"Be"

Last night I attended my third high school graduation of this year. I was excited to go because one of my very first students in ministry was graduating. I was also not so excited because I was tired and I'd already been to two high school graduations and have heard enough "Pomp and Circumstance" to last me a lifetime. This graduation was quite long but it also made me think, which most graduation ceremonies don't do. The graduation was for Woodcrest Christian High School here in Riverside. As I was listening to each of the students give their speeches, watching pictures of all thier senior class and listening to students sing (shout out to one of our high school students, Lynnea Erwin, who did an amazing job singing) I really came away with more from the message than anything. The speaker said he wanted to keep the message short (which he did and I was thankful for) and tell the students one letter. That letter is "B" or as he said not really just one letter but one word, "Be". He had three points:

1. Be, rather than just do
2. Be, just don't pretend (Be real)
3. Be in contact

Now grant it the last point really doesn't apply to me, but the other two really tugged at my thoughts. Am I a person who just does stuff to fill my time? Do I pretend to know things and do things that really I have no clue about? Do I try pleasing other people, when I should really be pleasing to God? I want to be more pleasing to God and not try to put up a front to other people.

I believe that even though I went last night to the graduation just to show my support for two of our high school students, I came away with much more, maybe even a better understanding of who I need to "be."

Another 3 Weeks?!?!?!

Yesterday I was very excited in the morning because it was the day that my splint was coming off my finger and I would be able to bend my entire right ring finger. Not so much was the luck of one Nicole Christine Lovato! I had a different doctor (such are the ways of Kaiser) andfirst he told me that I would have to have the splint on for three more weeks and after that I would have to wear the splint at night (kind of like a retainer) for about three more weeks. It wouldn't have been so bad except that they had to extend my finger a little bit more and put it in a completely different splint that makes my entire finger stay straight. This makes it very difficult to write and do many other right-handed activities. Moral of the story boys and girls: Open your hands when trying to catch a dodgeball and if you do happen to break your finger while playing this extreme game, don't wait two weeks to get it checked out!

Amazing God

I know that I haven't written in a while, but I forget that I have a blog page. Today I realized something that I've know for a long time, but I really stopped to think about it this afternoon. I am able to worship an amazing God who loves me no matter what, who walks with me no matter if I'm having an awesome day or a crappy day. Sometimes it makes me incredibly sad to think about all the pain that Jesus went through on the cross so that we could live with God forever. Then it makes me incredibly happy to know that He did die on the cross so I can have eternal life and live with Him forever! This summer I have a lot of goals (learning to play the guitar, take a dance class, write a play, etc.), but my main goal this summer is to go deeper in God's word and study more and more about how much He loves me and each and every person in this world!