Weekly link!

            This past semester has flown by so fast here at Link Year! And this past week has flown by even faster! Last weekend I went to see Wicked in St. Louis with some friends for my friend Emily’s birthday! I have always been anti-wicked but I really enjoyed it, it was a great fun girls weekend! For Mystery Monday we rented out a theater to see the Hobbit. I read the book last year in school and I was quite disappointed that it didn’t finish!! It left us hanging! Anyways this week was also finals for my JBU classes, and I am so glad that they are finally over! Now I am ready to go home for Christmas, but I know I will be ready to be back here in January with all of my friends!

            This week we heard from D.A. Horton. D.A. speaks three languages that all start with e; English, Ebonics, and evangelism. We talked about maximizing moments, which is one of the seven pillars of Link Year. D.A. said that our opportunities come with expiration dates; they only last so long before we miss them. He encouraged us not to miss them but to take advantage of the opportunities we have been given and to share the Gospel whenever we can. Ephesians 5:15-16 says “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.” We have to maximize our moments and be wise in our walk because our world is evil. This semester has flown by and I only hope that I and all my other classmates will maximize our moments over the break and the time that will have together next semester. 

9:23

This week was a phenomenal one here on the “island”; we got to hear from Brian Wang, one of our directors. Brian (aka B. Wang) was a college football player, therefor he’s super tall and intimidating looking, but he is one of the funniest people I know and he makes the best omelets ever, AND his sweet sweet wife is the best small group leader here at Link Year ;).

And he said to all “if anyone would come after me let him take up his cross daily and follow me.” –Luke 9:23

I have heard this verse so many times but this week we focused on what this verse means to our lives. This verse is a daily reminder that we are called to give our life to Christ daily. We have to deny the worldly desires we face each day and choose to follow Christ. It is not always easy but we have to make the conscious effort to do so. Christ laid down his life for me; it is selfish of me not to do what he has asked of me. These words are written in red, Jesus is asking that I would come after him and deny myself and take up my cross daily to follow him. Following Christ is about having a relationship with him. Relationships build over time and require communication; therefore it is necessary to be in the word and prayer daily to cultivate my relationship with the Lord.

We need 3 things to follow Christ: self-denial, complete dedication, and willing obedience. Brian expressed that the cost of following Christ in a world that drags you down is a balancing act. We have to learn to balance everything in our life but always remember that Christ comes before all other things. At 211° water is hot, at 212° water boils and with boiling water comes steam, and steam can power a locomotive. That one extra degree makes all the difference. It’s easy to give up when things get tough, but we have to stop quitting when things get hard! “ To get what we’ve never had, we must do what we’ve never done.” We have to die to ourselves daily and go that extra degree so that we can continue to grow closer in our walk with the Lord. We have to have complete dedication (dedication is devoting or setting aside for a particular purpose), to be completely dedicated you don’t have to show anyone anything; it’s all about your purpose. Lastly we have to have willing obedience. When God calls us we have to be ready to obey willingly not because we feel that we must. Genesis 22 shows us a great example of willing obedience when Abraham is willing to sacrifice his only son Isaac without questioning God even for a minute. I just want to encourage everyone to go that extra degree and take up your cross daily to follow Christ, don’t let the world drag you down, persevere through the good and the bad!

Weekly Link

                    

I loved starting this week off with visiting the Harrison K-Life Barn! The best thing about the Harrison K-Life Barn is that it is similar to the K-1 party barn, it has a huge indoor barn swing! For those of you who have never been on a barn swing, it is a large rope swing hung from the rafters.  We climbed up the stairs, and waited on a platform for someone to pass the swing up.  Once you step up, and secure the swing under your rump, the best thing is to run at full speed off the platform.  You then swing over a foam pit in in circles until you slow down and jump off into the large pit of foam. If you are feeling real adventurous you can try to run up onto the platform mid-swing and regain your momentum. It’s just great fun!

On Wednesday Antoine Mack spoke to us on time perspective. He said that our time perspective greatly influences our thoughts and actions. He also said that temptation is a matter of time. I had never thought of these things factoring into our perception of time but they are so true. He made a great point about the acronym YOLO (you only live once). This is a popular saying but if you were to be playing Mario and you only have one life left, how would you play? You would play carefully so that you didn’t die and lose your last life. So why do we not live that way?  We’ve only been given one life and we should be good stewards of the time that we have been given here on earth. 

Seek!

This week started off late Monday night with oreos, hot chocolate, and highlights from our break. I had a great Thanksgiving break but ten days away from everyone here at Link was way too long!

Shay Robbins spoke on intimacy with God and the importance of seeking Him. We often ask where is God, and why aren’t we experiencing the power of God? We are distracted, selfish, sinful people who are too lazy too seek God. Man can always try to run and hide but God is ALWAYS there. However, we have to actively seek Him. We did a word study (this is where you look up all the verses in the Bible having to do with a word) on seek and I learned so much! These are just a few of the things I learned about seeking God.

·      God rewards those who fear

·      You will find answers – Jeremiah 33:3

·      Rain righteousness upon you- Hosea 10:12

·      Blessed – Psalm 119:11

·      Rejoice- 1 Chronicles 16:10

·      We will be loved and Jesus will disclose himself

·      Seek and you will find- Matthew 7:7

“But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”- Matthew 6:33

We are called to seek God! But we have to seek Him, we can’t just wait around and not do anything. Matthew 6:33 commands us to seek FIRST the Kingdom of God. I love Psalm 27:4 “One thing I have asked of the Lord, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all of the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.” I think this verse is just a great prayer because it’s easy to get caught up in the busyness of this world, but we have discipline ourselves and make time to seek God daily through the good and the bad. If we want to have intimacy with God we have to grow our relationship by seeking him. He will show us answers and bless us we just have to be active! 

The Weekly Link: Dating

I wish all girls (and even guys) could hear the talk that Adam Donyes gave this week on dating relationships! While I am neither in or looking for a relationship I still found the things he said helpful and inspiring.

When should I date? Many people answer this with an age but Adam said there isn’t a specific time or age. He believes one should date the reason to date is not physical and when your security is in Christ. It’s so important that we find our security in Christ before we begin dating because no one else will EVER fulfill you or sustain you other than Christ.

Master

Girls if they don’t love their master, they won’t ever be able to love you. Love described as a feeling, but love is Not a feeling, love is a commitment; lust is a feeling. Ephesians 5 speaks about the love a husband should have for his wife. “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and   gave himself up for her” –Ephesians 5:25 That right there is a powerful verse, husbands are called to love their wife as Christ loved the church! This love is an unconditional love that is only found in the context of marriage.

Mission

Often times the more we chase a relationship with others the less we chase Christ. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and   sin which clings so closely, and   let us run   with endurance the race that is   set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,  who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising   the shame, and   is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. “ -Hebrews 12:1-2 Our relationships with others should be an overflow of our relationship with Christ. We often drown out God’s voice by those we are infatuated with, but we have to let God be the voice in our life.

Mate

Relationships are meant to increase your relationship with the Lord, not decrease.

Genesis 2:18 tells us “the Lord God said,   "It is not good that the man should be alone;  I will make him a helper fit for   him." Relationships are not bad, we were designed for them, but our relationship with the Lord should come before all other relationships. We need to have a mate that loves the Lord and encourages us to seek the Lord daily.

Girls, don’t marry POTENTIAL, marry PROVEN CHARACTER! Don’t even DATE potential. This concept is near and dear to  heart. Girls DO NOT SETTLE! Girls are TREASURES and we should be treated like treasure. This is something that Adam stresses both to the girls and the guys and I definitely agree with.Be patient. It's so easy to get caught up in wanting to "feel loved" and wanting a boyfriend/husband, but we can't let the desires of our flesh drown out the voice of the Lord and cause us to settle. 

Find your identity in Christ, not in a boy.

RUN!
Run to the cross and don’t let any guy pull you back.