Saturday, May 25, 2013

Q&Q 2013

Questions:

Am I a shepherd or a shepherd watcher?

Will I obey God despite the outcome?

If I'm not fishing am I really following Jesus?

What does taking responsibility for our generation look like?

How do we become the church that the world can't live without?

How can we provide our generation with a vision?

What's the tide that God wants to bring in?

Am I aware of my inherent strengths as a woman?

What is my purpose in this season?

Do I believe that God really wants the best for me?

Who do you say I am?

How do we balance form and freedom?

How can I understand the supernatural  if I am bound by the natural?

Do we build the team around the roles, or the roles around the team?

What systems need to be in place for young adults?

What is my time commitment for young adults?

Will I trust God to write my love story?

Quotes:

"The more child-like we are the quicker we adjust."

"There are people who are thrown into the pit with the lion, and there are those who jump into the pit."

"God gives the what before the how."

"Sometimes we are awkward huggers when it comes to the grace of God"

"The right thing at the wrong time becomes the wrong thing."

"We don't put our trust in a plan, we put our trust in Jesus."

"The difference between compassion and sympathy is action."

"The greatest thing that I could ever do for the crowds I lead is getting alone with God."

"Youth ministry is when the youth are doing the ministry."

"God didn't call us so that we can be successful, He called us to be faithful."

"Don't examine the bible, let the bible examine you."

"One of the worst things to do for college ministry is to have a college ministry."

"If Bruce says to read a book, read it!"

"When we walk in humility we have unity."

"Expectations kill gratefulness."

"When eternity is involved there is more than till death do us part at stake. There is the very heart of God for the rest of the world to see."

"We don't have a marriage problem, we have a faith problem."

"Every generation has to have its own prophetic voice."

"You don't marry the person that you can live with, you marry the person that you can't live without. We can't be the church that the world can live with, we need to be the church that the world can't live without."

"There's something about a goal that makes discipleship make sense."

"A rising tide floats all boat, whether yachts or leaky rowboats. We are the tide of this generation."

"If I am not filled with the holy spirit I am filled with something else."

"If you try to find intimacy with another person before achieving a sense of identity on your own, all your relationships become an attempt to complete yourself."

"We need to practice the basics before jumping into the thing that we want to do."

"It takes a lot of trust to get someone who is wounded to reveal their wound."

"Wounded people tend to get stuck emotionally in the place where they were wounded."

"What if God didn't give us marriage to make us happy, but to make us holy?"

"There's a time to pray, and a time to have sex." -Bruce

"Life is change, growth is optional."

"Truth without love is attacking. Love without truth is avoiding. We need truth in love mingled with grace."

"Our willingness to wait reveals how much we value what we are waiting for."

"If you complain you remain, if you praise you raise."

"Biblical waiting involves expectations."

"God gives us suddenlies and little-by-littles."

"Patience is the difference between trying faith and doing faith. It is having a spirit that refuses to surrender to circumstance."

"Fear, worry, and rejection are all a form of pride; they rob our peace and joy."

"Gifts from God are to be used for others and community. A season of singleness is a gift from God, and should be used for community."

"Conflict is like fire, it can either burn you horribly or it can illuminate your path."

"If a leader casts a new vision without changing systems nothing happens."

"The only thing that will be sustainable is something that people are willing to commit to."

"Spiritual maturity is measured by how readily we respond to the person of God rather than the promises of God. It involves coming to the place where who is asking is more important than what we are being asked to do."

Thursday, June 16, 2011

I Would Do This

Today I got a bill from the Oregon Department of Revenue for unpaid taxes, penalty and all. My first thought was "I PAID MY TAXES and I'll prove it!"
Away to the computer I went!
I looked up where it took the payment out of my account and sure enough US Treasury $79
 Full in my glory of "I'm right and the ENTIRE State of Oregon Government is wrong!!!!" I ran up the stairs to find the receipt
I pulled out the receipt and sure enough Nicole J Darby (that's me) paid $79 in taxes!
And then I saw it...
Big Bold Green Letters: Federal Payment
I paid the Federal Government what I owed the State 
Time to pay my taxes... again (sigh) 

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Poems that I wrote years ago


Paths Entwined

Every person
On every path
Leaves a trail behind

When two paths cross
The trails… now left
Will forever be combined

Soon those trails
Become a web
Of lives that we have known

On my path
Which leads my life
Your trail has really shown

(June 15, 2005)




The Missing Piece

A part of me is missing
A part I cannot see
The gap within my heart
I’m searching for desperately

Fill it up with friends
But soon I find again
The gap within my heart
I’m searching for desperately

Plug it up with ignorance
Then it drains down, and leaves
The gap within my heart
I’m searching for desperately

Tune it out with life
Until I’m forced to see
The gap within my heart
I’m searching for desperately

Turn to God for help
And that’s when he shows me
The gap within my heart
That Jesus filled for me

(April 24-25, 2005)




 
This Is Just To Say

One word can change a life forever
So be careful what you say

With all the words we’ve shared
Life will never be the same

It’s too late now
We can’t go back

We filled the others life
With desperation, pain, and grief

In this never ending battle
Full of deception, fear, and rage

Fifteen years have come and gone
And even though I’ve left

The battle still rages
Behind closed doors

And now I'm full of hate

(Freshman Year)




Warning

When I am old I will not care
‘bout what I say or what I wear

I’ll take pills morning, noon, and night
Then I’ll sit down and watch the price is right

I’ll drink lots of prune juice
To keep my bowels loose

I’ll be the one who wants to see
Things the way they used to be

I’ll talk about the young hoodlums full of rage
Who should have seen what life was like when I was their age

I’ll feel my knee in lot’s of pain
Right before it starts to rain

I’ll talk about the “good old days”
When we were teens going through our rebellious phase

Now that all is said and told
Thank God that I am not yet old

(2004)