Risking All of Who I Am

April 14, 2011

This morning, we sang a song called “Jabulani.” Translation: sing for JOY to the Lord.” HELLO, Lord.

This was one of my favorite days ever! We were split up into groups of 11 to explore Cape Town. I was in Janet’s group- such a God thing! We had serious bonding today.

Some highlights:

*We had to go to a museum, called “The Slave Lodge.” There was a HUGE sign on the door announcing that entrance was FREE for those under 18! BAM!!! Normally, I totally do not promote my youth, but today, I was ALL OVER IT! I went up to the lady who was selling tickets and said, “Hi! I’m 17! I swear!” She eyed me suspiciously. “My birthday is in May!”

“Fine,” she said. “Just make sure you stay with an adult. Who is your guardian?”

Ok for REAL?! I’m SEVENTEEN with a bunch of college students! And I need a guardian?! WHAT IS THIS?!

Luckily, Janet shoulders the great responsibility of watching me in the museum. “I’m her guardian.” HA! Janet’s like 7 years older than me! But, sure. I’ll take it.

*We went into a Cathedral. I think it was one of my favorite sites in Africa so far. Oh my lanta. It was unbelievable. SO much holy beauty I have never seen in a building. I literally could have stayed there ALL day. The stained glass windows were breathtaking. I wanted to burst into song, but also was afraid to whisper; I dared not disrupt the serene silence.

Our mission was to take cool pictures. So I suggested we reinact the nativity. BAM. I was the angel Gabriel because I was in white. And I’m am an angel. Duh. J

*I loved walking around today SO MUCH. It made me miss New York!! But… I kind of liked it better than New York, not gonna lie. If only Cape Town had Broadway!!! Cape Town is definitely more scenic, more green, more CLEAN, and less crowded. So, overall, POSITIVE.

*Mary Bette bought five sunflowers. She would randomly hand them out to people we passed. My favorite interaction was when she gave a sunflower to a homeless man. His smile was brighter than any I have ever seen. It was so precious.

*Janet and I had an amazing talk about the Bible. Of course. We planned to have a Bible Study on Esther, because we are both kind of obsessed with the story of Esther!

*After walking around Cape Town all day, we went to the mall. THEY HAD FRO-YO! Mary Bette, Janet, Melinda and I had a party. It was excellent.

Melinda and I spent the rest of our mall time searching for fake engagement rings to fend off unwanted suitors on our week long adventure. We haven’t decided if we’re going to propose to each other, or make Zach and Tyler propose to us… either way, it will be a candid moment! J

*I got my favorite proposal today: “You are my DESTINY! You marry me?”  Pass.

*For the taxi ride home, it was interesting. We were trying to get one cab driver to take us, but he didn’t know where we were going. Then, another cab driver named Philip that didn’t know the other, went up to the first driver and tried to tell him where we were going so that the first guy wouldn’t loose money. But the first driver didn’t like that too much and drove away without us. So we rode with Philip J. When we got in, he was all, “Let me play you my favorite song!” He put it on. It was this ridiculously cheesy 80’s techno pop. And then… IT WAS TAYLOR SWIFT! His favorite song was a horrible remix of Love Story! SO FUNNY! So we all belted out Love Story in the Taxi in Cape Town J. A beautiful moment.

When we left, Kallie yelled, “We had a magical time in your taxi!” Thanks, dear. Super positive J

Just like Kallie said, I had a magical time today.

Jon Wallace came today!!! I was so excited. I have legit respect for this man (he is the president of APU.)

After dinner (good times, Morgan!) Jon Wallace spoke to our group.

Two main things I want to share from what he said:

1)    In the Gospel of Luke, women are mentioned. They are set apart because of how Jesus touches them spiritually, emotionally, and sometimes physically. I want to be a woman who is set apart by Jesus!!! Heck YES!!!

2)   Best quote of my life:

“Risk all of who you are for all of who you can be.”

Let that sink in for a moment please.

Has it sunk?

Positive.

President Wallace said he thinks there are two categories of people. The first are people who are content with who they are. He can pretty much guarantee that in 10 years, they are going to be EXACTLY the same people.

The second group consists of people who are constantly changing. They are always reflecting and growing and seeking the Lord and trying to discover their purpose in every situation and attempting to discern His will.

He asked us, “How are you different because of your experience in South Africa? Which category are you in?”

Well. I certainly hope I qualify for the second group.

Then Jon shared that in 2005, he was told he had cancer. He went home and cried out to the Lord, “I just want my life back!” He called a friend who also had cancer, and shared this statement with his friend.

“Never say that,” the friend told Jon. “God has decided that at THIS time in your life, you need to be in this situation to learn and grow and come closer to the person He created you to be. I guarantee that you will thank God for cancer. Never ever say that.”

“You do not want your old lives back,” the president told us. He said that even though our American lives and old ways were comfortable, it is not the life we are meant to be living.

“I’ll bet the lives you want to live in the future are not even the kind of lives you want to be living. All that matters is that you are living a life where you get to glorify God EVERY DAY with your specific gifts and talents. You want to live a life where you are seeking the will of God every day and are working in His kingdom.”

YES!!! That’s all I could think! That is TRULY all I want!!! I want to live a life DEPENDING on God and seeking to serve Him everywhere I go! THAT IS WHAT I WANT!!!

And you know something cool?

God wants that life for me too.

So… If I play my cards right, the odds are, I’m going to get to live the life I’m dreaming of.

Whoa, man.

That’s crazy.

After my life had been changed, Janet, Morgan and I went to Janet’s room to do a Bible study on Esther.

I LOVE THE BOOK OF ESTHER. SO positive!!!

Janet has so much insight into this book… I’ve read Esther many times, and it just gets BETTER and BETTER. Praise Him.

Then I was able to be open and honest. I haven’t seriously opened up in a while. It was such a blessing to be provided with a safe environment where I trusted my dear friends enough to be seriously vulnerable.

And then we prayed.

You guys.

I prophesied over Morgan!!! I am not sharing this for self-glory, I SWEAR!!! It was so cool to be apart of God blessing Morgan!!! It was an incredible experience. Thank you, Father.

Dude. All I can say is,

Blessed be the name of the LORD.

SO. This day kind of rocked my socks. And by “kind of,” I mean “seriously, totally, and completely.”

New life goal:

Every day, to risk all of who I am for all of who God wants me to be.

This is my Hallelujah song. <3