Parking delima and Cracker Barrel is Selfish August 31, 2007

Okay, so if I haven’t established already I am a student down at Metro State College. I should be done in May with a communication degree! Woo Hoo! I think the thing that frustrates me most about being a student at metro is paying for parking. I mean come on, I pay enough to go to school there, don’t you think you could cut students a break and give us free parking. In fact this year they raised all the parking prices. There is one lot that is $1.75, but only has about 25 spaces in it so it fills up pretty fast and the cheapest after that is $3. I think that is a little ridiculous. I have class 4 times a week so I am going to at least spend about $12 a week on parking. That is about $50 a month. To me it feels like a wast of money.

 My solution to not wanting to pay is riding the bus. I really actually enjoy the bus ride and it so nice to sit back and let the bus drive deal with the traffic as I read my text book or listen to my i-pod. However, lately riding the bus hasn’t been as easy as it once was. I catch the 120x at the park-n-ride on 120th & Huron. This semester my classes are later in the day so by the time I get to the parking lot all the parking spaces are full. There was a time when you could park along the curb, but they have put up fire lane signs so you are no longer aloud to park there. The solution to this was to park in the Cracker Barrel parking lot that is next to the RTD parking lot. Well apparently Cracker Barrel does not like that because they too have put up no RTD parking signs.

I do understand the reasoning for the signs and it really was never that big of deal until last Wed. I needed to catch the 10:43 bus to make it down to campus for my 11:30 class. I arrived to the park-n-ride parking lot at 10:20 knowing that I would have to drive around to find a spot. I drove around the whole parking lot and there was not one single spot open. Frustrated and a little flustered because my bus had arrived and it was almost 10:43 I zoomed over to the Cracker Barrel parking lot to see if there might be somewhere to park. I decided to risk it and park along the curb next to the Craker Barrel parking lot (I know that isn’t bright thinking now, I wanted free parking so bad I risked getting a $50 ticket instead of paying $3 to park down town) Well as I was leaving my car, Cracker Barrel Manager comes out and says, “Excuse me”

“Yes”, I said.

“Are you going to take the bus”?

“Yes”.

“Well then I’m sorry, but you can’t park there”.

“okay I said sorry about that, I will move my car”.

Of course by this time I had missed the bus and only had a little over a half hour to get to my class and I had to drive down to campus. On my way I realized that I didn’t have any cash therefore no money for parking. I pulled over to the side of the road and emptied out all of my change from my car, trunk, purse, and back pack. Miraculously I did find $3 worth of change, but $.75 of it was in pennies. The parking attended wasn’t too thrilled with all the change she had to count.

I write all of this to tell you that I am a little frustrated with the seflishness of Cracker Barrel. See they have a very big parking lot and lets face it, are they really going to have that many people come to eat? No. They can spare a few spaces for the overflow of the RTD parking lot. I mean come on work with us students here. We are trying to better ourselves, so we can better the world and you won’t even let us use a parking space?

I know that I may sound a little ridiculous in this rant, but the fact of the matter is paying for parking is annoying, but sometimes you just have to deal with it. I have decided to deal with it by sharing this with all of you, but in the end sometimes I still have to suck it up and pay. Life is just tough sometimes. But hey at least when I need to I can usually afford to pay to park my car and I have a car to park. See it is when I realize things like that, that this rant really seems silly. But it does feel good to get it all out there sometimes. : )

The “We don’t need Church” generation… August 15, 2007

A recent article was published in USA Today entitled “Young Adults aren’t sticking with Church” (Click here for the article)I have to tell you, I understand why, but I never did until I became a “young adult”.

My dad is a pastor and I have always grown up in church. I remember being actively invovled in youth group and hearing the statistics that over 50% of students that grow up in church turn their back on their faith when they leave high school, and thinking how can that happen? I didn’t understand it, but then I graduated highschool. Once you leave high school the community you once felt in your youth group is gone and you set off “on your own” The truth you  know, or thought you knew is bombarded with worldy stuff and it is tough to stand your ground. The best point the article makes is that most young adults don’t feel like church has anything to do with their relationship with God. Today’s society is all about finding your own spiritual journey, finding what works for you and if someone doesn’t accept that then they are judgmental and close minded. Spiritualness is all about the individual so there isn’t a need for church because it is personal and doesn’t need to be shared with others. That is the thinking any way. 

The question that churches need to start asking is  how do you change that way of thinking? Everyone desires a sense of community and wants to fit in somewhere. But churches do not provide that most of the time for people after they leave high school. There is a gap between high school and adulthood. So they look for the community in other places and that is when the mentality of my relationship with God is between me and God and I don’t need anyone else begins. In their new communities they find anything goes and the truth they once knew begins to be questioned. So the question is, how do you make people see the importance of church and the importance of connecting with other believers, which ultimately will lead to the importance of relationship with God? And how to you build that community after highschool? That is what nobody seems to be able to figure out. Sometimes it seems that churches can’t figure it out, so they give up trying, but because of that churches are losing people to the world.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I think that most churches really are making a difference in God’s kingdom. There are the churches out there that reach out to their community and are the first to respond in crisis or disaster. There are churches that are biblicaly sound and strive to let God guide them, they grow and really impact their community. I don’t want to give off the “I hate church” idea, because the opposite is true. I love church. The church is the bride of Christ. God designed the church to influence this world and the churches that do it God’s way are doing that. But the church needs to realize that a “we don’t need church” generation is forming and it is time for the church, each church, to look at what that means for them and what they can do to change that way of thinking.  

Back From Belize August 7, 2007

Well, before I get in to the amazingness of the trip, let me first put your biggest fear to rest. I am not dead. I know that you were worried after my last post, but I survived. And yes, I did go snorkeling, but I was right, I didn’t enjoy it at all. It went a little something like this….

“Who wants a life jacket”? Snorkeling boat guy asks.

“I do, in fact I think maybe just to be safe I should have two”. I respond. Boat guy laughs because he thinks I am joking. I strap my life jacket around my waist (you can’t get in the snorkeling position very well if it is around your neck) put on my flippers, goggles, snorkel and I am ready to go.  We count off into groups of 12 and of course I get put in group number 1. Without a second to think it is time for me to get in the water. My little sister Elise who was also on the trip jumps in first. After a few deep breaths I follow. Suddenly when I get into the water my sister is no where to be found. Did she drown? Is she a really fast swimmer and I forgot? Well neither were true. I look around and see her clinging to the ladder of the boat.

“Robbin, I don’t want to go. I am not going”! Elise says.

“What, of course you are going to go. Come on it will be fun, you will regret it if you don’t go. Look I am out here. We will go together. Come on you can do”. I say jumping into older sister mode. So we both set out away from the boat. Elise gets the hang of it instantly and begins dashing off after our snorkeling guide. I however am not enjoying myself quite as much. Every time I put my face in the water, my goggles fog up so not only do I not see anything under the water, but when I put my face up I can’t see anything around me either. As I am trying to de-fogg my goggles a wave comes and fills my snorkeling tube with water causing me to cough and get a not so great taste of salt water in my mouth. I have been at it about 5 mins. and decided that was all I needed. I put my arms up and did the distress wave as instructed so that a snorkeling guide could take me back to the boat. But just as I suspected everyone is busy snorkeling so no one sees me. I look and see my sister way out in front of me having the time of her life and decide, well good I got her out her, thats all that matters anyways and I begin the trek back to the boat. Let me tell you, it is hard to swim against the current, but I made it back and ate watermelon and pineapple with the boat crew until everyone returned from their snorkeling adventures. Some of you may think I regret quiting so soon, but I actually am quite proud of the 5 mins. I spent snorkeling. I now can say I’ve done it and no one can ever tell me I have to go again, because I’ve tried it once. : ) Oh, yeah and I am still freaked out by fish, they really are just a little creepy.

But now on to the important stuff. The trip was amazing and God worked in some big ways. Here are a few highlights:

Ministry:

• Vacation Bible School: Our main focus while we were down there was VBS and it was incredible. We were told to expect 20-30 kids the first day and we had 95 kids ranging from 2 years of age to about 16 years of age show up. By then end of the week we had 120 kids packed into the tiny one room church. It was amazing to see the church packed with kids singing praises to God and very loudly proclaiming Bible Points — God is real, God is with us, God is Strong, and God is Awesome– during our shouting wars.
• Church Services: We had the amazing opportunity of participating in their church services. Each student had the opportunity to share a devotion and testimony and did a great job. One of the most amazing parts of the trip was watching students get out of their comfort zone big time and allow God to use them. They were awesome!! Best church service highlight was Sunday night as we were worshiping the windows of the church were open and a gentle breezed filled the church as if it was God saying, “Thank you my Children”! There was some very good stuff going on.
• Visitations: We had the opportunity to do follow up visits with people that had made decisions at a revival conference the church had a month before we got out there. It was an incredible opportunity of encouragement and prayer. On one of the visitation days, one of our groups, met with a guy named Alvin and were able to share the gospel with him and one of the guys from our group even gave him his bible because Alvin did not have one. Alvin said he didn’t really believe in God and was much for church. But our group invited him to come to the Wed. night service at the church we were helping with. About 20 mins. into the service we looked back and there was Alvin standing by the door. It was very exciting to see him there and the students and church members greeted him and loved on him. If you think of it keep Alvin in your prayers that he will continue to be shown God’s love.
• Orphanage: Our first night in Belize we went to the orphanage. It was exciting to jump into ministry without wasting any time. The kids at this orphanage were starving for attention. We walked in the door and they instantly began to jump on us and cling to us. One little girl just wanted to hold my had the whole time we were there. We had a great time playing with them on their play ground area and then we were able to give them the gospel message and pass out bears that the children from Northern Hill’s VBS made for them. Each bear had a card with it that said it was made special for them by (insert Northern Hill Child’s name) and had the verse John 3:16 on it. The children at the orphanage were so excited to get the bears and hugged them tight. It was hard to say good bye to these precious children at the end of the day.
• Nursing Home: This visit was a tough one. All of the clients of the nursing home were there because they had no family left to take care of them. Many of them were very sad and lonely. It was amazing to see our students interact with them and pray for them. Everyone kept telling us that it was such a blessing for us to be there. I like to think that the couple hours we spent there help to give them a little hope. Many of our students shared the gospel message with them through their prayers. It is my hope and prayer that each one of them will have the opportunity to know where they are going when they die and they won’t have to be afraid of going there. Please keep them in your prayers. A few specific names are Maria and Ray.
• Construction: We did minimal construction, but were able to help pain a ceiling in the mission house of the church. Pastor Floyd, his wife Dahlia, and two daughters Abigail and Miracle hope to eventually move into this house so they can be closer to the church. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done, but they were so grateful to us for helping them start the process. Please keep them in your prayers as right now they pay $500/month to the government for the house they live in now. They live about a half an hour away from the church and gas prices in Belize our outrageously expensive, some places they are $10/gallon. Pastor Floyd just step out in faith and quit his second job to be a pastor full time. Currently he is making almost nothing, but praying for the Lord to provide. His passion was amazing and his faith astonished me. Please pray that God will continue to provide people and funds to finish their house.

Fun Times:

• Howler Monkey Tour: This was a lot of fun. We were taken on a guided tour through a howler monkey conservation to see these crazy apes. When they howl they sound like the T-Rex from Jurassic Park. It is a pretty crazy sound to hear. Some of us were even able to feed them some bananas.
• Tour of Mayan Ruins: This was quite the site to see. The structures were amazing. We even got to climb one of the buildings. We could definitely feel the burn in our legs on that one.
• Caye (Key) Caulker: On our free day we went to Caye Caulker which is a small island on the Caribbean sea. It was beautiful!! We also had the opportunity to snorkel, which was more fun for some than others (as you have already heard): ) We stayed in a resort on the island and had plenty of free time to enjoy God’s creation. It was a great way to end our amazing trip.