Radical

I joined a college and career aged group at  my new church and I'm absolutely loving it! We are reading the book Radical by David Platt and discussing it on Thursdays. I thought I'd share a quote from the book with you. Be prepared to be challenged!

"A wealthier man in our faith family came to my office after we had been studying the story of the rich young man. He sat down, looked at me, and said point-blank, 'I think you're crazy for saying some of the things you are saying...But I think you're right. And so now I think I'm crazy for thinking some of the things I'm thinking.'
     For the next few minutes, he described how he was selling his large house and had decided to give away many of his other possessions. He talked about the needs he wanted to invest his resources in for the glory of Christ. The he looked at me through tears in his eyes and said, 'I wonder at some points if I'm being irresponsible or unwise. But then I realize there is never going to come a day when I stand before God and he  looks at me and says,"I wish you would have kept more for yourself." I'm confident that God will take care of me. '"

I've been really challenged lately to separate my needs from my wants. Do I really need a new pair of black flats for work or will my current ones do just fine? Do I need to have clothing that has Aeropostale or American Eagle plastered on it? Not to say that those things are inherently bad, but can my resources be better spent elsewhere? What if everyone sacrificed a few mochas, a movie, a new shirt, or a new supply for a hobby and instead spent that money on someone else? The cause God has laid on my heart is Compassion International. If you haven't heard of it before, it is an organization that offers sponsorships for children living in poverty. For $40 a month you can provide a child with an education, proper nutrition, clean water, medical care, and the good news of Jesus' love and redemption. Can we find enough money spent on "wants" in our budget to sponsor a child? Even if we can't find a full $40 maybe we can partner up with a friend and only do $20 a month each. To often we ask how much we have to give instead of how much we  can give. Pray about it and see where God leads you.

A Blessing, a Race, and Tombstone

Blessing
Back in June I had applied for a job in the Human Resources Department at school. I already had two good jobs, but because I am majoring in Human Resource Management I thought it would be worth it to apply for this position. I had an interview in July and then was called in for a second interview at the end of August. Unfortunately, I wasn't available for the requested date for the second interview. I didn't hear anything for a few weeks and I thought I had been taken out of the competition. However, last week I was called for a second interview and I am happy to announce that I was offered the position!!! I was almost brought to tears as I contemplated the blessings of God on a less than worthy human.

The down side to this new job is that I had to quit the babysitting job I've held for the last five years. I was saddened to think that my relationship with the kids I love will change, but I know it's a change that would happen at some point in time.

Race 
This morning I ran the Love for Literacy 5k. My goal was to get my time under 30 minutes. As I arrived at the race this morning I wasn't expecting to do well. I hadn't run much recently and my breakfast had been later than I hoped. But I was very excited to set a personal record with a time of 28:48!

Tombstone
This week we started a game at college called Tombstone. Here's how it works: everyone who signed up is given a target. Your job is to stick a sticker on your target without getting a sticker put on you by the person who has your name. When you tag someone you are then assigned their target and the game goes until one person is left standing. There are a few safe times when you can't get out: when you are in your suite, when you are in a classroom, when you are working on an on-campus job, or if you are an RA when you are on duty.

When I found out my first target, I had no idea who they were. Thankfully, some friends helped me identify my target and I was able to get him in the dining hall. Here's where it got interesting. The person sitting across from my target was the person who was supposed to get me out! Of course, he did. However, he later realized that he was an RA on duty at the time of the tag, which is against the rules, so I'm still in the game. At least now I know who is after me, but I still have to figure out who my next target is. I'll keep you updated on how I do. Right now I know I'm in the last 50% standing

Hello and Defining Success

Hello everyone! My name is Kristin. I've decided to start a blog so that I am able to share my faith, exciting events in my life, and other random tidbits. I'm hoping everyone will be able to keep up on what's going on in my life easier with a blog. For my first post I thought I'd share a paper (don't fret it's short) I recently wrote on how I define success.
                                                                  Sweet Success

How do you define success? Dictionary.com defines it as, “the favorable or prosperous termination or attempts of endeavors” and “the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like” among others. While this is fine and dandy if all goes well, often our life doesn’t go as we planned. Does this mean that we are unsuccessful? I would say “no.” In my personal and professional life I measure success by how much glory is brought to God.  

            While many people define success in their personal lives by their attractiveness, their belongings, or their popularity, I strive to define my success by how often I bring glory to God. I realize that bringing glory to God is about as vague a term as success. So I will define bring glory to God as well. How I can know that I am bringing glory to God is by growing in obedience to His word, loving Him more, trusting Him more, and following the specific plans He has for me. Although it can be hard to accept, I am never going to be perfect or near it in my lifetime. That is why I have said that I can measure success by growing in obedience, love, etc. That is attainable and measurable. I can look back on my life last year at this time and determine whether or not I have been successful in this way.

For the times I fail in my personal life, this definition of success can be helpful as well. If I acknowledge that I have gone down the wrong path and take one small step in the right way, I will again be succeeding. Failures are absolutely devastating if you feel like you can never succeed again. Although I definitely don’t enjoy failure, with my definition of success I am able to immediately start succeeding again and lessen the crushing wait of failure.

In my professional life I can succeed by bring glory to God specifically by adding worth to my company. This means that I will behave in an ethically and responsible way. I will take the blame for my mistakes and avoid many situations that may cause my ethics to be questioned. Adding worth to my company also means completing my jobs on time and in a quality manner. On top of this I will sharpen and broaden my skills so as to assist my company and in doing so bring glory to God.

While many define success as gaining prestige and wealth, I refuse to be limited by that definition. Instead I define success as bringing glory to God. In my personal life that means that I will grow closer to God in love, trust, and obedience. In my professional life that means that I will add worth to my company by behaving ethically and responsibly, performing my job with quality in a timely fashion, and continuing to learn. This view of success allows me to fail, but to learn from those failures.

I'd like to know how do YOU define success????

                                                            References

Dictionary.com. Success. Dictionary.com.

Retrieved from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/success.