Americorps: Week 1!

    So, I got here last Monday.  It's Sunday now so I have been here for 6 days!!  It has been a very hard week!  But it has gotten better.

    I got up at 4:30 or so in the morning and went to the airport with my dad.  They gave him a free pass so he could take me to where we board.  We did the typical movie scene where we hug, I turn to leave, then run back to say goodbye again.  I spent a while crying on the plane as I left my old life, my childhood, behind.
     I went from Missioula to Denver to Houston (Or was it Dallas...) to Jackson, Mississippi.  I took a shuttle from there to Vicksburg.  About an hour away.  We are right on the boarder of Louisiana.  I've already crossed over to Louisiana yesterday, but I will get to that later.
    We checked in and I got my room key and a sheet to sleep on, a big bin, a sleeping bag, and a blanket.  It was a restless night sleeping with two roommates and living in a dorm with 65 or so other people.
    The week has gone by spending it in classrooms, learning about policies, FEMA, and how things are gonna go.  It has me excited.  The first few days, I desperately wanted to go home.  I have never felt this homesick and even now it eats at me.  But once I got really busy, it got better.  So the classes have been nice.
    Being here has brought me a LOT closer to God.  I'm praying about little things, I'm seeing the blessings, and I'm staying in His Word.  Just yesterday I thanked Him for the lovely Valentine's Gift of a hot shower.  Thanking him even more today and yesterday, but I'll get to that soon.
    This week we do baselines.  I'm nervous, but thanks to my super human strength from going from high elevation to low, I'm hoping I'll be OK.  At least with the running.  Tomorrow, because it is a federal holiday, we go to Salvation Army to volunteer for 8 hours. So I am excited for that! We also get to do a LOT of hours in our free time doing volunteer work for non-profit.  I'm going to see if they can let me do volunteer work in nursing homes and in hospice homes even though they aren't non-profit.  I have had a passion for the elderly for a long time and for a long time I have wanted to go read the Bible, or if they won't let me, poetry.
 
    So, after a horrible and awesome week, comes the weekend.  Before I came here I found a PCA Presbyterian church 2.4 miles away.  This week has been so busy that I hadn't had time to call the church and ask if they could provide a way for me to get there.  So Saturday comes and I'm arranging the things in my suitcase and in my room I don't get much service so I have to take all of my calls outside.  So, sitting in my room with almost no service, I went ahead and just called the church, knowing nobody would be there.  Turns out, for whatever reason, a guy my age who is the church pianist happened to have been there and was only going to be there for 30 minutes.  He said he never answers the phone when he is there alone, yet he answered it.  So thanks to God, I was able to get a ride from two VERY nice people who have been extremely kind to me.  I don't know if, besides my church home in Georgia, I have ever seen this kind of kindness.  They even treated me to lunch!! So for right now, I have a wonderful Presbyterian Church to attend!!
    OH! And before I forget, so, in Americorps FEMA, I work directly for FEMA. More office work than I wanted, but hey, this is what God wanted, so OK.  You pick what you would prefer to do and then on Tuesday I find out what team I'll be on, who my teammates will be, and who my leader will be.  So, I chose logistics.  I would be helping take supplies to the places needing emergency supplies.  So if a disaster hit, my team would come running with supplies and helping set up the shelter, that sort of thing. But between disasters we spend our time doing whatever FEMA needs or wants.  Working on old cases, computer stuff, that sort of thing. So wish me luck!!
So in the hard times at least I will have that church to look forward to.  God has absolutely blessed me.

I will try to post every week about my journey since so many are asking yet I'm hardly able to talk to them to explain.

 

The Big Topic: Modesty

    I'm finally, and officially, reopening my blog again!  I am about to leave for AmeriCorps, so to keep everyone up to date, I decided to blog again.  I will be trying to post once a week about my experiences in Mississippi.  For now, though, I thought I would post about some Christian topics that are often spoken of.
 
     I hear about modesty all of the time from everywhere. Everyone has their own opinion.  I thought, perhaps, I would state mine.  I have read many blog posts, articles, and books on modesty.  I have read many opinions, so here I go!

    Some say that modesty is where you wear nothing but skirts, the tight collars, and hair pinned back or covered up.  Others say that modesty should be what makes you feel comfortable.  A lot ask where to draw the line in modesty.  In my opinion, I don't think we have to be highly strict like many, that if we want to wear a skirt we should, but if we want to wear a bikini because it makes us "comfortable", how is that modest?  Many girls feel frustrated that we must be careful what we wear and do while men cannot.  That it isn't fair.  That we shouldn't have to be modest if guys aren't.  Well, here is my question to you...  If Jesus were in our shoes, what would He do?

    Being modest should be to honor God.  By honoring God we dress and act a certain way.  By honoring God we don't encourage men to think impure thoughts by how we dress.  So really, if you question how you dress, perhaps you should ask whether that cute pair of shorts, or that cute tank top, or those skinny jeans would please God.  How would you feel if you ran into Jesus wearing shorty-shorts and a tank top?  Or how would you feel if you were wearing a skirt or dress? 

    Many girls throw responsibility onto men about how they should think.  How they should know better than to eye girls walking by.  Well, God put responsibility onto us not to let our brother stumble.  Look up Romans 14:13-23.  It speaks of food, but why should just meat limit us?  Shall we never be a stumbling block?  A friend said if she knew a certain guy felt lust when he saw a girl wearing tights, she wouldn't wear it.  Well, isn't it somewhat rude not to do that to others?  There could be another guy who feels the same way.  I would never want to do that.  Just this morning in church I wore a skirt that was slightly shorter than expected so it made me feel bad.  It wasn't that short, a business, pencil skirt.  But to me it did.  So once again, it's a personal feeling.  Where God compels you.  God may say those types of skirts are OK, or not OK.  But in cases like booty shorts and tights.  I don't think we need God to have to tell us that it's wrong.

    In conclusion, ask your brothers in Christ what trips them up.  Think of whether God would approve, or whether Jesus would have worn something like that if he was a female in this day and age.  Honestly, I imagine Jesus dressing in Duggar (If you haven't heard of them, look up 19 Kids and Counting! They are excellent role models!) style clothes.  And let me say, in my opinion, I think the Duggars rock the look!!

    Hopefully this blog post isn't that bad!  I am finishing this in Americorps now so I'm not sure if it came out alright or not. :-)