing time. I suggested she take five minutes and just write. Pen to paper... three, two, one GO!
But what to write?
1. Peanut Butter Bagel
"I had peanut butter on my bagel today instead of cream cheese, and I feel the need to write about it."
2. A funny or sad or embarassing or random story
It could be from fifteen years ago of fifteen seconds ago, no one really cares. You don't have to justify why you thought about it right now. Just write it. Embellish if you feel like it.
3. "I don't know what to write but Katie told me to write so I am doing it."
MercyMe actually has an entire song about this (ok, without me). It's entitled "3:42am" and it's my prayer for life.
"3:42 am (Writer's Block)" by MercyMe
3:41am make that 3:42
time just keeps rolling on while I'm here stuck like glue
so many things cross my mind but nothing stays awhile... so frustrating
I just want to say something worthwhile... speak through me.
Say, say what You wanna say... and say it loudly
Say, say what You wannna say.
6:45am, man, that just can't be right
3 hours have gone by and this is all I've got
My common sense tells me I should get out of the way.... so You can speak
O, Lord, show up or I'll be here all day... speak through me.
Say, say what You wanna say... and say it loudly.
Say, say what You wanna say... speak through me.
If the idea's mine it's nothing but a waste of time.
So won't You say, say what You wanna say.
Say, say what You wanna say.
Say, say what You wanna say.
Say, say what You wanna say (say it loudly)
Say, say what You wanna say.
Say, say what You wanna say.
and say it louldy
Say, say what You wanna say... speak through me
If the idea's mine it's nothing but a waste of time
So won't You say, say what you wanna say.
Don't wait until you have time to write or you'll never write. Make time. And let Him use you. Let the Writer write; you be the pen.
<>< Katie
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
A Letter to You
Class prompt: Spend one hour right now responding to a letter you received from a friend who is struggling with the Christian faith. For the next hour, I cried, I prayed, I scribbled, and I erased. Ultimately, I didn't write this; God did. I am the pen; He is the writer. I tried to edit the grammar mistakes without recrafting sentences I don't like.
Feel free to put your name in when it says, "Friend."
In Christ,
<>< Katie
Dear Friend,
It saddens me to hear about your struggles regarding faith. First of all, I would like you to understand that I am praying for you as you go through this challenging time.
God adores you, Friend. Psalm 139 talks about how He knit you together before you were born. He's chosen you to be His creation, formed to be exactly who He wants you to be. Here's the kicker: He's not done yet. He's still working on you because you're a work in progress. He hasn't given up on you, so I'd encourage you not to give up on Him.
In your letter you talked about how to know God is real. You're right, it's hard when you can't run in to Him at Wal-mart. Not in a physical way, at least. However, just because you can't see and touch Him doesn't mean He isn't there. Personally, I find that to be the cool part: He's always there, even when I can't hear and feel Him. Sometimes He likes to be silent. I like to imagine He's watching and observing and just enjoying being with you. He's not gone. He hasn't moved at all, actually.
You mentioned one of the hardest parts about God is the whole prayer thing. You're right, sometimes it is like you're talking to wall. You talk and pray and pour over your words unsure what to say. Don't give up before you say anything at all. It's just like talking. Nothing special. No fancy words needed. In fact, you can completely eliminate all of the "thees," "thous," and "shalls," if you want. I mean, if you really love those kinds of words go ahead and keep going with them. My suggestion is a simple prayer Bob Lenz taught us back in 2004. Remember? "God, help. Amen." Simple. Yet profound. I also love the Lord's Prayer and it can be found in Matthew 6.
On Friday I was reminded of something cool. Christianity is potentially the only religion that offers forgiveness. Sure, you messed up. So have I. God knows our mess-ups. That's terrifying, right? I know. But it's also cool. Cool because He knows everything we've done but He still loves us. He's still forgiven us, still accepted us, still died for us. That's the beauty of grace and mercy. Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve (death because we've messed up). Grace is God giving us what we don't deserve (life, namely eternal life). My friend Ron explained it to me once like this: say you're outside playing and you get all muddy before running through the house and making a huge mess. Mercy is your mom not getting mad and punishing you. Grace is when she hands you a plate of cookies even though you made a big mess. She still loves you. God loves you through your skrew-ups and your questions.
Questions are good, my friend. Questions help us know people are thinking. Never be afraid to ask questions. The challenge is that sometimes we ask questions and don't get answers we want or worse don't get any answers at all.
Silence stings.
I've been there. Sitting in the silence waiting, wondering. However, I am learning to enjoy the silence. Learning to realize I don't need answers to all of my questions. If I knew everything about God then there would no longer be the need for faith. "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). We all memorized that verse in confirmation class way back in the day.
Back when we studied baptism, communion, the ten commandments, confirmation, etc. All of the things that you find challenging now. I suppose 8th grade as a long time ago. Have you been asking unanswered questions since then?
I will confess, I have. They're not all unanswered, of course, but a lot of them are still unanswered. Especially the "why" questions I don't anticipate those answers on this side of heaven. In fact, many of them I've written down and set aside as if to say, "I'm not dwelling on this anymore."
I've got to head to class and I want to get this in the mail before the post office closes. Can we get together to chat in person? I've love to hear more of your thoughts, questions, and uncertainties.
Until then, realize God loves you so much that He sent His Son to die for you. Have you ever had anyone die for you? What about Someone who died for you but didn't stay dead? Someone who knows your anxious thoughts and desires to soothe your fears? Someone who cares a lot about you.
Have you ever watched an engaged father play with his young child? Whether they play baseball or ride bikes or paint the house or just plain be together. The joy you see between the two of them sharing life together. That's the joy God wants in sharing life with you.
He loves you, Friend. With an immeasurable love that is beyond what we can fathom.
In the words of Max Lucado, "God thinks you're great."
And I do, too.
Love,
Katie
Feel free to put your name in when it says, "Friend."
In Christ,
<>< Katie
Dear Friend,
It saddens me to hear about your struggles regarding faith. First of all, I would like you to understand that I am praying for you as you go through this challenging time.
God adores you, Friend. Psalm 139 talks about how He knit you together before you were born. He's chosen you to be His creation, formed to be exactly who He wants you to be. Here's the kicker: He's not done yet. He's still working on you because you're a work in progress. He hasn't given up on you, so I'd encourage you not to give up on Him.
In your letter you talked about how to know God is real. You're right, it's hard when you can't run in to Him at Wal-mart. Not in a physical way, at least. However, just because you can't see and touch Him doesn't mean He isn't there. Personally, I find that to be the cool part: He's always there, even when I can't hear and feel Him. Sometimes He likes to be silent. I like to imagine He's watching and observing and just enjoying being with you. He's not gone. He hasn't moved at all, actually.
You mentioned one of the hardest parts about God is the whole prayer thing. You're right, sometimes it is like you're talking to wall. You talk and pray and pour over your words unsure what to say. Don't give up before you say anything at all. It's just like talking. Nothing special. No fancy words needed. In fact, you can completely eliminate all of the "thees," "thous," and "shalls," if you want. I mean, if you really love those kinds of words go ahead and keep going with them. My suggestion is a simple prayer Bob Lenz taught us back in 2004. Remember? "God, help. Amen." Simple. Yet profound. I also love the Lord's Prayer and it can be found in Matthew 6.
On Friday I was reminded of something cool. Christianity is potentially the only religion that offers forgiveness. Sure, you messed up. So have I. God knows our mess-ups. That's terrifying, right? I know. But it's also cool. Cool because He knows everything we've done but He still loves us. He's still forgiven us, still accepted us, still died for us. That's the beauty of grace and mercy. Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve (death because we've messed up). Grace is God giving us what we don't deserve (life, namely eternal life). My friend Ron explained it to me once like this: say you're outside playing and you get all muddy before running through the house and making a huge mess. Mercy is your mom not getting mad and punishing you. Grace is when she hands you a plate of cookies even though you made a big mess. She still loves you. God loves you through your skrew-ups and your questions.
Questions are good, my friend. Questions help us know people are thinking. Never be afraid to ask questions. The challenge is that sometimes we ask questions and don't get answers we want or worse don't get any answers at all.
Silence stings.
I've been there. Sitting in the silence waiting, wondering. However, I am learning to enjoy the silence. Learning to realize I don't need answers to all of my questions. If I knew everything about God then there would no longer be the need for faith. "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1). We all memorized that verse in confirmation class way back in the day.
Back when we studied baptism, communion, the ten commandments, confirmation, etc. All of the things that you find challenging now. I suppose 8th grade as a long time ago. Have you been asking unanswered questions since then?
I will confess, I have. They're not all unanswered, of course, but a lot of them are still unanswered. Especially the "why" questions I don't anticipate those answers on this side of heaven. In fact, many of them I've written down and set aside as if to say, "I'm not dwelling on this anymore."
I've got to head to class and I want to get this in the mail before the post office closes. Can we get together to chat in person? I've love to hear more of your thoughts, questions, and uncertainties.
Until then, realize God loves you so much that He sent His Son to die for you. Have you ever had anyone die for you? What about Someone who died for you but didn't stay dead? Someone who knows your anxious thoughts and desires to soothe your fears? Someone who cares a lot about you.
Have you ever watched an engaged father play with his young child? Whether they play baseball or ride bikes or paint the house or just plain be together. The joy you see between the two of them sharing life together. That's the joy God wants in sharing life with you.
He loves you, Friend. With an immeasurable love that is beyond what we can fathom.
In the words of Max Lucado, "God thinks you're great."
And I do, too.
Love,
Katie
Thursday, May 1, 2008
One Volunteer Hour Closer to Graduation
Our small group has been planning these afternoon volunteer trips to the nursing home near our school. Honestly, the elderly are out of my comfort zone so I've opted not to go. I was talking to Laura about it the other day and she ran the guilt trip, "It's a really good way to give back." Yes, I know, but that doesn't mean I like it! There are other ways to give back then just working with the elderly! Well... needless to say, she finally got me to come.
As Laura and I were walking to her car I said a quick prayer in my head,
"Lord, You know this isn't my favorite thing to do but bless this time. Make this trip worth my while, and, please, if at all possible, don't push me too far out of my comfort zone. Amen." Short and sweet. :-)
Laura and I met up with Natalie, who'd already been working there for awhile. We ran around the building playing "Marco Polo" looking for her. Just kidding, but only a little... Laura and I did walk in circles for a good five minutes (You'd think we'd have learned from the river adventure... not so much).
We found Natalie and the festival we were supposed to be helping out with had just finished. The lady was unsure what exactly to have us do and finally she said,
"Well, I have a job for you, but it involves a lot of writing."
Natalie admitted that was fine and she got us settled. She had us working on some paperwork that didn't really involve A LOT of writing. Either way, when she handed us those pens, I knew God had heard (and answered) my prayer. He understood I wasn't comfortable with the elderly so He found another job we could do and still give back the community. How great is our God? :-D Just because He forces us outside of our comfort zones doesn't mean He deserts us there. He walks us through every step of the way (and sometimes we have to walk in the same place more than once, right, Laura?). He won't give you more than you can handle (like some little old lady you can't understand with her heavy drawl).
I'm glad sacrificed part of an afternoon when I could have (should have) been studying. I'm also glad I got to play with pens all afternoon instead of people. My efforts were worthwhile, I am now one hour closer to graduation, and I stepped out of my comfort zone. (Ok, I feel like a certain gym teacher talking about comfort zones... I'm done now).
Yes, I will confess God has spoken to me in an unusual fashion: elderly and pens.
This is my God moment for the week. :-)
<>< Katie
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27
As Laura and I were walking to her car I said a quick prayer in my head,
"Lord, You know this isn't my favorite thing to do but bless this time. Make this trip worth my while, and, please, if at all possible, don't push me too far out of my comfort zone. Amen." Short and sweet. :-)
Laura and I met up with Natalie, who'd already been working there for awhile. We ran around the building playing "Marco Polo" looking for her. Just kidding, but only a little... Laura and I did walk in circles for a good five minutes (You'd think we'd have learned from the river adventure... not so much).
We found Natalie and the festival we were supposed to be helping out with had just finished. The lady was unsure what exactly to have us do and finally she said,
"Well, I have a job for you, but it involves a lot of writing."
Natalie admitted that was fine and she got us settled. She had us working on some paperwork that didn't really involve A LOT of writing. Either way, when she handed us those pens, I knew God had heard (and answered) my prayer. He understood I wasn't comfortable with the elderly so He found another job we could do and still give back the community. How great is our God? :-D Just because He forces us outside of our comfort zones doesn't mean He deserts us there. He walks us through every step of the way (and sometimes we have to walk in the same place more than once, right, Laura?). He won't give you more than you can handle (like some little old lady you can't understand with her heavy drawl).
I'm glad sacrificed part of an afternoon when I could have (should have) been studying. I'm also glad I got to play with pens all afternoon instead of people. My efforts were worthwhile, I am now one hour closer to graduation, and I stepped out of my comfort zone. (Ok, I feel like a certain gym teacher talking about comfort zones... I'm done now).
Yes, I will confess God has spoken to me in an unusual fashion: elderly and pens.
This is my God moment for the week. :-)
<>< Katie
"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)