first day... big steps.

classes started today!!
i am so excited about this year. i'm stepping out there on a limb... in many different aspects this beautiful junior year. i just applied to study abroad in the Middle East which would be a HUGE thing for me. i am taking a statistics class that i will probaly DIE in because i have discovered that i HATE math and money and anything that has to do with numbers. i have a hard counting to 27 sometimes, so i will be challenged which is good. i am taking several religion classes and it's been super funny to get people's reactions... "why are you in this class again? your major is social work?" yet i want to take advantage of this time and learn so much about what i believe. hermeneutics will be amazing because i will learn to exegesis scripture and really know how to read and interpret what the bible is saying to me... so super stoked. and probably the class that i am most excited about and afraid of is my history and polity and missions of the church of the nazarene... and i just messed up the title of the class.. but you get the picture. today we had a pop quiz. "what is the doctrine/doctrines of the denomination i attend? what sets that denomination apart from another? what is the mission of my church? do i agree with the mission of the church?" guess what i said. yeah... i don't know. honestley. i infer things about what our church of the nazarene believes yet i do not know for sure to tell you word for word what our doctrine is and that is why i am taking this class... so that i can KNOW!!! :) and i'm so stoked cuz i'm gonna know... and after i stated that i don't know i went on to make assumptions and inferences that i have acquired from my years of attending the church of the nazarene and tonight i opened up the manual to the front page and dude, guess what!?! i was right on. check this...
"The mission of the Church of the Nazarene is to respond to the Great Commission of Christ to 'go and make disciples of all nations.' The primary objective of the Church of the Nazarene is to advance God's kingdom by the preservation and propagation of Christian holiness as set forth in Scriptures... to preserve and propogate Christian holiness as set forth in scriptures, through the conversion of sinners, the reclamation of backsliders, and the entire sanctification of believers."
yeah. that is totally what i hoped it would be, what i thought it would be, and i am super stoked to learn more about how the church works and was formed and where we are headed in the future. i hope that i will be challenged and that the books offered for our reading will encourage me to dig deep into myself and really ask myself... is this what i believe?? and then to define where i stand in what i think on matters of the church and our wonderful and amazing God that i serve.
ok... enough babbling. hope that all made sense if you took time to read it... if not, it's kewl... just know that i'm excited about this year and a little nervous about these big steps i'm taking and these challenging classes i've signed up to try and pass. :)
have a great night!
-kara joy

update on my life

here's a little update on my life...
my computer is not working... and information technology is not being very helpful to get me back online. soon is my hope and prayer.
my camera just broke. i'm really sad. i think it's under warranty... i'm going to try and take it to a camera store so they can look at it, otherwise i'll have to get a different one. so that's breaking my heart cuz you know how much i LOVE to take and show y'all pictures.
once i get back online i'll get some good shots up here of my time at home and the day i went to the zoo and whatnot.
jonathan is here at olivet!! yay!! he's all moved in and we've got to hang out a lot. it's so good to have him here with me. i missed him so much. sister 2 sister is moving right along... it's sooo crazy busy and i'm anxious for these next 2 weeks to be over because life will slow down... once we just get everybody paired up. i can't wait to breathe!!! classes start wednesday, i'm super stoked. i have almost all of my books and i have a job.
biggest prayer... my application for egypt's early sign up is due september 1st. if i turn it in by then i'll know september 15th whether or not i am going. it would be soo good to know, but i still have quite a bit i need to do and no time, so pray that i will be able to get it done.
guess what!?! rachel just got here!!! i'm going to get up run out hug her and help with the move in. i love you all!!

my new favorite animal

what i like about college

when i was a little girl i LOVED to play house. all the time. i made jonathan be the dad and i was the mom and i had a little stove and kitchen and little table and i had tea parties for mommy and made invisible food in my oven and set up my little "house". call me crazy but we're moving today... and i keep thinking "dude, college is like the BEST game of house ever... minus the boy part." :) i LOVE setting up my kitchen. i just feel so grown up... i feel like the little bitty kara so excited for her invisible pie to come out of the oven... only this is the real stuff and you can actually EAT the pie and not die from plastic poisoning. house ROCKS!!!

moosen

so... not sure why i keep thinking of this but... here's hoping edwards doesn't meet one of these guys and throw a rock at it.

the supertones encouraging my heart tonight...

so i've been working on sister 2 sister for the past few days, and i am exhausted and so excited and not nearly where i want to be yet. i've listened to these next two songs by supertones over and over again tonight. the bold... yeah, that's my cry out tonight. that's where my heart is. i wanna see a life change through this program, i wanna see a new man... in myself and in each and every mentee, mentor, and sponsor. i wanna be like Jesus and i wanna pour my heart out to these women... to this program... to those that need it... i wanna pour my heart out. but then... what do i know? i can't do this on my own. i need his help. it's crazy to me... why did he choose me? i'm such a poor reflection. why use me to make himself known? yet... he's right there, lifting me up... making me like him. dad was talking to me this weekend about the four different personality types there are and we were talking about my roommates and who he thought each of us were... and as we struggled to define each of us (rachel, alli, amandolin and myself) he said... "you know, i think the more that we are like Christ the more that we are all four of the personality types because the more we are like Christ. he was all of them. he was an otter with the people, he was a golden retriever with his disciples, he was a lion in the temple, and he was the other one (i personally don't know them so i'm messing up this quote, but he gave a good example of each one and when Jesus was each one)." as i think about that and how bad i am at reflecting him, i think about how he HAS chosen me, how he HAS called me to be used to make himself known, and the more i dive into him, the more he will give me the strength and the ability to be whatever he needs me to be in any and every circumstance "so that by all possible means i might save some". check out these two songs....


i wanna do the right thing
i wanna be the sure shot
i wanna have my mind straight
i wanna have my point got
i wanna be a good man
i wanna have my act down
i wanna be the future
and i wanna be right now
sometimes i feel like i could change the world
but i don't know where to start
i dig and come up empty, clutching an empty heart

i wanna see a life change
i wanna see a new man
i wanna fight the good fight
i wanna take the right stand
i wanna be like Jesus
i wanna pour my heart out
i wanna pick my cross up
i wanna hear the mob shout
i'm wide awake and thinking about the cross
the trinity apart
i dig and come up empty, clutching an empty heart

i wanna do the right thing
i wanna be the sure shot
i wanna have my mind straight
i wanna have my point got
i wanna be like Jesus
i wanna pour my heart out
i wanna pick my cross up
i wanna hear the mob shout
sometimes i feel like i could change the world
but i don't know where to start... i dig and come up empty
i'm wide awake and thinking about the cross
the trinity apart... i dig and come up empty
clutching a sacred heart


what do i know? somebody tell me. i've been runnin from you for so long. please help me Lord find my direction... i just can't do it on my own. you lift me up, you rescue me, it's good to be with you old friend.
sometimes i think how can you love me? my thoughts are so far from your own. why choose me Lord? i'm a poor reflection. why use me to make yourself known? you lift me up, you rescue me, it's good to be with you old friend. you lift me up, you rescue me, the cross you bore on calvary.

i miss you soooo much

this is my problem with life. people. i am so busy doing things... and all i want to do is people!! i want to be in people's lives, i want to be with them all the time... and i'm so far away from the ones that i most love. these are several of the people that i am missing the most today. i wish that i could be with you and spend more than just a couple hours or a day with you. i wish that i could share my life with you and you could share your life with me... everyday. i wish that we were closer and that it wasn't so hard to do life together. i can't wait to see you and hang out with you. know that i love you... and i love so many others of you that are reading this too... i just especially miss you today. :) my nicole, my kelsey, my sarah, my kelley, my sandie, my emily, my tara, my maggie, my carolyn, my rachel, my kelly.... i miss you terribly.