thursday's ten or so*: the Ty edition

this week is a little different
as life seems a little more precious, a little more sacred
we heard friday night that a former student of ours in the youth group we served in for years
was hurt badly on a texas interstate
and the news came late saturday that he had succumbed to his injuries.
he was 18
and he was struck while he was walking back to his car after checking on a car that had been rear ended a couple of cars in front of him
and if you knew him, you'd not be surprised by that either.


i prayed LIFE over him when i learned of his accident
(some of you joined me on that when i posted it on twitter and facebook, and i thank you)
and oh, how those prayers were answered
he's having the most abundant life right now


so here's ten or so things i was reminded of through Ty's life (and death)


you don't have to be old to have lived a lifetime
there are stories upon stories about the amazing things this kid did...and he hadn't even hit his 20s.  don't tell me you're too young to make a difference or that no one will listen to you because of your age.  just DO good, and people will notice


living generously is (really) the best way to live


people notice your smile
(he had a signature grin...that's been mentioned more than any other singular thing except his faith)
they also notice your lack of smiling, for the record


when you lose yourself in worship you really do stop caring or noticing what others think


you make more of a difference in the small things than you think


people will both love and tolerate your quirks, but they are uniquely yours and will be missed if you aren't around


don't take yourself too seriously...people will love you for it


life is a lot more fun when it's lived as one adventure after the next


we should take notice of the young ones
they're out there changing the world. i'd like to join them.


the funeral is tomorrow (friday).
please pray for Ty's family -- his parents and two sisters, the friends that are hurting badly, and all those who feel a light is gone from their life.  while i know Ty is on the ultimate adventure, i'm also sad to know i'll never see that grin again this side of heaven.


*i've changed it because some weeks i have exactly ten things to share but most weeks i don't.  so, yeah. :-)

LOVE this

enjoy!

tonight's gonna be fun because it's our youth group outing to buy items for Youth Encouragement Services holiday store...followed by a little party. time spent with middle schoolers who are passionate about making a difference? that makes a pretty good night.

what about you?

Monday's Memory: the one with the putt-putt golf

once upon a time
there was a girl who volunteered with middle school kids at her church
and after a couple of years of doing this
2 people in her group moved out
and room was made for more to move in.

one of the people who came in was a woman named lajuana

and she was greatly excited about this, because lajauna was one of her closest friends

 
another person who appeared in this team of volunteers was a guy named anthony

 

and though no sparks flew between them at first

(after all, there was this age difference…

and she wasn’t looking to date anyone, nor was he)

a friendship began to develop 

one of her first memories of this friendship

is this day 

 

when then took their kids to a putt-putt golf course

(and 3 kids showed up)

there was fun, laughter and general silliness to be had

and we think the kids had a good time too.

if anthony is asked about that day, i'm sure he will recall that he won by a landslide

 (his words, not mine)

but i remember that he emee'ed every hole

made us all giggle

painstakingly added up the scores

and told us -- in front of the kids -- that "scotch" was his favorite drink

(it's not)

maybe it's not exactly a fairy tale beginning
but i'd rather have mine.

on the road again!

the month of september has been full of travels

and i've mentioned every trip here (i think)

but haven't really shared much about them.

so here's the very quick run-down.  if you're friends with me on facebook you can see the full photo albums!

first up was labor day weekend.  anthony and i climbed into a car and headed with our friends andy and mandy to the awesome city of st louis.

there we

stayed in an awesome hotel

 

(where we played cards -- and slept a few hours)

found angry birds

went to a cardinals/reds game

ate AMAZING food

visited the zoo

and got in a tiny tram and rode to the top of the arch

later that week, i traveled to downtown nashville

where i got to see a bunch of politicians

including...

bill clinton!!

(i'm such a political nerd.  and it doesn't hurt that i kinda love the clintons.)

the following weekend i went with our youth group to the annual retreat.

middle of nowhere

no connection to the outside world (no cell phone service or wifi)

and absolutely a blast

upon returning from the retreat, natasha and i went to our local barnes and noble

where we met

max lucado!

 

fast forward to the following weekend

where anthony and i jumped in my car and headed to indiana

we visited my parents

and hit holiday world with our friends brian and angie

(who got married this past may)

it was SO fun

and has changed a lot!

we'll definitely be back, hopefully once a year at least :)

 

and this past weekend natasha and i went to arkansas

where she showed me all around her college town

we got hit on at sonic

had some great cookies at her favorite little shop there

and shopped a little

and then

we saw jason mraz in concert!

and then

we got soaked by sprinklers

and THEN

we met jason mraz

and on the way home, we stopped by memphis zoo

where i saw penguins

 

 

(i dubbed these two anthony and lora.  heh )

so yes.  if you've kept track that means that in fact i have not spent one friday or saturday night this month in my own bed

and i gotta say,

it's been a FUN month

but i'm so glad to be settled down for the month of october

with only one possible trip out of state

(i think the cat might stop being mad at me too ;-))

Thursday's Ten: the random edition

i just realized that i have a LOT of stuff i haven't shared here lately, so (sorry) i'm lumping it into this post :)



1. i get to see bill clinton tonight! he's coming to campaign for the dem nominee for governor of tennessee...and while i'm not really into the whole "rally" idea, i couldn't pass up the opportunity to see a former president for free! i'm actually leaving the house in a couple of hours, having lunch with the boyfriend, and then hanging out downtown for the afternoon. *really* looking forward to it!

2. the whole burning of the Koran thing makes me sad and disgusted. until this morning i had not had even ONE person on my "friends" list on facebook even remotely supporting the idea -- at least publicly. and on my friends list are a LOT of conservatives --both in politics and faith, a bunch that have propagated the idea that our President is of the Islamic faith, and quite a few who are scared of anything but lily-white Christiandom. this morning, that changed. one "friend" i know vaguely from high school said something to the effect of "if he's praying and hears that from God, who are we to say it's wrong?"

on the one hand, i understand the reasoning.
on the other, i think we have to look at the fruit.
the last couple of weeks i've been learning more about the prophetic and how to operate in that gift. and i know this is "out there" for some of you, so bear with me, ok?
the thing about the prophetic is that the message should always be shared in love
if you discern that someone is struggling with depression
you don't want to say "oh, you're depressed and feel hopeless!"
you want to ask what to DO with that knowledge
and speak words of peace, hope and LIFE over them
because God wants to reveal His love to people

i can't help but think that this is similar.
and how on earth is burning someone's Holy Book
showing them God's love and Father Heart?

(i always lose followers when i write stuff like that, so goodbye 3 or so of you. :-)

3. we had an AWESOME time in st louis! i will post pictures here eventually...
although my iphone lost all the ones i took on friday and saturday. i was quite sad about that one...

4. 30 rock is my new favorite thing. in fact, this morning it's trumping all my ideas of getting ready to go see Mr Former President. that should tell you how much i'm loving that show!

5. this weekend is retreat with our youth group kids. since i missed camp this year i'm looking forward to finally meeting our new 7th graders!

6. twitter is becoming more and more addictive. oy.
honestly, i think it's because NONE of my former students or youth group kids are there. or not that i've found. and i'm happy to not have to wonder how people will take what i say there. it's nice :)

7. next weekend i get to take anthony to a place i spent quite a bit of time in as a child. holiday world is not very far from my parents house, and we are (hopefully) meeting one of my best friends from high school (angie) and her husband there for the day.
i'm excited about it...and really hopeful that it's all i remember it to be, lol.

8. and the NEXT weekend i'm going to arkansas (blech) with my friend natasha to see jason mraz! yes, i am fully aware that i live in music city, usa...and that he is here fairly often...but road trips are awesome and especially with good friends.

and for those of you keeping track at home, YES, this means that not one weekend in september am i home. C.R.A.Z.Y. here's to staying home in october! except that i probably won't be staying home the *entire* month...but more on that later

9. hmmm -- this is my favorite day of the year! 9/9 :) my favorite number is 9.
(when i was doing data entry earlier this year i got really excited when someone had entered the country on 9/9/09. i'm a dork...)

10. sometimes iced coffee makes my day. especially when i make it myself so it's way cheap. ahhh...in my new mug from the arch that is the *perfect* shape and size? sometimes it's the simple things...