The weekend of November 14th was Parent's weekend! My mom and dad came down from Sabetha, KS on Friday evening and stayed until Sunday afternoon. They met lots of my friends and classmates and were able to tour the Island. We had a great time shopping, eating out, visiting my favorite Branson hot spots, and enjoying the absolutely gorgeous weather.
The following week was leadership week at KI, we heard from Hollis Jones, CEO of Entrusted Leadership. Thoughts from Wednesday's class:
The Platform of Leadership
Romans 13:1: Every Christ follower has a “Platform” entrusted to them by God.
“Platform of leadership”: the position a leader stands upon whereby others publicly recognize a leader’s authority to lead. God will give you multiple platforms throughout your life, where you have authority. The question is, what are you going to do with it? You will have
-high points (promotion, family life great, emotions in check, etc)
-low points (get fired, removed from platform, non-responsive followers, etc) – produces anxiety, stress, etc.
We cannot let the emotions of our platforms of leadership dictate our emotions
Your identity in life is tied to Jesus Christ, it is not tied to whatever platform you are currently on. If you are removed from that, your self worth and value and identity should stay the same because you are not tied to that.
-Galatians 2:20 → A Christian's identity rests in Christ, not his or her platform of leadership
Every position of leadership provides a platform for a leader to engage in the mission of multiplying disciples of Jesus Christ.
Monday evening, my friend Caroline and I had the privilege of meeting Leesa Marie's grandparents, who were visiting Branson with friends...AKA the entire tour bus! We had dinner at the Grand Country Buffet, chatted with all our new friends, then proceeded to see The Twelve Irish Tenors. Unbelievable. In so many ways! We had such a great time, being the youngest ones there by at least 3 decades. When our bus arrived, one of the Tenors, Jay, came onto our bus and introduced himself, then proceeded to lead us to our seats in the auditorium. He was born in Galway, Ireland, then moved to London when he was a boy. You could definitely pick out the Irish/English accent he had. The show was so crazy...a bit cheesy because it is Branson, but the guys on stage were just out of control. Jay was such a trip, he was always winking or shaking a little something extra. We had a blast, laughed a lot. I knew some of the words to the Irish songs they sang...the night really made me miss the country of Ireland, as well as my friends there. A lot. Hopefully I will get to go back sometime soon. Or maybe I will move there, who knows :)
Our study of Abraham's life in Precepts is pretty amazing. A theme that keeps reoccurring is trust...we are in Genesis 20, discussing the faith of Abraham, how he was so solid in his faith even though he could not see. The study referenced Romans 4:13, “For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
Pretty awesome.This really hits home for me. I want my life to be modeled after Abraham. As it says in the passage, in hope he believed against hope...he did not weaken in faith, no distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Do we really believe that nothing is too difficult for God? When it comes down to it, in our real life situations and circumstances...do we really believe this? I have been challenged the past few weeks by this question.
I finally finished my Bible Overview project and taught my portion (Creation) to the panel. I was pretty nervous but it went really well. The rest of that week we had lecture over the Kings and Chronicles of the Northern and Southern Kingdom of Israel and Judea. I know, I know...it sounds boring but it was actually really interesting. November 15-19 was also homecoming week at KI! We had spirit/dress up days and a powder puff football tournament (our team name was "Whiteous Sistas") on Friday night. It was pretty intense, yet super fun...especially with a hoe-down to wrap up the night!
Our Institute class helped celebrate the marriage ceremony of Ben Seiler and Jenny Christian on November 20. Congratulations to you both!
Thanksgiving break came and went, and now we have about 1 week left until Christmas break. I literally cannot believe how fast time is flying. This past week we learned about the prophets from Chuck Silva. I feel like this is an area many people/churches tend to skip over, but it was interesting to learn the symbolism behind the prophesies and to read about God's promises. It was some deep stuff!
Happy December to you all, better get on that shopping...23 days til Christmas!
